We invite you to join us to light a candle and say a prayer for the 23 Wyoming wild horses who perished after the stealth BLM roundup (March 18 & 19).
We promise we will work hard to ensure this never happens again and we pledge to honor the legacy of the survivors, the WY14.
© Protect Mustangs, all rights reserved
Urgent: Our funding fell through
Please help the 14 orphaned wild horses in the next phase of this rescue. We need help to pay interstate transportation, get corral panels, hay, medical expenses, etc. We are a group of volunteers who will be donating our time to gentle these wild horses and prepare them for adoption so they can live happy lives. Your donation is urgent now. Please donate here.
We also need land in the San Francisco Bay Area to house them and a used truck and gooseneck stock trailer. Need a tax deduction? We have a 501c3 that is our umbrella while ours is pending.
We are a California nonprofit organization. We protect mustangs.
Read for more information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6775 and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6734 and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668
Be a walking billboard for America’s wild horses
Only $19 each on a limited run with 5 days left to get your shirts.
Go here to order https://www.booster.com/protectmustangs-wildandfree and then share the awareness campaign so we can meet our minimum goal for the shirt order to move forward.
Enjoy!
© Gage Skidmore
For immediate release
Protect Mustangs rescues 14 young wild horses from slaughterhouse after BLM roundup
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (May 7, 2014)—Against all odds, actor Mark Boone Junior (Batman Begins & Sons of Anarchy) and Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs, saved 14 young free-roaming wild horses from slaughter thanks to donations from Alicia Goetz, the Schnurmacher family and others. This unprecedented rescue seems to be the first time American wild horses have been purchased back from a slaughterhouse following a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup. In March, the herd of 41 wild horses was rounded up by the BLM, using taxpayer funds, handed over to the the Wyoming Livestock Board and sold at auction to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption abroad. The BLM claims everything they did was legal.
“If it’s legal then the law needs to change,” states Novak. “Americans love wild horses. They want to make sure they’re protected. Congress knows that and it’s time they represent the public who elected them into office—not interests who want to dispose of them.”
In 2004, former Montana Senator, Conrad Burns, added the Burns amendment to the Appropriations Act of 2005 without any public or Congressional discussion. The Burns amendment overruled many protections in the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. From that time forward, “unlimited sales” to slaughter has been legal.
Due to public outcry against selling wild horses for slaughter, the BLM uses middle men who sell the mustangs to the slaughterhouse. This time the scapegoat was the Wyoming Livestock Board, other times it’s men like Tom Davis. The 1,700 wild horses he purchased from the feds have never been accounted for. Advocates believe they went to slaughter in Mexico.
Public outcry over Tom Davis prompted BLM to revise their policy to avoid another fiasco in the future. A change in policy is not a change in law. It’s still legal for the BLM to allow slaughter and exportation of horse meat.
Out of the 41 wild horses rounded up on March 18th and 19th near Greybull, Wyoming, 37 were quickly sold to the slaughterhouse. 4 foals were saved by the co-owner of the auction house and later transferred to advocates. Protect Mustangs jumped in later on April 2nd to save the other 37 wild horses from being slaughtered. Chances were slim they would find any alive.
Boone and Novak quickly learned that a group of 23 mares and stallions had already perished. The two managed to prevent the last 14 orphaned wild youngsters from going to slaughter. The survivors are called the WY14. They range in age from 8 months to 2 years old.
“It’s a miracle we were able to get them out,” says Boone. “I can’t believe the EPA, in 2012, designated our wild horses as pests—especially when the horse originated in America.”
“American free-roaming wild horses are a returned-native species who contribute to the thriving natural ecological balance,” explains Novak. “They have value on the range because they reduce the risk of wildfires, reverse desertification and with climate change that’s really important.”
For generations, free-roaming wild horses lived in family bands north of Greybull and close to a former herd area called Dry Creek/Foster Gulch that was zeroed out in 1987 to make room for extractive uses such as bentonite mining.
In 1971 there were 339 wild herds in the West, but now there are only 179 left in all 10 western states combined.
Today the Bighorn Basin is preparing for another extractive boom but this time it’s about fracking for oil and gas with right-of-way corridors to service those fields. Is this why the small herd of 41 wild horses was suddenly ripped off public land?
The feds maintain the 41 wild horses were not wild even though they lived wild and free for generations.
Curiously reports have surfaced that a bucking string made up of wild mustangs was turned out by their original owner more than 40 years ago. If it could be proven these wild horses were on public land in 1971, they would be protected under the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act. The BLM claims the horses have been there for only 40 years not 43.
“It’s horrible for tourism that the State of Wyoming would allow this sort of thing,” states Boone. “The beauty of the Bighorn Basin is like no other place on earth but it won’t be the same now that these wild horses are gone.”
Go to www.ProtectMustangs.org to help the WY14 with your donation. Protect Mustangs is a California nonprofit based in San Francisco.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Tami Hottes, 618.790.4339 Tami@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, video and interviews available upon request
Links of interest™:
Cody Enterprise: ‘Some’ horses avoid slaughter http://www.codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_99e78c52-d0a8-11e3-a6ac-001a4bcf887a.html
AP (Viral): Feds draw criticism for selling Wyoming horses for slaughter http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/20/feds-draw-criticism-for-selling-wyoming-horses-for-slaughter/
Sons of Anarchy’s Bobby Elvis wants to save 37 American wild horses http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668
The horse and burro as positively contributing returned-natives in North America http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20140201.12.pdf
Native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562
Wild horse overpopulation myth debunked: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6721
Washington Post (Viral) U.S. looking for ideas to help manage wild-horse overpopulation http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-looking-for-ideas-to-help-manage-wild-horse-overpopulation/2014/01/26/8cae7c96-84f2-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html
Huffington Post: Advisory board recommends BLM sterilize wild horses http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121030/us-wild-horses/
Westword: Callie Hendrickson, allegedly pro-slaughter appointee to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/03/callie_hendrickson_wild_horse_board_slaughter.php
Advisory Board member endorses slaughter http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/10/30/blm-wild-horse-burro-advisory-board-member-endorses-horse-slaughter-during-public-session/#comment-68620
BLM and wild horse slaughter: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=1141
Video footage of helicopter roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM
PEER: BLM doesn’t track cattle on Public land http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2013/01/24/blm-says-it-cannot-track-cattle-on-its-lands/
2012 EPA Pesticide Information for Fertility Control http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf
ProPublica: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the gov’t?http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt
Princeton University: Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies, in the search for food http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/93/41K10/index.xml?section=featured
Princeton and the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros Population Growth Study shows BLM roundups increase population growth: http://www.ispmb.org/herd_social_structures.html
Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392
Petition to Defund and Stop the Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups
Petition for a Moratorium on roundups for recovery and scientific studies: http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-recovery-and-scientific-studies
Wyoming tourism “Roam Free”: http://www.wyomingtourism.org/
Wyoming Pipeline Corridor Initiative (Bighorn Basin) http://wyia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/brian-jeffries.pdf
KLS News BLM horses seized in suspected slaughter ring (Aug. 5, 2011) http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=16686555#JFD7d0UvEtYOc4fi.99
Washington Post: The Story of Conrad Burns and Wild Horseshttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2006/10/they_reallly_do_shoot_horses_d.html
Christian Science Monitor and cross-posted by The Seattle Times (March 2, 2005) Law allows slaughter of wild horses for meat by Brad Knickerbocker http://bit.ly/K8DWIF
Now, a law signed by President Bush will allow the slaughter and export of horse meat form thousands of wild horses. Horse lovers are urging reversal of the measure, which slipped into a recent federal appropriations bill by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.
Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_and_Free-Roaming_Horses_and_Burros_Act_of_1971
Mark Boone Junior: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095478/
Anne Novak: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak and http://newsle.com/AnneNovak
www.ProtectMustangs.org Protect Mustangs educates, protects and preserves native and wild horses. The nonprofit conservation group strives for a 10 year moratorium on roundups and science-based holistic land management to reduce global warming.
© Protect Mustangs (designed by Robin Warren)
Cedar City, Utah—The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Cedar City Field Office is seeking public comment on an Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzing proposed wild horse gather, removal and fertility treatment in the Bible Spring Complex.
Before including an address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in any comments, be aware that the entire comment—including personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. Requests to withhold personal identifying information from public review can be submitted, but the BLM cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so. The BLM will not consider anonymous comments. All submissions from organizations and businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety.
# # #
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In Fiscal Year 2013, the BLM generated $4.7 billion in receipts from public lands.
Update on the WY14 Rescue Mission
Boone and I saved the last of the WY41 from Dry Creek/Foster Gulch areas in the Bighorn Basin. When we jumped in, on April 2nd, 23 Wyoming wild horses had already been slaughtered. We are so grateful to have saved the remaining 14 youngsters (8 mo–2 yrs old) now called the WY14.
You can read the backstory press release here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668 We will post our new press release soon.
We had to keep this rescue mission completely quiet to ensure the safety of the WY14. We hope you will understand that is why we could not answer your questions during the rescue.
Now I can share with you some of the correspondence (below) during phase one of the WY14 Rescue Mission. I will be updating it, so check back often.
We were in authentic positive negotiations with the real decision makers resulting in this outcome. We are grateful for everyone’s prayers and support because together this miracle has happened. Now there is so much to do to bring the WY14 to California, find land for a sanctuary or prepare them for adoption in pairs.
Bad news: Our funding for the second phase of the WY14 Rescue Mission appears to have fallen though.
We urgently need funds now to bring them to California to create a sanctuary for them or prepare them for adoption in pairs. Please make a donation via www.PayPal.com to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or by mailing your check to: Protect Mustangs, P.O. Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705 We are a California nonprofit organization with a 501c3 sponsor so your donations are tax deductible.
We need your donations for interstate transportation, board, feed, corral panels, water troughs, medical, gas, supplements, a used truck and trailer, etc.
Here is our fundraiser for the used trailer: http://www.gofundme.com/WildHorseTrailer
If anyone wants a tax write-off and can donate a 3/4 ton truck with less than 90K miles and capable of hauling heavy loads of horses and/or anyone has a safe used gooseneck stock trailer tall enough for horses that they want to donate we will meet our goals quicker so we can serve the WY14 once they arrive.
Thank you for donating and sharing the update with your friends and family.
Many blessings,
Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
Excerpt from an email on April 6th
. . .That is so great to know as we are getting closer. Very soon we will know if they are still alive. . . Please say nothing as I just want to surround this possibility with prayers and miracles. . . We are waiting to hear about their status. I learned the plant is closed on the weekend so at least they will not be killed while my contact is off work. I am relieved. Jane Velez Mitchell (CNN) called to interview me today but I was unable to speak with her because I felt it was in the best interest of the 37 horses if I kept quiet until they are safe. . .
Many blessings, Anne
Excerpt from an email on April 9th
. . .Confidential: The 14 who have not been slaughtered yet are in quarantine in Montana. . . My guess would be that they are all mares–one about to foal–except for perhaps some weanling colts maybe 9 months old. I’m going to call around to organize the haul out of Montana to Nevada so we are ready. . . There are so many rumors about this on Facebook that I want to keep this totally confidential. People have been calling the slaughterhouse and I don’t want anything to ruin this deal. Please don’t tell anyone.
Many blessings, Anne
Check back here for more posts and please donate for the WY14 Rescue Mission
Nevada mustang © Carl Mrozek
WILD HORSE POPULATION GROWTH
Research Collaboration by
Kathleen Gregg Environmental Researcher
Lisa LeBlanc Environmental Researcher
Jesica Johnston Environmental Scientist April 25, 2014
INTRODUCTION
The recent National Academy of Science (NAS) report on the Wild Horse and Burro Program determined that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has no evidence of excess wild horses and burros; because the BLM has failed to use scientifically sound methods to estimate the populations (NAS, 2013). The NAS cited two chief criticisms of the Wild Horse and Burro Program: unsubstantiated estimates in herd management areas (HMA), and management decisions that are not based in science (NAS, 2013).
Effective wild horse and burro management is dependent on accurate population counts and defensible assumptions. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) routinely uses the assumption that wild horse and burro herds increase annually at an average rate of 20%. However, our review of available scientific literature combined with an analysis of BLM data for 5,859 wild horses found that approximately 50% of the foals survived to the age of 1 year, which indicates a 10% population growth rate based on yearling survival rates.
METHODS AND DATA
The data and analysis is based on the BLM’s wild horse and burro removal and processing documents acquired under the Freedom of Information Act. The data sets were evaluated separately, and then combined to total 5,859 wild horses, captured, aged, and branded by BLM. This data is the basis for the analysis in this report and the accompanying chart in table 1 below.
Burro data was also calculated for foal and yearling survival. That data indicated a 7% population growth rate for burros based on yearling survival, but that data is not included here as burros are not present in all of the HMAs.
The data was collected from 4 herds captured by BLM in Nevada and California in 2010 and 2011. The data below in table 1 shows the individual herds and accumulated age structure data which supports the overall conclusion. Wild horse foals and yearlings were tallied for population increases and in all four samples, recorded a combined foaling rate of less than 20%, but only half or 50% survived to the age of 1 year (see table 1 below).
Table 1 Age Structure Yearling Survival Rate
DISCUSSION
This research does not include or reflect the additional adult mortality rates due to the complexity of population dynamics, but does raise serious questions about the validity of the BLM’s assumed 20% annual herd population growth rate. Furthermore, the BLMs assumption fails to consider that wild horse populations are dynamic due to isolation and have varied rates of reproduction and survival due to changing climates, forage, competition, disturbance and environmental conditions. All these are factors that can lead to varied herd growth rates and each herd should be evaluated separately.
This research paper is supported by previous studies using age structure data completed by Michael L. Wolfe, Jr. in 1980 titled “Feral Horse Demography: A Preliminary Report”. Mr. Wolfe cited observations in 12 HMAs, over a period of 2 to 5 years, and covered a much broader range over six Western states. He questioned the annual rate increase of 20%, and found that first-year survival rates to range between 50% and 70% (Wolfe, 1980).
Other supporting research includes The National Academy of Science National Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro report of 1982, which states, “…several biases in the (BLM) census data, cited or calculated rates of increase based on a number of published values for reproduction and survival rates, as well as sex and age ratios, and concluded annual rates of increase of ten percent or less” (NAS, 1982).
The NAS 2013 report also used age structure data to estimate population growth. However, the report used foaling rates to draw conclusions about the population growth; rather than first year survival rates (NAS, pg.51-52 2013). This and other studies challenge the assumption that the 20% foaling rate provides an adequate measure of population growth.
The BLM bases their management decisions on environmental assessments that cite inflated population estimates. As shown in this study and previous research, the BLM’s assumption of a 20% annual wild horse population growth rate is not based in science; leading to unsubstantiated population estimates with no evidence of excess wild horses.
REFERENCES
National Academy of Science 2013, “Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program – A Way Forward”
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13511&page=R1
Johnston, J. (2011). California’s, Wild Horses and Burros: Twin Peaks HMA.
“Feral Horse Demography: A Preliminary Report”, Michael L. Wolfe, Jr.
National Academy of Science 1982, “Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros”
http://books.google.com/books?id=Q2IrAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Freedom Of Information Act (2012). FOIA BLM FY12-011 1278.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Freedom Of Information Act (2012). FOIA BLM- 2012-00934.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Freedom Of Information Act (2012). FOIA BLM 2012-01046.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Freedom Of Information Act (2012). FOIA BLM 2012-00250.
Download the paper here: PM Population Growth 4.25.14 FINAL
To:
Neil Kornze, BLM Director
Joan Guilfoyle, Division Chief BLM Division of Wild Horses and Burros jguilfoy@blm.gov
Juan Palma, Utah State Director, BLM jpalma@blm.gov
Jenna Whitlock, Utah Associate State Director, BLM jwhitloc@blm.gov
Todd Christensen, Color Country Utah District Manager BLM utccmail@blm.gov
Salvatore R. Lauro Director, Office of Law Enforcement and Security BLM SLauro@blm.gov
BLM Utah State Office utsomail@blm.gov
Re: Rogue Roundups
Dear Sirs & Madams,
We officially request you put an immediate stop to rogue roundups and incidents of wild horses allegedly being trapped, harassed and sent to auction where kill buyers have been known to purchase horses or shot or poisoned on or nearby public land in Utah, Nevada and elsewhere. Not only is it wrong, cruel and against federal protections but it is also a global embarrassment
Chasing wild horses onto private property, luring them onto private property or any other method of getting unbranded wild horses on private land to shoot, kill, trap, load, abduct, take is in violation of the Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and must be stopped immediately. Wild horse and burro harassment must stop. It appears to be a federal crime to “willfully remove or attempt to remove wild free-roaming horse or burros from public lands, without authority from the Secretary.”
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) appears to be violated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) granting–without public input–the removal of horses from public lands. It appears you are in violation of NEPA. This must cease immediately.
It appears the county commissioners are engaging in retaliatory acts, connected with lobbying groups, against federally protected free-roaming wild horses and burros because the BLM is reducing livestock grazing. This must stop now.
There is no emergency such as fire, disease, catastrophic incident to merit a roundup. It appears you are joining in an act of subterfuge.
As it is foaling season, according to your handbook, you must prohibit vigilante roundups to avoid the loss of lives and to prevent animal cruelty–chasing young foals for miles on their tiny hooves as well as chasing and harassing heavily pregnant mares, other wild horses and burros.
Loss of life from being harassed and chased by men is not a form of natural predation. This appears to be in violation of the 1971 Act.
You appear to be failing your job to protect America’s beloved free-roaming wild horses and burros in the West due to your conflict of interest. The current example in Utah merits Congressional investigation.
We hereby request to be copied on all communications regarding roundups or removals in Utah, all press releases, included in all conference calls and meetings pertaining to the issue, etc. You must become transparent.
Reports are coming in that Utah residents and officials have declared protected wild horses “feral”, are driving them onto private land, baiting them onto private land, trapping them, killing some, giving some away by the truckload to alleged kill buyers, and trucking many to auction where kill buyers allegedly purchase them for slaughter.
What proof do you have that any unbranded wild horses are anything but free-roaming wild horses? Kindly disclose all photos and videos on this matter with in 7 days of this letter.
We hold the BLM accountable and request immediate and full disclosure of all photographs and videos showing dead horses shot from land as well as those shot from the air and all horses who have been injured and were euthanized.
This is not the 90s. This is an era of social media, whistle blowers and widespread truth. Our supporters are watching. The whole world is watching. They want you to do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Anne Novak
Anne Novak
Executive Director
Protect Mustang
Read about native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs educates, protects and preserves native and wild horses. The nonprofit conservation group strives for a 10 year moratorium on roundups and science-based holistic land management to reduce global warming.
TMM/elected officials & VIP list
PS
Dear Friends of Wild Horses & Burros,
I want to let you know about the new awareness t-shirt campaign https://www.booster.com/
BLM could be trying to roundup 1,700 wild horses in Utah soon and that’s just the beginning . . .
Despite public outcry, the BLM received $12 million for brutal helicopter roundups this year. Foals are often killed in the cruel roundups. It’s time we stand up and say “NO!”
According to the 14-year study by the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) working with scientists at Princeton University, wild horse herds with functional social structures contribute to low herd growth compared to BLM managed herds. Click here to read the study: http://
We’ve asked BLM for a 10-year Moratorium on Roundups for recovery and studies. Here is the petition: http://www.change.org/
We’ve kept the cost low to cover printing, raise a couple of dollars per shirt for the horses and maximize outreach via the t-shirts.
The 2014 Stop the Roundups shirt is a tool to educate the public. Please go to https://www.booster.com/
Thank you so much for caring about protecting America’s wild horses.
Together we can turn this around.
Many blessings,
Anne
Anne Novak
Executive Director
Protect Mustangs