Speak up to Protect Cloud's Herd
Billings BLM Wants to Drug & Further Destroy Historic Herd
Send Letters by Wednesday, Dec. 1st
Part of Bolder's band including Cloud's grandson Echo- a target for removal in 2011
Dear Friends of Cloud, his family and herd;
Please take a few minutes out of what is a very busy time to year on behalf of Cloud, his family and herd in the beautiful Pryor Mountains of Montana.
We are asking you to comment on the BLM’s Preliminary Assessment, which would allow for five years of infertility drug use (2011-2015) on potentially every mare on the mountain over the age of one! Right now, 54 Pryor mares are currently on infertility drugs, 40 of them on a multi-year drug, PZP-22. Comments are due in writing by December 1st via mail to the Billings Field Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101 or by fax at (406) 896-5281, or by e-mail to info@thecloudfoundation.org where we will fax your comments for you. You can also use the free computer fax service online here. If you email your comments to us, please try to do so by 2 pm MST on December 1st so we will have time to fax them in before BLM closes at 4:30 pm.
You can read the BLM’s proposal online here. Then click on “Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Fertility Control Preliminary Environmental Assessment”.
What is not made clear in this Preliminary Assessment (except by reference) is that, despite virtually all the mares being on infertility drugs, BLM is also planning the permanent removal of horses to reach the dangerously low adult population number of only 120 animals.
Above: Flint's band -right after he lost them in the PZP-induced social havoc (Flint has since won back part of his family)
This cruel removal action and the indiscriminate use of PZP, along with the construction of a barrier fence preventing the herd from accessing essential summer and fall grazing in the Custer National Forest, underscore the enormous threats to the very survival of Cloud and his herd.
Please make your comments today, a sample letter is online here.
If the Pryors is a so-called BLM “treasured herd,” and the last left in Montana, then why is the Billings BLM office acting contrary to the both their own Field Manual, the Wild Horse and Burro Act, peer-reviewed science, and, most importantly, the public’s wishes to see this herd live unmolested and free? The 30 foals born this past year will likely be the only real foal crop for the foreseeable future, and will be 2011 targets for permanent removal, including the spirited Cloud grandson, Echo. We need all of you to let the BLM know just what you think of their experimentation on the world’s most famous and beloved herd.
Please Comment Today
Thank you for help in protecting a future for the Pryor Wild horses- young & old
Happy trails,
Ginger
P.S. The Cloud Foundation is currently in litigation with BLM and the Custer National Forest Service challenging the setting of a genetically non viable population number as well as the building of a fence which is currently blocking the horses from passing from BLM land into Forest Service land to access critical summer and late fall grazing. The fence was finished in October, but our judge has indicated he can order it be torn down. We hope and pray this will be his decision. Thank you for your support of Cloud’s Legal Fund and your comments on this latest BLM proposed action. Remember to comment by Wednesday, December 1st.
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