Tag Archives: horses

Breaking News: Protest today against helicopter roundups causing wild horse deaths

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BLM helicopter use hearing draws uproar over wild horse deaths

For immediate release:

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (July 10, 2012)—Wild horse deaths and injuries during Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter roundups are the focus of a rally and press conference held today in front of the Sacramento Federal Courthouse 501 “I” Street. at 2 p.m.

Americans oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse helicopter roundups because they are cruel, costly, damage the environment and cause young foals to die, say wild horse advocacy groups such as rally organizers Protect Mustangs and Native Wild Horse Protection.

“Foals are often killed in roundups because they are stampeded by helicopter for miles over rocky terrain,” explains Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “After this prolonged suffering, the contractor is paid per head for catching them and then the BLM euthanizes them.”

During the recent Jackson Mountain roundup in Nevada, 12 wild horses were destroyed, most often because of lameness.

“Helicopter roundups are so routinely fatal, BLM had to invent two new terms for death last week,” states Terri Farley, author and wild horse advocate.

The terms acute and chronic/pre-existing conditions were recently listed on BLM’s website as “new terms to better describe the kinds of deaths that occur on the gather.”

Children, nationwide are active in the move to protect wild horses.

“Kids don’t want any animals to be scared or hurt,” says Robin Warren, age 11, youth campaign director for Protect Mustangs. “If America is not safe for the animals, then how can it be safe for the kids?”

Warren, of Las Vegas, started her advocacy at age 8 with the Petition to Save the Wild Mustangs in an effort to persuade BLM to follow Wild Horse Annie’s law. She will speak at the rally and the hearing.

“How outrageous is it that we have to fight so hard in order to get a government agency to simply follow a law that is already clearly in place to protect our Wild Horses and Burros?” states Simone Netherlands, President of Respect for Horses.

Many advocates believe wild horse roundups go hand in hand with the industrialization of U.S. rangelands.

Jetara Séhart, President of Native Wild Horse Protection says, “As ancient Cree prophecy warns, ‘Only after the the last tree has been cut down, only after the the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.’ We request the BLM stop all helicopter roundups before it’s too late.”

“It’s time to put science and appropriate capital stewardship ahead of good ole boy politics and special interests, the plug needs to be pulled on these abusive and expensive roundups and the time to do it is now!” RT Fitch, author and President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

The California BLM helicopter use hearing is open for public comment later in the day, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Woodlake Hotel, 500 Leisure Lane in Sacramento. The hearing will be heated with advocates opposing helicopter roundups.

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group, with a national perspective, 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

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 Links of interest:

June 9, 2012  Associated Press: Congressman criticizes Nevada wild horse roundup  http://mynorthwest.com/174/690641/Congressman-criticizes-NV-wild-horse-roundup

Current Facebook discussion about helicopter roundups: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=387209591338066&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Protest, press conference and public hearing information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1828

Celebrities speak out against wild horse roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsS9r87tRk

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter hearings and the public process: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1498

Anne Novak, Executive Director for Protect Mustangs: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=2

Robin Warren (Wild Mustang Robin), Youth Campaign Director for Protect Mustangs: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=wild+mustang+robin&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8   Bio here: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=2

Author Terri Farley: http://www.terrifarley.com/

Jetara Séhart, President of Native Wild Horse Protection: http://www.nativewildhorseprotection.com/

Simone Netherlands, President of Respect for Horses: http://www.respect4horses.com/

R.T. Fitch, President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation: http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/

BLM’s press release on the California helicopter hearing July 10, 2012  http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/june/CASO128_aircraft_hearing.html

BLM blocks press access to roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_g-LZSQuPA

Helicopter roundup video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=plcp

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

Anne Novak on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/theAnneNovak

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

Take action for wild horses & burros ~ Ask Congress to defund helicopter roundups

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Act today and make your voice heard in Congress

Please CALL the Capitol switchboard today at (202) 224-3121. Ask to be connected to your state Representative’s office. Ask them to NOT fund helicopter roundups.

You can also find the direct contact information for your state representative here>> http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Thank you for taking action to help America’s wild horses and burros.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk

 

(Graphic made by Robin Warren, age 11, Protect Mustangs’ new Youth Campaign DIrector)

Mustang Monday™: Ask your representative to defund slaughter today

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(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

Please CALL the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121; ask to be connected to your state Representative’s office. Ask them to NOT fund horse slaughter. Calls must be made today!
The House of Representatives will vote on the AG Appropriations bill tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26. A new amendment could be offered to remove the Committee-approved language that was just added back in last week prohibiting the USDA from spending tax dollars to inspect horse slaughter facilities.
America’s horses can be protected if the House keeps the defunding language currently included that prohibits inspections of horse slaughter. It’s up to us to make our voices heard today.Pro-slaughter supporters are putting the pressure on, but you can urge your Representatives to stand strong and oppose any effort to remove this funding ban.
You can also find the direct contact information for your state representative here>> http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Thank you for taking action to help all of America’s horses including our iconic wild horses.

Speaking out about uncounted deaths from the roundup

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Old Gold notice pelvis is probably injured. She can’t get up. Whip coming at her. Eyes freaked. Agony! (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

“Dead horses are a result of this roundup fiasco,” states Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs.  “The BLM should have brought wild horses aid (water and feed) for several months to avoid an emergency ‘gather’ during foaling season. Who’s giving the orders to stampede frail wild horses and tiny foals?”

Here is the BLM’s report about the Jackson Mt. roundup: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/Jackson_Mountains_Gather/facreports.html

“Counting the dead from a roundup is basic math,” says Novak. “All the wild horses who died or were killed from lethal injection as a result of the BLM’s Jackson Mountain roundup should be counted as roundup-related deaths. Not counting the dead properly shows the BLM’s lack of transparency.”

“The federal agency wants to make Congress feel the roundups don’t cause many deaths so they skew the numbers to ensure their funding won’t be cut off,” explains Novak. “We request that Congress investigate their erroneous death count.”

We brought up this issue at last winter’s Calico roundup beginning with Old Gold‘s death. Read our position here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=348

Below is what we said on November 26, 2011.

“So many wild horses die because of roundups yet the BLM does not count the deaths accurately,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of the California-based Protect Mustangs. “Congress hears that there is only a 1% death rate at ‘gathers’. We want transparency and accountability for all the deaths at roundups.”

“If a horse is chased by a helicopter for miles and miles, then while in a trap pen terrified with plastic tied on to whips, slammed into a metal panel, next shoved into a trailer and transported to another holding facility and is put down a day or two afterwards—it is related to the roundup,” says Novak.  “If Old Gold had not been rounded up, I bet she would be alive today.”

BLM has done nothing to improve transparency since then. The subterfuge continues . . .

Contact your elected officials and ask them to intervene to make this cruel roundup become transparent with correct death counts.

Thank you for doing what you can do to stop the roundups.

Links of interest:

June 9, 2012  Associated Press Congressman criticizes Nevada wild horse roundup  http://mynorthwest.com/174/690641/Congressman-criticizes-NV-wild-horse-roundup

11/30/11  Horse yard reports on Celebrities speak out against roundups and Old Gold’s death http://bit.ly/uqkVH6

11/29/12  Tuesdays Horse Michael Blake and The Barbi Twins speak out against wild horse roundups  http://bit.ly/sWpySD

11/28/11  Wild mustang killed by BLM . . . because she was old by The Desert Independent http://bit.ly/rCE39o

11/28/11  Questions over fate of “Old Gold” by International Horse News. http://bit.ly/vr1MX9

11/26/11 KPFA  Evening News, KFCF Fresno, KPFK Los Angeles, WBAI New York, KPFT Houston, WPFW Washington, DC interview to Stop Calico Roundup. Hear it  at 26:25 on http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/75490

AP: Helicopter roundup halted temporarily in the north while the roundup continues in the south

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RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada has temporarily banned the Bureau of Land Management from using helicopters to gather many of the hundreds of mustangs targeted in a roundup that’s already under way about 150 miles northeast of Reno.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben granted part of a temporary restraining order late Wednesday. Horse protection advocates who sought the order say the BLM’s own rules prohibit helicopter roundups during foaling season.

McKibben says he’ll allow the activity to continue in the southern half of the Jackson Mountains because BLM has proven there’s an emergency due to drought. But he says that emergency doesn’t stretch to the northern half of the gather area covering hundreds of square miles.

He says no helicopters can be used there at least until the foaling season ends July 1.

Cross-posted from My News 4: http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Judge-stops-copters-in-horse-roundups/uSGq0J-mX06BPAOTR1dnow.cspx

Mustang Monday™: Ask for a real public hearing in Nevada

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Captured wild horses Nevada Jan 2012 (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Take action today~

Members of the public are encouraged to fax the BLM head office in Washington DC and request the Nevada helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public for oral comments. The fax number is: 202-208-5242. They may also email their request to Deputy Director Mike Pool at Mike_Pool@blm.gov .

Meanwhile, the group asks the public to send in their comments about using helicopters and other motorized vehicles in Nevada at roundups and for other wild horse and burro management. They welcome the public to send a copy of their comments to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org so Protect Mustangs can watchdog the process.

 

Thank you for doing what you can to help save wild horses and burros.

 

Letter requesting EPA repair error classifying iconic American wild horses as ‘pests’

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Native Wild Horses (Photo © Cynthia Smalley)

Daniel T. Heggem

Acting Division Director

Environmental Protection Agency

heggem.daniel@epa.gov

 

 

Dear Mr. Heggem,

We respectfully request that the EPA apologize for classifying America’s legendary wild horses as ‘pests’, acknowledge the classification error and cancel approval of ZonaStat-H and any other pesticides for indigenous wild horses or American burros.

America’s wild horses and burros are an asset to the environment and humankind. Science proves they create biodiversity and heal the land—reversing damage and desertification.

The American public is uplifted knowing wild horses are roaming freely in the West. People come from around the world to catch a glimpse of wild horses because they are beloved icons of the American spirit and freedom.

Public land grazing allotment holders might call free roaming wild horses a nuisance but they have an obvious conflict of interest because they want all the grazing and water rights for their livestock, etc. They would like to eliminate the rights of the free roaming wild horses and burros. We hope the EPA will not buy into their game.

There is no scientific proof wild horses are overpopulating—only inflated estimates by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) who must invent high numbers so Congress will give them millions of taxpayer dollars to fund their broken Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Indigenous wild horses do not reproduce like rabbits—many die before the age of two. Life on the range can be hard and most wild horses do not reach the age of 17. As a wildlife species, this is normal. Left alone they will self-regulate as an integral piece of the ecosystem.

Wild horses have natural predators such as mountain lions, bears and coyotes to name a few. BLM goes to great lengths to downplay the existence of predators to foster their overpopulation estimate-based myths.

We expect the EPA to be based on science not myth.

Are you aware of the two Princeton studies proving equids heal the land for cattle to thrive?

The first study, “Facilitation Between Bovids and Equids on an African Savanna,” was published in Evolutionary Ecology Research in August 2011, and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Keller Family Trust and Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

The second study, “African Wild Ungulates Compete With or Facilitate Cattle Depending on Season,” was published in Science on Sept. 23, 2011, and supported by grants from the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the International Foundation for Science.

Besides the environmental hazards of using ZonaStat-H, we are concerned the iconic herds will risk ovary damage and permanent sterilization from multiple use or overdosing with PZP.

We ask that all ZonaStat-H use be put on hold immediately until your “pest” classification error has been corrected and for the EPA pesticide/drug approval be retracted.

Please reply to us via email or fax immediately with your response. Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

Anne Novak

Executive Director for Protect Mustangs

 

encl:

EPA Pesticide Fact Sheet for ZonaStat-Hhttp://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

Princeton reports: Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies, in search for food http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/93/41K10/index.xml?section=featured

NB: Faxed to numerous senators and representatives

CC: Lisa P. Jackson

 

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

P.O. Box 5661

Berkeley, California 94705

 

Twitter @ProtectMustangs

Facebook Protect Mustangs

Protect Mustangs on YouTube

Protect Mustangs in the News

 

www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-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.


AP reports: Land managers try new method to capture mustangs

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Cross-posted from The Seattle Times

Federal land managers say they will use a new method to remove “excess” wild horses from the range in Nevada and other western states.

By MARTIN GRIFFITH

Associated Press

RENO, Nev. — Federal land managers say they will use a new method to remove “excess” wild horses from the range in Nevada and other western states.The U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the first time is resorting to the widespread use of “bait trapping,” which involves setting up panels and using food, water and salt to lure mustangs into a trap.The move comes after animal rights advocates’ growing criticism of the traditional use of helicopters to drive the animals to corrals. Activists brand the practice as inhumane, saying horses are traumatized, injured or killed as they are driven for miles across rough terrain to corrals.

“The BLM is committed to continuously improving its management of wild horses and burros,” Joan Guilfoyle, BLM wild horse and burro division chief, said in a statement. “Deploying this new method of bait trapping enhances our ability to gather animals more effectively in certain areas of the West, while minimizing the impact to the animals.”

But the agency also still plans to conduct helicopter roundups, she added.

Anne Novak, executive director of San Francisco Bay area-based Protect Mustangs, said bait trapping would only be justified if there really were an excess number of wild horses on the range ruining the natural ecological balance.

“BLM never provides a scientific wild horse head count – only sloppy inflated estimates to justify removals,” Novak told The Associated Press. “When observers go out on the range, we see other factors devastating the land like big business extracting oil, gas and mining and ripping up the terrain, along with the old school methods of overgrazing cattle.”

The BLM already has used bait trapping in densely wooded areas where helicopters can’t easily move animals, and in areas where timeliness isn’t an issue. Bait trapping usually occurs over a period of several weeks or months.

But the use of bait trapping to remove horses over long periods of time in a variety of locations simultaneously is a new strategy for the agency, Guilfoyle said. The concept is to capture smaller numbers of animals over a long period of time, not to gather large numbers of horses in a short period of time, she added.

For the first time, the BLM is soliciting bids for several bait-trapping contracts to remove mustangs in six zones across the West over a one-year period starting July 1.

The government’s wild horse program is intended to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. About 33,000 wild horses live in 10 Western states, of which about half are in Nevada. Under the program, thousands of horses are forced into holding pens, where many are vaccinated or neutered before being placed for adoption or sent to long-term corrals in the Midwest.

While animal rights advocates complain that the roundups are inhumane, ranchers and other groups say they’re needed to protect fragile grazing lands that are used by cattle, bighorn sheep and other wildlife.