Deadline is Tuesday to comment on Sec. Salazar’s proposal & Judge Refuses to Hear Contempt Charges Against BLM

______________________________

The Cloud Foundation

Dear Friends of the wild horses of the WEST;
Deadline is Tuesday to comment on Sec. Salazar’s proposal to move wild horses to the East and MidWest you can email this address and comment:
Email address/instructions:
1) send to wildhorse@blm.gov with “WHB Public Comments” in the subject line
2) categorize written comments according to the section of the document they are commenting on.
Here’s a link to the document:
https://www.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/lup/4900/13613/13852/default.jsp?projectName=Wild+Horse+and+Burro+Strategy+Development+Document
Here are the comment categories:
a)         Sustainable Herds
b)         Preserves
c)         Treasured Herds
d)         Place Excess Animals into Private Care
e)         Communications
f)          Animal Welfare
g)         Science and Research
We’ll be posting this information on our site as soon as possible, but thought I’d let you know (in case you haven’t heard yet).
Thanks,
Ginger
Ginger Kathrens
Volunteer Executive Director
ginger@thecloudfoundation.org
www.thecloudfoundation.org

_____________________________

 

For Immediate Release

Nevada Judge Refuses to Hear Contempt Charges Against BLM

Advocates want transparency, full public access and their First Amendment rights upheld 

Reno NV (July 29, 2010)—Tuesday Judge Hicks refused to hear Laura Leigh’s motion for contempt against the BLM who denied her access to view the Owyhee/Tuscarora roundup that ended July 20th.  Earlier, on July 16, 2010, the court ruled to honor Leigh’s First Amendment rights, emphasizing her right to view the roundup in Elko Country, northeastern Nevada. 

“If the court refuses to listen to new arguments, then Secretary Salazar’s rogue agency—the BLM—is literally accountable to no one,” states Leigh, Director of Herd Watch, a Cloud Foundation program.

When Leigh sought access to the roundup the day after the ruling (July 17th), BLM officials told her she did not have permission to enter private land where they had placed the capture corrals, citing the landowner had written a letter refusing to allow the public onto his property. What Leigh saw was a letter allowing other public citizens (veterinarians) into the trap site. When she asked to be allowed to follow the same process as these other members of the public, she was told, because of the lawsuit she brought to the courtroom, she would most likely be denied. Further testimony revealed that the private landowner did indeed allow Leigh to witness the gather on the 19th, however BLM failed to allow access for Leigh and simply concluded their operations on the 20th. 

“We want to have full access to see America’s wild horse roundups. This is the public’s right. We want to know how our American icons are treated especially during roundups in the hottest time of year when foals are still tiny,” explains Leigh. “The BLM is playing games and denying us access. At this point our only option is to go to court to hold the BLM accountable for the public’s wild horses.”

While attempting to observe the Owyhee roundup Leigh was followed by an Elko County Sheriff. She was on a county road miles from any town or even any ranch. The Sheriff indicated he could not tell her if she was on a county or a private road. But, if the road was private, he could arrest her. He indicated he could not radio the BLM for information, for lack of a radio, even though he had mentioned just speaking with the BLM. He could not call them, because there was no cell service, but would not agree to drive to a place where he might have cell service. 

“Basically each time I asked for assistance in dealing with the BLM or the Sheriff’ the ‘I can’t help you,’ roadblocks went up and more hurdles were presented to jump over,” says Leigh. “Why did they go through so much trouble to keep me from observing the roundup?”

“The Nevada judge may have refused to hear the contempt charges brought against the BLM in a court of law, but the BLM’s actions are contemptuous and the public knows it,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation.  “Why does the BLM continue to drive our wild horses into private slivers of land in a sea of public land to round them up? Is it to hide from any scrutiny by the press or public observers?” 

The BLM has already completed the Little Humboldt roundup. The Rock Creek roundup will be complete by weeks end. The entire Tuscarora roundup will have no more public observation scheduled than they had prior to the original Order of the Court recognizing Leigh’s First Amendment rights. 

Kathrens points out that “Leigh was allowed to view fewer than 100 of the 1,200 wild American mustangs rounded up. The BLM’s blatant dismissal of First Amendment rights is alarming.”

The Tuscarora death toll is 22 horses and growing. Several foals less than three months of age have been killed in this roundup. Advocates for the horses warned that summer roundups would be extremely dangerous for small foals in the desert heat. The BLM contends that this is an appropriate time of year.

Statements made about the alleged emergency in the first of the three Tuscarora roundups (defined as an emergency only after the original lawsuit was filed) were expanded on in the defendants written affidavits. Photographs and affidavits from the plaintiff documented that the “emergency” was contained to only a small portion of the Owyhee area. The BLM launched misleading statements during the first ruling. The Court’s original ruling to allow the Owyhee gather to continue was based on a lack of information given to the Court. Expanded documentation was never allowed due to the current denial in the Reno district Federal Court. 

“BLM needs to be accountable for their negligence”, states Leigh. “Creating apparent emergencies in order to clear away American mustangs is un-American. These animals deserve to roam freely on their land. They are a symbol of the American spirit.”

# # #

Case filings regarding the Tuscarora round ups can be read at

www.thecloudfoundation.org.

To help keep gas in the Herd Watch tank

www.thecloudfoundation.org

To help with legal expenses 

http://www.GrassRootsHorse.com

Links of interest:

Court documents http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/renewed-motion-for-tro-filed-today/

George Knapps 2 recent programs and helicopter ride w/ Laura

Court Order Granting Injunction 7/14 http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalazar

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Grass Roots Horse http://www.grassrootshorse.com/

Restraining order sought - AP article http://bit.ly/TROsought

Tuscarora Mustangs fenced out of water http://bit.ly/Livestockfences

Roundup Schedule- updated July 12, 2010  http://bit.ly/roundupschedule

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Link to this press release online http://bit.ly/LvSinjunction

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation ~ Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org  

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

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842

News, Plans, and Apologies

Dear readers,

Arizona is in possible crisis mode. Rumors are that amnesty may be declared. I am in the process of joining a border organization in some capacity which may involve going to the border if amnesty is declared. I have spent much time on this situation, as it affects me and my family directly. I have not been able to keep up with the horse news on this site. That is my apology. I will try to get some stories up today. The time I can spend on horse issues is declining as the threats to Arizona's security are rising. Make no mistake about it, we as citizens will not lie down and accept this threat to our state. This and the safety of my family come first. I will try to keep you all posted on both issues, horse welfare and security here in Arizona.

A trip to the border will unfortunately interrupt posting here on this blog. It will all depend mostly on the issue of amnesty. May have to leave quickly! LOL

God Bless all of you for all you do.

Hopefully, I will have more news to post shortly.

Be VERY Afraid! THIS could Spread to Other States!

Going on a Camping Trip

The federal government refuses to do their job in securing our border. It appears that many of us will be traveling down to the border, in a show of force, to discourage people from crossing our border. I have never seen a sadder time here in Arizona than we have now.
___________________________________

Two Actions Needed this Week to Help Wild Horses & Burros

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign

With the deadly Tuscarora roundup underway, and BLM plans to capture and remove 6,000 wild horses and burros between now and October, America’s iconic mustangs need your help now more than ever. Please take these two quick actions today.
1. CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON: Ask him/her to sign on to a letter calling for a halt to the roundups. Take Action by Friday.
Wild horse and burro champions Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) are currently circulating a letter that will be sent to Secretary Salazar with a cc to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey. The letter expresses concern about the BLM’s deadly Tuscarora, Nevada roundup, which has cost the lives of 25 wild horses to date, and asks the BLM to halt the capture and removal of wild horses while the entire program is reviewed.
Please take time today to ask your Congressperson to sign on to this letter and show their support for protecting wild horses and burros on our public lands. Simply call your and say, “Hello, I’m _____ from _____ and I am a constituent of Representative _____. I’m calling to request that he/she contact Representatives Grijalva and Rahall to sign on to their letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressing concern about wild horse roundups.”
Find your Congress person’s contact information here. View text of sign on letter here.
2. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. Submit comments on BLM Strategy Development Document by Monday, August 3, 2010.
The BLM is soliciting public comments on its draft strategy document for reform of its cruel and costly wild horse and burro program. You can submit comments only in one of two ways:
** Print out the sample letter and mail it to:
Wild Horse & Burro Strategy Document
BLM Washington Office
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665
Washington DC 20240
OR:
** Submit online: The BLM is only accepting online comments via a form on its website. It will take a few steps to submit your comments, but it is essential that your voice be heard. Follow these steps:
1. Personalize and copy the sample letter.
2. Go to the planning document.
3. Click on this text (in blue) near the top center of the page: “Click Here to Submit Comments.”
4. A new page will open.
o Paste your personalized letter into the text box (you can ignore the Selected Content and Comment Title sections).
o When you’re finished, click “Add Comment”
4. The page will appear again.
o The text box will be blank, but the “Comments” section at the bottom will show the number “1″ under “Comment id.”
o Click the “Next” button on the bottom right.
5. Fill in your personal information and click “Next.”6. Review your submission, and click “Submit” at the bottom right. A “Submission Successful” page will appear.
We know the public strongly supports the protection and preservation of America’s wild horses and burros in their rightful place on the Western range. Thank you for sticking with the difficult process that BLM has created to allow citizens to have a voice for our wild horses and burros. Remember to take action by August 3.
On behalf of the horses, thank you for your support,
The AWHPC Team

Be Heard by BLM: Urge an End to Wild Horse Roundups

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/be-heard-by-blm-urge-an-end-to-wild-horse-roundups/

by Wayne Pacelle ~ President of the Humane Society (HSUS)
Yesterday I asked you to contact Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in response to the reported plans to kill more than 150,000 geese in New York state (please do call 202-720-3631 if you haven’t done so already). Today, I need your action on another urgent concern—urging the Bureau of Land Management to stop the cruel and senseless roundups of wild horses and instead to develop humane, sustainable programs for managing the herds, such as fertility control through immunocontraception.

Over the past 10 years, the BLM has removed some 74,000 wild horses and burros from the range, and it intends to remove a total of 12,000 horses this year. The current program is costly, illogical, and has also had tragic consequences—you may have heard about the rising death toll associated with the BLM’s current Tuscarora wild horse gather in Elko County, Nev., where at least a dozen mustangs have died from dehydration, water intoxication and related complications.

The federal government has submitted a new policy proposal for wild horse management and is now accepting public comments. Please take a few minutes to make your voice heard—the deadline for comments is next Tuesday, Aug. 3, and we’ve provided instructions and guidance on our website.

I’ve asked Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife scientist with The HSUS, to elaborate on why the BLM must seriously reconsider its current policies and procedures given the program’s track record and the recent tragedy in Elko County.
So far this year, 18 wild horses rounded up by the BLM in Nevada have died. The BLM claims on its website that 16 of these horses died due to preexisting dehydration-related complications, congenital deformities or physical injuries, and that only two died as a result of “gather-related operations” (one horse was euthanized after sustaining a leg fracture in a temporary holding corral and another died from a neck injury).

Based on several factors, however, we can’t help but question the BLM’s assertion that all but two deaths were unavoidable, and that the agency was blameless and practiced due diligence prior to the gather.

First, the BLM has failed to answer the most basic, pertinent question posted in a Questions and Answers section on its informational site: “Why is the BLM using a helicopter to chase and capture wild horses in the summer’s extreme heat?”

Instead of answering the question, the agency simply describes the procedures used to conduct gathers during summer months—with no explanation for why they’re held in the hottest month of the year as opposed to the fall or winter, when the mares are not foaling and the new foals of the year are older and stronger.

For years, The HSUS has urged the BLM to use passive gather techniques, such as nutrient baits and/or water trapping (placing nutrients or water in an area where they are scarce to gradually lure horses, then building a large corral around the animals), to alleviate, to the greatest extent possible, the suffering, stress and trauma inherently associated with roundups.

In its Environmental Assessment for the Elko County gather, the BLM acknowledges that “water trapping can be very effective when water resources are scarce…”, but dismissed water trapping from detailed study for this gather because it claimed, among other factors, that the area has an abundance of public and private water sources.

Of course, we know now that at the time of the gather, water sources on the range were, in fact, scarce. So not only was water trapping a feasible option, it would have been preferable and should have been used once the BLM realized the targeted horses were suffering from dehydration due to inadequate water. The agency also knew that animals already suffering from dehydration are susceptible to toxic hydration if they drink too much water too quickly once it is made available.

Having contingency plans in place in the event of a crisis of this nature is one of the many critical changes that must be made to the BLM’s broken wild horse and burro management program. Instead of constantly defending its policies and procedures when things go wrong (and they clearly did in Tuscarora), the BLM needs to conduct a fair and objective evaluation of its procedures and make changes that will alleviate unnecessary suffering and save lives in the future.

You can help the BLM better serve the treasure it has been mandated to protect—our wild horses—by submitting comments on the agency’s recently released proposal.

Wild horse adoption seeks homes for western mustangs - Dover, DE - Dover Post

Wild horse adoption seeks homes for western mustangs - Dover, DE - Dover Post

New Letter Calling on Salazar to Stop the Roundups

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/new-letter-calling-on-salazar-to-stop-the-roundups/

Thanks to The Cloud Foundation for this release
Wild horse and burro champions, Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), are currently circulating a letter that will be sent to Secretary Salazar with a cc to BLM Director, Bob Abbey.
Please take time today to ask your Congress person to sign on to this letter and show their support for protecting wild horses and burros on our public lands. Take this opportunity to contact your Congress person- the public’s voices must be heard and Secretary Salazar needs to place an immediate moratorium on roundups and removals of our wild horses! However, please do not contact Congressman Grijalva or Rahall or the House Natural Resources Committee (except to send letters or emails of support).
Find your Congress person’s contact information at votesmart.org. Currently this letter is only being circulated in the House but ask your Senators to start a letter on the Senate side as well.
The following email is being circulated:
Dear Colleague,
We invite you to join us in sending the attached letter to Secretary of the Interior Salazar on the recent tragic deaths of wild horses that occurred during Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Tuscarora Complex roundup in Nevada early this month.  The roundup occurred in extreme temperatures, using deeply flawed methods, and was conducted without allowing any public observation. This comes just months after another round up in the Calico Mountains in Nevada resulted in the deaths of over 100 wild horses.
Given this troubling pattern, the letter asks the Secretary to halt the Tuscarora round up, along with any pending gathers, until the BLM can demonstrates that it has addressed the failings of the Wild Horse and Burro Program and can ensure the health and safety of these federally protected animals.  It further asks the Secretary to take temperature extremes and the age and general health of the horses into consideration when scheduling roundups, as well as allow for public observation.  Additionally, we ask the Secretary to request an independent study from the National Academy of Sciences on the Wild Horse and Burro program – to determine scientifically sound, non-lethal, and effective management practices.
To sign on to the letter please contact Laurel Angell in Chairman Rahall’s office or Marcos Huerta with Chairman Grijalva.

Nick J. Rahall, II Chairman Committee on Natural Resources

Raúl M. Grijalva Chairman Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands

DOWNLOAD THE LETTER CIRCULATING NOW- This strong letter speaks for the majority of the American Public- thank you to Congressman Grijalva and Rahall!

BLM Sold Out America and Condemns Wildlife to Death by Thirst

 http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/blm-sold-out-america-and-condemns-wildlife-to-death-by-thirst/

(The News as We See It) by R.T. Fitch ~ author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart“

The Web of Lies Chokes the Credibility of the BLM

HOUSTON, (SFTHH) – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tasked with protecting our public lands and wildlife has been doing exactly the opposite; they have been killing wild horses, deer and other species by selling off public water rights to private interests and allowing fences to be erected for private purposes so that the natural wildlife dies of thirst.
As reported by Steven Long, editor of Horseback Magazine in his most recent article, “Water on BLM Land Privately Owned Since 1916”, wild horse advocate Laura Leigh witnessed the Desert Ranch Reservoir located in the middle of a wild horse herd management area was fenced off.  Earlier in the week the BLM killed in excess of 20 wild horses during an ill conceived, mid-summer helicopter stampede in the Owyhee area.  Laura Leigh managed to obtain a TRO from a Federal Judge to delay the roundup in accordance with the rules of the BLM’s own handbook and to wait until the weather had cooled.  Federal BLM attorneys argued that it was an emergency that all of the horses were in danger of dying of thirst so the roundup must take place; the judge lifted his order but issued a statement that Leigh would be allowed to witness the BLM and their stampede contractor’s operations.  Both the contractor and BLM violated the judge’s order by moving the trap and staging area to a small private location within tens of thousands of public acres so that Leigh was not allowed access.
Tom Gorey, BLM Washington spokesperson, reported to Steven Long, regarding the fenced off water,
“Desert Ranch Reservoir, and I can categorically state that the Bureau of Land Management has never owned the water rights to that reservoir, nor has any entity of the United States government. I used the water rights ownership database of the Nevada state government’s Division of Water Resources, which shows that the water right was filed in September 1905 and was certificated in December 1916. It was originally owned by John G. Taylor and has been passed from different “grantors” to different “grantees” down to the present day.”
This week, Investigative Reporter for Las Vegas’ Channel 8, George Knapp reported.
“While we’ve been working on our latest stories, my photographer Matt Adams discovered an interesting feature on Google Earth. There’s an “I” for information feature and if you use it, it will allow you to identify some valuable info including:
a) all water sources in the Tuscarora HMA’s
b) all the cattle allotments
c) the division of public and private land. I don’t know if the same breakdown is available for all HMA’s but it is for these three.
I think it will make you sick when you study it. All of the water sources, or nearly all of them, have been made private. A rancher might have a tiny sliver of private land, surrounded by vast public acreage, but the small piece owned by the rancher is invariably the one with the water.
Nice job by the BLM protecting the public’s interests.”
The BLM continually twists and bends the facts in an effort to convince the general public that they are acting in the best interests of the wild horses but as the facts mount up and the law suits gain in numbers it is obvious to the general populace that the BLM does not act in favor of anyone or anything other than the BLM and their private interest cronies.

Comments? We don’t need no stinkin’ comments! “King” Salazar doesn’t really care what you think!

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/comments-we-don%e2%80%99t-need-no-stinkin%e2%80%99-comments-%e2%80%9cking%e2%80%9d-salazar-doesn%e2%80%99t-really-care-what-you-think/

BLM reports of wild horse deaths during Tuscarora roundup are laced with contradictions

BLM reports of wild horse deaths during Tuscarora roundup are laced with contradictions

Arizona sheriffs could countersue Obama administration over immigration law - Phoenix Business Journal

Arizona sheriffs could countersue Obama administration over immigration law - Phoenix Business Journal

Back to Court to Stop Rock Creek Wild Horse Roundup in Nevada

The Desert Independent

Fight Continues for First Amendment Rights

---

July 25, 2010

RENO, Nevada – On July 23rd, Laura Leigh, Herd-Watch Director for the Cloud Foundation and journalist, filed a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in Nevada Federal District Court today to halt the Rock Creek Roundup, prevent another fatal summer roundup and fight for the public's First Amendment rights to prevent being shut out of observing American wild horse roundups.

"We're talking about a matter of public interest," explained Leigh’s attorney Gordon Cowan. "This is a hot button issue here in Nevada. To prevent the public and press from observing the government in action on public lands is shameful."

Leigh is asking the court for the following:

1. Immediate cessation of all horse gather activity in the Rock Creek and Little Humboldt Horse Management Areas in northwestern Elko County, to maintain the status quo until the matter may be heard by the court. There is no purported emergency or pressing urgency to remove horses from purported drought conditions as was contended by Defendants, in Owyhee;

2. A Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the government Defendants from conducting helicopter wild horse gathers during summer months and so close to the foaling season. There are many foals three months in age or less, running alongside the hips of their moms. If removal of some of these horses is necessary, in that event the Defendants can reschedule and complete this process in the Fall season or at the end of Summer when temperatures are more mild and foals are more mature and better adept at withstand the gather. To gather at this date is inhumane and directly contradictory to provisions of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971;

3. A Temporary Restraining Order that at this point requires the Defendants in no uncertain terms to include and accommodate members of the public, the press and journalists including Ms. Leigh and others who are not hand-picked by the Defendants, to view every step of the process of gathering horses from public lands, such that the Defendants’ gather method and process becomes open and transparent from beginning to end, rather than secretive and hidden from the public as it is currently; and such that the method of protecting the health and safety of the public during these gathers is not used as the excuse to restrict, limit or otherwise offend First Amendment speech and press concerns but instead, ensures independence in observing and reporting the Defendants’ gather activities in a method encouraging liberal access and safe accommodation to the public including Ms. Leigh, to observe and record these gathers;

4. To require the Defendants to conduct such gathers on public lands should private land owners not be willing or able to accommodate members of the public, the press, journalists or other interested persons including Ms. Leigh, in their observation of these gathers.

In his decision, issued on July 16, Nevada District court Judge Larry Hicks recognized that the Tuscarora roundups consist of three distinct and separate actions: Owyhee, Little Humboldt and Rock Creek. Although the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) presented to the court claims that an unexpected and unprecedented emergency existed in the Owyhee herd management area, no emergency either claimed or proven exists in Rock Creek were BLM is currently rounding up horses. Only 10 members of the public were permitted to observe certain aspects of the roundup for a short time today.

“We hope the TRO will be granted so the case can be heard before all the horses are gone from the Rock Creek and Little Humboldt herd management areas,” stated Leigh.

According to the TRO the BLM used the “private property” tactic to strike fear among those seeking to observe the Defendants’ gather operation. Members of the public were threatened with immediate, on-the-spot arrest should they “trespass,” intentionally or not, onto the very land the Defendants chose to set their horse traps to complete the Owyhee gather.

Nearly two-dozen wild horses, including many foals, have already died as a result of the BLM’s Tuscarora roundups from which the agency plans to remove 1,100 wild horses and leave only 440.

Contrary to the BLM’s spin, that the Owyhee horses were dying due to lack of water in their environment—a so called “emergency,” veterinarian Nina Windand goes on the record to explain the wild horses died due to the lack of proper care after being rounded up and stressed in desert heat.

“The lack of controlled reintroduction of water to these dehydrated, overheated recently stressed horses and the failure to use commonsense horsemanship by letting them drink ad lib under these conditioned caused unnecessary deaths by water intoxication,” states Nina Windand, DVM. “It is my opinion that this constitutes negligent management and that had expert or even common sense management prevailed a plan for gradual rehydration would have been instituted before the gather was in progress, not after the initial wave of deaths. I further believe that leaving animals in this condition without overnight monitoring was a lapse of professional judgment.”

Dr. Windand condemns the Owyhee roundup saying, “The uncontroverted fact remains that nearly all horses who reportedly perished, did so during the process of gather itself or immediately thereafter while the horses were in the custody of the BLM, but not before”.

Salazar's BLM continues to ignore both the public’s First Amendment rights and American wild horse welfare. Advocates are outraged that the BLM continues forward, at rapid speed, with their multi-million dollar roundups while the agency strives to remove more than 6,000 wild horses and burros in the next three months.

Donations to Leigh’s legal fund may be made to www.GrassRootsHorse.com.

Donations to Herd-Watch may be made to www.thecloudfoundation.com.

---

The Desert Independent thanks The Cloud Foundation for this Press Release.

BLM’s Wild Horse Bloodbath Continues

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/blm%e2%80%99s-wild-horse-bloodbath-continues/

(In My Humble Opinion) by R.T. Fitch ~ author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart“

Cleverly tucked away on private land the BLM conducts secret operations that kill our Wild Mustangs

The "good ole days" of "MANAGING" wild horses to extinction

The death toll rises, as per the BLM’s own stats:
Total for the Calico Massacre = 158
Total for the Tuscarora Farce = 22
Again, “that we know of” as the BLM shamelessly hides in the shadows and conducts its shady business from behind closed private gates away from the watchful eyes of the U.S. public and press.
“When you know you are wrong you hide.
When you are afraid of being caught you rush.
When you get stuck in a lie you stomp your foot, point your finger and cuss.”
So reads the current mission statement of Bob Abbey, Ken Salazar and President Obama’s BLM.
No accountability;  the only deliverables required are to the special interest groups that are, obviously, greasing the palms of individuals very high up the food chain.  Corruption runs freely and always has within the Department of Interior and its Bureau of Land Management.

BLM's current preferred weapon for destroying wild horses - the Helicopter

The new President promised change and we got it; we changed from being in a bad situation into something severely worse.  We went from a corrupt federal bureaucracy to a form of government that in the recent past we have sent young men and women out to fight and die against.  Thanks to the new administration we have now become our own worst enemy and still all we get is a deaf ear.
There is far worse going on in our country than the BLM’s massacre of our national icon, the wild horses (not to the horses of course).  But the horses put it into perspective, they provide the focus and offer a micro version of all that is wrong within our government and they are doing this at the expense of their lives.
The leadership and management staff of the BLM have become the enemies of the union, the violators of the law and the agents of chaos to the American public.  They operate outside legal parameters and flaunt their crimes while lawsuits continue to mount in an effort to stop their illegal crusade.
It’s a sad day when the citizens of the United States are required to use their hard earned dollars through the court system in an effort to stop a rogue government agency which is funded through taxation of the very same group of people.
It’s time for Congress to get off its dead ass and call these crooks to task.
It’s time for the new President to listen to the people, for a change, and call for a moratorium on these roundups.
It is time for the American public to make a serious paradigm shift under a new rallying call…”Vote the Bums Out!”
If they won’t listen, they’ve got to blinking go…every last one of them!
“For the Horses!”

Call Secretary Salazar, your Representative and Senators and demand that they stop the tax-payer funded disaster in Tuscarora before more mustangs are killed.
Phone: 202-208-3100

Fax: 202-208-6956

E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov

(send free online faxes via faxzero.com)

SIGN HERE TO STOP THE SUMMER ROUNDUPS

BREAKING: MULTIPLE RANCHES IN LAREDO, TX TAKEN OVER BY LOS ZETAS - TheCypressTimes

UPDATE: Sunday, July 25, 2010 9 AM: This story has not been confirmed or denied at this point in time.


BREAKING: MULTIPLE RANCHES IN LAREDO, TX TAKEN OVER BY LOS ZETAS - TheCypressTimes

Affluent Sonorans pack for Arizona amid violence | The Sierra Vista Herald

Affluent Sonorans pack for Arizona amid violence | The Sierra Vista Herald

El Paso cuts deal with Western Watersheds

Elko Daily Free Press

ELKO — El Paso Corp. has reached a precedent-setting, $20 million arrangement for habitat protection with two environmental organizations that protested the company’s planned Ruby Pipeline that will extend from Wyoming to Oregon.

More...

They execute horses, don't they?

Las Vegas City Life

It would not be much of a surprise if the Bureau of Land Management decides to hold its next wild-horse roundup out at the super-secret Area 51 military facility, maybe down in the underground bunkers where they keep the corpses of extraterrestrials. The way it looks, BLM has decided to turn the mustangs into a black program, a classified, off-limits, shadowy mystery, something no one in the government can talk about and no one in the civilian world can access.

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We All Live on Turtle Island

Truthdig

Ours is the age of the grand gesture and outrage fatigue; it’s hard to top planes flying into towers, and with every terrible story that has unfolded since 9/11, our attention spans have diminished. Yet now we are awash in images of the Gulf of Mexico in flames and sea creatures swimming in oil gushing from a deep wound in the planet. These images are difficult to look away from, and it seems as if this incident in the Gulf—the blowout deep under the sea that no one had prepared for—is so awful, so final in its consequences that nowadays, for the first time in many years, we are more fully engaged with matters beyond our immediate needs—at least for the moment.
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Lawsuit Expanded to Protect “Cloud's” Wild Horse Herd

Media Contacts:

23 July 2010

Anne Novak

Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman

Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 719-351-8187

For Immediate Release:

The Cloud Foundation Expands Lawsuit to Protect “Cloud's” Wild Horse Herd

Foundation includes Forest Service in lawsuit

Washington, D.C. (July 23, 2010)—On July 21 the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and author/advocate Carol Walker filed an amended complaint in Federal District Court to add the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to their current suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  The suit challenges both agencies’ rejection of a Natural Management Approach for the herd and the planned construction of a two-mile long fence which would cut off the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Herd from crucial summer and fall grazing lands they’ve used for centuries. This small herd is the world’s most famous and the last remaining in Montana, sometimes called “Cloud’s herd” for the now-15-year old band stallion who TCF Director and plaintiff Ginger Kathrens has documented for the popular PBS Nature series. The herd traces its history back to the horses of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Lewis and Clark expedition horses, and Crow Indian War ponies. Plaintiffs contend that the USFS and BLM are engaging in illegal treatment of these federally-protected mustangs and that the Pryor Wild Horses are entitled to use lands in the Custer National Forest, currently not included in the designated range.

Plaintiffs in the litigation include Front Range Equine Rescue based in Larkspur, CO; Carol Walker, equine photographer and author of “Wild Hoofbeats: America’s Vanishing Wild Horses”; and Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning producer with 16 years experience documenting and observing the Pryor Mountain herd.

“People value the whole spectacular Pryor ecosystem including this unique Spanish wild horse herd. Seeing the area fragmented by new fencing across pristine, wide-open meadows degrades the experience of visiting this area with true wilderness values,” states Kathrens. “Beyond the visual and environmental damage, it will compromise the future of Cloud’s globally-beloved herd. Forest Service should be working to set this area aside as a designated wilderness rather than working on how to build a bigger, stronger barrier to keep the Pryor horses from their rightful and essential high mountain meadows.”

Building the fence, cattle guard and gates would illegally confine horses to jurisdictional boundaries, restricting their natural and long-held seasonal pattern of use on East Pryor Mountain. Centuries old horse trails go straight through the line now flagged for construction of the fence, estimated to cost taxpayers between $25,000 and $100,000, not including USFS planning costs which, according to USFS, greatly exceed the cost of building the fence.

“The Forest Service has fought efforts to expand the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range to allow the herd to engage in their historical and seasonal migrations. Confining wild horse herds to smaller and smaller areas of the public lands lays the groundwork for more intrusive management and manipulation as the Forest Service and BLM contend that these animals will need to be removed from the wild for their own good,” states lead attorney, Valerie Stanley.

For a four-year period in the early 2000s the Pryor Herd was at zero population growth due to mountain lion predation on the foals, as well as the ever-present harsh winter weather and deadly lightning storms. The population of the herd increased only after BLM encouraged the killing of mountain lions. “The public has overwhelmingly supported allowing the herd the opportunity to manage itself.  Apparently, BLM and the Forest Service think Mother Nature can’t get along without them,” Stanley concludes.

Over 100 wild horses have been using the Custer National Forest this month, which constitutes the majority of the Pryor Mountain wild horses, of which less than 150 adults remain in the wild following a massive roundup in September 2009. The Custer National Forest has not explained how the wild horses would be driven them back into the designated horse range. At least two new foals were born last week on the mountaintop and more births are anticipated. Running these young mustangs is dangerous and inhumane and can be fatal as has been proven during recent BLM roundups in Nevada and Oregon.

The area immediately adjacent to the designated range is not currently allocated for livestock grazing, but the Cloud Foundation questions USFS motives in blocking horses from this public land. Actions by the USFS are based, not on damage by the horses to the ecosystem, but seemingly on complaints from livestock permittees. Plaintiffs wonder if USFS is arranging for the building of this fence to facilitate cattle grazing on what would be a new livestock allotment on scenic subalpine meadows used annually by wild horses, mule deer, black bears and an array of small animals in the summer and fall.

“Wild horses have used these Forest Service lands for centuries. BLM and Forest Service have so far failed to work together to expand the range, using natural boundaries which encompass the mustangs’ use area, for the good of the herd and the public that loves them,” explains Front Range Equine Rescue President/Founder, Hilary Wood.

Historically, BLM directed livestock permittees on public grazing land to round up wild horses by aircraft. Once captured, the wild horses were either killed and butchered on the range or were shipped live to meat packing plants. In 1968, a public outcry was launched, spurred by local residents and ABC reporter, author and TCF Honorary Board Member, Hope Ryden. Ryden’s discovery of plans to trap and remove the Pryor Horses despite BLM assertions to the contrary caused a national outcry. In response, then Secretary of the Interior Stuart Udall issued an Executive Order creating the first public range ever dedicated in the United States for the protection of wild horses. The 39,000-acre range was intended to protect the horses, other wildlife, and the natural state of the area. At the time, none of the Custer National Forest Service lands were included, as that was outside of Interior Secretary Udall’s jurisdiction.

“Treating the wild horses as if they are livestock by fencing them into one small section of their traditional use area will not just harm the mustangs, but also the public who can more easily access the Forest Service lands to experience a wildlife display unlike any in North America,” states plaintiff Carol Walker. “I don’t understand why the Forest Service would want to deprive the public from experiencing this kind of natural wild horse wilderness.”

“Wild horses need to be treated like wild horses—not livestock. Right now the public can easily access the Forest Service lands and experience a wildlife display unlike any other,” states plaintiff Carol Walker. “We want the Forest Service to immediately abandon plans to build the fence.”

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Links of interest:

Expanded Complaint http://bit.ly/PryorsExpComplaint

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress

Link to this press release online http://bit.ly/pryorscomplaint

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

Cloud and Aztec's filly born in the Forest Service lands 7/15/10

Uh, oh......Pinal County Sheriff: Obama near 'borderline' of treason

Time for a Friday Fun Video!

You WON'T believe this one!

Calling All Americans To Step Up Efforts To End Horse Slaughter

For Immediate Release
July 23, 2010


Americans Against Horse Slaughter And WFLF/Humanion Films Call
On All Americans To Step Up Efforts To End Horse Slaughter
 
Powerful Policy Makers join Film as speakers and cast in Humanion Film’s “Saving
America’s Horses – A Nation Betrayed”
 
Congressmen Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, House Representative Dan Burton of Indiana
and Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have all joined the film, Saving America’s
Horses.  Producers Katia Louise and Debra Lopez have recently interviewed these
powerful policy makers for the film about their thoughts and positions regarding pending
bills that would protect America’s equines from slaughter and protect our wild horses.

Check out WFLF Humanion Films’ new “Action to End Horse Slaughter” preview clip
which includes exclusive statements by these powerful policy makers. Special
appearances in this preview additionally include Tippi Hedren of the Roar Foundation
and Neda DeMayo of Return to Freedom. This special pre-release preview clears the air
on misinformation that has been circulated by pro slaughter proponents. Learn more
about what you can do to help end this barbaric practice without further delay.

How You Can Help
 
Please Contact The Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Vermont) and all the
Senate Judiciary Committee Members (see list below) and ask them to move S727 out of
committee and on to the floor for a vote to pass The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.

Next, contact the House Judiciary Subcommittee Members and ask them to move HR503
out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. Members:http://judiciary.house.gov/about/subcrime.html

You can also contact your U.S. representative and your two U.S. Senators and urge him
or her to vote YES on the anti horse slaughter bill by calling the Captiol Switchboard at
202-224-3121

Step up your efforts!  Watch the all new exclusive “Action to End Horse Slaughter”
preview clip from “SAVING AMERICA’S HORSES – A NATION BETRAYED”
HERE!


Senate Judiciary Committee Members

1.  Patrick J. Leahy    Vermont                       #(202) 224-4242

2.  Herb Kohl   Wisconsin                               #(202) 224-5653
                                                                       Fax:(202) 224-9787

3.   Dianne Feinstein  California                    #(202) 224-3841
                                                                       Fax:(202) 228-3954

4.   Russ Feingold    Wisconsin                     #(202)-224-5323

5.   Arlen Specter   Pennsylvania                    #202-224-4254
                                                                       Fax:(202)-228-1229

6.  Chuck Schumer   New York                       #202-224-6542
                                                                      Fax:(202)-228-3027

7.  Dick Durbin   Illinois                                  #(202) 224-2152
                                                                      Fax:(202)-228-0400

8.  Benjamin L. Cardin   Maryland                  #202-224-4524
                                                                       Fax:(202)-224-1651

9.  Sheldon Whitehouse    Rhode Island        #202-224-2921
                                                                        Fax:(202)-228-6362

10.  Amy Klobuchar   Minnesota                        #202-224-3244
                                                                          Fax:(202)-228-2186

11.  Ted Kaufman   Delaware                            #(202) 224-5042
                                                                           Fax:(202) 228-3075

12.    Al Franken     Minnesota                      #(202) 224-5641

13.    Jeff Sessions  Alabama                             #(202) 224-4124

14.   Orrin G. Hatch     Utah                                 #(202) 224-5251
                                                                            Fax:(202) 224-6331

15.  Chuck Grassley         Iowa                           #(202) 224-3744
                                                                            Fax:(202) 224-6020

16.   Jon Kyl       Arizona                                       #(202) 224-4521
                                                                             Fax:(202) 224-2207

17.  Lindsey Graham    South Carolina             #(202) 224-5972

18.   John Cornyn     Texas                                  #(202)-224-2934
                                                                             Fax:(202)-228-2856

19.   Tom Coburn    Oklahoma                              #(202)-224-5754
                                                                               Fax:(202)-224-6008
 
 

Part 2 of George Knapp's Investigation is up!

I-Team: Horse Herds Pulled from Range, Despite Safety Concerns

 

BLM Wild Horse Spin Club

http://thedesertinde.com/Articles%202010/BLM-Liars-List--0723.html

An Editorial on Truth Spinners

---

By ROBERT WINKLER
The Desert Independent

July 23, 2010

Nevada, USA

There has been a lot of information put out by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lately. Much of it nonsense. For this editorial, I picked a couple of important items that I believe shows just how these BLM idiots believe their own ..... Well let's just say, they've been drinking the kool-ade.

Spinner #1: Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior

Ken says:

The roundup of wild horses is a necessity because the mustang population is growing so fast that horses are running out of food, water and harming the native land and wildlife.

So Ken  – just how are you managing your two natural disasters? It must take a lot of your time to kill hundreds of horses, while putting thousands of people out of works in the oil industry.

Spinner #2: Heather Emmons, a spokeswoman for the BLM in Nevada

Heather says:

It is required by law to balance the needs of multiple interests on public lands, including wild horses, wildlife, mining and livestock. Wild horses, which have few predators and double their population every four years, can damage habitat shared by endangered and threatened species such as the pygmy rabbit and the lahontan cutthroat trout.

If we let them eat everything and we started having mass die-offs of protected species, can you imagine the outcry?

These horses were without water for several days.

So Heather – just how do those horses drink so much water that they endanger the trout. Then the high priced fishing parties won't be able to play their flies. Starting to get it. Heather, please tell us again about how terribly easy it is for horses to get to water, when they have to sprout wings to cross cattle ranchers fences? Hmmmmmm Heather. Better ask the boss.

Ooops, better not, he's a little busy trying to clean up that other little mess.

I-Team: Horse Herds Pulled from Range, Despite Safety Concerns - KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las Vegas

I-Team: Horse Herds Pulled from Range, Despite Safety Concerns - KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las Vegas

Government Spin Machine Goes into Overdrive in Wild Horse Case

Change.org

Ignorance is Bliss When the Subject is Horse Slaughter

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/ignorance-is-bliss-when-the-subject-is-horse-slaughter/

Captured Owyhee mustangs being stressed to the max by BLM

Captured Owyhee mustangs being stressed to the max by BLM

Wife Still Reeling from Loss of Rancher Husband

Wife Still Reeling from Loss of Rancher Husband

Government Lawyers Mislead Federal Judge on Wild Horse Water

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/government-lawyers-mislead-federal-judge-on-wild-horse-water/

written by Steven Long ~ Editor/Publisher of Horseback Magazine

Artist Laura Leigh with Captured Calico Horses ~ Photo by Elyse Gardner

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – When Laura Leigh, an author, artist, journalist, and litigant chased the BLM into the desert to observe wild horse capture after a federal judge told her she could do so, she wasn’t allowed to see horses – but she did see water.
Judge Larry Hicks lifted his temporary injunction and permitted the federal Bureau of Land Management to capture horses in the fierce July desert heat of Nevada. As in previous death chases, the result was predictable. Horses dropped after being relentlessly stampeded by a roaring helicopter owned by BLM contractor, Cattoor Livestock Roundups out of Nephi, Utah. The federal agency had lied to the judge, telling him that death by thirst was imminent if they weren’t removed.
Hicks granted the plaintiff, Leigh, a first amendment stake in the chase. He told her it was unconstitutional for the BLM to ban her from observing the horses. In reply, the agency pulled off a cowboy hat trick of sorts in the desert. They moved the trap, the pen where the wild animals were to be driven, onto private land in a mountain canyon out of sight and then told the sheriff’s cops to arrest trespassers, including the litigant who had just won the right to see what BLM was doing in their “gather” first hand.
While Leigh didn’t get to see the objects of the BLM chase, North American Mustangs, she spotted something equally important and precious in the desert – water at the fenced off Desert Ranch Reservoir.
“While the reservoir is located on BLM public land, the water in the reservoir is privately owned (i.e., the private owner holds the water rights in accordance with State of Nevada water law),” said BLM’s Washington spokesman, Tom Gorey. “The reservoir is mostly fenced, but the fences are constructed in a manner that allows wild horses access to the privately owned water in at least three locations. As a result, wild horses are able to move freely to and from the water using the large gaps in the fencing.  In short, access to the reservoir water by wild horses is not blocked.”
If access to the water hole was open in three places, Leigh had caught the BLM lying to a federal judge.
“Desert Ranch Reservoir on public land is less than 5 miles from the trap site,” Leigh told Horseback Magazine late Monday. “BLM has the authority to utilize resources on private property to deal with emergencies. (BKM Director Bob) Abbey declared this issue in Owyhee an emergency.”
Gorey acknowledged today that there is water available to the horses that are being stampeded by the BLM contractor.
“In general, water within the Owyhee Herd Management Area (HMA) is provided primarily by unfenced public land reservoirs (water catchments),” he said. “There is also one spring, called Bookkeeper Spring, which is located on unfenced private land within the HMA.  This spring is normally adequate to water a small number of wild horses, but because of drought conditions, there is very little water available for use this year.”
Claiming extreme drought conditions, the BLM has delivered more than 30,000 gallons of water to the horses in the Owyhee HMA since Monday.
By admitting that water on public land is privately owned, Gorey raised a significant issue. What was the federal government thinking when it privatized an asset as precious as desert water, selling it out of government control? Moreover, when was it sold, for how much, and to whom?
“My assumption is that the BLM has never held the right to this water,” Gorey said.
It the government doesn’t own the water on federal land, who owns it?
Gorey has promised to research the ownership issue of water BLM lawyers claimed was nonexistent, so scarce, the deaths of hundreds of otherwise healthy horses and foals was imminent.
“Why did the BLM choose to press a stressed population through the round up instead of stabilizing the situation and waiting?” Leigh asked. “The claims made in the report given to a federal judge outline a population so fragile that BLM projected would be dead in three days (if the agency was not allowed to round them up.”
Leigh has filed briefs charging the BLM with contempt of court.

To Assist with the Legal Fund Please Click HERE

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• BLM Above the Law? (thecloudfoundation.org)
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• Government Spin Machine Goes into Overdrive in Wild Horse Case (animals.change.org)