Public outraged over the EPA approving pesticides for NATIVE wild horses

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Colin Grey : Foter.com : CC BY-SA

for immediate release

Historic burros will die off if drug causes sterility

WASHINGTON (February 15, 2013)–Americans are outraged to learn the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a second pesticide. for native wild horses when extreme roundups since 2009 have removed the majority of wild horses from public land. Today more thank 50,000 are stockpiled in government holding facilities. In 2012 the EPA approved ZonaSta-H for wild horses and burros under their pesticide program. This week the EPA approved GonaCon™ a long term infertility drug that has sometimes allegedly sterilized wild horses after one application. So few heritage burros remain that giving them harsh fertility control could wipe them out completely.

“Pesticides must not be used on native species and current science proves wild horses are natives,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The mustangers are working at the BLM these days–hiding behind inflated population guesstimates and feral beliefs. Meanwhile they are selling truckloads of native wild horses to alleged kill buyers like Tom Davis who bought at least 1,700.”

In Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife (Revised January 2010) J.F.Kirkpatrick Ph.D., and Patricia M. Fazio Ph.D. wrote:

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

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

As a native species, wild horses create biodiversity and help heal the land. Predators exist and more can be introduced as needed while herds self-regulate. Today it’s difficult to find the herds. The BLM has rounded up the majority of the wild horses and burros in all ten western states–far more than they can adopt out.

Protect Mustangs, the native wild horse preservation group, calls for the EPA to immediately retract their approval of “pesticides” for native wild horses. They have requested that all the wild horses in government holding be returned to the Herd Management Areas designated for them under the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. The horse originated in America. Wild horses are indigenous and must also be protected according to The Act.

Despite the government’s overpopulation spin, witnesses on the range have observed a shocking decline in wild horse and burro population since 2008.

Carl Mrozeck, journalist and independent filmmaker making Saving Ass in America, chuckled at the BLM’s inflated estimates of burros. “Personally, I’d be shocked if there were even close to the more recent optimistic number of 2,000.”

For years, the BLM has refused advocates’ requests to perform accurate independent census. “Population myths should not drive policy, merit Congressional funding nor justify passing risky infertility vaccines approved as pesticides,” adds Novak.

PEER reported that livestock has ruined the range yet the BLM refuses to address the issue. The BLM always tries to scapegoat the wild horses for typical cattle damage. Cows outnumber wild horses at least 50 to 1 on the range.

Despite public outcry, the BLM has already removed the majority of indigenous mustangs and historic burros from millions of acres of public land. The BLM is removing the wild horses and burros to minimize environmental studies and mitigation in order to fast track toxic drilling projects on public land. The BLM confesses to making tons of money off the extractive industry as stated in the bottom of their press release: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/february/NR_02_01_2013.html

Protect Mustangs asks the BLM to acknowledge wild horses are a native species in order to manage them correctly.

# # #

Media Contacts:

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

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

Photos, video and interviews are available upon request.

Links of interest:

Daryl Hannah and Michael Blake speak out about wild horses, burros and toxic drilling: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3866

PEER reports: BLM ducks complaint about suppressing livestock damage: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3367

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

Saving Ass in America https://www.facebook.com/SavingAssInAmerica

EPA approves GonaCon™: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3851

EPA calls iconic wild horses “pests” http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1204

USFA APHIS Press release: USDA-Developed Vaccine for Wild Horses and Burros Gains EPA Registration: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2013/02/horse_vaccine_approval.shtml

See it: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/registration/content/56228-40%20GonaCon%2007-11SPECIMEN.pdf

Photo courtesy BLM

Daryl Hannah and Michael Blake speak out about toxic drilling, wild horses & burros on Valentines Day

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

For immediate release

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

WASHINGTON (February 14, 2013)–Daryl Hannah, who was arrested yesterday at the Keystone XL Pipeline Protest, and Oscar-winner Michael Blake (Dances with Wolves) speak out to protect America’s indigenous horses, historic burros and public land. The celebrities join Protect Mustangs’ Make LOVE Not Roundups™ native wild horse awareness campaign. Mustangs and burros are being cleared off public land to minimize environmental restrictions for toxic drilling.

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

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

“We go to America for vacations and love photographing the families of wild horses and adorable burros,” shares Barbie Hardrock European singer and spokeswoman for Protect Mustangs. “Please help save these magnificent animals!”

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

Recently, beef in the EU has been contaminated with toxic horse meat. Horse lovers and health enthusiasts are concerned the same scandal will happen in the U.S.A. if horse slaughter isn’t stopped.

Native wild horses are at-risk of going to slaughter for human consumption abroad now that Oklahoma’s elected officials appear to be supporting horse slaughter for human consumption in foreign countries.

Protect Mustangs wants the cruel roundups to stop now. They are asking for all wild horses and burros “stockpiled” in government holding to be returned to the protected zones of public land specified in the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, called Herd Management Areas.

# # #

Media Contacts:

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

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

Links of interest:

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

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

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

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

Anne Novak bio: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=2

Barbie Hardrock & Roquette: http://rocquette.com/

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

The Salazar Plan to wipe out wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3686

Proposed Wyoming oil field will be the largest on the planet: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3709

Citizen investigation exposes evidence of BLM wild horses sold to probable slaughter: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3567

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

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

European wild horses are slaughtered: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4787786/Nabbed-stabbed-and-beaten-wild-horses-to-go-in-our-beef.html

European horse meat scandal: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130211/API/1302110559?p=1&tc=pg

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

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

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

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

www.MakeLOVEnotRoundups.org

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

AP reports: Critics Skeptical of US ‘Compassion’ for Mustang

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Into Trap (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)

By SCOTT SONNER and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

RENO, Nev. February 1, 2013 (AP)

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is issuing new policy directives emphasizing “compassion and concern” for wild horses on federal lands in the West, in response to a growing public outcry over alleged abuse during roundups of thousands of mustangs in recent years.

Federal laws protecting wild horses since the 1970s require the government to treat them humanely when culling overpopulated herds to reduce harm to public rangeland.

But BLM officials said a series of new internal policy directives announced Friday will better protect free-roaming horses and burros by centralizing oversight and stepping up daily reports at each individual gather across 12 Western states.

“Press/media, congressional and public attention to recent gathers have compelled the BLM to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information,” one of the new directives states.

The announcement drew, at best, a chilly response from most in the horse protection community skeptical of the agency’s intentions and a harsh rebuke from the largest national coalitions, which called it a “step backward.”

“It’s an attempt by BLM to address criticism, but will do nothing to change the practices on the ground at the roundups,” said Deniz Bolbo, spokeswoman for the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign made up of more than 50 groups.

Among other things, helicopter contractors will have to take extra care not to separate slower young animals from their mothers during roundup stampedes.

The new orders also require the agency to make sure the public has reasonable access to observe the roundups, in compliance with federal law. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco recently granted a horse advocacy group’s appeal and ordered the BLM to review its practices to ensure it didn’t violate the First Amendment by keeping some critics away from a 2012 gather in Nevada.

“At all times, the care and treatment provided by the BLM and contractors will be characterized by compassion and concern for the animal’s well-being and welfare needs,” wrote Edwin Roberson, assistant director of the BLM for Renewable Resources and Planning.

Acting BLM Director Mike Pool said the changes represent “significant and substantial improvements” aimed at ensuring the “humane treatment of animals that are gathered on public rangelands.”

“At the end of the day, we need to find better ways to manage for healthier animals and healthier rangelands so that we can keep these symbols of the American West on our nation’s public lands,” he said.”

BLM spokeswoman Michelle Barret told The Associated Press, “All of this is in response to public concerns that were raised in a number of gathers. … The welfare issues, the humane animal treatment during gathers, we realized that we needed to step it up here and address some of the public concerns.”

Laura Leigh, president of the Nevada-based Wild Horse Education, who appealed her case to the 9th Circuit, is glad BLM is addressing the roundup concerns but doesn’t “hold much hope that I will witness much change.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” added Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs in Berkeley, Calif.

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign founder Neda DeMayo criticized part of the new policy that specifies BLM treat horses “consistent with domestic livestock handling practices.” That’s a significant step back from the standard BLM Nevada Director Amy Lueders established in a December 2011 memo that said it should be consistent with “domestic horse handling procedures,” she said.

“Although domestic horse handling practices are a step above the livestock industry, wild horses are neither domestic horses nor livestock. They are wild animals and as such must be humanely managed as a wildlife species on the range where they belong,” DeMayo said.

About half of the estimated 37,000 horses and burros on federal lands are in Nevada. BLM maintains that the range can sustain only about 26,000 and conducts roundups regularly to try to get closer to that number. But the practice is almost always contentious.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who is stepping down in March, has called wild horse management “the most difficult issue we have dealt with” in his four-year tenure.

“We’ve had hundreds of meetings on it and there are still a lot of problems,” Salazar told The Gazette of Colorado Springs last fall. He made the comment after apologizing for threatening to punch a Gazette reporter who asked him about problems with the wild horses at a campaign event for President Barack Obama.

———

Daly reported from Washington D.C.

Cross-posted from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/blm-policy-focus-compassion-wild-horses-18375898

Request for public participation in BLM Wyoming RAC meeting using communication technology

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

Growing Concern BLM will wipe out certain Wyoming herds to appease the local grazing association

The public feels their written comments are not taken into consideration by BLM.

Stakeholders want to participate in the Wyoming RAC meeting giving oral comments using technology such as a teleconference or Skype to foster the public process.

The scoping notice is alarming: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rfodocs/adobetown-saltwells.Par.3977.File.dat/ATSWScopeNotice.pdf

Protect Mustangs is circulating a petition requesting the BLM use communication technology to allow oral comments.

Below is the formal request to include the public in oral comments using communication technology and Livestream the controversial meeting.

From: anne@protectmustangs.org <anne@protectmustangs.org>

Subject: Public wants to give oral comment using technology

To: dsimpson@blm.gov

Cc: mpool@blm.gov, cwertz@blm.gov, cwarren@blm.gov

Date: Friday, February 1, 2013, 1:22 AM

Dear Sirs & Madames,

The public is up in arms that such an important opportunity for public comment is being held in a remote area without the ability to make oral comment using technology to bridge the distance.

Most people have jobs that prevent them from traveling to Rock Springs, Wyoming to spend the night and speak at 8 a.m. the following morning.

The cost of traveling to your location is also excessive.

The public comment period will be Feb. 8, at 8 a.m. Interested persons may make oral comments or file written statements for the council to consider. Depending on the number of persons wishing to comment and time available, the time for individual oral comments may be limited. If there are no members of the public interested in speaking, the meeting will move on to the next agenda topic. ~ BLM

I’d like to ask you to please find a way to engage all the stakeholders in oral comment and allow enough time for this to occur.

We’d like to go on the record to ask you, as an act of good faith, to facilitate the public’s wish to comment orally by implementing a teleconference during the comment period or allow stakeholders to comment orally via Skype.

We request you LiveStream the 2 days of meetings to show you are engaging in transparency.

Thank you for your kind assistance.

Best wishes,

Anne Novak

Release Date: 01/09/13

Contacts:

Cindy Wertz (307) 775-6014

WYOMING RESOURCE ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING SET FOR FEBRUARY

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming Resource Advisory Council will meet Wednesday, Feb. 6, Thursday, Feb. 7, and Friday, Feb. 8, at BLM’s High Desert District, Rock Springs Field Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyo., in the Pilot Butte Conference Room.

The meeting is open to the public. The meeting will begin on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Rock Springs Wild Horse Holding Facility on Lionkol Road. The meetings will begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday and Friday at the Rock Springs Field Office. Planned agenda topics include a discussion on checkerboard land ownership, landscape scale partnerships, invasive weeds, trails and follow up from previous meetings.

The purpose of the council is to advise the Secretary of the Interior through the BLM on a variety of issues associated with public land management. For more information contact BLM RAC Coordinator Cindy Wertz, (307) 775-6014.

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–

Wyoming State Office 5353 Yellowstone Rd. Cheyenne, WY 82009

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

P.O. Box 5661

Berkeley, California 94705

Links of interest:

Wyoming Resource Advisory Council Meeting: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2013/january/09-RAC.html

BLM scoping statement Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek Herd Management Area: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rfodocs/adobetown-saltwells.Par.3977.File.dat/ATSWScopeNotice.pdf

Blondie let us put the halter on

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

First time wearing a halter. January 29, 2013 (Photo © Protect Mustangs)

January 22, 2013 Blondie is allowing the halter on her nose.

Blondie December 29, 2012

Blondie & Brownie at BLM Litchfield corral with Inez Sept. 2012

Blondie & Brownie at BLM Litchfield corral with Inez & Protect Mustangs Sept. 2012

Blondie is a California wild horse filly from High Rock. She will be 2 years old in the spring. We adopted her when she was a yearling and already had 2 Strikes against her.

We are very grateful to those who donated for Blondie’s transport from Susanville to the Bay Area on December 12, 2012 and are especially grateful to her sponsor.

Donate to haul Tibet, the wild mustang, to his safe place

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Tibet earned 2 Strikes from not getting picked at adoptions. (Photo by BLM adoptions)

As of tonight, January 29th we raised $400 from wild horse angels towards the total needed ($920) to bring Tibet out from Wheatland, Wyoming to us in the Bay Area. We need to raise $536 more (includes PayPal fees) by February 2, 2013. Please help and donate what you can to get Tibet to his safe place. Thank you for helping Tibet!

Please donate via PayPal to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or mail your donations to:

Protect Mustangs, PO Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705. Make checks payable to Protect Mustangs.

It takes a village ~ Please donate any amount so Tibet can afford to be hauled to his safe place.

Tibetan prayer flag depicting Windhorse

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

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Wild horse mares in holding (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Wild Horse & Burro Advocates Demand Congressional Investigation

For Immediate release:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

###

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

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

Media contacts:

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

Photos and interviews granted upon request

Links of interest:

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

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

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

Petition to Defund the Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_after_sign

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

Protect Mustangs: http://protectmustangs.org

Saving Sandy and her foal ~ Virginia Range wild horses

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

We are very grateful to have helped save Sandy from going to probable slaughter. What a wonderful gift she has been carrying all this time. This has been a wonderful team effort to support Hidden Valley’s rescue.

We send out a special thank you to all our supporters who networked, donated, contacted Governor Sandoval and spread awareness about the wild horse crisis. Keep up the great work everyone!

Now is the time to protect wild horses

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Protect Mustangs . org & Photo © Taylor James

To everyone who loves horses,

Native wild horses need our help after the 4 year Salazar Attack designed to pummel them toward extinction.

Let us not forget these federally protected wild horses have been wronged every time they have been cruelly removed from their land, ripped from their families and killed because of roundups or slaughter.

Now is the time to stand up and demand Congress stop the roundups!

Let’s join together to insist that all of the 50,000 wild horses–stockpiled in taxpayer funded holding–be returned to the Herd Management Areas (HMAs) on public land. Remember, the HMAs were set aside in 1971 as safe places for wild horses and burros to live with their families as an integral part of the environment.

Write your senators and representatives today! Make appointments to meet with their aides.

Please sign and share the petition to Defund and Stop the Wild Horse & Burro Roundups

If you live out of the country send us an email (Contact@ProtectMustangs.org) stating why the wild horses of the West must be saved!

In gratitude,

Anne Novak

Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

Indigenous wild horses managed to extinction

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Photo ©Rachel Anne Reeves all rights reserved

THE WILD HORSE IS NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA

By Ross MacPhee, PhD, Curator – Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY

It needs to be more widely understood that the horse’s status as a native North American species is beyond serious question.

A “native” species, in evolutionary terms, is defined as one that differentiated or diverged from its immediate ancestor species within a specific geographical locale. The contemporary wild horse in the United States is recently derived from lines domesticated in Europe and Asia. But those lines themselves go much further back in time, and converge on populations that lived in North America during the latter part of the Pleistocene (2.5M to 10k years ago).

The morphological (fossil) evidence and the more recent DNA evidence (although preliminary), points to the same conclusion: the species Equus caballus—the species encompassing all domestic horses and their wild progenitors—arose on this continent.

The evidence thus favors the view that this species is “native” to North America, given any rational understanding of the term “native”. By contrast, there are no paleontological or genetic grounds for concluding that it is native to any other continent.

From a scientific standpoint, it is completely irrelevant that native horses died out in North America 10,000 years ago, or that later populations were domesticated in central Asia 6000 years ago. Such considerations have no bearing on their status as having originated on this continent.

Reintroduction of horses to North America 500 years ago is, biologically, a non-event: horses were merely returned to part of their former native range, where they have since prospered because ecologically they never left.

CLICK HERE for Scientific Assessment of the Wild Mustangs of America – MANAGED TO EXTINCTION, written by Ross MacPhee, Curator, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History.

CLICK HERE to Review Information about Craig Downer’s Book entitled THE WILD HORSE CONSPIRACY.

“Traditional Dakota/Lakota people firmly believe that the aboriginal North American horse did not become extinct after the last Ice Age, and that it was part of their precontact culture.

Scientists know from fossil remains that the horse originated and evolved in North America, and that these small 12 to 13 hand horses or ponys (sic) migrated to Asia across the Bering Strait, then spread throughout Asia and finally reached Europe. The drawings in the French Laseaux caves, dating about 10,000 B.C., are a testimony to their long westward migration. Scientists contend, however, that the aboriginal horse became extinct in North America during what is (known) as the “Pleistocene kill,” in other words, that they disappeared at the same time as the mammoth, the ground sloth, and other Ice Age mammals. This has led anthropologists to assume that Plains Indians only acquired horses after Spaniards accidentally lost some horses in Mexico, in the beginning of the XVIth (16th) century, that these few head multiplied and eventually reached the prairies.

Dakota/Lakota Elders as well as many other Indian nations contest this theory, and contend that according to their oral history, the North American horse survived the Ice Age, and that they had developed a horse culture long before the arrival of Europeans, and, furthermore, that these same distinct ponys (sic) continued to thrive on the prairies until the latter part of the XIXth (19th) century, when the U.S. government ordered them rounded up and destroyed to prevent Indians from leaving the newly-created reservations. Although there is extensive evidence of this massive slaughter, no definitive evidence has yet been found to substantiate the Elders’ other claim, but there are a number of arguments in favour of the Indian position.”

CLICK HERE for Scientific Paper Entitled: The Aboriginal North American Horse.

Cross-posted from: http://thisnthatn.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/the-aboriginal-north-american-horse-managed-to-extinction/

Protect Mustangs™

Forever wild and free™

Tag Archives: Anne Novak

Public outraged over the EPA approving pesticides for NATIVE wild horses

Daryl Hannah and Michael Blake speak out about toxic drilling, wild horses & burros on Valentines Day

AP reports: Critics Skeptical of US ‘Compassion’ for Mustang

Request for public participation in BLM Wyoming RAC meeting using communication technology

Blondie let us put the halter on

Donate to haul Tibet, the wild mustang, to his safe place

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

Saving Sandy and her foal ~ Virginia Range wild horses

Now is the time to protect wild horses

Indigenous wild horses managed to extinction