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BREAKING NEWS: Call for Wyoming boycott and protests against roundups to frack the land for oil and gas
Native wild horses are facing destruction in the face of climate change with no evidence of overpopulation to justify BLM roundups
Rock Springs, WY. (September 21, 2014)–-The public is outraged more indigenous wild horses are being rounded up and permanently removed from public land for the water and fracking land grab. Protect Mustangs is calling for protests to stand up for American wild horses and for a tourism boycott targeted at Wyoming who promotes “Roam Free” in their marketing yet ignores wild horses in their state. More than 800 Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells wild horses are being rounded up from the public-private land known as the “Checkerboard” in southwest Wyoming. The Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) took the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to court to push the roundup through. Wild horses are terrified by choppers, their families ripped apart, forced into inhumane captivity, be at-risk for going to slaughter and forever lose their freedom to roam and contribute to the ecosystem. Several wild horses have already died brutal deaths in the roundup–some victims were only a few months old.
“Fracking for oil and gas is polluting the environment and wiping out America’s wild horses,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The BLM must leave at least 150 wild horses in each herd to maintain genetic variability so they can adapt to the effects of climate change. It’s time for clean energy that can coexist with wildlife.”
BLM describes one large fracking project, Continental Divide-Creston, in saying, “The project is located on 1.1 million acres in the checkerboard pattern of mixed land ownership comprised of 59 percent federal, 37 percent private and 4 percent state-owned land. The eastern boundary of the project is approximately 25 miles west of Rawlins, Wyo. with the western boundary approximately 50 miles east of the city of Rock Springs.”
Field reports allege the BLM has inflated the population guesstimates to justify removals requested by the RSGA.
There is no evidence of overpopulation according to the National Academy of Sciences’ 2013 report.
On the other hand, internationally acclaimed wildlife biologist Craig Downer points out “much evidence exists for horse presence in the Americas, especially North America, during the post- Pleistocene and pre-Columbian period at dates scattered through the period beginning ca. 10,000 YBP and reaching very near to 1492 A.D. [Craig C. Downer, The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America, American Journal of Life Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 1, 2014, pp. 5-23. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12]
“Native wild horses are a vanishing natural resource,” states Novak. “People need to stand up for what’s right. Innocent foals are dying in this roundup and that’s wrong.”
Protect Mustangs is calling for an immediate moratorium on roundups and removals for scientific population studies and holistic management. Advocates want to see genetically viable herds on public land but the BLM prefers to cater to the extractive industry who wants number so low wild horses will die off.
“Tourists come to Wyoming to observe wild horse families in their native habitat, so why are they going to decimate these herds?” asks Novak. “The tag line at the Wyoming tourism office is ‘Roam Free‘ but they are taking away native wild horses’ freedom forever. The public is angry and wants to boycott Wyoming tourism.”
The Great Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek herd management areas (HMAs) total approximately 2,427,220 acres with approximately 1,2427,220 acres in the Checkerboard. The roundup held up in court recently due to the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) Consent Decree ordered by the U.S. District Court on April 3, 2013, to remove all wild horses from private lands within the checkerboard portion of the complex in 2013. The RSGA appears to be heavily involved with energy development.
Members of the public are encouraged to watch GASLAND 2, contact their elected officials, peacefully protest the roundup and join America’s growing anti-fracking movement to stop the devastation of native wild horse habitat.
Protect Mustangs is a grassroots conservation nonprofit devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.
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Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Tami Hottes, 618-790-4339, Tami@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, interviews and video available upon request
Links of interest™:
American Journal of Life Sciences: The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America http://bit.ly/1rV9tpr
Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act http://1.usa.gov/1utVtmL
More foals die in Wyoming’s Checkerboard roundup: http://bit.ly/1wEU6Ua
NEPA: http://bit.ly/1B0e9Nd
GASLAND 2: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/
BLM Oil & Gas leases: http://on.doi.gov/1sS8l3Z
National Academy of Sciences report on Wild Horses and Burros: http://bit.ly/1sT6agA
Protect Mustangs Calls for Fund for Wyoming Wild Horses (Horseback Magazine) http://bit.ly/1ylmS0s
Continental Divide-Creston: http://on.doi.gov/1uc04gX
Continental Divide-Creston expansion http://bit.ly/1pnSNmt
Defund the Roundups Petition: http://chn.ge/1sAAQHa
Petition for a 10 year moratorium on roundups for recovery and studies: http://chn.ge/1rdhXZ2
Don’t Frack Wild Horse Land Petition: http://chn.ge/1rdDzEV
Petition for shade and shelter for captive wild horses & burros: http://chn.ge/1DriOvN
PZP (birth control) sterilizes temp to perm and is a pesticide: http://bit.ly/1mzsP4Z
Link to BLM Wyoming Wild Horse and Burro Program: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/Wild_Horses.html
Wyoming Tourism Office: http://www.wyomingtourism.org
Roundup footage & abuse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs is a national nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
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What can we do to stop this?
Let the horses roam free! Stop this! We the taxpayer voted and had set aside land for these animals. Get the private cattlemen’s livestock off that land!
PLEASE STOP THIS!!!!!
Please save the last of our American history before they become “history” forever. That is their land and we as humans have the obligation to save them . They are an important part of our history, from giving us means of transportation, serving in the military and they deserving better.
My daughter & I went to our first Mustang Makeover this past July at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany,OR and rlleay enjoyed it! We were amazed at what these horses learned in such a short amount of time! My daughter rlleay wants to participate in the teen program next year and work with a yearling! We were rlleay excited when we learned that they made a documentary about the Mustang Makeover and we’re hoping that they will show it here in Salem,OR!
Please Protect these beautiful Horses!!!
We have known that wild horse removal was about energy since the Ruby Pipeline info came out a few years ago. Fracking pollutes and depletes our water reserves. IIf they succeed in destroying our wild horses and fracking takes place, we will all perish in time. We must save the horses and the environment or will will pay dearly ourselves.
We have to find out who in the blm hierarchy makes THE DECISION to do the “Gather” as they call them.it is up there with the field manager and manager.they look at all the reports and data before making the decision. At this moment I feel this point of contact is the sweet spot. I want this stopped.I have a 380 acre parcel in Fallon Nevada that could possibly be a small sanctuary but hay would have to befed.fences sheds wells
Maybe someday☆
How ironic, capitalism is totally Dependant on energy and will destroy everything in its quest. Mountain top removal, deep ocean drilling, fracking, tar sands, are all a result of this quest. What is ironic is as energy is depleted the one energy source that is totally renewable and served mankind faithfully for thousands of years is being displaced for no good reason except the greed of a few people. 500 years ago the people with horses conquered the people without horses. 100 years ago we had no oil and horses 100 years from now we will have no oil or horses.
What the BLM has perpetrated on the wild horses, as well as on the land on which they lived, is in direct violation of their mission. They have sacrificed the public trust for the selfish and greedy interests of a few individuals. They MUST be brought to account for their heinous actions.
What is happening in Wyoming with the removal of the wild horses is an abomination to America! Those perpetrating this crime and violation of the WFHBA are utter monsters! I visited this area in Spring 2013 particularly Adobe Town after having been given direction from plaintiff Lloyd Eisenhauer of Cheyenne and it was hard to find the few bands of wh’s remaining. The place was filled with fracking stations of many of the biggest companies in the world like Bechtel, Mobile Oil, BP, etc. The legal HMA was cris-crossed with roads for these mineral developers and the truck drivers eyed me warily as though I was a misfit here in the legal wh HMA to see the wild horses. Cattle-caused environmental damage was ubiquitious. What is happening in Wyoming is so wrong! We must change this situation. Those in power have become monsters without conscience! And liars!
I saw this comment elsewhere and I thought it should be shared out
Kathy Fox Weinberg said:
The cattle ranchers, Governor of WY and the County Commissioners either brought legal action or refused to intervene so that the BLM has been forced to carry out the removal. Following is a statement from a BLM employee:
“It is irresponsible and false for Iron County commissioners or anyone to claim that the wild horses in that area are having a significant negative impact on livestock and wildlife as some local news releases have indicated,” stated Bob Edwards, Range Scientist and 30 year veteran of the BLM. “Having been well acquainted with these areas for over 25 years as a BLM employee, it is obvious that resource degradation has been and presently is mostly caused by livestock which have been historically allowed on these areas in excess numbers and duration.
“The situation of lacking forage started years ago with continual overuse of forage resources by livestock. The practice still occurs. To now use the wild horses as a scapegoat because livestock numbers must be reduced is totally unfair and unacceptable,” Edwards continued. “The rationale for this is not and cannot be based on scientific data. The BLM and Iron County commissioners must step up and deal with the real problem on the landscape: allowing livestock to graze public lands.”
You are destroying everything for your greed! You will kill anything that gets in your way. We all know what Fracking the earth is doing. STOP IT.