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Transparency and accountability questioned at upcoming mustang roundup
Preservation group wants increased visibility for public and media to document native wild horses at roundup and temporary holding
WASHINGTON (February 3, 2012)—On the eve of another expensive Tonopah roundup in Nevada, Protect Mustangs voices their concern for the welfare of the American wild horse during roundups as well as government transparency, fiscal responsibility, public access and accountability. The preservation group awaits the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) response to the following questions:
1.) We are very concerned about the lack of transparency at roundups. Keeping visitors miles away from the trap site is unacceptable. In 2009 and 2010 members of the public and media were allowed closer access to document the roundups. Why has this policy changed?
2.) We want to go on the record to ask that the canvas on the metal corral panels—blocking the ability to see inside the trap site even from a distance—be taken down. It appears the BLM shrouds the mustang removals in secrecy and does not want the media or public to see what is going on when wild horses are captured. This protocol is very upsetting to members of the public. Will BLM take down the canvas tarps blocking media and public visibility to document the roundup?
3.) We would like to see a burro expert on site to prevent animal cruelty at taxpayer expense. Will a burro behavior expert be on site every time burros are being rounded up and transported so the cruel hot-shotting incident at Calico will not be repeated?
4.) The American public wants all roundup-related deaths to be counted correctly. If a wild horse—enjoying life out on the range—is removed from the range alive and BLM kills it because it is “old” or for whatever other reason this needs to go on the record as “roundup related”. The horse would have continued to live for some time if the BLM had not rounded it up. Will the BLM attribute the death of wild horses as “roundup-related” for a minimum of 30 days from their capture?
5.) We also want to go on the record asking for BLM to hold all aspects of capture, temporary holding, processing and adoption on public land—giving reasonable access to the media and the public—as an act of good faith to show the global community that the Wild Horse and Burros program has taken the new direction the courts are expecting the BLM has taken. Will you hold all aspects of the roundup, holding, processing and adoption on public land to build trust with the public?
Upon receiving the response from BLM, Protect Mustangs will post it to their website: www.ProtectMustangs.org
Rounding up healthy wild horses illustrates fiscal irresponsibility during America’s economic crisis. The overpopulation myth was created by BLM to justify spending millions of tax dollars.
In 1900, 2 million wild horses roamed the West. Today, Protect Mustangs believes less than 20,000 exist in the ten western states combined.
“After hearing the State of the Union address we are concerned that the Obama Administration will forfeit wildlife for the New Energy Frontier,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We want to see genetically viable wild horses and other wildlife remain on public land for the public to enjoy. There can be a win-win for wild horses and energy. Industrialization must not wipe out wildlife.”
The preservation group urges interested people to contact the Tonopah BLM to adopt a wild horse or burro at the roundup site. Their office telephone is 775-482-7801.
Protect Mustangs is a Berkeley-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.
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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:
Protect Mustangs’ videos: http://www.youtube.com/ProtectMustangs
Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218
Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/
Josh Fox (GASLAND HBO) denied 1st Amendment rights & arrested: http://bit.ly/zqVCZF
Obama Continues Destructive Federal Grazing Subsidy on 258 Million Acres of Public Land: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/02/01-3
Cloud Foundation Captures Burro Hot-shot Abuse on Video: http://bit.ly/tDXkkl
Deb Coffey’s Open Letter to Tonopah BLM: http://ppjg.me/2012/01/03/open-letter-to-the-blm-hee-haw/
Video of Press Denied Access at Roundup and First Amendment denial: http://bit.ly/yAL13z
Sloppy head count could bring wild horses to extinction
Captured wild horses Nevada Jan 2012 (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)
In the news on 1/15/12 Reno Gazette-Journal Sunday Edition BLM not gelding stallions now in wild horse roundup, but doesn’t rule it out http://on.rgj.com/wydWBC
Anne Novak, executive director of the California-based Protect Mustangs, said she and other wild horse advocates oppose castrating stallions as a method of birth control. She said the use of birth control drugs “is definitely something to look at,” but said the BLM’s wild horse policy is fatally flawed because the agency has no accurate count of wild horses on the range.
“Before we talk about birth control, we need to know how many wild horses are out there,” Novak said. “We need an accurate individual head count.”
She said the BLM’s estimates are inflated and result in taking so many wild horses off the range that genetically viable herds will vanish. The disagreement between the BLM and horse advocates, she said, is whether the animals are overpopulating the range or facing extinction because of the agency’s frequent roundups.
Will wild horses go to slaughter?
Are American wild horses going to slaughter? What will happen to the “sale authority” mustangs from the Calico roundup December 2011, near Gerlach, Nevada?
Stop the Roundup$
Report from the Calico roundup, December 2011, near Gerlach, Nevada. American wild horses being managed to extinction. Take action. Stop the roundup$.
© Protect Mustangs, all rights reserved. Contact us for permission to use footage.
Your donations make our field work and research possible.
Evidence
Studs at Short Term Holding (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)
I will confess, I did not attend the public vigil for the 40th Anniversary of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act because I am heartbroken. Someone contacted me more than five weeks ago who had evidence proving the cattle–not the wild horses–are damaging the range in the Calico Complex but they are holding back.
Most of the majestic Calico wild horses have been rounded up and torn from their families but they have not all been processed and shipped out to long-term holding . . . not yet.
I lit a candle on December 15th praying that the person with the evidence would come forward so we could prove this roundup was conducted under false pretenses and return the Calico wild horses and burros to their wild homes.
Please join me to light candle for their freedom.
In gratitude,
Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
Are hip brands lowering the mustang adoption rate?
Protect Mustangs reports from Palomino Valley short-term holding near Reno, Nevada.
BLM humanewashing goes viral
Wrangler flinging whip. (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)
Similar to greenwashing to make something appear green that is far from it, Humanewashing tries to make a cruel and inhumane situation seem “humane”.
One can observe radical spin doctoring in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) refusal to take full responsibility regarding their inhumane roundups that traumatize, injure and kill American wild horses and burros–our living treasures of the West. Keep in mind the BLM is paying PR people to invent spin to fool the public, government and lawmakers . . . How do you feel knowing that BLM spin is paid for with your tax dollars?
Find the BLM’s humanewashing in the Washington Post article below and we will post your comments. We are very thankful the Associated Press reported on the issue.
BLM: Nev. horse roundup included use of electric prods, whips, but treatment was not inhumane
What has happened to government accountability and transparency?
Tax money used for animal cruelty?
Old Gold notice pelvis. She can't get up. Whip coming at her. Eyes freaked. Agony! (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)
Protect Mustangs wants to see the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) take full responsibility for their cruel acts against wild horses and not humanewash it away with a report recommending humane protocol.
Many witnesses have documented animal cruelty towards America’s wild horses and burros especially during roundups at Calico, Triple B and Twin Peaks. We are grateful for the field work and need donations to continue our work in the field.
Expensive roundups are paid for with your tax dollars. Is this how you want your money spent?
Breaking News: Celebrities speak out against roundups & Old Gold’s death
"Old Gold was traumatized and killed," say the Barbi Twins. "Stop the Calico roundup now!"
Michael Blake and The Barbi Twins speak out against wild horse roundups
Do the death counts dupe Congress?
LOS ANGELES (November 28, 2011)—Academy Award winner-Michael Blake and the Barbi Twins join the American public and Protect Mustangs in their outrage over the death of Old Gold, a palomino wild mare who was euthanized by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) after being rounded up. Cat Kindsfather’s photos were released on the Protect Mustangs website showing the traumatized wild horse slammed into a metal panel at the trap, yet the (BLM) reports the mustang was euthanized because she was more than 20 years old—with a lack of body condition and worn teeth. The BLM counts Old Gold’s death as ‘not gather-related’. California-based Protect Mustangs believes the horse’s death is roundup-related and must be counted as such. They want Congress to be informed and taxpayers to know how their money is spent. Protect Mustangs asks the Obama Administration to freeze all roundups now, end inhumane treatment of wild horses and burros, save taxpayer money and conduct an exact head count on the ranges to know exactly how many treasured wild horses and burros exist in the wild.
“Old Gold was traumatized at the trap and slammed into a metal fence where she surely was injured,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs from Berkeley. “Congress hears about a 1% death rate at roundups but how can that be? BLM’s accountability is in question now that the agency lists Old Gold’s death as ‘non gather-related’”.
As of November 27th, six deaths have occurred at the Calico roundup. Five were listed as ‘non gather-related’ deaths—including killing Old Gold. Only one death has been classified as a “gather-related” death, according to the BLM death report.
“Killing the wild mare, Old Gold, is nothing new. The United States government has allowed its BLM and other agencies to kill animals forever . . . just for money,” states Michael Blake, Academy Award winning screenwriter of DANCES WITH WOLVES.
BLM must correct its policy to insure that the welfare of wild horses and burros is considered above the contractor’s payment per head for each animal rounded up and delivered to BLM.
Protect Mustangs is requesting transparency from the BLM about the amount paid per wild horse (adult and youngster) and at what point is the horse considered “delivered” for payment. Also they want to know if the contractor gets paid if a horse is euthanized after “delivery”.
“American taxpayers don’t want to pay for animal cruelty,” states Novak. “We don’t want wild horses and burros to be traumatized, injured and killed at the hands of our government. We want the roundups to stop now.”
Two winters ago BLM rounded up Calico wild horses in what was the deadliest wild horse roundup documented. Of the 1922 mustangs rounded up, more than 158 deaths are attributed to the roundup.
Protect Mustangs is concerned the 2011 Calico roundup will virtually wipe the wild horses off the half a million acre landscape near Gerlach, Nevada where Burning Man is held. They are circulating a petition to stop the Calico roundup.
“If it weren’t for horses, we wouldn’t have a country or a flag,” say The Barbi Twins (Shane & Sia). “Why can’t there be laws to protect them, like there are for the flag? Horses are living beings. Their blood’s been used to make the red in the red, white and blue, as you can see in the forthcoming movie, WAR HORSE.”
The wild horse advocacy group asks Congress for a full investigation into deaths at helicopter roundups and resulting from roundups 4 months after capture.
Protect Mustangs is a California-based non-profit whose mission is to inform the public about the mustang crisis, protect America’s 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
Kerry Becklund 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, video and interviews available upon request.
Links of interest:
KPFA Evening News Interview at 26:25 http://bit.ly/rssRl5
Questions over fate of “Old Gold” http://bit.ly/vr1MX9
Protect Mustangs asks Obama to stop dangerous Calico Roundup http://bit.ly/vgqIOv
BLM Death Report: http://on.doi.gov/vttLwA
Protect Mustangs’ Petition to Stop Calico Roundup: http://chn.ge/rBoej7
CBS reports on deadly 2010 Calico roundup stampede http://bit.ly/sZaHZ