Did poor horse management result in killing wild horses after rounding them up or was the BLM just too lazy to give them the care they needed?
For immediate release:
LAS VEGAS, NV. (September 8, 2015)–Protect Mustangs demands the Office of the Inspector General conduct a full investigation into the management, roundup, feeding, veterinary care and killing of the 28 Cold Creek wild horses who had become skinny. The preservation organization also demands immediate full public disclosure of the death of more than 75 wild horses who were moved to a holding facility in Kansas in 2014. Allegations of wild horses becoming skinny and dying who were not able to access the feed troughs have been circulating the Internet for a year.
“The BLM roundup was supposed to save wild horses not kill them,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs, a preservation organization based in California.
“I was told by BLM staff that wild horses would be euthanized only if they could not step up into the trailer to be hauled away,” states Alynn Dalton, photographer and Las Vegas area resident who attended the roundup. “They killed the very horses they said they were there to help. Why aren’t they giving them a real chance at life?”
“Last year in Kansas the BLM’s deplorable horse management resulted in the deaths of more than 75 wild horses and that now requires full public disclosure,” explains Novak. “Today we demand an investigation into the Cold Creek killings. These federally protected wild horses were living on the range not dropping dead. The BLM should know that feeding severely skinny wild horses takes special care to nurse them back to health. . . I wonder if they thought this was an easy way to dispose of them. The truth needs to come out.”
Out of 202 Cold Creek wild horses rounded up near Las Vegas, BLM killed 28 wild horses on September 3rd and 4th, before Labor Day weekend, according to their website update. They list a “poor prognosis for recovery” as the reason for killing them but BLM’s track record speaks for itself regarding the 2014 Kansas fiasco.
“How many mares and foals have been killed or did the BLM just kill off the mares instead of helping them?” asks Novak. “If so, now what will happen to the orphans? Did the BLM kill the old mustangs too? People would have adopted these mustangs once they were well. Volunteers and rescues would have helped them recover. Killing them without giving them a fighting chance at recovery is a heinous misuse of tax dollars.”
The Cold Creek herd is the last wild herd in southern Nevada and dearly loved by the community in the Las Vegas area.
Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
# # #
Thursday,
September 3
Summary: Gather operations have been suspended
Animals gathered: 0
Animals shipped: 49
Acute related animal deaths: 0
Cause: none
Chronic/pre-existing related animal deaths: 11
Cause: Eleven (11) horses, 3 studs and 8 mares, body condition score 1.5 or less were euthanized due to “poor prognosis for recovery or improvement” as identified within BLM’s Animal Health, Maintenance, Evaluation and Response Instruction Memorandum 2015-070.
Friday,
September 4
Summary: Gather operations have been suspended
Animals gathered: 0
Animals shipped: 37
Acute related animal deaths: 0
Cause: none
Chronic/pre-existing related animal deaths: 16
Cause: Sixteen (16) horses, 3 studs and 13 mares, body condition score 1.5 or less were euthanized due to “poor prognosis for recovery or improvement” as identified within BLM’s Animal Health, Maintenance, Evaluation and Response Instruction Memorandum 2015-070.
Media Contacts:
Anne Novak, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org, 415-531-8454
Kerry Becklund, Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org, 510-502-1913
Links of interest™:
28 Cold Creek horses euthanized by BLM: http://bit.ly/1Ow5Pgl
BLM roundup and death report: http://on.doi.gov/1JRx6Xm
BLM roundup press release: http://on.doi.gov/1PJ6onj
Wild horses relocated by the Bureau of Land Management occupy a corral and die in Kansas: http://bit.ly/1UEPNT1
Protect Mustangs on the web: www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
Anne Novak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak