Tag Archives: mustangs

Breaking News: California’s last stronghold for native wild horses threatened with removal

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Teen wants Twin Peaks mustangs to remain on the range for educational opportunities

SAN FRANCISCO (November 3, 2012)–Protect Mustangs opposes the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposal to roundup and remove native wild horses from Twin Peaks–the largest herd management area near Susanville, California. The California-based preservation group is planning a protest against the proposed Twin Peaks roundup. The San Francisco protest date and time will be announced after the Presidential election.

“Americans value California’s treasured herd of native wild horses, with cavalry remount influences, known as the Twin Peaks horses,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “These mustangs are survivors and play an essential role in creating biodiversity. Native horses heal the land after wildfires and from livestock over-grazing. This ultimately benefits livestock too.”

Native wild horses have survived in nature for hundreds of years and do not need to be rescued after a wildfire when there is forage and water out there. If they need extra forage or water then the BLM can bring them forage. It’s much cheaper than rounding them up and warehousing them in the Midwest–where they risk being sold to a slaughter middle man someday.

If the land needs healing after the fire then engage the latest science to use native wild horses to help heal the land and reverse desertification.

After a wildfire burned through the HMA for days, advocates conducted a study documenting the forage, water and terrain conditions. There is water and forage out there.

“Going to the Twin Peaks HMA is like stepping inside a living wildlife biology museum of the high desert,” says 15 year old Irma Novak, Director of the Discover Mustangs Project. “After the 2010 roundup, it’s hard to find wild horses to observe because the range is so huge and there aren’t many mustangs left.”

“American youth needs to have access to the natural world to round out their education,” adds Novak. “We want the Twin Peaks wild horses to remain on the range. If they need to remove any animals to heal the land after the fire then they should remove the destructive grazers who ruin the riparian areas–the cattle.”

The vast 798,000 acre Twin Peaks HMA is one and a half hours north of Reno and approximately 250 miles from the Bay Area making it an accessible option to observe treasured wild horses in their native habitat.

Irma Novak, Director of Discover Mustangs (Photo © Carolyn Orndorff)

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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:

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

Princeton Study: 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

California Twin Peaks Rush Fire Report: https://www.box.com/s/yf5mucjsowlawk5z3kyn

Discover Mustangs Project: http://discovermustangs.org/

Twin Peaks HMA: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/hma-main/HMA-CA-242.html

Letter to BLM asking for Twin Peaks roundup specifics and stating our position to bring them aid in the field as needed but keep them on the HMA: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=2864

Petition to de-fund the roundups:https://www.change.org/petitions/united-states-congress-de-fund-the-roundups

Petition to De-Fund the roundups

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Anne Novak with friendly wild horses. (Photo © Irma Novak)

Please sign and share the Change.org petition to De-Fund the roundups.

Wild horses are a native species to America. Rounding up federally protected wild horses and burros has been documented as cruel. Warehousing them for decades is fiscally irresponsible. Clearing mustangs and burros off public land–for industrialization, fracking, grazing and the water grab–goes against the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act put in place to protect the living legends of the American West.

We request you de-fund the roundups immediatley.

There is no accurate census and the Bureau of Land Management figures do not add up. We request an independent census because we are concerned there are less than 18,000 wild horses and burros in the 10 western states combined. More roundups will wipe them out.

Kindly allow native wild horses and the burros to reverse desertification, reduce the fuel for wildfires and create biodiversity on public land–while living with their families in freedom.

 

Petition Letter

De-fund the Roundups

Wild horses are a native species to America. Rounding up federally protected wild horses has been documented as cruel and fiscally irresponsible. Clearing mustangs off public land–for industrialization and fracking–goes against the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act put in place to protect the living legends of the American West.

[Your name]

Press Release: Protests to stop roundups and sales to kill buyers

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(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

For immediate release

Call for peaceful protests to stop the roundups and stop the BLM from selling federally protected wild horses to kill-buyers

American public outraged at cruel ‘management’

WASHINGTON (October 6, 2012)–Protect Mustangs announced on Facebook Friday their call for nationwide protests to stop the roundups and stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from selling federally protected indigenous wild horses to kill buyers.

“We are calling for peaceful protests as well as candlelight vigils so no more wild horses will die from roundups, be tortured by the helicopters or sold to kill buyers for delicacy meat abroad,” states Anne Novak, executive director for California based Protect Mustangs “The public is outraged.”

Last week ProPublica exposed the BLM selling at least 1,700 federally protected wild horses to known pro-slaughter buyer, Tom Davis, and the public is furious. The BLM is charged with managing and protecting wild horses–not selling them for $10 a head to a pro-slaughter middle man to reduce the numbers in holding due to years of fiscally irresponsible roundups.

“Members of the public who are active in their communities must let their friends, family and neighbors know they can contact Congress if they don’t like their tax dollars used to fund cruel roundups,” says Tami Hottes, Protect Mustangs’ outreach coordinator for the Midwest and South. “People are upset to learn about the BLM selling all those historic wild horses to a guy like Tom Davis. It’s disgusting.”

This week the Antelope roundup, in northeastern Nevada, started under the pretense of saving the wild horses from a drought stricken area.

“We are concerned the BLM is jumping on the drought opportunity to zero out herds for industrialization of public land–especially massive energy projects that could pollute the water,” explains Novak. “Our indigenous wild horses are environmental barometers. If they die from drinking the water then that’s a red flag something is poisoning the water out there.”

Novak continues,”If there is a real problem on the range then bring them aid in the field–don’t round them up and warehouse them at taxpayer expense. It won’t cost much to bring them hay and water for a few months to get them through a difficult time.”

In watching videos from the roundup it should be pointed out that these wild horses were actually in excellent shape and there is no sign they have been suffering from lack of water or forage this summer. They are efficient browsers.

Even though the BLM announced last spring they would bait trap, they are not keeping their word to the American public. The BLM continues with cruel helicopter roundups.

The contractor has been criticized in the past for deadly incidents that could have been prevented. Despite objections from advocates and members of the public, the BLM continues to hire the contractor.

At the Antelope roundup advocates from The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) recorded videos showing healthy horses stampeded into traps, foals terrorized by choppers and a terrified stallion jumping out of the capture corral breaking his leg and running away. He was then euthanized by the BLM.

During the roundup wild horses were traumatized with whips and a wild mare broke her neck and died in transport.

If these historic wild horses had not been rounded up surely they would be alive with their families roaming in the West.

Outraged members of the public are calling BLM officials requesting the roundups stop. Officials downplay the cruelty and trauma, claiming these were rare incidents and touting that roundups, also known as “gathers”, only have a 1% death rate.

“We disagree with their whittled down death rate,” states Novak. “For years we have caught the BLM avoiding the correct death count and misleading Congress about the true number of horses painfully dying in roundups. During winter 2010 more than 180 wild horses died or were euthanized as a result of the roundup but the BLM tried to rewrite the numbers.”

The federal agency, funded by Congress to manage wild horses and burros, attributes the gross majority of roundup deaths to pre-existing conditions when they are obviously roundup related. If the horses weren’t rounded up they surely would not have died at that time.

The BLM often kills indigenous wild horses for being “old” and claims it was a pre-existing condition. They also kill baby horses claiming they have leg deformities. The foals can’t tolerate being stampeded for many miles on their undeveloped baby feet and legs and suffer severe injuries and are euthanized. BLM resists taking responsibility for their heinous actions.

At roundups since 2009, advocates as well as members of the press and public have been pushed back from the trap site and the holding corrals. It appears the BLM wants to hide the cruel roundups and injured animals from public view.

“The Wild Horse and Burro Program avoids transparency because of their disgusting secrets,” states Novak. “The public has a right to know what’s happening at roundups and afterwards. The public wants to know how many federally protected wild horses have been sold to the slaughter middle men since 2005.”

In 2004, a stealth rider known as the Burns amendment was attached to the Congressional Appropriations Bill to allow unlimited sales of captive wild horses over the age of ten or those who have been presented at adoption venues (live or Internet) three times–even pregnant mares and one-year-olds called yearlings.

The recent ProPublica article, written by Dave Phillips, highlights a corrupt program and interviews a pro-slaughter middle man. According to ProPublica, ‘Tom Davis buys 100s of mustangs at a time, sight unseen, for $10 a head. BLM has sold him more than 1,700 wild horses and burros since 2009.

“Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt,” he says.

“. . . but BLM’s Sally Spencer said it would be unfair for BLM to look more closely at him based on the volume of his purchases. “It’s no good to just stir up rumors,” she said.’

In 1997 Associated Press investigative journalist, Martha Mendoza, uncovered BLM’s internal corruption wherein adopted wild horses were quickly being sold to slaughter even by BLM employees who adopted them.

‘A multimillion-dollar federal program created to save the lives of wild horses instead is channeling them by the thousands to slaughterhouses where they are chopped into cuts of meat.

Among those profiting from the slaughter are employees of the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that administers the program.’

Mendoza’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) research and the story she exposed, forced the adoption program to change their protocol and only give title to the mustangs after one year to prevent the wild horses from being sold into the slaughter pipeline.

Today the BLM sends America’s living treasures to slaughter by selling them to the middle men who sell them to slaughter. Protect Mustangs asks Congress for a freeze on roundups, a freeze on sales and a full investigation into the ‘sale authority program’ since 2005.

The roundups ramped up in 2009 with the stimulus package push for the New Energy Frontier on public land and a new mandate to wipe out the wild herds of the West known as The Salazar Plan.

Despite nationwide protests in 2009-10 against the Secretary of the Interior’s plan, the majority of wild horses and burros were ripped from their family bands, taken off their land and the stallions were sterilized. President Obama ignored public outcry and Congress eventually fell for the BLM pleas for funding to ‘help the wild horses’.

In 2010, 54 members of Congress joined Congressman Raul Grijalva requesting a moratorium on roundups and a National Academy of Science (NAS) investigation into the broken program. Somehow the BLM has taken charge of the NAS investigation now called a “study” and is feeding the NAS the information instead of the Academy conducting independent research.

Today more than 52,000 wild horses and burros are living in captivity–mostly in the Midwest as specified in the Salazar Plan. Last year the controversial Wild Horse and Burro Program cost the American taxpayer 78 million dollars. Next year the cost will increase.

Protect Mustangs requests that Congress work with advocates to find a way to return wild horses to their wild lands in the West–to create biodiversity on the range–a win-win for wild horses, livestock, landowners, tourism and energy development on the New Energy Frontier. Their presence also helps greatly to reduce wildfires.

“Shrinking the numbers of wild horses left on public land today could be dangerous,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Giving already small herds fertility control will ruin genetic viability and could create inbreeding.”

The BLM’s reproduction rates don’t account much for mortality within the herd. Often foals don’t live to be two years old but the BLM spin on population has them multiplying like rabbits.

Studies show predators such as mountain lions and coyotes reduce the wild horse foal population. Last summer several young foals were killed by coyotes at a BLM holding facility near Sparks, Nevada. Even so, the BLM hides the truth about predators reducing the population and continues to repeat they have no natural predators despite the fact they do.

“Show me a real independent headcount before we talk about fertility control,”says Novak. “There aren’t enough wild horses left on the range any more. The truth is that the BLM will continue to roundup wild horses to treat them with fertility control. Roundups have been deadly so far. Roundups are NOT the answer. Biodiversity is the answer.”

Novak continues, “More than 52,000 indigenous wild horses have been captured and are warehoused in government holding. Selling ‘excess’ wild horses to kill-buyers is a heinous act and must stop now as well as the gluttony of roundups”

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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:

AP reports & Protect Mustangs speaks out against the roundups: 3,500 Wild horses going to loose their freedom starting October 1st Federal roundup of wild horses burros starts today http://www.lvrj.com/news/federal-roundup-for-wild-horses-burros-starts-today-172056591.html

ProPublica reports: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the government  http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

Brutal report for day 1 of Nevada’s Antelope roundup. Two horses die. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3ppBnbr7g&feature=youtu.be

Day 3 of Antelope roundup. Foals are terrorized by the helicopter and chased too long on their tender hooves. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9LDAwZqyU&feature=youtu.be

Buffalo News (January 5, 1997) US effort to save wild horses leads thousands to slaughter as workers profit by Martha Mendoza http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BN&p_theme=bn&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF99E45C1DF5CF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

The Burns amendment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Burns#The_Burns_Amendment

Huffington Post (October 17, 2009) Ken Salazar’s wild horse plan fuels accusations that he’s in the pocket of ranchers by Martin Griffith http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/17/ken-salazars-wild-horse-p_n_324799.html

News 4 KRNV Reno BLM selling to kill buyer? http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/BLM-selling-to-a-kill-buyer/s7svkl_zd0i1NVKHbd0ceA.cspx

Oct 5th Facebook announcement~Call to Stop the Roundups: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=418628774862814&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Protect Mustangs on the web http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

The public is invited to the Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting October 29-30 in Salt Lake

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BLM Sets Meeting of National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board for October 29-30 in Salt Lake City
The Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will meet in October in Salt Lake City to discuss issues relating to the management, protection, and control of wild horses and burros on Western public rangelands. The day-and-a-half meeting will take place on Monday, October 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesday, October 30, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., local time.
The meeting will take place at the Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown at 215 West South Temple. The hotel phone number for reservations is 801-531-7500 or 1-800-333-3333.  The agenda of the meeting can be found in the September 24, 2012, Federal Register (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-09-24/pdf/2012-23472.pdf).
The Advisory Board provides input and advice to the BLM as it carries out its responsibilities under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The law mandates the protection, management, and control of these free-roaming animals in a manner that ensures healthy herds at levels consistent with the land’s capacity to support them.  According to the BLM’s latest official estimate, approximately 37,300 wild horses and burros roam on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states.
The public may address the Advisory Board on Monday, October 29, at 3:30 p.m., local time.  Individuals who want to make a statement at the Monday meeting should register with the BLM by 2 p.m., local time, on that same day at the meeting site.  Depending on the number of speakers, the Board may limit the length of presentations, set at three minutes for previous meetings.
Speakers should submit a written copy of their statement to the BLM at the addresses below or bring a copy to the meeting.  There may be a Webcam present during the entire meeting and individual comments may be recorded.  Those who would like to comment but are unable to attend may submit a written statement to: Bureau of Land Management, National Wild Horse and Burro Program, WO-260, Attention: Ramona DeLorme, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, Nevada, 89502-7147. Comments may also be e-mailed to the BLM at wildhorse@blm.gov .
For additional information regarding the meeting, please contact Ramona DeLorme, Wild Horse and Burro Administrative Assistant, at 775-861-6583.  Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may reach Ms. DeLorme during normal business hours by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
The Advisory Board meets at least once a year and the BLM Director may call additional meetings when necessary.  Members serve without salary, but are reimbursed for travel and per diem expenses according to government travel regulations.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
–BLM–

Wild horses sold to middle men for slaughter

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Wild mustang weanling in holding. (Photos © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

“We request a freeze on all roundups until Congress can investigate and stop the BLM from selling wild horses by the hundreds to alleged kill-buyers,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “Internal corruption needs to be flushed out fast.”

 

Today the press revealed a man who has purchased at least 1,700 wild horses from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program for $10 a piece. Dave Phillips reports in ProPublica, All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the government?  It appears that the BLM is selling healthy indigenous wild horses to a known pro-slaughter kill-buyer to dispose of our living legends.

This needs to stop now.

Here are some articles providing some background about the BLM’s heinous wild horse traffic to slaughter . . . America’s living legends, betrayed by those entrusted to protect them under the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act.

National Geographic (May 5, 2005) Wild Horses Sold by U.S. Agency Sent to Slaughter http://bit.ly/IaLgoA

The agency’s mission changed in December, when Congress passed a bill that made it legal for the BLM to sell wild horses outright . . .

Since December the BLM has sold about a thousand wild horses under the new rules. The slaughtered horses were originally sold to the Rosebud Sioux Indians in South Dakota and to an unnamed Oklahoma man who said he wanted the horses for a church youth program.

The Sioux group bought 105 wild horses at a dollar apiece, then traded 87 of them to a horse broker, who sold some of the horses for slaughter. The Oklahoma man bought six at $50 apiece, according to the BLM. Slaughterhouses are known to pay hundreds of dollars for a horse.

 

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 urgins reversal of the measure, which slipped into a recent federal appropriations bill by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

 

Chicago Tribune (Dec, 12, 2001) Adopted wild horses are still being slaughtered by Robert Gehrke http://bit.ly/IcWL2g story went viral

WASHINTON–Wild horses put up for adoption by the Bureau of Land Management continue to be slaughtered, in some cases within weeks of he owner gaining title to the animal, according to the latest BLM records.

The quick turnaround has critics questioning how aggressively BLM is enforcing a rule requiring adopters to swear that they don’t plan to sell the horse to slaughter.

‘Not only is the BLM not actually prosecuting people, but they’re not even doing the investigation to try to figure it out and it seems like they don’t want to know,’ said Howard Crystal, an attorney for the Fund for Animals, whose lawsuit led to the no-slaughter clause.

The Desert News (Dec. 12, 2001) Rules are not preventing slaughter of wild horses by Robert Gehrke http://bit.ly/IMYibB

The Deseret News (August 18, 1999)  Wild horses are going to slaughter, BLM says http://bit.ly/IMiyKq

Adopted wild horses are being slaughtered for meat or pet food at a rate that could top five per week, according to an employee of the Bureau of Land Management.BLM wild horse expert Lilly Thomas said once-wild horses adopted from agency land are being slaughtered at four major packinghouses. Speaking this week at a meeting of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board in Salt Lake City, Thomas said she based her estimate on reports from a slaughterhouse near Fort Worth, Texas,…

 

Buffalo News (January 5, 1997) US effort to save wild horses leads thousands to slaughter as workers profit by Martha Mendoza http://bit.ly/IMb3Dn

A multimillion-dollar federal program created to save the lives of wild horses instead is channeling them by the thousands to slaughterhouses where they are chopped into cuts of meat.

Among those profiting from the slaughter are employees of the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that administers the program.

AP viral story (January 4, 1997)  Program to protect wild horses often funnels them to slaughter by Martha Mendoza http://bit.ly/IhtEds

NY Times (Jan 29, 1997) Report Acknowledges Wild Horses Are Being Slaughtered http://nyti.ms/IwGF1x

The Spokesman Review (December 12, 1986) Wild horses being sent to slaughter http://bit.ly/IatqoK

HELENA — The Bureau of Land Management has been shipping hundreds of horses to Montana ranchers under the government’s “adopt-a-horse” program, and some are going to slaughter, one of the ranchers says.

Since 1985, more than 1,800 horses rounded up on government land in Nevada and other states have been shipped to ranchers in eastern Montana’s Yellowstone Valley, according to figures supplied by BLM Associate State Director Marvin Lenoue,

Hundreds of other wild horses have been shipped to South Dakota, mostly to Indian reservations . . .

Some owners sold them to rodeos, he said and “some of those people sent them to slaughter.”

Lakeland Ledger (March 11, 1973) U.S. Probe Wild Horse Slaughter ~ story went viral http://bit.ly/Io6nC5

LA Times (March 5, 1973) Apparent Roundup of Wild Horses for Slaughter Probed http://bit.ly/JUlvvG

Federal authorities are investigating a blood-soaked cliffside in the high, remote mountains of southeastern Idaho where officials say a herd of about 60 wild horses was apparently rounded up and sold for slaughter.

Have wild horse advocates been falsely accused?

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Advocacy groups have released wild horses with Nevada Department of Agriculture in the past

Photo courtesy of Let “Em Run Foundation

In the recent KRNV story about the south Reno horses going to the livestock auction, Nevada Department of Agriculture’s staff appeared on camera claiming that the cooperators weren’t being used because they released horses onto the range. Where is the proof?

A Virginia Range pinto gelding named Dickie disappeared from the Tahoe Reno Industrial Complex (TRIC) property around March 2012 and magically appeared overweight later on in another county at Clearwater in Reno. How does this happen?

Photo of Dickie on July 14, 2012 used ot compare with his file photo for ID

The Department of Agriculture’s statement implied that the wild horse groups were involved in something improper. Yet in the past groups did release horses – belonging to the department – at the direction of the department – under the direct supervision of the department.

The largest release involved 55 horses freed at TRIC. It was covered by the media and a short film was made of the release. The short still can be found on the Internet. Here’s a link to one copy.

Call Governor Sandoval and ask him to stop Nevada from selling historic wild horses at auctions frequented by kill-buyers 775-684-5670 or 702-486-2500

Sources:

Let ‘Em Run Foundation: http://www.letemrun.com/index.html

Least Resistance Training Concepts group: http://www.whmentors.org/

Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates Sept 7th update: on Dickie and livestock sale: http://www.aowha.org/war/ndoa_horse_sale_1203b.html#dickie

KRNV Story: http://www.ktvn.com/story/19548710/wild-horse-controvesey-heating-up

The controversy over wild horses in Nevada is heating up again. A group of about two dozen organized a demonstration in front of the Capital in Carson City on Friday. And earlier this week an emotionally charged confrontation between a private landowner and a wild horse advocate took place in south Reno. (It was later posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6uZPdD_PWM )

An unidentified woman charged at the camera protesting that horses were being trapped and moved rather than simply fenced out. The landowner caught it on his cell phone and launched it on YouTube.

“This is a fence out state!,” insists Tonia Tavcar. “If landowners don’t want horses on their land they don’t have to trap them and send them to slaughter, they can just fence them out!”

“It seems logical, I admit,” says Ed Foster, Public Information Officer with the State Department of Agriculture. “But we are charged with responding to complaints when stray animals, including horses, are a nuisance and doing something about it. But we don’t have the authority to make a landowner put up a fence!”

Foster adds the drought is fueling problems as more horses search for food and water. And he says for a while they did sell horses back to the advocates at a very low price. That he say, seemed to work until those same horses resurfaced on the range and were picked up again.

It’s all resulted in a lawsuit filed Friday, by the State of Nevada against the advocates for releasing the animals.

Foster says since his department no longer gets funding to house or administer birth control to the animals and has no option but to remove any problem animals and sell them as livestock.

Horse advocates say they’ll continue to fight for the future of animals so many other states would love to have roam their land.

The lawsuit names advocate Willis Lamm. It charges the ‘Let ‘em Run Foundation’ with failure to brand or mark their animals, abandoning an animal and allowing an animal to be injured or deprived of food and water – all misdemeanor charges.

We also contacted the office of the landowner, Mike Diloretto about this story, but he is out town.

KRNV story Written by Erin Breen

Governor Sandoval: Stop the sale of Nevada’s wild horses to kill-buyers

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Governor Brian Sandoval ~ Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Call Governor Brian Sandoval and politely let him know you want the trapping and selling of Nevada’s indigenous wild horses at auctions frequented by “kill-buyers” to STOP now.

80% of Americans are against horse slaughter.

Does he want Nevada to stay on the top of the bad list as perceived by Nevadans and everyone else?

The first auction is this Wednesday in Fallon, N.V.–a town where he once lived.

More than 22 Virginia Range wild horses from ‘The Meadow’, on the outskirts of Reno, are going to be sold by the pound. Kill-buyers will be bidding on America’s icons to sell them to slaughter for human consumption in foreign countries.

Politely ask Governor Sandoval to step in–to stop the removals and the sales. Ask him to RELOCATE all the wild horses who have been trapped already by the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDOA) and bring them food and water if needed on the range.

Rotten development planning and urban sprawl is removing habitat from wildlife–including wild horses. Not only is the sprawl causing global warming but now it’s causing strife in communities over wild horses.

It’s the developers’ responsibility to fence out wildlife to prevent entry on their property if that is what they wish. Nevada is a “fence out” state by law.

Back in August several wild horses were taken by people connected with a development. The horses ended up at the prison where they process wild horses to go to the auction frequented by kill-buyers. Who were these people and are charges being prosecuted against them? Are they connected to the current trappings at a development now conducted by the NDOA?

Taxpayers should not pay for the NDOA to remove wild horses when the developer is not taking responsibility for putting up fencing. Nevada wants fiscal responsibility.

Land development does not need to ruin indigenous wild horse habitat, break their families apart and sell them at auctions where kill-buyers purchase horses to sell to slaughter.

We are asking for a win-win NOT for Nevada’s wild horses go to their brutal death–to slaughter.

More wild horses are needed to stop Nevada’s mega-million dollar wildfires. According to a report by CoreLogic, U.S property exposed to wildfire is valued at $136 billion.

If some wild horses do need to be brought in then the mustangs should NEVER be sold at an auction frequented by kill-buyers but should be cared for by the State of Nevada or given to sanctuaries and rescue groups. Their lives are the responsibility of the Silver State if they are not on Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. We know Nevada can do the right thing.

80% of America’s population are against horse slaughter. If Governor Sandoval wants to run for President someday, then he needs to be aware that he is smearing himself by delaying taking action to stop the sale of Nevada’s beloved wild horses to kill-buyers. His character is being measured during this time of crisis.

He has an opportunity now to make history and win the endearment of 80% of Americans nationwide.

Contact the Governor here:

Governor Sandoval
Tel: 775-684-5670
fax: 775-6845683

Emails can be sent via this link.
http://gov.nv.gov/contact/governor/

Send us a copy of emails you send him. Our email is Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Also contact Governor Sandoval on Twitter  @GovSandoval

Here is an example of wild horses not causing damage from Barbara Warner’s comment against the Sheldon Refuge wild horse wipe out:

“The 1990-91 GAO ( Government Accounting Office) study proved that horses do not over-graze or destroy riparian areas. Sheldon is still recovering from the damage that cattle have been proven to cause. Horses have flat hooves which don’t cut into the ground and constantly move as they graze. The increased population of pronghorns proves that wild horses benefit them and no doubt many other species as well.”

Here is an excellent scientific example of wild horses as native wildlife: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Indigenous wild horse families living in peace on the Virginia Range in Nevada, January 2012. (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

This photo shows several Virginia Range wild horse families at ‘The Meadow’ on the outskirts of Reno.

These wild horses are loved around the world. Tourists enjoy observing them at ‘The Meadow’ and elsewhere. Eco-tourism businesses could boom taking customers on wild horse safaris. This would create jobs for Nevada.

Now the Virginia Range wild horses are being trapped, castrated and ripped apart from their families only to be sold at a series of auctions, frequented by kill-buyers in Fallon, N.V. starting September 19th, 2012 and ending around October.

As of this date, the Nevada State Department of Agriculture has trapped more than 60 indigenous wild horses–of all ages–and is planning to dispose of them by selling them at the auction frequented by kill-buyers.

Please contact Governor Sandoval and ask him to take this opportunity to make history.

 

Links of interest:

Governor Brian Sandoval’s website: http://gov.nv.gov/

Governor Brian Sandoval on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GovSandoval

News 4 reports: Sixteen Virgina Range wild horses captured http://www.mynews4.com/mostpopular/story/Sixteen-Virginia-Range-horses-captured/EB28hJXRfkG2koVMTe7lgQ.cspx

Nevada policy change ~ sells its wild horses by the pound: http://www.examiner.com/article/nevada-policy-change-sells-it-s-wild-horses-by-the-pound

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

2012 Nevada wildland fires: http://forestry.nv.gov/fire-program/2012-nevada-wildfires/

Nevada is a fence out state: Rural Fencing Rules in Nevada | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_7148677_rural-fencing-rules-nevada.html#ixzz26mvCdAOj

Video of wild horses in ‘The Meadow’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02I_W761f4M&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Letter to the President

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Mustang flag with stars by Robin Warren (Wild Mustang Robin) for © Protect Mustangs

Dear Mr. President,

Wild horses are indigenous to North America. They will heal the land while creating biodiversity to balance out the surge of grazing, energy, mining and water projects on public land.

We understand your priority to foster the New Energy Frontier and therefore we ask you to find the win-win so America’s wild horses and burros–our living treasures–will not become extinct from the industrialization of western public lands.

It’s essential to leave viable herds (families) on public land so the wind horses and burros can reverse desertification because of their nature to forage and roam.

Predators will control the population as part of nature’s cycle and only the fittest will survive. This cuts out the cost of buying costly pharmaceuticals to control reproduction.

We know all the 51,000 wild horses in holding are at risk of going to slaughter and ask that they be returned to public land where they will cost the government almost nothing to live out their lives. Most male horses in holding have already been sterilized so they will not be able to reproduce.

We oppose creating additional herds of sterile wild horses as they don’t exhibit wild horse behaviors and could threaten the indigenous horse with extinction.

We stand with thousands of Americans to respectfully ask you to stop the cruel wild horse and burro roundups, so that an accurate accounting of horses on the range can take place and alternative sustainable management techniques could be applied to save the indigenous horse.

We thank you in advance for becoming a hero for America’s indigenous horses.

In gratitude,

Anne Novak

 

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

P.O. Box 5661

Berkeley, California 94705

Rally to STOP selling Reno’s wild horses to kill buyers ~ Friday Sept. 14 in Carson City, NV

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Take Back the Power (© Protect Mustangs)

Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 10:02 AM
Subject: WILD HORSE RALLY – FRIDAY, 09/14/12 – WHERE AND WHERE TO MEET

The Rally will start promptly at 11 a.m. and end at 1:00 p.m., directly in front of the Legislative Building. We will only be allowed to walk on the sidewalk and grass next to the street.  We will NOT be able to use the Legislative Building grounds to meet ahead of time. 
So, we will be staging at the vacant lot on the corner of Carson Street and Fourth Street – DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE SIDEWALK CROSSING  IN FRONT OF THE LEGISLATIVE BUILDING [BIG CLOCK].
We have lots and lots of Nevada Department of of Agriculture signs already  made out.  Cat Kindsfather is making up some special signs for us to carry, at the last minute and very much appreciate her efforts on this.  I am bringing a Nevada flag, as well as our Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates Advocates big banner.
So, with that said, it’s vital we meet early enough to go over the talking points and to hand out signs.
PLEASE, ORGANIZERS OF THE EVENT – BE AT THE EMPTY LOT BY 10 A.M.
OTHER PARTICIPANTS, PLEASE BE AT THE EMPTY LOT NO LATER THAN 10:30 A.M.
Thank you all – realize the whole thing’s been a rush, but this Rally is very needed on the truth and lies about the Nevada Department of Agriculture, informing the public before the already-captured Virginia Range horses go to sale at auction on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 – SALE MEANS SLAUGHTER!

Madeleine Pickens’ Eco-RESORT?

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By U.S. Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Cross-posted from the PPJG

September 12, 2012 by ppjg

Debbie Coffey     (c) Copyright 2012  All Rights Reserved
_______________________________________________________________

When you read Madeleine Pickens letter to friends and supporters yesterday (9/11/2012), did any of you catch the fact that she called her planned Mustang Monument a “Wild Horse Eco-resort?”  So when did this plan go from being a wild horse eco-sanctuary to an eco-resort?

(Not to even mention that the word “monument” can mean something erected as a memorial or as a marker at a grave or tombstone.)

Mrs. Pickens’ explains that her eco-resort plan will supposedly reduce the numbers of wild horses held in short term holding pens.  Let’s do the math.  If you take 900 horses out of short term holding to put in this eco-resort, but then you round up all of the horses off of the 3 HMAs, and they are then sent to short term holding, then haven’t you just added about the same amount of horses TO short term holding as you took out?  Maybe you’ve even added more.

Mrs. Pickens wants us to believe this eco-resort “serves the greater good for our wild horses.”  Let’s see, they’ve all had their “nuts” chopped off and will live with the same sex for the rest of their lives, without any children around them.   Is this good?  It’s certainly not natural.

In this letter Mrs. Pickens states “Already there are many people on both sides of this issue making assumptions and concluding the worst possible scenarios based on ‘proposed’ alternatives in the scoping documents.”  (Doesn’t this sound dismissive of REAL concerns?)  Well, yes, to some of us, removing horses from 3 Herd Management Areas and knowing that these 3 Herd Management Areas will then most likely be zeroed out and NOT Herd Management Areas anymore, and replaced with an eco-RESORT, is an assumption.  But we see a pattern to what the BLM is doing.  We can foresee that the BLM is removing ALL of the wild horses and slowly replacing them with non-reproducing herds.

Maybe the BLM and Mrs. Pickens would assume we wouldn’t think ahead and assume anything about Mrs. Pickens eco-resort plan and BLM’s other eco-sanctuary plans.  Maybe they, and the BLM, didn’t assume anyone would care enough to spend many hours poring over Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports (thank you Bonnie Kohleriter, who is almost blind by now because she prepared spreadsheets that will soon be available to the public) and realize that the herds that are left are either not viable or at risk of losing viability.  But we do.
We see what the BLM is doing.  When we look at the facts, we see that the worst case scenario IS happening.

Mrs. Pickens also claims “I will never accept any proposed plan that threatens the life of a wild horse. We will do everything we can to hold all the existing horses harmless”  But, the BLM’s eco-sanctuary plans DO threaten the lives of wild horses when they plan to remove more horses off of their federally  protected HMAs.   When the BLM removes horses from the HMAs, it DOES threaten the lives of horses during roundups and in holding facilities.  We see this in person with our own eyes at roundups and when we look at the BLM’s own facility reports.   Most importantly, the eco-sanctuaries could be on public lands that are NOT HMAs.   And they should be, so that other wild horses won’t have to be removed from HMAs.

Mrs. Pickens’ letter states: “If any horses are required to moved, they will have a permanent home at Mustang Monument.”  Really?  Even those wild horses that will be removed from the 3 HMAs after your eco-resort is up and running?  Will they also be left in their family bands?
Mrs. Pickens states “I hope you will continue to put your trust and faith in me and Saving Americas Mustangs to find the best way to do this… I pledge to do this in the most benign way possible, always bearing in mind that the ultimate goal is free-roaming wild horses but so many that will never have that experience again without the creation of Mustang Monument.”
This isn’t about putting trust and faith in you, it’s about holding the BLM accountable for the details and asking for their transparency.

It is NOT benign is that the public is not yet aware of all the details, which by BLM’s own admission are not even formulated yet.   This is like buying a car without taking a test drive.
Is Mrs. Pickens going to make the trust, which will detail what will happen to the eco-resort in the future, available to the public, so that we can read it?  Otherwise, this is asking you to go along with and support something you know little about.  Would you sign any legal document without reading it?

Mrs. Pickens says that the “Mustang Monument is going to seem like a “dream come true” to the wild horses who go there.   Will it be a dream come true when the remaining wild horses on these 3 HMAs are rounded up?  Or will it be the usual nightmare that roundups are, and be a part of a BLM plan to whitewash the fact that it’s removing all of the wild horses off of their HMAs.

Mrs. Pickens  states “we must work with the BLM to reach a conclusion that involves compromise.”  Why do we have to compromise?  This is all paid for with tax dollars (including BLM’s salaries, lest they forget), and we’ve already had to compromise way too much.

Madeleine Pickens states that “the ultimate goal is free-roaming wild horses” but the millions of dollars spent for this eco-resort would have gone a long way in legally stopping the BLM from removing the wild horses off of their HMAs.   Otherwise, this is just a shell game.

Link to the original article: http://ppjg.me/2012/09/12/madeleine-pickens-eco-resort/