Tag Archives: Congress

Scandal Unfolds: Rare Water Canyon foals are up for adoption before the Gonacon™ experiment wrecks havoc in the herd

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We are updating this page so check back for more information as the scandal unfolds. Updates are being posted towards the bottom.

Save the young victims of the cruel experiment!

Wild foals captured from the Water Canyon portion of the Antelope Herd Management Area in eastern Nevada are up for adoption. They are the victims of a roundup to EXPERIMENT on wild horses with GONACON™. Nine weanlings and two yearlings are being held together at the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley, north of Reno, Nevada. They need to be saved now and hopefully in pairs because this is so painful for them to have lost their families!

The wild horses are available for walk-up adoption from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturdays. All of the horses have received vaccinations and their bloodwork is completed. Brand inspections will be performed and health certificates issued on all adopted horses.

Applications are available for download (.pdf) at http://on.doi.gov/1A0eAfw.

For more information, contact Jeremy Wilhelm, BLM public contact person, at (775) 475-2222.

The GONACON™ EXPERIMENT is being humane-washed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and their partners. They are perpetrating the overpopulation myth when in truth America’s wild horses are underpopulated. In their experiment they are releasing only a fraction.

Alleged wild horse advocate, Jeannie Nations, is the Project Coordinator (unpaid volunteer) of the experiment. Nations was also proposing PZP experiments as a BLM RAC member in October 2014 as you see here: http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/nv/resources/racs/ne_rac/meeting_presentations.Par.34609.File.dat/14-10-16-negb-jnations-proposal.pdf

Nations says, “I wanted to mention also, that we did a quick online petition for about 6 days with American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign regarding this same proposal and we had over 19,000 people from all around the country and the world in favor of doing this pilot program.This just goes to show how badly people want a positive change in wild horse management!

Do people realize what they are signing and supporting when they sign petitions put out by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign? Are they reading the whole document or just reading the first paragraph and clicking quickly to add their name?

Why did the BLM take the Spin Dr.’s push for fertility control and turn it into an EXPERIMENT with GONACON™?  It’s a slippery slope when “advocates” partner up with BLM for fertility control . . . American herds are becoming nonviable and will be wiped out.

GONCACON™ is an immunocontraceptive that Big Pharma calls a “vaccine“. Yet fertility is not a disease so calling it a vaccine doesn’t make sense. It is registered with the EPA as a restricted use pesticide. http://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/registration/fs_PC-116800_01-Sep-09.pdf 

GONACON™ like PZP is an EPA  restricted use pesticide (see photo below). The BLM and their supporters are experimenting on America’s wild horses because the Feds see them as PESTS and want to dispose of them slowly . . . They hope the public won’t realize what’s happening.

Now it’s clear that some alleged “wild horse advocates” pushing fertility control, like PZP and GONACON™, are helping BLM not wild horses.

See who is involved in this experiment and know what exactly they are doing: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/Water_Canyon_Growth_Suppression_Pilot_Program.html

Update 5:27 pm PST: Why is the BLM’s Project Coordinator (volunteer) of the GONACON™ EXPERIMENT and BLM RAC member now raising money for her alleged Angels Acres Rescue to adopt the “Lucky 11” as she calls them? Yes she is calling the victims of this horrible GONACON™ EXPERIMENT and roundup “Lucky”.

PM Nations Screen Shot 2015-12-17 at 5.27.38 PM

 

Ask yourself if this:

Why didn’t the well funded wild horse preservation groups fight in court to stop the Water Canyon roundup?  

Was this just another opportunity to get more donor data by sending out an online petition but do nothing to stop the roundup?

Is it because they are in with BLM, want more names on their email lists to push for fertility control?

Follow the money . . .

 

PM Water Canyon Foal 2 2015

 

Photos from BLM taken by the experiment’s project coordinator (volunteer) Jeannie Nations in public domain

Elko Daily News reports on the GONACON™ EXPERIMENT: http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/nature-notes-wild-horse-contraception-research/article_8da74080-34c0-5f7a-8ba9-65578d5254b4.html

November 08, 2015 5:45 am • LARRY HYSLOP
A research project north of Ely will look at maintaining a stable wild horse population using a contraceptive. The goal is to treat mares with Gonacon, a commercial contraceptive, and then watch them over several years to make sure the project mares do not produce foals.

Jeanne Nations is a volunteer project coordinator who lives in the area, frequently visits the horses and knows most by sight. She will handle the on-site adoptions and help Ben Noyes, in charge of the project, and the Wild Horse Specialist in the BLM Ely District Office. Jeanne said if this research is successful, she hopes it could help other areas provide a more humane way to keep wild horse populations under control.

The Northeastern Nevada Resource Advisory Council recently visited the project site, after submitting a letter to the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program supporting Jeanne’s project.

The research site is north of Ely, on a narrow strip of public land 12-15 miles long between U.S. Highway 93 and the Schell Creek Range. A fairly isolated group of 66 wild horses currently live in this part of the Antelope Herd Management Area, which has 803 wild horses with an Appropriate Management Level of 324. The nearest other wild horses to this project area are over the mountains to the east.

Trapping has begun and Ben has gathered 35 horses so far. All the rest of the area horses will be trapped this fall. Ben feels he can capture all the area horses using water and bait trapping but will use other techniques if needed.

While the last few members of the Council were visiting the trap site, seven horses came into the trap to eat hay and drink water, showing they are quite comfortable with the trap.

About 30 horses will be part of the project, with the rest removed from the area. It is hoped on-site adoptions will take most of the removed horses but any remaining will be taken to holding areas. People interested in adoption can email Jeanne at jnphotography@hughes.net.

The project horses kept on the site will consist of 15 stallions and 15 mares, having an assortment of ages. After capture, mares will be treated with Gonacon and freeze branded. DNA samples will be collected from all horses. The problem then is the mares must receive a booster 30 days later, so all mares and some of the stallions will be kept in holding pens.
After the 30 days, the horses will be released back into their home range. Ben feels the horses should have no problem re-habituating to their open range after a month of daily hay and abundant water.

Ben and Jeanne will keep an eye on the mares and watch them for pregnancies. The mares will need to be gathered again in two years to receive another booster.

There is a good chance the project mares are now pregnant and will produce foals the first year. However, these treatments should keep the mares from becoming pregnant again during the length of the project. After the project ends, it is hoped the mares will then become pregnant. Other horses may cross the mountains to join this group but they will not throw off the research since only the branded mares will be watched.

Links of interest:

Read Jack Ferm’s The BLM wild horse roundup continues: follow the money for a good overview of the situation: http://suindependent.com/blm-wild-horse-roundup-continues/

and his piece Why is the BLM killing wild horses? http://suindependent.com/blm-killing-wild-horses/

 

Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




Stop the war on wild horses

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The War on Wild Horses

The War on Wild Horses

Icons of freedom are under attack

Take action against the war on wild horses by contacting your congressional representative today. Request an immediate moratorium on roundups before the herds are wiped out and symbols of the American spirit are trafficked to slaughter.

The evidence is in they are being sold to slaughter violating the public trust and the news story is going viral.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been selling America’s protected wild horses by the truckload to kill buyers like Tom Davis, as revealed in the Inspector General’s report released October 23rd

Please sign and share the petition to increase the fine for trafficking a wild horse to slaughter to $50,000. Since kill buyers are motivated by profit, the fines need to increase to make buying wild horses and selling them to slaughter a risky and unprofitable business.

The BLM has plans to sterilize herds to manage them to extinction. This is a gross violation of the Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act and must be stopped. How? We need to start rallying to raise public awareness, write letters and meet with elected officials to demand the BLM stop managing wild horses to extinction. The clock is ticking . . .

Some mustang groups have bought into a belief that fertility control drugs like PZP made from slaughterhouse pig ovaries and others are needed to “control” population when the truth is there aren’t enough wild horses left on public land that has been ravaged by livestock overgrazing. Before you agree to PZP ask yourself, “Are there really too many wild horses left on public land?”

America’s wild horses are an indigenous species that must be protected to fill their niche in the ecosystem and inspire future generations with their beauty and spirit. Take action today!

 

Links of interest™

Viral news story on wild horses sold to slaughter: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/10/24/investigation-says-buyer-shipped-horses-killed-meat-mexico/74547060/

Inspector General’s report: https://www.doioig.gov/reports/investigative-report-bureau-land-management-wild-horse-buyer

Forum on PZP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ForumPZPWildHorsesBurros

Petition for a Moratorium on Roundups: https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-recovery-and-studies

Petition to Stop Wild Horse Trafficking: https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-u-s-senate-u-s-house-of-representatives-increase-fines-to-50-000-per-mustang-for-selling-american-wild-horses-to-slaughter

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

Protect Mustangs: http://protectmustangs.org

BREAKING NEWS: Sudden protest against BLM censorship, wild horse roundups and using PZP (pesticide) to manage wild horses to extinction

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PM Edita Cat

 

BLM refused to hear public comments at “public” meeting

MINDEN, NV (January 22, 2015)—Edita Birnkrant, Campaigns Director for Friends of Animals (FoA) flew out from New York City with FoA correspondent Nicole Rivard to give public comments at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public meeting about the Carson City District Draft Resource Management Plan which calls to zero out 6 treasured herds of wild horses. After being denied her rights at the public meeting, held at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, Nevada this afternoon, Birnkrant took over the microphone at the BLM meeting and held up yellow crime scene tape while Rivard filmed the protest against censorship and managing wild horses to extinction. Birnkrant was threatened with arrest by Nevada Sheriffs while holding up her banner. The hotel manager made Rivard stop filming and told the advocates they were being thrown out of the hotel, even though they had booked rooms there that night.

 

Statement from Edita Birnkrant:

“While we were waiting to go into the meeting a man told a BLM staffer “I wanna open up a horse butcher shop”. Then a few other guys started making jokes about how tender horse meat is. The BLM guy just chuckled but didn’t tell them it was inappropriate.

I was outraged that the BLM dared to hold a “public ” meeting and forbid the public from speaking. I took over the microphone to call out the sham of a BLM meeting, that shut out the public, and I said that Friends of Animals was there tonight to oppose the BLM’s extinction plan for wild horses in Nevada. I said the BLM is managing wild horses to extinction through roundups and PZP and we are outraged and demand it stop. I held our banner that said “Stop the BLM’s Criminal Reign of Terror. Protect Wild Horses Under the Endangered Species Act” The sheriffs were surrounding me at that point threatening to arrest me unless I left. I still had the banner and was shouting “the BLM is charged with crimes against wild horses”.

Then the hotel manager at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, Nevada—Phil Dohrn–started bullying us and got in Nicole’s face. He pushed against her—blocking the camera and told her she had to shut her video off and we were getting thrown out.

Three extremely hostile sheriffs and the Carson Valley Inn manager escorted us to our rooms and waited outside while we packed our bags. They pounded on the door to hurry us or they’d arrest us. They called additional sheriffs to the hotel during all this. We left the hotel shocked that the Carson Valley Inn treats paying guests who exercise their First Amendment rights in their meeting room like this.”

The federal plan for public land in the Reno/Carson area is of interest to all Americans from coast to coast. Citizens care about public land and want federally protected wild horses protected by the law that allows them to roam freely without harassment.

PZP is an EPA approved restricted-use pesticide (http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf) that sterilizes wild mares after multiple use. Americans are learning about the dangers of PZP and are outraged the BLM would allow this to be used on wild horses.

Friends of Animals, an international animal protection organization founded in 1957, advocates for the rights of animals, free-living and domestic around the world. www.friendsofanimals.org

# # #

Friends of Animals’ public comments that advocates were not allowed to read and were given to Collen Sievers the BLM BLM Project Manager for Carson City District at the public hearing on the draft resource management plan for Carson City District

Edita Birnkrant, FoA’s campaigns director 917-940-2725

The opinion of the American public, as declared through Congress is clear: “wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.” BLM has an obligation to consider wild horses as an integral part of the natural system of public lands.

It appears from the Carson City’s Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Environmental Impact Statement that the BLM failed to take into consideration critical information about wild horses and failed to consider any alternatives that promote a free and viable wild horse population.

Friends of Animal is here to urge BLM to reevaluate its Resource Management Plan.

We ask that BLM consider an alternative that: (1) maintains all wild horse herd management areas; (2) prohibits conflicting uses on herd management areas; and (3) prohibits efforts to eradicate wild horses, such as round-ups, fertility control and sterilization. BLM must take into consideration the small population of wild horses and the potential that they will be listed as a threatened or endangered species under the Federal Endangered Species Act. From a scientific perspective, wild horses on our public lands are at risk of extinction if BLM does not change its management plans.

BLM does not provide adequate area for wild horses. Under the current RMP, approximately 4.8 million acres of public lands covered by the plan are open for private ranchers to graze cattle and sheep while only 1.2 million acres are reserved for wild horses. In the preferred alternative the ratio or area available for cattle and sheep grazing is also more than 4 times that available for wild horses.

Moreover, under no alternative, are cattle and sheep prohibited from grazing on wild horse herd management areas. BLM must consider an alternative that provides contiguous habitat for wild horses to roam freely.

Second, all alternatives for the proposed Resource Management Plan allows BLM to continue managing horses at artificially low populations, or appropriate management levels. This results in expensive, and cruel round-ups that tear the wild horses from their homes and families and place them in tax funded holding facilities. This is one of the largest threat to wild horses on U.S. lands. Experts have warned that the “majority of wild equid populations managed by the BLM are kept at population sizes that are small enough for the loss of genetic variation to be a real concern.”

The Equid Specialist Group of IUCN Species Survival Commission recommends minimum populations of 2,500 individuals for the conservation of genetic diversity. Others have warned that populations managed with a target size of fewer than 500 horses are at some risk of losing more than 90 percent of selective neutral genetic variation over a period of 200 years.

There are no herds that have a large enough population to meet the recommendation of the IUCN Species Survival Commission – 2,500 animals—and only 1 out of 17 of the herd management areas in this planning area has an appropriate management level set to 500 or more. Limiting horses to an artificially low number is short-sighted and ineffective because it could prompt short-term population growth.

Finally, Friends of Animals submitted a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service asking it to recognize wild horses as threatened or endangered. The Endangered Species Act requires the government to make final determination on the petition within 12 months – which would be this June. The BLM should not undermine this legal process by allowing BLM to round-up and remove wild horses from Carson City herd management areas. Not only would such actions undermine the Endangered Species Act, but they would also put the viability of the horses here at risk. Instead the plan should recommend BLM halt all efforts to remove wild horses, and allow Fish and Wildlife Service to review the law and facts in regards to wild horses.
Nicole Rivard, correspondent, FoA 203-910-1217

As my colleague just pointed out, all but one of the 17 herd management areas in the Carson City District has an appropriate management level set to 500 or more. Everywhere else the loss of genetic viability is a real concern. So additional roundups, which destroy social structure that can lead to population spikes, as well as consideration of administering fertility control, should be removed from this Carson City District Plan immediately if not sooner.
While some wild horse advocates may claim fertility control drugs, such as PZP, is the lesser of two evils, we at FoA believe birth control is equally harmful and inhumane as roundups. In most cases—even the BLM admits this—wild horses would still have to be captured to be treated with the pesticide before being released.

The widespread use of PZP is really very contrary to the true core intent of the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, which was to restore wild horses as naturally, integrated, harmonious components of the public land ecosystem who are not overly tampered with. Deciding which animal should give birth or not is a very invasive, unacceptable thing to do to these wild animals.

Studies have revealed adverse effects of PZP— that it sterilizes wild horses after multiple uses and results in risky foal birth out of season and significant behavioral changes that can affect the health of the herd.

BLM’s discussion regarding a population control program in the EIS is inaccurate and unsupported. They claim fertility control limits the stress of pregnancy on mares, and helps stallions as they will not be exerting extra energy fighting to control mares or raising foals.

What about the stress on mares of not being able to get pregnant as nature intended!

We urge the BLM to look beyond data provided by the Humane Society of the United States, which has a vested interest in PZP as it is the registrant of the pesticide, and Jay Kirkpatrick, the director of the Science and Conservation Center, which produces the active ingredient in PZP. For instance a 2009 Princeton University study of the horses on Shackleford Banks in North Carolina, who began getting PZP in 2000, showed that prolonged infertility has significant consequences on social behavior.

Researchers found that females who were receiving contraception were much more likely to change groups. Normally bands are really very stable, said researcher Cassandra Nunez, and mares will stay with males much if not all of their lives. That stability is really important for the health of the group members. Foal mortality increases when there are a bunch of different changes, and parasite load of animals in the group can go up because they are getting more stressed.

In a later study in 2010, Nunez found that recipients of PZP also extend the receptive breeding period into what is normally the non-breeding season, resulting in foal birth out of season.

Normally the winter is spent eating as much as they can, and everyone is more relaxed. Males tend to let females roam farther, which is good because food is patchier. So all of this is changing because of extended cycling.
Nunez also noted it’s taking a while for the contracepted mares, who were taken off PZP in 2009, to respond physiologically. So that flexibility that you think you have with PZP…it’s not really that flexible.”

It is imperative that BLM reduce the number of cattle and sheep allowed to graze on public lands, as well as consider holistic resource management plan, such as reserve design, which is described in detail in Craig Downer’s Book the Wild Horse Conspiracy. Both options would adequately protect these majestic animals so that they can persist for future generations.

Friends of Animals, an international animal protection organization founded in 1957, advocates for the rights of animals, free-living and domestic around the world. www.friendsofanimals.org

# # #

BLM Nevada News
CARSON CITY DISTRICT OFFICE NO. CCDO 2015-11
FOR RELEASE: November 28, 2014
CONTACT: Lisa Ross, 775-885-6107, lross@blm.gov

Draft Resource Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement Available for
BLM Carson City District

Carson City, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is asking the public to review and comment on a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Carson City District. The draft plan will affect approximately 4.8 million acres of public land. The comment period opened with the publication of a notice of availability in the Federal Register on November 28, 2014. Comments will be accepted during a 120-day period which closes March 27, 2015.

Public meetings to review and comment on the draft EIS will be announced at least 15 days in advance in local newspapers and on the BLM website.

The plan will address: Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, lands and realty, utility corridors, wind energy, travel management, recreation, fish and wildlife, minerals, wild and scenic rivers, public health and safety, and visual resource management.

Public meetings on the Draft RMP/Draft EIS are currently scheduled for 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.; on January 13, at the John Ascuaga’s Nugget (1100 Nugget Ave.) in Sparks, Nev.; on January 15, at the Fallon Convention Center (100 Campus Way) in Fallon, Nev.; on January 20, at the Mineral County Library (First & A Street) in Hawthorne, Nev.; on January 22, at the Carson Valley Inn (1627 US Hwy 395 N) in Minden, Nev.; and on January 29, at the Yerington Elementary School (112 N. California St.) in Yerington, Nev. An additional public meeting will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., on January 24, at the Carson City Plaza Hotel and Event Center (801 South Carson Street) in Carson City, Nev. Additional public meetings are anticipated in coordination with local County Commissions and Boards of Supervisors.

Written comments related to the Carson City District Draft RMP/Draft EIS may be submitted by any of the following methods:
• Website: http://on.doi.gov/1uYBNGT• E-mail: BLM_NV_CCDO_RMP@blm.gov
• Fax: 775-885-6147
• Mail: BLM Carson City District, Attn: CCD RMP, 5665 Morgan Mill Rd., Carson City, NV 89701.

Copies of the Carson City District Draft RMP/Draft EIS are available in the Carson City District Office at the above address or on the following website: http://on.doi.gov/1uYBNGT

Visit The Facebook Forum on PZP for more https://www.facebook.com/groups/ForumPZPWildHorsesBurros

#horses #animals #AnimalCruelty #FreeSpeech #Nevada #Tourism #WildHorses #mustangs #Tesla #money #energy #mining #water #yelp #hotel #travel #Reno #Tahoe #Sheriff #Carson #PZP #EPA #roundup #America

Captive wild horses and burros need your help!

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Dear Friends of Wild Horses and Burros,

You have the power to make change.

People protested and public outcry grew with the number of signatures on the petition. When we investigated Nevada’s captive pens filled with roundup survivors, we found young captive wild horses were dying in the triple digit heatwave. (Video: http://bit.ly/1w5l4pp)

A few months later, the BLM held a public workshop in Reno, Nevada to address public outcry for shade and shelter in BLM holding pens. Instead of working with the public to brainstorm, they announced their decision to place shade only in the sick pens and informed the public they would be conducting shade “studies” to determine if captive wild horses needed shade.

Now BLM Wyoming at Rock Springs is making similar changes. You can read about it here. They will be installing wind screens along the west side of the facility and placing protective shelters in the sick pens. This is not enough!

The feds’ proposed remedies in Nevada and Wyoming are a small step in the right direction. We must bring them to understand that ALL the captive wild horses and burros need access to shelter from the elements.

The BLM is dragging their feet and the federal employees whose salaries are paid for with your tax dollars are very lazy. They will only change their inhumane policy if we all get much louder!

Keep up the pressure and turn up the volume. Share the petition daily to get more signatures. http://www.change.org/p/bring-emergency-shelter-and-shade-to-captive-wild-horses-and-burros This is a grassroots effort and together we can do this for the captive wild ones!

Meet with your senators and representative. Show them the petition to bring shelter and shade to captive wild horses and burros. Play for them the video exposing roundup cruelty: http://bit.ly/1toytZY Politely request they intervene to put an end to the suffering in the pens. Let them know you would like a response to your request and follow up with them often.

If you cannot meet with your elected officials then mail them a handwritten letter requesting they bring access to shelter and shade for all captive wild horses and burros at the holding facilities. After all, this is what the BLM requires of adopters so why should it be any different for the BLM? The cruelty must stop now!

Keep fighting for the voiceless who suffer. Together we can turn this around.

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director
Contact@ProtectMustangs.org
www.ProtectMustangs.org

They continue the cruelty

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“It was hot with the desert sun beating down on PVC,” explains Anne Novak. “We were in the car with the AC on and the poor captive mustang was suffering and clinging to the fence for a strip of shade.”

Dear Friends of Wild Horses & Burros,

Last week we visited the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Palomino Valley Center near Reno, Nevada. It’s the largest short-term holding and adoption facility in the U.S. for captive wild horses and burros coming from the roundups. We have been deeply concerned the BLM continues to commit acts of animal cruelty towards captive wild horses and burros despite international public outcry so we investigated the situation again.

During 85 degree sunny high desert weather, many wild horses in the pens were showing signs of heat stress with rapid breathing. Their coats were coming in for the winter and some mustangs were clinging to the fence and the feeders for what little shade they could find. It was a heartbreaking sight.

The majority of the pens had no shade or shelter. Some shade “studies” appear to be ongoing in the sick pens and another internal pen.

Many wild horses were overweight and their feet looked horrible. Many young wild horses have developed clubbed feet due to lack of proper foot care after being taken off the range by the feds. In the wild, their feet wear down naturally but when captured it is the BLM’s responsibility to care for them.

The majority of captive wild horses looked depressed. The burros looked unhappy too.

The BLM has repeatedly refused offers to help bring shade and shelter to the wild captives and is telling elected officials they are “doing something” by conducting studies with U.C. Davis to determine if shade and shelter is needed. Their PR tactics are outrageous. Everyone knows penned animals need access to shelter in extreme weather!

Right now the BLM is committing heinous acts of cruelty and must be held 100% accountable. The three basics of animal husband are 1.) Food, 2.) Water 3.) Shelter. Does each pen of wild horses or burros provide access to shelter? No.

With the recent good news that the feds will make animal cruelty a top-tier felony, it’s time right NOW to contact your elected officials and request for immediate action to bring shade and shelter to all captive wild horses and burros in ALL the pens not just select sick pens.

PM Shade Cruelty

Take action to inform your voices in government that the BLM’s ongoing shade studies are delaying action and causing captive wild equids ongoing suffering.

Make an appointment to meet in person with your representative and senators. Politely request they stop the animal cruelty–paid for with tax dollars. If you cannot go in person then send them this video: http://bit.ly/1nr5d2M from our 2013 investigation and let them know that since this video was taken, only a few sick pens appear to have flimsy shade structures. Kindly remind them that animal cruelty is becoming a top-tier felony so they need to take it seriously. More than a thousand wild horses and burros are being abused in the pens because the BLM and the Department of Interior are denying them access to shelter.

You may contact Congress here: http://bit.ly/1ihTCwj . Send your elected officials a handwritten letter and encourage your children to mail in drawings asking for shelter too.

For everyone who has signed this petition, we must pull together to double the number of signatures and then we have a plan to make a big impact . . .

Email the petition http://chn.ge/ZGEgx3 to everyone you know with a personal plea asking them to sign and share it so together we can pressure the BLM to bring them shade and shelter. Share the petition daily on your Facebook page and in groups asking others to share out because more extreme weather is coming soon.

Public opinion is very important with elections only weeks away. Let’s put it to work to stop the abuse of America’s wild horses and burros. Hold your elected officials accountable to STOP the CRUELTY now!

In deep gratitude,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org
https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak
https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Sign and Share the DEFUND and STOP the ROUNDUPS Petition: http://www.change.org/p/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

Ask @NYTimes to OPEN public comments on controversial article about wild horses

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Where are wild horses?™

It’s Wild Horse Wednesday™ and your voice for wild horses is needed to Stop the CENSORSHIP in the New York Times!

Politely request the Times open public comments in this biased article: As Wild Horses Overrun the West, Ranchers Fear Land Will Be Gobbled Up 

It looks like this spin piece has been placed in one of America’s best newspapers as part of a sagebrush rebellion campaign that is pro-slaughter. They want to sway the public into accepting the mass killing and slaughter of America’s wild horses in captivity and on the range. Even the headline is not factual. There are no “wild horses overrunning the West”. Just drive out West and you will see it’s hard to find wild horses. Most of them have been rounded up. Native wild horses are underpopulated on millions of acres of public land. The spin Dr.s want to fool you because they don’t think you will go out to see this for yourself.

Before moving to New York, Dave Philipps lived in Colorado Springs and worked at the Gazette. He has been to at least one roundup and has visited wild horses on herd management areas. Did he forge his alliances with ranchers and horse-haters in Colorado?

Philipps’ New York Times article seems to be part of a bigger election year publicity campaign paid for because some western politicians want to take control of federally protected wild horses so they can slaughter them to “dispose” of them. They can’t find a way to make money with them because they are owned by the American people, so they want to kill them to make room for the New Energy Frontier and their non-native livestock. All this is part of a bigger land grab. Some states want to steal federal public land.

Read Tobacco science scapegoats wild horses for livestock damage in the West, the critique of the Times SPIN piece: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=7325

 

Links of interest™: 

New York Times: As Wild Horses Overrun the West, Ranchers Fear Land Will Be Gobbled Up  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/us/as-wild-horses-overrun-the-west-ranchers-fear-land-will-be-gobbled-up.html?_r=0

www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses. Join us on Facebook for updates: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs 

 

 

#MustangMonday begins 3 days of action for wild horses

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© Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved

Young Wyoming wild horses rescued by Protect Mustangs from the slaughterhouse feedlot after a BLM roundup in March 2014 (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)

Three actions to take before Congress goes on summer break July 31st.

1.) Call and fax your county commissioners to request they stop supporting the resolution pushed through the national NACO meeting to give the states the ability to manage federally protected wild horses and “dispose” of them . Politely let them know you will hold them accountable if wild horses are killed or slaughtered and the states have a heinous history of “taking care of wild horses.” Explain that livestock is causing range damage because cattle and sheep outnumber wild horses more than 50 to 1. Let them know people in all states across the country enjoy wild horses and as a federally protected animal–they belong to everyone. Request a written response from your county commissioners.

2.) Call and fax your representative to politely insist they stop Chris Stewart’s (R-UT) Wild Horse Oversight Act of 2014, H.R. 5058 from gaining any momentum in the House. Explain to them that the Act is misleading and would allow states to dispose of federally protected wild horses by killing them or selling them to slaughter. Request a written response from your representative.

3.) Call and Fax your 2 senators and representative the Declaration by Llyod Eisenhauer, former BLM manager, who states the pending Wyoming Checkerboard Roundup appears to be in violation of the law. Ask your elected officials to stop the Checkerboard Roundup scheduled to begin August 20th. Request a written response from your elected officials.

Contact us with any questions via email to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest™: 

Contact Congress: http://www.contactingthecongress.org

Roundup abuse footage:

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

Wild Horse Oversight Act of 2014, H.R. 5058 https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/5058/text

NACo passes horse resolution http://protectmustangs.org/?p=7000

Former BLM manager declares Wyoming roundup appears to be in violation of the law http://protectmustangs.org/?p=7021

An American writes to the BLM against helicopter roundups in Wyoming http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6996

Dangerous bill puts America’s wild horses at risk of slaughter  http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6967

Associated Press (viral) Bill seeks to allow states to manage wild horses http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Bill-seeks-to-allow-states-to-manage-wild-horses-5617520.php

Dangerous bill puts America’s wild horses at risk of slaughter

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©Cynthia Smalley

 

Dear Friends of Wild horses and burros,

It’s bad when the BLM holds captive mustangs with no shade or shelter but if we all don’t rally quickly to stop a misleading bill in Congress, we could witness America’s cherished wild horses being sold to slaughter by the thousands instead of being held captive in holding pens or living in freedom as the law intended–safe from harassment and slaughter.

You probably have witnessed what happens when the states “manage” wild horses. . . In the case of the 41 wild horses from Dry Creek, Wyoming, 37 were sold to the Canadian slaughterhouse. We are so grateful to have rescued 14 youngsters (8mo-2 yrs) who were all going to be butchered for human consumption abroad.

Below is an Associated Press article that is going viral this weekend while the National Association of Counties is meeting in New Orleans. The Utah Commissioners are trying to get a joint resolution backed which would put American wild horses at-risk of being killed and slaughtered to “dispose of them.” Of course the politicians don’t pitch it this way. No . . . they cover that part up and make their resolution and their legislation look like it has animal welfare in mind. You can see the bill below.

Let’s hope this article shines the light on their sinister plans. It’s time to fight for the protection of wild horses.

Bill seeks to allow states to manage wild horses
By Martin Griffith, Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Utah congressman has introduced legislation to allow Western states and American Indian tribes to take over management of wild horses and burros from the federal government.

Rep. Chris Stewart said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has mismanaged the animals on public rangelands and states should have the option of managing them.

An overpopulation of horses is pushing cattle off the range, the Republican lawmaker said, and leading to the destruction of important habitat for native species.

“States and tribes already successfully manage large quantities of wildlife within their borders,” Stewart said in a statement. “If horses and burros were under that same jurisdiction, I’m confident that new ideas and opportunities would be developed to manage the herds more successfully than the federal government.”

But Anne Novak, executive director of California-based Protect Mustangs, said her group opposes the legislation because it would lead to states and tribes killing the animals or selling them off for slaughter for human consumption.

The government is rounding up too many mustangs while allowing livestock to feed at taxpayer expense on the same rangeland scientists say is being overgrazed, she said.

“We’ve had firsthand experience with states and tribes managing wild horses, and it’s horribly cruel,” Novak said in a statement. “They ruthlessly remove wild horses and sell them to kill-buyers at auction. Severe animal abuse would be the result of the (legislation).”

The Bureau of Land Management says it’s doing all it can, given budget constraints, overflowing holding pens and a distaste for the politically unpopular options of either ending the costly roundups or slaughtering excess horses.

The bill’s introduction comes at a time when the bureau has been under increasing pressure from ranchers to remove horses that they say threaten livestock and wildlife on rangelands already damaged by drought.

In Utah, Iron County commissioners had threatened to gather up hundreds of mustangs themselves, saying the government refuses to remove enough horses in herds that double in size every five years.

Iron County Commissioner Dave Miller said he and commissioners from Utah’s Beaver and Garfield counties are trying to drum up support for a resolution in support of the legislation at the National Association of Counties annual conference in New Orleans, which ends Monday.

“The resolution will be instrumental in getting Chris Stewart’s bill through Congress because it shows support across the nation,” he told The Spectrum of St. George, Utah.

Stewart said his Wild Horse Oversight Act would extend all protections that horses and burros enjoy under the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 while giving states the opportunity of implementing their own management plans.

Under the bill, the states could form cooperative agreements to manage herds that cross over borders, and the federal government would continue to monitor horses and burros to ensure that population numbers as prescribed by the 1971 act are maintained.

The bureau estimates 40,600 of the animals — the vast majority horses — roam free on bureau-managed rangelands in 10 Western states. The population exceeds by nearly 14,000 the number the agency has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.

Some 49,000 horses and burros removed from the range are being held in government-funded short- and long-term facilities.

# # #

Cross-posted from the San Francisco Chronicle for educational purposes: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Bill-seeks-to-allow-states-to-manage-wild-horses-5617520.php

Please share this news with your friends and help with a donation to feed and care for the WY14 and the other wild horses in our Outreach Program here: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=701

Hear a commissioner spin his pitch while interviewed on a friendly radio station in Utah: https://soundcloud.com/ksvc/mark

Take action and contact your county commissioners and all your elected officials to request they do not support rogue commissioners in Utah and ask that they do not support the individual states managing wild horses because it would put them at risk of slaughter.

Now is the time to stand up and fight for the voiceless!  Together we can turn this around.

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director
Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
www.ProtectMustangs.org

PM WH&B Oversight Act Web

 

PM WH&B Oversight Act 2

 

 

at Wynema Ranch

Heinous BLM Roundup = Slaughter 4 #Mustangs

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13

Stop the Roundups

URGENT: Sign and share the Petition to Defund the Roundups! This heinous act was funded by American tax dollars http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

 

TAKE ACTION! Call and email your senators and rep ASAP. Demand the American wild horses be returned to the American public!  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Tweet: BLM Roundup = Slaughter

Sign up for action updates www.ProtectMustangs.org

Free Roaming Wyoming Horses Rounded up by BLM and sold to Canadian Slaughterhouse by Wyoming Livestock Board

No public comment period and no transparency

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. (March 31, 2014) – On March 24, The Cloud Foundation received an anonymous tip that BLM had rounded up and removed 41 free-roaming horses from public lands in northern Wyoming.  Further investigation revealed that BLM conducted a helicopter roundup of the horses and turned them over to the Wyoming Livestock Board who sold the horses directly to the Canadian Bouvry Slaughterhouse. The taxpayer-funded roundup was conducted with no notice of sale after the horses were impounded, giving no one the opportunity to step in and negotiate a deal to purchase any of the horses. Even Bighorn County Sheriff, Kenneth Blackburn, was surprised that he received no notification of the roundup, which was conducted in his jurisdiction. The horses were driven to Shelby, Montana, to the Bouvry-owned feedlot, the jumping off point to their Canadian slaughterhouse, the largest slaughterhouse in Canada.

“These were colorful wild horses I spotted several years ago while driving to the Pryor Mountains,” stated  Ginger Kathrens Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “They lived on what we’ve been told was a wild horse Herd Area southeast of the Pryors.” The small, remnant herd roamed a starkly beautiful landscape east of US 310 between Lovell and Greybull, WY. ‘”We stopped to admire them on March 10th on our way back to Colorado.” Kathrens adds. “The sight of these lovely, free-spirited animals, some with their newborn foals, against the backdrop of the snow-covered Bighorn Mountains was glorious. It’s hard to think about the horror they suffered just days later.”

On March 18, only eight days after Kathrens last spotted the horses, the BLM Field Office in Cody, WY supervised their roundup and removal. A BLM spokesperson told a Cloud Foundation representative that the horses would be held at the Worland Livestock Auction for 10 days and then sold.  However, later investigation revealed that the 41 horses rounded up by Cattoor Livestock Company on March 18-19 were delivered to the Worland Livestock Auction for brand inspection. Just a few hours later, once the brand inspection was completed, 37 horses were loaded onto a truck paid for by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and hauled to the Canadian border.

“According to Wyoming, Statute, Title 11, Chapter 24 entitled Agriculture, Livestock and Other Animals, ‘Estray horses rounded up must be held for not more than 10 days before going to auction,'” reported Paula Todd King, Communications Director for the Cloud Foundation. “These horses were rounded up and within hours they were on their way to the border. We found no notice announcing the roundup.”

The history of these horses is debatable. The BLM contends they are not wild, stating that they once belonged to an area rancher who died and his horses have only been in the area for 40 years. However, the Wild Horse and Burro Act (WHB Act) defines a wild horses as an “unclaimed, unbranded horse on federal lands in the United States.” Wyoming brand inspector, Frank Barrett, verified there were no brands of any kind on any of the animals.

Less than a mile from where Kathrens had been observing the horses is the boundary of the “zeroed out” Foster Gulch/Dry Creek Herd Area, designated for wild horse use after the passage of the WHB Act in 1971. “As they have done over a hundred times, the BLM decided not to manage wild horses in the area in 1987,” explains Kathrens. “If the horses have lived in the area for 40 years as BLM states, it is entirely possible that these horses were descendants of the herd eliminated from management in 1987.”

It is clear that these horses have survived for many years on their own, living in wild family bands, and thriving without human intervention.  Conflicting reasons have been given for the timing of this BLM roundup when the horses had newborn foals. BLM indicated that private landowners in the area have complained about horses trespassing on their land.  Sarah Beckwith, BLM spokesperson said that the horses were a threat to public safety – vehicles had killed two horses.  However, after further investigation, TCF found that a train struck one horse 6-8 years ago, and a private vehicle struck another around 5 years ago. Jack Mononi, Supervisory Rangeland Management Specialist for Cody BLM, told Todd-King that if the Agency did not spend the federal dollars by the end of March, the funds would no longer be available.

Kathrens called the Bouvry Exports Shelby facility in an attempt to negotiate purchase of the 37 horses. The woman who answered the phone would not confirm that the horses had arrived in Shelby and told Kathrens that “these horses were rounded up and removed for slaughter and that is where they are going.” Kathrens offered to pay more than the going price and was told that this was not possible. “I was shaking when I got off the phone,” Kathrens said. “To think that this could be happening sickens me.”

Kim Michels of Red Lodge, MT, purchased all that appears to have survived of the small herd, four tiny foals born this year. “We will do all we can to see that these babies not only survive but thrive as a fitting legacy to their lost freedom and their families,” said Michels. The foals were rescued by Stacey Newby, co-owner of the Worland Livestock Auction, who fed and cared for the foals, bottle-feeding the tiniest, a 3-week-old filly. The foals are now in the care of equine veterinarian, Lisa Jacobson, in Colorado.

TCF continues to investigate the legality of what appears to be a carefully planned and executed operation at taxpayer expense. “Was it legal?” Kathrens questions. “It is clear to me that it was not moral and certainly inhumane. I do not believe that American taxpayers want their money spent to roundup and send horses to slaughter.”

Protect Mustangs suggests links of interest™:

Bouvry: http://www.vianderichelieu.com/qui-sommes-nous.php

Bouvry Investigation: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs161/1101655399670/archive/1111647580202.html

Cloud Foundation: http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/

Catoor Livestock: http://www.wildhorseroundups.com/

Helicopter roundup gets attention of horse advocates: http://www.greybullstandard.com/?p=2364

 

GOP lawmakers urge overhaul of Endangered Species Act

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By Matthew Brown

Associated Press   February 05, 2014 as seen in the Boston Globe (Cross-posted for educational purposes)

 

BILLINGS, Mont. — Republicans in Congress called Tuesday for an overhaul to the Endangered Species Act to curtail environmentalists’ lawsuits and give more power to states, but specialists say broad changes to one of the nation’s cornerstone environmental laws are unlikely given the pervasive partisan divide in Washington

A group of 13 lawmakers released a report proposing ‘‘targeted reforms’’ for the federal law, which protects imperiled plants and animals.

Proponents credit the law with staving off extinction for hundreds of species — from the bald eagle to the gray whale. But critics contend the law has been abused by environmental groups seeking to restrict development.

Led by Representative Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Representative Doc Hastings of Washington state, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, the Republicans want to amend the law to limit litigation from wildlife advocates that has resulted in protections for some species. And they want to give states more authority over imperiled species within their borders.

Also among the recommendations are increased scientific transparency, better economic impact studies, and safeguards for private landowners.

The Republicans said only 2 percent of protected species have been recovered despite billions of dollars in federal and state spending.

‘‘The biggest problem is that the Endangered Species Act is not recovering species,’’ said Hastings. ‘‘The way the act was written, there is more of an effort to list [species as endangered or threatened] than to delist.’’

The political hurdles for an overhaul are considerable. The law enjoys support among many environmentalists, whose Democratic allies have thwarted past proposals for change.

Federal wildlife officials had not yet seen the report from Hastings’ group and would not comment until they review it, said a press secretary for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.