Wild horses are healthy on the range

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

These mustangs are in the capture pens at the Calico roundup. As you can see they are not starving and deserve to roam freely in the American West.

“Rounding up healthy wild horses is blatant fiscal irresponsibility during this economic crisis,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The overpopulation myth was created by BLM to justify spending millions of tax dollars.”

Wild Horse Wednesday™: Call Congress to stand up for the Free Roaming Wild Horse & Burro Act

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Protect Mustangs

Captured wild horse weanlings lost their families and are calling for help (Photo © Anne Novak)

Dear Friends,

The Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act was signed into law 40 years ago on December 15th, yet today half of their roaming land has been taken away, herds are being wiped out and mustangs suffer at the hands of man.

They are wildlife. The horse is indigenous to America.

Despite the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) expensive PR spin—paid for with your tax dollars—America isn’t hearing the real story. Wild horses and burros are not destroying the range and they are not starving. How many tax dollars are spent to fool the American tax payer and global public?

Today’s industrialization of the West is the mustang’s biggest threat. Roundups are paid for with your tax dollars. The win-win is not being considered by corporate America . . . it’s all about the public land grab now.

Corporations are avoiding spending money on environmental impact reports and mitigation by encouraging the wild horses and burros to be rounded up before their projects break ground. You are paying for these cruel roundups with your tax dollars. The corporations are reaping the benefits.

Help us spread the word and voice your concerns about your tax dollars being spent on cruel roundups and removals. Ask Congress to demand an independent exact head count of how many mustangs are left. Ask your government representatives and senators to focus on the win-win for our wild horses and burros to remain free-roaming on the land in healthy genetically viable herds—not sterile groups.

The Salazar plan has gone ahead—despite public outcry with nationwide protests. It is a wipe-out plan leaving only a few wild horses in zoo-like settings on the range. Ask Congress to stand up for wild horses and burros—protect them to be living in freedom on the western range.

Be a hero for the wild horses and burros of America. Call your senators and representatives and ask them to stop the cruel roundups and removals. Call them every day through December 15th. Remind them that they work for us—even with corporate lobbyists making contributions—they are in government to be our voices.

Thank you for your help.

In gratitude,

Anne Novak

Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

First death at Calico roundup ~ RIP Old Gold

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Protect Mustangs

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to inform the public about the mustang crisis, protect America’s wild horses on the range and help those who lost their freedom.

News Release

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Protect Mustangs

Protect Mustangs asks Obama to stop the dangerous Calico roundup

Advocates ask for the sustainable win-win

WASHINGTON (November 21, 2011)— Protect Mustangs launches their campaign and petition to stop the frivolous Calico roundup in northern Nevada near the town of Gerlach, known for Burning Man. The mustang advocacy group joins with advocates and the disgruntled public asking President Obama to stop the expensive winter roundup before it becomes deadly. The 2010 Calico roundup was the deadliest roundup in history with 160 deaths attributed to it. Protect Mustangs asks that all other roundups be put on hold until a sustainable plan is agreed to by all sides of the issue.

“There is no accurate head count and estimates cannot justify an expensive roundup when thriving natural ecological balance (TNEB) exists on the range,” explains Anne Novak, Founder and Director of Protect Mustangs. “This country is in the middle of a financial crises. We can’t afford to waste more money on cruel roundups, removals and warehousing. The money being spent on this roundup could be used to help the American people get back on their feet.”

Last year the BLM spent more than 75 million dollars on the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Advocates want to know how that money was spent—line by line.

“They are wasting our tax money on roundups instead of using a small fraction of that money to improve the range,” states Lisa Friday, Board Member of Protect Mustangs. “We want to see wild horses freed from long-term holding and returned to the West—to roam freely on their herd management areas (HMAs) as Congress intended.”

Today close to 39,000 American wild horses live in long-term holding facilities—away from their native habitat. Less than 13,850 live on public land in ten western states. In 1900, 2 million wild horses roamed freely in America.

Currently, in the Calico Complex HMA, more than half a million acres, can easily support the less than 1,000 wild horses and burros living there. Livestock currently outnumbers wild horses more than 50 to 1. Protect Mustangs wants to make sure that the mustangs are not scapegoated for damage to the range caused by livestock.

Wild horses are being removed from their range at breakneck speed to make room for ‘the New Energy Frontier’. Protect Mustangs wants a sustainable management plan for the wild horses of the West.

“It’s not ‘green’ to wipe out an indigenous species to create an industrialized zone for producing so-called renewables on public land, states Novak. “There must be a way to find a win-win for the wild horses, the other wildlife, the livestock and the energy projects in the West. We want engagement from all sides to solve this problem.”

Meanwhile Protect Mustangs asks President Obama to stop the Calico roundup and put all other roundups on hold until a real sustainable plan is agreed to by all sides of the issue.

The Salazar Plan was announced in Fall 2009 and the result was nationwide public outcry and protests. The administration disregarded the will of the people and forged ahead with a dysfunctional policy destined to zero out the American wild horse.

‘Now we want change for the good,” states Lisa Friday “We want the administration to stop wasting money on a bad plan.”

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 lost their freedom.

# # #

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’ Petition to Stop Calico Roundup: http://chn.ge/rBoej7

CBS: Stampede to Oblivion: http://bit.ly/tAopv7

FAQs on Wild Horses: http://bit.ly/teEILa

New Energy Frontier: http://on.doi.gov/taVehZ

Ruby Pipeline: The Real Reason To Remove Wild Horses? http://bit.ly/vUf9SQ

Ruby Pipeline Map: http://bit.ly/sCRcJ5

Salazar Plan Shortcomings: http://bit.ly/togfzp

Press Releases Chronicling the issue: http://bit.ly/vnyVnR

Protect Mustangs on Twitter @ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs on You Tube: http://bit.ly/v8TZfd

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uDF5JP

Protect Mustangs on Web: www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs™

Forever wild and free™

Tag Archives: Election

Wild horses are healthy on the range

Wild Horse Wednesday™: Call Congress to stand up for the Free Roaming Wild Horse & Burro Act

First death at Calico roundup ~ RIP Old Gold

News Release