#Breaking: Requesting Secretary Jewell call for a moratorium on roundups and population studies before controlling fertility of wild horses and burros

Secretary Sally Jewell Photo by BLM

Secretary Sally Jewell Photo by BLM

Letter to the Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell on Flag Day

June 14th, 2013

Dear Secretary Jewell,

First of all we would like to congratulate you on your new position as Secretary of Interior.

The National Academy of Sciences published a report last week. 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.”

Despite the fact that there is no evidence of overpopulation, The NAS is suggesting a broad use of fertility control–sterilization and risky birth control approved by the EPA as a “restricted use pesticide”.

You can read about the issue in the Washington Post here as it went viral around the world: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-05/national/39747528_1_roundups-fertility-population-growth

The FDA would not approve this fertility control drug for equines. If the drugs/pesticides/birth control are not dangerous, then why haven’t they been approved for domestic horses?

Science has proven wild horses are returned-natives. Any designation of them as “pests” surely will be challenged in the courts in the near future.

We are requesting a moratorium on roundups and a scientific study to determine the actual population as well as birthrate–without the herds feeling an urgent need to reproduce because of excessive roundups since 2009. We kindly request this occur before any action to sterilize or give birth control labelled a “restricted use pesticide” to America’s wild horses and burros.

There are several health risks involved with giving free-roaming mares PZP, GonaCon® and other immunocontraceptives as well as sterilizing them or the stallions. I will provide more information in another letter.

We also request you consider the fact that managing wild horses and burros with fertility control would domesticate them because man would be choosing who breeds when, for more than a million years, Equus caballus has evolved through the survival of the fittest model.

The environment is changing and with it wildlife must evolve to survive. We are deeply concerned that using fertility control would manage them to extinction due to human interference with natural selection.

We don’t have any conflicts of interests as we are not funded by organizations and or companies connected to fertility control products and services. We are asking you for your help during this crisis because we represent many Americans who care about wild horses and burros.

Advocates estimate there are only 18,000 wild horses left in the wild. The BLM has been claiming their numbers are in the high 30,000 to justify large-scale, costly roundups and removals since 2009. The BLM has a huge budget for the program and no scientific proof of population–no headcount. Their overpopulation claim lacks scientific evidence as we claimed and was determined by the National Academy of Sciences

It’s time for wild horses and burros to be managed using real science not junk science. We encourage you to put a moratorium on roundups and complete a comprehensive scientific population study before you agree to using any fertility controls on our wild herds.

Thank you for helping save America’s wild horses and burros from being managed to extinction.

Sincerely,

Anne Novak

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

San Francisco Bay Area

 

As seen in the Washington Post

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

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Protect Mustangs is devoted to protecting native wild horses. Our 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.

 

#WildHorses #Environment #animals #horses #fracking #food #water #green #science #Foodie #America #Nature #News #Breaking @SecretaryJewell 

Press Release: Calling for a moratorium on roundups and Flag Day protests announced

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For immediate release:

Protect Mustangs calls for a moratorium on roundups 

Protests planned nationwide on Flag Day including outside Feinstein’s San Francisco office June 14th

SAN FRANCISCO (June 8, 2013)–Protect Mustangs calls for a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups as well as nationwide protests on Flag Day June 14th. The California-based native wild horse conservation group says there are no “excess” wild horses or burros and want all the native wild horses and historic burros to be returned to the wild. They just announced the Flag Day rally outside Senator Feinstein’s office building at One Post Street, San Francisco from 11:00 – 12:00. Feinstein is on the Appropriations Committee who doles out millions of dollars to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for cruel roundups and removals.

“Stopping the roundups is one thing all the advocates can agree on,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “During a moratorium, scientists can undertake accurate independent population studies to learn how many are left on each area of the range. We need to revamp outdated appropriate management levels to give native wild horses and historic burros the correct share of the rangeland designated for therm by the law. Livestock could go elsewhere but stockpiling more than 50,000 wild horses and burros is nuts.”

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 Congress, President Obama, Secretary Jewell, The Appropriations Committee and especially Senator Feinstein 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 with a hold on fertility control. The native wild horse conservation group calls on the Department of Interior, Congress and President Obama 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.

“With the gluttony of roundups and removals, wild horses reproduce at a higher rate than normal–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 under the BLM’s alleged overpopulation claim 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 or roundups.”

“They have no data-driven basis for gauging how many horses or burros a particular HMA can support, states Carl Mrozek, filmmaker of Saving Ass in America. “In practice BLM treats all habitats as being pretty much the same, and as resource poor, by requiring 1000+ acres/ horse or burro. This is a joke.”

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 California based 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.

“The roundups must stop now and the BLM’s fiscal irresponsibility must stop as well,” states Novak. “The public is outraged. We want native wild horses and historic burros to live in the wild–unharassed by the agency charged with their care.”

# # #

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 herdshttp://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

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

No proof of overpopulation, no need for fertility control http://protectmustangs.org/

Appropriations Committee members: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/about-members.cfm

Wild burros of Airizona Black Mountains on CBS: http://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/tag/carl-mrozek/

Princeton University: Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies, in the search for foodhttp://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/

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