Tag Archives: wild horses

URGENT! Stop Wild Horse Slaughter & Cruelty in Nevada

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Protect native wild horses! © Protect Mustangs.org

Protect native wild horses! © Protect Mustangs.org

 

Take Action to Save Wild Horses 

Gather in peaceful protest on January 4th (in conjunction with the Carson City Rally) in hometowns around the world to STOP the Slaughter of Native Wild Horses. Let your friends know what is going on. TOURISTS speak out! Do you support NEVADA’s cruel treatment of iconic mustangs?

Post pics holding your signs on Protect Mustangs’ FB wall and we will share them out!

Post here: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Make your voice heard, contact the White House, your Congressional Representative and your Senators to request they halt the roundups, stop the slaughter of U.S. wild horses and burros as well as return all wild horses in holding to the range.

Come to the Carson City “Slaughter is not the Answer” Rally in Nevada’s Capitol. From 10:30 a.m. -1 p.m on January 4th. In front of the Nevada State Legislature building 401 South Carson Street, Carson City, NV. Info: Bonnie Matton 775-720-6086

Send your letters in to Hidden Valley by 9 p.m. PST Jan 3rd. Your letters will be taken to the Governor at the end of the Jan 4th Rally in Carson City.

email: hiddenvalleywildhorses@gmail.com

We need your HELP! Please write an original letter off this form letter and send it to Shannon Windle, President of Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund. She is taking it to the Governor!

Dear Governor Sandoval,

I am appalled by the current treatment of Nevada’s Virginia Range wild horses. These horses belong to the State of Nevada and their fate ultimately lies in your hands. 80% of Americans are opposed to horse slaughter; now the Virginia Range wild horses are being dumped at livestock auctions by the State of Nevada – the first step in the slaughter pipeline. To treat one of this State’s natural resources with such disregard is reprehensible. You, as the highest ranking official of the State of Nevada, have the authority to stop your Department of Agriculture from this inhumane treatment and its continued determination to wipe them off the range altogether.

To preserve these icons of Nevada’s western heritage, please direct the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDoA) to take the following steps immediately, before these horses are gone forever:

1. STOP sending all Nevada Virginia Range wild horses to the livestock auction immediately. These horses are entering the slaughter pipeline and being put at direct risk of ending up at slaughterhouses in Canada and/or Mexico. I am opposed to having Nevada’s horses served on dinner platters in foreign markets.

2. STOP the random trapping of these horses. Poor to no planning has resulted in 153 horses being removed from the Virginia Range. The opportunistic methods being implemented to trap Nevada’s horses has had almost no impact to the public safety concerns that the NDoA is using as an excuse for the taking up of these horses. I oppose the indiscriminant taking up of Nevada wild horses.

3. RE-ENGAGE the cooperative agreements previously entered in to between NDoA and wild horse advocate groups. These agreements originally allowed non-profit funds to be used to relieve the burden on the tax payer regarding the management of the Nevada wild horses. I support cooperative agreements that allow NDoA to hand over Nevada’s horses to the care of advocate groups that use their donor funds to find them good, quality forever homes.

4. RE-ENGAGE wild horse advocates willing to assist in the on-going management of the Nevada horses as provided in NRS 569. I oppose the current policies affecting Nevada’s wild horses that have led to reactive versus proactive decision making regarding which horses to remove, have led to the use of dangerous techniques implemented in the taking up of horses, put the public at risk of injury during these round ups, and caused entire communities to become outraged at the activities in which the NDoA has engaged.

5. ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT new legislation and departmental policies that will protect and preserve the Nevada Virginia Range horses. I support these living symbols of our pioneering American spirit and laud them as proud symbols of Nevada’s past, its courageous present, and its strength of tomorrow. I encourage you to ensure they are protected and become the focus of enjoyment for both tourists and residents of current and future generations.

The next meeting of the Nevada Department of Agriculture Board of Directors isn’t scheduled until March. By then, several hundred more horses might be removed from the range. Additionally, there are 41 Virginia Range wild horses scheduled to be sold at the livestock auction on January 9, 2013.

Please act now to protect the Virginia Range wild horses so a long-term solution can be found.

Sincerely,

 

Sign, print your name and address.

Mail your letter to Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund, PO Box 20052, Reno, NV 89515 or scan and email it to hiddenvalleywildhorses@gmail.com no later than January 3, 2013.

 

All letters will be delivered in person to the Governor’s office in Carson City on Friday, January 4, 2013.

Cruel way to drag foal by pulling bailing twine around their neck (Photo © Bo Rodriguez)

Cruel way to drag foal by pulling bailing twine around their neck (Photo © Bo Rodriguez)

Reno: Damonte wild horses trapped w/ cruelty

(Graphic by Anne Novak & Denise Delucia for © Protect Mustangs.www.ProtectMustangs.org May be used for social sharing. Photo © Bo Rodriguez)

 

 

Teen reports on gentling native wild horses

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Cross-posted from Discover Mustangs

Helping gentle Blondie

PM Blondie Adopt Dec 29 2012.001

 

PM Blondie Inez Touches Back Dec 29 2012.001

 

Today was amazing. Blondie seems to know the sound of our car. We pulled up and she looked at us from the other side of the corral to say “Hi.”

Without a round pen the gentling process is unusual but fun. It’s my first time to gentle a wild horse fresh from the holding facility and it’s really cool. I’m working in a team with my mom and Inez.

Before Blondie came up to me, Inez was scratching her face up to her ears and under her chin. Blondie enjoyed it. She understands we all love wild horses. They know who the nice people are.

Later Blondie came up to me. We started connecting nose to nose when Inez reached out and touched her back for the first time.

Inez said, “Look! She doesn’t mind this.”

Later Mom was scratching Blondie’s hindquarters for the first time and Blondie was loving it!

I think things are moving along well with the gentling because we are taking our time. These 4 California wild horses have lost their families and their freedom. They deserve compassion.

Sadly we can’t give them back their previous lives and I wish we could . . . We can offer them the best lives in captivity–filled with love, respect and partnership.

I dream of a day when we can have a large space for the wild horses we work with so they can run in a herd, work with us, then go back to the herd for sleep time.

 

~ Irma Novak, Director of Discover Mustangs

 

BLM ducks complaint about suppressing livestock damage

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

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

Washington, DC (November 29, 2012) — The biggest and most ambitious scientific undertaking in the history of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is languishing after it was revealed the agency directed scientists to exclude livestock grazing as a possible factor in changing landscapes. The agency has also yet to respond to a scientific integrity complaint filed one year ago by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) charging that the exclusion of livestock data constituted political interference.

Launched in 2010 with more than $40 million in stimulus funds, BLM sought to analyze ecological conditions across six “eco-regions” covering the Sagebrush West. There was only one catch: when scientists were assembled BLM managers informed them that there was one “change agent” that would not be studied – the impacts of commercial livestock grazing. BLM managers told stunned scientists the reason for this puzzling exclusion was due to “stakeholders” opposition and fear of litigation, according to documents appended to the PEER complaint. Since that complaint –

  • These so-called “Rapid Ecoregional Assessments” have all stalled with no timetable for completion although they were slated to be finished this year;
  • To investigate the PEER complaint, BLM tagged Louis Brueggeman, its Fire Management Liaison, to act as “Scientific Integrity Officer.” It is not clear that Mr. Brueggeman has interviewed a single witness proffered by PEER. Nonetheless in an October 12, 2012 email, he said he was “in the process of finalizing the report” responding to the November 2011 PEER complaint; and
  • BLM now claims its studies are limited to “four overarching environmental change agents: climate change, wildfires, invasive species, and development (both energy development and urban growth)” but notes “Additional change agents may also be addressed based on ecoregional needs.”

What makes this last bit of revisionist rationale from BLM so questionable is that the agency’s own records show that the primary cause (nearly 80%) for BLM lands not meeting range health standards is damage from livestock, far eclipsing drought, fire, invasion by non-native plants or sprawl – the factors BLM now calls “overarching.” In fact almost 40% of all BLM allotments surveyed since 1998 fail to meet the agency’s own required land health standards due to livestock grazing – more than 33 million acres, an area bigger than the entire State of Alabama. Livestock occupies two-thirds of all BLM lands. Moreover, livestock is directly linked to aggravating drought conditions and spreading invasive species.

“After pledging not to repeat the pattern of political manipulation of science associated with the Bush years, the Obama administration has both embraced that pattern while striving to mask its manipulations though the charade of scientific integrity investigations,” remarked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization has likened these investigations to damage control operations rather than objective scientific reviews. “Because they were financed with stimulus funds, these landscape assessments were described as ‘shovel-ready science’ – a term far more apt than originally envisioned.”
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Read unanswered PEER scientific misconduct complaint

Look at heavy landscape damage inflicted by commercial livestock

View the six Eco-regions being assessed in continental U.S.

Scan stalled schedule for assessments

See how Interior has politicized its scientific integrity program

Rally to Save Nevada’s Wild Horses from Slaughter ~ January 4th

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PM HV Girl with sign trap to slaughter
Protect mustangs & Stop the cruelty!
Make signs, bring friends and join the rally on Friday, January 4, 2012 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) in front of the Legislative Building (Hwy 395 East) in downtown Carson City, Nevada.

If you can’t come to Nevada then hold a peaceful protest in your hometown and send us your photos. We will post them here. Even one person can have a protest. Well traveled roads with lots of traffic are great spots for small protests.

Are you aware the federal officials discussed a plan to kill most of the native wild horses left in America? Read: Outrage over secret documents planning to kill or slaughter 50,000 native wild horses!

Feel free to send us an email with any questions Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Photo by Bo Rodriguez

 

From Bonnie Matton:

Well, as you all know by now, we are battling the Nevada Department of Agriculture to get them to stop sending our Virginia Range Horses + horses from other areas as well – to auction: MEANING TO SLAUGHTER.

So, we are having an emergency rally on Friday, January 4, 2012 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) in front of the Legislative Building (Hwy 395 East) in downtown Carson City.    Sorry for the last minute notice.  We have to have it before the next auction which is on January 9, 2013.  NO TIME TO LOSE.

We are calling it “Slaughter is not the Answer.”  We will have flyers to pass out to press and others. Would appreciate your emailing me of  how many people will be coming from your area and where you are coming from.

Many of you have participated in demonstrations before. Please come at least 1/2 hour before the rally begins (in the park area next to the Legislative Building) so you can receive instructions (especially if you’ve never attended a demonstration before).  There are certain regulations we must abide with. The Legislative police have always welcomed us wild horse advocates because we are polite and follow their directions.

After the rally, we will be marching to the Governor’s Building (which is next door to the Legislative Building and close to where we gathered before the rally). Shannon Windle, President of Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund, will then bring hundreds of letters directly up to the Governor’s office – letters she has been gathering for some time opposing what NDA is doing with Nevada’s Treasures.

You are welcome to make up signs and bring them with you. We have lots in our storage shed which will work and I’ll bring them as well.  You are also welcome to bring your organizational signs.

The easiest place to park is if you drive down Stewart Street. There’s usually plenty of parking directly behind the Legislative Building, which is convenient for carrying signs and tables to our setup area.

 

Ten tips for hauling adopted wild horses

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You can make the hauling easier on your new friends.
MUSTANG Chutes Day 1 Feb 8 2011 MUSTANG Trailer Exit Feb 8 2011

Tips for Happy Hauling

1.     Send the BLM pickup facility a photo of your trailer before you leave, so they sign off that it’s suitable. They don’t want ramps or dividers, etc.
2.    Make sure your truck and trailer are in the best working condition and your bearings are greased.
3.    Let the BLM know you want to be there while they load so you aren’t distracted with paperwork. Then you can oversee the BLM employees loading your adopted wild horses. If something feels wrong express yourself politely and advocate for your wild horses. You will be responsible if the horses in your care are injured once you drive off.
4.    Having the BLM wranglers take their tags off when they are in the chute has worked for us.
5.    We don’t let the BLM wranglers halter them because we want the first haltering to be out of love and trust–not force, fear and domination. We don’t halter the wild ones in the trailer as it causes A LOT of stress before loading. They cannot be tied as they are not trained to tie. They are wild.
6.    We don’t feed during short trailering as hay nets could be something that could cause trouble.
7.    We did not bed the last trailer we used for a 6 hour ride. It had a rubber floor and they traveled well.
8.    Upon arrival at our destination, we back the trailer up to the gate and open the gate to create a barrier between the paddock and the trailer. Then we carefully open the trailer door and stand aside.
9.    Whips aren’t necessary but patience is. We have witnessed the BLM employees use a whip to get a young wild horse out of a trailer. This terrified the horse and caused him to bash around in the metal trailer and fall down. Using horse psychology and taking your time makes the experience safe and easy.
10.    If the wild horses are hesitant to come out of the trailer then we give them some hay just outside the trailer and wait patiently. They are extremely sensitive to pressure so we give them their space. We give them time and they always unload. We never stand in front of their exit path as that puts pressure on them and makes it scary to come out. They have been known to bolt out so watch out!

Have someone there to film the unloading because it’s a moment you will never forget. Here is a short clip of Sol and Val, our Discover Mustangs project horses, unloading after getting out of the BLM’s facility.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Horses, wild or domesticated, are inherently dangerous and can be unpredictable. Use the information and advice in this article at your own risk.

(Photos © Carolyn Orndof)

 

 

 

 

Seasons Greetings from BLM

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© Michelle Guillot, all rights reserved. Released through Protect Mustangs.

Public outrage gets creative

SAN FRANCISCO (December 20, 2012)–Citizens around the word are outraged at the BLM’s cruelty towards America’s native wild horses. The alleged federally protected mustangs are being rounded up and removed by the thousands only to be stockpiled in the Midwest at taxpayer expense. Some end up in the slaughter pipeline. During the current Owyhee roundup wild horse advocates documented mustangs being chased by a helicopter through barbed wire fencing. Protect Mustangs wants the roundups to stop and for the government to use the wild herds in Holistic Rangeland Management instead to reverse desertification on public land.

Artist Michelle Guillot says she was inspired by the horrific scenes of wild horses being driven through barbed wire at the Owyhee Roundup in Nevada.

“I was so appalled that I had to do something!” states Guillot. “How can the government hire helicopter contractors to push mustangs into barbed wire?”

She made the Seasons Greeting poster to let the world know what’s going on. Protect Mustangs is grateful to be able to release Guillot’s powerful message.

Public outrage is mounting and as a result, Protect Mustangs is organizing a Rally in San Francisco for January 2013. Date, time and place to be announced.

“The cruel roundups must stop,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “Congress needs to listen to the public. They must stop enabling the wild horse wipe out–even if lobbyists are throwing cash around Washington.”

Protect Mustangs encourages Americans to meet with their senators and representatives to ask them to stop the roundups and use wild equids with livestock for Holistic Rangeland Management. This is a powerful solution for climate change–one that will reverse desertification.

The Petition to Defund and Stop the Roundups is circulating. Animal lovers around the world are encouraged to share it with their friends and request the United States Congress stop the cruelty and stop the roundups.

Michelle Guillot retains the copyright to the poster but encourages animal lovers to share the poster to spread awareness. She does not want the poster used for fundraising or commercial use.

The poster may be downloaded from www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.  

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund 510-502-1913, Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

 

 

NYC’s premier of Saving America’s Horses educates and informs

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Bring this film to your community to let them know what’s happening to America’s horses

“A searing indictment of corporations, institutions and governmental agencies involved in the slaughter of horses, Katia Louise’s impassioned pic amasses impressive documentation, visual and testimonial, of systemic mistreatment of the animals, illegal and fraudulent practices regulating their sale, and the very real possibility of their extinction in the wild.”

“…contrasts shots of noble, beautiful, galloping animals… with well-researched, shocking statistics.”
— Ronnie Scheib VARIETY

 

The law was made to protect mustangs & burros so why all the abuse?

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Wild horses and burros are supposed to be treated as “components of the public lands”. 16 U.S.C. § 1333(a) The law is clear that “wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death” and entitled to roam free on public lands where they were living at the time the Act was passed in 1971. 16 U.S.C. § 1331 These legally protected areas are known as “herd areas,” and are defined as “the geographic area identified as having been used by a herd as its habitat in 1971.” 43 C.F.R. § 4700.0-5(d).

 

The Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act also authorizes designation of specific ranges for wild horses and burros. “Range’ means the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds …and which is devoted principally but not necessarily exclusively to their welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept for the public lands”. 16 USCS §§ 1332(c), 1333(a). ~Animal Law Coalition

 

 

Why is the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),–the agency responsible for the care and welfare of wild horses and burros–allowed to break the very law enacted to protect our native wildlife and heritage animals?

If you don’t like the photos taken by witness and filmmaker Stephanie Martin at the Owyhee Roundup then please meet with your senators and representatives to ask them to stop the abusive roundups.

Is there really an overpopulation problem?

It’s long overdue for an independent and accurate wild horse and burro census for each Herd Management Area (HMA). BLM’s population estimates are only that–estimates. It’s easy to count cows as horses from the air and double count horses as they roam from area to area.

If there really is an overpopulation problem then using fertility control drugs on non-viable herds or sterilizing herds will be a disaster. Why? This would ruin their gene pool and result in inbreeding. Mother nature has a ‘survival of the fittest’ program in place that ensures only the strong, healthy and wise reproduce.

Current thriving natural ecological balance studies on the range are necessary. For decades wild horses have been scapegoated for the damage created by livestock–especially to fragile riparian areas. Cattle enjoy standing in riparian areas all day whereas wild horses come for a drink and leave for the rest of a day. Princeton University has proven wild herds reverse desertification so livestock benefits from more abundant forage.

The Appropriate Management Levels (AML) for wild horses and burros were set by the Government. The Cattlemen are a wealthy lobbying force in Washington. It’s no surprise that cattle outnumbers wild horses on the range at least 50 to 1 on HMAs throughout the West.

Currently the BLM uses archaic methods of range management which allow livestock grazing methods that are harsh on the land, a wide use of pesticides and extraction industry pollution. The range is being destroyed. Removing wild horses is the wrong action because the native equids can heal the range and reverse desertification.

What’s wrong with roundups

Helicopter roundups are harsh on the environment. Chasing wild horses creates unnatural stampedes zigzagging over 10-15 mile areas many times per day for many weeks. This ruins the high desert environment and disturbs species such as the sage grouse.

Rounding up more federally protected native wild horses than they can adopt out fails as a management technique. Wild horses and burros end up stockpiled in holding facilities at taxpayer expense. After the cruel roundups, wild horses loose what is most precious to them–their families and their freedom.

Solutions

Using Range Design, which includes Allan Savory’s Holistic Rangeland Management, is a viable solution for today’s range issues. More wild horses and burros should be allowed on the range to reverse desertification, reduce fuel for wildfires and create biodiversity. This ultimately improves rangeland grazing for livestock.

“Holistic Management using native wild horses, heritage burros and livestock should be used for rangeland programs across the West,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It’s a win-win that works to heal the land, reverse desertification and reduce global warming”