Help save Nevada’s Virginia Range wild horses from cruelty and probable slaughter

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

The public around the world is outraged at the photos showing cruelty toward young native wild horses.

We want Governor Sandoval to stop allowing the Nevada Department of Agriculture to let citizens cruelly trap wild horses.

We strongly encourage you to call, email and/or fax Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval,
http://gov.nv.gov/contact/governor/

Office Phone: (775) 684-5670

Office Fax: (775) 684-5683

The baby horse was manhandled–the men put twine around her neck and inhumanely pulled her into the trap. Next the Nevada Department of Agriculture processes the wild horses and sells them at an auction where kill buyers shop for horses to sell to slaughter. This is heinous!

Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund has been buying all the Virginia Range wild horses at the auction. They are saving them (125+) but they are a small volunteer nonprofit and can’t afford to do this anymore unless you help them to help the wild horses in this crisis.

What’s the long term answer? Cooperative agreements with Nevada and local advocate groups such as Hidden Valley to help those wild horses labelled a nuisance by developers because urban sprawl has encroached on the mustangs’ wild lands.

Nevada is a fence out state. Developers, such as the one who hired the men in the photo to catch wild horses, should fence out their property if they don’t want wildlife on their land.

Native wild horses should never be treated this way. Nevada needs to stop this condoned cruelty now.

Here is a comment from the photographer:

Bo Rodriguez says:

“The foal was three weeks old, an the developers DiLoreto and Damonte are responsible for this also. They have allowed an continue to allow Nevada Department of Agriculture to trap horses on their properties. I have photos of them there at the trap an heard Mr Damonte say he didn’t care for the horses, an wanted them all gone. Tom DiLorreto said he followed states guide lines to the tee. But as you can see, the state must have changed its policy of handling animals humanly to do what you have to, to get rid of it an get the money from the kill buyers as fast as you can.

I did not enjoy taking these photos of the three week old foal being drug around by a piece of bailing twin, it was a long and traumatic for both protesters and horses. There has to be a better solution.”

Please send your donations directly to Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund so they can keep saving the Virginia Range wild horses from going to slaughter. The link is here: http://hiddenvalleyhorses.com/main.php?c=donate

Thank you for taking action to save Nevada’s wild horses from cruelty and probable slaughter.

All my best wishes,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

Desatoya roundup begins with foal abuse

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

“Hogtieing a young foal and leaving it in the middle of a stampede of wild horses shows how inhumane and incompetent the BLM’s roundup contractor is,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “They should be fired immediately.”

“We are grateful Holly Hazard witnessed the alleged abuse,” Novak explains. “If she hadn’t seen this, the public would not have known that the cruel roundups are continuing despite the BLM’s promise for a ‘new normal’ by bait trapping.”

“We need more eyes on roundups to protect mustangs,” says Novak.

BLM experiments on wild horses with SpayVac®

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

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

Unedited Press Releasefrom the BLM August 27, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have begun a five-year wild horse contraceptive study at the BLM’s short-term holding facility in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. The pasture breeding study will test the effectiveness of two formulations of the investigational contraceptive vaccine SpayVac® to determine if the treatment can reduce foaling rates in wild horse mares.

The goal is to see if SpayVac®, a novel formulation of a glycoprotein called porcine zona pellucida (PZP), will provide a longer-term effect than other PZP vaccines currently used by the BLM. If the vaccine is found to reduce foaling in this controlled setting, it will be considered for use with free-roaming horses to help control population growth rates on the range.

As the primary agency responsible for management of wild horses on U.S. public lands, the BLM has a need for a long-lasting contraceptive agent to control herd growth rates. Given the protection afforded by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and a general lack of natural predators, wild horse populations increase at an average rate of 20 percent a year and can quickly exceed the carrying capacity of their ranges.

The BLM, as part of its development of a new wild horse and burro management strategy, has been stepping up its efforts to reduce population growth rates in wild horse herds using contraceptive agents. A main limitation of the agents currently available is that they are of relatively short duration or need to be administered annually. Maximizing the duration of contraceptive effectiveness is especially important in wild horses, which in most cases must be captured in order for the treatment to be successfully administered.

In the BLM-USGS study, 90 mares have been treated with either one of two formulations of the vaccine or a placebo. The mares will be followed for five years to measure anti-PZP antibody levels and compare the foaling rates between treated horses and controls. Although breeding is not usually allowed to occur in BLM facilities, a clinical trial in this controlled environment will provide critical information on how well SpayVac® works as a contraceptive.

The mares and stallions enrolled in the study were selected from horses already in BLM holding facilities. They are being housed in three 30-acre pastures and will be together during the next five breeding seasons. Foals that are born during the study will be offered for adoption each fall after they have been weaned. At the conclusion of the study, all adult horses will be returned to the BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse Program or placed in long-term pasture facilities.

The BLM has an interagency agreement with the USGS for research and scientific support, and this study is a collaborative effort with scientists from the USGS, veterinarians with the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and TerraMar Environmental Research LLC.

Contacts:	Paul McGuire	, 405-794-9624
	Heather Emmons	, 775-861-6594
	Tom Gorey	, 202-912-7420

Send comments against roundup and SpayVac® for Wyoming wild horses

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

Release Date: 07/06/12

Contacts:		Sarah Beckwith
		307-347-5207

BLM Releases Preliminary EA for North Lander Complex Wild Horse Gather

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lander Field Office announces that a preliminary environmental assessment (EA) analyzing a proposed wild horse gather in the North Lander Wild Horse Herd Management Area Complex is now available for review.The North Lander Complex is located east of Riverton within Fremont County, Wyo. The proposed gather is expected to take place in fall, 2012.The preliminary EA analyzes four alternatives and is available by visiting the BLM website at: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/lfo/N-Lander-gather.html.The 30 day comment period runs from July 9 through August 7, 2012. Comments may be emailed to: BLM_WY_North_Lander_Gather@blm.gov(please include “North Lander Gather EA Comments” in the subject line). Comments may also be mailed to BLM Lander Field Office, Attn: Scott Fluer, 1335 Main Street, Lander, WY, 82520.For more information, visit: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/lfo/N-Lander-gather.html, or contact BLM Wild Horse Specialist Scott Fluer at 307-332-8400.

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–Lander Field Office 1335 Main Street Lander, WY 82520

Last updated: 07-06-2012

BLM fluff snares the Sacramento Bee

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

Stop the Roundups Rally at the Federal Courthouse in Sacramento ~ organized by Protect Mustangs & Native Wild Horse Protection. (Photo © Respect 4 Horses.)

We were looking for an article about the Sacramento protest, where more than 25 dedicated advocates from around the West endured 104 degrees in front of the Federal Courthouse to stand up against roundups. Sadly only a fluff piece was published that belittled public outrage over cruel roundups.

BLM California’s Amy Dumas is quoted as saying “most people who protest roundups don’t understand them”.

” . . . Until last fall, all of the horses were living in the wild, according to Amy Dumas, manager of the wild horse program for BLM in California.

She said they had been gathered in a round-up, a BLM tactic used to maintain the growing population of wild horses. She likened the process to a helicopter acting as a sheepdog and herding horses into pens.

Roundups are controversial – on Tuesday, about 15 people from throughout California and Nevada protested BLM’s roundup program outside of Sacramento’s federal courthouse. The protestors said horses are a national symbol of freedom that deserve to stay in the wild and roundups are abusive.

Dumas said most people who protest roundups don’t understand them. Beverly Moss, who attended Saturday’s event with family members, agreed and said she has watched a BLM roundup.

“I did not see abuse at all,” she said. “I felt like they really cared about the horses.”

Please comment at the link and share this so others will have a chance to comment on BLM spin.

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