August 6, 2013

The BLM Workshop in Reno eroded down to a presentation of BLM spin with:

1.) Ph.D.s making statements with NO EVIDENCE and NO RESEARCH on native wild horses. (FYI the Ph.Ds’ research is only on DOMESTIC horses)

2.) A facility DVM avoiding questions regarding the true number of DEAD foals

3.) Fabulous questions repeated but NOT answered by the BLM nor their contractors.

4.) BLM personnel NOT providing answers to questions and evading transparency.

One of the Ph.D.s explained the “basic necessities’ for humane horse care yet she avoided listing “shelter”. That same Ph.D. is known for citing failure to provide shelter as “Neglect”.

Anne Novak, our Executive Director, asked her, “Why are you not including shelter as a necessity in your presentation but are putting it over into a secondary category of optional horse care elements? Why are you saying this when you wrote a paper titled “Managing Equine Neglect Cases” in which it states at the top, in the definitions, quote, ‘NEGLECT: is the failure to provide proper shelter, food, or water. Neglect may also include failure to provide veterinary care to a horse that is ill or injured.”

The Ph.D. avoided the question and made the statement that her study was for California domestic horses not wild horses.

Captive wild horses deserve shade.

Adopters are required to provide not just shade but also shelter in order to adopt a wild horse that the BLM wants to dispose of.

We ask you~

Should the BLM be allowed different care standards than they demand of their adopters?

Why is a Ph.D.s skewing their published studies and standards of care to avoid requiring shelter for wild horses?

Later the workshop facilitator was pushing for the attendees to accept the BLM’s idea to give shelter to only the sick and injured wild horses but advocates would not be duped into supporting such an offer. Advocates stayed on focus and requested shelter for all captive wild horses and burros.

During the meeting, Anne Novak was in communication with Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM and President of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. She presented his statement that “All captive wild horses must have access to shade at the Palomino Valley facility.”

We are grateful the advocates in the room and many viewing the web transmission saw through the Delphi Technique used at the meeting and left more empowered and unified to get shade and shelter for the wild horses at Palomino Valley Center and elsewhere.

We want to thank our supporters who donated toward the gas to get the Protect Mustangs delegation to the meeting.

Please email your friends and relatives to meet the challenge for 50,000 signatures. Here is the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shade-for-captive-wild-horses-and-burros  Thank you!

Links of interest:

U.C. Davis expert cites failure to provide shelter as neglect http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4867

Delphi Technique: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4422 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_method