Report from the Calico roundup, December 2011, near Gerlach, Nevada. American wild horses being managed to extinction. Take action. Stop the roundup$.
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Studs at Short Term Holding (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)
I will confess, I did not attend the public vigil for the 40th Anniversary of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act because I am heartbroken. Someone contacted me more than five weeks ago who had evidence proving the cattle–not the wild horses–are damaging the range in the Calico Complex but they are holding back.
Most of the majestic Calico wild horses have been rounded up and torn from their families but they have not all been processed and shipped out to long-term holding . . . not yet.
I lit a candle on December 15th praying that the person with the evidence would come forward so we could prove this roundup was conducted under false pretenses and return the Calico wild horses and burros to their wild homes.
Please join me to light candle for their freedom.
In gratitude,
Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
Protect Mustangs reports from Palomino Valley short-term holding near Reno, Nevada.
Wise wild stallion (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)
Wild horse heroine, Velma Johnston aka Wild Horse Annie, fought for decades to protect mustangs and prevent them from being shipped off to slaughter. Johnston campaigned to prevent them from being killed on public land, harassed by airplanes rounding them up, branded, terrorized and sold to make dog food. Congress unanimously passed the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act in response to the public outcry led by Wild Horse Annie.
On December 15, 1971 the President of the United States of America signed The Act to forever protect our majestic wild horses and burros–symbols of American freedom and the pioneer spirit.
Sadly forty years later, protections for American wild horse and burros are being violated through stealth acts, such as the Burns Amendment which makes it legal for our living treasures to be be sold in “unlimited numbers” and therefore bought by kill buyers and sold to slaughter because the meat fetches a high price in Asian countries especially.
In 2011 wild horses and burros are again chased by aircrafts and terrorized in roundups to remove them from their rightful place on public land. Next they are torn from their families, processed and branded only to await an unknown fate . . .
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) excuse for back-room removal deals is a random allotment system called the appropriate management level (AML) that has nothing to do with The Act and nothing to do with thriving natural ecological balance (TNEB) yet everything to do with the livestock grazing lobby as well as the extractive and energy industry’s public land grab.
Most herd management areas (HMAs) are overpopulated with livestock–trashing the land–while the wild horses are scapegoats for all range and riparian damage. Some HMAs have as many as 200 heads of livestock to one wild horse. Curiously, adult cows and calves are counted as one unit yet adult wild horses and their foals are counted as 2 units. The numbers are skewed and the spin is intense against wild horses and burros because there is no money behind them. They can’t be used for profit or for tax write-offs.
More than 75 million tax dollars are wasted annually on BLM’s broken program–dependent on expensive roundups and removals. It creates a surplus of formerly wild horses warehoused in long-term holding who are vulnerable to slipping out the back door to slaughter or being killed by the government because of being a financial drain.
Leaving indigenous wild horses on their legal range costs next to nothing in comparison. Protect Mustangs would like to see American wild horses freed from long-term holding and returned to their herd management areas of origin.
Tonight, vigils to re-protect American wild horses and burros are being held across the United States of America, the UK and Sweden. The public wants the roundups and inhumane treatment to stop now.
Michael Blake with Twelve (Photo © M. Blake)
“The BLM’s disruption of wild horses in the beautiful Calico mountains of Nevada is more than removing animals . . . It is also destruction of the American West . . . for money,” writes Michael Blake, Oscar-winning screenwriter and author of Dances with Wolves.
Wrangler flinging whip. (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)
Similar to greenwashing to make something appear green that is far from it, Humanewashing tries to make a cruel and inhumane situation seem “humane”.
One can observe radical spin doctoring in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) refusal to take full responsibility regarding their inhumane roundups that traumatize, injure and kill American wild horses and burros–our living treasures of the West. Keep in mind the BLM is paying PR people to invent spin to fool the public, government and lawmakers . . . How do you feel knowing that BLM spin is paid for with your tax dollars?
Find the BLM’s humanewashing in the Washington Post article below and we will post your comments. We are very thankful the Associated Press reported on the issue.
What has happened to government accountability and transparency?
Old Gold notice pelvis. She can't get up. Whip coming at her. Eyes freaked. Agony! (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)
Protect Mustangs wants to see the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) take full responsibility for their cruel acts against wild horses and not humanewash it away with a report recommending humane protocol.
Many witnesses have documented animal cruelty towards America’s wild horses and burros especially during roundups at Calico, Triple B and Twin Peaks. We are grateful for the field work and need donations to continue our work in the field.
Expensive roundups are paid for with your tax dollars. Is this how you want your money spent?
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
Adopt a mustang ~ find a friend. (Photo © Irma Novak)
"Old Gold was traumatized and killed," say the Barbi Twins. "Stop the Calico roundup now!"
Michael Blake and The Barbi Twins speak out against wild horse roundups
Do the death counts dupe Congress?
LOS ANGELES (November 28, 2011)—Academy Award winner-Michael Blake and the Barbi Twins join the American public and Protect Mustangs in their outrage over the death of Old Gold, a palomino wild mare who was euthanized by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) after being rounded up. Cat Kindsfather’s photos were released on the Protect Mustangs website showing the traumatized wild horse slammed into a metal panel at the trap, yet the (BLM) reports the mustang was euthanized because she was more than 20 years old—with a lack of body condition and worn teeth. The BLM counts Old Gold’s death as ‘not gather-related’. California-based Protect Mustangs believes the horse’s death is roundup-related and must be counted as such. They want Congress to be informed and taxpayers to know how their money is spent. Protect Mustangs asks the Obama Administration to freeze all roundups now, end inhumane treatment of wild horses and burros, save taxpayer money and conduct an exact head count on the ranges to know exactly how many treasured wild horses and burros exist in the wild.
“Old Gold was traumatized at the trap and slammed into a metal fence where she surely was injured,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs from Berkeley. “Congress hears about a 1% death rate at roundups but how can that be? BLM’s accountability is in question now that the agency lists Old Gold’s death as ‘non gather-related’”.
As of November 27th, six deaths have occurred at the Calico roundup. Five were listed as ‘non gather-related’ deaths—including killing Old Gold. Only one death has been classified as a “gather-related” death, according to the BLM death report.
“Killing the wild mare, Old Gold, is nothing new. The United States government has allowed its BLM and other agencies to kill animals forever . . . just for money,” states Michael Blake, Academy Award winning screenwriter of DANCES WITH WOLVES.
BLM must correct its policy to insure that the welfare of wild horses and burros is considered above the contractor’s payment per head for each animal rounded up and delivered to BLM.
Protect Mustangs is requesting transparency from the BLM about the amount paid per wild horse (adult and youngster) and at what point is the horse considered “delivered” for payment. Also they want to know if the contractor gets paid if a horse is euthanized after “delivery”.
“American taxpayers don’t want to pay for animal cruelty,” states Novak. “We don’t want wild horses and burros to be traumatized, injured and killed at the hands of our government. We want the roundups to stop now.”
Two winters ago BLM rounded up Calico wild horses in what was the deadliest wild horse roundup documented. Of the 1922 mustangs rounded up, more than 158 deaths are attributed to the roundup.
Protect Mustangs is concerned the 2011 Calico roundup will virtually wipe the wild horses off the half a million acre landscape near Gerlach, Nevada where Burning Man is held. They are circulating a petition to stop the Calico roundup.
“If it weren’t for horses, we wouldn’t have a country or a flag,” say The Barbi Twins (Shane & Sia). “Why can’t there be laws to protect them, like there are for the flag? Horses are living beings. Their blood’s been used to make the red in the red, white and blue, as you can see in the forthcoming movie, WAR HORSE.”
The wild horse advocacy group asks Congress for a full investigation into deaths at helicopter roundups and resulting from roundups 4 months after capture.
Protect Mustangs is a California-based non-profit whose mission is to inform the public about the mustang crisis, protect America’s wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.
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Media Contacts:
Anne Novak 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org
Kerry Becklund 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org
Photos, video and interviews available upon request.
Links of interest:
KPFA Evening News Interview at 26:25 http://bit.ly/rssRl5
Questions over fate of “Old Gold” http://bit.ly/vr1MX9
Protect Mustangs asks Obama to stop dangerous Calico Roundup http://bit.ly/vgqIOv
BLM Death Report: http://on.doi.gov/vttLwA
Protect Mustangs’ Petition to Stop Calico Roundup: http://chn.ge/rBoej7
CBS reports on deadly 2010 Calico roundup stampede http://bit.ly/sZaHZ