Buckhorn/ Coppersmith comments due today
Studs at Short Term Holding (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)
Read the EA here: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/surprise/Buckhorn_and_Coppersmith_EA.Par.52464.File.dat/Rev%20FINAL_DRAFT_Buck_Copper_EA_RSN_9-04-12.pdf
Email comments to: BLM_CA_CBCwildhorses@blm.gov with Buckhorn/Coppersmith comments in the subject line.
Protect Mustangs Calls for Peaceful Protests to STOP the Roundups and STOP the BLM from selling wild indigenous horses to kill-buyers
It’s time to organize peaceful protests (large & small) and candlelight vigils so NO MORE wild horses will die from roundups, be tortured by the helicopters or sold to kill-buyers for delicacy meat abroad. Spread awareness in your communities and let your friends, family and neighbors know they can contact Congress if they don’t like their tax dollars used to fund cruel roundups.
Ask Congress to find a way to work WITH the wild indigenous horses to create biodiversity on the land–a win-win for wild horses, livestock, landowners, tourism and energy development on the New Energy Frontier.
“Show me a real independent headcount before we talk about fertility control,” says Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “There aren’t enough wild horses left on the range any more. The BLM will continue to roundup wild horses to treat mustangs with fertility control. Roundups have been deadly so far. Roundups are NOT the answer. Biodiversity is the answer.”
Join us to call for a moratorium on roundups.
“More than 52,000 indigenous wild horses have been captured and are in government holding,” explains Novak. “Selling ‘excess’ wild horses to kill-buyers is a heinous act and must stop now as well as the gluttony of roundups.”
If you don’t like the cruelty and deaths at roundups contact your senators and congresspeople and request they stop it now. Congress approves funding for roundups. YOUR tax dollars are paying to wipe out America’s wild indigenous horses.
Links of interest:
AP reports & Protect Mustangs speaks out against the gluttony of roundups: 3,500 Wild horses going to loose their freedom starting October 1st Federal roundup of wild horses burros starts today http://www.lvrj.com/news/federal-roundup-for-wild-horses-burros-starts-today-172056591.html
ProPublica reports: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the government http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt
Brutal report for day 1 of Nevada’s Antelope roundup. Two horses die. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3ppBnbr7g&feature=youtu.be
Day 3 of Antelope roundup. Foals are terrorized by the helicopter and chased too long on their tender hooves. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9LDAwZqyU&feature=youtu.be
Why are empty stock trailers pulling into BLM holding facilities when they are closed on Sunday at sunset?
Mustang Monday™: Contact Congress 10/1/12
Take Back the Power (© Protect Mustangs Photo © Cynthia Smalley)
Email, fax or call your senators and representatives to let them know that you want the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to stop selling our wild horses to alleged kill-buyers. Ask Congress to stop the fall roundups and freeze all others until the slaughter driven corruption is flushed out of the BLM.
Be sure to let YOUR elected officials know how you feel. You may choose to share these articles (below) with them.:
1.) www.daily-times.com/ci_21666897/feds-rounding-up-3-500-horses-burros?source=most_viewed
“They aren’t placing enough wild horses through adoption so they need to put a freeze on roundups,” said Anne Novak, executive director of Berkeley, Calif.-based group Protect Mustangs. “Killing them is not a solution. Selling them to slaughter is not a solution. They need to be responsible for their actions and stop the gluttony of roundups at taxpayer expense.”
and
“They are selling me mere hundreds now,” he said. “If they sold me 50,000, I guarantee I could do something with them. I would go to Canada. I would go to Mexico.”
Helicopter Chasing Wild Horses-Calico (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)
Cross-posted from Madison.com
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal officials plan to round up thousands of wild horses and burros across six Western states starting Monday.
The roundups will take place through February on drought-stricken range lands in Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
Contractors for the Bureau of Land Management will use helicopters plus bait- and water-trapping methods to corral 3,500 wild horses and burros, officials said.
In addition, more than 900 other horses will be captured for birth control injections and returned to range lands.
The government is already holding 47,000 horses, most of them on green pasture in the Midwest. Bureau of Land Management officials said it was a popular misconception that they send horses to slaughterhouses. The animals are protected under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
A small number of horses are put up for adoption, but most horses are kept until their final days in permanent corrals, officials said.
Owners of adopted horses must swear under the penalty of law that they do not plan to send horses to slaughter, said Heather Emmons, a BLM spokeswoman in Reno, Nev.
The BLM’s ability to care for ever-rising numbers of wild horses is a decision left to Congress, she said. The BLM says there are 11,000 more wild horses roaming public lands across the West than belong there.
In all, there are 37,300 wild horses and burros on public range lands across 10 Western states, the government says.
Officials said they have no choice but to cull wild horse herds. With virtually no predators, they say, the herds can double in population every four years.
Horse advocacy groups have been critical of government roundups and what they call the rough treatment of horses gathered up.
“They aren’t placing enough wild horses through adoption so they need to put a freeze on roundups,” said Anne Novak, executive director of Berkeley, Calif.-based group Protect Mustangs. “Killing them is not a solution. Selling them to slaughter is not a solution. They need to be responsible for their actions and stop the gluttony of roundups at taxpayer expense.”
BLM officials say comments suggesting they kill horses are irresponsible.
“We do not send horses to slaughterhouses,” said Chris Hanefeld, a BLM spokesman in Ely, Nev. “You can quote me.”
Several multi-month roundups will get under way across Nevada starting Monday. Officials plan to hold those horses at pens at Palomino Valley near Reno or at Utah’s Gunnison Correctional Facility until they can be prepared for adoption or sent to long-term pasture in the Midwest.
In Utah, one 400-horse roundup is planned for the Cedar Mountain herd, known as “Utah’s Rainbow Herd” because of its high number of pintos, roans, buckskins and grays. The herd is thought to be related to the mounts that the Standard Horse and Mule Co. supplied the U.S. Cavalry in the late 1800s.
Officials say they will release 250 of the Cedar Mountain horses after injecting them with a contraceptive. Roundups also will take place in two other Utah locations.
Elsewhere:
— In New Mexico, officials say 102 horses will be rounded up — and 66 later released — on the Carson National Forest. Another roundup will take place for 365 horses in the high desert of the Jiicarilla Wild Horse Territory. Ninety of those horses will be returned to the land after fertility injections.
— In Oregon, 105 horses will be removed from the Murderer’s Creek management area near Mount Vernon. None will be returned.
— In Idaho, 274 horses will be captured — and 137 released — on national forest land along the East Fork of the Salmon River. The BLM says this herd is comprised of a hardy, genetically diverse stock roaming across more than 240 square miles of mountains.
— In Wyoming, 810 horses will be rounded up — and 580 released — near Riverton. Another roundup is planned for 90 horses in the McCullough Peaks region near Cody. Twenty of those horses will be released to the range.
This is of the government’s most widespread roundups. Horse advocates say the practice should be scaled back.
“Rounding up only the number of wild horses they can adopt out is a viable solution that makes fiscal sense,” Novak said.
Cross-posted from: : http://host.madison.com/test/webfeeds/travel/feds-plan-roundup-for-wild-horses-burros/article_8ecaeacd-e009-5d3a-883f-91f179d5fc59.html#ixzz282cURQIr
Safe after the auction. Virgina Range 30 rescued Sept 26, 2012 (Photo Willis Lamm)
Happy babies were saved thanks to the team effort. Saved from kill-buyers. Saved because you spread the word and donated. We are deeply grateful to everyone who helped.
Advocates were bidding against auction house staff who kept raising the bids
Virginia Range Wild Horses @ Peace (Photo ©Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)
For immediate release:
RENO, Nevada (September 20, 2012) –Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund spearheaded and saved 23 historic Virginia Range wild horses from going to the kill-buyers last night. The herculean effort lead by Shannon Windle, president of Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund. Country singer Lacy Dalton’s non-profit, Let ‘Em Run Foundation, also raised funds for the rescue.
“We are very grateful everyone joined together to save the horses from Wild Horse Annie’s herd,” says Shannon Windle, president of Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund.
Last night many wild horse advocates and groups from the greater Reno area joined forces to help with transportation and foster care to make this rescue effort a success. The list includes the Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund, Let ‘Em Run Foundation, Least Resistance Training Concepts (LRTC) Horse Power and The Starlight Sanctuary with support from many other groups in the West. The efforts were coordinated through the Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates.
California-based Protect Mustangs joined in to help with outreach, raise awareness about the issue and contact Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval to stop the sale.
Donors contributed from across the USA and abroad to save Nevada’s indigenous wild horses from being sold to kill-buyers who sell the horses to slaughter plants for human consumption in foreign countries.
A staff member of the auction house was bidding as well as a kill-buyer against the wild horse advocates. Is it legal for the house to drive up the bids?
“How much did the auction house make with the owner driving the price up? ” asks Windle “Is this illegal?”
During the auction, a thin Virginia Range wild horse mare sold for over $500. while a stocky domestic buckskin sold for $200. A wild mare and foal sold for $1000 which is grossly abnormal at a livestock auction frequented by kill-buyers.
Advocates paid more than $11K to save the 23 wild horses–more than three times above market value.
31 additional wild horses will arrive at the auction house next week. More than 60 wild horses have been rounded up and face a horrific end if more foster homes, adopters and donors are not found quickly.
Essential donations are also needed to feed the wild horses rescued last night who will live in foster care until they are adopted or accepted into a sanctuary.
Send donations to the Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund here: http://hiddenvalleyhorses.com/main.php?c=donate
Governor Brian Sandoval ignored public outcry and took no action to save America’s iconic wild horses from going to an auction frequented by kill-buyers tonight.
“We hope Governor Sandoval realizes that outside of Nevada 80% of Americans are against horse slaughter,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of California-based Protect Mustangs. “This could be a pivotal point in his political career–the point where he tarnishes himself to the extent that he will never win the hearts of the 80%. He still has time to take action and become a hero and we hope he does.”
# # #
Follow Protect Mustangs on Facebook for updates
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913, Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Links of interest:
News 4 reported on the story last night: http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/default.aspx
News 4 reporting continues: http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-Horse-Advocacy-groups-go-through-bidding-war/k57ef-ffOkq2QbDJKkhPEg.cspx
Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund: http://hiddenvalleyhorses.com/main.php
Let ‘Em Run Foundation: http://www.letemrun.com/index.html
Lacy Dalton bio, president of Let ‘Em Run Foundation: http://www.letemrun.com/Lacy-Bio.htm
Least Resistance Training Concepts: http://www.whmentors.org/
Starlight Sanctuary http://thestarlightsanctuary.webs.com/
Governor Brian Sandoval: http://gov.nv.gov/
Plea to Governor Sandoval to stop Nevada from selling wild horses to killer-buyers at auctions: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=2459
Information on the Virginia Range wild horses: http://www.aowha.org/war/virginia_range0901.html
Protect Mustangs: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org
Nevada is one of many western states that are primarily comprised of “open range” land. The open range designation means that cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock are free to roam and feed over any property that is not fenced. Nevada, and other open range states, legislate “fence-out” laws that essentially say: if you don’t want other people’s livestock coming on your property, then it is your responsibility to fence your land adequately to prevent ingress. Your fencing also prevents egress for your livestock
Read more: Rural Fencing Rules in Nevada | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_7148677_rural-fencing-rules-nevada.html#ixzz26mvCdAOj
By U.S. Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
September 12, 2012 by ppjg
Debbie Coffey (c) Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved
_______________________________________________________________
When you read Madeleine Pickens letter to friends and supporters yesterday (9/11/2012), did any of you catch the fact that she called her planned Mustang Monument a “Wild Horse Eco-resort?” So when did this plan go from being a wild horse eco-sanctuary to an eco-resort?
(Not to even mention that the word “monument” can mean something erected as a memorial or as a marker at a grave or tombstone.)
Mrs. Pickens’ explains that her eco-resort plan will supposedly reduce the numbers of wild horses held in short term holding pens. Let’s do the math. If you take 900 horses out of short term holding to put in this eco-resort, but then you round up all of the horses off of the 3 HMAs, and they are then sent to short term holding, then haven’t you just added about the same amount of horses TO short term holding as you took out? Maybe you’ve even added more.
Mrs. Pickens wants us to believe this eco-resort “serves the greater good for our wild horses.” Let’s see, they’ve all had their “nuts” chopped off and will live with the same sex for the rest of their lives, without any children around them. Is this good? It’s certainly not natural.
In this letter Mrs. Pickens states “Already there are many people on both sides of this issue making assumptions and concluding the worst possible scenarios based on ‘proposed’ alternatives in the scoping documents.” (Doesn’t this sound dismissive of REAL concerns?) Well, yes, to some of us, removing horses from 3 Herd Management Areas and knowing that these 3 Herd Management Areas will then most likely be zeroed out and NOT Herd Management Areas anymore, and replaced with an eco-RESORT, is an assumption. But we see a pattern to what the BLM is doing. We can foresee that the BLM is removing ALL of the wild horses and slowly replacing them with non-reproducing herds.
Maybe the BLM and Mrs. Pickens would assume we wouldn’t think ahead and assume anything about Mrs. Pickens eco-resort plan and BLM’s other eco-sanctuary plans. Maybe they, and the BLM, didn’t assume anyone would care enough to spend many hours poring over Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports (thank you Bonnie Kohleriter, who is almost blind by now because she prepared spreadsheets that will soon be available to the public) and realize that the herds that are left are either not viable or at risk of losing viability. But we do.
We see what the BLM is doing. When we look at the facts, we see that the worst case scenario IS happening.
Mrs. Pickens also claims “I will never accept any proposed plan that threatens the life of a wild horse. We will do everything we can to hold all the existing horses harmless” But, the BLM’s eco-sanctuary plans DO threaten the lives of wild horses when they plan to remove more horses off of their federally protected HMAs. When the BLM removes horses from the HMAs, it DOES threaten the lives of horses during roundups and in holding facilities. We see this in person with our own eyes at roundups and when we look at the BLM’s own facility reports. Most importantly, the eco-sanctuaries could be on public lands that are NOT HMAs. And they should be, so that other wild horses won’t have to be removed from HMAs.
Mrs. Pickens’ letter states: “If any horses are required to moved, they will have a permanent home at Mustang Monument.” Really? Even those wild horses that will be removed from the 3 HMAs after your eco-resort is up and running? Will they also be left in their family bands? Mrs. Pickens states “I hope you will continue to put your trust and faith in me and Saving Americas Mustangs to find the best way to do this… I pledge to do this in the most benign way possible, always bearing in mind that the ultimate goal is free-roaming wild horses but so many that will never have that experience again without the creation of Mustang Monument.” This isn’t about putting trust and faith in you, it’s about holding the BLM accountable for the details and asking for their transparency.
It is NOT benign is that the public is not yet aware of all the details, which by BLM’s own admission are not even formulated yet. This is like buying a car without taking a test drive.
Is Mrs. Pickens going to make the trust, which will detail what will happen to the eco-resort in the future, available to the public, so that we can read it? Otherwise, this is asking you to go along with and support something you know little about. Would you sign any legal document without reading it?
Mrs. Pickens says that the “Mustang Monument is going to seem like a “dream come true” to the wild horses who go there. Will it be a dream come true when the remaining wild horses on these 3 HMAs are rounded up? Or will it be the usual nightmare that roundups are, and be a part of a BLM plan to whitewash the fact that it’s removing all of the wild horses off of their HMAs.
Mrs. Pickens states “we must work with the BLM to reach a conclusion that involves compromise.” Why do we have to compromise? This is all paid for with tax dollars (including BLM’s salaries, lest they forget), and we’ve already had to compromise way too much.
Madeleine Pickens states that “the ultimate goal is free-roaming wild horses” but the millions of dollars spent for this eco-resort would have gone a long way in legally stopping the BLM from removing the wild horses off of their HMAs. Otherwise, this is just a shell game.
Link to the original article: http://ppjg.me/2012/09/12/madeleine-pickens-eco-resort/
Not many people are aware that the state of Nevada is the legal owner of all wild horses in the state except those on public lands. Fewer yet are aware that Nevada will be making their horses available at a September 19th livestock auction where they will be sold by the pound.
“A livestock auction sale yard does not differentiate whether a person is a horse lover or a kill buyer that’s the unfortunate part of this,” stated Ed Foster , Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) spokesman, on a News 4 broadcast in Reno, Nevada.
Kill buyers transport horses to slaughter across the border. The meat then ends up on dinner plates in other countries.
Late in 2011 NDA Director, Jim Barbee, created a policy in which horses removed from the range were offered to the public on a first come first serve basis for a price of $90 each. These sales were open to “anyone with a checkbook”, but most attendees were wild horse advocates.
The announcement of a change in policy resulted in an overwhelming number of calls to Nevada Governor, Brian Sandoval. Most of the calls were referred to Mr. Foster. Governor Sandoval’s office had not responded to this mornings Examiner.com questions at the time of publication.
In conversation with Examiner.com, Foster cited the reason for a change in policy centered around the third public sale at which the advocates did not buy the horses from NDA, but waited and purchased them at auction. “They kind of jerked our chain a little bit”, said Foster. “I think the Director had a very reasonable offering to the groups to have these horses before anybody else had a chance to. They basically spit on that and I don’t think the Department was willing to go through this little exercise again with them.”
Advocates cite questions regarding the legality of the paperwork involved at that particular sale and say they were advised by their attorney not to participate.
There were subsequent sales in which the advocates purchased all the horses made available to them. Why would Director Barbee change policy after successful sales?
Foster stated he was not aware of any subsequent sales and was doubtful they had occurred, but promised to look into it.
The 23 horses involved in the auction were removed as “nuisance” horses along the Virginia Range foothills of east Reno. Foster indicated in the broadcast that Virginia Range horses were coming down into residential areas of Reno because they were starving. When asked about emergency planning by Examiner.com, he stated, ” There is no emergency plan for the horses due to the drought… The big picture is, and this is the rule of the planet, it’s survival of the fittest.” Foster spoke of the lack of funding and went on to point out, “There’s nothing other than for us to respond to citizen complaints regarding the horses.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has CHANGED the article that was getting many hits and comments. The link is the same but now the article is skewed and biased against the indigenous wild horse.
The advocates voices have been gagged. Quotes by Anne Novak (Protect Mustangs) and Suzanne Roy (AWHPC) have been erased from the article published on September 2nd, 2012. Why?
Here is the link: http://www.lvrj.com/news/nevada-wildlife-refuge-to-remove-all-wild-horses-168331946.html?ref=946
The original article published in the Review was identical to the one published at The Republic also on the 2nd.
Why would a Las Vegas newspaper censor quotes supporting the indigenous wild horse’s rights to live in a national wildlife refuge?