Help feed young wild horses, rescued from the slaughterhouse ~ Winter is coming!

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Dear friends of Wild Horses,

Please help the 14 Dry Creek wild orphans (WY14) ages 10 months to 2 years old who Mark Boone Junior and Anne Novak saved from the slaughterhouse. The Canadian slaughterhouse was holding them in their Montana feedlot before shipping the young wild horses by air to be slaughtered abroad and eaten as an expensive delicacy.

The WY14 were brutally chased by choppers into traps near Greybull, Wyoming. Terrified, their herd of 41 mustangs was quickly sold at auction. 4 foals were saved at the auction and are in the care of another group. All the other horses were purchased to be slaughtered. The Canadian slaughterhouse purchased the WY14 and took them to their feedlot but before slaughtering them but we negotiated them out of hell and to safety. Sadly before we got involved, 23 of their family members were slaughtered in Canada quickly after the auction–everyone age 3 and up. . .

You can help the traumatized WY14 with a tax-deductible hay donation. They eat so much that we need to gather funds again to buy a large quantity of hay to keep the price down. Hay is really expensive out West because of the drought. Prices are rising quickly and will skyrocket this winter. For this reason we must fill the barn with several truckloads now.

All direct tax-deductible donations made through www.PayPal.com or by mail means the money is going directly to feed and care for the horses. We are sponsored by the Andean Tapir Fund while our own 501c3 is in the works so your donations are tax-deductible.

This is the first time any wild horses have been rescued after being owned by and in possession of the actual slaughterhouse. Here is an article in Horseback Magazine about the rescue. Please help these youngster survivors so they can honor all the wild horses who have been slaughtered over the years.

Please share this fundraiser to raise the hay money. Together we can keep the WY14 fed and cared for while they heal from the trauma of the ruthless roundup that ended with their families being slaughtered. This winter is going to be very cold and they will need enough hay to keep warm so they don’t get skinny. Please help the today.

Our goal is to create an eco-sanctuary for the WY14 so you can come visit wild horses living in peace and harmony with nature. We are currently looking for suitable land for grazing to cut down the high cost of hay and make the eco-sanctuary sustainable. In the meantime we need to feed them good hay that is trucked in.

The WY14 need your help today. Please help with a donation and email this letter to your friends and family so the youngsters can get hay to eat.

Good hay helps them heal and grow strong. The 14 wild youngsters are so grateful for your caring support and help.

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org

Associated Press reports: Feds seek extra holding space for western mustangs

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Wild War Horse (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)

by Martin Griffith Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Federal land managers are under fire from animal welfare activists for seeking extra holding space for wild horses removed from western rangelands.

With current facilities nearing capacity, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is accepting bids until Aug. 29 from contractors interested in either operating short-term corrals in 31 states in the Midwest and East or long-term pastures.

After removing horses from the range, the bureau places them in short-term facilities until they are either adopted or shipped to pastures in the Midwest where they spend the rest of their lives. The agency routinely thins what it calls overpopulated herds on public land.

BLM officials, in a statement Thursday, said they plan to open “multiple” short-term corrals that can handle at least 150 horses each in various states along and east of the Mississippi River. They also seek one or more long-term pastures that can accommodate from 100 to 5,000 mustangs each.

The bureau has not yet awarded contracts for bids it received earlier this year from contactors interested in running short-term corrals in 17 states in the West and Midwest.

Bureau spokesman Tom Gorey said the total number of new holding facilities and their cost would depend on the number and quality of bids submitted. About two-thirds of the agency’s budget covers holding costs.

“We want to get out of the holding business, but at the moment that’s not possible,” Gorey told The Associated Press. “The bottom line is we have to make sure we have enough off-range holding for horses that are removed.”

Budget constraints are prompting the bureau to remove just 2,400 wild horses and burros from the range during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, down from 4,176 in 2013 and 8,255 in 2012. The vast majority of animals targeted for removal are horses.

But horse advocates criticized the agency’s plans for more holding space, saying it continues to “stockpile” horses at a growing cost to taxpayers with about as many mustangs now living in holding facilities as on the range.

“The BLM continues to refuse to reform its broken wild horse program,” said Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. “The agency is intent on sticking American taxpayers with the bill for rounding up and warehousing captured mustangs instead of listening to the scientists and the American public, and humanely managing wild horses and burros on the range.”

Gorey said activists’ demands to halt the removal of horses from the range are unrealistic because herds grow at an average rate of 20 percent a year and can double in size every four years.

According to the latest figures provided by the BLM, a total of 49,209 horses and burros freely roamed 10 Western states as of March 1, the vast majority of them mustangs. That estimate exceeds by more than 22,500 the number the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.

Off the range, there were 47,272 wild horses and burros in short-term corrals and long-term pastures as of July 30, the agency said.

Anne Novak of the California-based group Protect Mustangs accused the bureau of inflating horse numbers to justify their removal from the range to accommodate ranching, mining and oil and gas interests.

“The truth is we never see an overpopulation of wild horses on public land,” she said. “Overpopulation is a farce made to milk Congress for more money to clear public land for industrialization.”

Cross-posted from the Denver Post for educational purposes: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_26264815/feds-seek-extra-holding-space-western-mustangs This article has gone viral.

Dangerous bill puts America’s wild horses at risk of slaughter

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Dear Friends of Wild horses and burros,

It’s bad when the BLM holds captive mustangs with no shade or shelter but if we all don’t rally quickly to stop a misleading bill in Congress, we could witness America’s cherished wild horses being sold to slaughter by the thousands instead of being held captive in holding pens or living in freedom as the law intended–safe from harassment and slaughter.

You probably have witnessed what happens when the states “manage” wild horses. . . In the case of the 41 wild horses from Dry Creek, Wyoming, 37 were sold to the Canadian slaughterhouse. We are so grateful to have rescued 14 youngsters (8mo-2 yrs) who were all going to be butchered for human consumption abroad.

Below is an Associated Press article that is going viral this weekend while the National Association of Counties is meeting in New Orleans. The Utah Commissioners are trying to get a joint resolution backed which would put American wild horses at-risk of being killed and slaughtered to “dispose of them.” Of course the politicians don’t pitch it this way. No . . . they cover that part up and make their resolution and their legislation look like it has animal welfare in mind. You can see the bill below.

Let’s hope this article shines the light on their sinister plans. It’s time to fight for the protection of wild horses.

Bill seeks to allow states to manage wild horses
By Martin Griffith, Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Utah congressman has introduced legislation to allow Western states and American Indian tribes to take over management of wild horses and burros from the federal government.

Rep. Chris Stewart said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has mismanaged the animals on public rangelands and states should have the option of managing them.

An overpopulation of horses is pushing cattle off the range, the Republican lawmaker said, and leading to the destruction of important habitat for native species.

“States and tribes already successfully manage large quantities of wildlife within their borders,” Stewart said in a statement. “If horses and burros were under that same jurisdiction, I’m confident that new ideas and opportunities would be developed to manage the herds more successfully than the federal government.”

But Anne Novak, executive director of California-based Protect Mustangs, said her group opposes the legislation because it would lead to states and tribes killing the animals or selling them off for slaughter for human consumption.

The government is rounding up too many mustangs while allowing livestock to feed at taxpayer expense on the same rangeland scientists say is being overgrazed, she said.

“We’ve had firsthand experience with states and tribes managing wild horses, and it’s horribly cruel,” Novak said in a statement. “They ruthlessly remove wild horses and sell them to kill-buyers at auction. Severe animal abuse would be the result of the (legislation).”

The Bureau of Land Management says it’s doing all it can, given budget constraints, overflowing holding pens and a distaste for the politically unpopular options of either ending the costly roundups or slaughtering excess horses.

The bill’s introduction comes at a time when the bureau has been under increasing pressure from ranchers to remove horses that they say threaten livestock and wildlife on rangelands already damaged by drought.

In Utah, Iron County commissioners had threatened to gather up hundreds of mustangs themselves, saying the government refuses to remove enough horses in herds that double in size every five years.

Iron County Commissioner Dave Miller said he and commissioners from Utah’s Beaver and Garfield counties are trying to drum up support for a resolution in support of the legislation at the National Association of Counties annual conference in New Orleans, which ends Monday.

“The resolution will be instrumental in getting Chris Stewart’s bill through Congress because it shows support across the nation,” he told The Spectrum of St. George, Utah.

Stewart said his Wild Horse Oversight Act would extend all protections that horses and burros enjoy under the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 while giving states the opportunity of implementing their own management plans.

Under the bill, the states could form cooperative agreements to manage herds that cross over borders, and the federal government would continue to monitor horses and burros to ensure that population numbers as prescribed by the 1971 act are maintained.

The bureau estimates 40,600 of the animals — the vast majority horses — roam free on bureau-managed rangelands in 10 Western states. The population exceeds by nearly 14,000 the number the agency has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.

Some 49,000 horses and burros removed from the range are being held in government-funded short- and long-term facilities.

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Cross-posted from the San Francisco Chronicle for educational purposes: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Bill-seeks-to-allow-states-to-manage-wild-horses-5617520.php

Please share this news with your friends and help with a donation to feed and care for the WY14 and the other wild horses in our Outreach Program here: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=701

Hear a commissioner spin his pitch while interviewed on a friendly radio station in Utah: https://soundcloud.com/ksvc/mark

Take action and contact your county commissioners and all your elected officials to request they do not support rogue commissioners in Utah and ask that they do not support the individual states managing wild horses because it would put them at risk of slaughter.

Now is the time to stand up and fight for the voiceless! Together we can turn this around.

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director
Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
www.ProtectMustangs.org

Photos of the Wyoming 14 ~ National treasures saved from the slaughterhouse

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Horseback Magazine reported on National treasures saved from the slaughterhouse http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/28702

A special to thank you to Craig Downer who took photos of the WY14 for us.

www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.

Help Feed the WY14 saved from slaughter

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Dear Friends of wild horses and burros,

After a stealth Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup, paid for with tax dollars, 37 wild horses were sold to a Canadian slaughterhouse.

These wild horses from the Bighorn Basin and Pryor Mountain area were found 1 mile from a former protected Heard Area, zeroed out in 1987, known as Dry Creek/Foster Gulch. The heritage herd had been on the range for generations but the State of Wyoming didn’t want them roaming free on public land anymore so they called in the BLM to round them up.

In March the herd was chased by helicopters and rounded up at taxpayer expense, handed over to the Wyoming Livestock Board and sold at auction to a Canadian slaughterhouse for $40 a piece. 23 herd members over the age of 2 were slaughtered to be eaten abroad before we got involved.

I’m grateful actor Mark Boone Junior and I were able to secure all 14 youngsters ages 8 months to 2-years-old and get them out before they were slaughtered too. We call them the WY14. Sadly all their mamas and papas were butchered at the Canadian slaughterhouse shortly after the clandestine roundup.

On Memorial Day weekend we transported the WY14 out of the Montana feedlot to a ranch, in California near Reno where they will stay temporarily until they move down to their home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

While at the ranch , Protect Mustangs pays for all their hay and these youngsters need to eat a lot. Right now the orphans eat about 3 bales a day. We need your help to feed the 14 survivors. We have started a fundraiser here: http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag Please share it with your friends and family so we can raise the money for hay to help the survivors of the roundup.

Grass hay locally is $17.50 for a 100 pound bale, if we buy it in 2 ton loads–otherwise it is $20 a bale at the feed store plus the gas to pick it up. We would like to buy grass hay by the ton to stretch dollars. Once the WY14 move to the Greater Bay Area, the heritage herd will need hay until we can find irrigated pasture for them. Please make a donation today to help feed the young wild horses who have lost their freedom and their families but have survived the horrors: http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag

For more information about the plight of the WY14 visit www.ProtectMustangs.org We are a California nonprofit. While we are applying for our 501c3, donations are retroactive, but even so, for this Hay Drive we are under The Wild Horse & Burro Fund which is part of the Andean Tapir Fund–an established 501c3 so your donations are tax-deductible right now. All donations go directly toward buying hay minus the fund-raising widget fee (4.5%).

Please help by making a donation for hay right here: http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag These 14 little orphans are skinny and need good quality hay to grow strong. Every dollar goes to nurture and feed them so they can heal from the trauma of the roundup and the loss of their families.

The WY14 know people care about them. They felt everyone’s prayers to find them before it was too late. Now they are counting on us all to come together and buy hay so they can grow strong and have the best chance at a new life. Please share this post with your friends and family because it takes a village. . .

In gratitude,

Anne

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

In the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who educates, protects and preserves native and wild horses.

WY14 Rescue Mission update: Rescued from slaughter and arrive in California

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Ghost Dancer arrives in California © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.

Donations are urgently needed for hay while they stay at the Wynema Ranch temporarily. Please send your donation via www.PayPal.com to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or by mail to Protect Mustangs, P.O. Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705

Update coming soon

We need an EPIC funding miracle for the WY14, the only wild horses ever rescued from a slaughterhouse after a BLM roundup

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Urgent: Our funding fell through

Please help the 14 orphaned wild horses in the next phase of this rescue. We need help to pay interstate transportation, get corral panels, hay, medical expenses, etc. We are a group of volunteers who will be donating our time to gentle these wild horses and prepare them for adoption so they can live happy lives. Your donation is urgent now. Please donate here.

We also need land in the San Francisco Bay Area to house them and a used truck and gooseneck stock trailer. Need a tax deduction? We have a 501c3 that is our umbrella while ours is pending.

We are a California nonprofit organization. We protect mustangs.

Read for more information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6775 and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6734 and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668

Press Release: Mark Boone Junior helps save the mustangs

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

For immediate release

Protect Mustangs rescues 14 young wild horses from slaughterhouse after BLM roundup

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (May 7, 2014)—Against all odds, actor Mark Boone Junior (Batman Begins & Sons of Anarchy) and Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs, saved 14 young free-roaming wild horses from slaughter thanks to donations from Alicia Goetz, the Schnurmacher family and others. This unprecedented rescue seems to be the first time American wild horses have been purchased back from a slaughterhouse following a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup. In March, the herd of 41 wild horses was rounded up by the BLM, using taxpayer funds, handed over to the the Wyoming Livestock Board and sold at auction to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption abroad. The BLM claims everything they did was legal.

“If it’s legal then the law needs to change,” states Novak. “Americans love wild horses. They want to make sure they’re protected. Congress knows that and it’s time they represent the public who elected them into office—not interests who want to dispose of them.”

In 2004, former Montana Senator, Conrad Burns, added the Burns amendment to the Appropriations Act of 2005 without any public or Congressional discussion. The Burns amendment overruled many protections in the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. From that time forward, “unlimited sales” to slaughter has been legal.

Due to public outcry against selling wild horses for slaughter, the BLM uses middle men who sell the mustangs to the slaughterhouse. This time the scapegoat was the Wyoming Livestock Board, other times it’s men like Tom Davis. The 1,700 wild horses he purchased from the feds have never been accounted for. Advocates believe they went to slaughter in Mexico.

Public outcry over Tom Davis prompted BLM to revise their policy to avoid another fiasco in the future. A change in policy is not a change in law. It’s still legal for the BLM to allow slaughter and exportation of horse meat.

Out of the 41 wild horses rounded up on March 18th and 19th near Greybull, Wyoming, 37 were quickly sold to the slaughterhouse. 4 foals were saved by the co-owner of the auction house and later transferred to advocates. Protect Mustangs jumped in later on April 2nd to save the other 37 wild horses from being slaughtered. Chances were slim they would find any alive.

Boone and Novak quickly learned that a group of 23 mares and stallions had already perished. The two managed to prevent the last 14 orphaned wild youngsters from going to slaughter. The survivors are called the WY14. They range in age from 8 months to 2 years old.

“It’s a miracle we were able to get them out,” says Boone. “I can’t believe the EPA, in 2012, designated our wild horses as pests—especially when the horse originated in America.”

“American free-roaming wild horses are a returned-native species who contribute to the thriving natural ecological balance,” explains Novak. “They have value on the range because they reduce the risk of wildfires, reverse desertification and with climate change that’s really important.”

For generations, free-roaming wild horses lived in family bands north of Greybull and close to a former herd area called Dry Creek/Foster Gulch that was zeroed out in 1987 to make room for extractive uses such as bentonite mining.

In 1971 there were 339 wild herds in the West, but now there are only 179 left in all 10 western states combined.

Today the Bighorn Basin is preparing for another extractive boom but this time it’s about fracking for oil and gas with right-of-way corridors to service those fields. Is this why the small herd of 41 wild horses was suddenly ripped off public land?

The feds maintain the 41 wild horses were not wild even though they lived wild and free for generations.

Curiously reports have surfaced that a bucking string made up of wild mustangs was turned out by their original owner more than 40 years ago. If it could be proven these wild horses were on public land in 1971, they would be protected under the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act. The BLM claims the horses have been there for only 40 years not 43.

“It’s horrible for tourism that the State of Wyoming would allow this sort of thing,” states Boone. “The beauty of the Bighorn Basin is like no other place on earth but it won’t be the same now that these wild horses are gone.”

Go to www.ProtectMustangs.org to help the WY14 with your donation. Protect Mustangs is a California nonprofit based in San Francisco.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Tami Hottes, 618.790.4339 Tami@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest™:

Cody Enterprise: ‘Some’ horses avoid slaughter http://www.codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_99e78c52-d0a8-11e3-a6ac-001a4bcf887a.html

AP (Viral): Feds draw criticism for selling Wyoming horses for slaughter http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/20/feds-draw-criticism-for-selling-wyoming-horses-for-slaughter/

Sons of Anarchy’s Bobby Elvis wants to save 37 American wild horses http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668

The horse and burro as positively contributing returned-natives in North America http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20140201.12.pdf

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

Wild horse overpopulation myth debunked: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6721

Washington Post (Viral) U.S. looking for ideas to help manage wild-horse overpopulation http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-looking-for-ideas-to-help-manage-wild-horse-overpopulation/2014/01/26/8cae7c96-84f2-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html

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

Westword: Callie Hendrickson, allegedly pro-slaughter appointee to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/03/callie_hendrickson_wild_horse_board_slaughter.php

Advisory Board member endorses slaughter http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/10/30/blm-wild-horse-burro-advisory-board-member-endorses-horse-slaughter-during-public-session/#comment-68620

BLM and wild horse slaughter: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=1141

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

PEER: BLM doesn’t track cattle on Public land http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2013/01/24/blm-says-it-cannot-track-cattle-on-its-lands/

2012 EPA Pesticide Information for Fertility Control http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

ProPublica: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the gov’t?http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

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

Princeton and the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros Population Growth Study shows BLM roundups increase population growth: http://www.ispmb.org/herd_social_structures.html

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

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

Petition for a Moratorium on roundups for recovery and scientific studies: http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-recovery-and-scientific-studies

Wyoming tourism “Roam Free”: http://www.wyomingtourism.org/

Wyoming Pipeline Corridor Initiative (Bighorn Basin) http://wyia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/brian-jeffries.pdf

KLS News BLM horses seized in suspected slaughter ring (Aug. 5, 2011) http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=16686555#JFD7d0UvEtYOc4fi.99

Washington Post: The Story of Conrad Burns and Wild Horseshttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2006/10/they_reallly_do_shoot_horses_d.html

Christian Science Monitor and cross-posted by The Seattle Times (March 2, 2005) Law allows slaughter of wild horses for meat by Brad Knickerbocker http://bit.ly/K8DWIF

Now, a law signed by President Bush will allow the slaughter and export of horse meat form thousands of wild horses. Horse lovers are urging reversal of the measure, which slipped into a recent federal appropriations bill by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_and_Free-Roaming_Horses_and_Burros_Act_of_1971

Mark Boone Junior: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095478/

Anne Novak: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak and http://newsle.com/AnneNovak

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

GREAT NEWS! We saved the last of the WY41 from slaughter

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

Update on the WY14 Rescue Mission

Boone and I saved the last of the WY41 from Dry Creek/Foster Gulch areas in the Bighorn Basin. When we jumped in, on April 2nd, 23 Wyoming wild horses had already been slaughtered. We are so grateful to have saved the remaining 14 youngsters (8 mo–2 yrs old) now called the WY14.

You can read the backstory press release here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668 We will post our new press release soon.

We had to keep this rescue mission completely quiet to ensure the safety of the WY14. We hope you will understand that is why we could not answer your questions during the rescue.

Now I can share with you some of the correspondence (below) during phase one of the WY14 Rescue Mission. I will be updating it, so check back often.

We were in authentic positive negotiations with the real decision makers resulting in this outcome. We are grateful for everyone’s prayers and support because together this miracle has happened. Now there is so much to do to bring the WY14 to California, find land for a sanctuary or prepare them for adoption in pairs.

Bad news: Our funding for the second phase of the WY14 Rescue Mission appears to have fallen though.

We urgently need funds now to bring them to California to create a sanctuary for them or prepare them for adoption in pairs. Please make a donation via www.PayPal.com to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or by mailing your check to: Protect Mustangs, P.O. Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705 We are a California nonprofit organization with a 501c3 sponsor so your donations are tax deductible.

We need your donations for interstate transportation, board, feed, corral panels, water troughs, medical, gas, supplements, a used truck and trailer, etc.

Here is our fundraiser for the used trailer: http://www.gofundme.com/WildHorseTrailer

If anyone wants a tax write-off and can donate a 3/4 ton truck with less than 90K miles and capable of hauling heavy loads of horses and/or anyone has a safe used gooseneck stock trailer tall enough for horses that they want to donate we will meet our goals quicker so we can serve the WY14 once they arrive.

Thank you for donating and sharing the update with your friends and family.

Many blessings,

Anne Novak

Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

Excerpt from an email on April 6th

. . .That is so great to know as we are getting closer. Very soon we will know if they are still alive. . . Please say nothing as I just want to surround this possibility with prayers and miracles. . . We are waiting to hear about their status. I learned the plant is closed on the weekend so at least they will not be killed while my contact is off work. I am relieved. Jane Velez Mitchell (CNN) called to interview me today but I was unable to speak with her because I felt it was in the best interest of the 37 horses if I kept quiet until they are safe. . .

Many blessings, Anne

Excerpt from an email on April 9th

. . .Confidential: The 14 who have not been slaughtered yet are in quarantine in Montana. . . My guess would be that they are all mares–one about to foal–except for perhaps some weanling colts maybe 9 months old. I’m going to call around to organize the haul out of Montana to Nevada so we are ready. . . There are so many rumors about this on Facebook that I want to keep this totally confidential. People have been calling the slaughterhouse and I don’t want anything to ruin this deal. Please don’t tell anyone.

Many blessings, Anne

Check back here for more posts and please donate for the WY14 Rescue Mission

Letter to BLM: Rogue roundups must stop

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Protect Mustangs

To:

Neil Kornze, BLM Director
Joan Guilfoyle, Division Chief BLM Division of Wild Horses and Burros jguilfoy@blm.gov Juan Palma, Utah State Director, BLM jpalma@blm.gov Jenna Whitlock, Utah Associate State Director, BLM jwhitloc@blm.gov Todd Christensen, Color Country Utah District Manager BLM utccmail@blm.gov Salvatore R. Lauro Director, Office of Law Enforcement and Security BLM SLauro@blm.gov BLM Utah State Office utsomail@blm.gov

Re: Rogue Roundups

Dear Sirs & Madams,

We officially request you put an immediate stop to rogue roundups and incidents of wild horses allegedly being trapped, harassed and sent to auction where kill buyers have been known to purchase horses or shot or poisoned on or nearby public land in Utah, Nevada and elsewhere. Not only is it wrong, cruel and against federal protections but it is also a global embarrassment

Chasing wild horses onto private property, luring them onto private property or any other method of getting unbranded wild horses on private land to shoot, kill, trap, load, abduct, take is in violation of the Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and must be stopped immediately. Wild horse and burro harassment must stop. It appears to be a federal crime to “willfully remove or attempt to remove wild free-roaming horse or burros from public lands, without authority from the Secretary.”

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) appears to be violated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) granting–without public input–the removal of horses from public lands. It appears you are in violation of NEPA. This must cease immediately.

It appears the county commissioners are engaging in retaliatory acts, connected with lobbying groups, against federally protected free-roaming wild horses and burros because the BLM is reducing livestock grazing. This must stop now.

There is no emergency such as fire, disease, catastrophic incident to merit a roundup. It appears you are joining in an act of subterfuge.

As it is foaling season, according to your handbook, you must prohibit vigilante roundups to avoid the loss of lives and to prevent animal cruelty–chasing young foals for miles on their tiny hooves as well as chasing and harassing heavily pregnant mares, other wild horses and burros.

Loss of life from being harassed and chased by men is not a form of natural predation. This appears to be in violation of the 1971 Act.

You appear to be failing your job to protect America’s beloved free-roaming wild horses and burros in the West due to your conflict of interest. The current example in Utah merits Congressional investigation.

We hereby request to be copied on all communications regarding roundups or removals in Utah, all press releases, included in all conference calls and meetings pertaining to the issue, etc. You must become transparent.

Reports are coming in that Utah residents and officials have declared protected wild horses “feral”, are driving them onto private land, baiting them onto private land, trapping them, killing some, giving some away by the truckload to alleged kill buyers, and trucking many to auction where kill buyers allegedly purchase them for slaughter.

What proof do you have that any unbranded wild horses are anything but free-roaming wild horses? Kindly disclose all photos and videos on this matter with in 7 days of this letter.

We hold the BLM accountable and request immediate and full disclosure of all photographs and videos showing dead horses shot from land as well as those shot from the air and all horses who have been injured and were euthanized.

This is not the 90s. This is an era of social media, whistle blowers and widespread truth. Our supporters are watching. The whole world is watching. They want you to do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Anne Novak

Anne Novak
Executive Director
Protect Mustang

Read about native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs educates, protects and preserves native and wild horses. The nonprofit conservation group strives for a 10 year moratorium on roundups and science-based holistic land management to reduce global warming.

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