Thursday, December 31, 2009

How Many Of Us Got Here

Story of the Decade: Barbaro Captures the Heart of a Nation

Bloodhorse.com

No story in the past decade transcended the Sport of Kings more than Barbaro’s eight-month struggle to survive, during which he had to undergo major surgeries and numerous procedures, and live in constant discomfort. All of America became engrossed in his story, and each time Barbaro battled back he reached deeper into people’s hearts, whether they knew anything about racing or horses. To everyone, he became a symbol of courage and determination.
The following is an editorial that was printed in The Blood-Horse magazine and Bloodhorse.com following Barbaro’s death. It is my tribute to a gallant warrior, who united a nation in hope, prayer, and admiration.
********************
Fairy tales are not supposed to have unhappy endings. Barbaro was to leave New Bolton Medical Center, walking soundly with his head held high, and live happily ever after. But Thoroughbreds, despite the fairy tales they inspire, live in a different realm than Walt Disney.
So, on the morning of Jan. 29, Dr. Dean W. Richardson, head of surgery at New Bolton Medical Center, made the somber announcement most everyone had been prepared to hear more than eight months earlier. Barbaro had been euthanized. The wave of grief that was anticipated back then now came swiftly and unexpectedly.
After so many months of hope and high expectations, Barbaro’s fight for life and the miracle story he had written were over. One did not have to hear Richardson’s words to know they were as heavy as the millions of hearts around the world that had embraced Barbaro and his struggle to survive.
What made the news of Barbaro’s death even harder to accept was that only a month earlier, talk had begun about the colt’s possible release from New Bolton. When Richardson, although still guarded, said that Barbaro’s release could come in the “not so distant future,” it brought a wave of elation and optimism. The horse was happy, eating, and enjoying his daily walks and grazing sessions. Christmas brought a deluge of cards and gifts to New Bolton, and spirits were high.
But just a month later, Dr. Richardson and owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson were forced to come to the realization that they had run out of miracles.
Having witnessed live the shocking breakdown of Ruffian and the horrific spills of Go for Wand and Pine Island, it is difficult to come to terms with the question: which is worse, watching the quick, relatively painless deaths of those magnificent fillies, or riding the roller-coaster of emotions that continued for more than eight months with Barbaro, ultimately leading to the same fate?
The answer, at least in Barbaro’s case, is the latter. The colt proved that greatness does not have to be achieved only on the racetrack. His incredible will and indefatigable spirit kept him alive long enough to show the world just how much emotion is capable of pouring out of one’s heart for a Thoroughbred racehorse, and how far the field of veterinary medicine has come. It just hasn’t come quite far enough; maybe it never will.
It was not disease or injury that ended Barbaro’s life; it was recovery. If there is a flaw in nature’s power of healing, it is that it cannot be applied to the Thoroughbred, to whom the words stationary and prone do not co-exist. Infused with the fiery blood of its ancestors, the Thoroughbred’s impetuous nature sadly is in constant conflict with its fragile legs, and it is that nature that often leads to its demise.
Rather than dwell on the outcome, it is best to concentrate on the heroic efforts that were made to save a horse that lived eight months longer than he was supposed to. It is best to concentrate on an unknown veterinarian, whose dedication, wit, and wisdom turned him into a James Herriot-like figure.
But what of future incidents of this nature regarding high-profile horses? Had Barbaro lived, similar efforts likely would have been made. But when Barbaro died, hope died with him, and without hope, you have to wonder if owners will be willing to invest the money and emotions needed to save a horse with this type of catastrophic injury. To come this close and defy such long odds, it would be a shame if others didn’t follow in the footsteps paved by Barbaro and Dr. Richardson.
Although Barbaro had to endure a great deal of physical and mental anguish, he also experienced the ultimate in human kindness and compassion, while being pampered like the noblest of kings. And he leaves behind a legacy that far transcends his stunning victory in the Kentucky Derby.
Cervantes said, “The guts carry the feet, not the feet the guts.” Barbaro’s guts carried his feet to victory after victory. But they carried his heart a lot farther.

Colorado- Excellent News Coverage

Cloud Foundation Blog

PROTESTS 12-30-09 A Resounding Success! First Chicago…

Ketchum, Idaho – Protest #3- Huge Success! »

#2 Colorado- Excellent News Coverage

By thecloudfoundation CBS Channel 4 News Story– expanded coverage at 6-6:30 MST.
Excellent article by CBS news’ Paul Day 50+ people, major local media!

Nevada wild-horse roundup protested in S.F.

San Francisco Chronicle

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Mustang advocates staged a literal dog-and-pony show in San Francisco on Wednesday to protest a federal roundup of wild horses from a Nevada mountain range.

Images

A miniature horse (left) and a burro join protesters outs...

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The equine enthusiasts brought a miniature horse, a burro and a horse-like English mastiff to the busy downtown sidewalk in front of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office, to urge her continued support for the plight of the country's 37,000 wild horses and burros.
"Wild horses have as much a right to freedom as American citizens do," said Karen Allen, a secretary from Concord who joined the protest. "These animals are a symbol of our heritage, and we're not treating them well."
The Bureau of Land Management began Monday rounding up 2,500 wild horses from a group of about 3,050 in the Calico Mountains near Nevada's Black Rock Desert. The younger horses will be tamed and adopted out, and the older horses will be trucked to the Midwest, where they'll spend the remainder of their lives roaming on private pastureland, according to the bureau.
The roundup is necessary because the herd populations are doubling every four years and the horses are overgrazing on federal land that must be shared with cattle, said BLM spokesman Tom Gorey.
The roundups started in 1976 and occur every few years to thin out herds around the West, but the current Calico roundup is among the largest in agency history. Using helicopters and wranglers, federal contractors are moving the horses through the mountains to a corral where they're vaccinated, checked by a veterinarian and sorted by age and gender.
Mustang advocates say the horses, which have been roaming free for 500 years, should be left alone. They're being unfairly forced off their land to make room for cattle, whose grazing permits generate revenue for the federal government, said lawyer Virginie Parant, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.
During the journey over icy, rocky terrain, the horses sometimes break limbs, colts can become separated from their mothers, and pregnant mares undergo severe hardship, she said. So far on the Calico roundup, one horse has been euthanized, according to the agency.
"This country was built on horses' backs, literally, and they're being treated like vermin," Parant said. "The range is supposed to be shared."
Parant's group wants an independent audit of the wild horse population, birth control administered in the wild and stronger federal protection for the horses, which are not endangered.
The agency is already testing birth control methods, Gorey said.
"We respect these iconic animals," he said. "We don't remove horses to make room for cattle. But we do have to balance the mandates for land use."

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Coloradoans Protest Against Wild Horse Roundups

_____________________________________________

CBS 4 Denver

Dec 30, 2009 5:44 pm US/Mountain

Coloradoans Protest Against Wild Horse Roundups

Written by Paul Day

Reporting
Paul Day

LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: A group of demonstrators protest in Longmont against wild horse roundups, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009.
CBS
Click to enlarge 2 of 2: An image from the Sand Wash wild horse round up in October of 2008.
CBS

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Here is a passionate cause that cuts across generations.

"Wild horses belong in the wild," says Colley Tobin, a young girl holding a protest sign.

She has joined a small group of adults and other children demonstrating Wednesday at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont.

But in San Francisco on the same day, the contingent is much larger and includes live animals.

All the protesters believe the government's policy of rounding up wild horses is wrong.

"There is no need to chase these wild horses from the range," asserts Monika Courtney, another protester. "This is land that was assigned to the mustangs by law, and BLM is breaking the law," she contends.

BLM is the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The agency organized the most recent round-up of wild horses in Colorado back in October 2008. The Sand Wash Basin Herd had gotten too big said the agency and threatened to eat itself out of house and home.

The feds claimed death by starvation was a real possibility unless the agency took action. But most wild horses are thriving and healthy on the open range say protesters.

They believe what's really the issue is wild horse round-ups make more grazing land available for cattle.

The focus of their criticism is Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"Being a rancher, he understands the ranchers point of view and knows if 200 horses are removed then 200 head of cattle can be placed there," says Cathy Bryarly, the protest organizer in Longmont.

According to the BLM website, Salazar wants to sterilize horses that are rounded up and move them to preserves back east at a cost of nearly 100 million dollars.

But a better solution, claim protesters, would be to leave the horses in the wild west as the focus of eco-tourism.

"They could be natural habitats with natural borders, cliffs, mountains where these animals would be observed in their natural life patterns," says Courtney.

The protesters claim the Secretary's plan is an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money and would potentially result in no horses left in the wild.

More protests are planned before Congress is expected to consider the Salazar plan.

[Please note that this is OUR OWN MONIKA COURTNEY !]

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Abbey Gives Go Ahead for Calico Gather in Defiance of Federal Judge’s Recommendation

Horseback Magazine

California Group Asks Feinstein to Stop Roundups - Protests

Chicago Protesters Brave the Cold

Colorado Residents Mount Protest

By Steven Long

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The director of the federal Bureau of Land Management personally gave a thumbs up to go ahead with a Nevada “gather” of wild horses.
“The decision to proceed with the Calico gather after Judge Friedman's ruling was made by Winnemucca Field District Manager Gene Seidlitz with the concurrence of BLM-Nevada State Director Ron Wenker and BLM Director Bob Abbey,” said BLM National spokesman Tom Gorey.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled two days before Christmas that the agency could go ahead with the roundup of wild horses in Western Nevada near the site of the famed Comstock Load, yet issued a pointed recommendation that the gather not proceed saying the agency faced a “conundrum.”
Friedman ruled that the agency practice of holding captured mustangs in large holding facilities is likely against the law and that it would be ill advised to proceed with the “Calico Gather” which was planned for December 28. Abbey clearly felt otherwise.
Gorey said the agency would have no further comment on its director’s decision to go ahead with the action which has drawn criticism from coast to coast and international press coverage in a perfect storm of protest by wild horse lovers.
“Judge Friedman's decision of Dec. 23, 2009, speaks for itself,” Gorey said. “The BLM has no further comment to make about the ruling, particularly since this legal matter is still under litigation,” he told Horseback Magazine.
The roundup began on Monday as planned and BLM barred press and public from witnessing the roundup. On Wednesday, the BLM escorted a small group of journalists to the site to observe the horses in a very controlled media event.
Wild Horse advocates claim that in the BLM roundups horses are stampeded down mountainsides, injured, and killed as they run from a roaring helicopter flying at low altitude. Horseback Magazine has repeatedly asked to witness BLM gathers, including the Calico, on horseback. BLM has denied the request.
Parts of the roundup are held on private land.
“The reason we have parts of it on private land is because it is the only way to have access to the horses for certain areas. They are really rough areas to get to. The private land is the only way we can get in there and get to them,” said BLM spokeswoman Heather Emmons.
The BLM denies that any horses are being removed from private property at taxpayer expense. Such removal would likely require reimbursement of the federal government by landowners for removing the horses. Many western ranchers view wild horses on their land as competition for their cattle.
BLM has refused to divulge the name of the property owner(s) whose land is being used for the gather other than to say it is not taking place on nearby Indian land.
Horseback has also repeatedly sought an interview with Abbey but has been refused.
In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on another roundup 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. Through September of this year, 79 horses have died as the agency rushes to clear wild horses from the West.
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 almost 260 million acres of vacant land managed by BLM.
Wild horse advocates claim the BLM roundups are genetically bankrupting the herds to the point of extinction.
The horse habitat set aside by the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act is coveted by ranchers for grazing land who sign leases at fire sale prices of $1.35 per cow per month.

_____________________________________

OSCAR WINNER MICHAEL BLAKE & author TERRI FARLEY at SAN FRANcisco PRESS CONFERENCE

30 DECEMBER 2009

"Dances with Wolves" and "Phantom Stallion” Authors Speak Out Wild Horse Roundups

Announcing a special press conference Michael Blake, Academy Award-winning author of Dances with Wolves and Terri Farley, author of the popular Phantom Stallion book series join together at 5 P.M. in the Rex Roth Room at Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter Street in San Francisco to protest the dead-of-winter roundups of wild horses on Nevada's Calico Range. The two authors want the American public to hear their stories and stand up for the wild horses and burros before they exist only in books. They ask the public to write President Obama requesting a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups until the American public can work with Congress to create a sustainable plan to protect our legends of the West.
Please spread the word- our apologies for the late notice! Read the complete press release here.

5:00pm Rex Roth Room at Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter Street in San Francisco - Wednesday, December 30th
Please watch the new PSA and take action to stop the Calico winter roundup

Buried

American Herds

BLM Photo - 2004 Warm Springs HMA Wild Horse Round Up

In January 2008, when the BLM Winnemucca Field Office approved the new grazing proposal for the Soldier Meadows Allotment, Western Watersheds Project filed an appeal and took BLM to court to challenge that decision.

As a result, extensive testimony from BLM personnel has been given about the Soldier Meadows Allotment and is now part of the public record, some of which included testimony from Glenna Eckel, BLMs Winnemucca Wild Horse & Burro Specialist on May 13th, 2009.

Ms. Eckel testified, under oath, in a court of law, about impacts from wild horses on the range in areas of the Calico Complex that she had been monitoring for the last six years. Below are some of the highlights of this testimony. To view the complete transcript, Click Here.

Page 818
Line 20, Answer from Eckel; “I’ve been assigned the Warm Springs Canyon Herd Management Area and the Calico Mountains Herd Management Area for the last six years. I have only been assigned to the Black Rock Range West for the last year.”

Page 796
Line 18, Answer from Eckel; “Well, I guess, honestly, I’m surprised that the number of horses that are out there, based on my monitoring data that I’ve done the last couple of years, that the monitoring data hasn’t shown a higher utilization than what I’ve read. So I guess what I am thinking is that I’m not sure it would change my conclusion.”

Line 24. Question; “Increasing the horses five times would not change your conclusion; is that right?”

Page 797
Line 1, Answer from Eckel; “Well, I think, again it boils down to that competition. And what I have seen, again based on the monitoring data, is that I would have expected different monitoring data than what I’ve collected, based on those numbers.”

Page 809
Line 22, Question; “Okay. I believe, in your testimony, you made a statement that you were surprised at the number of horses that were out there, that the monitoring data hasn’t shown higher utilizations than what you read?”

Page 810
Line 1, Answer from Eckel; “Correct”.

Line 2, Question; “Could you just elaborate a little bit more on what you meant by that?”

Line 4-16, Answer from Eckel; “Sure. I guess what I mean is, given the March ’08 census and the numbers we counted, I didn’t have that knowledge prior to March ’08. So the monitoring that I did and since the last gather, which was in 2004-2005, I was under the impression that we were at AML, those population estimates that we looked at earlier.”

“And what surprises me is that now, knowing that we had – I can’t remember what you gave it, a certain percentage over. But there’s significantly more animals out there than what we thought were, so I would have expected the monitoring data to show higher levels of use than what I collected. And I guess I’m learning it’s a big country, animals move”.

Page 814
Line 18-21, Question; “What were the implications, in your mind, of the monitoring data that you collected? In other words, once you gathered it, what were your – perhaps “conclusions” is a better word.”

Line 25, Answer from Eckel; “And at the time, again, like after the gather, I assumed that we were close to those population estimates of being under AML, and so the monitoring data was meeting management objectives that we had identified. And again, I was thinking we had a smaller population than I learned then in 2008.” (emphasis added).

To summarize, Glenna Eckle stated that, despite wild horse populations being five times over BLMs “established AMLs” in the areas she was monitoring in the Calico Complex, BLMs “monitoring objectives were being met”, that this significantly larger population was NOT evident in their forage consumption, that she had no idea they were so far over AML until they flew over the area and counted the horses, and that based on what she had seen, she was really surprised about what she was finding on the range regarding wild horse impacts.

To understand the full legal implication of what Glenna is saying here, it is also important to understand what the courts have already told BLM in the past about the legal criteria they must use to determine what is “excess” before they have any authority to remove wild horses and burros from the range.

“The test as to appropriate wild horse population levels is whether such levels will achieve and maintain a thriving ecological balance on the public lands. Nowhere in the law or regulations is the BLM required to maintain any specific number of animals or to maintain populations in the number of animals existing at any particular time Dahl v. Clark, supra, at 595. A determination that removal is warranted must be based on research and analysis, and on monitoring programs, which include studies of grazing utilization, trends in range conditions, actual use, and climactic factors". Michael Blake, supra: Animal Protection Institute of America 109 IBLA 112, 120 (1989); see Craig C. Downer, 111 IBLA 339 (1989)

The Calico Complex Environmental Assessments never mentioned Glenna’s testimony or what she found about “monitoring objectives being met” with five times the wild horses than BLM knew were out there before they counted them.

Instead, BLM buried the evidence and used old decisions to perpetuate the “Appropriate Management Levels” of wild horses in the area, some of which were set as far back as 1982.

So now, wild horses are galloping in the snow, down steep terrain, through rocky, icy, slippery paths on private land and being hauled to BLMs newly built Northern Nevada wild horse holding facility, not the publicly open Palomino Valley Facility, but a facility so new, BLM doesn’t even have a protocol established for public access yet.

There’s been a lot of speculation flying around the Internet the last few days about “why” the Calico Complex wild horses are being shipped to this facility instead of the publicly accessible Palomino Valley.

One source familiar with the Calico wild horses stated they were prone to strangles. This is being confirmed from another source that stated they have been communicating with BLM's John Neil, the man in charge of both the Palomino Valley Holding Facility as well as the newest one the Calico Complex wild horses are being shipped to. According to this source, John Neil stated, "Some of the horses coming in off the Calico Mountain Complex, particularly from the Warm Springs area, have contagious upper respiratory issues. As a result they are all being transported to BLM's new contract holding facility in Fallon."

According to a January 31, 2006 article in LA Weekly, Mustang author Deanne Stillman stated, “...46 wild horses at the BLM corral in Susanville, California, have died of strangles, an upper respiratory infection that can kick in after a horse is stressed — or after, for instance, being run too hard during a helicopter roundup.”

In Animal Welfare Institutes “Managing for Extinction”, a publication regarding critical issues found in BLMs management of the Wild Horse & Burro Program that continue to stay unresolved, it appears the issue of strangles is not isolated to just the Calico wild horses, as AWI has also reported:

“In the fall of 2006, the Palomino Valley, NV and Litchfield, CA holding facilities suffered from outbreaks of strangles, a highly infectious and serious respiratory disease. During the past two years, practically every BLM facility has experienced similar disease outbreaks, leading to the confirmed deaths of scores of animals…..”

While BLM points to wild horses being “prone to strangles” as the reason for their isolation and why it is important to keep them far from the public eye, (and we can only wonder why BLM would want to expose approximately 2,500 wild horses to each other that are now at risk of catching strangles from their new exposure to each other), perhaps BLM should begin to reconsider their decisions to manage wild horses by running them in the winter, in the snow, like they did to Jewel, the beautiful wild mare that was run down on December 13th, 2007 during BLMs round up of the Antelope and Antelope Valley Herd Management Areas in Nevada.

Was Jewel prone to strangles too?

No, she did not survive…

Posted by Preserve the Herds at 1:35 PM

Saving Monsieur Ed? France's Horsemeat Debate

TIME

There's a growing debate in France about eating viande chevaline — and neither side is horsing around. Because what's at, er, "steak" in the dispute is whether France's 200-year tradition of consuming horsemeat will continue unimpeded, or if it — and the economic activity it generates — will be legislated into history at the behest of animal-rights activists who denounce it as unnecessary and cruel.

The push to ban horsemeat got a boost this month when the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, an animal-protection group started by the French actress, rolled out a public-awareness campaign to inform people just how many of the creatures are butchered each year once their owners declare their lives of riding, racing or hauling loads over. In addition to some particularly gruesome photos of the bloody butchering process, the ads include shots of children taking riding lessons atop noble-looking mounts, the heads of which are reflected in blood-splattered knife blades. In the text below are details like: "Each year in France, numerous riding-center horses like Caramel are sent to the slaughterhouse." (See the top 10 animal stories of 2009.)
But the Brigitte Bardot Foundation's offensive on the horsemeat industry isn't limited to tugging at heartstrings. The group has also enlisted conservative parliamentarian — and foundation board member — Lionel Luca to prepare legislation designed to alter the status of the French steed in a manner that would prohibit its sale as dinner. To do so, the draft of Luca's bill calls for horses to be reclassified in French law from animal de rente (or animal used to generate income) to animal de compagnie (domesticated animal). If introduced and passed, backers say, horses would then be covered under the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, making the sale of their meat in France as illegal as that of dogs or cats.
Of course, to American and British ears (not to mention taste buds), forcing the French off their horse habit sounds about as reasonable an idea as getting them to stop scarfing snails. (And that's without even factoring in the emotional aversion to seeing a loin of Trigger or filet of Black Beauty served with pepper sauce.) But opponents to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation effort say there's more than just culinary discernment behind their desire to keep alive a tradition that some historians trace back to the early 1800s, when Napoleon fed his famished soldiers horses slain during the Battle of Eylau. (See pictures of what the world eats.)

French livestock associations — including those representing horse breeders and riders — note that over 95% of all horses in France are bred first and foremost for their ultimate marketing as meat. In 2008 alone, nearly 16,000 horses were slaughtered for that purpose in France — an income that riding centers, racing stables and other horse-related interests rely on to remain profitable. It's also the main source of revenue for just over 1,000 horse-butcher shops in France, which were traditionally the only places in France to sell the meat, though in recent years, some regular butchers and food stores have also begun offering pre-packaged cuts. Horsemeat brings in a tidy sum, too: sales amounted to $238 million in 2005, the last year for which figures are available.
Opponents also say that horses suffer no worse treatment than their peers in the cattle, pork or poultry sectors, and they accuse animal-rights activists of selectively taking aim at a culinary tradition that won't crimp their own eating habits. (Read: "Horse — It's What's for Dinner.")
In the end, however, the dispute may be for naught, as the French seem to be drifting away from eating horsemeat of their own volition. Consumption of horsemeat in France has fallen steadily over the past two decades, and by a whopping 12% since 2007 alone. The 20,000 tons of viande chevaline eaten in 2008 represents less than 1% of all meat consumed in the country. And that's half of what horse-hungry nations like Italy and Argentina eat, and just one-tenth of China's annual intake.
With French restaurants dropping horsemeat in droves, these booming markets abroad are already becoming a growing source of income for French horse breeders. So, no matter what happens with Luca's proposed legislation, French horsemeat will continue to find its way on the dinner table somewhere in the world — a fact that undoubtedly rankles those who see the animals in terms of the lovable Monsieur Ed rather than tasty tartare.
Read: "Horse Slaughtering: The New Terrorism?"
See TIME's Pictures of the Year.

The Wild Free-roaming Horses & Burros Act of 2010

Wild Horse (and Burro) Warriors

To: The 111th Congress of the United States

Be it that the BLM is currently holding more wild horses and burros in captivity than it can afford to maintain, (said to be approximatly 35,-40,000 and growing) and be it that by BLMs own admission, there is far more adoptable horses being held in these holding facilities than there is a demand for,...and be it that again, by the BLMs own admission, the Wild Horse and Burro Management Program is in crisis because of the great number of wild equines currently being held in captivity at these facilities,....We, the People of the United States who care about the welfare of Americas Equines and in particular our Nations Wild Ones, hereby submit this proposal to our representatives as well as to all members of Congress in hopes of providing a way for interested parties to come together and work towards enactment of these clauses as listed below which would allow a viable, cost-effective means to avoid the very real threat of un-necessary "euthansia" that these thousands of wild horses and burros being held in captivity are facing.

A Proposal

A BILL TO AMEND THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT OF 1971

Preserving those provisions of the 1971 Act not amended herein, including that provision which entitles the wild horses and burros to principal use of their historic rangelands "as found in 1971," and;

Amending,removing,replacing and/or adding certain portions and provisions of The Act to:

1. Declare Equines a National Treasure;

2. Prohibiting the slaughter of any American Equine as well as prohibiting their sale or transfer to other parties for the purpose of slaughter.

3. Remove the Burns/Reid rider amendment that allows for the unrestricted sale of some wild horses or burros and replace with a "Pickins Plan" Amendment that would allow for placement of excess wild horses and burros in private or public sanctuaries while still maintaining the protections of this Act.

4. Correct the Omission of the 92nd Congress in failing to provide protections in the 1971 Act for ALL wild free-roaming horses and burros on all of our Nations public lands.

5. Declare, as the 109th Congress did, and re-affirm that December 13th is a National Day of the Horse and is to be celebrated annually.

The New Act, once written up and incorporated with the un-amended portions of the Old (1971) Act,...will superceede and replace the Old Act and the New Act will be Known As: "The Wild and Free-roaming Horses and Burros Act of 2010."

____________________________________

UPDATE:

CONTACT:

Makendra Silverman --719-351-8187

Valerie Kennedy – 312-371-4933

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO JOINS CITIES ACROSS AMERICA TO STOP WILD HORSE CAPTURES BY BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Chicago-based Equine Welfare Alliance and The Cloud Foundation ask Senator Durbin for help as winter captures begin

Chicago, IL - December 30, 2009—American wild horse and burro advocates, The Cloud Foundation (TCF) and the Chicago-based Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) are organizing a peaceful gathering today in Chicago. The public will assemble at noon in front of Senator Dick Durbin’s office at 230 South Dearborn in Chicago asking the Senator to help halt the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) massive roundup of thousands of mustangs living in the half million acre Calico Mountain Complex area in northwestern Nevada. The wild horse capture began yesterday, December 28, despite a federal court ruling recommending that the action be postponed.

"We're having this peaceful assembly to tell our government we want to stop this unprecedented winter Calico roundup. It will assault the last stronghold of America’s wild horses. Despite federal law that protects them, they have been relegated to the most inhospitable areas of the range. Still, they have adapted and survived. The BLM is handling an American treasure callously, without regard for what Americans want. We want Senator Durbin's help to pass a moratorium on all roundups, including Calico, until the American public and Congress can craft a sustainable future for our legendary wild horses and burros.” ---The majority of wild horses captured are in good condition. Despite federal protection, wild horses have been relegated to the most inhospitable areas of the range. Still, they have adapted and survived.Susan Sutherland, Chicago Area resident and Cloud Foundation member.

The Cloud Foundation and over 190 organizations, authors and celebrities, including Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortenson, Lily Tomlin, Bill Maher and others, are calling for an immediate moratorium on roundups until the American public works with Congress to craft a sustainable plan that protects and preserves wild herds on public lands in the West.

The BLM has acknowledged that at least half of the Calico roundup will be held on private land where the public will be unable to view the roundup. The Cloud Foundation discovered this two days before the roundup’s scheduled start. Despite a public statement to the contrary by the BLM wild horse and burro program chief Don Glenn on December 7, 2009, the public is prohibited from viewing.

“All of our gathers are open to the public. The public is invited to come watch all the time.” Said Don Glenn of the BLM. Glenn delivered this message to wild horse advocates as an unannounced planned roundup was already underway in Northern Nevada.

“We are hopeful that Senator Durbin will see through the BLM lies and deception and stop this unnecessary and cruel winter roundup. It insults the democratic process if BLM gets away with this. They have betrayed the trust of the American public.” —Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation and filmmaker for the popular PBS Nature programs detailing the birth and life of Cloud, the pale palomino stallion well-known to Americans.

In his December 23, 2009 decision, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman recommended that BLM postpone the Calico roundup of 2,700 horses in the more than half million acre Calico Mountains Complex in northwestern Nevada. BLM will instead, move forward to remove 80-90 percent of the estimated 3,000 horses living in the Calico Mountain wild horse complex. Low-flying helicopters will chase the horses over dangerous winter terrain into traps and temporary corrals. Respiratory illnesses, permanent injury and death are expected as horses are run, possibly over long distances, and foals are separated from their mothers.

"This is a devious ploy to displace the wild horses from their legal herd areas. It is very vicious and must be exposed and stopped.” —Craig Downer, Nevada Wildlife Ecologist and member of EWA

The government agency entrusted to manage our public land shows their disregard towards the U.S. District Court by going ahead with the roundup. In denying public access to the Calico roundup—one of the most controversial roundups—BLM also shows their disregard towards the public right to observe, by carrying out the largest-ever wild horse capture, defying what federal law requires: notification, transparency and the public right to offer comment. The public insists that BLM has gone too far.

"To start this large-scale roundup on private land where members of the pubic are forbidden to attend, allows the BLM to hide the suffering and death that will happen during the capture of the mustangs. The public outcry over this roundup has been massive, but this government agency is behaving as though they are accountable to no one, not the public, not even Congress.” — Mark Traverso, Chicago area resident and advocate.

Little trust is left in the agency that has been charged by Congress to manage what many call the living history of the American West. Protests are being organized around the globe with the San Francisco event expected to be the largest.

“The whole world is watching—people are outraged by the latest assault on America’s wild horses. Protests are springing up worldwide: San Francisco ,London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boulder, CO and Sun Valley Idaho, so far.” —Makendra Silverman, Associate Director of The Cloud Foundation

The Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance that represents over 85 organizations and hundreds of individuals throughout the US, Canada, the UK, South Africa and Australia will be represented at the assembly.

__________________________

MEDIA ADVISORY

Media Contacts:

The Cloud Foundation:

Ann Novak, 415.531.8454, annenovak@yahoo.com

Makendra Silverman, 719.351.8187, makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

In Defense of Animals:

Elliot Katz, DVM, 415.448.0048 x 225, emk@idausa.org

Hope Bohanec, 707.540.1760, hope@idausa.org

Support Grows for Wild Horse Protest in San Francisco

Event Coincides with pro-mustang rallies in Chicago, Colorado, Idaho and London

San Francisco, California (December 30, 2009) . . . .The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign , a coalition of 50 conservation, horse advocacy and animal welfare organizations, and renowned author Terri Farley , whose Phantom Stallion book series for young readers has sold over a million copies worldwide, will join In Defense of Animals and The Cloud Foundation at a protest tomorrow in San Francisco to oppose the ongoing roundup of thousands of wild mustangs off public land in Nevada.

What: Peaceful protest for all ages featuring Figaro the miniature horse, Fluffy the miniature donkey, and colorful signs and banners.

When: Wednesday, December 30, 2009.

Citizens gather at 11 a.m.; press conference at Noon.

Where: Outside Sen. Feinstein's office, One Post Street, San Francisco

Why: Call attention to the ongoing, brutal winter roundup of 3,000 horses off public lands in northwestern Nevada and issue plea for help to Senator Diane Feinstein, who has always been a friend of America's wild horses, and is the Chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.

Similar rallies will be held Wednesday in Chicago, Colorado, Idaho and London.

The events take aim at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its destructive wild horse and burro management policies, which threaten the very existence of this iconic American species. Of particular concern is a massive roundup that commenced this week in the Calico Mountain Complex in northwestern Nevada. The BLM intends remove 80-90 percent of the wild horse population living in the 500,000 acre public lands complex. At the same time, the agency has increased the number of privately owned livestock allowed to graze those same public.

Last week, a federal court judge ruled that the BLM plan to transfer horses taken from the Calico Mountains to holding facilities in the Midwest is likely illegal and suggested that the agency postpone the planned roundup. Complaints are also pending with the Department of Interior and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Despite this, the BLM has not only proceeded with roundup, but also has commenced the action on private land from which the public is barred.

"The BLM knows that its latest assault on wild horses is so shameful that it cannot stand the light of day," said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, IDA president, who noted that the brutal helicopter stampede of the horses over treacherous winter terrain will result in injury and death to some horses, particularly the old, pregnant and the young. Foals will be separated from their mothers, and close family bonds will be forever shattered, he said.

Lise Stampfli Torme, a wild horse advocate and Cloud Foundation volunteer stated: "We are outraged that BLM is proceeding with this roundup under a cloud of controversy and against a US District Court judge's recommendation. The agency has moved the capture points to private land where the public cannot see how their contractors are treating our living legends. An immediate moratorium on all wild horse roundups must be implemented until the BLM's broken wild horse management program can be reformed."

“Americans want their wild horses to remain free and protected on the ranges where they currently exist. We are asking that the original spirit and intent of the Wild Free Roaming horse and Burro Act be upheld so that our grandchildren’s children will know the herds, who are a vital link to our western heritage,” says Neda DeMayo, founder of the Return to Freedom American Wild Horse Sanctuary and member of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

The BLM intends to remove up 12,000 horses from their western ranges each year for the next three years and place them in Midwestern holding facilities, where they will join the 34,000 wild horses already being warehoused by BLM at taxpayer expense. If the Calico roundup continues, the number of horses in the warehoused in government holding will exceed the number left in the wild.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 Protests:

San Francisco Protest: 11:00am – 1:00pm In front of Senator Feinstein’s office, One Post Street (at Montgomery)

Chicago Protest: 12:00pm- 1:00pm In front of Senator Dick Durbin’s office, 230 S. Dearborn

Longmont, Colorado Protest: 12:00pm- 3:00pm Boulder County Fairgrounds- Corner of Nelson and Hover

Ketchum, Idaho Protest: 12:00pm in front of the Chapter One Bookstore, 160 N. Main St.

Protests planned for Los Angeles, Denver and the East Coast if BLM continues this roundup

For more information, see www.idausa.org and www.thecloudfoundation.org, and www.wildhorsepreservation.org.

"Dances with Wolves" and "Phantom Stallion” Authors Speak Out Against Wild Horse Roundups

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman

Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak

AnneNovak@yahoo.com

Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

"Dances with Wolves" and "Phantom Stallion” Authors Speak Out Against Wild Horse Roundups

Writers ask public to write Obama to request immediate moratorium

San Francisco, CA (December 30, 2009)—In a special press conference Michael Blake, Academy Award-winning author of Dances with Wolves and Terri Farley, author of the popular Phantom Stallion book series, join together at 5 P.M. in the Rex Roth Room at Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter Street in San Francisco to protest the dead-of-winter roundups of wild horses on Nevada's Calico Range. The two authors want the American public to hear their stories and stand up for the wild horses and burros before they exist only in books. They ask the public to write President Obama requesting a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups until the American public can work with Congress to create a sustainable plan to protect our legends of the West.

Less than one percent of humans who live in America have ever seen wild horses running free according to Blake, "I have spoken with many of the few who have and each has said the view they made will never be forgotten."

The Nevada roundups have special meaning to Blake, whose new book, Twelve, the King, is a tribute to the wild stallion he adopted. Blake explains, "After surviving a brutal capture in Nevada, he never had anything put on his back and was given all-access to the ranch."

Farley will speak on the importance of wild horses to modern children, of the Bureau of Land Management's lopsided science, and share eye-witness accounts of riding the Calico range. A land of sagebrush, pinion pines and snow-capped peaks, the range is not only the setting for her popular Phantom Stallion series, but the site of multi-million dollar roundup in progress because the BLM insists the horses have damaged the range.

"BLM must cowboy up and make the corporate ranchers pay for the damage their livestock has done to the range," Farley said. "Nevada is wild horse country, and you only have to look at the galloping mustangs Nevadans voted onto their state quarter and mustang license plates to see that most of us want it to stay that way."

Farley and her fans fear that if BLM continues its winter roundup of thousands of wild horses, 80-90% of Nevada's wild horses, and adds them to the thousands already in captivity, the days of free-roaming horses will end.

"The last truly wild horse may already have been born," Farley says. "Though Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar claims moving wild horses to Eastern and Midwestern pastures will preserve them forever, these sterilized and shelved horses are treated more like strawberry preserves than a living legacy of the West."

Blake's Dances with Wolves praises the gritty beauty of the real old West just as his upcoming On the Road with Michael Blake takes an honest and admiring look at today's West, and he agrees that the West's wild horses must be left to run free.

"As remarkable as a distant sight of wild horses can be it remains the tip of a glorious iceberg. The actual lives of wild horses reveal to humanity the privilege having a life on the planet earth and how vital it is to respect the privilege."—Michael Blake

"Since humans first huddled around campfires, stories have been told of wild horses with wind in their manes, fire in their eyes and freedom in their hearts. Those horses eluded capture, and scorned the comforts of civilization. Americans have insisted they want their wild horses to live that way, forever."—Terri Farley

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Photos of Calico Wild Horses- Oct. 2009- available to press (http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/photo-galleries/235-calicophotos)

12.28.09 LA Times: Controversial Roundup of Wild Horses Underway (http://bit.ly/6Rygdz)

12.28.09 USA Today: “Activists Decry Wild-Horse Roundups”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm

Michael Blake, author website

http://www.danceswithwolves.net/bio.php

Terri Farley, author website

http://www.terrifarley.com/ps.shtml

The Rex Hotel

http://jdvhotels32-px.trvlclick.com/hotels/sanfrancisco/rex

12.27.09 Las Vegas protest CBS story + AP article “Wild Horse Advocates Protest BLM Roundup Monday”