EWA Press Release | Outrage Over Wild Horse and Burro Removals Crosses the Pond

March 14, 2010

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Vicki Tobin

Equine Welfare Aliance

630.961.9292

vicki@equinewelfareallaince.org

Mary Alice Pollard

Cornwalls Voice for Animals

0041-1 872.580.429

cvfa.uk@virgin.net

Outrage Over Wild Horse and Burro Removals Crosses the Pond

 

CHICAGO, (EWA) – The outrage over the round-up of America’s wild horses and burros has spread internationally. Groups in the United Kingdom will be holding a rally in front of the American Embassy in London on March 25. On the same day, Americans will be holding a rally across from the White House in Lafayette Park that will conclude in front of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices.

 

The London Protest was organized by Jane Bravery, Mary Alice Pollard of Cornwall’s Voice for Animals (CVFA), Maria Daines, singer/songwriter and board member of Saving America’s Horses and international actress, Melita Morgan. The rally is cosponsored by the Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and The Cloud Foundation (TCF).

 

Maria Daines commented, “If we do not stand as one on issues that affect all species whose purpose is to live wild and free, we cannot expect our own species to evolve in a compassionate and considerate way towards each other. Wild horses deserve their time and place, they deserve our protection and we must exist peacefully with these glorious creatures or risk losing them forever.”

 

Mary Alice Pollard adds, “Cornwalls Voice for Animals represents seven thousand supporters worldwide and stands united in ending wild horse round-ups and seeing the wild horses being born free and living wild and free.”

 

The Washington DC rally and press conference is hosted by Friends of Animals and is cosponsored by EWA, TCF, and In Defense of Animals. A screening of James Kleinert’s documentary, Disappointment Valley will be held the night prior to the protest. Celebrities, advocates and organization members from across the country are expected to attend the two day event.

 

“There is a groundswell of support for the preservation of America’s Mustangs. The BLM would like the public to believe this is just a minor uprising but this is a major international movement.” ~Ginger Kathrens, volunteer executive director, TCF.

 

The recent deadly round-up at the Calico Complex in Nevada has added to the tremendous support for a moratorium on round-ups. To date, 113 wild horses have lost their lives as a result of the round-up. At least two foals literally had their hooves run off.

 

"Our wild horses don't have the luxury of time to waste while we grapple with bad policy. We must not allow special interests to methodically eliminate these horses from public land or our future generations will be robbed of their natural heritage." ~Mariana Tosca, Actor and Social Activist/Animal Activist

 

CVFA, EWA and TCF urge the public to attend these rallies and ask that President Obama issue an immediate moratorium on round-ups and reject BLM plans to relocate wild horses to the East and Midwest until current range studies and independent population counts are available.

 

EWA’s John Holland notes, “The United Call for a Moratorium originally sent to President Obama and the Department of Interior in November, remains unanswered.”

 

 

 

 

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.

 

 

 

www.equinewelfarealliance.org 

 

www.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org

Top award for wild horse advocate

Horsetalk

 

Chairman Rahall, far right, with Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle and wild horse advocate Madeleine Pickens before a National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee hearing on Rahall's wild horse legislation (H.R. 1018) last year. 

An advocate for American wild horses has received the top congressional award for 2009 from the Humane Society of the United States.

 

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va, will receive the 2009 Humane Legislator of the Year title, for his leadership on the Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) Act to overhaul the Interior Department's management of wild horses on public lands and restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of mustangs and burros. he also skillfully guidED 11 wildlife protection measures successfully through that Committee and to approval by the full House.

"Chairman Rahall has done a remarkable job leading the House to pass an extraordinary breadth of important wildlife measures, as well as personally championing the cause of wild horses on public lands," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS.

"He has made the House Natural Resources Committee a real force for good on behalf of animals, and we are so grateful for his compassion, tenacity and skillful legislative work."

Every year, the Humane Society Legislative Fund compiles a federal Humane Scorecard to provide a snapshot of animal protection issues considered by the US Congress and give animal advocates a tool to assess the performance of their Senators and Representatives. The scorecard tracks key votes as well as co-sponsorship of important pro-animal bills and support for adequate funding needed to enforce key animal welfare laws. For 2009, in addition to the top award for Rep. Rahall, Humane Champion awards will go to 19 legislators who took the lead on animal welfare legislation and also received a perfect score on the 2009 Humane Scorecard; Legislative Leader awards will go to 83 legislators for their leadership as prime sponsors of pro-animal legislation; and Humane Advocate awards will go to 28 legislators who received a perfect score on the 2009 Humane Scorecard.

In total, 131 legislators - one-third of the Senate and nearly one-quarter of the House (representing 36 states and two US territories) - will receive awards for their work in 2009.

"We're grateful to the many Members of Congress who are helping to forge a path to a more humane future through their demonstrated leadership on animal protection legislation," said Michael Markarian, president of HSLF.

"Our animal welfare laws are a reflection of our basic values and attitudes shared by people across the country."

• Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., is a recipient of an animal welfare leadership award for his work on animal protection legislation.

Among several animal welfare related issues receiving Byrd's support was one requiring the federal government to allow for the adoption of retired service horses, and he also worked on a bill to revamp the Department of Interior's management of wild horses on public lands.

Wild horses in the news

March 7, 2010

Another GREAT Wild Horse website

Wild Mustang Coalition



Wild Mustang CoaliWild Mustang Coalition

Sheryl Crow Asks President Obama & Secretary Salazar to Stop the Assault on America’s Wild Horses and Burros

 

CLOUD FOUNDATION

 

Actors Ed Harris, Wendie Malick, and Over 100 Organizations Demand Roundup Moratorium, Protesting Nevada’s Calico Complex Roundup to begin December 1

 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. (November 20, 2009)—Sheryl Crow speaks out for the wild horses and burros on America’s public lands in the west. The multi-GRAMMY®-winning singer-songwriter and mustang owner joins The Cloud Foundation, over 130 organizations, scientists, authors and celebrity supporters calling on President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of Interior to place an immediate moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups until a long-term and humane policy to manage the animals is developed.

 

“With one voice we are insisting that our government stop managing these beautiful and important animals to extinction” —Sheryl Crow

 

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) removal plan for Nevada’s Calico Complex wild mustangs is fueling outrage across the country and internationally. In a unified sign-on letter (full text below), wild horse supporters outline their opposition to the Obama Administration's October 7, 2009 announcement (http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/100709.html) regarding the management of wild horses and burros. Groups oppose moving 26,000 wild horses to purchased lands in the east and the current government practice of removing entire wild horse and burros herds from public lands specifically designated for the animals by Congress in 1971.

 

 “We ask that President Obama or Secretary Salazar cease all BLM roundups as of this date to prevent further suffering.  We request that the government and BLM begin to work in good faith with wild horse advocates for a sustainable solution. The Calico Roundup, scheduled to begin in December and continue through the dead of winter, is inhumane and must be stopped!” —Sheryl Crow

 

Upon hearing about the BLM’s plans for the large-scale removal of 2,500 horses in northwest Nevada near the Black Rock Desert, more than seven thousand citizens submitted public comments to the BLM opposing the Calico Mountain Complex Round Up, scheduled to begin on December 1, 2009. Public comment has been extended through November 22, 2009 according to the BLM.

 

Currently more than 33,000 wild horses are stockpiled in government holding facilities at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000 a day. The scheduled removal of 2,500 from Nevada will bring that total to more than 35,000.

 

“We already have enough wild horses in pens. Adding more horses to those already held in confinement, when they are much safer on the range is shortsighted, inhumane and fiscally irresponsible.”—Ginger Kathrens, Emmy Award Filmmaker & Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation.

 

The BLM will pay the private contractor $610 per horse rounded up for an estimated total of nearly $2 million for the Calico roundup alone according to BLM spokesperson, Tom Gorey. Branding, vaccinating, sterilizing and processing of horses to be placed in government holding will cost several million more. The BLM hired the same contractor for the controversial roundup of the famous stallion, Cloud, and his Pryor Mountain herd in September, 2009. Bands including two-month-old foals were chased down off the mountaintop by helicopter for 10-15 miles in more than 90 degree heat resulting in trauma and lameness. (http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/youtube-videos/146-lamefoal)

 

"The government is acting in defiance of the spirit and intent of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act which Congress passed unanimously —Julianne French, wild horse advocate. (http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm)

 

The 1971 Act preserves wild horses and burros in over 300 areas of publicly owned rangeland in the west, forbidding their exploitation, harassment and removal. Regardless, only 30 million acres remain of the 54 million acres designated primarily for wild horse use in 1971. Over 100 herds have been  completely removed by the BLM and most remaining herds are too small to insure their long-term survival. The BLM's current policy of eradicating these herds is a betrayal of the wishes of the American public.

 

Sheryl Crow, with wild mustang and burro supporters, calls the public to action urging all to write, e-mail, fax and phone Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, their congressional representatives and President Obama. The list of contact phones, e-mails, faxes and mailing addresses is online here. (http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/action-alerts/198-government-contacts)

 

“Its time for all of us to speak up for our Wild Horses and Burros so we do not lose these living legends and inspiring symbols of our freedom in America.”

—Sheryl Crow

 

 

Photos and video available from:

The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842 or 719-351-8187

 

Spokesperson:

The Cloud Foundation: Ginger Kathrens 719-633-3842 ginger@thecloudfoundation.org

 

For Dates, Directions & Information on Attending a Roundup please contact:

The Cloud Foundation

      or

Don Glenn

Chief, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program

don_glenn@blm.gov

202-452- 5082

 

 

Supporting Documents/links

Sheryl Crow Joins in Wild Horse Fight

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-nLYNPACd0&NR=1)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now

(http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225)

Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist: interview on upcoming Nevada roundup 

(http://vimeo.com/7135462)

Public lands grazing fiscal costs report from Wild Earth Guardians

(http://www.sagebrushsea.org/pdf/factsheet_Grazing_Fiscal_Costs.pdf)

Managing Wild Equids On Public Lands: A response to the DOI Plan (TCF) 

(http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-release)

Environmental Assessment on proposed Calico Complex Gather

(http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0/wild_horse_and_burro/Calico.html)

American Herds report “Crunching Calico”

(http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html)

The BLM’s Wild Horse Numbers

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id43.html)

2009-2010 Roundup Schedule

(http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/roundup-schedule-2009-2010/)

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

BLM Will Treat 3,000 Wild Mares with Fertility Drug After Decimating Herds by Capture

Horseback Magazine

By Steven Long
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The year 2010 will mark an enormous turning point in the history of America’s wild horses and burros as their caretaker, the federal Bureau of Land Management, launches an aggressive campaign to remove them from their wilderness homes.
The agency claims the horses are breeding at an alarming degree, destroying the land, and starving.
Animal welfare organizations such as the Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance and the Cloud Foundation of Colorado Springs disagree and have launched a global petition drive to force a president who was elected on a platform of change to halt business as usual at the BLM and halt the capture of America's wild horses.
If the roundups proceed, critics charge the herds may well be genetically bankrupt – unable to propagate in the wild. Horseback Magazine put the BLM on the record. The following is the response we got from national spokesman Tom Gory.
HORSEBACK MAGAZINE: How many wild horses will be left on BLM land after the 2010 gathers?
GORY: The on-the-range population will be approximately 34,000 after the 2010gather season.  This figure reflects the fact that herd populations grow atan average rate of 20 percent.
HORSEBACK: How many of the remaining mares in the wild will have been treated with fertility drugs?
GORY:  We are planning on treating approximately 3,000 mares for FY 2010.
HORSEBACK: Will any of the horse management areas set upin 1971 that currently serve as habitat to wild horse and burros be left bare of equines after the roundups?
GORY:  No HMAs that are currently maintaining horses will be bare of equines after the FY 2010 gather season.
HORSEBACK: What specifically is the relationship between the BLM and the Humane Society of the United States in terms of the use and supply of thefertility drug  PZP on wild horses?
Gory:  The BLM has an agreement with HSUS signed on 10/23/06.  The agreement states that the BLM agrees to:
      1. Continue a cooperative relationship with the HSUS concerning thefurther development of contraceptive vaccines for use in controlling wildhorse populations.
      2. Develop policies that promote and facilitate the use of contraception within the constraints of existing laws and regulations.  The goals of these policies are to:
      a. reduce the growth rate of wild horse populations;
      b. reduce the frequency of removal actions on wild horse herds;
      c. reduce the number of animals that must be removed from the public rangelands; and
      d. reduce the overall costs of wild horse management.
      3. Monitor the effects and effectiveness of the use of fertility  control vaccine on wild horse populations, and keep the HSUS informed ofthe results of that monitoring.
HSUS agrees to:
   1.   Ensure a reliable supply of contraceptive vaccine, including adjuvants and other components.
   2.   Improve preparation and delivery methods for safe and effective application of the vaccine.
   3.   Work towards increasing the effectiveness of the drug while ensuring its safety to humans and animals.
BLM and HSUS agree to:
   1.   Educate and inform the public on the role that contraception can play in the management and control of wild horse populations on publiclands.
   2.   Work toward meeting the EPA and/or the FDA requirements fornon-investigational use of the contraceptive vaccine.
   3.   Meet annually at a minimum to review progress of provisions agreed to in this Memorandum Of Understanding. Consistent with that agreement, the BLM has a cooperative research project involving two HMAs that is funded by an Annanberg Foundation grant to look at:
      1. What are the effects of the 22-month PZP vaccine on the population's foaling and growth rates?
      2. What are the effects of a PZP booster administered remotely in year 3 on the fertility of individual treated mares and on the population's foaling and growth rates?
      3.  What are the effects of PZP treatments on the health and social dynamics of treated bands?

Groups lay out arguments for wild horse moratorium

Horse Talk

November 20, 2009

Concerns over strategies for managing wild horses in the United States have been spelt out in a letter to US politicians from concerned groups and citizens. More than 100 groups and individuals have signed a letter to President Barack Obama, Congress and the Department of Interior, calling for an immediate moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups.
The groups argue that current management strategies employed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are flawed and argue the so-called Salazar plan for future management of herds has serious shortcomings.
The groups, which include the Equine Welfare Alliance and the Cloud Foundation, which campaigned hard for the preservation of the Pryor Mountain horses, argued that major changes were needed in the management plan.
"While we agree that the programme is in dire need of reform, and we applaud your Administration's commitment to avoid BLM's suggested mass-killing of horses, the plan outlined in October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar raises numerous concerns," the signatories said.
The groups argue that the Salazar plan perpetuates the "flawed assumption" that wild horses and burros are overpopulating their Western ranges.
"In reality, the BLM has no accurate current inventory of the 37,000 wild horses and burros it claims remain on public lands. Independent analysis of BLM's own numbers reveal there may be only 15,000 wild horses remaining on public lands."
They argued against the continuing "mass removal of wild horses and burros from their rightful Western ranges".
"The BLM intends to spend over $US30 million in Fiscal Year 2010 to capture more than 12,000 wild horses and burros. This stockpiling of horses continues even as an astounding 32,000 are already being held in government holding facilities at enormous taxpayer expense."
The groups argued that wild horses and burros were the scapegoats for range deterioration, even though they comprise only a small fraction of animals and wildlife grazing our public lands.
"Far greater damage is caused by privately owned livestock, which outnumber the horses more than 100 to 1."
The signatories argued that moving wild horses and burros east off their western homelands to new herd areas in the east and Midwest at an initial cost of $US96 million could create significant health concerns if animals adapted to western landscapes are managed on wet ground and rich grasses.
"Removing tens of thousands of horses and burros from their legally designated Western ranges and moving them into government-run facilities subverts the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act, which mandated that horses be preserved 'where presently found'.
"A 2009 DC district court case held that 'Congress did not authorize BLM to 'manage' the wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long-term care as non-wild free-roaming animals off the public lands'."
The signatories said they appreciated the Obama Administration's recognition of the horses' value as an ecotourism resource.
"However, the display of captive, non-reproducing herds in eastern pastures renders them little more than zoo exhibits, further discounting the contribution to our history and the future of the American West.
"We believe that workable solutions to create a healthy 'multiple use' of public rangelands, protect the ecological balance of all wildlife, and preserve America's wild horses and burros in their rightful, legally protected home can be achieved.
"We are calling on the Obama Administration to reform the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Management Programme."
They called for a moratorium on all roundups pending an accurate and independent assessment of population numbers and range conditions, and the development of a final, long-term solution.
They called on the government to restore protections included in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, update existing laws that protect wild horses by reopening certain public lands to the mustangs and burros, and return healthy wild horses and burros in holding facilities to all available acres of public land designated primarily for their use in 1971.
"If these lands are not available, equivalent and appropriate western public lands should be added in their place."
The government, they argued, should support federal grazing permit buybacks and set appropriate management levels for herds areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically-viable populations to exist in the west.
It also called for Congressional hearings over the "mismanagement" of wild herds and sought an investigation into the "inability of BLM to correct the shortcomings of the programme as audited by the Government Accountability Office's 1990, 1991 and 2008 reports".

Wild horses and the legal system Part one

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October 19, 5:25 PMLA Equine Policy ExaminerCarrol Abel

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Taylor Grazing Districts in 1937            DOI, BLM 1988

"The current situation is a management environment driven by court decree where biological rationale is lost within a myriad of legal arguments and competing agendas."      Kris Havstad USDA

Our nation's wild horses and burros are regulated by so many laws, government bureaus, agencies, and commissions that it's impossible for John Q. Public to fully understand.  Many question whether the judicial system itself can effectively wade through the incongruence's created.  Misrepresentation of wild horse facts have been uttered so often by so many as to become accepted truths.
Court documents from a 1975 lawsuit state, " The uncontradicted evidence is that wild horse herds do not normally migrate..."  This particular stupidity has not survived the years but serves as a precursor to many myths that were to follow.
Wild horse opponents argue on the basis that wild horses are feral or estray, they are not an indigenous species and can not be considered as wildlife, they cause tremendous degradation to public rangelands, wild horse herds are starving, the herds grow at an annual rate of %20, they graze the lands void of feed needed by the cattle industry to supply America with food. Proponents disagree.
Where did the dissension begin?  Has prejudice against wild horses permeated the creation and implementation of our laws?
Wild horses and cattle have been at war since homesteaders settled the old west. Ranchers in the 1800's declared, " they are the worst nuisance imaginable."  Some rallied together with cries of, " We can shoot them and feed the starving countries of Europe."  And shoot them they did.  Nevada passed a law in 1897 allowing citizens to shoot unbranded horses on public lands.  The law was repealed after ranches complained about losing too many of their domestic horses.  Though they did not pass similar laws, other western states were of the same mind. By the early 1900's the wild horse was almost exterminated from the southwestern states.
In 1934, the Taylor Grazing Act became the law of Western rangelands.  Intended to provide a stewardship for overgrazed western ranges, the law established the Grazing Bureau within the Department of Interior.  Public lands were sectioned into grazing districts to be managed by the new Bureau.
Kris Havstad, research rangeland management specialist for USDA, made the following statements in a late 1990's report,
"The implementations of the provisions of the grazing act was intentionally oriented to the needs of the ranching community of the west... The original grazing districts were established under direction of an advisory committee comprised of cattle and sheep ranchers in each region.  The adjuration of land and water rights serving millions of acres of range lands was accomplished primarily by these users."
The Grazing Bureau born by this act merged in 1946 with the General Land Office to form the current Bureau of Land Management..... the Bureau now mandated by Congress to protect free-roaming horses and burros in these United States.
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" Wild horses and the legal system" is a multi-part commentary.   Part two " The influence of livestock ranching on the law" can be accessed here

Wild horses and the legal system Part Two

Examiner

October 22, 12:15 PMLA Equine Policy ExaminerCarrol Abel

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AP Photo/Ed Andrieski

The influence of livestock ranching on the law

Discussion of the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act in part one of this series leads us to a deeper look into the influence of livestock ranching on laws governing the use of our western lands today.

Fortunate homesteaders of the 1800's soon realized that raising livestock was the key to their future.  Prairie "gold" turned many a humble cowboy into a wealthy cattle baron. Livestock ranching soon became a legacy of the west..... a proud heritage even now.  And rightfully so.

The first State Cattlemen's Association was formed in the late 1800's.  Others popped up quickly thereafter.  By World War I their control over the nation's food supply raised a red flag for President Woodrow Wilson.  Wickipedia states, "(he) ordered the FTC to investigate the industry 'from hoof to table'... The FTC reported packers were manipulating markets, restricting flow of foods, controlling the price of dressed meat, defrauding producers and consumers of food and crushing competition."  Concern continued into the Harding Administration and the Packers and Stockyards Act was passed in 1921.  Its purpose was to prohibit packers from engaging in unfair and deceptive practices.

The industry developed strength and authority  that continued to grow throughout the depression.  As concern mounted over deteriorating western ranges and supplying a hungry nation with food, members of these associations were called upon for their expertise. 

In an article titled "Land Held Hostage", Thomas L. Fleischner Ph.D. , professor of environmental studies at Prescott  College inArizona, describes one such instance.  

" Representatives from district advisory boards were organized into a National Advisory Board Council, which wielded tremendous influence nationwide.  A member of that council later recollected that ranchers wrote the entire Federal Range Code at the councils first meeting, with government officials polite enough to offer to leave so as not to interfere."

In 1949 the National Advisory Board Council became part of the Dept. of the Interior which includes BLM and other departments now responsible for managing our wild horses and burros.

 

Numerous advisory board councils formed and various Bills and Acts became law. Countless County, State, and Federal Laws were passed.   As reputations grew, those in the livestock industry won elected political positions in counties that depended on their experience for financial survival..... then moved on to hold state offices.  Their role in building western economy is undeniable.

An unintended result of our dependence on expertise offered by the industry is well expressed by Fleischner,

"On public lands, federal regulation of livestock grazing was very slow to develop.  The political influence of stock growers has enabled them to largely resist policy shifts that would allow ecological recovery.  Today, increasing scientific knowledge and general appreciation of arid lands may finally effect real grazing reform." 

A trek through the N.Y. Times archives covering this era reveals an intense anti wild horse attitude in the livestock industry.

 

---------------------------------------

Wild horses and the legal system is a multi-part commentary.  Part three will be published next week.

It is recommended that part one be read first.

PRESS RELEASE

Cloud Foundation

For immediate release

 

A Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Wild Horse & Burro Roundups

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (The Cloud Foundation) – November 18, 2009

120 Organizations, celebrities and scientists in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa signed onto the following letter sent to the President, Congress and the Department of the Interior to rein in the Bureau of Land Management today.

A Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Wild Horse & Burro Roundups

And a humane, fiscally responsible plan for preserving and protecting the iconic,

 free-roaming wild horses and burros of the American West

 

President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of the Interior:

 

We, the undersigned, request major changes to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program. This must begin with an immediate moratorium on all roundups. While we agree that the program is in dire need of reform, and we applaud your Administration's commitment to avoid BLM’s suggested mass-killing of horses, the plan outlined in October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar raises numerous concerns. These include:

 

·      Perpetuating the flawed assumption that wild horses and burros are overpopulating their Western ranges. In reality, the BLM has no accurate current inventory of the 37,000 wild horses and burros it claims remain on public lands. Independent analysis of BLM’s own numbers reveal there may be only 15,000 wild horses remaining on public lands.

 

·      Continuing the mass removal of wild horses and burros from their rightful Western ranges: The BLM intends to spend over $30 million in Fiscal Year 2010 to capture more than 12,000 wild horses and burros. This stockpiling of horses continues even as an astounding 32,000 are already being held in government holding facilities at enormous taxpayer expense.

 

·      Scapegoating wild horses and burros for range deterioration even though they comprise only a tiny fraction of animals and wildlife grazing our public lands. Far greater damage is caused by privately-owned livestock, which outnumber the horses more than 100 to 1.

 

·      Moving wild horses and burros east off their Western homelands to “sanctuaries” in the east and Midwest at an initial cost of $96 million creates significant health concerns if animals adapted to western landscapes are managed on wet ground and rich grasses.

Removing tens of thousands of horses and burros from their legally-designated Western ranges and moving them into government-run facilities subverts the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act, which mandated that horses be preserved “where presently found.” A 2009 DC district court case held that “Congress did not authorize BLM to “manage” the wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long-term care as non-wild free-roaming animals off the public lands.”

 

We appreciate your Administration's recognition of the horses’ value as an ecotourism resource. However, the display of captive, non-reproducing herds in eastern pastures renders them little more than zoo exhibits, further discounting the contribution to our history and the future of the American West.

We believe that workable solutions to create a healthy “multiple use” of public rangelands, protect the ecological balance of all wildlife, and preserve America's wild horses and burros in their rightful, legally protected home can be achieved. We are calling on the Obama Administration to reform the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Management Program.

 

We ask that you reverse the current course and immediately take the following actions:

 

1)    Place a moratorium on all roundups until accurate and independent assessments of population numbers and range conditions are made available and a final, long-term solution is formalized.

 

2)    Restore protections included in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Update existing laws that protect wild horses by reopening certain public lands to the mustangs and burros, thus decreasing the number in captivity. Return healthy wild horses and burros in holding to all available acres of public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. If these lands are not available, equivalent and appropriate western public lands should be added in their place.

 

3)    Support federal grazing permit buybacks. Reduce livestock grazing and reanalyze appropriate management levels for herd management areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically-viable herds to exist in the west.

4)    Conduct Congressional hearings regarding the mismanagement of our wild herds and further investigate the inability of BLM to correct the shortcomings of the program as audited by the Government Accountability Office’s 1990, 1991 and 2008 reports.

Supported by the undersigned on November 16, 2009

______________________________
Autonomous Makana Ndlambe Horse & Livestock Association, South Africa

Adapting Gaits, Inc.

Alex Brown Racing

American Horse Defense Fund

Americans Against Horse Slaughter

Americans Against Horse Slaughter in Arizona

Andean Tapir Fund

Angel's Gate Hospice & Rehabilitation Home for Animals

Animal Healing Connection

Animal Health and Safety Associates/Pixie Projects

Animal Iridology Center

Animal Law Coalition

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Animals' Angels

Beauty's Haven Farm & Equine Rescue, Inc.

Brad Woodard, Reporter

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition

Castleton Ranch Horse Rescue, Inc.

Chantal Westermann, former ABC reporter

The Cloud Foundation

Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition

The Conquistador Equine Rescue and Advocacy Program

Cornwalls Voice for Animals

Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and author

Senator Dave Wanzenried, Montana

Deanne Stillman , Author of Mustang

DreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary

Ed Harris & Family

Emthunzini

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______________________________

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Ginger Kathrens
Volunteer Executive Director
The Cloud Foundation
719.633.4933
ginger@thecloudfoundation.org

___________________________________

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This is a don’t miss program for our wild ones! We have Ginger Kathrens, Makendra Silverman, Laura Leigh, Craig Downer and Laura Allen. We will be discussing some exciting news that has been occurring over the last few days, as well as the upcoming Calico Complex round-up, a discussion on ROAM (Laura Allen) and John’s article with AP. With all the activity we’ve been having, we are going to give you all the updates/information and then open the lines for calls.

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BLM extends public comment period for Nevada wild horse round up

Examiner

November 17, 12:34 PMLA Equine Policy Examiner

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A harem band of Nevada wild horses                                        photo by Carrol Abel

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Related Articles

• Wild horse removal generates over 7,000 comments to BLM
• BLM to gather 90% of wild horses from Nevada complex
• Salazar announces new plan for wild horses and burros

Yesterday's announcement of an extended public comment period by Bureau of Land Management's Winnemucca District Office left some people scratching their heads while others were applauding the decision.  An October release of the Preliminary Environmental Assessment for a scheduled removal of wild horses from five herd management areas in Northern Nevada dubbed the "Calico Complex" was scheduled with just 21 days for public comment.  The usual comment period is 30 days.
Lisa Roth, BLM Public Affairs Specialist, explains the extension by saying that they received several complaints on the shortened 21 day duration.  As of yesterday, BLM officials reported over 7,000 public comments had been received.
One of several disputed needs quoted in the document for removal of between 2,476 and 2,787 wild horses is to "reduce impacts to rangeland and wildlife resources from overgrazing by wild horses."  Sources within the wild horse advocate community point to the BLM admission that 2,500 cattle graze the complex and ask why the horses are always blamed. A photo of damage to a watering hole displayed in the BLM document is curiously absent of horse feces and yet the damage is blamed on horses.  Scientific references used in the Environmental Assessment are from the 1970's and 80's.
Other points of contention are; accuracy of population counts, process for determining appropriate management level, equitable implementation of multiple land use policies, and definition of the term     "thriving natural ecological balance".
The BLM is asking for substantive comments on the Environmental Assessment by Sunday, November 22.  Questions and written comments should be directed to:
Dave Hays , Field Manager , Black Rock field office, BLM Winnemucca District Office, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, Nevada, 89445-22921.  Comments may also be submitted by e-mail to wfoweb@nv.blm.gov  and should include "Calico Complex Capture Plan (Fox)" in the subject line.

2,500 Wild Horses to be Rounded Up in Dead of Winter

CLOUD FOUNDATION

Assault Planned on Last Stronghold of Wild Horse Herds

Dear Supporters,

Despite a significant public outcry, BLM plans a helicopter round up to remove thousands of wild horses in northwestern Nevada, an area called the Calico Complex in a remote and starkly beautiful landscape of volcanic outcrops, steep canyons and wide valleys. It is home to over 3,000 wild horses and represents the last stronghold of the once large herds of American mustangs that roamed the west by the millions.

The attack on Calico is scheduled to begin in December and continue through the dead of winter. Calico is a challenging environment in winter when bitter winds howl and blizzards are common. If BLM were truly interested in preserving wild horses they would not run them over treacherous terrain in winter when all wildlife are simply trying to survive by expending the least amount of energy possible.

Regardless, BLM intends to round up from 2486 to 2747 mustangs, taking away from them what they value most. . .their freedom and the families. They plan to release only 264 horses (80 mares, all treated with infertility drugs, and 184 stallions) back onto 1.5 million acres of our public lands, and incarcerate the rest in holding facilities already bursting at the seams. Taxpayers pay over $100,000 a day to feed these captives who were removed to make room for more welfare cattle on public lands. Because only 264 wild horses will be turned back into four herd areas, each herd will be genetically non-viable and left vulnerable to inbreeding.

A spokesman for BLM denies that the agency is managing our wild herds to extinction, but actions speak louder than this hollow promise. Only token, remnant herds will remain in this, the last stronghold of the wild horses. The onslaught is scheduled to begin December 1 and continue through the end of February 2010.

The Cloud Foundation is asking you to stand up for these horse and demand that the round up be halted. It is nothing more than government sponsored cruelty.

Call (202) 456-1111 and email President Obama
Call (202) 224-3121 and email your Congressional Representatives
Call (202) 208-7351 and e-mail Interior Secretary Salazar
Do it today.

Happy trails,
Ginger Kathrens
Volunteer Executive Director


Horses in snow photo: Living Images by Carol Walker, roundup photo by Alisa Kline.