U.S. Army’s decision on Fort Polk wild horses

PM Fort Polk Herd on grass by Friends of FPHK

The U.S. Army has made its final decision regarding wild horses that live on land in a National Forest that Fort Polk has taken over to use for training.

The horses will be captured, 10 to 30 at a time, and offered to animal rescue groups. If groups don’t take them, the horses will be offered to the public. If no one takes them, they will be sent to stockyards for sale.

Here is the statement issued Monday regarding the decision:

The Joint Readiness Training Center commanding general has made a final decision on the Environmental Assessment (EA) concerning the disposition of trespass horses at Fort Polk.

Using the National Environmental Policy Act process, Fort Polk developed and analyzed a variety of alternatives, including those recommended in public comments, to eliminate the danger to American military personnel caused by the trespass horses.

“Based on my review of the analysis and public comments, I have determined that the selection of any of the proposed courses of action would have no significant impact on the environment and the preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required. Thus, I have made a final decision to implement Course of Action 7,” said Brig. Gen. Gary M. Brito, JRTC and Fort Polk commanding general. “I believe this is the correct course of action that will allow Fort Polk to remain the Army’s Premier Training Facility. Our efforts will mitigate safety hazards to our Soldiers and will reduce negative impacts to training.”

Fort Polk officials estimate that approximately 700 to 750 trespass horses occupy U.S. Army training lands on Fort Polk and the Peason Ridge Military Training Area creating a potential safety hazard and disrupting training.

Under COA 7 the Army will catch and corral groups of horses, about 10-30 at a time, and offer them to animal welfare groups such as the Humane Society for inclusion in their adoption program. If animal welfare groups do not take the horses, the Army will offer them to any citizen that will take them, and if that fails the horses will be transported to a livestock auction for sale.

The timeframe for eliminating each group of 10-30 horses will be about 30 days. Concurrently, Fort Polk will actively search for a landowner to take the horses en masse and will also attempt to find another government agency to remove and accept responsibility for the horses.

“The alternative that was selected offers the best opportunity to find a new home for every horse and protects American Soldiers from a catastrophic incident while training at Fort Polk,” said Brito. “This plan gives all interested parties the opportunity to be involved in helping the Army solve the problems it faces.

“For this program to work, we need your help. We look forward to working with interested parties to help these horses find permanent homes while making Fort Polk a safer place for our Soldiers to train,” said Brito.

The next step in the process is to begin developing lists of animal welfare groups and citizens interested in taking the horses. Interested parties can find the full details of the process on page 31 of the environmental assessment at

Animal welfare groups and local citizens can sign up to be added to one of the two lists Fort Polk is developing by sending an e-mail to usarmy.polk.imcom.mbx.pao-public-response@mail.mil. Animal welfare groups should send appropriate documentation so that Fort Polk officials can verify their status as 501(c)(3) groups. Everyone signing up for the program should include good contact information including email address and telephone numbers and the quantity of horses they are interested in taking.

Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




Why are Sharon Stone, Dorian Brown & Tommy Flanagan starring in a film linked to horse slaughter pushers?

RUNNING WILD Sharon Stone Dave Duquette

Dave Duquette (Horse Slaughter Pusher) hugs Sharon Stone on the set of RUNNING WILD Produced by Forrest Lucas from PROTECT THE HARVEST the 501c4 organization lobbying to open HORSE SLAUGHTER plants in the USA and pushing for WILD & DOMESTIC HORSE SLAUGHTER

According to Variety, Running Wild tells the tale of a widow, Stella Davis, who saves her ranch by working with convicts to rehabilitate a herd of wild horses that have wandered onto her property. Sons of Anarchy star Tommy Flanagan has been recruited to play Ponytail John, the alpha male of the group of convicts, while Dorian Brown has been cast to play Stella. Sharon Stone will play Meredith, the movie’s main villain.

Do these actors starring in the film RUNNING WILD know that wild horses are underpopulated in the wild?  Do they understand how cruel and inhumane horse slaughter is?

Have they seen this?

 

Do these Hollywood actors realize they are being used by HORSE-SLAUGHTER Pushers like Dave Duquette and ESX Entertainment’s producer Forrest Lucas who are behind Protect the Harvest. That’s the HORSE SLAUGHTER non profit working to set up horse slaughter plants in the USA for domestic and wild horses. 

RUNNING WILD Dave Duquette Tommy Flanagan

Dave Duquette (Horse-Slaughter Pusher) with Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy) on the set of RUNNING WILD Produced by Forrest Lucas from PROTECT THE HARVEST the 501c4 organization lobbying to open HORSE SLAUGHTER plants in the USA and pushing for WILD & DOMESTIC HORSE SLAUGHTER

 

RUNNING WILD Flanagan Duquette

Dave Duquette (Horse-Slaughter Pusher) with Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy) on the set of RUNNING WILD Produced by Forrest Lucas from PROTECT THE HARVEST the 501c4 organization (Super PAC) lobbying to open HORSE SLAUGHTER plants in the USA and pushing for HORSE SLAUGHTER

 

RUNNING WILD Dorian Brown Christine Moore

Dave Duquette (Horse-Slaughter Pusher with PROTECT THE HARVEST) with Dorian Brown (left) starring in RUNNING WILD Produced by Forrest Lucas CEO of ESX and PROTECT THE HARVEST the 501c4 organization (Super PAC) lobbying to open HORSE SLAUGHTER plants in the USA with the writer of RUNNING WILD Christine Moore (right)

RUNNING WILD Dorien Brown

Dorian Brown riding lesson for RUNNING WILD Produced by Forrest Lucas from PROTECT THE HARVEST the 501c4 organization (Super PAC) lobbying to open HORSE SLAUGHTER plants in the USA and pushing for WILD & DOMESTIC HORSE SLAUGHTER

 

Protect the Harvest, the Horse Slaughter Super PAC, have their logo on the back of the crew’s T-Shirts (see below) to advertise their organization pushing for HORSE SLAUGHTER to come back to the USA

RUNNING WILD Stone Protect Harvest T-Shirts for Crew

Members of the crew are wearing t-shirts with the Super PAC logo on it “Protect the Harvest”.

Looking at the Wikipedia description of the film, “…widow Stella Davis, fighting to save her ranch from a herd of wild horses by working with convicts…” these actors must know what they are doing. 

 

Links of interest™

Sharon Stone Starring in Horse Drama ‘Running Wild’ http://variety.com/2015/film/news/sharon-stone-horse-drama-running-wild-1201572494/
by Dave McNary
Film Reporter

Sharon Stone will star in the drama “Running Wild” for Forrest Lucas and Ali Afshar’s newly launched ESX Entertainment.

Alex Ranarivelo (“The Wrong Side of Right”) is directing the film from a script by Christina Moore and Brian Rudnick.

Stone will portray the villain in “Running Wild,” which centers on a widow who saves her ranch by working with convicts to rehabilitate a herd of wild horses that wandered onto her property. The role of the widow will be cast shortly.

“Running Wild” is financed and being produced by ESX Entertainment, with Lucas and Afshar serving as producers. Christina Moore is co-producer.

Forrest Lucas is a horse slaughter pusher at Protect the Harvest: http://protecttheharvest.com/who-we-are/forrest-lucas/

Lucas Oil co-founder blasts Muslims, minorities for ‘running our country: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lucas-oil-co-founder-blasts-muslims-minorities-running-country-article-1.1964986

Dorian Brown, Tommy Flanagan Join Sharon Stone in ‘Running Wild’ http://variety.com/2015/film/news/dorian-brown-tommy-flanagan-running-wild-sharon-stone-1201573876/ 
Spotted in Santa Rosa: Actress Sharon Stone, film crew, on month-long Sonoma County shoot http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4354140-181/spotted-in-santa-rosa-actress?TSM?gallery=4354576

Protect the Harvest http://protecttheharvest.com

They want to SLAUGHTER wild horses for meat  http://protecttheharvest.com/horses-crisis/

Protect the Harvest, the Super PAC made a video filled with untruths, skewed statistics and an old dying horse allegedly starving yet with grass around her — to push for opening horse slaughter plants in the USA. Cattle activists are featured.

Forrest Lucas refutes claims made by animal activists http://www.producer.com/2014/08/u-s-millionaire-eager-to-protect-agriculture/

Lucas’s television production company is making a documentary about abandoned horses starving to death on public lands in the U.S. He wants to reintroduce horse slaughter plants in the United States to allow a better end of life for abandoned, old and unused horses.

Dave Duquette quoted in The Oregonian ‘Hermiston doesn’t want horse slaughter plant on its doorstep’ http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/10/hermiston_doesnt_want_horse_sl.html

Dave Duquette, a Hermiston horse trainer who is organizing the slaughter effort, said the City Council is missing a bet on a proposal . . .

Running Wild (2016) on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Wild_(2016_film)

Production
On July 29, 2015, it was announced that Alex Ranarivelo would direct the Horse drama film Running Wild based on the script by Brian Rudnick.Forrest Lucas and Ali Afshar would produce the film through ESX Entertainment, and the banner would also finance the film.On August 18, 2015, Sharon Stone signed on to play the main villain role in the film as Meredith, while the script was done by Christina Moore and Rudnick, and Moore would also co-produce the film.On August 19, 2015, Dorian Brown and Tommy Flanagan joined the film, Brown to play the lead role of a widow Stella Davis, fighting to save her ranch from a herd of wild horses by working with convicts, while Flanagan to play the leader of the convicts. On August 20, 2015, Jason Lewis joined the cast to play the male lead.

 

Sharon Stone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharonstone

Dorian Brown on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DorianBrown11

Tommy Flanagan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TommyFlanagan

RUNNING WILD Dorian Brown

Just imagine the actors lines here . . . Especially the vet’s lines . . .

Share the petition to save Australian brumbies (wild horses)

Photo © Lynette Sutton

Photo © Lynette Sutton

To the Honourable, The Speaker and the Members of Parliament:
The Petition of the people of Victoria draws the attention of the House of their concern to the decision to remove all of Australia’s Heritage Horses the Brumby from Barmah Forest.The Barmah Heritage Horses date back to the 1870s and may have preceded this time. The combination of horses, cattle and active forestry under the eye of a multicultural established local community has selectively thinned and weeded the vegetation to support 236 species of birds including at least 13 species of long distance migratory birds nesting and resting in the Barmah. There are an estimated 54000 or more birds living in and visiting Barmah. There are also species of 8 frogs, 50 mammals, 30 reptiles, 21 fish, 553 + plants. Unknown numbers of insects, fungi and other forms of life making up the successful ecological formula to attract RAMSAR declaration in 1982, as the 14th listed in Australia’s of 65 wetlands internationally acclaimed.The Victorian Parliament has decided to remove all Barmah Brumby Heritage Horses after 150 years of coexistence that saw Barmah Forest internationally recognised and included in Ramsar. The Strategic Plan adopted at Ramsar COP6 (1996) equates “wise use” with sustainable use. Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention also recognize that wetlands, through their ecological and hydrological functions, provide invaluable services, products and benefits enjoyed by, and sustaining, human populations. The Convention also promotes practices that will ensure that all wetlands, and especially those designated for the Ramsar List, will continue to provide these functions and values for future generations as well as for the conservation of biological diversity.

Ramsar COP9 (2005) updated the definition of wise use of wetlands as “the maintenance of their ecological character, achieved through the implementation of ecosystem approaches, within the context of sustainable development”.The Barmah Brumbies have been a part of human occupation and forest management for over 150 years. The moira grass ‘lawns’ are highly productive. The flood plain vegetation supports waterbirds, spawning native fish and crayfish raising of fry, fingerlings, spat, tadpole, ducks and wading birds during high water events. The Brumby in the dry seasons groom these lawns to remain at their most vibrant and productive level. Fertilized seed and rhizomes are distributed and re-established across the region by Brumbies and their grazed green, ‘lawns’ significantly reduce fire fuel levels.To declare that horses and cattle threaten the biodiversity is ill conceived and deceptive to the Australian people.

Forestry, cattlemen and the Barmah Brumbies have a long history in the Barmah Forest successfully maintaining the security of the biodiversity well established prior to Ramsar and National Park declarations.

We believe the Victorian Government is violating its international undertakings to RAMSAR by removing its Heritage Horses and associated management systems. The Conservation status granted by RAMSAR was based on the results of local community management.

We strongly object and oppose the removal of the Barmah Forest’s Brumby population.

URGENT! Need HELP for #WildHorses 2day

Cavalry horses left in Australia last century

We have only 2 days to double participation or we fail the wild horses. Please help! Join the Thunderclap (international outreach)  to Stop the Brumbie Killing: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/6098-stop-killing-brumbies?locale=en Share it with your friends!

Politely contact The Prime Minister of Australia, Honorable Tony Abbott and request he stop the killings http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm

Sign and share the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/258/184/025/stop-killing-the-brumbies/?z00m=20659573

Follow us on Facebook for updates and action to Save the Brumbies! https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Follow Anne on Twitter for updates: https://twitter.com/TheAnneNovak and Protect Mustangs https://twitter.com/ProtectMustangs

Read about what’s happening: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5461 and check our site often: http://protectmustangs.org/

Australia: Stop killing wild horses. Clinton Wolf and RSPCA spin piece (graphic images)

Brumbies shot down and killed a few years ago at Frazier Downs. Why does the RSPCA support these cruel massacres? 

Tell the RSPCA to STOP endorsing the Brumby killings. “Aerial Cull” = Aerial Killing. They are shooting them down from helicopters. Recently the Lake Gregory Massacre killed thousands.

Contact the RSPCA here: http://www.rspca.org.au/contact-us

Brumby foal killed in Frazier Downs 2012

Brumby foal killed in Frazier Downs, Austalia 2012. Copyright protected. Courtesy Wild Horses Kimberley.

 

Read what the wild horse killers say and know that Clinton Wolf is a huge player in the extractive industry

“Clinton Wolf is the public face of the Martu people’s corporate campaign. He fronted mining executives in Fremantle this week, with a message that the traditional landowners are open for business.”

The real Clinton Wolf behind the Brumby massacre. Is he working to Frack Western Australia?

The real Clinton Wolf behind the Brumby massacre. Is he working to Frack Western Australia?

Shameful pro-kill spin piece is one-sided

Why didn’t they interview the wild horse advocates?

Cross-posted from The Bush Telegraph:

One of the country’s biggest horse culls has just been completed in the north of Western Australia, where more than 7000 brumbies have been shot from helicopters.

Feral horses are also aerially culled in the Northern Territory

But in Victoria and New South Wales this method is not an option, despite support from environmental groups and the RSPCA.

Author of the book Desert Lake, Kim Mahood, says feral horses are damaging fragile, arid landscapes.

“Lake Gregory is one of the most significant arid-zone wetlands in the southern hemisphere.”

Ms Mahood says, ironically, the cull is also needed to avert an animal welfare issue for the horses.

“The lake is lower than it’s been in ten years. It’s becoming very salty which means the horses are either poisoned by the salts or they move off to the handful of much smaller, fresh-water pools along Sturt Creek, at which point they start getting bogged and perishing in the waterways.”

Clinton Wolf is chair of the Aboriginal Lands Trust that carried out the cull, and says this is a very complex and emotional issue.

“They’ve had a connection with these horses for 120 years … but you can’t have six to seven thousand horses running around,” Mr Wolf said.

“When there was no water, the horses were coming into the community where you have two and three year old kids walking around.”

Kim Mahood says the area is an Indigenous Protected Area and a pastoral lease, which complicates the situation.

And she says the cull was an environmental requirement to allow the traditional owners to hold on to their traditional protected areas.

“The 99-year leases are due to come up for renewal in 2015…and the Pastoral Lands Board has threatened to take away the leases if something isn’t done about the feral horses.

“In 2002 the feral horses were identified as one of the biggest environmental issues for the region.

“With that number of horses, it couldn’t possibly be functioning effectively as a cattle station.”

Clinton Wolf agrees.

“We want to have these stations up to scratch so when the Pastoral Lands Board comes around they’ll say ‘no, you’re not in breach anymore, well done’,” he said.

Feral horses are also in large numbers in the Northern Territory where they are regularly aerially culled.

Executive Director of Flora and Fauna at the Department of Land Resource Management in Northern Territory, Alaric Fisher says wild horses are treated the same as any other feral animals.

“The landscape is suffering from a lot of ferals – horses amongst them, as well as camels, donkeys, buffalo and cattle in some places.

“On some properties horses are out of control through lack of any systematic management.

“We’ve had a lot of experience of aerial culls particularly through the management of feral camels…and have taken those techniques and applied them to horses as well.

“It’s an absolute requirement that each animal is shot (at least) twice and then they fly back over the animals to ensure they’re all dead.

“The location of every shot animal is recorded on GPS and they’re inspected subsequently by a vet and the welfare outcomes are audited.

“No animals were wounded and left behind and the average time to death was eight seconds,” Mr Fisher said.

The veterinary report from the recent NT aerial cull stated:

While not aesthetically pleasing, the technique of helicopter shooting for feral horses allows a far shorter duration of suffering when compared to any other method proposed to manage the population.

The Victorian Government is in the process of developing a management plan for the brumbies in the Victorian high country.

A spokesman for the state Minister for Environment and Climate Change sent a statement on feral horses to Bush Telegraph.

The Victorian Government is focussing efforts on other measures available including the live removal and re-homing of horses and the euthanasia of captured horses in a controlled environment. 
Parks Victoria is developing the Victorian Alps Wild Horse Management Plan … The draft plan will soon be open for public comment.

Parks Victoria will provide final recommendations to the state government in 2014.
The RSPCA consistently supports aerially culling of wild horses and, in a submission to the Victorian Management Plan, accuses the Victorian Government of placing more importance on public perceptions than on animal welfare.

Parks Victoria prematurely and publically ruling out shooting will make it all the more difficult to now convince the public of the relative humanness of it. This situation could damage the reputation of Parks Victoria …and have adverse welfare impacts on the horses themselves.

Clinton Wolf, chair of the Aboriginal Lands Trust in Western Australia

Kim Mahood, author of Desert Lake, published by CSIRO.

Alaric Fisher, Executive Director of Flora and Fauna at the Department of Land Resource Management, Northern Territory

See more evidence of Frazier Downs cruelty here: http://pindanpost.com/2012/11/27/control-of-unwanted-horses-shot-from-helicopters/#jp-carousel-24919

Are they killing thousands of wild horses to frack northwestern Australia?

Photo James Marvin Phelps / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Photo James Marvin Phelps / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

 

“The global public is outraged that  Australia would condone mass killings of wild horses. Are they killing off thousands of horses so they can frack the land for oil and natural gas? We ask that the heinous killings cease immediately.” ~Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs.

 

Killing wild horses for Fracking?

 

An aerial cull of wild horses is taking place in the Kimberley

As seen on ABC Australia

The Aboriginal Lands Trust has begun an aerial cull of thousands of feral horses in the Kimberley.

A survey of Lake Gregory and the Billiluna Pastoral Station two months ago found about 6,000 feral horses.

The Trust says the animals are a risk to the environment and public health, and to comply with the law they have to go.

The Trust says an aerial cull is the most humane way to do that and has employed shooters in helicopters.

A plan to cull feral horses in the same area in 2010 was abandoned after a backlash from animal welfare advocates.

The state Opposition’s Lisa Baker has called for the cull to stop immediately.

“There’s babies, there’s foals whose mothers are shot who starved to death,” she said.

“This is not a civilised way of managing a population of horses.”

Ms Baker says traditional owners want to manage feral horse populations in other ways.

“They’re really cognisant of the fact that some of them will need to be euthanised, put down, whatever, but there is many opportunities for tourism, for breaking the horses in, and for using them more productively,” she said.

The Aboriginal Lands Trust says traditional owners have been consulted.

The area’s former Indigenous Protected Area co-ordinator, Wade Freeman, says other options were considered and ruled out.

“Too costly and not humane at all,” he said.

“We even tried the option of darting and putting horses to sleep but when you’re looking at numbers of up to 10,000 it’s just not viable.”

Links of interest™:

Petition: Stop Killing the Brumbies!    http://www.thepetitionsite.com/258/184/025/stop-killing-the-brumbies/

Original Article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/aerial-cull-of-horses-to-take-place-in-the-kimberley/5057208

The Canning Basin in Australia’s isolated Kimberley may be one of the largest unconventional natural gas finds outside the United States. http://grenatec.com/canning-basin-natural-gas-and-australias-kimberley/

Aerial cull in Kimberley region of Australia http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/10/31/aerial-horse-cull-kimberley-region-australia/#axzz2jEuPty9A

Mixed news to Canning Basin decision: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-09/mixed-news-to-canning-basin-decision/4678898 “Shale gas fracking can’t be divorced from the risk of serious water contamination and serious air pollution.”

Western Australia introduces Canning Basin Development Bill: http://www.lngworldnews.com/western-australia-introduces-canning-basin-development-bill/

Canning Basin Bill marks new chapter of gas development: http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/5183/canning-basin-bill-marks-new-chapter-of-gas-develo.aspx

Oilex expands onshore Canning Basin oil and gas acreage: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/49061/oilex-expands-onshore-canning-basin-oil-and-gas-acreage-49061.html

Oilex gets 2 blocks in Canning Basin: http://www.naturalgasasia.com/oilsex-expands-in-canning-basin-in-western-australia “According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Canning Basin has the largest unconventional hydrocarbon potential in Australia.”

Key Petroleum: Canning Basin focus to unlock shareholder value: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/30893/key-petroleum-canning-basin-focus-to-unlock-shareholder-value-30893.html

Hydraulic Fracturing in Australia’s Northern Territory Protect Mustangs Hydraulic_Fracturing_in_Australia_draft

Land Rights Controversy: The Case of the Australian Aborigines Protect Mustangs UP149.001.00009.00011.archival

Agreements, treaties, negotiated settlements project http://www.atns.net.au/default.asp

MAC_EP_AppendixKCulturalAndHeritageSubPlan

Petroleum Prospectivity of the Eastern Canning Basin, WA BRUMBY Canning_Prospectivity_Report_Final_Updated_July06

GASLAND 2:  www.Gaslandthemovie.com

GASLAND 2 in Australia:

 

 

 

Breaking News: Protesters want to end native wild horse abuse and use mustangs to fight wildfires

PM Wildland Fire Risk 2013

Wildfire risk potential version 2013, data origin & source: USDA Forest Service

`

For immediate release:

More than 40 international protests today to stop the roundups and stop horse slaughter

OAKLAND, Ca. (April 27, 2013)–Protect Mustangs™, the Bay Area-based native wild horse conservation group, is holding protests today in Oakland and Rock Springs, Wyoming to save indigenous wild horses from roundups, abuse, slaughter and pass the SAFE Act. The Oakland rally is held outside the Rockridge BART station from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The Rock Springs rally is held at 70 Gateway Blvd at 2 p.m. The group wants all the wild horses in government funded holding to be returned to the range to help reduce wildfires. More than 40 international protests, spearheaded by Nevada’s Patty Bumgarner on Facebook, are being held to save the horses. Protect Mustangs™ requests Congress stop the cruelty, the slaughter and save taxpayer dollars–especially during the Sequester.

“We are united across the country to say no to slaughter, roundups and cruel overectomies in the field,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs™. “We want our wild horses to be protected. Did you know America’s wild horses are indigenous? Are you aware that CalTrans found ancient horse fossils while digging the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel?”

The horse, E. caballus, originated in America over a million years ago and returned with the Conquistadors if it ever went extinct in the first place. With history written by the Inquisition, one must read between the lines. It was heresy for Old World animals, such as the horse, to have originated in the heathen Americas.

Novak points out,”Recent DNA testing proves our iconic wild horses are the same species as E. caballus–the original horse.”

Esteemed scientists Kirkpatrick, J.F., and P.M. Fazio explained the following in Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife (Revised January 2010). The Science and Conservation Center, ZooMontana, Billings:

‘The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. 6 caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about ‘breeds,’ but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about ‘species.’

The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.’

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received $78 million last year to run the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Two-thirds of the expenses went towards caring for the equids in captivity. Despite the federal budget crisis, the program received a $2 million increase in funding for their 2014 fiscal budget–including $6 million for the helicopter contractor.

California’s Senator Feinstein chairs Energy and Water subcommittee as well as rules on Interior issues within the Committee on Appropriations. The Committee gives taxpayer dollars to fiscally irresponsible and cruel wild horse and burro roundups despite public outcry.

Roundups and removals are linked to mining and toxic fracking in the West. It appears native horses are being removed to fast track the extractive industry’s use of public land for private profit yet the public and the environment are hit with the costs.

Native wild horses will soon be zeroed out from Wyoming’s “checkerboard” public-private land–allegedly in preparation for the largest natural gas field in the country. The conservation group has requested a $50 million fund be created to mitigate environmental distress from fracking on the range.

“Tourists love to come to Wyoming to see our wild horses,” states Melissa Maser, outreach coordinator for Protect Mustangs™ in Wyoming and Texas. “We’d like to see native wild horses protected for future generations.”

Advocates are documenting wild horses being removed throughout the West as healthy and with fewer foals. The starving and overpopulation myths from BLM spin doctors are fabricated to sway Congress to fund roundups and removals.

“We’d like to find a win-win for wild horses in the West,” explains Novak. “Native horses will help reduce wildfires that cost insurance companies billions of dollars annually and contribute to global warming. We have requested the BLM put a freeze on roundups and return the 50,000 wild horses stockpiled in holding to public land. This will take the burden off the taxpayer and help to reduce wildfires.”

Protect Mustangs™ is 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.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@Protect Mustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, February 10, 2013: Wild-horse advocates split over interior nominee http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020332496_apnvwildhorses1stldwritethru.html

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/

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

Horseback Magazine: Sequester prompts call for wild horses and burros to be returned to the wild http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/21568

Horseback Magazine, March 8, 2013: Protect Mustangs calls for fund for Wyoming wild horses http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/20979

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

Ruby pipeline and wild horse roundups? http://www.8newsnow.com/story/12769788/i-team-bp-connected-to-wild-horse-roundups

BLM’s 2014 Budget: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/april/04_10_2013.html

Why are the wild horses being removed? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWWgOugF2U

Wyoming Tourism’s video of wild horses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRZkBXkbyY

Protect Mustangs™: www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs™ on Facebook

Protect Mustangs™ on Twitter

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Climate report erroneously calls for removing native wild horses

Cattle grazing (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved

Statement from Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs:

“This report has glaring errors. It avoids classifying America’s wild horses as natives to justify removing them from large areas of public land. Commercial livestock is the problem not wild horses. We object to the proposal to remove native wild horses and request they rectify the error calling them ‘feral horses’. Native wild horses heal the wild land–they can replenish the biodiversity in the West.”

 

November 26, 2012 News Release from The Center for Biological Diversity

Climate Report Calls for Grazing Reductions on Public Lands

TUCSON, Ariz.— A newly published report in the journal Environmental Management describes how climate change threatens to worsen impacts on public lands, watersheds and wildlife by grazing of domestic and feral livestock and unnaturally large native ungulate populations. The report calls on federal agencies to protect large tracts of public lands from livestock grazing to restore ecosystems, help lands and wildlife adapt to climate change, and provide ecological services and future benchmarks for grazed lands. It details how grazing reductions are within the legal authority of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which together administer livestock grazing across 258 million acres of public wildlands.

“We want to be able to rely on healthy, resilient wild places in this era of climate change, so that our country’s heritage wildlife can survive. That’ll mean cutting back on harmful land uses like cattle grazing; it’ll mean bringing back the carnivores that keep native populations of elk and deer in check,” said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has worked for more than 20 years to reduce overgrazing on western public lands. “By looking at the combined impacts of grazing and climate change, this report is the first of its kind, and it underscores the need for immediate action from federal agencies.”

Domestic livestock are grazed across 258 million acres of western land administered by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management — 81 percent of the land administered by the two agencies in the 11 western states. Those lands provide critical refuge for native biological diversity and offer vital ecological services like clean air, water and recreation to society. There are approximately 23,600 public-lands ranchers, representing about 6 percent of all livestock producers west of the Mississippi River.

The report concludes that:

  • In the western United States, climate change is expected to intensify even if greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced; threats facing ecosystems as a result of climate change are invasive species, more frequent wildfires and declining snowpack.
  • Climate impacts are compounded from heavy use by livestock and other grazing ungulates, which causes soil erosion, compaction, and dust generation; stream degradation; higher water temperatures and pollution; loss of habitat for fish, birds and amphibians; and desertification.
  • Encroachment of woody shrubs at the expense of native grasses and other plants can occur in grazed areas, affecting pollinators, birds, small mammals and other native wildlife.
  • Livestock grazing and trampling degrades soil fertility, stability and hydrology, and makes it vulnerable to wind erosion. This in turn adds sediments, nutrients and pathogens to western streams.
  • Reestablishing apex predators in large, contiguous areas of public land may help mitigate any adverse ecological effects of wild ungulates.

Livestock grazing is one of the most ubiquitous and destructive uses of public land. It is also a contributing factor to the imperilment of numerous threatened and endangered species, including the desert tortoise, Mexican spotted owl, southwestern willow flycatcher, least Bell’s vireo, Mexican gray wolf, Oregon spotted frog, Chiricahua leopard frog and dozens of other species that occur on western public land.

Public-lands livestock grazing is also a primary contributor to unnaturally severe western wildfires, watershed degradation, soil loss and the spread of invasive plants — as well as annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 705,342 passenger vehicles.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 450,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/grazing-11-26-2012.html