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Against the Odds, Three Colorado Communities Protect Themselves from Fracking
Photo credit: Eduardo Amorim / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
STATEMENT FROM SAM SCHABACKER, MOUNTAIN WEST REGION DIRECTOR FOR FOOD & WATER WATCH
DENVER, COLO. — “We are witnessing historic victories tonight with the anticipated passage of measures to stop fracking in Fort Collins, Boulder and Lafayette, and what appears to be a narrow defeat of a fracking moratorium measure in Broomfield. Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans from across the state spoke out resoundingly against fracking and for protecting their health, safety, property, families and futures from this dangerous, irresponsible practice.
“Up against nearly $400,000 spent by the oil and gas industry, Fort Collins residents are celebrating an overwhelming victory with nearly 65 percent of the vote to establish a five-year moratorium.
“In the financial and population center of the Democratic Party, Boulder voters chose the health and safety of their community over siding with the state’s pro-fracking Democratic leader, Governor Hickenlooper. Boulder’s Question 2H is leading by a landslide – more than 76 percent of the vote as of 10p.m. MT. And the city of Lafayette will make history as the second city to ban fracking in Colorado with 57 percent of voters voting yes on Question 300.
“Even Broomfield’s Question 300, which is currently losing by a razor thin margin (50.7 to 49.2 percent), proves that nearly half of that community is opposed to fracking. With the Colorado Oil and Gas Association spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars in Broomfield alone, the oil and gas industry succeeded in buying Broomfield’s election, but the community will continue to fight.
“These victories are even more impressive given the outrageous spending by the oil and gas industry, totaling nearly $900,000, which was a brazen attempt to intimidate voters and buy these elections. As tonight’s results show, most Coloradans are not fooled by the dirty money and glossy advertisements put out by the oil and gas industry. Voters understand that fracking is inherently dangerous and imperils the future of our beautiful state.
“Governor Hickenlooper should take heed of these momentous results. Instead of representing the people who voted him into office, he’s been champion-in-chief for the oil and gas industry: suing local communities to force fracking next to homes and schools, bragging about drinking fracking fluid, and keynoting multiple oil and gas summits while simultaneously refusing to meet with concerned citizens.
“Coloradans have sent a strong simple message today: they do not want fracking in their communities. It’s something that Governor Hickenlooper should especially take notice of as we head towards 2014, and that all of our state and federal representatives should pay attention to.”
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
Opponents of wild horse cull in the Kimberley say some have been left to die slowly
As seen on Australia’s Yahoo News and ABC (Australian Broadcast Company)
Opponents of a cull of thousands of wild horses in Western Australia say they have evidence the animals are not being killed humanely.
CAITLYN GRIBBIN –
Aerial slaughter kills thousands of Brumbies (wild horses) in Australia. Copyrighted photo.
Over the past week, more than 7,000 brumbies have been shot dead in the remote East Kimberley, using rifles fired from mustering helicopters.
Traditional owners, the RSPCA, and local graziers admit brumby numbers are out of control and have endorsed the cull because the horses are destroying native habitat near the WA/Northern Territory.
The Aboriginal Lands Trust undertook the cull on two stations with Aboriginal pastoral leases.
It is being overseen by veterinarian Jordan Hampton.
“You have two people in a small mustering helicopter and the shooter has a high-calibre semi-automatic weapon,” he said.
“They’re called SLRs, they’re similar to military rifles that were used in the Vietnam war.”
Dr Hampton is monitoring animal welfare during the operation.
“The helicopter pilot gets the shooter side on as close as he can to the animal, and then there’s our policy of repeat shooting,” he said.
“It’s known as mandatory overkill; each animal is shot more than once to ensure that it is indeed dead.”
RSPCA supports cull as little food or water for horses
The RSPCA is supporting the cull, saying it is inhumane to let the horses live because there is not enough food and water.
It says it demanded the brumbies be killed instantly through an accurately-fired shot, through the head or thorax.
But Libby Lovegrove, from activist group Wild Horses Kimberley, says she has evidence that has not happened.
“The photos, there’s one there of a horse that’s been shot in the shoulder and he’s been left to die, you can see the blood running down his leg,” she said.
Ms Lovegrove says the photos were taken by one of the stations’ employees on the October 30.
Shot but left to bleed to death like many brumbies from the aerial massacre. Copyright protected.
In one photo, a brumby is standing in a paddock and Ms Lovegrove says the horse is bleeding from a bullet wound on its left fore quarter.
“That bullet would’ve gone into its shoulder,” she said.
“Eventually it probably would either bleed to death slowly in the 40 degree heat or it would just carry that wound around with it, and it would be in tremendous pain.
“The other photographs are of a mare and a young colt, they all looked to be in terrific condition but they’ve both been shot, one of them in the wrong place.
“My major concern is when they shoot the mares, the foals that are left there have no way of surviving, they die slowly, it’s pretty terrible.”
Vet admits some horses still alive after being shot
In a statement, the Aboriginal Lands Trust and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs say they are confident the operation was conducted as professionally and humanely as possible.
Dr Hampton, who examined 452 of the 7,000 dead horses, admitted some were still alive after being shot.
“That’s part of the assessment and also the potential for the animal to show signs of having had a protracted death,” he said.
“We found animals alive associated with approximately one per cent of all the animals that were targeted.”
Wild Horses Kimberley says the brumbies should not be shot, but instead mustered and gelded.
But Dr Chris Pollitt, a veterinarian and feral horse researcher, says that is not viable and brumbies wreck the environment.
“Like looking at the surface of Mars, there was absolutely no natural pasture and it really did look red and barren,” he said.
And, he rejected the prospect of gelding.
“When you have extensive populations, difficult terrains, it’s not just as simple as you think,” he said.
RSPCA says it is pushing for a long-term strategy to control horse numbers and has requested that the photos in question be sent to them.
Ms Lovegrove wants the killing of the horses to get international attention.
“I’m in touch with the Mustang people in America because in the States now they’re passing laws to save their Mustangs,” she said.
Go to the Yahoo 7 article to Tweet, FB & Share: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/19697501/opponents-of-wild-horse-cull-in-the-kimberley-say-some-have-been-left-to-die-slowly/
Photo in of young brumby from the Australian massacre (graphic warning)
Young Brumby shot from a helicopter in the massacre. Photo p-rotected under copyright.
“Injured horses and orphaned foals–the whole scene is shocking,” explains Libby Lovegrove, Founder, Wild Horses Kimberley.
How old was this wild horse?
We welcome your comments. Please keep them clean so we can post them. Thanks for understanding.
Politely contact The Prime Minister of Australia, Honorable Tony Abbott and request he stop the killings http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Please help! Join the Thunderclap to Stop the Brumbie Killing: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/6098-stop-killing-brumbies?locale=en
Sign and share the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/258/184/025/stop-killing-the-brumbies/?z00m=20659573
Follow us on Facebook for updates and action to Save the Brumbies! https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
Follow Anne on Twitter for updates: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak and Protect Mustangs https://twitter.com/ProtectMustangs
Read about what’s happening: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5440 and check our site often: http://protectmustangs.org/
“The whole world is watching and outraged,” states Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs based in California. “Killing Australia’s heritage wild horses is shameful and needs to stop now!”
Special thanks to Libby Lovegrove and Lynette Sutton with boots on the ground across Australia.
Could the Brumby killers have broken the law?
No consultation claim over horse kill
Brad Thompson, The West Australian October 31, 2013, 4:54 am
Horses at Balgo that died in the mud last year. Picture: Supplied
Experienced pastoralists and the RSPCA have backed a mass cull of thousands of feral horses on two Kimberley stations despite claims from the Aboriginal manager of one of the properties that he was not consulted.
Bililunna manager Mark Gordon wrote to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier and Lands Minister Brendon Grylls last week pleading with them to prevent the cull.
The letter was signed by Mr Gordon and eight others who said they were traditional owners who had not been consulted and were opposed to aerial shooting of horses on their land.
The Aboriginal Lands Trust and the Kimberley Land Council yesterday rejected the claim, saying the cull had been discussed with traditional owners on several occasions and unanimously supported.
The ALT and the KLC said the cull was necessary to prevent an animal welfare disaster, for the economic viability of the stations and for the ALT to meet its legal obligations to control feral animals. The ALT had received breach notices from the Pastoral Lands Board and was in danger of forfeiting the valuable leases.
“At least we have a way forward to build economic sustainability for communities on those two properties,” ALT’s chairman Clinton Wolf said.
Haydn Sale, who runs nearby Yougawalla Station, said the ALT had no choice after investigating other options. “They were facing absolute disaster, thousands and thousands of horses stuck dying in the lake as it dried up,” he said.
The cull started at Lake Gregory on Monday and there were unconfirmed reports from Kimberley Wild Horses yesterday that about 3000 horses had been shot.
Mr Gordon agreed urgent action was needed as the lake dried up but said he wanted to muster the horses to create employment. He said some would be kept for breeding, others gelded and old or sick horses put down.
The RSPCA and Mr Sale said mustering and trucking wild horses exposed them to a high risk of stress and injury.
Australian pro-kill article spins brumby massacre despite livestock damaging the land and plans for Fracking
When will Australia come clean with the real reason they want to kill off the brumbies? Read the biased spin piece (below) that doesn’t mention the other side of the debate. Why isn’t ABC including brumby advocates in this article?
Cross-posted from ABC
Feral horse cull commences in the central Kimberley
By Belinda Varischetti and Babs McHugh
Updated Thu 31 Oct 2013, 1:47pm AEDT
An aerial cull of thousands of feral horses has started on two Indigenous pastoral leases in the central Kimberley.
The Kimberley Rangeland Biosecurity Group says there are about 6,000 feral horses on Lake Gregory and Billiluna stations. However, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association believes the number is closer to 9,000.
The Aboriginal Lands Trust says the horses must be removed to protect the local environment, to comply with legal obligations and to mitigate animal welfare and public health issues.
The RSPCA is also supporting the aerial cull.
Clinton Wolf is the chair of the Aboriginal Lands Trust.
“What I am firm on is the number in relation to the aerial count and that was 6,000 horses,” he said.
“The logistics is basically that the RSPCA is heavily involved, we’ve got two veterinarians there, I believe that there is two helicopters involved and that’s the standard way of doing culls in Western Australia on pastoral leases and we’ve just tried to make sure that we’ve followed to the letter the exact requirements for best practice aerial culling which we believe and we’ve been told by a variety of experts is the most humane way of dealing with the feral horse population.”
Mr Wolf says the traditional owners want the feral horse numbers under control for business and personal safety considerations.
“Build a fence one day and the next day it’s not there because a huge herd of wild horses has run right through the middle of it. You can see the distress in their eyes and they’ve had a connection with these horses for 120 years.
“When you see them say we’ve had enough and sure we want a few horses out here because we want to maintain that connection, but you can’t have six to seven thousand horses running around and what is concerning them also is when there was no water around, the horses were coming into the community.
“And you’ve got two or three year old kids walking around and we’re not saying wild horses are aggressive or anything like that, but when you’ve got a wild animal that suddenly takes flight over a vehicle going past and takes off and runs over the top of a child, is anyone going to turn around and say ‘well, we should put up with that’, because quite clearly we shouldn’t.
“We’ve got a feeling that if we get on top of the bulk of them, we’ve already had discussions with Kimberley land Council rangers who are saying that as part of their duty statement that they’re prepared to participate moving forward so that we absolutely keep a handle on this.”
The Australian Wildlife Conservancy has backed the cull of the brumbies at Lake Gregory “as long as it’s humanely conducted”.
The AWC owns more than 800,000 acres in the Kimberley, most of it former pastoral stations.
The land is being rehabilitated and cleared of feral animals to help build up numbers of endangered species.
Chief executive Atticus Fleming says the brumbies don’t belong there.
“Feral horses do have a significant impact on the environment, they are driving the decline in our wildlife, along with other feral herbivores.
“So action does need to be taken. It needs to be done humanely, but we need to remove them from the Australian environment.”
Mr Fleming says the option of rounding up and breaking in the brumbies wouldn’t be practical in the vast Kimberley.
Topics: beef-cattle, cattle-feedlots, livestock-welfare, agribusiness, livestock, animal-welfare,environmental-health, environmental-management, perth-6000
Link to the article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/feral-horse-cull/5058742
#BREAKING Photos of dead Brumbies (wild horses) killed by aerial slaughter in #Australia
Brumbies are Australian heritage wild horses. Witnesses found them shot and killed (Copyright protected)
Aerial slaughter kills thousands of Brumbies, heritage wild horses of Australia. (Copyrighted photo.)
Young Brumby shot from a helicopter in the massacre. Photo p-rotected under copyright.
Please check back as we are updating the page when the photos come in from Australia.
We welcome your comments. Please keep them clean so we can post them. Thanks for understanding.
Politely contact The Prime Minister of Australia, Honorable Tony Abbott and request he stop the killings http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Please help! Join the Thunderclap to Stop the Brumbie Killing: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/6098-stop-killing-brumbies?locale=en
Sign and share the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/258/184/025/stop-killing-the-brumbies/?z00m=20659573
Follow us on Facebook for updates and action to Save the Brumbies! https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
Follow Anne on Twitter for updates: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak and Protect Mustangs https://twitter.com/ProtectMustangs
Read about what’s happening: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5440 and check our site often: http://protectmustangs.org/
“The whole world is watching and outraged,” states Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs based in California. “Killing Australia’s heritage wild horses is shameful and needs to stop now!”
Special thanks to Libby Lovegrove and Lynette Sutton with boots on the ground across Australia working hard to save the brumbies.
Reports from Australia that up to 3000 wild horses have been killed and they want to kill 3000 more!
Join the international outcry to Stop Killing the Brumbies!
Please tell your friends about the important Thunderclap that will shout out to Stop the massacre!!! We have 10 days left to get a total of 250 people on board to make a wave of thunder shouting out “Stop Killing the Brumbies!”
Reports are coming in from Australia that 2-3,000 have been massacred and the wild horse killers want to kill 3,000 more. We will keep you posted as more information comes in. Help shine the light on this darkness. Share this information with your friends.
Evidently a huge liquid natural gas (LNG) deposit, the largest outside the U.S.A., has been discovered in Western Australia’s Kimberely, where these wild horses roam. LNG is the new export gold–selling to the Asian market for their growing electricity needs. Could the mass slaughter be connected with plans to industrialize the area into a massive fracking zone?
Help save the wild horses in Australia by clicking here: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/6098-stop-killing-brumbies?locale=en
Thank you for doing what you can do to help save the wild horses.
Many blessings,
Anne Novak
Executive DIrector of Protect Mustangs
(Photo © Libby Lovegrove, Brumbies in the wild. All rights reserved.)
Horses’ Shade Preferences Evaluated
“We have been requesting shade for wild horses at the BLM holding facilities since June 2013 and conducted an investigation that revealed captive wild horses are dying in heat waves with no shade,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs. “The BLM has delayed proper management and is wasting time conducting additional trial studies overseen by the PhD mentioned below, when it’s obvious they need access to shade and shelter.”
Cross-posted from The Horse
The team concluded that shade provides horses significant physiological benefits, even with limited use, and when given the choice mature horses show a preference for using shade under summer conditions, Holcomb said. Photo by Kathryn Holcomb, PhD
The benefit of horse housing might be obvious during cold winter months, but what about during sun-filled summer days?
Researchers at the University Of California, Davis (UC Davis), College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Animal Science worked together to execute several studies to investigate. Researcher Kathryn Holcomb, PhD, presented the results of two studies at the 9th Annual International Society for Equitation Science, held July 18-20 at the University of Delaware in Newark.
“Research shows that shade benefits livestock, leading to increased weight gain and milk production,” Holcomb said, but existing research about horse housing and weather primarily focuses on winter conditions. For the two UC Davis studies, researchers chose to look at climate conditions more common in California—sunshine and heat.
Both shade-related studies measured physiological and behavioral changes in horses, as well as environmental data.
Physiological measurements included:
- Rectal temperature (RT);
- Respiration rate (RR);
- Skin temperature (SK); and
- Water consumption.
Behavioral measurements included:
- Foraging;
- Locomotion; and
- Proximity to water.
Environmental and weather data included:
- Ambient temperature;
- Relative humidity;
- Black globe temperature, which measures the combined effect of ambient temperature and solar radiation;
- Soil temperature; and
- Solar radiation, which can be thought of as measuring the intensity of the sun, Holcomb said.
Twelve adult horses were housed individually for five days in either completely shaded pens (above) or completely unshaded pens (below), and then traded places for five days to serve as their own controls.
Photos Courtesy Kathryn Holcomb, PhD
Photos Courtesy Kathryn Holcomb, PhD
The first study evaluated horses’ physiological and behavioral responses to shade. Twelve adult horses were housed individually for five days in either completely shaded pens (SH) or completely unshaded pens (SUN), and then traded places for five days to serve as their own controls. Horses in the SUN group had higher RT, RR, and SK than SH horses, and SUN horses also stood near water more often and consumed more water than horses in the shade group.
The second study sought to quantify horses’ preference for shade. Researchers housed 11 adult horses individually for five to seven days in half-shaded pens.
“Horses were observed in the shade 7.1% more during daylight hours than would be expected by chance,” Holcomb said. “We defined ‘in shade’ as two or more hooves in the shade.”
“Time of day was a significant factor,” Holcomb said. She said researchers observed the horses in shade more frequently at midday and late afternoon, corresponding to peak solar radiation (midday) and, to their surprise, just after peak ambient and black globe temperatures (late afternoon).
The team concluded that shade provides horses significant physiological benefits, even with limited use, and when given the choice mature horses show a preference for using shade under summer conditions, Holcomb said.
She noted that these studies addressed preference and benefits, and that additional research is needed to determine if and under what conditions horses require shade.
Stop Killing Brumbies
Australia’s wild horses, the brumbies, are being slaughtered by the thousands in aerial kills to make way for the natural gas industry to Frack and poison Australia’s land, water and air.
7000 brumbies were slaughtered from September to October 2013. Why? To industrialize the areas where the brumbies live in order to sell liquid natural to Asia for their mushrooming demand for electricity. The spin doctors justify the massacre by lying to the public.
Brumbies are Australian heritage wild horses. Witnesses found them shot and killed (Copyright protected)
Aerial slaughter kills thousands of Brumbies (wild horses) in Australia. Copyrighted photo.
The United States wants to be the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export leader with Russia and Australia right behind them. Meetings in Washington are happening now.
Natural gas fracking is putting your community at risk to EXPORT liquid natural gas. The export market will drive up natural gas prices at home. This is not gas for your car. LNG is used to make electricity instead of using clean solar power. The Asian demand for electricity is booming. Big Oil & Gas doesn’t want rooftop solar. They don’t care about the environment. They want to Frack and Sell. When your water is poisoned with Fracking chemicals they won’t care. Don’t be fooled.
See the movie GASLAND 2 to understand the environmental devastation caused by fracking for natural gas.
We request responsible stewardship of the land. Killing off thousands of wild horses in Australia or the United States to fast track energy development for export is heinous. Save the Brumbies now!
Take ACTION and tell your friends:
Politely contact The Prime Minister of Australia, Honorable Tony Abbott and request he stop the killings http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Please help! Join the Thunderclap to Stop the Brumbie Killing: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/6098-stop-killing-brumbies?locale=en
Sign and share the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/258/184/025/stop-killing-the-brumbies/?z00m=20659573
Follow Wild Horses Kimberley and donate to their cause: http://www.wildhorseskimberley.com.au/
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
Comment here: www.ProtectMustangs.org
Photo © Lynette Sutton