Watch a newborn wild foal near Carson City

Pine Nut Wild Horses ©Anne Novak for Protect Mustangs

Pine Nut Wild Horses ©Anne Novak for Protect Mustangs

Wild and free is their world

Without Protect Mustangs’ and FoA’s successful 2015 lawsuit protecting the Pine Nut Herd from the roundup and forced drugging with pesticide PZP, this little foal and her band would have been chased by helicopters for miles. . . If she wasn’t abandoned then she would be ripped from her home on the range forever to live and nurse in a dirty pen with no shelter.

A few months later she would be separated from her mama. This would be too early for a wild foal to be weaned. She would be separated from her mama forever at that point with no one to comfort her when she’s sad or scared.

We are very grateful she was born in the wild.

(Video by John Humphrey)

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




URGENT: Stop BLM from using pregnant mares in Nazi-type sterilization experiments

Hundreds of pregnant mares were moved Friday January 22, 2016 from Palomino Valley Center (PVC) outside of Reno to the closed door facility in Fallon called Broken Arrow aka Indian Lakes.

Does BLM intend on using the pregnant mares from Beatys Butte in the horrible Nazi-type sterilization experiments in Oregon? These pregnant mares and members of their herd seem to have been rounded up because Country Natural Beefa supplier of Whole Food Market, was pushing for the roundup. Do they want the federally protected wild horses gone so they can use the public grazing land for beef?

Protect Mustangs officially requests the mares from Beatys Butte and all the mares at the Fallon facility be put up for adoption–not experimented on!

STOP the cruelty now! These are America’s icons of freedom.

Stop BLM from EXPERIMENTING on wild mares!

Sterilization experiments are cruel and with no merit

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) overpopulation claims are fraudulent and any action such as experimentation for population control, fertility control, or other actions taken that are based on fraudulent information is wrongful. There are no “excess” wild horses on public land. Roundups have been based on fraudulent data. Read more about that here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=8551

Americans must not allow tax dollars to fund experiments reminiscent of Dr. Joseph Mengele. The rights of American wild horses are being violated. Pregnant mares especially  must never be used in sterilization experiments!

There are no accurate head counts of wild horse populations, many herd management areas have no wild horses left on them,  and the BLM’s horrible customer service and poor marketing are the reason wild horse adoption has dropped. It’s as if the BLM wants their adoption program to fail.

Any and all experimentation based on the overpopulation myth must be stopped!

The BLM is proposing to conduct three research experiments “investigating the safety and effectiveness” of three separate methods of surgical sterilization of wild horse mares. The three proposed methods include ovariectomy via colpotomy (in photo above), tubal ligation and hysteroscopically-guided laser ablation of the oviduct papilla. The proposed studies would be conducted under financial assistance agreements with Oregon State University (OSU), with OSU staff serving as the principal investigators of the research. The three experiments combined would involve approximately 225 wild horse mares previously rounded up and removed from BLM Herd Management Areas (HMA). All three studies would be conducted at Oregon’s Wild Horse Corral Facility in Hines, Oregon and would be planned to begin in February 2016 with an estimated completion date of September 2020. This environmental assessment (EA) is a site-specific analysis of the potential impacts of the proposed action.

You are encouraged to write in your own words to oppose the wild horse sterilization experiment proposed on innocent wild mares. The deadline is February 3rd:

Mare Sterilization Research Project Lead
(541) 573-4411 BLM Burns District Office
28910 Highway 20 West
Hines, Oregon 97738
Email: blm_or_bu_mareresearchea@blm.gov
Fax: (541) 573-4411 — Attention: Mare Sterilization Research Project Lead

When writing your letter keep in mind the following:

  1. Your tax dollars are paying for the BLM’s programs, roundups and experiments if allowed to continue.
  2. There is no overpopulation of wild horses. They are underpopulated on the vast acreage of public land in the West.
  3. BLM’s harvesting model based management via roundups is disrupting herd dynamics and increasing the birthrate.
  4. BLM’s allegations of overpopulation are fraudulent based on false data. They don’t even account for the correct mortality rates in the wild.
  5. Predators should not be killed off and if there are none left then they need to be reintroduced for the thriving natural ecological balance.
  6. Wild horses are a return-native species that help reduce catastrophic wildfires and create biodiversity. We need the herds to reverse desertification.
  7. The BLM is creating a false overpopulation crisis to cash in on wild horses as laboratory animals for fertility control experiments while reducing the herds to nonviable levels.
  8. GonaCon™, PZP, SpayVac® are all pesticides that classify wild horses erroneously as pests–ultimately sterilize them and are not needed because wild horses are underpopulated. There are no “excess” wild horses.
  9. The BLM is trying to manage America’s wild horses to extinction.
  10. Sign and share the petition to stop the roundups here: https://www.change.org/p/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups
  11. Send your elected officials a handwritten letter and make an appointment to go in to see them.

Please contact your elected officials and politely request they take immediate action on your behalf to stop the experiments on wild horses. You can find the contact information for your elected officials here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org

Call & Email the following as well:

Oregon Governor
Kate Brown
Phone: 503/378-4582
Fax: 503/378-8970
Email: http://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/share-your-opinion.aspx

Senior Senator Ron Wyden
(the one who can stop this)
tel (202) 224-5244
fax (202) 228-2717
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/contact

BLM Oregon
State Director
Jerome E. Perez
Phone: 503-808-6026
Email: BLM_OR_Prospecting_EA@blm.gov

Share this with everyone you know.

Check back on our website for daily updates. Together we can stop this and turn this around.



Background reading:

BLM Press Release on Plans to Experiment with Sterilization Wild Mares: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/files/BU_MareSterilizationEA_Jan2015.pdf

Mare Sterilization Research Environmental Assessment https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/56292/67242/73184/MareSterilizationResearchEA_12172015.pdf

Mare Sterilization Research https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/projectSummary.do?methodName=renderDefaultProjectSummary&projectId=56292

 

 




Marybeth Devlin speaks out against PZP

Pm PZP Darts

Marybeth Devlin responds to PZP SPIN in High Country News titled: PZP: Where hope, science and mustangs meet http://www.hcn.org/articles/pzp-where-hope-science-and-mustangs-meet

Ms. Wilder is disinformed. PZP does not “cause eggs to reject sperm.” That hypothesis has been disproved. PZP is a registered pesticide whose mechanism-of-action is to cause auto-immune disease. PZP tricks the immune system into producing antibodies that target and attack the ovaries. PZP’s antibodies cause the mare to suffer ovarian dystrophy, oophoritis (inflammation of the ovaries), ovarian cysts, destruction of oocytes in growing follicles, and depletion of resting follicles. Not surprisingly, estrogen levels drop markedly as the ovaries are slowly destroyed. But PZP’s adverse effects are not limited to the individual animal. As a recent study — which included the Little Book Cliffs, Colorado herd and the McCullough Peaks, Wyoming herd — found, PZP extends the birthing season to nearly year-round. Out-of-season births put the life of the foals and the mares at risk. Further, the same study disclosed that the pesticide causes a delay lasting 411.3 days (1.13 years) per each year-of-treatment before mares recover their fertility after suspension of PZP. However, some mares never recover — they are left permanently sterile, and quickly too. Indeed, yet another study found that sterility could occur in some mares from just three years of PZP injections or from just one treatment if the pesticide were given to a filly before she reached puberty. Because PZP messes with the immune system, it ironically works “best” — sterilizes faster — if the mare has a strong immune system. But, conversely, PZP may not work at all in mares whose immune function is weak or depressed. So, the pesticide discriminates against the very horses that Nature has best equipped for survival against disease while favoring and selecting for the immuno-compromised. Worse yet, tests performed via radioimmunoassay indicated that PZP antibodies are transferred from mother to young via the placenta and milk. The transferred antibodies cross-react with and bind to the zonae pellucidae of female offspring, as demonstrated by immunofluorescent techniques.

But there is no need for PZP or any other population-reduction measures. BLM’s wild-horse overpopulation “data” is a fraud. Reviews of BLM’s year-to-year growth-estimates for various herds disclosed biologically-impossible growth-rates. For instance, just recently in Oregon, BLM claimed that the famous Kiger herd’s population grew from 21 horses to 156 horses in just four years — an increase of 643%. Stealthily inserting bogus birth-rates into the data, then wrongly equating the birth-rate with the population growth-rate, and failing to factor in the mortality-rate — that is how BLM creates the false impression of a population-explosion. Another ruse BLM employs is restricting maximum herd-size below minimum-viable herd-size. Then, whenever a herd is made to appear — via false figures — to exceed the arbitrary management level, BLM screams “excess!” and declares an immediate need for mass-removals and sterilizations. It should be noted that more than 70% of the herds are “managed” below minimum-viable size, including Spring Creek Basin.

Request for federal accountability and transparency for captive wild horses in Nevada facilities

 

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Carson & Fallon
From: <anne>
Date: Tue, April 01, 2014 5:17 pm
To: “Peters, Stacy” <skpeters@blm.gov>, ““James (Jeb) Beck””
<j1beck@blm.gov>, “Deborah Collins” <dacollin@blm.gov>, “Dean Bolstad”
<dbolstad@blm.gov>

Dear Jeb,

The public is concerned about captive wild horses being moved from place to place because of a lack of transparency.

Thank you for having Stacy email the answers to our questions about the wild horses who have been moved out of Palomino Valley as seen here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6656

The public has been contacting us with questions about the large numbers of wild horses going to NVF83 Northern Nevada Correctional Center, Carson City and WOF56 Fallon Maintenance Facility. They would like transparent answers.

How many wild horses have shipped out of NVF83 Northern Nevada Correctional Center, Carson City from January 1, 2014 to April 2, 2014?

Kindly explain exactly where they went, how many have left for each destination, and how many remain at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center as of April 2, 2014.

How many horses have left the Northern Nevada Correctional Center under “sale authority” since January 1, 2014? Where did they go?

How many wild horses have left the Correctional Center under “sale authority” from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013? Where did they go?

How many pregnant mares are at the correctional facility?  How many foals?

How many deaths have been documented from January 1, 2014 to April 2, 2014? How many undocumented deaths (before being branded or other)?

How many births at the correctional facility?

How many mares miscarried or foals were born dead?  What is the correctional facility manager’s definition of live foal?

and

How many wild horses have shipped out of WOF56 Fallon Maintenance Facility, Fallon Nevada from January 1, 2014 to April 2, 2014?

Kindly explain exactly where they went, how many have left for each destination, and how many remain at the WOF56 Fallon Maintenance Facility as of April 2, 2014.

How many wild horses have left the Fallon Facility under “sale authority” since January 1, 2014? Where did they go?

How many wild horses have left the Fallon Facility under “sale authority” from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013? Where did they go?

How many pregnant mares are at the Fallon facility?  How many foals?

How many deaths have been documented from January 1, 2014 to April 2, 2014? How many undocumented deaths (before being branded and other)?

How many births at the Fallon facility?

How many mares miscarried or foals were born dead? What is the Fallon facility manager’s definition of live foal?

and

Who is in charge of authorizing wild horses become sale authority horses in Nevada?  Who is in charge at the national level?

How many horses may someone buy at a time?

If I want to buy a truckload of 3-Strike wild horses how do I go about doing that?

How many horses may someone adopt at a time?

The public wants accountability and transparency. Thank you for answering the public’s questions.

Sincerely,
Anne Novak
Executive Director
Protect Mustangs

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

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www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs educates, protects and preserves native and wild horses. The nonprofit conservation group strives for a 10 year moratorium on roundups and science-based holistic land management to reduce global warming.

Wisdom mare needs partner

Sage #0399 PVC Headshot March 25 2014

 

Sage #0399 and Friends PVC March 25 2014

 

Sage #0399 PVC March 25 2014 C

 

Help find Sage (#0399) the 2-year-old, a loving home. She is the essence of the wild and wonderful Diamond range in Nevada. Sage holds a lot of native wisdom. We feel she would be a wisdom/lead mare in the wild similar to Blondie. She is a rare keeper of their secret knowledge who needs the right home and partner.

She’s very friendly and longs to be with someone who will love and respect her. Sage will be easy to gentle through partnership and respect because she is so friendly, curious and has been in captivity for about a year.

If you can take Sage and a friend then she would be so happy. We have found that gentling 2 at a time keeps them stress free because they have a buddy for comfort and it’s fun.

This horses should not be confined to a barn for all her life. She will need a pasture with other horses to be truly happy.

Sage is located at the Palomino Valley Center near Reno Nevada. Their number is 775-475-2222.

You will provide transportation for Sage to get to you. One way to save transportation costs is to buddy up with other people who are adopting–get your friends to adopt some and share the hauling cost.

You only need to provide tall fencing while she is being halter-gentled. Once she is gentled you can put her with your other horses. If you send her to a trainer to be gentled then the trainer needs to have the tall fencing not you because once you get her from the trainer she will be able to go with your other horses. Keep this in mind when you fill out the BLM paperwork.

Training wild horses takes time, patience and love but it’s not rocket science. It is an amazing bonding experience of a lifetime.

If you encounter BLM’s discouragement to adopt her please contact us. In the past the customer service at PVC has been bad. Let’s hope it’s getting better.

We will mark her adopted only when the adoption has been approved by BLM Until then it’s important to keep sharing until Sage finds her partner.

Remember Sharing is Caring. Thank you for helping Sage!

Wild mare and foal at risk ~ Please adopt or sponsor

Found in a filthy pen run by the United States Bureau of Land Management . . .

Adopt these two Jackson Mt. mustangs and save them! (Photo © Taylor James)

Jackson Mountain mare #3246 and her foal #8255 were chased by roundup helicopters and now have lost their freedom to roam the American West. They have been “processed” and will soon be separated unless you help them.

There are three options to get them to safety:

1.) Adopt the two and take them to your ranch / barn.

2.) Adopt the pair and get them in to a sanctuary.

3.) Sponsor the mare and foal’s adoption and care with someone else.

If you can think of other options let us know.

We will look into what exactly the branding all over this mare means and report back to you.

If you have any questions about adoption please send us an email to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

or call the BLM office at Palomino Valley, near Sparks Nevada: 775. 475. 2222

 

First death at Calico roundup ~ RIP Old Gold

 

Helicopter chasing wild horses-Calico (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Roundup helicopter chases wild horses and Old Gold (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold roundup (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold chased by helicopter (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold during roundup (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold blends in (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold exhausted coming in (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold terrified by whips & chased into the trap (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Into trap (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold in trap (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Scared of whips they run. (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold fear part 1 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold fear part 2 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold fear part 3 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold fear part 4 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold trampled notice pelvis 1 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold trampled notice pelvis 2 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold notice pelvis 3 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold notice pelvis 4: knee & neck (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Old Gold notice pelvis 5. She can’t get up. Whip coming at her. Eyes freaked. Agony! (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

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Traumatized Old Gold gets up and loads in trailer. (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

 

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to inform the public about the mustang crisis, protect America’s wild horses on the range and help those who lost their freedom.