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Helicopter Chasing Wild Horses  (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)

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© Dennis Van Tine/Future Image / WENN

© Dennis Van Tine/Future Image / WENN

For immediate release

Horse advocates will protest roundups at BLM Advisory Board meeting April 14 in Sacramento

Los Angeles, Ca. (April 2, 2014)–Mark Boone Junior, who plays Bobby Elvis in Sons of Anarchy, is working with Anne Novak at Protect Mustangs, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, to get 37 Wyoming wild horses including 2 colts from a Canadian slaughterhouse before they are slaughtered for human consumption abroad.

“We hope we can get them before they slaughter them,” explains Boone. “Wild horses are a national treasure and we want them back.”

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not notify wild horse groups about the helicopter roundup. Instead they handed over 41 free-roaming wild horses, including 6 youngsters, to the Wyoming Livestock Board who quickly sold these living icons of freedom at auction. 4 foals were purchased a Montana buyer to save them. 37 wild horses including 2 youngsters were purchased by a Canadian slaughterhouse.

“If we had known what was going on, we would have bought the wild horses directly from the Wyoming livestock board and put them in a safe place,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “Why didn’t the BLM notify horse protection groups that the free-roaming wild horses were going to be rounded up and sold?”

The Wyoming 41 were a small herd roaming east of US 310 between Lovell and Greybull, Wyoming. They were likely descendants of the Foster Gulch/Dry Creek Herd Area that was zeroed out in 1987 to make room for other uses. In 1971 there were 339 wild herds in the West, but today there are only 179 left in all 10 western states combined.

Despite spin created by the BLM and industrial interests who don’t want to share the land with federally protected wild horses, the truth is that they are gravely underpopulated. The National Academy of Sciences reported there is no evidence of overpopulation in 2013. Therefore, Secretary Jewell’s push to control population is unnecessary.

Independent estimates report only 21,354 wild horses are left in the wild while there are approximately 240,000-480,000 heads of livestock in wild horse and burro areas. As a result of roundups more than 48,000 wild horses are warehoused in captivity at taxpayer expense. Native wild horses should be returned to the original herd management areas established in 1971.

13-year study of wild herds done by the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros working with Princeton University shows wild horse herds with functional social structures contribute to low herd growth compared to BLM-managed herds.

In the wild, the majority of herds need to recover from recurring roundups so they can self-regulate. Protect Mustangs is calling for a 10 year moratorium on roundups for recovery and scientific studies. Their Change.org petition to Secretary Jewell is here: http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-recovery-and-scientific-studies

Since the EPA categorized native wild horses as pests in 2012, to pass the restricted use pesticide and immunocontraceptive known as PZP, the BLM doesn’t care to notify the public about roundups on public land outside of herd management areas. These horses are sent off to auction and are purchased for probable slaughter.

The public is furious to learn the BLM rounded up free-roaming wild horses–using taxpayer funds–with no public input on the roundup. The Wyoming 41 should have been tested to see if they were descendants of the Foster Gulch/Dry Creek Herd not just handed over to the livestock board and sold off to a slaughter company.

A protest is being planned in reaction to BLM’s slaughter-friendly policies and the clandestine Wyoming 41 roundup at the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting in Sacramento April 14-15.

“Americans are outraged that their tax dollars are being used to chase iconic wild horses from freedom into the chambers of death–so they can be a eaten abroad,” states Novak.

If anyone has any information about clandestine roundups or removals please contact Protect Mustangs.org

Protect Mustangs educates, protects and preserves native and wild horses. The nonprofit conservation group strives for a 10 year moratorium on roundups for recovery and science-based holistic land management to reduce global warming.

“With this latest action, the Bureau of Land Management seems to feel that they can act with impunity and these fabulous animals should never be passed to a middleman for sale to foreign markets who wish to devour a spirit that exists only in these animals, only on our nation’s lands,” says Boone. “Wild horses are now wrongfully designated as “pests” so that they may be pursued and cleared from lands, so that those very same lands may be used solely by corporate interests (fracking, mining, and ranching) supported by tax dollars by the Department of the Interior. We need to stop this momentum now.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest™:

Footage of helicopter roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM

Celebrities speak out against wild horse roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsS9r87tRk

BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board Meeting April 14-15 in Sacramento: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2014/March/BLM_Sets_Meeting_of_National_Wild_Horse_and_Burro_Advisory_Board_for_April_14_15_in_Sacramento.html

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

The Horse Magazine, BLM Seeks Ideas on Wild Horse Management http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33289/blm-seeks-ideas-on-wild-horse-management

San Jose Mercury News, Associated Press, Nevada farm bureau, counties sue over wild horses http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_24897316/nevada-farm-bureau-counties-sue-over-wild-horses

Nevada Appeal by Scott Sonner, Associated Press (viral): Horse roundups waste money  http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/local/6813542-113/horses-blm-horse-report

Huffington Post: Advisory board recommends BLM sterilize wild horses: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121030/us-wild-horses/

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 the slaughtering wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=1141

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/

EPA Pesticide Information for ZonaStat-H http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

National Academy of Sciences report: Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13511

Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies

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

International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros Study: 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/

Anne Novak on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/theAnneNovak

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=12

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

America’s native wild horses: http://www.Protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Protect Mustangs.org

 

 

For immediate release

Legal win creates public transparency and halts 2-year roundup contract

Victory stops illegal USFS Gather Agreement that was sending horses into alleged kill buyers hands

RENO, NV. (September 26, 2013)–Protect Mustangs, the California nonprofit, dedicated to protecting native wild horses and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter (CAES), the Oregon nonprofit, won their lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Forest Service (USFS). The groups fought for public transparency and to halt the government’s two-year roundup agreement.

The United States Forest Service and the Fort McDermitt Tribe signed a Gather Agreement on May 30, 2013, which directed taxpayer dollars and federal personnel to illegally roundup unbranded, wild, free-roaming horses on Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest lands and tribal lands until May 31, 2015.

However, as a direct result of the complaint and injunction filed by Protect Mustangs and CAES, the USDA Forest Service terminated the Gather Agreement on September 3, 2013.

The groups specifically requested the court order “the USFS and the BLM to withdraw the Notice and 2013 Horse Gather Agreement until such time as the agency demonstrates to this Court that it has adequately complied with the law.” Instead of litigating the legality of the Gather Agreement, the USFS did exactly what the two groups requested and terminated the Agreement.

“The McDermitt nightmare was the first of what could have been two solid years of heinous roundups authorized by the USFS Gather Agreement,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We are grateful the lawsuit resulted in the Forest Service terminating the agreement because so many horses were ending up in kill-buyers hands. Many were saved by equine welfare groups but sadly a lot of horses ended up allegedly slaughtered.”

“It’s unfortunate the first McDermitt roundup wasn’t stopped before horses were sold at auction, but we’re glad we got rid of the underlying Agreement that made the McDermitt roundups possible and authorized an undisclosed number of similar roundups until May of 2015,” explains Dr.Lester Castro Friedlander, DVM, president of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter.

Academy Award-winner and member of Protect Mustangs, Michael Blake (Dances with Wolves), stated in his declaration that he received “great inspiration watching wild horses roaming free in Nevada”. He believes if they are rounded up, removed, killed or slaughtered he would suffer harm by loosing that inspiration. Blake is pleased the two year roundup agreement was terminated.

Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization 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.

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of America’s wild and domestic horses.

Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter were represented in this case byJones Law Firm of Reno, Nevada and Beckett Law Office of Ashland, Oregon.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Jordan Beckett, 541-510-0333. jordan@roguevalleylawyer.com

Photos, interviews and video available upon request

Links of interest™:
PM Protect Mustangs CAES Win 30 Day Notice Forest Service & Ft. McDermitt USDA 17 Sept 2013
 
PM Protect Mustangs CAES McDermitt Participating Agreement Termination September 3 2013
Academy Award-winner, Michael Blake, joins lawsuit to stop ongoing wild horse roundups (August 24, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5060
Lawsuit filed to save wild horses from alleged slaughter (August 16, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5001
 
U.S. Judge refuses to block NV tribe’s mustang sale, The Associated
Beckett Law Office, P.C. http://www.roguevalleylawyer.com/
Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm
Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5185

 

 

For immediate release

Michael Blake joins lawsuit to stop ongoing wild horse roundups

Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter file preliminary injunction Friday.

RENO, NV.  (August 24, 2013) — Academy Award-winner Michael Blake, author of Dances With Wolves, and member of Protect Mustangs, joins Citizens Against Equine Slaughter and Protect Mustangs versus The United States Forest Service, a department of the United States Department of Agriculture; Jeff Ulrich, Santa Rosa District Ranger; The United States Bureau of Land Management, a department of the United States Department of the Interior, to stop alleged illegal and continuous roundups of federally protected wild horses and burros through the duration of the agreement ending on May 31, 2015. Attorneys, Jordan Beckett, of Ashland, Oregon and Charles A. Jones, of Reno, filed a preliminary injunction friday to safeguard federally protected wild horses in the vast Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Blake states in his declaration he has received great inspiration, for decades, watching wild horses roaming free in Nevada. He believes that if they are rounded up and removed he would suffer harm by the loss of his inspiration.

Michael Blake writes in his book Twelve, The King:

“But he and hundreds of thousand like him are gone now from this beautiful land, and for that reason alone I could not stop as I traveled over four hundred miles of Nevada roads. Something evil is still afoot in this land, and it has left its imprint everywhere. In all those miles of open, free country, the mark of evil is present in what is absent. The wild horses are missing from the land.”

Blake is a long time admirer of the american wild horse. His books and acclaimed screenplay Dances with Wolves prominently features horses in the American West.

In the early ’90s Blake commissioned the first independent aerial survey of wild horses. They found the population on the range was much lower than the BLM’s overpopulation claim.  This summer the National Academy of Sciences announced there is no evidence to support the BLM’s rampant chant alleging overpopulation.

Protect Mustangs has called for a moratorium on all roundups in order to conduct scientific population studies before using widespread fertility control. The conservation group is concerned wild horses are being managed to extinction by the BLM–the agency put in change of allegedly protecting America’s iconic wild horses.

“We filed in court to end this nightmare,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We believe federally protected wild horses are at risk of going to slaughter as a result of the flawed roundups. We want this to stop now.”

“We are very thankful people have come together to save wild horses from auction but we never want to see this happen again,” says Dr.Lester Castro Friedlander, DVM, president of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter.

Esteemed wildlife biologist, Craig Downer, a member of Protect Mustangs filed a compelling declaration filled with details from decades of studying the area.

“Most of the legal wild equid herds throughout the West have dangerously low populations and the ratios of wild equids to livestock/big game animals are ridiculously low,” explains Downer.  “For example, in the Spring Mountain Complex of wild horse and burro herd areas, the Las Vegas BLM District and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest plans to allow only one wild equid per seven thousand-plus legal acres. Here big game and to a lesser extent livestock outnumber and out-consume the wild equids many times over . . . . And here most of the Spring Mountain public waters have been fenced off so that wild horses cannot access them, but game animals, such as trophy bighorn sheep, can.”

Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter are challenging the entirety of the USFS decision authorizing an undisclosed number of roundups and an undisclosed number of horses to be removed from the range over the next two years. They filed their original complaint on Friday, August 16, 2013.

“While the first roundup has already been conducted, without further legal action these unbranded, wild horses will be continuously rounded up and removed from the range, impounded, and auctioned off to the highest bidder until 2015,” explains Jordan Beckett, attorney for Plaintiffs. “The public’s unbranded wild horses are under the jurisdiction of the USFS and the BLM. They need to be managed in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.”

Protect Mustangs is a California-based non-profit organization devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horses, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter is an Oregon-based non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of America’s wild and domestic horses.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Patience O’Dowd, 505-610-7644, patience_odowd@yahoo.com

Photos, interviews and  video (Preview)  available upon request

Links of interest:Preliminary Injunction filed Friday: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5056

 

For immediate release

Alleged violations put iconic wild horses at risk of disappearing

Coalition against slaughter and for the protection of mustangs files lawsuit

RENO, NV. (August 16, 2013)–Protect Mustangs, the California-based conservation group, dedicated to protecting native wild horses and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter(CAES), the Oregon nonprofit, have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service asking for an injunction on their intent to impound unauthorized livestock in conjunction with the Fort McDermitt Tribal Council on and in the vicinity of the Humboltd-Toiyabe National Forest. The coalition hopes to prevent wild horses from loosing their protections and going to probable slaughter.

“This may be the first time that protected mustangs are being auctioned off for alleged slaughter en masse and publicly with the tacit approval & cooperation of federal officials,” explains Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs.

Right now hundreds of wild horses are being fattened up at a Fallon, Nevada auction yard for Saturday’s sale because the Forest Service allegedly rounded up wild free roaming horses in violation of the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act and in violation of National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

“Horse slaughter is cruel and inhumane and we need to stop it,” says Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM and president of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. “This stealth roundup is a heinous act toward our icons of liberty.”

“The U.S. Forest Service needs to comply with the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act as well as NEPA before rounding up hundreds of potentially wild horses–especially when the BLM’s nearby Owyhee gather plan doesn’t authorize this action,” states Jordan Beckett, attorney for Plaintiffs Citizens Against Equine Slaughter and Protect Mustangs.

The Judge has not ruled on the complaint filed by Protect Mustangs and Citizens against Equine Slaughter as of this moment.

Protect Mustangs is 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.

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of America’s wild and domestic horses.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Patience O’Dowd, 505-610-7644, patience_odowd@yahoo.com

Photos, interviews and video available upon request

Links of interest:

Read the complaint here: PM Complaint CAES Protect mustangs v USFS BLM

U.S. Judge refuses to block NV tribe’s mustang sale, The Associated Press,http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/15/3565447/us-judge-in-nv-asked-to-block.html

Protect Mustangs www.ProtectMustangs.org

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter http://www.noequineslaughter.org/

Beckett Law Office (Oregon) http://www.roguevalleylawyer.com/

Jones Law Firm (Nevada & California) http://cjoneslawfirm.com/

Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm

NEPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_Act

Roundup footage & abuse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM

 

PLAINTIFFS’ PRAYER FOR RELIEF

Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court:

1. Declare that the USFS and the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and their implementing regulation in implementing the Fort McDermitt Horse Gather;

2. Order the USFS and the BLM to withdraw the Notice and 2013 Horse Gather Agreement until such time as the agency demonstrates to this Court that it has adequately complied with the law, including but not limited to putting the 2013 Agreement through notice and comment procedures, ordering DNA testing to determine the origin of captured wild horses, ordering the BLM and USFS to comply with the law to determine ownership of the wild horses, and ordering the BLM and USFS return to public lands or the HMAs all seized or removed wild, free-roaming, and unbranded horses being held at Fallon Livestock Auction;

3. Enjoin the USFS, the BLM, and their agents from proceeding with the Fort McDermitt Horse Gather, or any portion thereof, unless and until the violations of federal law set forth herein have been corrected to the satisfaction of this court;

4. Award Plaintiffs their costs of suit and attorneys fees; and

5. Grant Plaintiffs such other and further relief as the Court deems just and equitable.

 

PM PVC Investigation Photo 'Shadow'
For immediate release
BLM avoids necropsy to escape public outcry
How many wild horses must drop dead in the heat waves before BLM gives them shelter?
RENO, NV (July 20, 2013)–The public is outraged that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not provide shelter for the captive wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center near Reno, Nevada.  Nevada State Senator Mark Manendo and Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs warned on June 9th that wild horses would suffer, get sick and could die from heat related illnesses. They called for shade but the BLM refused to take action. In the morning of July 2nd, the Protect Mustangs investigation discovered a branded young wild horse who died during the heat wave.
Protect Mustangs documented the incident with video and photographs and immediately sought help from several senators and representatives in their request to Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell to bring shade to the trapped mustangs.
The BLM neglected to perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death for 2 branded young wild horses who died during the last heat wave on June 30th and July 2nd.
Another death on June 28th could have been due to exposure to high temperatures with no shade because the yearling had a respiratory illness known as strangles. According to the BLM, the wild horse’s death was attributed to strangles but the factor causing death could have been that she was forced to stand in the triple digit temperatures which aggrivated her condition and ultimately caused her death.
“If a horse has strangles, its immune system is being compromised,” explains Dr. Lester Castro Friedlander, BA. DVM, award-winning veteranarian and President of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. “When there is a heat wave, the horse’s body becomes dehydrated and the major organs try to keep the body in a stable condition, but then it can not fight the bacterial infection. High temperatures increase the death rate of horses with strangles, due to a chain reaction of major organs being compromised.”
All the branded mustangs that were recorded to have died were female: one was a 3-year-old and the others were yearlings.
Currently the deaths of all young unbranded wild horses and burros are not counted at the BLM facilities. The BLM’s lack of accountability is raising concern amongst elected officials and members of the public.
“Our investigation uncovered the dead branded yearling during the heat wave but the BLM avoided performing a necropsy,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It’s as if they don’t want the public to know the truth. Why won’t they let the public know how many young mustangs have died? Why are they avoiding transparency?”
“I can’t believe they didn’t do a necropsy to find out what the animals died from during the heat wave,” says Dr. Lester Castro Friedlander, BA. DVM, and President of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. ”Due to the high temperatures there is a very good possibility the horses died due to heat related conditions. By not doing the necropsy the cause of death is “unknown” and they avoid public outcry.”
Despite the BLM’s lack of transparency, today protestors gathered in Carson City to demand shelter for the wild horses and burros captive in pens.
Due to public outcry from wild horse advocates and groups, the BLM announced it is consulting PhD.s from UC Davis to determine if wild horses prefer shade and to determine the environmental conditions at Palomino Valley Center. The BLM is also as holding an open forum requesting public input on how the BLM can best care for the horses at Palomino Valley. Still no emergency shade has been brought in.
Another heat wave is hitting Reno this weekend but the BLM still clings to the belief that it’s OK to treat native wild horses and burros like something on a feedlot waiting to be slaughtered.
The public is encouraged to meet with their elected officials around the country and ask for them to intervene to bring emergency shade to the captive wild horses.
“These captive wild horses need emergency shade,” explains Novak. “Exposing them to another heat wave without shade is cruel.”
Protect Mustangs is circulating a petition for emergency shade on Change.org https://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shade-for-captive-wild-horses-and-burros
# # #
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, video and interviews available upon request
Links of interest:
BLM’s wild horse and burro program looksto community for ideas at workshop: http://thisisreno.com/2013/07/blms-wild-horse-and-burro-program-looks-to-community-for-ideas-at-workshop/
How many foals are dying after roundups?: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4246
BLM’s email revealing they are not counting the unbranded dead amongst the 37 dead mustangs at the Nevada facility http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4220
NPR: Fertility drug, nature, better than horse roundups  http://newsle.com/article/0/78084688/
Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562
Wild-horse advocates: Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies
Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=12
Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218
NOTES:
4 horses died during the last heat wave but only 3 deaths (A,C,D) could be related to the heat wave. (see email from BLM below). Strangles is a respiratory illness (Equine Distemper). Horses with repiratory illness have a higher chance of death during a heat wave, because their condition is under additional stress.
BLM’s Debbie Collins responds to Anne Novak’s email:
So, I am listing a response to the specific questions you submitted to Jeb below:
1.  How many unbranded foals, etc. have died from June 27 to July? 
Jeb has already provided you a response to this, but at this time no records are kept on unbranded animals that die.
3.  For the listed time period, what were the dates of any deaths, how old were the horses and what were their id #s?
A. #12620475 – 1yr old Female – Died 6/28/13 from strangles
B. #06619316 – 7yr old Gelding – Died 6/28/13 from Neck/Head injury
C. #10617585 – 3yr old Female – Died 6/30/13 from Unknown*
D. #12619358 – 1yr old Female – Died 7/2/13 from Unknown*
* PVC’s Vet and staff reported no signs of heat-related symptoms prior to the deaths of #10617585 & #12619358. In addition,  these animals had a continuous supply of water, quality hay, and sprinklers present; therefore, there was no life or death issue present. It is not always possible to make a determination of the cause of death. But, if the BLM has any future deaths at PVC that are not associated with a particular illness or injury, a necropsy will be performed.  

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is devoted to protecting native wild horses. Our 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

PVC Heat Wave BLM Foal July 1 2013 # # #

 

An American Tragedy ~ RIP Shadow

July 10, 2013 Statements from Anne Novak & Dr. LC Friedlander, BA, DVM

“It will be almost two weeks ago that I sent the letter to Congressman Raúl Grijalva of Arizona stating that the wild horses and burros need shade at the long and short term holding facilities that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, especially at the Palomino Valley Complex near Reno, Nevada,” explains Dr. Lester Friedlander, BA, DVM. ”I am shocked and dismayed to see the photograph of the dead horse in the middle of the pen. I explicitly told of the danger of high temperatures that could take the toll on those horses. This death and others could have been prevented if the authorites in charge of that facility would have taken the proper procedures to protect the horses. This is an American Tragedy and I pray that no more wild horses or burros succumb to such an excruciating death.”

“The BLM’s historic disregard for America’s wild horses is a global embarrassment,” states Anne Novak. “We hope the new Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, will intervene to bring them shade and call for a moratorium on roundups for population studies, based on science of course. They’re underpopulated on the range now. That’s why they are breeding at a higher rate–to prevent extinction.”

# # #

 

RIP  Shadow  July 2, 2013

 

For immediate release

BREAKING NEWS: Citizen investigation reveals wild horses are sick and dying at national adoption center without shade

Video report calls for Secretary Jewell to intervene with emergency shelters

RENO,Nv (July 8 2013)–Protect Mustangs is releasing a preliminary video report of captive wild horses denied shade in the recent triple-digit heat wave. Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs, America’s indigenous horse conservation group, has been leading a nationwide outreach campaign (#Shade4Mustangs) on Facebook and Twitter to bring shade to captive wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center outside Reno, and elsewhere. Last week’s heat wave broke records. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) refused to install shade despite Novak and Senator Mark Manendo’s requests, outcry from the public and other groups. Protect Mustangs conducted a field investigation during the heat wave with the help of Reno photographer Taylor James, Jim Hart the President of Liberty for Horses and Dennis Walker. The video report calls for the new Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell, to have compassion and bring emergency shade because captive mustangs are sick and dying. In the wild they can migrate to shade and cooler zones. Trapped in pens it’s cruel to deny them access to shade and shelter.

“The BLM’s historic disregard for America’s wild horses is a global embarrassment,” states Anne Novak. “We hope the new Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, will intervene to bring them shade and call for a moratorium on roundups for population studies, based on science of course. They’re underpopulated on the range now. That’s why they are breeding at a higher rate–to prevent extinction.”

The heat wave investigation found horses without shade who appear to have respiratory illness, as well as ones who have other illneses and diseases. They are exhausted from repeated exposure to triple-digit temperatures, sore, stiff, probably lame foals, lactating mares, and young wild horses who also appear dehydrated, obese horses, hot sweaty horses and hot horses not sweating, young horses not wanting to get up and eat, who are ill or dying as well as a dead filly the group named “Shadow”.

When the summer heat started to rise on June 9th Anne Novak & Senator Manendo officially called for shade for more than 1,800 captive wild horses at Palomino Valley Center, the largest short-term federal holding facility in America.

Novak uses Facebook & Twitter to reach thousands of people through her widespread outreach. Celebrities such as Daryl Hannah, and Holly Marie Combs graciously shared out Novak’s calls for shade.

On June 24, 2013, esteemed Dr. Lester Friedlander BA DVM called for an emergency action to bring shelter to the wild horses and burros.

Novak continued to contact elected officials, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) personnel and the newly appointed Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, requesting shade to prevent deaths from the upcoming heat wave. To this date she has not heard back from Secretary Jewell.

No shade was provided in triple-digit heat–only a handful of ineffective sprinklers for “mitigation”. Neither Protect Mustangs nor Dr. Friedlander suggested using sprinklers. They requested shade and shelter.

Dr. Friedlander DVM and Anne Novak warned the Bureau of Land Management that the wild horses would suffer disease, infections and heat related deaths without shelter from the heat.

Protect Mustangs has been working with Dr. Lester Friedlander BA, DVM, photographer Taylor James, Jim Hart, President of Liberty for Horses, Dennis Walker and other advocates to document the fiasco during the record-breaking heat wave and advocate for change–shelters for wild horses and burros in holding facilities.

Despite the BLM’s ‘sprinkler mitigation’ PR campaign, the Protect Mustangs’ investigation found sick, sore, horses as well as a dead filly hours before the BLM facility official, Jeb Beck, gave Fox News an interview about the ‘sprinklers’.

In his July 2nd Fox News interview Beck says: “We’ve never experienced any problems with the heat and whatnot,” says Beck. “Because of the publicity it’s getting, we wanted to make a proactive step and try suggestions that were brought to us.” – (See more at:http://www.foxreno.com/news/news/local/wild-horses-trying-beat-heat/nYcsD/#sthash.xNDnlcmV.dpuf)

“We witnessed several young wild horses who would not get up,” says Jim Hart, President of Liberty for Horses. “They were just lying there. The heat wave seemed to have taken its toll on them. Then we found ‘Shadow’ who had died. The horses in the pen were coming over as if to say good-bye. When we came back to the pen later Shadow’s body had disappeared.”

Eye witnesses have documented the following during the heat wave:

1.) Triple-digit temperatures

2.) No shade and no relief from the record-breaking heat

3.) No shelter from the strong winds and dust storms

4.) One or No sprinklers seen (depending on the day)

5.) Wild horses stayed away from the sprinkler.

6.) Lactating mares and foals appeared depressed, sore and dehydrated

7..) Horses with bad hoof care

8.) A lot of depressed horses and possibly ill horses

9.) Horses missing their tags

10.) Horses with respiratory illness

11.) Obese horses

12.) Yearlings and other horses who were lying down, breathing hard and not getting up to eat.

13.) Most of them had severe gas

14.) A dead bay filly named Shadow in the pens

15.) The dead filly named Shadow “disappeared” when they came back to the pen

The public wants to know “How many had died? And why is the BLM hiding the deaths?”

Novak has requested the mortality count during the heat wave since June 27 and wants to know the number of sick horses also. Witnesses Hart & Walker asked to view the sick pens but were denied permission to view from a distance.

Palomino Valley Center doesn’t keep track of the dead unbranded foals according to Heather Emmons Jasinki, Public Affairs Officer for the Bureau of Land Management.

“We are requesting immediate transparency and accountability for the mortality rates at all facilities as well as shade and shelter for the captive wild horses and burros,” states Novak. “These wild horses should be living with their families in freedom on the range not enduring cruelty in a government holding pen. Is it time for another agency–without a conflict of interest–to manage America’s native wild horses and burros?”

Less than 18,000 native wild horses and burros are estimated to be living in freedom in all ten western states combined. Today more than 50,000 are stockpiled in government funded holding–at risk of disappearing into the slaughter pipeline. Horse advocates want to see them returned to the range.

The National Academy of Sciences has stated there is no accurate population count. Protect Mustangs, AANHCP and other horse advocate groups know that when a scientific population study is done, the numbers will be very low.

The BLM’s population numbers have been inflated by BLM to justify costly roundups and removals for the public land grab and industrialization.

“The BLM requires adopters to provide ‘access to shelter’ so why aren’t they doing the same?” asks Dennis Walker from Northern California. “It was horrible to see these horses surfing with no shade.”

“They are all so sweet and young,” says James. “I’ve been visiting them sometimes twice a day, to check on them. They would be flaring their nostrils and after the first day they didn’t sweat as much. I was worried. After a few days some would not eat but clearly were weak and dehydrated. They should have never been removed from the range, It’s not fair that Shadow died because the BLM didn’t want to give them shade while they sit in their air conditioned offices, drinking their fresh, cold water.”

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

Captive wild horses need shade, advocates say, Horsetalk, NZ:http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/07/02/captive-wild-horses-need-shade-advocates-say/#axzz2YQ4084gM

How many foals are dying after roundups?: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4246

BLM’s email revealing they are not counting the unbranded dead amongst the 37 dead mustangs at the Nevada facility http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4220

NPR: Fertility drug, nature, better than horse roundups  http://newsle.com/article/0/78084688/

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Wild-horse advocates: Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies

Animals Angels investigative report: http://www.animalsangels.org/the-issues/horse-slaughter/foia-requests/497-blm-nevada-mortality-records-a-nevada-rendering-animals-angels-foia-request-reveals-discrepancies.htm

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

Palomino Valley Center: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b/palomino_valley_national.html

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=12

Anne Novak quotes at Newsle: http://newsle.com/AnneNovak

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

June 9th Novak & Senator Manendo ask for shade at Palomino Valley: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4501

 

 

PVC Thermometer 5:30 pm June 28

for immediate release

How many wild horses will die before BLM gives them shade?

Sprinkler mitigation a farce–will not prevent heatstroke, illness or death, just bad press

RENO, NV (June 30, 2013)–With the western heat wave in the triple-digits, captive wild horses are at risk of heatstroke and death because they have no shade. Close to 1,800 native wild horses are ‘processed’ and eventually transferred by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the Palomino Valley Center (PVC). Rarely are they adopted due to poor marketing and customer service.

“Putting sprinklers in a few pens appears to be a publicity stunt when what they really need to do is create shade for this emergency situation,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “The BLM is full of excuses of why they can’t create shade when they need to cowboy up and make it happen.”

The few sprinklers BLM installed this weekend are not only a waste of water during the drought, but appear to be a BLM publicity stunt to water down public outrage spreading across social media. Wild horses are not going to be cooled off by a random sprinkler in select pens. They might roll in the mud but most skidish wild horses will be scared of sprinklers.

Emergency shade is needed urgently. The June 9th press release requesting shade for captive wild horses had been ignored so Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs and Nevada Senator Mark Manendo contacted BLM officials in Washington last week requesting emergency action to create shade.

“The pens are huge with so many wild horses trapped in the triple-digit heat,” explains eye witness Taylor James who photographs wild horses in the Reno area. “The only way to ensure their health in the pens is with shade.”

An equine facility about 8 miles up the road provides shade for the equines in their care. The BLM requires adopters to provide access to shade for adopted wild horses and burros. Why is the mega facility exempt from basic horse care?

The Department of Interior and the BLM have access to engineers who can easily solve the shade problem. The BLM employees are paid to care for the wild horses and burros–yet without shade their job is doomed to failure.

How many unbranded wild horse foals die during heat waves? Facilities such as Palomino Valley don’t keep track of the unbranded young dead foals according to their public affairs officer, Heather Emmons.

The BLM needs to solve the problem they created by rounding up and stockpiling American icons of freedom in the pens. Fertility control is premature as there is no evidence of overpopulation according to the National Academy of Sciences.

“If the government can send people into space then they can figure out how to shade the captive wild horses or just return them to the range,” states Novak. “In the wild they can migrate to shady areas. In captivity it’s cruel to deny them shade.”

Triple-digit heat waves can cause heatstroke and death for equines left out in the sun with no shade.

According to the article on heatstroke in Overheating and Heat Stress in Horses by Gary P. Carlson, D.V.M., PhD.

“. . . The clinical signs of heat stroke are depression, weakness, lack of appetite and a refusal to continue exercising . . . Despite elevated body temperature, the sweating response is inadequate, therefore, hot, dry skin is indicative of impending heat stroke. Depression and weakness may progress to ataxia (inability to coordinate voluntary muscular movement), collapse, convulsions, coma or death.”

Life saving care involves taking rectal temperatures, lowering body temperatures rapidly in the shade using fans, hosing down with water, applying ice packs and water enemas–hardly possible for treating untamed wild horses.

The BLM’s minor sprinkler mitigation appears to be a publicity stunt to avoid bad press. The sprinklers won’t cool down heat wave temperatures. Most pens are huge and don’t have sprinklers. The majority of wild horses won’t get sprinkled because they will run away.

What the wild horses need is access to shade. The BLM is responsible to care for wild horses and burros humanely after rounding them up.

“It’s like keeping a dog in a hot car when it’s hot outside,” says Melissa Maser, Protect Mustangs’  outreach coordinator for Wyoming and Texas.  “All the vets warn that can cause heat stroke and kill them. Why doesn’t the BLM give the captive mustangs shade?”

If the BLM can get funding for their “emergency” roundups then they can allowcate funding to create shade as needed for the 50,000 captive wild horses. The BLM needs to be responsible for all the wild horses and burros they have captured.

“The BLM’s disregard for America’s wild horses is a global embarrassment,” states Novak. “We hope Secretary Jewell will intervene and provide emergency shade for the wild horses and burros in captivity.”

Leading grassroots equine advocates Anne Novak at Protect Mustangs, Jaime Jackson at AANHCP and notable filmmaker Carl Mrozek urge Secretary Jewell call for a moratorium on roundups and scientific population studies before controlling fertility of wild horses and burros. Recently, the National Academy of Sciences stated there was no evidence to support the BLM’s claims of alleged overpopulation. Independent estimates conclude less than 18,000 wild horses remain in all 10 western states combined–on an area spanning more than 30 million acres designated by Congress for wild horses and burros.

“Population myths are used to justify expensive roundups and removals of wild horses and look what a mess that creates,” explains Novak. “Now we have thousands of captive wild horses trapped in pens with no shade. How humane is that?”

Protect Mustangs is 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.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak,  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund,  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

How many foals are dying after roundups?: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4246

BLM’s email revealing they are not counting the unbranded dead amongst the 37 dead mustangs at the Nevada facility http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4220

NPR: Fertility drug, nature, better than horse roundups  http://newsle.com/article/0/78084688/

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Wild-horse advocates: Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies

Animals Angels investigative report: http://www.animalsangels.org/the-issues/horse-slaughter/foia-requests/497-blm-nevada-mortality-records-a-nevada-rendering-animals-angels-foia-request-reveals-discrepancies.html

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

Palomino Valley Center: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b/palomino_valley_national.html

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=12

Anne Novak quotes at Newsle: http://newsle.com/AnneNovak

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

PVC No Shade Heat Wave
RENO, NV (June 28, 2013)–With temperatures rising in the triple digits, Nevada photographer, Taylor James visited the national wild horse “processing” facility twice today for Protect Mustangs. She took photos and pointed her video camera over the fence. No sprinklers were seen at Palomino Valley Center (PVC). Surely there were sprinklers somewhere because the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced they were putting sprinklers up to appease public outcry. Why are they putting sprinklers up when the wild horses need shade?“I witnessed wild horses at Palomino Valley who were in distress today because of the heat,” states Taylor James. “I could not see any sprinklers from my vantage point. They looked miserable without shade.”Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs, has appealed directly to Secretary Jewell to intervene–to stop the suffering and create shade for the wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center. ”What these captured wild horses need in sweltering triple digit heat is shade from the blistering sun,” says Novak.“We have a state law that says dogs need proper shade, food and water, so why not those horses?” asks Mark Manendo, Nevada State Senator. “Why would the BLM not want to provide proper care for the horses–especially if they require adopters must prove the wild horses will have access to shade?”Protect Mustangs is working with elected officials, advocates and concerned members of the public, to request the BLM give captive wild horses and burros shade and provide them with 24/7 onsite personnel.Currently no one lives at the facility. No one is there daily after business hours. If there is an emergency, no one can ensure the safety of the more than 1,800 treasured wild horses and burros after normal business hours and on most weekends.“We joined with Senator Mark Manendo on June 9th to officially request the BLM in Washington provide shade for the captured wild horses at Palomino Valley and elsewhere,” states Novak. “They have done nothing.”“The BLM must think this sort of animal cruelty is acceptable–but it’s heinous,” adds Novak.  ”How many wild horses will perish before they finally do something? Their disregard for America’s icons shows that they just don’t care.”In the wild, native horses can migrate to more comfortable places during heat waves. In the pens they are trapped and at the mercy of those who chased them with helicopters, tore them from their families and took them from their homes on the range.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPw30R5VfC8&list=HL1372482658&feature=mh_lolzVideo © Taylor James for Protect Mustangs.orgBasic animal husbandly requires access to shelter as seen at a Nevada equine facility about 8 miles up the road. The BLM ignores horse management protocol while allegedly caring for thousands of wild horses.For information on the crisis created by the BLM to remove the majority of wild horses and burros off their native land, cruelty towards America’s icons of freedom and no evidence of overpopulation according to the National Academy of Sciences visit www.ProtectMustangs.org“Like” us on Facebook for updates and ways to help the wild horses: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangsRead our June 9th press release requesting shade: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4501We want to thank photographer Taylor James for driving out to Palomino Valley Center during the heat wave to document and witness the ‘no shade’ fiasco.We send a special shout out to fellow wild horse and burro advocates who are also working to get shade for our beloved wild horses and burros: Monika Courtney, Jetara Séhart, Dr. Lester Friedlander, Patty Bumgarner, Colleen Denson, Joanne Cronan-Hamoy, Debbie Catalina, Rt. Fitch, Debbie Coffey, Carl Mrozek, Jill Willis, Craig Downer and others.We are deeply grateful to Senator Mark Manendo for his compassionate commitment to the humane treatment of America’s wild horses and burros.Videos from June 28, 2013 Observation at Palomino Valley Center:  Coming Soon

We will be updating this page with videos and photos so check back here to see them.

PVC 5:30 p.m. Car Therm June 28 2013 Heat Wave with No Shade

Our June 9th press release joining with Senator Manendo to request shade

Senator Mark Manendo

For immediate release

BREAKING NEWS: Senator Manendo wants humane treatment for captured wild horses

Captive wild horses trapped with no shade during heat wave

RENO, Nv. (June 9, 2013)–Senator Mark ManendoProtect Mustangs and horse lovers across the internet are very concerned for the welfare of the captured native wild horses at the Palomino Valley National Adoption Center during the Reno heat wave. Mustangs of all ages are trapped in pens without shade–even mares and newborn foals. An avalanche of concern is traveling across social media.

Patty Bumgarner with the Wild Horse Protection League from Dayton wrote on Facebook, “Palomino Valley BLM, 91 degrees at 11 a.m. and no shade for the horses with foals or any of the horses & burros. Supposed to be 106 today in Dayton. They’re 2 degrees hotter then us right now.”

Bumgarner’s post caught the attention of many wild horse advocates including Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs.

“It’s horrific to know this is happening but not be able to help them,” says Novak. “We bring this up with BLM yearly but they ignore public input and continue treating wild horses inhumanely. They don’t seem to care. Now with social media more people are finding out so maybe it will help change things.”

After last summer’s nearby wildfire, the BLM told Novak that no one lives on site. There are up to 2,000 wild horses in pens at the facility outside Reno. She decided to get help elsewhere.

Novak contacted Nevada State Senator Mark Manendo for help. He has an internet track record of being kind to animals and helping horses.

“We have a state law that says dogs need proper shade, food and water, so why not those horses?” asks Mark Manendo, Nevada State Senator. “Why would the BLM not want to provide proper care for the horses–especially if they require adopters must prove the wild horses will have access to shade?”

Previously the Palomino Valley National Adoption Center known as “PVC” has come under fire for several hot button issues. They have decided to cut costs by closing during 3 out of 4 Saturdays per month, making it harder for adopters to adopt wild horses and they don’t appear to be counting or reporting mustang mortalities correctly according to rendering plant records exposed by Animals Angels. During her research for 2013 mortalities, Novak discovered that young foals who die and have not been branded go unreported. With so many mares giving birth to foals at this time of year and no shade during heat waves–unreported deaths are of concern.

“We want American wild horses, especially mares and tiny foals, to be treated humanely while cared for by the federal government,” says Anne Novak. “They should be living in freedom where native horses belong so they can migrate to find shade. Now they are trapped in a pen during a heat wave with no shade–it’s cruel.”

Protect Mustangs encourages concerned Americans to contact their Congressional representative and 2 senators, asking them to intervene to stop this cruelty in all government holding facilities. This concerns all Americans because it is a federal issue.

According to the BLM’s website, “The National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley (PVC) is the largest BLM preparation and adoption facility in the country and serves as the primary preparation center for wild horses and burros gathered from the public lands in Nevada and other near-by states. Nevada is home to more than 50 percent of the Nation’s wild horses and burros with approximately 102 herd management areas throughout the State.”

Protect Mustangs is 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.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

Senator Manendo calls for wild horse sanctuaries:http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jan/10/lv-senator-calls-sanctuaries-wild-horses-nevada/#axzz2VlV8EAv2

How many foals are dying after roundups: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4246

BLM’s email revealing they are not counting the unbranded dead amongst the 37 dead mustangs at the Nevada facility http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4220

Washington Post: Independent panel: Wild horse roundups don’t work; use fertility drugs, let nature cull herdshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/independent-panel-to-recommend-changes-in-blm-wild-horse-program/2013/06/05/b65ba772-cdb3-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Wild-horse advocates: Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies

Animals Angels investigative report: http://www.animalsangels.org/the-issues/horse-slaughter/foia-requests/497-blm-nevada-mortality-records-a-nevada-rendering-animals-angels-foia-request-reveals-discrepancies.html

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

Palomino Valley Center: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b/palomino_valley_national.html

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=12

 

© ProtectMustangs.org may be shared

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Calling for a moratorium on roundups and Flag Day protests announced

Protests planned nationwide including outside Feinstein’s San Francisco office June 14th

SAN FRANCISCO (June 8, 2013)–Protect Mustangs calls for a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups as well as nationwide protests on Flag Day June 14th. The California-based native wild horse conservation group says there are no “excess” wild horses or burros and want all the native wild horses and historic burros to be returned to the wild. They just announced the Flag Day rally outside Senator Feinstein’s office building at One Post Street, San Francisco from 11:00 – 12:00. Feinstein is on the Appropriations Committee who doles out millions of dollars to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for cruel roundups and removals.

“Stopping the roundups is one thing all the advocates can agree on,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “During a moratorium, scientists can undertake accurate independent population studies to learn how many are left on each area of the range. We need to revamp outdated appropriate management levels to give native wild horses and historic burros the correct share of the rangeland designated for therm by the law. Livestock could go elsewhere but stockpiling more than 50,000 wild horses and burros is nuts.”

In light of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on wild horses and burros lacking data for an overpopulation claim, Protect Mustangs calls upon Congress, President Obama, Secretary Jewell, The Appropriations Committee and especially Senator Feinstein for an immediate halt to roundups and to return the 50,000 wild horses in government holding to the more than 30 million acres of herd management areas in the West with a hold on fertility control. The native wild horse conservation group calls on the Department of Interior, Congress and President Obama to acknowledge wild horses are native, implement holistic land management and reserve design thus creating a win-win for wild horses to help the ecosystem and reverse desertification.

“With the gluttony of roundups and removals, wild horses reproduce at a higher rate than normal–to prevent extinction,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We need more studies to establish what the normal reproduction rate is and discover truths under the BLM’s alleged overpopulation claim on the more than 30 million acres of public wildlands designated for their use. Today there is no scientific proof of overpopulation to merit fertility control or roundups.”

“They have no data-driven basis for gauging how many horses or burros a particular HMA can support, states Carl Mrozek, filmmaker of Saving Ass in America. “In practice BLM treats all habitats as being pretty much the same, and as resource poor, by requiring 1000+ acres/ horse or burro. This is a joke.”

In 1900 there were 2 million wild horses roaming in freedom in America. Today native wild horses are underpopulated on the range. Advocates estimate there are less than 18,000 left in the ten western states combined.

Protect Mustangs is a California based conservation group 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.

“The roundups must stop now and the BLM’s fiscal irresponsibility must stop as well,” states Novak. “The public is outraged. We want native wild horses and historic burros to live in the wild–unharassed by the agency charged with their care.”

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest: 

Washington Post: Independent panel: Wild horse roundups don’t work; use fertility drugs, let nature cull herdshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/independent-panel-to-recommend-changes-in-blm-wild-horse-program/2013/06/05/b65ba772-cdb3-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

NAS Press release June 5, 2013: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=13511

NAS Report: Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program: A Way Forward http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13511

No proof of overpopulation, no need for fertility control http://protectmustangs.org/

Appropriations Committee members: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/about-members.cfm

Wild burros of Airizona Black Mountains on CBS: http://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/tag/carl-mrozek/

Princeton University: Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies, in the search for foodhttp://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/93/41K10/index.xml?section=featured

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, March 24, 2013: Budget axe nicks BLM wild-horse adoption center http://www.denverpost.com/colorado/ci_22862206

US property exposed to wildfire valued at $136 billion says report: http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2012/09/17/u-s-property-exposed-to-wildfire-valued-at-136-billion-says-report/

Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

Sally Jewell, Fortune Live Media / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

Sally Jewell, Fortune Live Media / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

For immediate release:

No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control

Is it safe to use pesticides on an indigenous species?

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2013)–In light of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on wild horses and burros lacking data for an overpopulation claim, Protect Mustangs calls upon Secretary Jewell for an immediate halt to roundups and to return the 50,000 wild horses in government holding to the more than 30 million acres of herd management areas in the West to reduce costs quickly. The native wild horse conservation group calls on the Department of Interior to acknowledge wild horses are native, implement holistic land management and reserve design thus creating a win-win for wild horses to help the ecosystem and reverse desertification. Protect Mustangs requests that ‘survival of the fittest’ should be the only form of fertility control considered because indigenous wild horses must not become domesticated on the range. Artificial management such as pesticides and sterilizations should never be used on a native species such as Equus caballus.

“With the gluttony of roundups and removals, wild horses reproduce at a higher rate to prevent extinction,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We need more studies to establish what the normal reproduction rate is and discover truths about alleged overpopulation on the more than 30 million acres of public wildlands designated for their use. Today there is no scientific proof of overpopulation to merit fertility control.”

In July 2010, Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) spearheaded a letter signed by members of Congress, requesting an investigation of the Wild Horse and Burro Program by the National Academy of Sciences. This was a direct result of public outcry and media exposure of roundup carnage. Three years later, the NAS report was released last Wednesday.

According to a press release from NAS released Wednesday, “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) current practice of removing free-ranging horses from public lands promotes a high population growth rate, and maintaining them in long-term holding facilities is both economically unsustainable and incongruent with public expectations, says a new report by the National Research Council.”

“Making decisions to apply a fertility drug to wild horse herd mares would put wild horse herds in danger of a die-off if any natural or manmade disaster struck the herd management area–be it wildfire, an extreme winter, mass predation or something else,” explains Kathleen Gregg, environmental researcher. “If a majority of the mares are non-reproducing and thus zero or even just a few births, then it is easy to see that the entire herd would be in jeopardy, both genetically and physically, and would diminish their ability to survive into the future. Then we have a herd that is not safe on its own range. Wild horses must to be protected as the law states they shall be.”

“Unfortunately, the Academy quickly recommends fertility control as a better solution without considering the ‘do nothing’ or ‘placebo’ option which is an integral component of every credible field trial for pharmaceutical and other ‘treatment’ plans,” states Carl Mrozek, filmmaker of Saving Ass in America. “Had they searched for examples of herds with minimal or no culling in the past decade or so, they would have found multiple examples of herds which appear to have achieved homeostasis (equilibrium) or something approaching it, naturally, without BLM roundups or fertility treatments.”

“The NAS findings clearly state that the BLM has failed to provide accurate estimates of the nation’s population of wild horses and burros,” states Jesica Johnston, environmental scientist and biologist. “Therefore, the NAS cannot conclude that a state of over-population exists and or provide a recommendation for artificial management considerations such as ‘rigorous fertility controls’ to control populations for which the complex population dynamics are currently unknown.”

Recently fertility control, in the form of immunocontraceptives for wild horses, was erroneously passed by the EPA as “restricted use pesticides”. The EPA inaccurately named indigenous wild horses “pests” in order to pass the drug. Pesticides (PZP, GonaCon®, etc.) should never be used on native species such as E. caballus.

“PZP and other fertility control should not be used on non-viable herds either,” states Debbie Coffey, director of wild horse affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation.  ”Most of the remaining herds of wild horses are non-viable. The NAS and any advocacy groups that are pushing PZP and other fertility control have not carefully studied all of the caveats in Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports along with the remaining population of each herd of wild horses.”

Equus caballus originated in North America more than 2 million years ago. Equus survived extinction through migration and E.caballus could have returned to America with the Spanish unless some had remained on the continent the entire time. Today researchers question historical records–written with Inquisition censorship–that claim the Spanish brought the first horses to America. Even so, if no horses remained when the Conquistadors arrived they would not be introducing the species but “returning”E.caballus to its native land.

“It’s time for land managers to come out of the dark ages–use native wild horses to heal the land and reverse desertification,” states Novak. “We’d like to see the BLM manage the land using wild horses as a resource in partnership with the New Energy Frontier–at virtually no cost to the taxpayer.”

In 1900 there were 2 million wild horses roaming in freedom in America. Today native wild horses are underpopulated on the range. Advocates estimate there are less than 18,000 left in the ten western states combined.

Protect Mustangs is a conservation group 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.

# # #

NAS Study Review YouTube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phwOcmY2PsE&feature=player_embedded

 

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest: 

Washington Post: Independent panel: Wild horse roundups don’t work; use fertility drugs, let nature cull herds http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/independent-panel-to-recommend-changes-in-blm-wild-horse-program/2013/06/05/b65ba772-cdb3-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

Congressional letter requesting an NAS investigation: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbWVyaWNhbmhlcmRzNHxneDo1ZTFlMDQ1MzY4MzZiMzI3&pli=1

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

NAS Press release June 5, 2013:http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=13511

NAS Report: Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program: A Way Forward http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13511

Sacramento Bee, Panel: Sterilize wild horses to cut population  Read more here:http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/06/5475171/study-sterilize-horses-to-drop.html#storylink=cpy

GonaCon press release spins wild horse overpopulation myths: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2013/02/horse_vaccine_approval.shtml

ZonaStat-H EPA Pesticide Fact Sheet: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

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

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, March 24, 2013: Budget axe nicks BLM wild-horse adoption center http://www.denverpost.com/colorado/ci_22862206

US property exposed to wildfire valued at $136 billion says report: http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2012/09/17/u-s-property-exposed-to-wildfire-valued-at-136-billion-says-report/

KQED Horse fossil found in Caldecott Tunnel: http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/05/26/new-fossils-from-the-caldecott-tunnel/

Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

 

PM Wildland Fire Risk 2013

For immediate release

Breaking News: Protesters want to end native wild horse abuse and use mustangs to fight wildfires

More than 40 international protests today to stop the roundups and stop horse slaughter

OAKLAND, Ca. (April 27, 2013)–Protect Mustangs™, the Bay Area-based native wild horse conservation group, is holding protests today in Oakland and Rock Springs, Wyoming to save indigenous wild horses from roundups, abuse, slaughter and pass the SAFE Act. The Oakland rally is held outside the Rockridge BART station from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The Rock Springs rally is held at 70 Gateway Blvd at 2 p.m. The group wants all the wild horses in government funded holding to be returned to the range to help reduce wildfires. More than 40 international protests, spearheaded by Nevada’s Patty Bumgarner on Facebook, are being held to save the horses. Protect Mustangs™ requests Congress stop the cruelty, the slaughter and save taxpayer dollars–especially during the Sequester.

“We are united across the country to say no to slaughter, roundups and cruel overectomies in the field,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs™. “We want our wild horses to be protected. Did you know America’s wild horses are indigenous? Are you aware that CalTrans found ancient horse fossils while digging the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel?”

The horse, E. caballus, originated in America over a million years ago and returned with the Conquistadors if it ever went extinct in the first place. With history written by the Inquisition, one must read between the lines. It was heresy for Old World animals, such as the horse, to have originated in the heathen Americas.

Novak points out,”Recent DNA testing proves our iconic wild horses are the same species as E. caballus–the original horse.”

Esteemed scientists Kirkpatrick, J.F., and P.M. Fazio explained the following in Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife (Revised January 2010). The Science and Conservation Center, ZooMontana, Billings:

‘The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. 6 caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about ‘breeds,’ but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about ‘species.’

The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.’

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received $78 million last year to run the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Two-thirds of the expenses went towards caring for the equids in captivity. Despite the federal budget crisis, the program received a $2 million increase in funding for their 2014 fiscal budget–including $6 million for the helicopter contractor.

California’s Senator Feinstein chairs Energy and Water subcommittee as well as rules on Interior issues within the Committee on Appropriations. The Committee gives taxpayer dollars to fiscally irresponsible and cruel wild horse and burro roundups despite public outcry.

Roundups and removals are linked to mining and toxic fracking in the West. It appears native horses are being removed to fast track the extractive industry’s use of public land for private profit yet the public and the environment are hit with the costs.

Native wild horses will soon be zeroed out from Wyoming’s “checkerboard” public-private land–allegedly in preparation for the largest natural gas field in the country. The conservation group has requested a $50 million fund be created to mitigate environmental distress from fracking on the range.

“Tourists love to come to Wyoming to see our wild horses,” states Melissa Maser, outreach coordinator for Protect Mustangs™ in Wyoming and Texas. “We’d like to see native wild horses protected for future generations.”

Advocates are documenting wild horses being removed throughout the West as healthy and with fewer foals. The starving and overpopulation myths from BLM spin doctors are fabricated to sway Congress to fund roundups and removals.

“We’d like to find a win-win for wild horses in the West,” explains Novak. “Native horses will help reduce wildfires that cost insurance companies billions of dollars annually and contribute to global warming. We have requested the BLM put a freeze on roundups and return the 50,000 wild horses stockpiled in holding to public land. This will take the burden off the taxpayer and help to reduce wildfires.”

Protect Mustangs™ is 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.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, February 10, 2013: Wild-horse advocates split over interior nominee http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020332496_apnvwildhorses1stldwritethru.html

US property exposed to wildfire valued at $136 billion says report: http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2012/09/17/u-s-property-exposed-to-wildfire-valued-at-136-billion-says-report/

KQED Horse fossil found in Caldecott Tunnel: http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/05/26/new-fossils-from-the-caldecott-tunnel/

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, March 24, 2013: Budget axe nicks BLM wild-horse adoption center http://www.denverpost.com/colorado/ci_22862206

Horseback Magazine: Sequester prompts call for wild horses and burros to be returned to the wild http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/21568

Horseback Magazine, March 8, 2013: Protect Mustangs calls for fund for Wyoming wild horses http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/20979

Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392

Ruby pipeline and wild horse roundups? http://www.8newsnow.com/story/12769788/i-team-bp-connected-to-wild-horse-roundups

BLM’s 2014 Budget: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/april/04_10_2013.html

Why are the wild horses being removed? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWWgOugF2U

Wyoming Tourism’s video of wild horses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRZkBXkbyY

Protect Mustangs™: www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs™ on Facebook

Protect Mustangs™ on Twitter

Protect Mustangs™ on YouTube

Protect Mustangs™ in the News

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562 

© Protect Mustangs (designed by Robin Warren)

© Protect Mustangs (designed by Robin Warren)

For immediate release

Sequester prompts call for wild horses and burros to be returned to the wild

Conservation group requests a freeze on roundups

WASHINGTON (April 8, 2013)–Last week Protect Mustangs™, the California based conservation group, officially called for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to put a freeze on roundups and return all wild horses and burros, in government funded holding, to herd management areas in the West. They cited the current climate of federal economic instability as putting captive wild horses and burros at risk. As of April 7th, Protect Mustangs™ has not received a response from from BLM officials.

“It’s fiscal folly to roundup more wild horses and burros than they can adopt out,” explains Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs™. “The roundups need to stop now. We are calling for the more than 50,000 stockpiled native wild horses and historic burros to be returned immediately to public land. We are concerned the government won’t be able to pay for their feed and care during the federal fiscal crisis. We need to be proactive to ensure their safety. If a government shutdown occurs, their only chance of survival is in the wild.”

The Weekly Standard broke the story on BLM’s $6 Mil helicopter contract for the wild horse and burro program after the sequester went into effect.

Roundups increased dramatically in 2009–the same year BLM started fast tracking energy projects with the Stimulus Act in full force. The deadly Calico Roundup and others popped up all along the Ruby Pipeline natural gas route. Protect Mustangs™ believes wild horses and burros are being removed from 26 million acres to avoid environmental mitigation and costly delays for the extractive industry.

Last month, in response to the BLM’s request for comments on the controversial Continental Divide-Cresta natural gas development project, Protect Mustangs™ called for a $50 Mil fund to mitigate environmental distress and removal of Wyoming’s wild horses.

In 2012, Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board member, Callie Hendrickson, suggested slaughtering native wild horses as a solution for the government’s holding crisis. Protect Mustangs™ is concerned the pro-kill faction of the BLM will jump on current federal economic instability to spin a death or slaughter sentence for captured wild horses and burros.

“Native wild horses should not be made to suffer further because of the BLM’s fiscal irresponsibility,” states Kerry Becklund, outreach director for Protect Mustangs™. “Killing them is wrong. Now it’s time to return them to their wild lands. All the captive males have already been castrated so they won’t be reproducing. Overpopulation is a myth anyways.”

The BLM justifies using fertility control drugs because of the overpopulation myth. Yet cattle outnumbers wild horses at least 50 to 1 and is the source of most range damage. EPA approved “limited use pesticides” such as SpayVac®, GonaCon™ and ZonaStat-H appear to be risky forms of fertility control. Currently the BLM is using these drugs on wild horses and burros on the range. Protect Mustangs™ is against using pesticides on native wild horses–especially the nonviable herds.

“Why aren’t these drugs FDA approved for domestic horses if they aren’t harmful?” asks Novak. “We are against using these drugs on mares being released back into the wild. It’s dangerous to use these drugs on nonviable herds. If the herd numbers drop then inbreeding occurs and that’s bad.”

Wild horses are a native species. The horse evolved in America millions of years ago. There were 2 million roaming in freedom in 1900. Today they are underpopulated on the range. Advocates estimate there are less than 20,000 left in the wild. They can fill their niche in the ecosystem and be managed using holistic methods to reduce wildfire fuel, reseed the land, create biodiversity and reverse desertification.

“We are asking for a proactive solution to avoid disaster,” adds Novak. “It’s simple. Return wild horses and burros to the range and save more than $50 Mil taxpayer dollars annually.”

# # #

Below is a copy of the official email sent to Ms. Guilfoyle, Division Chief of Wild Horses & Burros. It was copied to the BLM Acting Director and other staff:

——– Original Message ——–

Subject: Calling for a Freeze on Roundups & Return to HMAs

From: <anne@protectmustangs.org>

Date: Mon, April 01, 2013 1:02 pm

To: jguilfoy@blm.gov

Cc: dbolstad@blm.govnkornze@blm.govjconnell@blm.gov

Joan Guilfoyle, Division Chief

Division of Wild Horses and Burros

20 M Street, S.E.

Washington, DC 20003

Main Contact Number: 202-912-7260

 

Dear Ms. Guilfoyle,

In this climate of federal economic instability, including the possibility of government shutdown, we request that all wild horses and burros in government funded holding be returned to the herd management areas immediately. We call for a freeze on all wild horse and burro roundups to prevent the equids from being caught up in an uncertain fate.

Sincerely,

Anne Novak

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs™

 

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@Protect Mustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

$6 Mil helicopter contract during sequester: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/feds-sign-6m-helicopter-contract-wild-horse-and-burro_714436.html  

Sequester affects wild horse adoption center near Reno: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020634912_apnvbudgetbattlewildhorses1stldwritethru.html

Ruby pipeline and wild horse roundups? http://www.8newsnow.com/story/12769788/i-team-bp-connected-to-wild-horse-roundups

Protect Mustangs™ calls for $50 Mil Wyoming mitigation fund for wild horses http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/20979  and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3954

Callie Hendrickson, pro-slaughter appointee: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/03/callie_hendrickson_wild_horse_board_slaughter.php

GonaCon press release spins wild horse overpopulation myths: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2013/02/horse_vaccine_approval.shtml

ZonaStat-H EPA Pesticide Fact Sheet: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

Cloud Foundation report: Observations of PZP contraceptive us in the Pryors http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3901

Cloud Foundation paper: PZP-22 . . . Do unintended side effects outweigh benefits? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3270

Native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Protect Mustangs™ in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs™ is devoted to protecting native wild horses. Our mission is to educate the public about the native wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 

Make LOVE Not Roundups! www.ProtectMustangs.org

Make LOVE Not Roundups! www.ProtectMustangs.org

For immediate release

BREAKING NEWS: Daryl Hannah and Michael Blake speak out about wild horses, burros and toxic drilling

Make LOVE not roundups™ launches to stop the war against native wild horses and historic burros

WASHINGTON (February 13, 2013)–Daryl Hannah, who was arrested today at the Keystone XL Pipeline Protest, and Oscar-winner Michael Blake (Dances with Wolves) speak out to protect America’s indigenous horses, historic burros and public land. The celebrities join Protect Mustangs’ Make LOVE Not Roundups™ native wild horse awareness campaign. Mustangs and burros are being cleared off public land to minimize environmental restrictions for toxic drilling.

“Wild horses and burros absolutely thrive on public lands but they are being unceremoniously eviscerated to make room for private cattle grazing leases and toxic drilling operations,” explains Daryl Hannah. “The BLM has increasingly become the BLMM–Bureau of Land Mis-Mangement. Let them live free!”

“Roundups are like a war on our native horses,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs™. “We want to focus on the public’s love for wild horses to protect them. Right now they are being wiped out and many go to slaughter. We need to return all the mustangs and burros stockpiled in holding to their legal range land. As a native species, wild horses will help create biodiversity and reverse desertification.”

Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves says, “Loving horses is essential for human life on this planet. For millions of years, horses assisted humanity but after cars were invented in America, America has fully destroyed them and continues. Though humanity is similar to all animals in terms of no full perception, the killing of them all is moving the earth to destruction. If we only kill those who attack us, humanity will keep the earth real for humans who follow us. Like humanity, every horse is different but I have loved them most and have never killed one all my life.”

Protect Mustangs™ wants the cruel roundups to stop now. They are asking for all wild horses and burros “stockpiled” in government holding to be returned to the protected zones of public land specified in the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, called Herd Management Areas. Native wild horses are at-risk of going to slaughter for human consumption abroad now that Oklahoma’s elected officials appear to be supporting horse slaughter for human consumption in foreign countries.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest:

Daryl Hannah arrested at White House: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/arma-virumque-cano-police-arrest-keystone-protesters/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/daryl-hannah-rfk-jr-arrested-keystone-pipeline-protest-article-1.1263324

Daryl Hannah bio: http://movies.nytimes.com/person/93354/Daryl-Hannah/biography

Michael Blake bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Blake_(author)

Native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Bill to legalize horse slaughter in Oklahoma: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130213_16_A1_CUTLIN438547

Oklahomans Against Horse Slaughter: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oklahomans-Against-Horse-Slaughter-in-2012-and-Beyond/160171540747135

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Link to Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

www.MakeLOVEnotRoundups.org

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the native wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.  www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

For Immediate release:

Citizen investigation exposes evidence of BLM wild horses sold to probable slaughter

Wild Horse & Burro Advocates Demand Congressional Investigation

WASHINGTON (January 24, 2013)–Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) released evidence exposing the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse long-term holding contractor selling wild horses to an alleged “kill buyer”. The BLM appears to be trafficking wild horses to slaughter through holding facilites. Debbie Coffey, volunteer director of Wild Horse Affairs at WHFF, uncovered evidence of the contractor selling at least 34 federally protected wild horses. In short and long-term holding, indigenous wild horses retain their wild status and protections but it appears some are being sold to slaughter.

“This evidence shows that the BLM is not protecting our wild horses and is allowing alleged kill buyers to purchase them,” explains R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, “The public wants Congress to enforce the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act that they unanimously signed into law in 1971.  A Congressional Investigation needs to happen now.”

WHFF joins with Protect Mustangs to call for a freeze on roundups, access to document all holding facilities as needed as well as an immediate Congressional investigation into the BLM and their contractors allegedly selling America’s iconic wild horses into the slaughter pipeline.

“It’s time for a deep investigation–done by an entity outside the BLM–to bust these crimes against the American mustang and champion the public who were deceived by officials in charge of protecting our icons of freedom,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The public is outraged. Protests are being planned as a result of the evidence.”

Coffey, with the assistance of Animal’s Angels, researched and released Wednesday an in-depth article on the activities of a BLM contractor selling 34 BLM wild horses to a kill buyer, while under contract with the BLM and being paid with U.S. taxpayer dollars, to care for iconic wild mustangs on its pastures.  Evidence was obtained through South Dakota Brand Board Inspection records and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Information from government and public records show that Jim Reeves and Lyle Anderson own Spur Livestock. They have a contract with the BLM for a wild horse long-term holding pasture on private land within the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, as well as on Indian Trust Lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  This U.S. taxpayer funded facility is the Whitehorse Wild Horse Long Term Holding Facility.

WHFF received records from the South Dakota Brand Board that reveal on 11/8/2008, while under contract with the BLM, “owner” Spur Livestock sold 34 horses with “BLM tattoos” to JS Farms–owned by alleged kill buyer Joe Simon.

In a telephone conversation with Jim Reeves, Coffey reports that when asked about 72 horses he bought as alleged pack animals, Reeves said “I’m told not to talk about this kind of stuff.”  He added “I can’t talk about this” and “That’s BLM business.”

When asked about all the wild horses who disappear from their short-term holding facilities after the roundups, BLM officials inform the public and the media that they will be well taken care of on “grassland pastures”.

“The BLM leads the public to believe that captured wild horses are living out their lives grazing peacefully on long-term holding pastures, and claims they do not sell wild horses to slaughter, but at least one contracted middleman did sell BLM wild horses to an alleged kill buyer and the horses very likely met a horrific fate at a slaughterhouse,” explains Coffey. “We want a freeze on roundups, immediate access to document all long-term holding facilities as needed and a Congressional investigation into all aspects of the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program.”

###

Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered, Texas non-profit corporation with Federal 501c3 status and registered as a legal non-profit in all 50 states of the Union.  WHFF puts people between America’s wild equids and extinction through targeted litigation against governmental agencies whose documented agendas include the eradication of wild horse and burros from public, federal and state lands. WHFF is funded exclusively through the generosity of the American public.

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

Media contacts:

R.T. Fitch, Volunteer President WHFF, 800-974-3684, rtfitch@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org
Debbie Coffey, Director Wild Horse Affairs WHFF, 800-974-3684, debbie@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org
Anne Novak, Executive Director Protect Mustangs, 415-531-8454, anne@protectmustangs.org

Photos and interviews granted upon request

Links of interest:

Debbie Coffey publishes her research on PPJ Gazette (sources noted): http://ppjg.me/2013/01/22/wild-horses-sold-to-kill-buyer-by-blm-contractor/

http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/joe-simon-invoice.png

Wild Horse Freedom Federation: http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/

Protect Mustangs: http://protectmustangs.org

 

For immediate release

Call to stop the roundups on National Day of the Horse

Deaths are disguised

SAN FRANCISCO (December 13, 2012)–In honor of the National Day of the Horse, Protect Mustangs calls for an end to cruel roundups of native wild horses. The California based conservation group is circulating a Change.org petition to Congress to De-fund and Stop the Roundups. The roundups are deadly and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is skewing the death count. The BLM emphasizes preexisting conditions so Congress won’t realize how many indigenous wild horses are being killed as a result of the roundups.

“Enough is enough!” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “If they weren’t rounded up at the hands of the BLM then those wild horses at Owyhee and other ranges surely would not be dead now. We want the roundups to stop, the warehousing to stop, the fiscal irresponsibility to stop, the bad science to stop and we are asking for an accurate independent census of how many wild horses are left on the range.”

Today close to 50,000 wild horses are warehoused in government short or long term holding facilities yet only an estimated 20,000 remain in the wild. In the 1900s two million wild horses roamed in America. Afterwards the wild horse population dropped mostly due to hunting for their meat.

“America’s wild horses should be returned to the range,” states Inez Fort, vice president of Protect Mustangs’ board of directors. “In 1971 there were almost twice as many herd management areas for wild horses. Today it’s hard to find free roaming mustangs on the range. They’ve been stampeded by helicopters and have become victims of roundups.”

“Today with the public land grab for water rights, energy development and mining projects, the wild horse is facing a huge monster called greed,” explains Novak. “It’s not sustainable to wipe them out. Native wild horses can reverse desertification, offset carbon emissions and heal the land. We need our wild horses to help stop global warming.”

The horse originated in North America. Many breeds of horse exist today–including the American wild horse aka mustang. The Spanish Conquistadors reintroduced the horses to their native homeland where they benefit the ecosystem, reduce global warming and inspire people across the globe.

Ph.D.s J.F. Kirkpatrick, and P.M. Fazio cite in Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife that:

The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. 6 caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about “breeds,” but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about “species.”

The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.

Native status for wild horses would place these animals, under law, within a new category for management considerations. As a form of wildlife, embedded with wildness, ancient behavioral patterns, and the morphology and biology of a sensitive prey species, they may finally be released from the “livestock‐gone‐loose” appellation.

In 2004, Congress recognized the first official National Day of the Horse.  The text of the resolution states:

Encouraging citizens to be mindful of the contribution of horses to the economy, history, and character of the United States and expressing the sense of Congress that a National Day of the Horse should be established.
Whereas the horse is a living link to the history of the United States;
Whereas, without horses, the economy, history, and character of the United States would be profoundly different;
Whereas horses continue to permeate the society of the United States, as witnessed on movie screens, on open land, and in our own backyards;
Whereas horses are a vital part of the collective experience of the United States and deserve protection and compassion;
Whereas, because of increasing pressure from modern society, wild and domestic horses rely on humans for adequate food, water, and shelter; and
Whereas the Congressional Horse Caucus estimates that the horse industry contributes well over $100,000,000,000 each year to the economy of the United States: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress–
(1) encourages all citizens to be mindful of the contribution of horses to the economy, history, and character of the United States;
(2) expresses its sense that a National Day of the Horse should be established in recognition of the importance of horses to the Nation’s security, economy, recreation, and heritage; and
(3) urges the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States and interested organizations to observe National Day of the Horse with appropriate programs and activities.

On the eighth anniversary of the first official National Day of the Horse, horse enthusiasts are encouraged to celebrate the horse’s contribution to the United States.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest:

Petition to Defund and Stop the Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

America’s native wild horses: http://www.Protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 

For immediate release:

Breaking News: Native wild horses misclassified to push for massive removals 

Conservation group wants error fixed and wild horses used to combat desertification

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (November 28, 2012)–Native wild horses have been erroneously classified as “feral” horses in the recent publication in the journal Environmental Management. The authors of the report call for wild horse removals from U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management rangeland–to fight climate change. The report also calls for the removal of livestock grazing on public land and reintroduction of predators to control native unglulate populations.

Protect Mustangs is asking for the errors to be corrected because America’s wild horses are a native species and play an important role in reversing desertification. The horse E. caballus originated in North America. The Conquistadors reintroduced the native species to it’s native land and therefore these native ungulates must be protected.

“This report has glaring errors,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It avoids classifying America’s wild horses as natives to justify removing them from large areas of public land. Commercial livestock and the extractive industry is destroying the range not wild horses. We object to the proposal to remove native wild horses. We request they rectify the error calling them “feral” horses. Indigenous wild horses need to be protected not wiped out. They can help heal the land.”

Science proves wild horses are native wildlife in North America. According to a paper by esteemed PhD.s J.F. Kirkpatrick and P.M. Fazio entitled Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife:

“The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. 6 caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about ‘breeds,’ but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about ‘species’.”

and

“The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.”

The newly published Environmental Management report titled Adapting to Climate Change on Western Public Lands: Addressing the Ecological Effects of Domestic, Wild and Feral Ungulates calls to protect large tracts of the range and suggests climate change will worsen impacts. The report calls to remove the miscategorized “feral” horses as well as burros from large areas of public land.

In contrast, Princeton University and the Savory Institute have stated wild herds heal the grasslands. Recently Princeton published studies mentioned in Wildlife and cows can be partners not enemies in search for food. The Savory Institute has proved that Holistic Management, which mimics wild herds such as wild horses, can heal the land so livestock can thrive.

“Removing the very last of the wild herds is a bad idea and calling native wild horses feral is bad science,” states Inez Fort, vice president of Protect Mustangs’ board of directors.

Protect Mustangs is asking the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to utilize native wild horse herds to combat climate change and help livestock grazing programs on public land. Reintroducing predators, to control population in a natural way, is deemed acceptable by the wild horse conservation group.

“Native wild horses heal the wild land–they can reverse desertification and replenish the biodiversity of the West,” explains Novak.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest:

Environmental Management report titled Adapting to Climate Change on Western Public Lands: Addressing the Ecological Effects of Domestic, Wild and Feral Ungulates

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

How Copying Nature can Reverse Desertification in it’s Tracks:http://www.savoryinstitute.com/2012/04/desertification/how-copying-nature-can-stop-desertification-in-its-tracks/

Holistic Planned Grazing according to the Savory Institute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5LHoh-OKUfU

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a California-based conservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 

For immediate release

Breaking News: Outrage over advisory board proposing to sterilize wild mustangs

Call for Congressional investigation into conflict of interest on anti-wild horse advisory board catering to livestock and extractive industries
WASHINGTON (October 31, 2012)–Protect Mustangs strongly opposes the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board’s proposal to spay wild mustangs due to health risks including death and because no accurate independent headcount has been provided to prove alleged overpopulation is an issue despite multiple requests for such evidence.“This cruel plan could kill many federally protected wild horses,” explains Anne Novak executive director for Protect Mustangs. “We oppose spaying wild mares in the field because it’s a high risk procedure. The BLM is charged with protecting wild horses not putting their lives in jeopardy. ”

Protect Mustangs is also calling for an independent audit to determine the number of mustangs in the wild and in holding facilities.

“Show us an independent headcount and then let’s talk about overpopulation–if it’s a realistic concern,” continues Novak. “Right now we see the BLM inflating the population numbers to justify rampant million dollar roundups, money dumped into fertility research and funds spent to warehouse 50,000 captive wild horses. Today maybe 17,000 are left in all ten western states. This could be the end for America’s indigenous free roaming wild horse.”

“We are concerned the anti-mustang advisory board is spreading disinformation about reproduction rates,” says Novak. “Life is harsh on the range. Wild horses don’t reproduce like rabbits and many foals die before they are two. Saying the herds double every 5 years is an invented distortion to push through radical policy endangering mustangs.”

Monday during the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting in Salt Lake, the Salazar Plan was pushed into the final phase to wipe out American wild horses living on public land. The Board, stacked to favor the livestock and extractive industries–profiting off public land–recommended spaying wild horses to control an alleged but not proven overpopulation on the range.

Members of the public and wild horse advocates are outraged over the proposal which has at least a 10% death rate and a pandora’s box full of complications.

“It’s a lot more complicated and the potential for complications and side effects is much greater,” said the BLM’s vet, Dr. Al Kane USDA-APHIS, during a report to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board in 2011. “The potential effects on herd behavior or individual mare behavior are an issue.”

Protect Mustangs urges members of the public to contact their elected officials in Congress to request:

    •    An investigation into conflict of interest rampant amongst Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board members.
•    An independent audit to determine the number of mustangs in the wild and in holding.
•    They come to the aid of federally protected wild horses who are at risk of being abused by the agency charged with their care.
“The public loves American wild horses,” says Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “We want the BLM and their biased Advisory Board to back off and quit trying to wipe them out.# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913, Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.  

 

 

For immediate release:

11 year old on a mission to save America’s wild horses

Robin Warren leads youth campaign for Protect Mustangs


SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (July 16, 2012)–Since joining Protect Mustangs in June as their new youth campaign director, Robin Warren, age 11, has met with a Nevada State Senator, documented wild horses on the range, was a featured speaker at the Stop the Roundups rally in California’s capital and gave oral comments at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter hearing also in the golden state. At the hearing, Warren presented the BLM representative with her Petition to Save Wild Mustangs asking the BLM to stop helicopter roundups.

“It’s not fair that the Bureau of Land Management has an exemption to the law that protects wild horses and burros,” states Robin Warren, youth campaign director for Protect Mustangs. “We want cruel helicopter roundups to stop and we want to make sure they always have access to clean water.”

The petition reads:

“We, the undersigned, do respectfully request that the Bureau of Land Management adhere to the same rules and regulations as the general public in regards to the humane treatment of wild horses and burros. We find it unreasonable that the Secretary of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, or any person or organization, is found to be exempt from our collective responsibility as humans to treat animals humanely. We further find it unreasonable that the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture are permitted to define “humane” as it pertains to their own areas of command. We respectfully request that the Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 be restored to its original intent, that no person or organization would be permitted to capture wild horses and burros by means of motorized vehicles, or by polluting or closing off watering holes, as these methods have been proven inhumane.”

Warren started the petition 3 years ago under her pen name Wild Mustang Robin–to stop the wild horse roundups. She was inspired to co-author the petition after reading “Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West” by Marguerite Henry.

She has been active in her hometown, Las Vegas, and over the internet to get signatures. After posting the petition online at Change.org she received signatures from 50 States, DC, Puerto Rico & and more than 30 countries.

At last week’s helicopter use hearing in Sacramento, Warren presented 2770 signatures from her petition to Amy Dumas, the BLM representative.”Kids don’t want to see wild horses in zoos,” states Warren. “We want to observe them roaming on the open range with their families.”

Warren’s speech at the BLM helicopter use hearing received a standing ovation from the audience.

“Robin speaks for the youth of America and touches people’s hearts across the nation,” says Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “She wants the wild horses to be protected–not harassed and torn from their families forever.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Links of interest:

Link to Robin’s petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-president-of-the-united-states-the-blm-is-not-exempt-from-humane-treatment-of-mustangs

Protest, press conference and public hearing information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1828

Celebrities speak out against wild horse roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsS9r87tRk

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter hearings and the public process: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1498

Anne Novak on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/theAnneNovak

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

Copy of Robin’s speech to BLM delivered as a letter at the hearing:

Robin Warren
Director of the Youth Program Protect Mustangs P.O. Box 5661 Berkley, CA 94705

Mike Pool
Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665
Washington DC 20240

James G. Kenna & Amy Dumas
BLM Wild Horse and Burro State Director, and Program
California State Office
2800 Cottage Way, Suite W1834
Sacramento, CA 95825

July 10th, 2012

Re: Helicopter Roundups

Dear Messrs. Mike Pool and James Kenna and Ms. Amy Dumas;

Hi I am Wild Mustang Robin, Director of the Youth Campaign at Protect Mustangs; I came here today to talk about the mustangs.  I am happy see there are many people here who could come today to say no to the roundups.  First of all I would like to say the roundups are inhumane.  There is a law made by Wild Horse Annie saying you cannot use motorized vehicles to round up the wild horses.  If I – or even the President – was to round them up I would get arrested.  Now there is one interesting thing: the BLM gets an exemption even though it is a law not to use motorized vehicles.

Helicopters are like monsters to the mustangs; children do not want America’s animals to be scared or hurt in anyway. This makes kids feel unsafe because they don’t want to have monsters in their life and children are like animals (they don’t have a voice really). The helicopters are so scary that the mustangs remember the noise for the rest of their lives.  I went to the BLM holding facility in Sparks, NV and when we were walking a slow pace the horses got scared and ran away. They were scared of people walking – how do you think they feel about helicopters?

Another reason the roundups are inhumane is because they separate the families apart – the foals from the mothers and the mothers from the fathers. They might spend the rest of their lives behind gates and never see each other again.  Their ability to have families is a gift because many creatures have to let their babies live on their own after a few weeks of them taking care of them.  I know how it feels because I lost my whole family. I have found a new home and happiness but the mustangs may never get to be in a herd again – and they long for family. It is not humane to separate families from each other.  How would you feel if you lost your family?

A much more humane idea is to keep the family bands whole and send them all together to sanctuaries. It is an idea that would save money and make money as a tourist attraction – a business like a hotel near where the mustangs and burros live. This is a great idea and it can cost less than feeding, watering, and taking care of them when they can take care of themselves.  It could make money for all the states where mustangs still live – both yours and mine.

The mustangs and burros deserve to be treated right.  I know that and a numerous amount of others do too.  Many people care about the wild horses and burros and do not want any of them rounded up or eaten. There are the big names you know, that spoke before me, and then there are the “little names” you don’t know yet, like mine. I represent the voices of many children.

Please do not use helicopters or motorized vehicles for roundups or management. Please reconsider your roundup plans and let them live in freedom.

Sincerely,

Wild Mustang Robin (Robin Warren)

 

 

Breaking News: Protest today against helicopter roundups causing wild horse deaths

BLM helicopter use hearing draws uproar 

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (July 10, 2012)—Wild horse deaths and injuries during Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter roundups are the focus of a rally and press conference held today in front of the Sacramento Federal Courthouse 501 “I” Street. at 2 p.m.

Americans oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse helicopter roundups because they are cruel, costly, damage the environment and cause young foals to die, say wild horse advocacy groups such as rally organizers Protect Mustangs and Native Wild Horse Protection.

“Foals are often killed in roundups because they are stampeded by helicopter for miles over rocky terrain,” explains Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “After this prolonged suffering, the contractor is paid per head for catching them and then the BLM euthanizes them.”

During the recent Jackson Mountain roundup in Nevada, 12 wild horses were destroyed, most often because of lameness.

“Helicopter roundups are so routinely fatal, BLM had to invent two new terms for death last week,” states Terri Farley, author and wild horse advocate.

The terms acute and chronic/pre-existing conditions were recently listed on BLM’s website as “new terms to better describe the kinds of deaths that occur on the gather.”

Children, nationwide are active in the move to protect wild horses.

“Kids don’t want any animals to be scared or hurt,” says Robin Warren, age 11, youth campaign director for Protect Mustangs. “If America is not safe for the animals, then how can it be safe for the kids?”

Warren, of Las Vegas, started her advocacy at age 8 with the Petition to Save the Wild Mustangs in an effort to persuade BLM to follow Wild Horse Annie’s law. She will speak at the rally and the hearing.

“How outrageous is it that we have to fight so hard in order to get a government agency to simply follow a law that is already clearly in place to protect our Wild Horses and Burros?” Simone Netherlands, President of Respect for Horses.

Many advocates believe wild horse roundups go hand in hand with the industrialization of U.S. rangelands.

Jetara Séhart, President of Native Wild Horse Protection says, “As ancient Cree prophecy warns, ‘Only after the the last tree has been cut down, only after the the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.’ We request the BLM stop all helicopter roundups before it’s too late.”

“It’s time to put science and appropriate capital stewardship ahead of good ole boy politics and special interests, the plug needs to be pulled on these abusive and expensive roundups and the time to do it is now!” RT Fitch, author and President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

The California BLM helicopter use hearing is open for public comment later in the day, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Woodlake Hotel, 500 Leisure Lane in Sacramento. The hearing will be heated with advocates opposing helicopter roundups.

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

# # #

 Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 Links of interest:

June 9, 2012  Associated Press: Congressman criticizes Nevada wild horse roundup  http://mynorthwest.com/174/690641/Congressman-criticizes-NV-wild-horse-roundup

Current Facebook discussion about helicopter roundups: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=387209591338066&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Protest, press conference and public hearing information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1828

Celebrities speak out against wild horse roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsS9r87tRk

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter hearings and the public process: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1498

Youth Campaign Director fro Protect Mustangs, Robin Warren aka Wild Mustang Robin: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=wild+mustang+robin&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Anne Novak, Executive Director for Protect Mustangs: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=2

Author Terri Farley: http://www.terrifarley.com/

Jetara Séhart, President of Native Wild Horse Protection: http://www.nativewildhorseprotection.com/

Simone Netherlands, President of Respect for Horses: http://www.respect4horses.com/

R.T. Fitch, President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation: http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/

BLM’s press release on the California helicopter hearing July 10, 2012  http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/june/CASO128_aircraft_hearing.html

BLM blocks press access to roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_g-LZSQuPA

Helicopter roundup video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=plcp

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Anne Novak on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/theAnneNovak

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

 

 

 For immediate release:

Americans want aid sent to pregnant wild horses and babies—not to stampede them

Privately owned livestock allowed to remain on the range while wild horses risk death in helicopter roundup

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2012)—Protect Mustangs opposes the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Jackson Mountain roundup, in northwestern Nevada famous for Burning Man, set to begin tomorrow. The preservation group and members of the public are reaching out to elected officals nationwide to come to the aid of America’s wild horses and burros. The BLM has chosen to endanger heavily pregnant mares and tiny foals by stampeding them in a terrifying helicopter roundup. Protect Mustangs asked BLM to continue trucking out water and other aid as needed for the wild horses. Their request was refused. Trucking aid to them is cheaper than a cruel million dollar roundup paid for by the American taxpayer. Originally the wild horse removal was planned for after foaling season in July but BLM claims the indigenous horses are at risk because of drought conditions even though rain is forecasted and private livestock is allowed to remain grazing on the range.

“We need our elected officials to intervene at this point,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We asked the BLM to continue bringing them water but they refused to wait until foaling season is over. Now the BLM will round them up and jeopardize their ability to peacefully birth their babies.”

The helicopter roundup will endanger more than 96 foals counted in April 2012 as well as the newborns and pregnant mares carrying the unborn.

In March 2012, Joan Guilfoyle, BLM wild horse and burro division chief, announced to the world they would use a new method to capture mustangs—bait trapping. Now the government agency is demonstrating their double speak and lack of human care for America’s wild horses. The roundups, funded by Congress, continue.

“The BLM obviously doesn’t care about the welfare of pregnant mares and tiny foals,” states Novak. “Stampeding them will cause spontaneous abortions and newborn foals won’t be able to keep up. Will they be separated from their mamas and left out there to die?”

Protect Mustangs is calling on Americans to contact their senators and representatives because theses wild horses belong to all Americans. Members of the public are encouraged to ask their elected officials intervene–to stop the Jackson Mountain foaling season roundup and bring America’s indigenous horses aid if needed.

The preservation group also suggests voicing concerns to Nevada’s Congressman Joe Heck 202-225-3252 (fax 202-225-3252) and Senator Dean Heller 202-224-6244 (fax 202-224-6244).

Protect mustangs feels the BLM’s estimate of 930 wild horses is inflated to justify a massive roundup. The entire capture area is more than 775,000 acres including the 286,000 acres within the Jackson Mountain Herd Management Area.

“The BLM is using the drought as an excuse to clear out wild horses while risking their death,” explains Novak. “They are leaving livestock on the same allegedly drought afflicted land to graze, so BLM’s actions don’t make any sense. It just shows how the government agency wants to dispose of America’s icons.”

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 # # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 

Links of interest:

 

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

KPFA Evening News, KFCF Fresno, KPFK Los Angeles, WBAI New York, KPFT Houston, WPFW Washington, DC  Protect Mustangs says the Nevada BLM jeopardizes public process, privacy and free speech http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/81120  report at 22:35 on the link.

BLM’s plans for bait trapping ~ Gone Viral ~ Las Vegas Review Journal Land managers try new method to capture mustangs http://bit.ly/HKKIrL

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter roundup video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=plcp

Tweet Congress: http://tweetcongress.org/

Contact elected officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Burning Man: http://www.burningman.com/

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

BLM Press Release on the alleged emergency Jackson Mt. roundup: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/june/winnemucca__blm_to.html

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1614

 

For immediate release:

California BLM shows transparency why not Nevada?
Advocates ask BLM Nevada to reschedule their ‘public’ hearing
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (June 2, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, the Bay Area-based preservation group, has been in negotiation with BLM California and is happy to announce that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has agreed to postpone the California helicopter and motorized use public hearing to a later date. Using helicopters at wild horse and burro roundups is controversial. Americans nationwide call helicopter roundups cruel.
“We want to thank BLM California for their act of good faith to promote transparency,” says Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “The American public wants to participate but they need 30 days notice in order to make travel arrangements.”
On May 30th the preservation group discovered BLM California’s press release online. With only 4-5 days until the hearing, they contacted BLM and opened up the dialogue requesting the public hearing be postponed and rescheduled.
The Nevada saga
“Even though 80% of America’s indigenous wild horses live on public land in the State of Nevada, they belong to all Americans–from San Francisco to New York City,” explains Novak. “They are icons of freedom and must not be terrorized by helicopters.”
Previously on May 27th,  Protect Mustangs requested for Nevada BLM to kindly reschedule their public hearing, for helicopter and motorized vehicle use for roundups and management, because their public notice was too short (5 business days) and basically no one knew about it.
Unlike the California BLM who took proper action to protect public process, the Nevada BLM refused to reschedule the public hearing on helicopters so the public would have adequate notice (30 days) to attend.
On May 29th, in Carson City, Nevada, only 4 people commented in a close to empty hearing room because interested members of the public were not informed. The hearing notice was published online, 5 business days before, in a small town local paper in Mesquite, Nevada–487 miles away.
“BLM Nevada shows the American people they want to avoid engaging public input,” says Kerry Becklund, outreach director for Protect Mustangs. “Hiding public hearings from the public demonstrates a lack of transparency.”
Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech
In an unsuccessful gesture to placate public outrage, BLM Nevada announced, during the hearing, they would extend the written comment period until June 12th with new comment guidelines.
Protect Mustangs and members of the public oppose BLM’s disclaimer that the agency will not safeguard the personal identifying information PII) BLM requires in order to comment. Clearly this invasion of privacy suppresses free speech. The group is asking for the PII to be minimal and for the BLM to withhold the PII if requested by the commenter.
“One of the gems of America is that the people can participate through public comment and public hearings,” says Novak. “We don’t want people to feel their rights to privacy will be violated if they speak out.”
The group continues negotiations with BLM Nevada, to reschedule the controversial Nevada helicopter hearing so members of the public may attend and give oral comment.
Members of the public are encouraged to fax the BLM head office in Washington DC to request the Nevada helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public. The fax number is: 202-208-5242. They may also email their request to Deputy Director Mike Pool at Mike_Pool@blm.gov .
Meanwhile, the group asks the public to send in their comments about using helicopters and other motorized vehicles at roundups and for other wild horse and burro management. They welcome the public to send them a copy of their comments toContact@ProtectMustangs.org so Protect Mustangs can watchdog the process.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video
Links of interest:
Reno News 4 reported on Wild horse advocates say BLM jeopardized public process: http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx
Posted May 21 via Mesquite Citizen Journal BLM Public Hearing Set on Management of Wild Horses and Burros: http://mesquitecitizen.com/viewnews.php?newsid=1994&id=38
May 18th BLM press release on public hearing for helicopters and motorized vehicles: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/blm_to_hold_public.html
Letter requesting Nevada BLM give the public 30 days notice for helicopter use hearing http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1409
Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416
Comment period extended but Nevada public hearing a sham http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1441
BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:
Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/
Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom. 

 

 

Breaking News: Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech

BLM places outrageous conditions on public comment

For immediate release:

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, a Bay Area-based preservation group, asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise their conditions for receiving written comment that requires personal identifying information that BLM says they can not safeguard. What started as an issue jeopardizing public process for people who want helicopters roundups to stop has mushroomed into a free speech issue for all Americans.

“This in an invasion of privacy—a restriction of our rights of free speech,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It will stifle public participation.”

Due to the BLM’s lack of public notice for a public hearing, the preservation group released an alert titled: Government transparency and public process jeopardized. They gathered comments requesting the Nevada public hearing  be rescheduled with 30 days notice and comments against using helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management. Early Tuesday morning the group sent the comments to the Director of BLM in Washington requesting he intervene and reschedule the public hearing. Wild horse photographer, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered the comments to BLM officials at the hearing.

As a result of Protect Mustangs’ grassroots efforts and the public rallying for their right to comment,  the BLM released the press release announcing they will extend only the written comment period for the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management in Nevada.

BLM also states:

Comments submitted to BLM must include your address, phone number, email, or other personal identifying information in your comment. Please be aware your entire comment–including your personal identifying information–may be made publicly available at any time. While you may request we withhold your personal information from public view, we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

The preservation group opposes BLM’s terms for public comment for 2 reasons:

1.) The controversial Nevada public hearing regarding using helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management, must be held with 30 days notice so the American public may attend and give oral comment as well as written comment.

2.) The BLM must accept written comments and protect personal identifying information if the commenter has requested their information be withheld from public view. Requested personal identifying information should not be excessive.

“Any person who requests that their personal information be safeguarded should have that right to privacy—especially by a government agency,” states Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs.

Refusing to keep personal identifying information confidential, stifles the public process because anyone can get a copy of the comments according to BLM protocol. The public wants to know their rights to privacy are ensured.

“Are the BLM’s new written comment conditions intended to suppress public comment?” asks Novak. “It’s a no-brainer that this is going to discourage people. What’s happening to America’s public process and our rights to free speech?”

 

# # #

 

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Links of interest:

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Video of helicopter roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=player_embedded

Freedom of speech in the U.S.A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

 

Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.

 

For immediate release

BREAKING NEWS: Outrage over EPA calling iconic wild horses “pests”

Protect Mustangs opposes pesticides for indigenous horses and calls for change

WASHINGTON (May 11, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, a San Francisco Bay Area-based wild horse preservation group, opposes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) categorizing indigenous wild horses as “pests”. This classification would allow the EPA to approve the restricted-use pesticide, ZonaStat-H, for use on wild horses for birth control. Protect Mustangs maintains there is no scientific proof that wild horses and burros are overpopulated on the more than 26 million acres of public land and states that science proves wild equids heal the land—reversing damage and desertification. Today Protect Mustangs has asked the EPA to retract their wrongful categorization and halt the use of the drug. Besides the environmental hazards of using ZonaStat-H, the group is concerned the potentially dangerous pesticide could permanently sterilize and lead to the wild horse and burro’s eventual demise in the West.

After decades of research, ZonaStat-H, the EPA registered name for PZP-22 (porcine zona pellucida), has not been approved for human use. China has been testing PZP for years but research shows damage to the ovaries so the drug remains in the test phase. Protect Mustangs is concerned the pesticide will permanently sterilize America’s indigenous wild horses after multiple use or overdosing, and that the use of PZP-22, GonaCon, SpayVac and other immunocontraceptives are risky.

“Americans across the country love wild horses,” explains Anne Novak executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We are outraged that the EPA would call our national icons ‘pests’ to push through an experimental contraceptive under a pesticide program!”

Under provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the EPA can consider nonhuman animals to be pests if they harm human or environmental health.

“This is an example of the government ignoring good science that proves wild horses heal the environment and create biodiversity at virtually no cost to the taxpayer, when left out on the range,” says Novak. “Vermin don’t repair the environment and reduce global warming but wild horses can.”

Two Princeton studies prove wild herds repair the land as seen in Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies in search for food

The first study, “Facilitation Between Bovids and Equids on an African Savanna,” was published in Evolutionary Ecology Research in August 2011, and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Keller Family Trust and Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

The second study, “African Wild Ungulates Compete With or Facilitate Cattle Depending on Season,” was published in Science on Sept. 23, 2011, and supported by grants from the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the International Foundation for Science.

The Savory Institute, a proponent of holistic management, states wild herds heal overgrazed grassland and uses livestock to mimic wild herds to bring the land back to life.

Public land grazing allotment holders might call free roaming wild horses a nuisance but they have an obvious conflict of interest—they want all the grazing and water rights for their livestock that outnumbers wild horses 50 to 1. It appears they would like to eliminate the rights of the free roaming wild horses and burros.

Protect Mustangs hopes the EPA will not buy into their game.

There is no scientific proof wild horses are overpopulating on the range. Despite years of requests from members of the public and equine advocacy groups, the government refuses to make an accurate head count on public land. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been accused of inflating estimates to justify costly wild horse roundups and removals—paid for by the American taxpayer.

Indigenous wild horses do not reproduce like rabbits—many die before the age of two. Life on the range can be hard and most wild horses never reach the age of 19. As a wildlife species, this is normal. Left alone, they will self-regulate as an integral piece of the ecosystem.

Recent scientific discoveries prove wild horses are native wildlife. The horse evolved here and must be respected as indigenous before they risk extinction at the hands of the American government.

Wild horses have natural predators such as mountain lions, bears and coyotes to name a few. BLM goes to great trouble to downplay the existence of predators to foster their overpopulation estimate-based myths.

Another frequent argument for the use of pesticides as birth control for wild horses and burros is that they would reduce the need for roundups. However, birth control would not end roundups because it would be difficult to dart wild horses in remote regions and lost darts become biohazards. Trapping in accessible herd management areas and roundups would continue in order to administer the drug.

In the early 1900s there were two million wild horses roaming freely in America. Today there are only about 40,000 captured mustangs living in feedlot settings—funded by tax dollars. Due to the government’s zealous roundups and removals, less than 19,000 wild horses remain free in all the western states combined. The BLM is caving into corporate pressure from the livestock, energy, water and mining industries who don’t want to share public land with America’s indigenous wild horses.

Novak says that, “we want the EPA to apologize for classifying American wild horses as ‘pests’, acknowledge the classification error and cancel approval of ZonaStat-H and any other pesticides for mustangs.”

“By classifying our wild horses as ‘pests’ the EPA is fostering the dangerous belief that wild horses are a nuisance, something destructive that needs to be wiped out,” says Vivian Grant, President of Int’l Fund for Horses. “We call on the EPA to correct this categorization of the American mustang now.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Vivian Grant, 502-526-5940, Vivian@HorseFund.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

Links of interest:

Protect Mustangs’ etter requesting EPA repair error classifying iconic American wild horses “pests”http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1191

EPA Pesticide Information for ZonaStat-H http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

AVMA Reports: Vaccine could reduce wild horse overpopulation http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/apr12/120415k.asp

Wildlife fertility vaccine approved by EPA http://www.sccpzp.org/blog/locally-produced-wildlife-contraceptive-vaccine-approved-by-epa/

Oxford Journal on PZP for Humans and more http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/12/3271.long

PZP research for humans http://randc.ovinfo.com/e200501/yuanmm.pdf

Horse Contraceptive Vaccine: Is Human Immunocontraception Next? http://vactruth.com/2012/02/24/horse-contraceptive-vaccine

Wild horse predators: http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080302002619AADTWzh

Audubon: Sacred Cows http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite0603.html

Princeton reports: Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies, in search for food.http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/93/41K10/index.xml?section=featured

 

 

For immediate release

Mustang advocates ask for federal spending transparency

Outrage over livestock auction companies—paid with tax dollars—to ‘control’ wild horses and burros

WASHINGTON (February 20, 2012)—As the American public prepares their tax returns, Protect Mustangs asks the Department of Interior to disclose why $116,744,281 of taxpayer dollars was paid to 86 contractors from fiscal year 2000 to 2009 for “Wild Horse and Burro ‘Control’ Services“. Besides the more than $13 million paid to a roundup contractor named Dave Cattoor, why was more than $16 million paid to Tadpole Cattle Company, Inc. and more than $15 million paid to Fallon Livestock Auction Inc.?

“Why are livestock auction contractors paid to ‘control’ wild horses and burros?” asks Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “What’s going on? Are America’s living treasures being sold at auctions where kill buyers shop for meat?”

“The word ‘auction’ raises the red flag for all horse advocates,” says Kerry Becklund, director of outreach at Protect Mustangs. “Auctions are the first step in the slaughter pipeline—resulting in a cruel death.”

America’s wild horses are particularly vulnerable.  They live in remote regions where they can be rounded up and sold to slaughter. They are not filled with chemicals like domestic horses so their meat could be in high demand on the Asian market.

The preservation group wants to know how many wild horses have been rounded up and sold at slaughter auctions since 2000 under BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife or the Forest Service’s jurisdiction.

Protect Mustangs maintains its adamant stance that no tax dollars should pay for inhumane horse slaughter nor support the barbaric industry in any way.

The preservation group is currently working on meeting their goal of one million signatures to petition President Barack Obama and Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966—to ensure all horses in America are treated humanely.

“Be the one in a million who ends horse slaughter”, says Novak. “Sign the petition and share it with your friends.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Links of interest:

Contracts for Wild Horse and Burro Control Services (FY 2000-2009) http://bit.ly/xVlVm5

Contractor handling wild horses: http://bit.ly/xxUzJz

Resources to advocate for horses (Int’l Fund for Horses): http://bit.ly/z99DSm

Saving America’s Horses (film): http://bit.ly/A1gxPJ

The Petition (film): http://www.ThePetitionmovie.com

Change.org Petition to Protect Horses & pass American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-usa-horse-slaughter

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uDF5JP

Protect Mustangs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/protectmustangs

Protect Mustangs on You Tube: http://www.YouTube.com/ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs website: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 

For immediate release

Water wars threaten wild horses

Assemblyman sponsors A.B. 329 yet received money from Federal Wild Horse and Burro Control Services

RENO (February 19, 2012)—Controversy surrounds Nevada Assemblyman and longtime rancher Pete Goicoechea, and his sponsorship of A.B. 329.  The bill would redefine wildlife for purposes of access to water to mean any free-living creature that walks, slithers, flies over, or crawls on Nevada soil—except for wild horses and burros.  Wild horse advocates believe the bill could zero out the wild horses and burros in Nevada, where most of America’s wild horses and burros currently live.

Wild horse preservation group, Protect Mustangs, questions Assemblyman Goicoecha’s motives in sponsoring this bill, given that he has received $674,591 through Federal contract funds between 2000 and 2009 for “Wild Horse and Burro Control Services”. Is Mr. Coicoechea representing the Nevadans who elected him or special interests?

“We are concerned native wild horses would be wiped out if A.B. 329 is passed,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Indigenous wild horses belong to all of America and must not be removed or killed because special interest groups lobby to prevent them from drinking water in Nevada.”

A.B. 329 reads:

Section 1.  Chapter 532 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a new section to read as follows:

 As used in this title, unless the context otherwise requires, “wildlife” means any wild mammal, wild bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, mollusk or crustacean found naturally in a wild state, whether indigenous to Nevada or not and whether raised in captivity or not. The term does not include any wild horse or burro.

 

Recently at the January 2012 Legislative Committee on Public Lands Hearing, wild horse photographer Cat Kindsfather represented Protect Mustangs, and testified that based on modern science, wild horses are an indigenous species that deserve access to water in Nevada, along with other wildlife.

According to scientific findings in 2010, Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. and Patricia M. Fazio, Ph.D updated their research Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife proving wild horses are indigenous.

The preservation group seeks transparency and answers.  Why is a Nevada Assemblyman who was contracted and paid by the federal government for “Wild Horse and Burro Control Services” sponsoring A.B. 329 to deny the native species the right to drink water in the State, and essentially the right to exist in the State, and what services did Goicoechea provide to the Federal program?

“Attacking wild horses and burros in ‘water wars’ goes against the American public’s wishes,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs.  “Besides healing the land, they are living symbols of American freedom who must be protected and preserved.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Links of interest:

A.B. 329: http://leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/Bills/AB/AB329.pdf

Draft letter to Nevada State Engineer from Wildlife Commission against wild horses and burros drinking water: http://bit.ly/yaCNg3

Science proves wild horses are native: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Contracts for Wild Horse and Burro Control Services (FY 2000-2009) http://bit.ly/xVlVm5

Opposition to A.B. 329 (Video at 2011 hearing) http://bit.ly/zlCiU3

Protect Mustangs’ website: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.  

 

 

Outrage over secret documents planning to kill or slaughter 50,000 native wild horses  

Preservation group asks for pro-slaughter activist to be replaced on national Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Panel

WASHINGTON (February 10, 2012)—Protect Mustangs asks Secretary Salazar, overseeing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to replace the pro-slaughter appointment of Callie Hendrickson, for the ‘General Public’ position on the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board with a neutral person. Hendrickson has a history of lobbying in support of slaughter and zeroing-out wild horses. Protect Mustangs is concerned that the BLM has given the green light to plans to kill and slaughter the more than 50,000 American wild horses taken off the range as revealed in secret documents including one found on Wikileaks.

“We are opposed to BLM’s outrageous decision to choose a pro-slaughter and anti-wild horse activist for the advisory board,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “It is fiscally irresponsible to roundup and warehouse more than 50,000 wild horses but to slaughter and kill them is a heinous act.”

The preservation group and members of the public are gravely concerned the BLM is preparing to kill the 50,000 wild horses in holding according to secret reports from 2008 discovered by Dr. Pat Haight, President of the Conquistador Equine Rescue and Advocacy Program’s FOIA research. The report reveals planning for massive wild horse sales to slaughter and euthanasia on an epic scale that will wipe out the American wild horse.

Protect Mustangs recently learned about a Wikileak document titled Federal Lands Managed by the BLM and Forest Service issued to the 110th Congress in February 2009 discussing how to “dispose” of wild horses.

“In destroying the last wild horses, the U.S. government’s BLM is continuing to destroy the planet,” states Michael Blake author and Academy Award-winner for Dances with Wolves.

Protect Mustangs wants the BLM to honor their promise of ‘a new direction’—not continue to break the public’s trust.

“More than 80% of Americans are against horse slaughter,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Wild horses are a national icon—they are beloved by the public from coast to coast.”

By taking the majority of wild horses off the land at great taxpayer expense, BLM created a fiscal problem. Some ask if it was to ‘help’ big business’ land grab. Now the mustangs are in the care of the BLM and killing them or selling them to slaughter is not supported by the American people.

“BLM is going against the public’s wishes by cruelly rounding up wild horses in secrecy and denying media access,” states Novak. “Are they now moving forward to slaughter and kill all the mustangs they took off the range? If so, this mustang massacre must be stopped.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org415-531-8454

Kerry Becklund, Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org510-502-1913

Links of interest:

Secret documents reveal plans to destroy America’s native wild horses in 2008:

http://bit.ly/wxph6e

http://bit.ly/zw4wLZ

Feb 2009 Wikileaks doc Federal Lands Managed by the BLM and Forest Service issued to the 110th Congress discuss how to “dispose” of wild horses: http://bit.ly/Asouv2

Petition to stop horse slaughter: http://chn.ge/ykkbJe

Science finds American wild horses are native: http://bit.ly/wPExYA

Cloud Foundation report on secret documents: http://bit.ly/ArZBZe

Hendrickson, the activist against wild horses: http://bit.ly/x4PpVG

AWHPC reports on advisory board stacked against mustangs: http://bit.ly/ypkkSL

ASPCA & independent poll shows Americans against horse slaughter: http://bit.ly/Acbi6n

Twitter @ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs on YouTube

Protect Mustangs in the News

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom. 

 

Roundup helicopter chases fearful wild horses (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved,)

Transparency and accountability questioned at upcoming mustang roundup

Preservation group wants increased visibility for public and media to document native wild horses at roundup and temporary holding

WASHINGTON (February 3, 2012)—On the eve of another expensive Tonopah roundup in Nevada, Protect Mustangs voices their concern for the welfare of the American wild horse during roundups as well as government transparency, fiscal responsibility, public access and accountability. The preservation group awaits the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) response to the following questions:

1.) We are very concerned about the lack of transparency at roundups and keeping visitors miles away from the trap site is unacceptable. In 2009 and 2010 members of the public and media were allowed closer access to document the roundups. Why has this policy changed?

2.) We want to go on the record to ask that the canvas on the metal corral panels—blocking the ability to see inside the trap site even from a distance—be taken down. It appears the BLM shrouds the mustang removals in secrecy and does not want the media or public to see what is going on when wild horses are captured. This protocol is very upsetting to members of the public. Will BLM take down the canvas tarps blocking media and public visibility to document the roundup?

3.) We would like to see a burro expert on site to prevent animal cruelty at taxpayer expense. Will a burro behavior expert be on site every time burros are being rounded up and transported so the cruel hot-shotting incident at Calico will not be repeated?

4.) The American public wants to know that all roundup-related deaths are counted correctly. If a wild horse—enjoying life out on the range—is removed from the range alive and BLM kills it because it is “old” or for whatever other reason this needs to go on the record as “roundup related”. The horse would have continued to live for some time if the BLM had not rounded it up. Will the BLM attribute the death of wild horses as “roundup-related” for a minimum of 30 days from their capture?

5.) We also want to go on the record asking for BLM to hold all aspects of capture, temporary holding, processing and adoption on public land—giving reasonable access to the media and the public—as an act of good faith to show the global community that the Wild Horse and Burros program has taken the new direction the courts are expecting BLM to have taken. Will you hold all aspects of the roundup, holding, processing and adoption on public land to build trust with the public?

Upon receiving the response from the BLM, Protect Mustangs will post it to their website:www.ProtectMustangs.org

Rounding up healthy wild horses illustrates fiscal irresponsibility during America’s economic crisis. BLM created the overpopulation myth to justify spending millions of tax dollars.

In 1900, 2 million wild horses roamed the West. Protect Mustangs believes today less than 20,000 exist in the ten western states combined.

“After hearing the State of the Union address we are concerned that the Obama Administration will forfeit wildlife for the New Energy Frontier,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We want to see genetically viable wild horses and other wildlife remain on public land for the public to enjoy. There can be a win-win for wild horses and energy. Industrialization must not wipe out wildlife.”

The preservation group urges interested people to contact the Tonopah BLM to adopt a wild horse or burro at the roundup site. Their office telephone is 775-482-7801.

Protect Mustangs is a Berkeley-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range as well as help those who have lost their freedom.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request.

Links of interest:

Protect Mustangs’ videos: http://www.youtube.com/ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

Josh Fox (GASLAND HBO) denied 1st Amendment rights & arrested: http://bit.ly/zqVCZF

Obama Continues Destructive Federal Grazing Subsidy on 258 Million Acres of Public Land: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/02/01-3

Cloud Foundation Captures Burro Hot-shot Abuse on Video:  http://bit.ly/tDXkkl

Deb Coffey’s Open Letter to Tonopah BLM: http://ppjg.me/2012/01/03/open-letter-to-the-blm-hee-haw/ 

Video of Press Denied Access at Roundup and First Amendment denial: http://bit.ly/yAL13z

Don’t slaughter me!  (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

“America’s wild horses are particularly vulnerable to slaughter.  They live in remote regions where they can be rounded up and sold by thieves to slaughter,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs. “They aren’t filled with chemicals like domestic horses so their meat could be in high demand abroad. There isn’t enough manpower in the BLM to prevent thieves from taking advantage of plants opening in the West. We must stop horse slaughter.”

Protect Mustangs is petitioning President Barack Obama and Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966—to make sure all horses in America are treated humanely and not slaughtered.”

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-usa-horse-slaughter

Take action. Sign and share the petition to end horse slaughter in America.

Thank you.

 

 

Old Gold notice pelvis, neck, throat, knee, legs (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

For immediate release

First death at Calico roundup must be accounted for

Brought in from home on the range—mustang is killed for being old

RENO (November 26, 2011)—Wild horse advocate and photographer, Cat Kindsfather, attended the first day of the Calico roundup near Gerlach, Nevada on November 19. She witnessed an exhausted older palomino mare, she named Old Gold, come into the trap after being chased by the helicopter for more than one hour. She took pictures of the terrified horses in the trap pen fleeing from the whips with plastic tied on them and documented the incident in which the wild horse was slammed into the trap corral and must have been injured. This week, Protect Mustangs learned the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) euthanized the mare on November 21st and claim it was a “non-gather related” death. The advocacy group believes it is a roundup-related death and needs to be counted as such. Protect mustangs wants America’s indigenous wild horses to remain wild and free on their legally designated ranges. They believe wild horses and burros must be treated humanely—not chased for miles in freezing temperatures putting them at risk of getting pneumonia and not terrorizing them using whips with plastic ends to move them around in crammed trap pens resulting in trauma.

“So many horses die because of roundups yet the BLM does not count the deaths accurately,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of the California-based Protect Mustangs. “Congress hears that there is only a 1% death rate at ‘gathers’. We want transparency and accountability for all the deaths at roundups. If a horse is chased by a helicopter for miles and miles, then while in a trap pen terrified with plastic tied on to whips, slammed into a metal panel, next shoved into a trailer and transported to another holding facility and is put down a day or two afterwards—it is related to the BLM ‘gather’. If Old Gold hadn’t been rounded up, I bet she would be alive today.”

Kindsfather’s photos document the last moments of freedom for Old Gold. She also captured the horses’ terror in the trap pen and the mare’s agony against the fence.

“She made it all the way in after being chased by the helicopter but was exhausted,’ states Kindsfather. “In the trap pen, the group of horses was scared by the wrangler using a whip with a plastic bag tied on to it. The horses panicked, ran into the mare and piled up against her—smashing her into the fence. In an already terrifying situation, he continued to use the whip to get the mare up on her feet.”

“The mare could have tied up (had severe muscle spasms) after being chased for miles in the freezing weather and then forced into a crammed pen where she was not walking around enough for her muscles to cool down properly,” says Kerry Becklund, wild horse advocate with Protect Mustangs. “Advocates need to be able to see the condition of the mustangs when they are brought in but we are kept away. It’s clear from looking at the photos that the mare was in distress and the whips aggravated her fear. She did not deserve to be put down after surviving this ordeal—she deserved to live.”

Protect Mustangs firmly believes that BLM should not have the right to stampede in an older horse and then kill her because she is old—with an old horse’s body condition and worn teeth. The wild horse was surviving on the range as a wild animal does and was holding the wisdom of the herd.

“Once the BLM brings in a wild horse it is their responsibility to care for the horse,” states Novak. “We want to know how much the contractor was paid to bring in an older horse who would be put down because it was old. When does the contractor get paid for the horse—once the horse is in the trap pen or later when she is in temporary holding? Old Gold was put down in temporary holding.”

Protect Mustangs is circulating a petition to stop the roundup. The advocacy group wants to end fiscal irresponsibility seen in roundups without accurate head-counts and without proving the horses thwart the thriving natural ecological balance. Nothing is science-based yet Congress gave more than 75 million dollars to the Wild Horse and Burro Program basically for roundups and warehousing. Today 40,000 captured American wild horses are warehoused at huge taxpayer expense.

“I’m sure some kindhearted person would have adopted the mare to give her a good life despite any lack of body condition,” shares Kindsfather. “It’s too soon to be doing another Calico roundup. The wild horses should remain free—our living gems in a treasured landscape.”

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the mustang, research and protect America’s wild horses on the range as well as help those who lost their freedom.

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913, Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request.

Links of interest:

BLM Death Report: http://on.doi.gov/vttLwA

Protect Mustangs’ Petition to Stop Calico Roundup: http://chn.ge/rBoej7

CBS: Stampede to Oblivion: http://bit.ly/tAopv7

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uDF5JP

Protect Mustangs on Web: www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

 

 

Freedom Lost & Hell Begins (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

Protect Mustangs asks Obama to stop the dangerous Calico roundup

Advocates ask for the sustainable win-win

WASHINGTON (November 21, 2011)— Protect Mustangs launches their campaign and petition to stop the frivolous Calico roundup in northern Nevada near the town of Gerlach, known for Burning Man. The mustang advocacy group joins with advocates and  the disgruntled public asking President Obama to stop the expensive winter roundup before it becomes deadly. The 2010 Calico roundup was the deadliest roundup in history with 160 deaths attributed to it. Protect Mustangs asks that all other roundups be put on hold until a sustainable plan is agreed to by all sides of the issue.

“There is no accurate head count and estimates cannot justify an expensive roundup when thriving natural ecological balance (TNEB) exists on the range,” explains Anne Novak, Founder and Director of Protect Mustangs. “This country is in the middle of a financial crises. We can’t afford to waste more money on cruel roundups, removals and warehousing. The money being spent on this roundup could be used to help the American people get back on their feet.”

Last year the BLM spent more than 75 million dollars on the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Advocates want to know how that money was spent—line by line.

“They are wasting our tax money on roundups instead of using a small fraction of that money to improve the range,” states Lisa Friday, Board Member of Protect Mustangs.  “We want to see wild horses freed from long-term holding and returned to the West—to roam freely on their herd management areas (HMAs) as Congress intended.”

Today close to 48,000 American wild horses live in long-term holding facilities—away from their native habitat. Less than 18,850 live on public land in ten western states. In 1900, 2 million wild horses roamed freely in America.

Currently, in the Calico Complex HMA, more than half a million acres, can easily support the less than 1,000 wild horses and burros living there. Livestock currently outnumbers wild horses more than 50 to 1. Protect Mustangs wants to make sure that the mustangs are not scapegoated for damage to the range caused by livestock.

Wild horses are being removed from their range at breakneck speed to make room for ‘the New Energy Frontier’. Protect Mustangs wants a sustainable management plan for the wild horses of the West.

“It’s not ‘green’ to wipe out an indigenous species to create an industrialized zone for producing so-called renewables on public land, states Novak. “There must be a way to find a win-win for the wild horses, the other wildlife, the livestock and the energy projects in the West. We want engagement from all sides to solve this problem.”

Meanwhile Protect Mustangs asks President Obama to stop the Calico roundup and put all other roundups on hold until a real sustainable plan is agreed to by all sides of the issue.

The Salazar Plan was announced in Fall 2009 and the result was nationwide public outcry and protests. The administration disregarded the will of the people and forged ahead with a dysfunctional  policy destined to zero out the American wild horse.

‘Now we want change for the good,” states Lisa Friday “We want the administration to stop wasting money on a bad plan.”

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the mustang, research and protect America’s wild horses on the range as well as help those who lost their freedom.

# # #

 

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request.

Links of interest:

Protect Mustangs’ Petition to Stop Calico Roundup: http://chn.ge/rBoej7

CBS: Stampede to Oblivion: http://bit.ly/tAopv7

FAQs on Wild Horses: http://bit.ly/teEILa

New Energy Frontier: http://on.doi.gov/taVehZ

Ruby Pipeline: The Real Reason To Remove Wild Horses? http://bit.ly/vUf9SQ

Ruby Pipeline Map: http://bit.ly/sCRcJ5

Salazar Plan Shortcomings: http://bit.ly/togfzp

Press Releases Chronicling the issue: http://bit.ly/vnyVnR

Protect Mustangs on Twitter @ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs on You Tube: http://bit.ly/v8TZfd

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uDF5JP

Protect Mustangs on Web: www.ProtectMustangs.org

2 thoughts on “Press Releases

  1. You mention that the Obama administration has “disregarded the will of the people…”. This seems to be a running theme with this administration.

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