“The petition is working. The BLM held a workshop in Reno Nevada to address international public outcry for shade and shelter in 2013. The feds’ proposed remedies are not enough but it is a beginning at changing policy. Keep up the pressure and turn up the volume. Share the petition daily. Meet with your elected officials. Show them the petition to bring change to captive wild horses and burros. Politely request they intervene to put an end to the suffering in the pens.” ~Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
BLM schedules modifications to the Rock Springs wild horse holding facility
Changes will include a new office building to accommodate public tours and facilitate the adoption process; adding storage shelters to protect hay; constructing a roof over the trimming chute area; installing wind screens along the west side of the facility; placing protective shelters in the sick pens; redesigning the preparation area to improve animal and employee safety; and replacing worn or damaged corral panels. These projects will be phased in throughout the year and should not impact the wild horses.
Facility Manager Jake Benson states, “We’re taking a good look at our set-up and reworking things to increase safety and efficiency and at the same time see how we can reduce costs.” He adds, “While these changes are not required, we will evaluate their effectiveness and continue to make adjustments as necessary to provide outstanding care for the horses.”
The facility remains closed to allow wild horses recently removed from the Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin herd management areas to acclimate to their new environment. No public tours will be conducted during the closure; however, the public viewing kiosk is open. The public will be notified when the facility reopens.
“It was hot with the desert sun beating down on PVC,” explains Anne Novak. “We were in the car with the AC on and the poor captive mustang was suffering and clinging to the fence for a strip of shade.”
Dear Friends of Wild Horses & Burros,
Last week we visited the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Palomino Valley Center near Reno, Nevada. It’s the largest short-term holding and adoption facility in the U.S. for captive wild horses and burros coming from the roundups. We have been deeply concerned the BLM continues to commit acts of animal cruelty towards captive wild horses and burros despite international public outcry so we investigated the situation again.
During 85 degree sunny high desert weather, many wild horses in the pens were showing signs of heat stress with rapid breathing. Their coats were coming in for the winter and some mustangs were clinging to the fence and the feeders for what little shade they could find. It was a heartbreaking sight.
The majority of the pens had no shade or shelter. Some shade “studies” appear to be ongoing in the sick pens and another internal pen.
Many wild horses were overweight and their feet looked horrible. Many young wild horses have developed clubbed feet due to lack of proper foot care after being taken off the range by the feds. In the wild, their feet wear down naturally but when captured it is the BLM’s responsibility to care for them.
The majority of captive wild horses looked depressed. The burros looked unhappy too.
The BLM has repeatedly refused offers to help bring shade and shelter to the wild captives and is telling elected officials they are “doing something” by conducting studies with U.C. Davis to determine if shade and shelter is needed. Their PR tactics are outrageous. Everyone knows penned animals need access to shelter in extreme weather!
Right now the BLM is committing heinous acts of cruelty and must be held 100% accountable. The three basics of animal husband are 1.) Food, 2.) Water 3.) Shelter. Does each pen of wild horses or burros provide access to shelter? No.
With the recent good news that the feds will make animal cruelty a top-tier felony, it’s time right NOW to contact your elected officials and request for immediate action to bring shade and shelter to all captive wild horses and burros in ALL the pens not just select sick pens.
Take action to inform your voices in government that the BLM’s ongoing shade studies are delaying action and causing captive wild equids ongoing suffering.
Make an appointment to meet in person with your representative and senators. Politely request they stop the animal cruelty–paid for with tax dollars. If you cannot go in person then send them this video: http://bit.ly/1nr5d2M from our 2013 investigation and let them know that since this video was taken, only a few sick pens appear to have flimsy shade structures. Kindly remind them that animal cruelty is becoming a top-tier felony so they need to take it seriously. More than a thousand wild horses and burros are being abused in the pens because the BLM and the Department of Interior are denying them access to shelter.
You may contact Congress here: http://bit.ly/1ihTCwj . Send your elected officials a handwritten letter and encourage your children to mail in drawings asking for shelter too.
For everyone who has signed this petition, we must pull together to double the number of signatures and then we have a plan to make a big impact . . .
Email the petition http://chn.ge/ZGEgx3 to everyone you know with a personal plea asking them to sign and share it so together we can pressure the BLM to bring them shade and shelter. Share the petition daily on your Facebook page and in groups asking others to share out because more extreme weather is coming soon.
Public opinion is very important with elections only weeks away. Let’s put it to work to stop the abuse of America’s wild horses and burros. Hold your elected officials accountable to STOP the CRUELTY now!
We invite you to post more information in the comments section below because the public has a right to know the real reasons why America’s wild horses are being terrorized, pushed off public land, to end up at risk of going to slaughter for human consumption abroad. Sadly the news in Wyoming doesn’t know what fair reporting means and is not covering the crisis as they should.
It’s shameful the energy industry, government employees and our elected officials refuse to find the win-win for wildlife and industry to coexist. Instead they are wiping out America’s wild horses to cash in on their land. Recently in the Wyoming Checkerboard roundup, the BLM zeroed out most of the wild horses despite public outcry. The BLM also tried to blame horse advocates for taking more than 400 additional wild horses when the truth is they were allegedly pushed by Governor Mead to take as many as they could find.
Wyoming’s Governor Matt Mead joined the fight against wild horses in the Checkerboard allegedly because he is pushing for maximum industrialization of public land and especially liquified natural gas (LNG) to replace diesel and for export to Asia’s growing market for fuel, electricity, etc.). The most important document for you to read to understand why Wyoming is getting rid of their wild horses is Wyoming LNG Roadmap (April 2014) Below is some news from last May:
Cheyenne, WY (May 12, 2014) – Governor Mead unveiled a report today showing Wyoming is well positioned to be a leader in developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry for high horsepower uses.
Since Governor Matt Mead took office in January of 2011, he’s made it a point to maximize the use of Wyoming’s natural resources. “One of the things I really wanted to accomplish was an energy strategy. An energy strategy is energy, economy and environment,” Mead said.
Mead went out and partnered with Gladstein, Neandross & Associates (GNA), to provide an “LNG road map” about the feasibility, potential, costs and benefits of using liquefied natural gas.
“Liquefied natural gas gives our customers who are currently use diesel to power their engines the ability to reduce costs of ownership. Abundantly domestically produced natural gas offers lower fuel costs and reduced emissions,” said Richard Wheeler, President & CEO of Wyoming Machinery Co.
Wyoming is the third leading producer of natural gas and the use of LNG as a supplement to diesel fuel in Wyoming’s high horsepower sectors such as mining, drilling and over-the-road trucking.
“It’s a 300 to 400 million dollar investment as best we can tell to really get this going here in the state, but that will create about 5,000 really good, high paying, high tech jobs,” said Erik Neandross, CEO of GNA
According to GNA, the investment could return 160 to 170 million dollars in fuel cost savings for Wyoming based businesses.
“It’s an opportunity for coal companies to lower their fuel costs and also use a product that we have in abundance in Wyoming,” Mead said.
This isn’t the first time a public affairs firm is pushing energy driven missions through at the expense of wildlife and especially native wild horses. Just follow the money . . .
According to a June 2010 press release, “Kearns and West has been known to gather scientific experts and build a movement of common interest “stakeholders” to crush public outcry and true environmentalism.”
see: http://noyonews.net/?p=6231
Kearns and West Inc., the same “Collaboration and Strategic Communications” company that ran public meetings for the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) “Initiative” [and who illegally barred public recording and comment at their public meetings] has also been accused of running manipulative “public workshops” for the BLM – in the controversial roundup of wild horses in northern Nevada, and other Western States.
According to a June 2010 press release, “Kearns and West has been known to gather scientific experts and build a movement of common interest “stakeholders” to crush public outcry and true environmentalism.”
Although Kearns and West, Inc. claims to represent the public and the environment, and impartially facilitate public meetings, in reality they represent energy interests. They function to facilitate government approval for private projects, and shift policy in favor of private “stakeholder” interests. They specialize in marginalizing and excluding public involvement – with contrived and manipulative “stakeholder collaboration” processes.
Interestingly, in the Brave New World of modern day environmental policy, private interests, not tax dollars, are financing public policy processes and decisions. These processes were once taxpayer supported, and deemed to be fair and impartial. But now, with governments going broke, governmental processes and the agencies entrusted to design, control and regulate corporate industrial interests, have been bought and paid for by the same corporate interests they are supposed to regulate.
Corporate crooks such as Kearns and West have stepped in the void, to conduct what are ostensibly public meetings, but in reality are paid for by private corporations and individuals. The MLPA “Initiative” was a classic example of corruption easing it’s way into a bankrupt democracy.
Kearns and West contracts out what are essential out public policy endeavors. But they serve the private corportations and individuals who pay for their services – to create favorable governmental outcomes for proposed “projects.”
Kearns and West’s clients are a laundry-list of energy and natural gas interests. They are cashing in on what once would have been unacceptable, criminal conflict of interest in determining public policy.
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In the case mentioned below, Kearns and West was allegedly involved in helping to exterminate wild horses from Northern Nevada, so that the Ruby Pipeline could go through. The Ruby Pipeline is a 42 inch diameter natural gas pipeline, that as of last year, runs from 680 miles from Wyoming to Oregon, and passes right through the heart of the wild horse country in Northern Nevada.
According to many in the west, the wild horses were an obstacle to the pipeline project that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) did not want to deal with. So in comes Kearns and West – to hold “public workshops.” But why is a company with direct ties to natural gas and energy interests – running public meetings and workshops, supposedly on behalf of the public – on an issue between wild horses, public land, and a natural gas pipeline project?
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There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing helicopters terrorizing the beautiful wild mustangs, a living icon of the American West. The 2010 press release below is part of a tragedy that is continuing to this very day.
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From a June, 2010 press release by the Cloud Foundation:
Spin Doctors Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds
Denver, CO (June 14, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation has learned that the San Francisco based public relations and public affairs firm, Kearns and West, with ties to big energy and offices across the country, has been hired to push the Salazar Plan for Wild Horses and Burros through Congress in Fall 2010—despite public outrage. Kearns and West has expertise in crisis management as well as accomplishing policy and regulatory goals. Their clients range from Mineral Management Services (MMS) and PG&E to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Department of Interior (DOI) has enlisted the firm using the Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) as the go between. Senior mediator of Kearns and West, J. Michael Harty will facilitate an unprecedented public workshop in Denver, Colorado at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th Street, on June 14th followed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Public Advisory Board Meeting on June 15th. Both days will be live-streamed and viewing available on http://www.thecloudfoundation.org. The public and members of Congress are encouraged to watch. The public will protest on June 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a press conference at noon.
BLM’s recently announced and highly polished but unsubstantial, “Strategy Plan” as well as their association with PR firm Kearns and West, appears designed to manipulate the public and marginalize the opposition to the Salazar Plan for wild horses and burros. The plan calls for the purchase of Eastern and Midwestern “preserves” populated by sterilized wild horses, captured from their Western ranges.
“This is ALL about manipulating public opinion. And ramming ONE thing – Salazar’s Plan – through” states author R.T. Fitch.
The Kearns and West Salazar Plan Executive Summary states, ‘The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (‘Institute’) is assisting BLM in assessing stakeholder interests and developing an effective stakeholder engagement plan for the Strategy.’ Disturbingly, BLM often does not include the public as a stakeholder in their planning documents regarding the management of wild horses and burros.
“Who is the biggest stakeholder in the discussion of the public’s land and its wild horses if not the public?” asks Terri Farley, author of the Phantom Stallion series, adding “A public agency must represent the public and utilize taxpayer dollars responsibly—not spend excessively on another private contractor.”
According to their website, Kearns and West offers their clients (in this case the BLM) ‘A compelling credible, resonant case. True, high-impact support for your position.’ Advocates support a new direction that abandons the endless, expensive cycle of roundup, removal, and warehousing. BLM must adopt a far less expensive path that is kinder to the land and the wild horses legally living there, one that contains truly transparent solutions, not a slick, taxpayer-funded PR campaign.
“By hiring a high powered PR and Public Affairs firm, it seems that BLM is aiming to extinguish the opposition rather than solve the controversy over their management of our wild herds,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “The public by the thousands has shared their opposition to the Salazar Plan. I hope we can sit down at this public forum and seriously talk about a moratorium on roundups while we work to reinstate protections that are consistent with the intent of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act.”
According to The Holmes Report, “Kearns & West recognizes the important value of collaborating both with our clients and their stakeholders. For more than 20 years, the firm has employed its unique brand of stakeholder-centric strategic communications and collaboration processes to design innovative, but pragmatic programs, achieving superior results for clients in the federal, state and local government, private and nonprofit sectors. Kearns & West works with tough issues and big ideas.”
Besides specializing in ‘accomplishing policy and regulatory goals’ Kearns and West also represents PG&E—a primary customer in the Ruby Pipeline natural gas project threatening public lands and five public herds with environmental devastation from Wyoming to Oregon. Kearns and West also represents Duke Energy, the Association of Western Governors and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, among others.
While Secretary Salazar vowed to restore the Interior Department’s ‘respect for scientific integrity’ he has failed to consider science, reason, or even the law when it comes to managing our wild herds.Kearns and West has been known to gather scientific experts and build a movement of common interest “stakeholders” to crush public outcry and true environmentalism. Wild horse advocates feel the Kearns and West prepared Salazar report for Congress will be biased in favor of big energy ties with DOI at the expense of federally protected wild horses who somehow are in the way of ‘The New Energy Frontier’.
“We hope Monday’s workshop will be a productive one rather than a demonstration of BLM’s inability to change,” concludes Kathrens.
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Who is really dictating wild horse roundups and removals and why are they zeroing them out? Protect Mustangs invites you to research the subject and post what you find in the comments below. This is also a welcome forum for you to politely voice your outrage at wild horse removals.
Protect Mustangs is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization where the wild horses come first! We are not paying big bucks on marketing campaigns. The majority of our donations go towards feeding and caring for rescued wild horses.
Gladstein, Neandross & Associates: http://www.gladstein.org
Leading environmental consulting firm for emission reduction, energy and transportation policy, and market development for alternative fuel vehicles.
United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives Multi-Stakeholder Group Advisory Committee Meeting Draft Summary of Proceedings (2014): http://on.doi.gov/1w5aaOj Kearns & West
Data removed: http://www.recovery.gov/arra/News/featured/Pages/Some-Recipient-Data-Being-Removed.aspx “The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board will sunset on September 30, 2015 and has decided for its last year not to renew the licensing agreement that allows for the display of certain recipient-related data. As of October 1, 2014, maps, charts, and graphs on the site will no longer reflect this information. This change will also include the removal of the recipient profiles as well as the cumulative national download file.
Kearns & West
Kearns & West is a woman-owned collaboration and strategic communications firm founded in 1984. Our high-stakes projects include work at local, state, regional, and national levels and cover a variety of sectors including energy, water, marine resources, land use and natural resources, government, business and academia, and technology and Internet.
Kearns & West understands the special requirements of working with stakeholders to achieve an organization’s goals. We have a proven record of success thanks to our stakeholder-centric approach of providing robust collaboration and strategic communications services. Our commitment to positive, mutually beneficial results has helped us maintain long-term relationships with the people and organizations we assist.
COCO #8243 is a 2 year old filly from the Jackson Mountains in Nevada. She is soulful, friendly and curious and will gentle easily with love and bonding from what we could observe. She has a very kind eye and likes people. She is a sweetheart. Adoption is through BLM. Call Palomino Valley at 775-475-2268 to adopt COCO #8243. Don’t let anything they say keep you from adopting the wild horse you want. We can recommend haulers and can help you brainstorm if any adoption problems come up. BLM loves their red tape. We hope they will make adopting wild horses a more friendly experience from now on and heard a new polite voice on the phone so let’s hope they’ve changed. Please let us know once your application for COCO is approved so we can stop promoting her. She is a very deep soul who will be your friend for life.
OWYHEE #9462 is an intelligent and kind 2 year old gelding from the Little Owyhee herd management area (HMA) in Nevada. He is interested in people and really wants to leave the BLM to be loved in a forever home. Adoption is through BLM. Call Palomino Valley at 775-475-2268 to adopt OWYHEE #9462. Don’t let anything they say keep you from adopting the wild horse you want. We can recommend haulers and can help you brainstorm if any adoption problems come up. BLM loves their red tape. Tall fencing is only required until your horses are gentled then you may keep them with your other horses. Please let us know once your application for OWYHEE is approved so we can stop promoting him. He is a real bonder who will learn quickly if you go slowly. The key is patience and knowing that they are teaching us as well.
SPIRIT QUEEN #0309 is a regal 7 year old mare from the Diamond HMA in Nevada. She belongs in the wild but was captured as so many were . . . She was calling for help to get out of BLM because she is so unhappy inside the pens. She likes women and needs to live with other horses in a pasture. She could be a wonderful partner using natural horsemanship techniques yet always being careful not to hurt her with tack that doesn’t fit just right. She would prefer to have a partner who would ride her bareback and out on trails. She’s not the sort of horse spirit that should ever be dominated, broken or forced to live in a small space with only an arena.
Adoption is through BLM. Call Palomino Valley at 775-475-2268 to adopt SPIRIT QUEEN # 0309. Don’t let anything they say keep you from adopting the wild horse you want. We can recommend haulers and can help you brainstorm if any adoption problems come up. BLM loves their red tape. Tall fencing is only required until your horses are gentled then you may keep them with your other horses. Please let us know once your application for SPIRIT QUEEN #0309 is approved so we can stop promoting her. She will teach you about the wonders of nature if you listen . . . and quiet your mind.
Email us at Contact@ProtectMustangs.org if you need help adopting any of these wonderful wild horses. Check back often. We will be adding photos to this page.
Wild Horse Wednesday™ is one of Protect Mustangs’ education and outreach programs
BLM Seeks Public Comment on Public Lands Nominated for Oil and Gas Exploration and Development
ELKO, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District Environmental Assessment (EA) for parcels of public land nominated for lease in the 2015 Competitive Oil & Gas Lease Sale is available for review. These parcels have the potential for future oil and gas exploration and development. The 30-day public review period concludes October 29, 2014.
The 24 parcels totaling 25,802.47 acres have been analyzed for potential impacts in the EA in accordance with the Oil & Gas Leasing Reform mandated in 2010.
Lease stipulations identified in the Elko (1987) and Wells (1985) Resource Management Plans are attached to applicable parcels to help protect resources. The EA is available for public review at: http://on.doi.gov/1rxlD8j
Inside the EA you will find information about how American wild horses will be impacted on page 64. It reads:
3.2.17 Wild Horses
Existing Conditions
There are 8 wild horse herd management areas (HMA) managed by the Elko District Office. They are the Owyhee, Rock Creek, Little Humboldt, Diamond Hills North, Maverick-Medicine, Antelope Valley, Goshute, and Spruce-Pequop HMAs. These eight HMAs total approximately 1.8 million acres and have an appropriate management level (AML) of 1,338 wild horses. Wild horses inhabit these HMAs year round. Deferred parcels 13 and 14 are within the Maverick /Medicine HMA and parcels 15 through 26 are located in the Antelope Valley HMA. The other parcels are not located within HMAs.
Effects of the Proposed Alternative
There are no direct impacts to wild horses associated with leasing, however wild horses can be found within some of the HMAs and future exploration could affect wild horses within those HMAs. Increased human and motorized activity could disrupt and displace wild horses. The wild horses inhabiting the area of the exploration could leave the area and move away from the noise and activity. During any long term or permanent activity it is probable that wild horses over time would become accustomed to the activity and resume normal activities at a reasonable distance. Construction of new fences as part of development production facilities could disrupt movement of free roaming wild horses and animals could be injured by colliding with any new fences.
Mitigations
Construction of fencing within a HMA would be evaluated during review of any development proposal to determine if flagging or other measures would be necessary to increase visibility to wild horses. Best management practices along with specific restrictions would be implemented to minimize negative impacts to wild horses.
The Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale will be conducted on March10, 2015.
If you have issues or concerns or need more information, contact Tom Schmidt, Project Lead at the BLM Elko District, at (775) 753-0200 or email at elfoweb@blm.gov
Watch the telling film Wild Horses and Renegades expose the truth behind wild horse roundups and removals. You can go to https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wildhorses to watch the documentary. Here’s a rough preview:
Josh Fox’s Oscar nominated GASLAND I explains how tracking ruins the environment and our water especially. Available on Netflix.
GASLAND 2 explains how the oil and gas lobbies control democracy, putting us all at risk and poisoning our water in order to become a world leader in exporting liquid natural gas. There is a nice segment linking wild horse roundups with fracking in Wyoming. Here’s a trailer for Fox’s GASLAND 2. You can also watch the film on Netflix.
We must get more hay for the 14 rescued orphans from Wyoming (WY14) to eat this week so I want you to know that your donations are SO NEEDED to keep the young rescued wild horses from feeling hungry.
Left in the wild, they cost virtually nothing, heal the land and live in freedom for the public to enjoy anytime they can find them. After the roundups some lucky ones are saved but many disappear. . .
Sadly all the wild horses over three-years-old from the WY14’s herd were slaughtered at the Canadian plan to be eaten abroad as a “delicacy”. The WY14 were being fattened up in the feedlot surely to be live shipped to Asia to become foal sashimi. Expensive foal meat is pink whereas the pricey meat from 3-year-olds and up is dark red. That’s the only reason the WY14 were still alive when we found them and rescued them.
We are a 100% volunteer organization with no salaries. We give all we can. The WY14 need help to buy hay for them to eat. When you donate, you are providing direct aid to keep them fed so they won’t starve.
With your help we can make sure the WY14 are well fed and taken care of. Together we will honor the native herd that was brutalized and slaughtered by taking care of the 14 young orphans eventually in an eco-sanctuary.
As of September 26th, all the money raised up until that point has been spent. Hay prices are outrageous and are going to get worse this winter. This is becoming a dire situation. The WY14 need your help today!
The WY14 know they have angels out there like you, helping them. . . They need everyone’s prayers to heal from the trauma of the roundup and loss of their families. It was brutal and their healing will take a long time.
Please help the WY14 with a hay donation today. Thank you for your kindness and compassion for the 14 innocents who have been so traumatized. God bless you!
URGENT ALERT: We have been told there are other sites on the internet who seem to be fraudulently asking for donations for the 14 young wild horses (WY14) Protect Mustangs rescued from the slaughterhouse.
We believe more than 100K people have been directed to donate to the wrong website . . . and as a result, the WY14 are being scammed. We noticed donations for the WY14 decrease dramatically after their first 45 days in California.
As of August 17, the WY14 moved from a layover ranch north of Reno to another ranch in northern California. Protect Mustangs has always paid for their hay, vet and their other costs made possible by donations. The previous ranch was authorized to have a GoFundMe to pay for $600. a month board for 2 months, then we paid for their board until we moved them out. We are sure that the ranch where they reside now is honorable and not asking for donations for the WY14.
How can some people scam on these young innocent orphans who lost their place in the world, their freedom, and lost their families to slaughter?
Because of a severe drop in donations, the WY14 desperately need hay donations right now!
Hay prices have skyrocketed. . . All the money previously raised for their hay costs since their arrival from the slaughterhouse feedlot May 26th has been spent on hay with nothing left. We hope you will understand that we need to wait to print and mail out thank you gifts because first the WY14 needs to eat. We will get thank you gifts out when we have stabilized their hay situation.
Protect Mustangs is a California non profit organization and is in the process of getting a 501c3. Your donations directly to us should be retroactive. Meanwhile we are sponsored by the Andean Tapir Fund to ensure 501c3 tax-deductible status. We receive ONLY the funds we raise for the WY14.
You can help the 14 WILD ones by donating to help buy hay on our website www.ProtectMustangs.org via www.PayPal.com to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org , sending a check in the mail to Protect Mustangs, PO Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705 or by going to this fund-rasing link http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag . GoFundMe takes a % to use their service. These are the only secure ways to donate to feed and help these traumatized young wild horses.
The WY14 are so grateful for your TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donations to buy hay so they can eat and heal from the trauma of the roundup where they lost their families to slaughter. Please help with a donation today. The WY14 know you care and they are grateful you are helping to feed them.
BREAKING NEWS: Call for Wyoming boycott and protests against roundups to frack the land for oil and gas
Native wild horses are facing destruction in the face of climate change with no evidence of overpopulation to justify BLM roundups
Rock Springs, WY. (September 21, 2014)–-The public is outraged more indigenous wild horses are being rounded up and permanently removed from public land for the water and fracking land grab. Protect Mustangs is calling for protests to stand up for American wild horses and for a tourism boycott targeted at Wyoming who promotes “Roam Free” in their marketing yet ignores wild horses in their state. More than 800 Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells wild horses are being rounded up from the public-private land known as the “Checkerboard” in southwest Wyoming. The Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) took the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to court to push the roundup through. Wild horses are terrified by choppers, their families ripped apart, forced into inhumane captivity, be at-risk for going to slaughter and forever lose their freedom to roam and contribute to the ecosystem. Several wild horses have already died brutal deaths in the roundup–some victims were only a few months old.
“Fracking for oil and gas is polluting the environment and wiping out America’s wild horses,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The BLM must leave at least 150 wild horses in each herd to maintain genetic variability so they can adapt to the effects of climate change. It’s time for clean energy that can coexist with wildlife.”
BLM describes one large fracking project, Continental Divide-Creston, in saying, “The project is located on 1.1 million acres in the checkerboard pattern of mixed land ownership comprised of 59 percent federal, 37 percent private and 4 percent state-owned land. The eastern boundary of the project is approximately 25 miles west of Rawlins, Wyo. with the western boundary approximately 50 miles east of the city of Rock Springs.”
Field reports allege the BLM has inflated the population guesstimates to justify removals requested by the RSGA.
“Native wild horses are a vanishing natural resource,” states Novak. “People need to stand up for what’s right. Innocent foals are dying in this roundup and that’s wrong.”
Protect Mustangs is calling for an immediate moratorium on roundups and removals for scientific population studies and holistic management. Advocates want to see genetically viable herds on public land but the BLM prefers to cater to the extractive industry who wants number so low wild horses will die off.
“Tourists come to Wyoming to observe wild horse families in their native habitat, so why are they going to decimate these herds?” asks Novak. “The tag line at the Wyoming tourism office is ‘Roam Free‘ but they are taking away native wild horses’ freedom forever. The public is angry and wants to boycott Wyoming tourism.”
The Great Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek herd management areas (HMAs) total approximately 2,427,220 acres with approximately 1,2427,220 acres in the Checkerboard. The roundup held up in court recently due to the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) Consent Decree ordered by the U.S. District Court on April 3, 2013, to remove all wild horses from private lands within the checkerboard portion of the complex in 2013. The RSGA appears to be heavily involved with energy development.
Members of the public are encouraged to watch GASLAND 2, contact their elected officials, peacefully protest the roundup and join America’s growing anti-fracking movement to stop the devastation of native wild horse habitat.
Protect Mustangs is a grassroots conservation nonprofit devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.
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Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Outrage is spreading with the news of the first casualty from the Wyoming Checkerboard roundup.
A young yearling colt died of a broken neck in the roundup holding corral. In the wild, the colt would not have broken his neck because he would be free to move away from what frightened him but once trapped and shoved in captive holding pens, these wild animals often get hurt and some even die.
Does the BLM care? No. They boast to our elected officials in Congress that only a small percentage of wild horses and burros die in roundups.
“Even one death is one too many,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The BLM is negligent in caring for America’s living treasures. They don’t care if native wild horses and burros die or suffer and to prove it they won’t even give them shade or shelter in captivity. The agency put in charge of “protecting” them violates one of the 3 basics of animal husbandry: food, shelter and water. These animal abusers need to be investigated and fired.”
HELP us get to the Wyoming Checkerboard Roundup to WATCHDOG the situation and take action to prevent animal cruelty. Please donate via www.PayPal.com to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or by mail to Protect Mustangs, P.O. Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705 Mark “Watchdog WY” on your donation. Frequent flyer miles will help too. We also need a used mac laptop and camera for journey. Thank you so much!
Tweet this: #StopWyRoundup Now! Get 2 WY. Meet w/ your Rep. Write letters. Protest. Get creative against #AnimalCruelty www.ProtectMustangs.org
We are 100% volunteer nonprofit organization. When you give to Protect Mustangs your donations go directly to feed and care for rescued wild horses, field and watchdog work, gas and to keep the phone and internet on. You can donate via www.PayPal.com to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or by mail to Protect Mustangs, P.O. Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705 We are grateful for your support. You keep us going.
