Urgent! Wyoming roundups cause environmental damage

Permission given to use to raise awareness crediting © Protect Mustangs

Permission given to use to raise awareness crediting © Protect Mustangs

Your comments are urgently needed to help Wyoming’s wild horses today!

You do not need to live in the U.S.A. to comment as we know Wyoming tourism draws people to the state from around the world to see native wild horses.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the roundup and removal of wild horses from the “Checkerboard” region HMAs–Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek (ATSW) in the Red Desert of Wyoming. The EA reads:

“All wild horses on private lands and on the checkerboard lands within the ATSW Complex would be removed in accordance with the 2013 Consent Decree.”

Since wild horses move freely from public land to private land in the “Checkerboard” region, will they chase the native wild horses with helicopters on to private land to remove as many as possible from the entire public-private land region? They have chased them on to public land in the past to trap them.

Does this roundup have a back-room connection to BP America’s Continental Divide – Creston (CD-C) natural gas project that will frack 8,950 new gas wells? The massive CD-C project already has 4,400 existing oil and gas wells.

Watch GASLAND Part II on HBO July 8th to see the answer to that question.

Comments are due to BLM Wyoming by 4:30 p.m. Central Time, June 10, 2013.

We encourage you to select Alternative C, No Action Alternative, No removal  

Email your comments to Jay D’Ewart, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, using this email address: AdobeTown_SaltWells_HMA_WY@blm.gov with “ATSW Public Comment” in the subject line.

Focus on the environmental damage because of the proposed Adobe Town Salt Wells Roundup. Oppose the roundup and request Alternative C, No Action Alternative, No removal. You can make it short. The point is to make a comment because they count how many come in. Below are some talking points:

  • Damaged and trampled plants, terrain and destruction of the fragile ecosystem from chasing wild horses with helicopters and the potential for a stampede.
  • Damaged and trampled plants, terrain and destruction of the fragile ecosystem from trucks and trailers as well as equipment trucks driving in and out.
  • Damage to riparian areas from chasing wild horses with helicopters and the potential for a stampede.
  • Damage to riparian areas and the surrounding fragile ecosystem from trucks and trailers as well as equipment trucks driving in and out.
  • Noise pollution from noisy helicopters assaults all wildlife and disturbs sage grouse.
  • Helicopters pollute the environment. They release CO2 that increases global warming and should not be allowed.
  • Fuel emissions from trucks carrying equipment and trailers for the roundup pollute. Trucks release CO2 that increases global warming and should not be allowed.
  • Dust from chasing wild horses, coupled with the stress, causes upper respiratory infections, possible permanent damage or possible death of native wild horses as well A hurting other animals in the ecosystem.
  • Dust from equipment trucks and trucks hauling captured wild horses in trailers causes possible damage to other species in the ecosystem.
  • Wild horses are a return-native species (E. caballus) and should not be removed. They are an essential piece in the native ecosystem, creating diversity and helping to reverse desertification. If native wild horses are removed the ecosystem will become more out of balance as we see happening because many predators species are being removed or killed.
  • Without proving overpopulation, this proposed roundup is in violation of NEPA.
  • Without proving overpopulation, this proposed roundup does not merit the use of risky chemical fertility control (PZP, SpayVac®) or fertility control made from pig ovaries (PZP-22, ZonaStat-H) as most pigs have become GMO animals and the risks are unknown. The “birth-control” was approved by the EPA as a “restricted use pesticide” only.
  • Without proving overpopulation, this roundup should be cancelled. Even the NAS study said the BLM fails to provide accurate data to support their overpopulation claims.
  • Native wild horses are not “pests” and should not be labelled or treated as if they are. They are an essential part of the native ecosystem.

More items will be listed later. Your suggestions below are welcome.

Read Debbie Coffey’s statement on using the fertility control agent known as PZP:

“PZP and other fertility control should not be used on non-viable herds either. Most of the remaining herds of wild horses are non-viable. The NAS and any advocacy groups that are pushing PZP and other fertility control have not carefully studied all of the caveats in Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports along with the remaining population of each herd of wild horses.” ~ Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Read Jesica Johnston’s statement about overpopulation:

“The NAS findings clearly state that the BLM has failed to provide accurate estimates of the nation’s population of wild horses and burros. Therefore, the NAS cannot conclude that a state of over-population exists and or provide a recommendation for artificial management considerations such as ‘rigorous fertility controls’ to control populations for which the complex population dynamics are currently unknown.” ~Jesica Johnston, environmental scientist and biologist.

Here is the link to the BLM’s Environmental Assessment online:

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rfodocs/adobetown-saltwells.Par.74403.File.dat/ATSWEA.pdf

Here is the BLM press release explaining their side:

Release Date: 05/10/13
Contacts: Serena Baker,
307-212-0197

Adobe Town/Salt Wells Creek Wild Horse Gather EA Available

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rawlins and Rock Springs field offices are launching a 30-day public comment period on an environmental assessment (EA) to gather excess wild horses from the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek (ATSW) Herd Management Areas (HMAs).The two HMAs are managed collectively as the ATSW Complex due to wild horse movement between the two areas. The Complex is located in the checkerboard pattern of mixed public, private, and state land ownership in Sweetwater and Carbon counties, stretching from Interstate 80 south to the Wyoming/Colorado border. The BLM respects private land owner rights while managing wild horse populations. The ATSW Complex includes approximately 510,308 acres which are privately held. This gather would reduce landowner conflicts where the wild horses stray onto private lands.Population surveys conducted in May 2012 found approximately 1,005 wild horses in the ATSW Complex. However, wild horse populations are expected to increase by approximately 20 percent with the 2012 and 2013 foaling seasons, bringing the population in the ATSW Complex to an estimated 1,447 wild horses by summer.The appropriate management level (AML) for the ATSW Complex is 861-1,165 wild horses. The gather is necessary to maintain the wild horse herds toward the lower range of the established AMLs in compliance with the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, and the 2003 Wyoming Consent Decree. The AML for the ATSW Complex was established through an agreement with private land owners and wild horse advocacy groups. It was confirmed in the 1997 Green River Resource Management Plan (RMP) and through the 2008 Approved Rawlins RMP. The proposed gather is anticipated in 2013.

The proposed action in the EA is also in conformance with the Consent Decree with the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) ordered by the U.S. District Court on April 3, 2013, to remove all wild horses from private lands within the checkerboard portion of the ATSW Complex in 2013. According to the Consent Decree, if the numbers are likely to exceed 200 wild horses within the checkerboard portion of the ATSW Complex, the BLM shall prepare to remove the wild horses from the private lands.

The ATSW Complex was last gathered in fall 2010. During that gather, 99 mares released back to the HMAs were administered the PZP fertility control vaccine. Fertility control is an alternative being considered in the EA.

Public comments are most helpful if they cite specific actions or impacts, and offer supporting factual information or data. Written comments should be received by June 10, and may be emailed only to AdobeTown_SaltWells_HMA_WY@blm.gov (please list “ATSW Comment” in the subject line), mailed or hand-delivered during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) to: The BLM Rock Springs Field Office, ATSW Comment, 280 Highway 191 N., Rock Springs, WY 82901.

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

For more information, please contact BLM Wild Horse Specialist Jay D’Ewart at 307-352-0256.

Note to editor: A link to the EA and map of the proposed project area can be found atwww.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/rfo/atsw-gather.html.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
–BLM–Rock Springs Field Office   280 Highway 191 North      Rock Springs, WY 82901

Press Release: No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control

 

Sally Jewell, Fortune Live Media / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

Sally Jewell, Fortune Live Media / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

For immediate release:

Is it safe to use pesticides on an indigenous species? 

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2013)–In light of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on wild horses and burros lacking data for an overpopulation claim, Protect Mustangs calls upon Secretary Jewell for an immediate halt to roundups and to return the 50,000 wild horses in government holding to the more than 30 million acres of herd management areas in the West to reduce costs quickly. The native wild horse conservation group calls on the Department of Interior to acknowledge wild horses are native, implement holistic land management and reserve design thus creating a win-win for wild horses to help the ecosystem and reverse desertification. Protect Mustangs requests that ‘survival of the fittest’ should be the only form of fertility control considered because indigenous wild horses must not become domesticated on the range. Artificial management such as pesticides and sterilizations should never be used on a native species such as Equus caballus.

“With the gluttony of roundups and removals, wild horses reproduce at a higher rate to prevent extinction,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We need more studies to establish what the normal reproduction rate is and discover truths about alleged overpopulation on the more than 30 million acres of public wildlands designated for their use. Today there is no scientific proof of overpopulation to merit fertility control.”

In July 2010, Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) spearheaded a letter signed by members of Congress, requesting an investigation of the Wild Horse and Burro Program by the National Academy of Sciences. This was a direct result of public outcry and media exposure of roundup carnage. Three years later, the NAS report was released last Wednesday.

According to a press release from NAS released Wednesday, “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) current practice of removing free-ranging horses from public lands promotes a high population growth rate, and maintaining them in long-term holding facilities is both economically unsustainable and incongruent with public expectations, says a new report by the National Research Council.”

“Making decisions to apply a fertility drug to wild horse herd mares would put wild horse herds in danger of a die-off if any natural or manmade disaster struck the herd management area–be it wildfire, an extreme winter, mass predation or something else,” explains Kathleen Gregg, environmental researcher. “If a majority of the mares are non-reproducing and thus zero or even just a few births, then it is easy to see that the entire herd would be in jeopardy, both genetically and physically, and would diminish their ability to survive into the future. Then we have a herd that is not safe on its own range. Wild horses must to be protected as the law states they shall be.”

“Unfortunately, the Academy quickly recommends fertility control as a better solution without considering the ‘do nothing’ or ‘placebo’ option which is an integral component of every credible field trial for pharmaceutical and other ‘treatment’ plans,” states Carl Mrozek, filmmaker of Saving Ass in America. “Had they searched for examples of herds with minimal or no culling in the past decade or so, they would have found multiple examples of herds which appear to have achieved homeostasis (equilibrium) or something approaching it, naturally, without BLM roundups or fertility treatments.”

“The NAS findings clearly state that the BLM has failed to provide accurate estimates of the nation’s population of wild horses and burros,” states Jesica Johnston, environmental scientist and biologist. “Therefore, the NAS cannot conclude that a state of over-population exists and or provide a recommendation for artificial management considerations such as ‘rigorous fertility controls’ to control populations for which the complex population dynamics are currently unknown.”

Recently fertility control, in the form of immunocontraceptives for wild horses, was erroneously passed by the EPA as “restricted use pesticides”. The EPA inaccurately named indigenous wild horses “pests” in order to pass the drug. Pesticides (PZP, GonaCon®, etc.) should never be used on native species such as E. caballus.

“PZP and other fertility control should not be used on non-viable herds either,” states Debbie Coffey, director of wild horse affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation.  “Most of the remaining herds of wild horses are non-viable. The NAS and any advocacy groups that are pushing PZP and other fertility control have not carefully studied all of the caveats in Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports along with the remaining population of each herd of wild horses.”

Equus caballus originated in North America more than 2 million years ago. Equus survived extinction through migration and E.caballus could have returned to America with the Spanish unless some had remained on the continent the entire time. Today researchers question historical records–written with Inquisition censorship–that claim the Spanish brought the first horses to America. Even so, if no horses remained when the Conquistadors arrived they would not be introducing the species but “returning” E.caballus to its native land.

“It’s time for land managers to come out of the dark ages–use native wild horses to heal the land and reverse desertification,” states Novak. “We’d like to see the BLM manage the land using wild horses as a resource in partnership with the New Energy Frontier–at virtually no cost to the taxpayer.”

In 1900 there were 2 million wild horses roaming in freedom in America. Today native wild horses are underpopulated on the range. Advocates estimate there are less than 18,000 left in the ten western states combined.

Protect Mustangs is a conservation group devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

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NAS Study Review

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

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

Links of interest: 

Washington Post: Independent panel: Wild horse roundups don’t work; use fertility drugs, let nature cull herds http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/independent-panel-to-recommend-changes-in-blm-wild-horse-program/2013/06/05/b65ba772-cdb3-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

Congressional letter requesting an NAS investigation: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbWVyaWNhbmhlcmRzNHxneDo1ZTFlMDQ1MzY4MzZiMzI3&pli=1

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

NAS Press release June 5, 2013: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=13511

NAS Report: Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program: A Way Forward http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13511

Sacramento Bee, Panel: Sterilize wild horses to cut population  Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/06/5475171/study-sterilize-horses-to-drop.html#storylink=cpy

GonaCon press release spins wild horse overpopulation myths: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2013/02/horse_vaccine_approval.shtml

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

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

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, March 24, 2013: Budget axe nicks BLM wild-horse adoption center http://www.denverpost.com/colorado/ci_22862206

US property exposed to wildfire valued at $136 billion says report: http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2012/09/17/u-s-property-exposed-to-wildfire-valued-at-136-billion-says-report/

KQED Horse fossil found in Caldecott Tunnel: http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/05/26/new-fossils-from-the-caldecott-tunnel/

Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

Protect Mustangs’ press releases: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

 

A dark day for native wild horses ~ National Academy of Science Report published

Photo courtesy BLM

Photo courtesy BLM

The NAS report has been released and is found here.

 

Statement from Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

We are grateful that the National Academy of Science (NAS) recommends stopping cruel roundups  but we challenge their decision to control alleged overpopulation like a domestic herd with humans deciding who survives and breeds.

NAS deploys the BLM overpopulation myth to push EPA restricted use PESTICIDES (Immunoconraceptive PZP & GonaCon®) as well as sterilization on Native #WildHorses.

This is part of the plan named after Ken Salazar, the previous Secretary of Interior, whose mission was to wipe wild horses off public land, stockpile them at taxpayer expense and send many into the alleged slaughter pipeline.

The Salazar Plan began in 2009 -10, despite public outrage. Its focus was to remove wild horses and burros to facilitate the energy and water grab on public land.

The renewables market abroad is hot. Fracking and exporting natural gas through pipelines across the West is causing environmental damage. Wild horses would require mitigation so they lobbied for the BLM to get rid of them.

The Salazar Plan feigns an overpopulation crisis to remove most native wild horses from their legally designated ranges and stockpile them in government holding. They are torn from their homes, families and at risk of being sold to probable slaughter.

Overpopulation is a MYTH used to ruin native wild horses. There are maybe 18,000 wild horses left on more than 31.6 million acres of public land designated for their use. They are reproducing at a higher rate because nature knows they face extinction from the gluttony of roundups since 2009. Immunocontraceptives are risky. Sterilizing them is wrong. Put the 50,000 in holding back on the range so they can fill their niche in the ecosystem.

We are witnessing the final attack on the indigenous horse and it must be halted.

Man-made fertility control will domesticate wild horses and wipe them out. Survival of the fittest is Mother Nature’s way to select who breeds to protect the herd.

Domestic horses are manipulated by man. Their weaknesses are evident as a result.

We ask the NAS, the BLM and certain members of the advocate community, “Do you really think man can choose who breeds better than nature? Do you realize that by supporting chemical fertility control many will be sterilized and loose their place in the herd?”  What happens when they all die off?  Will you then realize they were never overpopulated?”

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Statement from Jesica Johnston, MA Environmental Planning

The National Academy of Science’s findings clearly state that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has failed to provide accurate estimates of the nation’s population of wild horses and burros. Therefore, the NAS cannot conclude that a state of over-population exists and or provide a recommendation for artificial management considerations such as “rigorous fertility controls” to control populations for which the complex population dynamics are currently unknown. However, the NAS is recommending science-based methods to improve current management practices, population estimates, and the overall health of the ecosystem which could provide key information toward sustainable and effective management that could prevent the removal of wild horses and burros from our public lands.

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Dead wild horse (Photo © Craig Downer)

Dead wild horse (Photo © Craig Downer)

Statement from Craig C. Downer, M.S., Wildlife Biologist, Wild Horse Expert, Author and Founder of the Andean Tapir Fund

BLM plans to use “aggressive birth control” to prevent the expansion of the wild horse/burro populations that remain. Chief among the drugs to be used is PZP (porcine zona pellucida). This injected drug covers the eggs, or ova, of mares, preventing sperm from fertilizing them. It is experimental, however, and has some questionable effects upon the horses themselves, both individually and collectively. For example, its effect leads to mares’ repeatedly recycling into estrous, thus stimulating stallions to repeatedly mount the treated mares — all to no avail. This frustrating situation causes much stress among individuals of both sexes and a general disruption of the social order, both within bands and, as a consequence, within the herds themselves.

Other unintended consequences of PZP are out-of-season births occurring after PZP’s effect has worn off after a year or two.  These births have been observed during the colder late autumn and winter seasons (e.g. Pryor Mountains her by G. Kathrens) and their un-timeliness causes suffering and death among both foals and their mothers.

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The underside of a skull, showing palate and teeth, of Equus scotti is seen in this photo provided by the San Bernardino County Museum. The remains of the Ice Age horse were found for the first time at Tule Springs in Nevada.

The underside of a skull, showing palate and teeth, of Equus scotti is seen in this photo provided by the San Bernardino County Museum. The remains of the Ice Age horse were found for the first time at Tule Springs in Nevada.

Statement from Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation

PZP and other fertility control should NOT be used on non-viable herds.   Most of the remaining herds of wild horses are non-viable.  The NAS and any advocacy groups that are pushing PZP and other fertility control have not carefully studied all of the caveats in Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports along with the remaining population of each herd of wild horses.
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By U.S. Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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

Statement from Jennie Barron, Director of Wild Horse Hub Central

1. Wild horse mares that are darted with PZP can become permanently sterile, making the viability of the herd impossible as the older mares die, there are no mares to have foals.

2.  If the Lead Mares are darted with PZP, they can become sterile, making the family herd disorganized; the stallion does not understand why she won’t foal; and she may leave the family herd she knows because of the disorientated. This has happened with older mares as they are not able to foal and they are the lead mares, leaving no mare to teach them where to graze, find minerals, water, or when to do certain things that wild horse herd families do.

3.  The mares who are pregnant after they have been darted with PZP can and do foal out of season. This means that they can not keep enough milk for the foal; and the winter weather is too harsh for the foal to survive. Prognosis: death.

4.  Considering the consequences stated above, this is too risky a business to lay at the feet of an already depleted wild horse herd. It must be taken into consideration that PZP is just as dangerous as a mountain lion, it is permanent, and it is deadly.

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(Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

(Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Statement from Carl Mrozek, Filmmaker of Saving Ass in America

To its credit the extensive review of the BLM’s failed Wild Horse & Burro Program criticized the agency for relying primarily on aggressive culling of wild herds primarily via helicopter roundups which “perpetuate the overpopulation problem by maintaining the number of animals at levels below the carrying capacity of the land, protecting the rangeland and the horse population in the short term but resulting in continually high population growth and exacerbating the long-term problem” the National Academy of Sciences” declared in a preliminary press release.  What they’re referring to is the principle of compensatory reproduction by heavily-stressed wildlife populations needing to rebound from population declines due to many factors.

Unfortunately, they quickly recommend a different intervention as a better solution without considering the ‘ do nothing”  or ‘placebo’ option which is an integral component of every credible field trial for pharmaceutical and other ‘treatment plans. Had they searched for examples of herds which have undergone minimal or no culling in the past decade or so, they would have found multiple examples of herds which appear to have achieved homeostasis (equilibrium) or something approaching it, naturally, i.e. without BLM-sponsored roundups or fertility treatments.

At least two mustang herds I’ve observed and filmed in Nevada and Arizona over the past 5-7 years meet those criteria, and some burro herds as well. The important point to remember, is that all of those herds cost the taxpayer virtually zilch to maintain in the wild. This contrasts with the cash-intensive hands-on management strategy revolving around helicopter roundups, warehousing of captured animals for life in long term and short term corrals and feedlots, as well as the fertility treatments, -the least costly and disruptive of these predominant management methodologies.

The bottom line is that sometimes we can do more, and do better, by doing less, or by letting Mother Nature do what she does best: sow and weed.

Hopefully, this option is explored somewhere in the freshly released report, and will be actively considered by the new hierarchy at BLM and the Dept. of Interior, and with much more intensive collaboration with wild equine afiscionados  committed to the survival of these herds in the wild as intended by the Free Ranging Wild Horse & Burro Act of 1971.

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PM Hazard Foter Public domain Marked Sterilize

 

Statement from  Jaime Jackson, Executive Director and the founder of the Association for the Advancement of Natural Horse Care Practices

“Whether wild horses are sterilized or chemically “contraceptized”, at stake are the forces of natural selection being usurped by what will be tantamount to a program of “domestication eugenics” — humans determining who gets to breed and who doesn’t in wild horse country. If that door is opened, we will have turned drug companies and profiteers loose on our wild horses. We now know with certainty that such veterinary/medical interventions cause laminitis, colic, and other types of metabolic breakdown and disease. More drugs will then be needed. Thus, more profits will be pocketed. A brutal cycle is unleashed that causes harm to any horse, wild or domesticated.

“…What we are talking about here is the de facto domestication and subsequent contamination and destruction of America’s wild, free-roaming horses. It is bad enough what we’re also doing to another 51,000 who are captured, and stand idly by at tax payers expense in government holding corrals and private “preserves”? Support the misguided’s push to turn wild horses into pathological parodies of their personal horses? No thanks!

“The AANHCP offers another vision for genuine wild horse preservation that clear thinking people should be able to understand. This vision will do all things that eugenics can never do. And humanely so without compromising natural selection or burdening the tax payer. So, if you really want to help our wild horses, say no to the Obama Administration and the National Academy of Science’s “zero them out” for the corporate land grab, say no to [any] eugenics visions, and no to the drug companies and PZP (and other) pharmaceutical patent holders hungering for the ovaries, testes, and DNA of our America’s wild, free-roaming horses in the name of profiteering at the animal’s genetic expense.

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Sam (#3275) is from California's High Rock area (Photo by BLM)

Sam (#3275) is from California’s High Rock area (Photo by BLM)

Statement from Valerie Price, Biological Researcher

PZP is a pathogen derived immunocontraceptive vaccine, it SHOULD be intended for use ONLY in captive animals. PZP stands for Porcine Zona Pellucida. This, and other immunocontraceptive vaccines are derived from pathogenic bacterias. PZP contains Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the organism that causes tuberculosis in humans and many species of livestock, including cattle. The bacterial component of the vaccine is supposed to be a killed form, but due to the potential for bad lots causing live tuberculosis to be transmitted to humans and animals, and due to concern over the possibility of contaminating the food web, PZP would have been unlikely to recieve approval by the FDA. Instead, the EPA approved PZP as a pesticide, leaving public health professionals in ignorance of the biological nature of this vaccine. It remains unclear whether the restrictions for use allow for any PZP treated animals to be released into the wild. While such a release could pose an ongoing threat to public health for both humans and animals, the effectiveness of PZP as an immunocontraceptive vaccine is negated by only 10% immigration or emmigration into treated herds, according to a study conducted by Texas Parks and Wildlife with captive, white tail deer.

A recent clinical study in cats treated with PZP found a high percentage of injection site abscesses. Rumours of abscesses occurring in horses treated with PZP by the BLM has raised the spectre of possible bad lots of vaccine already having been used. Human exposure to tuberculosis could possibly be a concern and it is recommended that all BLM agents and equine advocates who have come in contact with the vaccine, or with treated animals, be tested for tuberculosis, to ensure the bio-security of the public.

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PM Gov Land Map.jpg.jpe

Statement from Lisa LeBlanc, Independent Researcher & Equine Advocate:
We can not depend on ‘estimates’ of on-the-range populations or the accuracy of ‘reports’ of nearly 50,000 in captivity; neither history nor biology support the Bureau’s claims. There is a supposition that wild equine advocates have no notion of the enormity of wild or captive wild populations due to a ‘sympathetic’ response, but we can only base our data on the information we’re given, and the knowledge we already possess. For example:

Absence of any data indicating mortality, either on-the-range or in holding.

Denial of ‘reciprocal’ breeding, that is, the animal’s biological imperative to replace what’s been taken.

Absence of knowledge of specific herds and their behaviors, key factors in determining accuracy of foaling rates, which often fall far below the National average of 20%.

On-the-range herd management must be as accurate as possible, visually documented for Public use and managed through science and study. How can effective management occur if the basis of all aspects is ‘estimate’?

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Check back for more statements from wild horse and burro influencers. We are updating this page.

 

Protect Mustangs™ spurs inquiry into dead horses at Palomino Valley

(Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

(Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

On Friday April 12, Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs™, asked a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee a simple facility question. She wanted to know the mortality rate of captured wild horses at the Palomino Valley facility since January 1, 2013.

Rather than provide an easy transparent answer, the employee dismissed her request and told Novak to contact the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office.

Novak copied many advocates and members of the media on her second and third request for mortality rate information. She is concerned about the obvious lack of transparency in the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.

The wild horse and burro advocate community now wants to know how many have died at the facility since the beginning of the year. Several advocates have sent the BLM employee emails as a result of his refusal to share basic facility information.

Esteemed advocates and members of the public have contacted their elected officials to request government transparency and an answer to Novak’s question.

Members of the greater public are wondering why the BLM is hiding the mortality rate. The big questions are spreading on social media: “What is the BLM hiding? How many died at Palomino Valley since January 1, 2013?”

Below is Novak’s third request:

April 17, 2013

Dear Jeb,

Kindly provide a written response to my simple question from April 12th. You will find the whole email stream on our website as well as below:

How many horses died at the facility since Jan 1, 2013?

Thank you for your prompt assistance.

Sincerely,

Anne Novak

 

CC list includes Stacy Peters, Palomino Valley employee and others

BC list undisclosed

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs™

San Francisco Bay Area

Tel./Text: 415.531.8454

 

Read about native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562 

Protect Mustangs™ on Facebook

Protect Mustangs™ on Twitter

Protect Mustangs™ on YouTube

Protect Mustangs™ in the News

Donate to help Protect Mustangs™

www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs™ is devoted to protecting native wild horses. Our mission is to educate the public about the native wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

Read Animals Angels’ FOIA report revealing discrepancies in mortality records from January 1, 2010 to May 31, 2012: http://www.animalsangels.org/the-issues/horse-slaughter/foia-requests/497-blm-nevada-mortality-records-a-nevada-rendering-animals-angels-foia-request-reveals-discrepancies.html 

Citizen investigative journalist reveals slaughter scandal on KGO Radio

 

California native wild horses who were sold to alleged kill buyers. (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

California native wild horses who were sold to alleged kill buyers. (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

San Francisco KGO News radio tonight for WILD HORSES! PPJ Gazette writer, wild horse advocate, Debbie Coffee was a guest on the Pat Thurston radio show tonight!

HEAR Pat Thurston’s “podcast” link:http://www.kgoradio.com/page.php?page_id=451

The show is archived “February 9th at 7 p.m. Debbie Coffey”

Sign and Share the Petition to Defund and Stop the Wild Horse Roundup: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

Read the Citizen Investigation Press Releasehttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=3567

Citizen investigation exposes evidence of BLM wild horses sold to probable slaughter

Wild horse mares in holding (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Wild horse mares in holding (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Wild Horse & Burro Advocates Demand Congressional Investigation

For Immediate release:

WASHINGTON (January 24, 2013)–Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) released evidence exposing the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse long-term holding contractor selling wild horses to an alleged “kill buyer”. The BLM appears to be trafficking wild horses to slaughter through holding facilites. Debbie Coffey, volunteer director of Wild Horse Affairs at WHFF, uncovered evidence of the contractor selling at least 34 federally protected wild horses. In short and long-term holding, indigenous wild horses retain their wild status and protections but it appears some are being sold to slaughter.

“This evidence shows that the BLM is not protecting our wild horses and is allowing alleged kill buyers to purchase them,” explains R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, “The public wants Congress to enforce the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act that they unanimously signed into law in 1971.  A Congressional Investigation needs to happen now.”

WHFF joins with Protect Mustangs to call for a freeze on roundups, access to document all holding facilities as needed as well as an immediate Congressional investigation into the BLM and their contractors allegedly selling America’s iconic wild horses into the slaughter pipeline.

“It’s time for a deep investigation–done by an entity outside the BLM–to bust these crimes against the American mustang and champion the public who were deceived by officials in charge of protecting our icons of freedom,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The public is outraged. Protests are being planned as a result of the evidence.”

Coffey, with the assistance of Animal’s Angels, researched and released Wednesday an in-depth article on the activities of a BLM contractor selling 34 BLM wild horses to a kill buyer, while under contract with the BLM and being paid with U.S. taxpayer dollars, to care for iconic wild mustangs on its pastures.  Evidence was obtained through South Dakota Brand Board Inspection records and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Information from government and public records show that Jim Reeves and Lyle Anderson own Spur Livestock. They have a contract with the BLM for a wild horse long-term holding pasture on private land within the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, as well as on Indian Trust Lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  This U.S. taxpayer funded facility is the Whitehorse Wild Horse Long Term Holding Facility.

WHFF received records from the South Dakota Brand Board that reveal on 11/8/2008, while under contract with the BLM, “owner” Spur Livestock sold 34 horses with “BLM tattoos” to JS Farms–owned by alleged kill buyer Joe Simon.

In a telephone conversation with Jim Reeves, Coffey reports that when asked about 72 horses he bought as alleged pack animals, Reeves said “I’m told not to talk about this kind of stuff.”  He added “I can’t talk about this” and “That’s BLM business.”

When asked about all the wild horses who disappear from their short-term holding facilities after the roundups, BLM officials inform the public and the media that they will be well taken care of on “grassland pastures”.

“The BLM leads the public to believe that captured wild horses are living out their lives grazing peacefully on long-term holding pastures, and claims they do not sell wild horses to slaughter, but at least one contracted middleman did sell BLM wild horses to an alleged kill buyer and the horses very likely met a horrific fate at a slaughterhouse,” explains Coffey. “We want a freeze on roundups, immediate access to document all long-term holding facilities as needed and a Congressional investigation into all aspects of the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program.”

###

Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered, Texas non-profit corporation with Federal 501c3 status and registered as a legal non-profit in all 50 states of the Union.  WHFF puts people between America’s wild equids and extinction through targeted litigation against governmental agencies whose documented agendas include the eradication of wild horse and burros from public, federal and state lands. WHFF is funded exclusively through the generosity of the American public.

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:

R.T. Fitch, Volunteer President WHFF, 800-974-3684, rtfitch@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org
Debbie Coffey, Director Wild Horse Affairs WHFF, 800-974-3684, debbie@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org
Anne Novak, Executive Director Protect Mustangs, 415-531-8454, anne@protectmustangs.org

Photos and interviews granted upon request

Links of interest:

Debbie Coffey publishes her research on PPJ Gazette (sources noted): http://ppjg.me/2013/01/22/wild-horses-sold-to-kill-buyer-by-blm-contractor/

http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/joe-simon-invoice.png

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

Petition to Defund the Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_after_sign

Wild Horse Freedom Federation: http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/

Protect Mustangs: http://protectmustangs.org

Wild horses sold to alleged kill buyer by government contractor

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

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

by

Debbie Coffey

 PPJ Gazette Investigative Reporter

Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation               

Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved.

_____________________________________________________________________

Debbie Coffey and Wild Horse Freedom Federation thank Animals Angels for their assistance with this investigation.

While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been trying to convince the public that the BLM does not sell wild horses to slaughter, Wild Horse Freedom Federation has obtained proof that a BLM Long Term Holding contractor sold wild horses directly to kill buyer Joe Simon, who is well known for sending horses to slaughter, and who owns JS Ranch (“Farms”) in Perkins, Oklahoma.

To give you a little background, the BLM uses lame excuses to remove wild horses from their federally protected Herd Management Areas while letting other “uses” take over.  For instance, BLM claims wild horses cause “degradation” to the range, but then allow oil and gas drilling (and fracking) on the same land.  The BLM uses helicopters to round up the wild horses, then puts the horses in short term holding facilities, maintenance facilities, and ultimately, ships horses to same-sex long term holding pastures, where the public is led to believe the horses spend the rest of their lives.

Jim Reeves and Lyle Anderson own Spur Livestock, and have a contract with the Bureau of Land Management for a long term holding pasture for wild horses on private lands within the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, as well as on Indian Trust Lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  This facility is the Whitehorse Wild Horse Long Term Holding Facility.

Wild Horse Freedom Federation received records from the South Dakota Brand Board that reveal on 11/8/2008, while under contract with the BLM, “owner” Spur Livestock sold 34 horses with “BLM tattoos” to JS Farms, owned by kill buyer Joe Simon.

Animals Angels has written about kill buyer Joe Simon (scroll down to the 2nd article “What is the Price Tag for Suffering”) here                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          It is important to note that state brand boards do not “recognize” BLM freezemarks  

(which BLM puts on the left side of wild horses’ necks after they are captured) as official “BRANDS,” so the state brand board inspectors may completely ignore the BLM freezemarks and instead, note that wild horses have “NO BRAND.”

It is also important to note that if someone BUYS a wild horse from the BLM, they can then put their own brand on the horse, and state brand board inspectors may then note only the new brand in their records (since it is “recognized”) and NOT the BLM freezemark (which they don’t “recognize”) which would identify a horse was a wild horse on public records.  State brand inspectors can omit any traces of wild horses on their official records.

On the Spur Livestock 11/8/2008 sale (besides the fact that 34 horses with “BLM tattoos” were sold), the words “Freeze brand” are written under the brand symbol for the other 36 horses in this sale (a total of 70 horses).  The words “Freeze Brand” aren’t written under this brand symbol on any other Local Ownership Inspection Certificates, or under any other brand symbols.

Another important detail stands out.  In looking at over 3 years of Local Ownership Inspection Certificates of horses by Spur Livestock, Jim Reeves and Spur Livestock, this sale of 70 horses seems to be the largest sale of horses.

Looking at the fact that Spur Livestock claimed itself to be the “Owner” of the wild horses on this South Dakota State Brand Board Local Ownership Inspection Certificate, did Spur Livestock claim to own the wild horses that the BLM warehouses on this property?  Or were these horses the wild horses that Jim Reeves BOUGHT from the BLM?

BLM Sales records obtained through a Freedom in Information Act (FOIA) request indicate Jim Reeves bought 72 wild horses (2 truckloads) from the BLM about one and two months before he sold the 34 BLM wild horses with BLM freezebrands and 36 branded horses directly to Joe Simon.

Joe Simon Invoice

On 9/9/2008, Jim Reeves bought 36 geldings, ages 11-13, from the Canon City Maintenance Facility (prison) in Colorado.

On 9/23/2008, Jim Reeves bought 36 mares, ages 11-12, from the BLM’s Palomino Valley BLM holding facility in Nevada.

Jim Reeves already had wild horses on his property, including younger horses, and he could easily have arranged to buy 72 of those wild horses.  So why would he buy 72 wild horses from Nevada and Colorado and pay shipping costs (or make the BLM pay shipping costs with your tax dollars) to have them shipped out to South Dakota?

On the Sales Questions Document (application) form for Spur Livestock, a handwritten note at the bottom of page 1 claims: “Horses will be used as pack animals.”

Pack Animals? 

How easy do you think it would be to train 11-13 year old wild geldings (castrated stallions) to be pack animals?  If he was so knowledgeable about wild horse behavior, why wouldn’t he have bought younger horses that would’ve been easier to train?

In a telephone conversation with Jim Reeves, when asked about the 72 horses he bought as pack animals, he said “I’m told not to talk about this kind of stuff.”  He said “I can’t talk about this” and “That’s BLM business.”

There’s more

While the information below may not involve any wild horses, it seems to show that Jim Reeves, Lyle Anderson and Spur Livestock have sold horses directly to slaughter buyers more than once.   (However, keep in mind that BLM freezemarks can be noted as “NO BRAND” and a new brand may be added and recognized as the ONLY brand, so the public has no absolute proof that these horses were NOT wild horses, either.)

In reviewing other South Dakota Brand Board records of Spur Livestock, Jim Reeves and Lyle Anderson, horses sold included:

12/4/08 – 48 “No brand” horses were sold by Jim Reeves, and 2 “No Brand” horses by other Reeves family members, to Rusty Williams in George West, Texas. (not a known kill buyer)

2/25/09 – 31 branded horses belonging to Jim Reeves and other Reeves family members were sold directly to slaughterhouse Canadian Premium Meats, Lacombe, AB, Canada.

11/18/09 – 9 “no brand” horses and 3 horses Jim got only 6 days before (on 11/12/09) from Jess Starr of Dupree, SD, were sold to kill buyer (Randy) Musick of Mitchell, SD.

11/18/09 – Jim Reeves sent 19 horses, including horses owned by Reeves family members, 3 branded horses Spur Livestock got from Vernon Starr of Dupree, SD only about 10 days before, 3 branded horses Jim Reeves got from Larry Long only 17 days before, and 6 horses from Jeff Hunt (Jim Reeves got 3 of these horses on 10/3/09) to kill buyer (Randy) Musick of Mitchell, SD.

7/17/12 – Lyle Anderson sent 2 horses, (1″No Brand” horse and a palomino mare noted “Brand no registered.  Horse comes from No Brand Area.” to an unknown buyer (the buyer line was left blank) in Pueblo, CO.

Canon City Prison – a BLM “Maintenance Facility”

Oddly, in reviewing FOIA documents of “Animals Shipped” out of the Canon City (Prison) Maintenance facility, and comparing these to FOIA documents on BLM sales, in September, 2008, when Jim Reeves bought the 36 wild horses, records from Canon City Correctional Facility indicate that no horses were shipped out in September, 2008, and only 1 horse the following month (October, 2008), and only 33 horses the month after that (November, 2008).  So did the 36 horses that Jim Reeves bought from the BLM at this facility just walk past a SWAT team and out a back door?

This was not the only discrepancy in Canon City Maintenance Facility records.  Tom Davis bought 120 horses in January, 2009, and Harry Vold bought 36 horses that same month (120+36 = 156), but Canon City records indicate only 4 horses were shipped out in January, 2009.

Anthony Nafe bought 33 horses in February, 2009, but Canon City records indicate only 1 horse was shipped out in February, 2009.

Tom Davis (only one of many this month) bought 111 horses in March, 2009, but Canon City records indicate only 77 horses were shipped out in March, 2009.

This goes on and on and on…the numbers don’t add up.  I hope the person who’s counting the wild horses isn’t the same person who’s counting the prisoners.

My call to Mr. Fran Ackley (Program Lead for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program in Colorado) for clarification on this issue was not returned.

So what, exactly, is “BLM business?”

Question #17 on Jim Reeves’ BLM sales question document was “Do you intend to resell these animals?  An X was typed in the YES box.

Right off the bat, the person in the BLM sales office should’ve wondered who the horses would be sold to, and for what purpose, really.

It was odd that although all of the answers were typed, there were handwritten notes at the bottom of the page indicating the horses were to be used as pack animals.  It seemed like an afterthought.  Did Jim Reeves write this?  Or did a BLM employee write this?  The document wasn’t signed, either.  The BLM seems to keep very sloppy legal documents.

On the Bills of Sales for the horses Jim Reeves bought, above the line that indicates Authorized Officer, the words “Virtual Migration Person” was typed in.  Who was this?

It is also unusual that the BLM’s contract with Spur Livestock (NAC070071) was dated 4/9/2007 and signed by BLM’s contracting officer, but this was almost 2 months BEFORE the Environmental Assessment (EA) was issued (July, 2007).  Usually, EAs have to be completed to determine whether or not a federal undertaking would significantly affect the environment, before a project can go forward.  Did the BLM jump the gun and skirt NEPA requirements?

Spur Livestock 

The base year (2007) of the Spur Livestock 5 year contract with the BLM was for $506,250.  Looking at fedspending.org, it seems Spur Livestock has made $2,952,210

since 2007.

(Links to Spur Livestock contracts are included at the end of article.)

  • Jim Reeves also received $198,604 in USDA subsidies 1995-2011.
  • Reeves is a member of the West Central Cattlemen’s Association in South Dakota.
  • Reeves’ wife, Janna, is the office manager for the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, and
  • Janna’s sister, Jodi Hickman, is the Executive Director of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association.
  • In 2010, horse slaughterhouse pusher Sue Wallis’ now defunct United Organizations of the Horse claimed that the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association made a “financial contribution” to the pro-horse slaughter cause.
  • Jim and Janna Reeves, along with Jodi Hickman, are principals in the 3J Cattle Company.
  • Jim Reeves’ brother is Tom Reeves, Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Saddle “Bronc” rider.
  • Jim Reeve’s partner in Spur Livestock, Lyle Anderson, has had a string of business ventures which the South Dakota Secretary of State now lists as “inactive.”
  • Anderson also owns Anderson Construction, LLC, which is listed in the Secretary of State records as “Delinquent.”
  • Lyle Anderson is also listed as the owner of Anderson Ranches Partnership.
  • Lyle Anderson received $260,110 in USDA subsidies 1995-2011.

In August, 2012, Reeves and Anderson appealed a decline of their application for the U.S. Small Business Administration Business Development Program.

While the BLM cons the public into believing that the captured wild horses live out their lives on long term holding pastures, it seems that the BLM knowingly allows middlemen to cover their tracks in a pipeline of wild horses going to slaughter.

What the BLM consistently seems to “maintain” is fraud against the American taxpayer in its Environmental Assessments, a long history of inhumane handling of wild horses, lack of oversight and accountability, a waste of tax dollars, and lies to both the public and Congress, so every aspect of the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse & Burro Program needs to be investigated in a long overdue Congressional Investigation.

SOURCES:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs022/1101655399670/archive/1110611139942.html(Scroll down to 2nd article: “What is the Price Tag for Suffering?”)

http://www.animalsangels.org/investigations/horse-investigations/454-musick-horse-collecting-facility-mitchell-sd-august-11-13-2012-.html

http://www.jshorsecompany.com/mares.html

www.jshorsecompany.com/2010_consignment_form.doc

http://www.manta.com/c/mmsg7sg/anderson-ranches-partnership

http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A07674974

http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A07620680

http://www.manta.com/c/mmsq254/spur-livestock-l-l-c

http://www.sdcattlemen.org/CMDocs/SouthDakota/Affilate%20Contacts2.pdf

http://www.worldofrodeo.com/008/reeves.htm

http://www.prorodeohalloffame.com/inductees/by-category/saddle-bronc-riding/tom-reeves/

http://texascowboyhalloffame.org/pages/inductees/reeves.html

http://www.manta.com/c/mmsg7sg/anderson-ranches-partnership

http://www.manta.com/c/mmythcq/anderson-construction

http://www.featherlitend.com/customers/

http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/Thune%202012.pdf

http://www.sba.gov/content/8a-business-development-0

SPUR Livestock contracts

http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+LivestockHYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”sortp=rHYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”detail=3HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”datype=THYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”reptype=rHYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”database=fpdsHYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”fiscal_year=HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”&HYPERLINK “http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=Spur+Livestock&sortp=r&detail=3&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO”submit=GO

http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/welcome.html#ea

++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.animalsangels.org/investigations/horse-investigations/88-canadian-premium-meats-11308.html

http://www.manta.com/c/mmdxtfp/williams-bookkeeping-service

http://www.manta.com/c/mmscgzd/williams-ranch

http://www.dondennisfamily.com/dupree_ranch/tornado_09/index.html

http://www.huntranch.com/old_index.shtml

http://www.sdcattlemen.org/sdcastaff.aspx

http://thecattlecall.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/interview-with-south-dakota-cattlemens-associations-executive-director/

http://opencorporates.com/companies/us_sd/DL014459

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Cross-posted from the PPJ Gazette http://ppjg.me/2013/01/22/wild-horses-sold-to-kill-buyer-by-blm-contractor/    

 

A Win! ~ Twin Peaks Roundup on hold ~ Keep the pressure on

Twin Peaks wild horses counting on your help (Photo of “Magic” © G. Gregg)

Happy Thanksgiving!

California-based Protect Mustangs has been working hard to stop the Twin Peaks roundup once we brought you the news of the Rush Fire last summer. We are grateful several wonderful advocates such as Craig Downer, Grandma Gregg, Jesica Johnston, Barbara Clarke, Monika Courtney, R.T Fitch, Debbie Coffey and many others have joined the fight to protect the Twin Peaks wild horses on the range.

We oppose rounding up and removing native wild horses from the Twin Peaks HMA especially now that they can play a key role in restoring the land. It’s time the BLM use good science and cut down on invasive techniques that cause global warming. Wild horses and burros can heal and reseed the range after the wildfire so let them do it.”

Keep contacting your elected officials across the country to educate them about how the Twin Peaks wild horses can heal the land after the fire. Let them know these federally protected wild horses deserve to remain on their range. Tell them removals are cruel and costly–warehousing them for decades is not sustainable. Request the Twin Peaks roundup be cancelled. Thank you for helping California’s wild horses and burros.

Please make a donation to help Protect Mustangs continue our work for the wild horses. Thank you.

Below is the email we received today from Ken Collum at the BLM.

All my best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving,

Anne

Anne Novak

Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Twin Peaks Response
From: “Collum, Kenneth R”
Date: Tue, November 20, 2012
To: Anne Novak protectmustangs

There will be no imminent roundup operation in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA).  The situation will be re-evaluated this January.

HMA population information obtained from September’s aerial inventory will be available soon.

Ken Collum

Field Manager

Eagle Lake Field Office

2950 Riverside Dr.

Susanville, CA.  96130

Ph:    530 252 5374

Cell:  530 260 0158