Update: Gelding at Calico

From Laura Leigh's blog

This is just a quick post about the uproar beginning to occur about the gelding taking place at Calico of stallions under 4.  (BLM update page here)

Young Stud (holding area)

My inbox is beginning to receive a flood of mail. So I decided to post a response on the blog.
In order to actually understand this process the language within the lawsuits must be looked at. I have stated several times that terminology and definition will become increasingly important.
It is my understanding that the IDA (In Defense of Animals) suit deals with the issue of long-term holding.
An adoption event would not be in contradiction to any issue that deals with older horses heading to long-term holding.
Calico horses 4 and under are heading to an adoption event in July (rescheduled from May 15&16) regardless of the outcome of the suit.
In an email today from William Spriggs, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC, he confirmed my understanding.
I am not privy to the specifics of the “no geld” conversation.
Something else to think about…
If the suit wins on long-term holding? The next step is not necessarily freedom.
IDA will need to first argue that long term holding violates current law. Then they will have to argue that returning the horses is not a violation of law. Then they will have to prove that it can be done and dispute the arguments from BLM that it was a necessary action to remove them (horses). So even if they win on long term as illegal, they may not win on the second part of the argument.
Language (specific, concise) is going to become very important.

Update on Conquistador & Rescued Bands

The Cloud Foundation



And what you can do to help put a moratorium on current massive roundups

Dear Friends of the Wild Horses;
I had the honor of traveling to Montana to visit our families of older wild horses that had been removed from the Custer National Forest Lands. These older horses include 19 year-old Conquistador and 21-year-old Grumpy Grulla. 15 horses in all, comprising four family groups.

We were able to buy and adopt them so they could stay together in their family units. Through the efforts of Laura & Carl Pivonka and Mike Penfold a large ranch was found just north of the Pryors where the horses could stay. When I arrived on Thursday with my friends, Crow Elder and Historian, Howard Boggess, and former BLM Deputy Director, Mike Penfold, I found all the horses looking healthy, but still in corrals awaiting release out into their large pasture that The Cloud Foundation has leased.

On Friday, in preparation for their release, ranch manager, Baerbel Streutzle and I began flagging miles of perimeter fence with pink and orange marking tape so the horses could clearly see the boundaries of their new world. One fence had to be built to avoid a gate that Crow Tribal hunters frequently use but may or may not shut. After our “fencers” (as Baerbel calls them) completed that fence we put them to work adding an additional wire to the top of a fence that borders the ranch road.

The fun part began that evening. I filmed as Baerbel quietly opened the gate for Bo, Chalupa, little Star, Grumpy Grulla, Sierra, and Sand to exit their large paddock and enter the immense pasture that is now their home. I expected them to race away from us, but once in the open field, they were much more interested in grazing. After weeks of eating only hay you could just see their joy at diving into the lush grass at the ranch.

Saturday morning, Laura and Carl, Mike and  his wife, Dona, and Howard arrived and helped us release first Trigger, Mae West and Evita, then Shane, Mystery and Moshi, and then Wild Blue (aka Floyd), the four-year old bachelor who had been mistreated in the chutes and even hotshotted by Troy Cattoor, who is the son of the owners of the Catoor roundup company.

Bo, Trigger, and Shane greeted each other in typical band stallion fashion, standing nose to nose sniffing and snorting, then squealing, spinning and finally marching back to their mares. Wild Blue, however, drew more attention from Trigger and they really fought for a few minutes before Trigger got his message across. Stay away from my mares! Wild Blue had likely been challenging Trigger on the day of their capture as he was caught with the band the day of their roundup.

Last to be released was Conquistador and his mare, Cavelitta. The proud old stallion (looking not a day over ten) and his mare pranced side-by-side into the big pasture and Shane immediately raced up to Conquistador for a ritual greeting. Then Wild Blue galloped over, making a dash at Cavelitta. Very quickly Conquistador taught him a lesson about messing with the tall black mare.

Wild Blue looked so small as Conquistador bit him on the neck and put a leg over the young stallion’s back. Once Conquistador had made his point, all the bands moved apart and went back to peacefully grazing. 

After the big release, the hardest work began. Laura, Carl, Mike, Dona, Howard, myself and Baerbel, as well as her friend and neighbor, Andrea (aka Shorty), began attacking the burdock growing at the back of the pasture in the cottonwoods and aspen trees. We cut the burdock and stacked the tall plants in piles and began burning them. Burdock has burrs that cling to the horses manes and tails and we tried to get as much of it cut and burned as possible. We were told that the idea for Velcro came from the burrs on these plants that can grow to six feet. I can believe this because I spent a lot of time pulling burrs out of my shoelaces, socks, and wool hat.

On Sunday we traveled back to Billings and watched the premier of Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions together feeling really good about the rescue of these little bands and their safety on this isolated ranch.

Thanks for making this happen! Without your donations to the Freedom Fund, these horses would have been forever separated and confined. Some would likely have gone into government holding facilities or even worse.  We hope that we can count on your continuing support as we work to return them to their home in the Pryors or to 70,000 acre Garvin Basin in the adjoining Bighorn Mountains. The Crow Tribe of Indians has expressed a desire to have their ancestral ponies again roaming on tribal lands. 

For now, these horses are together and safe. . . thanks to you! I was not able to make the long trip around to access the Pryors and see Cloud for myself, but others who have seen him and the other horses in the wild report that they are well. It was at a cost of over $150,000 that our government removed 57 horses this September in the Pryors, leaving Cloud and only 124 other horses roaming free in all of Montana.

 
The BLM is now in the process of removing over 12,000 more wild horses and burros from our public lands. According to independent analysis of BLM’s own 2008 numbers we don’t have more than 15,500 wild horses left on the range. Please join the Cloud Foundation in calling for an immediate moratorium on the roundups now underway. You can see a schedule of the roundups here.

Action alert steps here:

1.    Send your letters demanding an immediate moratorium on all roundups to President Obama. Call your Representatives and follow up with faxes, letters and calls to all.  The roundups must stop in order to allow time for independent analysis on the true numbers of horses remaining and investigations into the true reasons for removing 12,000 wild horses and burros this fiscal year.

2.    Sign the Save Our Wild Horses Resolution petition to stop the roundups & join the Cloud Foundation mailing list to stay informed (join us on Facebook & Twitter & check our Blog for frequent updates too).

3.    Please watch the investigative report from CBS's George Knapp: "Stampede to Oblivion" and share this online video with everyone.

4.    Last but not least, 

contact media—this story of mismanagement of our mustangs and burros, truly living history, needs to be explored & shared. Write letters to the editor and ask National outlets for better coverage- we are on the verge of losing wild horses and burros before most of America knows we still have them in the wild. Media contacts online.

*Correction! This photo was incorrectly credited in the last e-mail, photo of Cloud turning to face the helicopter is Living Images by Carol Walker*

New Cloud Program Airs on Sunday & Roundups Continue

From The Cloud Foundation

New Cloud Program Airs on Sunday & Roundups Continue 
The BLM plans to remove over 35% (12,000+) of our federally-protected wild horses and burros this year & this must stop- roundup schedule here
1. Please watch the most recent report from CBS's George Knapp, this short news story outlines how BLM has moved from over-management to the clear destruction of our wild herds. Click here to watch the one-hour report "Stampede to Oblivion"
2. Continue writing, calling and demanding a stop to these roundups (click here for your government & media contacts). An immediate moratorium is needed if we are to protect wild horses & burros into the future. Already less than a quarter of herds are genetically viable & 20+ million acres have been taken away from them since 1971. The BLM is acting illegally and clearly not following the Wild Horse & Burro Act- they must be stopped- these massive roundups are a cruel waste of these horses lives on the taxpayers' dime. In Defense of Animals has an easy to use mailing form and great sample letter, click here.
3. Sign the Save Our Wild Horses Resolution petition & join the Cloud Foundation mailing list to stay informed (join us on Facebook & Twitter & check our Blog for frequent updates too).

4. Tune into your local PBS station on Sunday evening to watch  "Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions". Check your local listings for times and join Ginger for a live chat after the show online at PBS.org. Click here for more information.
5. Please continue to support the Cloud Foundation through your donations and your purchases from the Cloud store (the new Cloud book & Breyer models just arrived- donate for your signed books and models here).
6. Please share this with friends and family-- wild horses were saved from destruction before, we have to do it again. Check the Cloud Foundation site soon for our new Kid's page. Wild Horse Annie and thousands of children saved these horses before... let's do it again, now!
Thank you for all of your incredible support and action. We hope you enjoy this next documentary and please let it inspire you to continued action on behalf of all our wild horses & burros. 

Cloud turns to face helicopter in last month's roundup- Ann Evans photo. Middle photo by Tony Wengert, Cloud & Morning Star's bands race across the Pryors, Summer 2008.

The Deadly Gathers of BLM

Horseback Magazine

Photo by Terry Fitch

By Steven Long
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The Bureau of Land Management's concerted effort to thin the herds of wild horses on land it manages has proven deadly, so deadly in fact, that for each of the last two years (and this year’s not over yet) there have been fatalities on almost half of the “gathers” the agency has conducted.
And last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the roundups will continue as herds across the West will be reduced as horses are moved from their natural habitat to artificial refuges in the Midwest and East – this despite the 256 million acres potentially available to the animals on BLM lands.
BLM released fatality statistics from its roundups for the last two years to Horseback Magazine late Thursday.
In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on one in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals last year.
The percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups this year is slightly worse at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. In July, a Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses. To date this year, 79 horses have died as the agency rushes to clear wild horses from the West.
Experts have told Horseback Magazine that the massive roundups are leaving the western wild horse herds genetically bankrupt. . And chemical sterilization is taking its toll as well, they say.
Over the last two years a total of 205 horses have died at the agency’s hands during its gathers to thin the herds despite the vastness of the lands managed by BLM..
In BLM roundups, horses are often driven down miles of rocky slops by a roaring helicopter. Such was the case in Wyoming this year when 11 horses died at Coconut Creek. A total of 349 horses were caught in that gather.
Although helicopter induced stampedes result in fatalities, the agency is reluctant to classify a limping horse as injured.
The bureau classifies equine deaths two ways, according to national spokesman Tom Gorey of the agency’s Washington office.
It classifies horse deaths directly related to a gather as “the number of animals that died or were euthanized because of acute injuries or medical conditions brought about by the gather and removal process, including those that occurred during capture, sorting, and herding at the gather site. This category includes all animals euthanized for reasons related to gather activities.”
Translated from bureaucratese, these horses would not have died had they been left alone in their natural habitat.
All other deaths are lumped together in one group for “reasons related to chronic or pre-existing conditions such as body condition, lameness, and serious physical defects. This category includes all animals euthanized for reasons not related to gather activities.”
Gory classifies as myth reports that the agency views a 1 percent death rate as acceptable.
“There is no fatality rate that is considered acceptable to the BLM,” he said. “Our goal is zero percent fatalities in connection with gathers.”
Gory said a percentage of deaths lumped into the second category in 2008 was unusually high because they were “primarily related to Nevada horses that suffered serious health issues resulting from shortage of water and poor forage conditions because of drought and wildfire”
He said these horse deaths occurred at the Nevada Wild Horse Range, Roberts Mountain, New Pass/Ravenswood, and Augusta Herd Management Areas.
In fact, the agency reported that of the 126 deaths attributed to gathers last year, 106 of them fall into the latter category.

The Conquest, Conquistador

__________________________________________

Aging PBS Star Still Held And At Risk Of Death

Wild Horse Adoption Day Set for Sept. 26th

By Steven Long

Photo, The Cloud Foundation

http://www.horsebackmagazine.com/Conquistador%20g%20kathrens%202%20inch.jpgHOUSTON, (Horseback) - Conquistador, a 19-year-old Pryor Mountain Mustang captured during a “gather” by the Bureau of Land Management over the Labor Day Weekend could soon face execution for the crime of being an older horse.

The agency has 33,000 wild horses in captivity, and despite the fact they manage 256 million acres, it has no place to release them where they can run free. What’s more, BLM has so depleted its budget, spending $27 million holding the horses in captivity, the agency last year seriously contemplated euthanizing tens of thousands of Mustangs and burros.

Despite having a leading role in the PBS “Nature” series starring the famed wild palomino Mustang named Cloud, the aging horse known to television fans across the globe as Conquistador is at risk.

Last year documents came to light under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) query by a Phoenix group regarding an equicide plan to destroy healthy horses gathered on public lands and placed in holding pens by the thousands

Ironically, the plan was dubbed “The Conquistador Program.”

The BLM deems natural resources on Pryor Mountain as not being able to sustain the number of horses living off the land there.

Agency policy considers horses such as Conquistador as too old and thus, expendable. Under a 2004 law, the BLM is required to sell horses “without limitation” that are either more than 10 years of age, or which have been passed over for adoption three times.

The law’s mandate to sell without limitation is subject to interpretation, and while BLM vigorously denies that it sells to slaughter plants or to “killer buyers,” scant scrutiny is given to potential purchaser after the sale. Numerous reports have reached Horseback Magazine by observers who allege they saw the distinctive BLM brand on the necks of horses destined for abattoirs across the Mexican and Canadian borders as they were confined to holding pens with a telltale slaughter tag attached to them.

Minutes of BLM discussions of the Conquistador Plan reveal the agency at one point became so desperate to rid itself of the horses it now holds that it considered euthanizing horses more than 10 years old after only one attempt at adoption, not three.

Beginning in July, 2008, managers compiled a 68 page document dubbed Alternative Management Solutions. It detailed methods of dealing death such as barbiturates, gunshots, or the often cruel captive bolt.

The report revealed that it would call upon the agency’s public relations arm to shield those doing the killing from the scrutiny by the public, media, or even members of Congress.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), Louisiana, has said she would consider removing management of wild horses and burros from the BLM..

The plan even contemplated psychiatric counseling for BLM employees or contractors who would do the actual killing of thousands of horses.

While Cloud and members of his herd were released back into the wild, albeit fatigued, and depleted of much needed fat fat after as much as a 10 mile stampede by helicopter, Conquistador remains in BLM custody along with two other horses that will be seen in the next installment of the Cloud “Nature” series on PBS. The program by Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens is scheduled to air in October.

The gather, completed September 8, captured 146 horse including 15 foals.

A meeting of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board is scheduled for September 28, in Arlington Virginia.

The agency’s National Adoption Day is scheduled for September 26. The 57 horses, including Conquistador, that were not returned to freedom on Pryor Mountain will be offered for adoption that day at the Britton Springs camp at the base. Pryor Mountain is located in Montana near Billings.

The BLM left 125 horses on the mountain to face the fierce Montana winter. The agency claims no horses were injured in the gather despite video of Cloud limping after his release.

A BLM spokesman said sore feet don’t constitute an injury.

Repeated requests for an interview with BLM Director Bob Abbey have been refused.