Roundup of Wild Horses to Begin Despite Risks to Tiny Foals and Pregnant Mares

The Cloud Foundation

BLM Snubs Advocate Alternatives to a Helicopter Stampede 

RENO, Nev. (June 7, 2012)—Despite extensive conversations with wild horse advocates who explained humane alternatives to a deadly helicopter stampede of tiny foals and late term mares, Gene Seidlitz, BLM District Manager in Winnemucca, NV, signed a Full Force and Effect Decision to round up hundreds of wild horses in the drought stricken Jackson Mountains, calling it necessary for “the health of the horses.”  

“How believable is this emergency when privately-owned livestock are still in the Jackson Mountain Herd Management Area?” asks Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “And for Mr. Seidlitz to say he is doing this for the ‘health of the horses’ is unbelievable.”

Bait-trapping expert, Dan Elkins, of Mount Taylor Mustangs in New Mexico, was poised to drive to the area to assess how to safely trap the horses near the few water sources in the most severely affected area of the Jackson Mountain HMA. Elkins has trapped hundreds of horses without injury over the past several decades.

Eleven national humane organizations signed on to a unified letter requesting that BLM remove all private livestock in the area and opt for a humane alternative to the capture of wild horses. Their letter urged BLM not to expose newborns and mares heavy with foal to a helicopter run. Their suggestions fell on deaf ears.

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Media Contact:

Lauryn Wachs

lauryn@thecloudfoundation.org

(617) 894-6939

Links of Interest:

Letter to Gene Seidlitz from 11 national organizations

Foundation press release (6/6/2012) on Jackson Mountain

Wild Burros hotshotted during roundup in Winnemucca District

10 Steps to Restore America's Wild Horses & Burros

Congressional Appeal to Halt the Roundups

Livestock's heavy hooves impair one-third of BLM rangelands (PEER release)

Investigation of BLM roundup contractor requested

Media & Interviews available upon request

 The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.