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Tag Archives: Mustang
Friday Fun: Cute horse ears
Anne captured this on her iPhone at the end of a film shoot yesterday. This is Tibet the wild long yearling.
California wild horse range survey ~ after the Twin Peaks fire
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Twin Peaks Post Fire Survey
May 18th and 19th 2013
Twin Peaks Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Area
Summary:
Three experienced wildlife observers with binoculars: Jesica Johnston, Carrisa Johnston, and Kathy Gregg
91 miles traveled in 11 hours – we drove slowly with many stops to look for animals
1 horse and 8 burros found
Vegetation in burn area in very good condition with many wild flowers, low grasses, a lot of cheat grass and what appears to be some Russian/Siberian crested wheatgrass (non-native).
Many juniper trees burned beyond survival but many were not burned or will survive the fire damage. Sage areas clearly show the patchwork pattern of the fire, with many areas completely unburned within the Rush Fire perimeter.
Saw some bitterbrush drill seeding along Rye Patch Road. Very little black burned grass noticeable now compared with last fall immediately following the Rush fire (see Rush fire report http://protectmustangs.org/?p=2729 ) and now most of the burned area is covered with spring vegetative growth.
Most notable was the lack of any animal trailing that can usually be seen and would have been very obvious with the new carpet of forage – believe this is because #1 no livestock on the public land and #2 very few wild horses and burros left on the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area. Also noticeable was the lack of horse and burro tracks and manure on the HMA.
Other animals observed: one coyote, two golden eagles, vultures, crows/ravens, two rabbits, birds, ducks and geese at Horne Ranch reservoir, 2 deer, ~ 20 antelope, two curlew, small fish in the Robbers Roost pond and some burrowing ground squirrels and pika.
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs were taken by Jesica Johnston and Carrisa Johnston.
[side note: BLM Litchfield Wild horses and burros facility approx. 200-300 animals maximum] Saturday 5/18/2013
Smoke Creek Road
42 miles on HMA – 4 hours
Very few signs of any Wild horses and burros in this area (trailing/tracks/manure)
1 adult brown burro 8 miles east of Hwy 395 and 1 adult dark brown burro 15 miles east of Hwy 395
Wild Burro- Smoke Creek Road
Turned around at Smoke Creek Ranch owned by Bright-Holland Corporation – gate locked with no trespassing signs and 150+ cattle visible and lush green fields all fenced off.
Rye Patch Road
10 miles on HMA – 2 hours
One set of fresh horse tracks on road and few manure piles but not stud pile (mare or only one horse?) In the past (pre-fire) numerous manure piles and eight horses seen in this area.
We saw one old wild horse stud pile at Spanish Springs trough – new looking barbed wire strewn in pathway (very dangerous for any animal – we moved it) No recent signs of horse.
Horne Ranch Road
26 miles approximately half in twin Peaks – 2 hours at dusk
Sunday 5/19/2013
Shinn Ranch Road
13 miles– 3 hours
6 Burros (5 adults and 1 yearling) north side of road about ¼ mile east of Highway 395
Conclusion
In our two days of observation we saw very few signs of any wild horses or burros and only saw one dark horse about a mile south of Shinn Ranch Road about 4 miles in from Hwy 395 – it was far off but 99% sure it was a horse in the far canyon and the only wild horse we saw on this trip.
Scientists find ancient horse fossils
The underside of a skull, showing palate and teeth, of Equus scotti is seen in this photo provided by the San Bernardino County Museum. The remains of the Ice Age horse were found for the first time at Tule Springs in Nevada.
Cross-posted from the Press Enterprise
San Bernardino County Museum scientists excavating an Ice Age mammoth skeleton from the Tule Springs area north of Las Vegas have found a skull and lower jaw of an ancient horse never before reported at the site or in Nevada.
Horses are not uncommon in the Tule Springs fossil record, but not Equus scotti, a large horse common in much of western North America during the Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age.
Las Vegas-area volunteers were instrumental in the discovery.
“Our research funding from the Bureau of Land Management includes a strong public outreach component,” said Kathleen Springer, the museum’s senior curator of geological sciences and lead scientist for the research program in the upper Las Vegas Wash. “Because of this, we set up Nevada’s first paleontology-based site stewardship program, getting local citizens involved in our research. And now it’s paid off — in a big way.”
Springer discovered the fossil site in 2003, during survey conducted by museum scientists and funded by the Las Vegas district office of the Bureau of Land Management. The original find — a tusk and tooth of a mammoth just peeking out at the surface — suggested that multiple parts of the skeleton might be present.
In 2012, Springer’s mammoth site was selected for excavation as part of the BLM’s celebration of 50 years of science at Tule Springs. The presence of multiple bones made it ideal for excavation by site stewards working with museum paleontologists.
Brushing through desert sediments at the surface quickly revealed fragments of horse teeth mixed in with the mammoth fossils. Careful digging teased out more horse teeth, then both sides of the lower jaw, and finally, the skull.
The new finds preserve anatomical features never before seen in any horses from Tule Springs, making firm identifications possible for the first time. The site is nearly 12,000 years old, making the fossils among the youngest records of Equus scotti anywhere in North America.
The discovery is forcing scientists to revise their understanding of horse evolution and extinction at the end of the Ice Ages.
Horse fossils are fairly abundant from Tule Springs and the upper Las Vegas Wash, said Eric Scott, the museum’s curator of paleontology. His studies have revealed that three species of horse lived in the area during the Pleistocene Epoch.
But none of the earlier remains discovered there were sufficiently complete to make firm species identifications possible.
“There have been some species names suggested here and there, but nothing really concrete,” Scott said. “It’s a long-running joke with our team in Vegas that every time a new site is excavated, I plead for them to find a horse I can name.”
With identifiable horse fossils so scarce, paleontologists have had to make inferences about what horse species were present around Tule Springs. Other scientists proposed that the large horse found at the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Southern California also lived throughout the Mojave Desert and the Southwest.
“We now think that’s erroneous,” Scott said. “Our new horse from Vegas has a different anatomy from the big La Brea horse. It looks more like large Ice Age horses from northern Nevada that were living at about the same time.”
The new discovery shows that Equus scotti survived in southern Nevada until the end of the Pleistocene, which was not previously known. In Southern California, the species was replaced in the later Ice Ages by an anatomically distinct form.
“That’s likely either a pulse of evolution — a speciation event — or else the immigration of a different species northwards into California from Mexico,” Scott said. “Either way, we can now clarify the timing and geographic extent of this episode, and the relationships of these two species, in a very exciting way. And it means we had as many as four horse species living in the American southwest at the end of the Ice Ages. Compared to horses today, that’s quite a lot of species.”
Springer said the find emphasizes that “even after decades of work there’s still a lot for us to learn about the Ice Ages at Tule Springs.”
The fossils are under study at the San Bernardino County Museum.
This is an artist rendering of the Ice Age horse, Equus scotti. Image provided by the San Bernardino County Museum.
Link to the original article to comment: http://www.pe.com/local-news/san-bernardino-county/san-bernardino-county-headlines-index/20130522-san-bernardino-county-scientists-find-ancient-horse-fossils.ece
Read more about native wild horses here: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562
Follow us on Facebook for updates: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
Stop Horse Slaughter & Protect Wild Horses
Saved from probable slaughter ~ wild youngsters are gentled and playing
We prefer for wild horses to remain wild and free but now there are 50,000 wild horses in government holding who are at risk of going to slaughter if the BLM’s Advisory Board members get their way. We have adopted Blondie and Tibet because as yearlings, they had already accrued 2-Strikes and were facing a dangerous 3rd. We stepped in to save them from being sold for $10 a head by the truckload.
Press Release: How many tiny foals are dying after the roundups and in holding?
For immediate release:
No accountability for dead foals at Nevada wild horse facility
RENO, Nv. (May 1, 2013)–Protect Mustangs™ calls for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Nevada to provide accurate wild horse and burro death counts for all government funded facilities as well as at roundups. Currently the BLM is not recording the dead foals or other unbranded newborn dead wild horses at the Palomino Valley National Center, a facility near Reno used for processing and adoption. Faulty roundup protocol also allows the BLM to attribute deaths to pre-existing conditions to avoid attributing them to the roundups. The native wild horse conservation group discovered that 37 wild horses died at the Nevada facility from January 1 to April 1, 2013 but the additional deaths of the unbranded have gone unrecorded.
“It’s shocking that the BLM is not counting the unbranded dead foals and dead newborns,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs™. “This lack of transparency and lack of accountability needs to stop. Taxpayers don’t like knowing baby mustangs are dying after roundups–especially when Americans want native wild horses to live in freedom.”
Protect Mustangs™ is very concerned the BLM facilities are not keeping an accurate death count related to roundups and holding facilities. The BLM admits they are not including the unbranded foals, aborted fetuses, animals born dead nor dead newborns in their count. One must ask, “How many are really dying in holding facilities after roundups?
Animals Angels recently uncovered a discrepancy in the mortality numbers at Palomino Valley Center.
“If they are not counting the dead correctly then are some young foals being sold into the slaughter pipeline as well?,” asks Novak. “Why is there no accountability regarding the unbranded young wild horse population?”
Tom Davis, who purchased many wild horses from the BLM said in a Propublica interview, “Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt. What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?”
# # #
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, video and interviews available upon request
Links of interest:
BLM’s email revealing they are not counting the unbranded dead amongst the 37 dead mustangs at the Nevada facility http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4220
Wild-horse advocates: Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies
Animals Angels investigative report: http://www.animalsangels.org/the-issues/horse-slaughter/foia-requests/497-blm-nevada-mortality-records-a-nevada-rendering-animals-angels-foia-request-reveals-discrepancies.html
ProPublica: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the gov’t?http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt
Washington Post 4/30/13 USDA secretary says New Mexico horse slaughter plant expected to open soon http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/usda-secretary-says-new-mexico-horse-slaughter-plant-expected-to-open-soon/2013/04/30/95f16c7e-b1b1-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html
BLM states 37 wild horses have died at Nevada facility not including dead foals and others
Freedom Lost & Hell Begins (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)
Concern mounts over hidden death count
We learned today that the BLM’s public affairs officer (think public relations expert) eventually responded, on April 18th, to our inquiries from April 12, 2013, wherein we requested to know the number of dead wild horses at the Nevada short-term facility since January 1st.
The Acting Facility Manager refused to give us a simple death count. He told us we must file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to know the number of dead wild horses at the facility from January 1, 2013 to April 12, 2013 . This appeared to be a blatant lack of government transparency.
We saw the public affairs’ officer’s email for the first time this afternoon. It was unopened and was lost amongst emails. We don’t understand why the BLM did not respond back to our last email to let us know they had eventually answered our question. Emails can go unseen unlike certified letters.
We are very concerned the BLM facilities are not keeping an accurate death count related to roundups and holding facilities. The BLM admits they are not including the unbranded foals, aborted fetuses, animals born dead nor dead newborns in their count. One must ask, “How many are really dying in holding facilities after roundups?
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Information you requested regarding deaths at PVC
From: “Emmons, Heather” <hlemmons@blm.gov>
Date: Thu, April 18, 2013 3:58 pm
To: <anne@protectmustangs.org>
Cc: James Beck <j1beck@blm.gov>
Anne,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your question. As Acting Facility Manager at the Palomino Valley Center (PVC), Jeb sought advice on your question as to what constituted a FOIA request and was originally told that it met those qualifications. Upon further evaluation, we realized it does not and apologize for the miscommunication. Jeb is off for the next couple of days, and we wanted to get back to you as soon as possible, so I am writing to you on his behalf.
To answer your question: How many horses have died at the facility since Jan 1, 2013? According to the Wild Horse and Burro Program System, the number of horses that have died at PVC from Jan. 1, 2013 through April 1, 2013, is 37. This number does not include stillbirths (aborted fetuses, animals born dead and newborn animals found dead) and young foals that died before they were freeze marked. Foals are freeze marked when they are weaned. This varies with the size and condition of the foals and the mares, but usually occurs sometime between three and six months of age.
Additionally, the National Wild Horse and Burro Program is currently reviewing its reporting procedures for modification.
If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact me, or my colleague Debbie Collins at the National Call Center:
Heather Emmons: 775-861-6594 or hlemmons@blm.gov
Debbie Collins: 1-866-468-7826 or dacollin@blm.gov
Thanks,
Heather
—
Heather Emmons Jasinski
Public Affairs Officer
Bureau of Land Management
1340 Financial Blvd.
Reno, NV 89502
775.861.6594 | hlemmons@blm.gov
Links of interest:
April 12th request for mortality rate, refusal and told to file a FOIA: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4114
Breaking News: Protesters want to end native wild horse abuse and use mustangs to fight wildfires
Wildfire risk potential version 2013, data origin & source: USDA Forest Service
`
For immediate release:
More than 40 international protests today to stop the roundups and stop horse slaughter
OAKLAND, Ca. (April 27, 2013)–Protect Mustangs™, the Bay Area-based native wild horse conservation group, is holding protests today in Oakland and Rock Springs, Wyoming to save indigenous wild horses from roundups, abuse, slaughter and pass the SAFE Act. The Oakland rally is held outside the Rockridge BART station from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The Rock Springs rally is held at 70 Gateway Blvd at 2 p.m. The group wants all the wild horses in government funded holding to be returned to the range to help reduce wildfires. More than 40 international protests, spearheaded by Nevada’s Patty Bumgarner on Facebook, are being held to save the horses. Protect Mustangs™ requests Congress stop the cruelty, the slaughter and save taxpayer dollars–especially during the Sequester.
“We are united across the country to say no to slaughter, roundups and cruel overectomies in the field,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs™. “We want our wild horses to be protected. Did you know America’s wild horses are indigenous? Are you aware that CalTrans found ancient horse fossils while digging the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel?”
The horse, E. caballus, originated in America over a million years ago and returned with the Conquistadors if it ever went extinct in the first place. With history written by the Inquisition, one must read between the lines. It was heresy for Old World animals, such as the horse, to have originated in the heathen Americas.
Novak points out,”Recent DNA testing proves our iconic wild horses are the same species as E. caballus–the original horse.”
Esteemed scientists Kirkpatrick, J.F., and P.M. Fazio explained the following in Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife (Revised January 2010). The Science and Conservation Center, ZooMontana, Billings:
‘The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. 6 caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about ‘breeds,’ but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about ‘species.’
The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.’
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received $78 million last year to run the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Two-thirds of the expenses went towards caring for the equids in captivity. Despite the federal budget crisis, the program received a $2 million increase in funding for their 2014 fiscal budget–including $6 million for the helicopter contractor.
California’s Senator Feinstein chairs Energy and Water subcommittee as well as rules on Interior issues within the Committee on Appropriations. The Committee gives taxpayer dollars to fiscally irresponsible and cruel wild horse and burro roundups despite public outcry.
Roundups and removals are linked to mining and toxic fracking in the West. It appears native horses are being removed to fast track the extractive industry’s use of public land for private profit yet the public and the environment are hit with the costs.
Native wild horses will soon be zeroed out from Wyoming’s “checkerboard” public-private land–allegedly in preparation for the largest natural gas field in the country. The conservation group has requested a $50 million fund be created to mitigate environmental distress from fracking on the range.
“Tourists love to come to Wyoming to see our wild horses,” states Melissa Maser, outreach coordinator for Protect Mustangs™ in Wyoming and Texas. “We’d like to see native wild horses protected for future generations.”
Advocates are documenting wild horses being removed throughout the West as healthy and with fewer foals. The starving and overpopulation myths from BLM spin doctors are fabricated to sway Congress to fund roundups and removals.
“We’d like to find a win-win for wild horses in the West,” explains Novak. “Native horses will help reduce wildfires that cost insurance companies billions of dollars annually and contribute to global warming. We have requested the BLM put a freeze on roundups and return the 50,000 wild horses stockpiled in holding to public land. This will take the burden off the taxpayer and help to reduce wildfires.”
Protect Mustangs™ is devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@Protect Mustangs.org
Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, video and interviews available upon request
Links of interest:
Gone viral~ The Associated Press, February 10, 2013: Wild-horse advocates split over interior nominee http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020332496_apnvwildhorses1stldwritethru.html
US property exposed to wildfire valued at $136 billion says report: http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2012/09/17/u-s-property-exposed-to-wildfire-valued-at-136-billion-says-report/
KQED Horse fossil found in Caldecott Tunnel: http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/05/26/new-fossils-from-the-caldecott-tunnel/
Gone viral~ The Associated Press, March 24, 2013: Budget axe nicks BLM wild-horse adoption center http://www.denverpost.com/colorado/ci_22862206
Horseback Magazine: Sequester prompts call for wild horses and burros to be returned to the wild http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/21568
Horseback Magazine, March 8, 2013: Protect Mustangs calls for fund for Wyoming wild horses http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/20979
Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392
Ruby pipeline and wild horse roundups? http://www.8newsnow.com/story/12769788/i-team-bp-connected-to-wild-horse-roundups
BLM’s 2014 Budget: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/april/04_10_2013.html
Why are the wild horses being removed? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWWgOugF2U
Wyoming Tourism’s video of wild horses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRZkBXkbyY
Protect Mustangs™: www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs™ on Facebook
Protect Mustangs™ on Twitter
Protect Mustangs™ on YouTube
Protect Mustangs™ in the News
Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562
Rally to Protect America’s Horses 4/27 in Oakland
Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.
Saturday April 27 from 3-6 pm outside Rockridge BART on College Avenue
JOIN US to Rally to STOP the Roundups!
RETURN all 50,000 Captive Native Wild Horses to Public Land. (Now displaced from their families and freedom, they are held behind bars n BLM short and long term holding facilities and human prisons)
BAN horse slaughter for human consumption and BAN the export of horses to slaughter. PASS the SAFE ACT
The Sequester puts all wild horses & burros in government holding at risk. Freeze the Roundups due to the Sequester!
Read more here: http://
Please invite your friends!
This is a family friendly rally.
Protect Mustangs
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Discover Mustangs
www.DiscoverMustangs.org
April 27th is an international day to protest wild horse roundups, holding them captive and horse slaughter.