By Steven Long
WASHINGTON - Protesters gathered in from of the White House as President Obama spoke in support of health care at a packed house at the University of Iowa today.
The protesters were met with armed guards when they reached the U.S. Department of Interior. One protester reported back to supporters of ending the federal Bureau of Land Management roundups.
"We congregated at Layfayette Park and there was a podium with microphone and speakers," she said. "Ginger Kathrens, RT Fitch, Nancy Perry fromthe Humane Society of the United States, John Holland if the Equine Welfare Alliance, Elyse Gardner, James the film producer, Rob, a BLM volunteer who is very much on our side and Craig Downer spoke to the crowd.
"There were about 100 people at the rally," she reported. "After the speeches, we walked to the Department of Interior with our signs and we chanted slogans like 'tell the truth' wild and free let them be, no Salazoos."
But the peaceful protesters were met with force when they reached the office of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
"We were met by several armed police officers standing at the top of the steps with their guns in their holsters. More police on foot came to the DOI, a policeman on a motorcycle and then 4 mounted police officers stood in a line across the street where there is a park. I couldn't believe that they felt so threatened."
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Sen. Mary Landrieu Gets Tough With BLM as DC and Global Protests Fan Fire of Disgust in Wake of Helicopter Assisted Horse Deaths
WASHINGTON. (Laudrieu) – U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., today joined the call for a better federal plan for the treatment of wild horses and an end to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) unnecessary wild horse roundups.
The international March for Mustangs, a public protest against the inhumane treatment of wild horses, took place today in four cities across the globe: London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Led by celebrity activist, Wendie Malick, in Washington, D.C., the protest comes in reaction to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s attempts to persuade Congress to provide more than $42 million to move animals from the West to the East.
“I have repeatedly called for an end to these inhumane roundups until a more sufficient plan is set in place by the BLM,”said Sen. Landrieu. “There is a civilized way that we can handle these horses, by providing for their adoption or their relocation to a sanctuary. But the cruel and horrific roundups, such as the recent Calico roundup that resulted in painful injury and even death for some horses, cannot continue.”
Last year, Sen. Landrieu fought to protect wild horses by championing language in the Interior Appropriations Bill to prohibit the BLM from using taxpayer dollars for the destruction of healthy, unadopted horses and burros. At Sen. Landrieu's urging, the Senate directed BLM to develop a new comprehensive long-term plan for wild horse populations by September 30, 2010.
Sen. Landrieu also supported language that encouraged all federal agencies that use horses to acquire a wild horse from the BLM prior to seeking another supplier. In addition, Sen. Landrieu supports the BLM developing an expedited process for providing wild horses to local and state police forces.
As a result of the recent 40-day BLM Calico Roundup, at least 79 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup.
Currently, the wild horse and burro population in the United States is about 69,000, and there are 32,000 horses in short-term and long-term BLM holding facilities.
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