Roundup helicopter chases fearful wild horses (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved,)
Contact the Appropriations Committee and ask them to stop funding cruel helicopter roundups.
Here is the link to contact them: https://appropriations.house.gov/contact/contactform.htm
Stallion & Sweaty Mustangs Trapped at Calico Roundup (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)
Hear the report about the Nevada BLM jeopardizing public process, privacy and free speech and the call for the public to weigh in by faxing the BLM in Washington at 202-208-5242 .
The interview aired on KPFA, KPFB Evening News Berkeley, as well as on KFCF Fresno, KPFK Los Angeles, WBAI New York, KPFT Houston, WPFW Washington, DC.
Listen here: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/81120 at 22:35
Ask your friends to fax in requests for BLM to have a public helicopter hearing in Nevada with 30 days notice.
Thank you for doing what you can to save America’s wild horses and burros.
Mustang advocates want 30 days notice for public hearings on use of Helicopters at roundups
for immediate release:
RENO (May 28, 2012)—Protect Mustangs has discovered that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scheduled an important public hearing for 10 a.m. the morning after Memorial Day weekend without adequately notifying the public. The hearing is scheduled for 10-11 a.m., at the BLM Carson City District Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, in Carson City, Nevada. The wild horse preservation group is requesting the BLM reschedule the public hearing—regarding the use of helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management—in order to give the public at least 30 days notice.
“What happened to government transparency and public process?” asks Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “With 80% of America’s federally protected indigenous wild horses and burros living on public land in Nevada, the whole country should be given adequate notice to participate in person as well as via email. Most members of the public are against helicopter roundups. Is BLM trying to sneak this by without public input?”
On Saturday, the preservation group’s website alerted the public about the hearing, after they saw it posted in the Mesquite News online.”Through our social media channels the public began to hear about the public hearing that no one knew about,” said Novak. “Even horse advocates in Carson City hadn’t heard about the hearing.”
“I live in Carson City and never heard a thing about a public hearing regarding helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management,” says photographer and wild horse advocate Cat Kindsfather. “People would like to come to the hearing from around the country but they need proper notice.”
“I live in the Carson area and just found out about the Helicopter hearing,” says Craig Downer, author and wildlife biologist. “These hearings are mandated by the law so why aren’t we being informed about them?”
“I live in Reno and only heard about the hearing today when a friend called,” says Terri Farley, author and wild horse and burro advocate. “Mustangs are the people’s horses, but BLM’s stealth meetings make it impossible for us to stand up for their welfare.”
Advocates, as well as members of the public nationwide, would like to attend the hearing but they need 30 days notice to make arrangements.
“I live in Oakland, California and I would like to speak against the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles,” says Kerry Becklund, Outreach Director for Protect Mustangs. “But I need to give my day job notice to take a vacation day.”
“I live in Houston, Texas and work overseas,” says R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, “Hearing about an important BLM meeting—only a day before it occurs—continues to stack the deck against the horses and burros as our collective voices cannot possibly be present to speak to the issue.”
“I live in Richmond, Virginia and would like to speak at the public hearing against using helicopters but I need adequate notice to make travel plans,” says wild horse advocate Lisa Friday. “30 days notice is standard. Why doesn’t the BLM notify us properly? Is this against the law?”
“I live in New York City and would like to speak at the meeting against helicopter roundups,” says Hope Smith who loves wild horses. “I want to be part of the public process but I need more notice to get out West.”
“I live on 36 acres at the base of the mountains in Arizona and would like to come to the hearing,” says Michael Blake, Academy Award-winner and author of Dances with Wolves. “Helicopter roundups are nothing but incessant warfare against life on earth . . . for money.”
The group is collecting comments against helicopter roundups to take to Tuesday morning’s hearing. Members of the public may email them to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org
In the letter addressed to The BLM, Novak states, “The requirement for the public hearing was set in place to protect the public’s rights to participate in government and this must not be ignored.”
The BLM press release reads:
Before helicopters or motorized vehicles can be used, a public hearing is required in order to comply with Section 404 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The BLM proposes to use a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft and other motorized vehicles to estimate population numbers and obtain seasonal distribution information for wild horse and burro herds throughout Nevada. Also proposed is using a helicopter to assist in gathering excess wild horses and burros on gathers and complexes throughout the state during the coming year. The actual number of areas where gathers will be conducted or inventoried will depend on a number of factors including funding.
Members of the public can fax the BLM head office in Washington DC to request the helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public. The fax number is: 202-208-5242
Controversial helicopter roundups harass and stress wild horses and burros—stampeding them for miles, often resulting in lameness and sometimes in death.
Besides being concerned about animal cruelty at helicopter roundups, Protect Mustangs believes that helicopters flying in the desert for days or weeks emit pollution that harms the environment and contributes to global warming. The group believes motorized vehicles damage the ecosystem—hurting many forms of wildlife, such as sage grouse, and other endangered species on the range as well.
The group opposes the use of helicopter and motorized vehicles (except in a state of emergency or for an accurate population head count—not an estimate.)
“If wild horses and burros are facing a water or food emergency then bring aid out to them, but roundups, they must stop now,” states Novak. “A drought isn’t an excuse for roundups to zero out indigenous wild horses and remove them from their home on public land forever . . .”
# # #
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
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.
Links of interest:
BLM press release on public hearing for helicopters and motorized vehicles: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/blm_to_hold_public.html
Letter requesting rescheduling helicopter hearing: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1409
Protect Mustangs alerts public about Tuesday hearing: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1385
BLM Director’s Office: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/directory/wo100_dir.html
GAO Report: Aircraft Emissions Expected to Grow, but Technological and Operational Improvements and Government Policies Can Help Control Emissions: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-554
Comments against 3 California Roundups: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1377
Wild Horses: The Stresses of Captivity https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/wild-horses-the-stresses-of-captivity/
Anne Novak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theannenovak
Protect Mustangs on YouTube
Protect Mustangs website: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org
“Like” Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
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
(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)
The slaughter profiteers—backed with foreign money—want to open a plant in Missouri to kill up to 400 horses a day for human consumption abroad. See one news report here and another here.
Please sign and share: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-usa-horse-slaughter
We ask President Barack Obama and The United States Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966, which amends the Horse Protection Act (HPA) to prohibit the sale or transport of horses or equine body parts in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to process for human consumption. This Act will put an end to horse slaughter for human consumption in the United States, and put an end to the transportation of horses to slaughterhouses across our borders (typically to Mexico and Canada).
(1) Horses helped build the United States of America. Wild horses are living treasures and symbols of freedom. Most domestic horses are pets. Some have even become icons—such as Secretariat—who uplift the spirit and foster the American dream.
(2) In the U.S.A., horses are not raised for human consumption. Consequently horses are medicated with toxic substances that often do not pass FDA standards, making them unsafe to eat.
(3) We are against wasting tax dollars to fund horse meat inspections at slaughterhouses.
(4) Horse slaughter is animal cruelty—not humane euthanasia. When horses are slaughtered, they are often semi-conscious while the butchering begins.
(5) Humane euthanasia is a kinder way to end a horse’s life.
This Act will protect America’s horses and protect Americans against unhealthy and dangerous horse meat.
Members of Congress: We ask you to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966, when it comes up for a vote.
President Barack Obama: We ask you to push for passage of the Act and to sign it when it reaches your desk.
Are American wild horses going to slaughter? What will happen to the “sale authority” mustangs from the Calico roundup December 2011, near Gerlach, Nevada?
Wild War Horse (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)
California is home to some wild horses blended with ancestors of WW1 cavalry remounts. These treasured herds are found east of the Sierra Mountains, between Susanville and the Nevada border.
“We want to see horses treated humanely–they have carried us in battle and helped us plow the fields–just like in the movie WAR HORSE,” explains Anne Novak, Executive Director of California-based Protect Mustangs. “American wild horses deserve humane treatment. BLM needs to revamp their protocol to ensure the horses’ safety as well as create transparency within the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Right now too many bad things are funded with taxpayer dollars.”
Protect Mustangs’ 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.
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?