Land Grab Roundup will Wipe Out Nevada’s Wild Horses to Make Way for Mining and Liquid Natural Gas Fracking

BLM plans on conducting a wild horse roundup in eastern Nevada
ELY, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will begin a wild horse roundup near Ely, Nevada on or about July 8, 2019. The purpose of this roundup is to use taxpayer dollars to appease Cattlemen as well as the mining and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) fracking industry, etc. There is no evidence of overpopulation it’s just a big fat greedy lie.

Wild horses torn from their family bands and homes on public land, will be made available for adoption or sale as a means of “disposal” through the BLM’s Adoption and Sale Program. In the past, the BLM has sold thousands of wild horses to alleged kill buyers such as their buddy who purchased at least 1,700 native wild horses to “use in the Mexican film industry.”

The BLM is claiming the population of wild horses in the proposed roundup area, known as the Triple B Complex, was estimated at 3,381 as of March 1, 2019 – more than ten times above the target population of 474-889 wild horses. Advocates who crunch numbers such as Marybeth Devlin find this impossible because wild horses don’t have litters.

After years of land degradation from overgrazing cattle and most especially sheep, the BLM and their P.R. division spin lies and fake news once again. They claim, “… By balancing herd size with what the land can support, the BLM aims to protect habitat for other wildlife species such as sage grouse, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, and elk. Removing excess animals would also enable significant progress toward achieving the Standards for Rangeland Health identified by the Northeastern Great Basin Resource Advisory Council (NGBRAC).” Know that the NGBRAC is made up of opportunists who want to cash in on the land, water, resources or government funding for the wild horse “problem”.

Of course, former Secretary of Interior, Ryan Zinke, has joined the board of U.S. Gold Corp., who is involved with mining and exploration of liquid natural gas, etc. Even the Elko Daily reports:

“The rapid transition from the highest levels of the executive branch to the corporate boardroom is raising questions about possible conflicts of interest.

It comes fewer than four months after Zinke left a cabinet position overseeing the country’s oil and gas, coal and other natural resources and those companies that profit off their extraction.”

Read more about Zinke’s alleged conflicts of interest here: https://elkodaily.com/mining/zinke-joins-board-of-elko-based-u-s-gold-corp/article_83ccde9d-edf5-5bde-a9c2-265d69c58a76.html

Keep in mind that Zinke, while in office, allegedly made deals to remove America’s wild horses from public land–to free it up for mining, fracking, water grabs, etc. Just #FollowTheMoney because now it’s so obvious as the public watches it play out.

Now here’s the funny part–the BLM has not proved to the American public or elected officials that there are “excess” wild horses on 1,682,998 acres of public land in what’s known as the Triple B Complex near Ely and Elko. After allegedly being seduced by big dollars, Zinke said there were too many wild horses while in office and therefore it supposedly is so.

Who suffers as a result of all this greed? The innocent wild horses do of course.

Roundups are cruel, period. Injuries and deaths are commonplace. Native wild horses suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after being chased by helicopters, stampeded into traps, then ripped from their families and their native land. Because the BLM views American wild horses are soul-less animals and pests, they don’t care and they lie to claim they do. The BLM strives to hide the cruelty from the public to avoid outrage that travels like wildfire–thanks to the social media.

The Triple B Complex is located in the BLM’s Elko and Ely districts on public lands administered by the Wells and Bristlecone field offices. The roundup may also take place in areas outside the Complex where wild horses have moved in search of food and water after being fenced out of their rightful access to food and water on public land. The BLM claims they will leave 2,581 wild horses in the Complex once the roundup is completed. The truth is the BLM inflates the population estimate to justify removing a high percentage in order to wipe out the majority of wild horses in the resource-rich Complex. The roundup is expected to last approximately 20-25 days at huge expense to the American taxpayer. Are you aware of how much money roundup contractors rake in?

The BLM states that members of the public are welcome to view the daily roundup operations, provided that it does not jeopardize the safety of the animals, staff or observers and that it does not disrupt gather operations. The BLM will escort the public to gather observation sites located on public lands. The BLM anticipates that viewing opportunities will begin on or about July 9, 2019, weather and logistics permitting. Those wanting to view roundup operations are asked to notify Public Affairs Specialist Chris Hanefeld at (775) 289-1800 prior to the desired viewing date to be added to the attendee list and to receive specific instructions on meeting locations and times.

Some high-tech behind the scenes horse advocates, who aren’t asking for donations, believe the BLM’s contractor “pre-gathers” and therefore stampedes wild horses much further than they would let the public know. Of course, the BLM and everyone in on the roundup game won’t tell you the truth.

The BLM is conducting the roundup under the DOI-BLM-NV-E030-2017-0010-EA Antelope and Triple B Complexes Gather Plan Environmental Assessment decision signed on December 21, 2017, when Ryan Zinke was the Secretary of Interior overseeing the BLM. Access the Decision Record and determination of the National Environmental Policy Act adequacy at https://go.usa.gov/xyYxj.

Once the roundup is underway, the BLM will post roundup reports and wild horse death reports as well as additional information on its website at https://go.usa.gov/xy2R7. For technical information, contact Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Ben Noyes at (775) 289-1836 or bnoyes@blm.gov.

Utilize wild horses to reverse desertification

Instead of mimicking nature in the American West, we need to utilize America’s last wild horses to help heal the land. Alan Savory’s method mimics wild herds, but keep in mind that instead of costly roundups and removals, herds of wild mustangs can be used to heal the land that has been ruined by overgrazing cattle and sheep. There are thousands of wild horses in holding that can be returned to public land to help reverse desertification and save the taxpayer close to $70,000,000. annually.

Dolly Varden Springs, in northeast Nevada, is a good example of land that has been ruined by decades of sheep grazing using poor management methods. The degradation at Dolly Varden Springs, highlighted by filmmaker Ben Master’s visit with the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, was blamed on wild horses when the truth is excessive sheep grazing was the real culprit and the land hasn’t healed since that fiasco.

Princeton University researchers in Africa proved that raising cattle with wild herbivorous animals improved livestock. Read about Dr. Dan Rubenstien’s studies in Wildlife and cows can be partners not enemies in search for food.

If Alan Savory’s method works, then how about sharing the land with wild horses to build healthy ecosystems so both public land grazing permittees and wildlife can thrive?

Expose BLM’s backdoor to slaughter!

How many are left?

When I first heard about wild horses in the Pryor Mountains being brutally rounded up in 2009, Nevada was home to 80% of America’s federally protected wild horses. Wyoming was the next state who had the most wild horses and California only had a few herds left.

Today Nevada has only about 50% of America’s wild horses and I believe California now has the second largest population. In Wyoming, the feds are proposing to remove another 1,029 wild horses. One of their former congresswomen even wanted to kill them!

The Department of Interior is giving away grants for university students in Wyoming to cruelly collar mares from the Adobe Town herd. They want to find out where they hide in the desert. Then the agency in charge of protecting them can find them and wipe out the ancient Adobe Town mustangs too.

Invasive cruelty against America’s wild horses must stop. The law states they are to be left alone and not be abused. How dare they collar wild horses! This harassment will cause deaths and these deaths will be hidden. . . Hidden like the others.

The deception continues. People who once spoke out against mustang cruelty back in 2009 are now mute because they are playing a political game to get what they want. I’m disgusted and will never sell out. Never.

In 8 years of roundups, experiments, removals, pesticides for “birth control”, 3-Strikes to sell truckloads for slaughter and taxpayer-funded propaganda campaigns, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has decimated America’s wild herds on public land. Now wild horses are in danger of dying out because they lack genetic diversity, population and strength. Natural selection is being ruined by the “one foal” on the range breeding programs run by Pesticide PZP darters in partnership with BLM. Remember Pesticide PZP sterilizes wild horses after multiple use. Yes sterilizes. The public is fooled by those trusted to manage the last American wild horses and their nonprofit partners peddling for donations to “help” them.

Overpopulation is a lie. Population control is based on a false premise that wild horses are “pests”. Follow the money behind population control experiments and the donation cash cow for the nonprofit who claims they solved the wild horse “problem”.

Know the truth: Wild horses are native wildlife, period. Cattle and sheep are not.

Right now we are witnessing a wild horse and burro underpopulation crisis in the West. This is our last chance to help America’s wild horses and burros survive the ugly greed wiping out our herds. It’s time to expose the overpopulation lies. It’s time to expose all the trucks sneaking wild stallions to slaughter over the borders. . . expose the lies that there are “too many” wild horses on public land. Count them.

The truth must be exposed by your elected officials now before it’s too late.

I urge you to sign and share the petition to investigate the wild horse and burro count in captivity and freedom: https://www.change.org/p/u-s-senate-investigate-the-wild-horse-burro-count-in-captivity-and-freedom Join us to double the numbers on the petition in the next 7 days!

America won’t be the same without our iconic wild symbols of liberty running freely on public land . . . The wild herds are to be protected by the law–but because of the greed for resources (oil, gas, livestock grazing, etc.) the law is being twisted, lies are spread in the media and spoon-fed to your elected officials acting on your behalf.

It’s time to know how many wild horses and burros are really left so we can all stand up to protect them.

Prayers and miracles are needed right now. Please contact me if you can help with a lawsuit to save America’s last wild horses and burros.

For the Wild Ones,
Anne Novak
Volunteer Executive Director
Protect Mustangs

Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org



Adopt a wild horse or two ~ Save a living legend

Mustangs make great partners

Protect Mustangs . org  & Photo © Taylor James

Jackson Mountain wild horses for adoption (Photo © Taylor James)

Sadly these wild horses have lost their homes and their families. They need to find good people to adopt them. Mustangs are quick to learn and train.

We have adopted wild horses and would be happy to share our experience as well as some resources such as gentle trainers. We welcome you to email us at Contact@ProtectMustangs.org with your questions. Please include your phone number for us to call you back.

We encourage people to adopt a wild horse or two to keep them safe. It’s direct action you can take to save the mustangs.

If you know of someone who might adopt a mustang please forward this on to them.

Living legends at risk

Once wild horses are shipped out to long term holding their fate is unknown. The public and advocates can’t keep track of them . . . They can be purchased by the lots of 100 horses or more. Who buys 100 wild horses at a time? Where do they go?

These wild horses are located at the Palomino Valley Center near Reno, Nevada. They need homes quickly before they are shipped out to long-term holding.

Thank you for doing what you can do to save a wild mustang’s life.

We object to BLM’s proposed California roundups

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Cancel Buckhorn, Coppersmith and Carter Roundups
From: <anne@protectmustangs.org>
Date: Thu, May 24, 2012 11:58 pm
To: CBCwildhorses@blm.gov

Dear Sirs,

We respectfully ask you to cancel the three proposed wild horse and burro roundups (Buckhorn, Coppersmith and Carter Reservoir) on the northern California-Nevada border because there is no proof that the indigenous wild horses are ruining the thriving natural ecological balance. There is no exact head count and therefore no “excess” wild horses.

We don’t like the BLM wasting taxpayer dollars on animal cruelty, nor for the government to spend money on environmental assessments for roundups when, according to the PEER report, the livestock is causing range damage.

We believe the government should not remove native wild horses to warehouse each horse or foal at a cost of $1.30 a day ($39 a month) when livestock grazing permittees pay only $1.35 a cow/calf pair per month to graze on public land.

We would like to ask you to bring the mustangs and burros water or feed if they are at risk but leave them ALL on the Herd Management Areas (HMAs).

If there is a range damage issue then take ALL the livestock off and kindly ask the permittees to put them elsewhere.

Removing wild horses puts them at a high-risk of being sold and going to slaughter after only 3 adoption attempts. Also, if they are over 10 years old they can be sold without limitation according to BLM regulations. Selling native wild horses who end up butchered for human consumption in foreign countries is morally wrong and goes against the spirit of the 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act.

We document wild horses and burros in their HMAs, write about them and enjoy taking photos of them. Our work is shared with the global public. If you roundup the wild horses and burros it will negatively affect our work.

Removing the wild horses and burros will affect the genetic viability of the herds and the normal herd dynamics will be ruined forever.

Skewing the sex ratios is cruel and causes extreme stress on the mares and ruins the natural family dynamics of these indigenous animals.

At the last National Academy of Science public meeting it was proven that mountain lions are hunting a lot of foals and are managing the population as nature intended so drugs such as PZP, ZonaStat-H, SpayVac, GonaCon, and other forms of contraception or sterilization are probably not necessary.

We all know darting isn’t going to work–the roundups will continue in order to give wild horses and burros contraceptives.

How much money has been spent on fertility control research in the past fiscal year? And in the past 40 years how much money was spent on this research?

And how many wild horses and burros are really out there?

Do you have photos and videos to prove too many wild horses and burros are out there causing damage?

How many heads of livestock are using or will use the very same HMAs?

What “multiple use” does BLM serve on the Buckhorn, Coppersmith and Carter Reservoir HMAs? Who is getting permits for these HMA’s? Please provide information about lease sales, energy development, water rights and grazing issues for the three HMA’s.

These animals are being managed to extinction. Cancel the roundups! We don’t have many wild horses and burros left in California.

Please respond to our questions in writing without delay. Thank you for your kind assistance.

Sincerely,

Anne Novak

 

Links of interest:

Indigenous wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

The PEER Report on Grazing Allotments Failing Rangeland Health Standards: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1243

AWHPC reports on the final NAS public meeting: http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/2012/05/21/eyewitness-report-national-academy-of-sciences-wild-horse-and-burro-review-commitee-fourth-public-meeting/

6 Wild Horses Sold by U.S. End Up at Slaughterhouse: http://articles.latimes.com/2005/apr/22/nation/na-horses22

BLM Scoping Notice for 3 California-Nevada roundups: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/04/NC1256_whbscoping.html

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

P.O. Box 5661

Berkeley, California 94705

Tel./Text: 415.531.8454

 

Twitter @ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs on YouTube

Protect Mustangs in the News

Donate to the outreach fund

 

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.

 


Comments due today to stop 3 northern California mustang roundups

 

Freedom Lost & Hell Begins (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

Please send comments today to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), who “manages” our wild horses and burros. Email them at CBCwildhorses@blm.gov with “Cancel Buckhorn, Coppersmith and Carter Roundups” in the subject line.

In your comments ask them to cancel the three roundups (Buckhorn, Coppersmith and Carter Reservoir) on the northern California-Nevada border because there is no proof that the indigenous wild horses are ruining the thriving natural ecological balance. There is no  exact head count and therefore no “excess” wild horses.

Let them know you don’t like the BLM wasting taxpayer dollars on animal cruelty, nor for the government to spend money on environmental assessments for roundups when, according to the PEER report, the livestock is causing range damage.

Also mention the government should not remove native wild horses to warehouse them at a cost of $1.30 a day ($39 a month) when livestock grazing permittees pay only $1.35 a cow/calf pair per month to graze on public land.

Remind them that removing wild horses puts them at risk of going to slaughter after only 3 adoption attempts. Also, if they are over 10 years old they can be sold without limitation according to BLM regulations.

If you have seen them and enjoy taking photos of them, tell the BLM that removing the wild horses and burros will affect you negatively, and let them know how it will.

Remind them at the last National Academy of Science public meeting it was proven that mountain lions are hunting a lot of foals and are managing the population as nature intended so the drug PZP and other forms of contraception are probably not necessary. We all know darting isn’t going to work–the roundups will continue in order to give wild horses and burros contraceptives.

And how many are really out there?

These animals are being managed to extinction. Cancel the roundups! We don’t have many wild horses and burros left in California.

Ask them to respond to you in writing with the questions you have about why they would justify a roundup and ask for their scientific proof to back up all their claims.

Do you want to know what “multiple use” BLM serves on the Buckhorn, Coppersmith and Carter Reservoir Herd Management Areas (HMAs)? Who is getting permits for these HMA’s? Do you have questions about lease sales, energy development, water rights and grazing issues for the three HMA’s?

Please don’t copy and paste this because then the BLM won’t count your letter. It’s better if you write your own email–even if it is a one-liner.

Anyone can comment. Comments are due by midnight P.S.T. tonight. Please share this with your friends so they can send in a comment too.

Feel free to cc us on your comments or forward a copy separately to us at Contact@ProtectMustangs.org so we can keep track of comments.

Thank you for taking any action you can to save our wild horses and burros!

 

Below is the BLM Scoping Notice which requires your comment to them:

BLM Extends Scoping Period on Wild Horse Roundup Environmental Assessment

The U. S. Bureau of Land Management is extending the issue scoping period for receiving public comments on issues that should be addressed in an environmental assessment (EA) for a proposed roundup of excess wild horses in northeast California and northwest Nevada.The BLM Surprise Field Office in Cedarville, Calif. is considering roundups for the Buckhorn and Coppersmith herd management areas (HMA) in November 2012 and for the Carter Reservoir HMA in July 2013.Issue “scoping” comments should be sent to Bureau of Land Management, PO Box 460, Cedarville, CA, 96104, or sent by email toCBCwildhorses@blm.gov. While scoping comments will be accepted well into the development process for the EA, they would be most helpful if received by May 24, 2012.The Buckhorn and Coppersmith HMAs are in Lassen County, Calif., and Washoe County, Nev.  The Carter Reservoir HMA is in Modoc County, Calif. and Washoe County.The EA will analyze the environmental effects of gathering excess wild horses and consider the effects of several management alternatives, including not gathering the animals.  The EA will not establish population levels, called appropriate management levels (AML), for these HMAs.  These were established in the Surprise Field Office Resource Management Plan completed in 2008.  The plan is available at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/surprise/propRMP-FEIS.html.The roundups are being considered to bring the wild herd populations to levels that the rangelands can sustain in balance with other authorized users including wildlife and permitted livestock.The appropriate management level for the Buckhorn HMA is 59-85 wild horses; the BLM estimates the current population at 172.  The AML for the Coopersmith HMA is 50 to 75 wild horses, with the current population estimated at 75.  At Carter Reservoir, the AML is 25-35 wild horses, with the current population estimated at 55.  Additionally, there are an estimated 123 wild horses roaming outside of the HMA near the Carter HMA.The BLM will consider public comments in development of the EA which will be released for public comments this summer.

# # #

BLM Scoping Notice: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/04/NC1256_whbscoping.html

Spin-Doc paid for with tax dollars spurs wild horse advocacy

 

Studs at Short Term Holding (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)

Their Story of America’s Wild Horses and Burros

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has spent an extreme amount of U.S. tax dollars to make a Spin-Doc to justify wild horse and burro removals while protecting THEIR jobs and the vast monetary interests of the oil, gas, water and mining corporations on public land. This slanted infomercial, they call an “internal premier”, will be aired today on the BLM internal Dish network.

BLM employees are being brainwashed so they can respond to media investigations, Congressional inquiry and outraged members of the public with the BLM spin–feeling it’s “the truth” because they saw the documentary.

Instead of providing government transparency, as requested by wild horse advocates and members of the public, the BLM has produced their Spin-Doc to avoid transparency all together.

Will they mention the 2008 secret talks to kill thousands upon thousands of wild horses in holding or sell them to slaughter in their “documentary”?

We hope BLM employees will see through the veil of subterfuge in the broken program that does not protect America’s wild horses but has a history of being involved in trafficking mustangs to slaughter since 1973.

With BLM ramping up their efforts to sway internal, Congressional and public opinion, it’s time to take the offensive in this mission to save the mustangs and ask for what we want.

Let’s promote the wild horse documentaries already out there (Cloud the Stallion, Wild Horses and Renegades, Saving America’s Horses and others) through our social media channels, friends as well as with other local and global opportunities.

We can create buzz about the documentaries in post-production like Jan Liverence’s, Ellie Phipps Price’s, Wendy Malick’s and others.

Members of the public along with wild horse and burro advocates can help new documentaries (short and long) get out there quickly by lending their support.

Let’s power up. All groups and all wild horse advocates are all needed and deserving of support.

Let’s find new ways to raise money for worthy projects and embrace the abundance in the Universe so we are united–knowing we will all have the money we need to accomplish our pledge to save American wild horses.

Today we need to shout the truth louder than before–in new creative ways–circling the planet.

Stop the roundups! Stop the removals! Stop selling wild horses to slaughter! Return wild horses from holding to the HMAs to heal the land–creating fertile rangeland–so all (livestock too) may prosper.

Stop wasting tax dollars to fund the BLM’s broken Wild Horse and Burro Program–zeroing out America’s iconic wild horses. Save the mustangs now!

(© Protect Mustangs, all rights reserved.)

 

Sources:

Spin-Doc http://www.blm.gov/ntc/st/en/broadcasts/blm_s_new_documentary.html

AP reports: Land managers try new method to capture mustangs

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.

Music 4 Mustangs

Wise wild stallion (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)

Saving wild horses through music.

Music 4 Mustangs‘ is a Protect Mustangs project. The mission is to raise awareness to protect American wild horses today and for future generations. Through concerts and recorded music, we will be raising money to fund various projects on and off the range.

If you are with a band and want to get involved to play a benefit concert to save the mustangs contact us: Info@Music4Mustangs.org

Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Music4Mustangs

On the web: http://www.Music4Mustangs.org

We also need volunteers.