Tag Archives: Obama

Adopt a BLM wild horse to save it from an unknown fate

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Meet Ellie (#6457). She’s a gorgeous 4 yr old Palomino mare from the Calico Mts. She is at the Palomino Valley Center near Reno. (Photo courtesy BLM)

Taking action to find homes for at-risk wild horses

Protect Mustangs is working with members of the public to find homes for all the wild horses who were not adopted during the recent Bureau of Land Management (BLM) internet adoption. The unadopted are at risk of being sold to pro-slaughter people like Tom Davis.

“We are reaching out to the public through Facebook and Twitter to find adopters,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “People across the country are expressing interest in adopting these great horses. I don’t know why the BLM isn’t marketing the adoption program better.”

BLM’s three strike program

America’s living legends receive a strike against them every time they are offered for adoption. If they are offered on the internet and not adopted they get a strike and another internet adoption gives them another strike. If they are offered for adoption at an event and don’t find their person then they get their third strike . . . It’s a cruel system. After three strikes the federally protected wild horses can be sold to anyone who signs on the dotted line that they won’t sell them to slaughter or for use as rodeo stock. The BLM doesn’t check that the buyers are complying so it’s a free for all.

“If indigenous wild horses are not adopted then they will be shipped out to the Midwest where they are at-risk of being sold by the truckloads–even the one year olds,” states Novak. “With the recent E.U. crackdown on American horse meat, riddled with toxic substances, we are concerned wild horses face an increased risk of going to slaughter because they have never been given substances such as bute.”

Positive communication

Members of the public may email Contact@ProtectMustangs.org to enlist their help in communicating with BLM for a smooth adoption process as well as getting information on trainers and transportation.

Below are some wild horses available for adoption:

Meet Baby Red (#2484) a sorrel yearling gelding. His mother was captured during the Twin Peaks roundup and he was born at the BLM facility in California near Susanville. (Photo courtesy BLM)

 

Lily (#3361) is from the Fox Hog herd. They have some draft in their line and make wonderful pets/riding horses when you give them a lot of love. (Photo courtesy BLM)

Good News! This horse has an adopter waiting for him at the Ridgecrest facility. Sam (#3275) is from California’s High Rock area and appears to be from cavalry stock. He is handsome and might make a nice little jumper or sport horse.

 

Meet Stuart (#2600), a yearling gelding from High Rock in California (eastern Sierra). This internet auction could be his 3rd strike and put him “at risk”. He is located near Susanville, California. (Photo courtesy BLM)

 

Here is Merlot (#9380) a yearling red roan gelding from Green Mountain, Wyoming. He is located in Rock Springs, WY and can be shipped to various locations.

To learn about these horses and others in need of adoption, visit Protect Mustangs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

From the BLM website:

Adoption Requirements

Applicant must be 18 years of age or older.

Applicant must have access to a stall/corral that meets the following criteria:
  • Stall, corral, etc. must contain a minimum of 400 square feet per animal
  • Stall, corral, etc. that is 6′ tall on all sides with access to feed, water and adequate shelter for anything 2 years or older. The stall/corral height is 5′ for a yearling and 4.5′ for a burro. (This area is only required until animal is gentled, not for the life of the animal.)
  • Stall, corral, etc. must be made of protrusion-free materials, (EX) Wood, Pipe, Cattle Panels. Barb wire is not allowed in the area that is being used for gentling the animal.
  • Covered stock trailer. Covered stock trailer refers to: solid top, pipe rails, tarp, etc. BLM will not load into two-horse or drop-ramp trailers.
Applicant must describe their stall/corral, etc. in the application packet and submit to BLM for approval.
  • Application – Describe the area where you will keep the animal(s) during the gentling phase. (Application is located in back of brochure.)

Press Release: Protests to stop roundups and sales to kill buyers

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(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

For immediate release

Call for peaceful protests to stop the roundups and stop the BLM from selling federally protected wild horses to kill-buyers

American public outraged at cruel ‘management’

WASHINGTON (October 6, 2012)–Protect Mustangs announced on Facebook Friday their call for nationwide protests to stop the roundups and stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from selling federally protected indigenous wild horses to kill buyers.

“We are calling for peaceful protests as well as candlelight vigils so no more wild horses will die from roundups, be tortured by the helicopters or sold to kill buyers for delicacy meat abroad,” states Anne Novak, executive director for California based Protect Mustangs “The public is outraged.”

Last week ProPublica exposed the BLM selling at least 1,700 federally protected wild horses to known pro-slaughter buyer, Tom Davis, and the public is furious. The BLM is charged with managing and protecting wild horses–not selling them for $10 a head to a pro-slaughter middle man to reduce the numbers in holding due to years of fiscally irresponsible roundups.

“Members of the public who are active in their communities must let their friends, family and neighbors know they can contact Congress if they don’t like their tax dollars used to fund cruel roundups,” says Tami Hottes, Protect Mustangs’ outreach coordinator for the Midwest and South. “People are upset to learn about the BLM selling all those historic wild horses to a guy like Tom Davis. It’s disgusting.”

This week the Antelope roundup, in northeastern Nevada, started under the pretense of saving the wild horses from a drought stricken area.

“We are concerned the BLM is jumping on the drought opportunity to zero out herds for industrialization of public land–especially massive energy projects that could pollute the water,” explains Novak. “Our indigenous wild horses are environmental barometers. If they die from drinking the water then that’s a red flag something is poisoning the water out there.”

Novak continues,”If there is a real problem on the range then bring them aid in the field–don’t round them up and warehouse them at taxpayer expense. It won’t cost much to bring them hay and water for a few months to get them through a difficult time.”

In watching videos from the roundup it should be pointed out that these wild horses were actually in excellent shape and there is no sign they have been suffering from lack of water or forage this summer. They are efficient browsers.

Even though the BLM announced last spring they would bait trap, they are not keeping their word to the American public. The BLM continues with cruel helicopter roundups.

The contractor has been criticized in the past for deadly incidents that could have been prevented. Despite objections from advocates and members of the public, the BLM continues to hire the contractor.

At the Antelope roundup advocates from The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) recorded videos showing healthy horses stampeded into traps, foals terrorized by choppers and a terrified stallion jumping out of the capture corral breaking his leg and running away. He was then euthanized by the BLM.

During the roundup wild horses were traumatized with whips and a wild mare broke her neck and died in transport.

If these historic wild horses had not been rounded up surely they would be alive with their families roaming in the West.

Outraged members of the public are calling BLM officials requesting the roundups stop. Officials downplay the cruelty and trauma, claiming these were rare incidents and touting that roundups, also known as “gathers”, only have a 1% death rate.

“We disagree with their whittled down death rate,” states Novak. “For years we have caught the BLM avoiding the correct death count and misleading Congress about the true number of horses painfully dying in roundups. During winter 2010 more than 180 wild horses died or were euthanized as a result of the roundup but the BLM tried to rewrite the numbers.”

The federal agency, funded by Congress to manage wild horses and burros, attributes the gross majority of roundup deaths to pre-existing conditions when they are obviously roundup related. If the horses weren’t rounded up they surely would not have died at that time.

The BLM often kills indigenous wild horses for being “old” and claims it was a pre-existing condition. They also kill baby horses claiming they have leg deformities. The foals can’t tolerate being stampeded for many miles on their undeveloped baby feet and legs and suffer severe injuries and are euthanized. BLM resists taking responsibility for their heinous actions.

At roundups since 2009, advocates as well as members of the press and public have been pushed back from the trap site and the holding corrals. It appears the BLM wants to hide the cruel roundups and injured animals from public view.

“The Wild Horse and Burro Program avoids transparency because of their disgusting secrets,” states Novak. “The public has a right to know what’s happening at roundups and afterwards. The public wants to know how many federally protected wild horses have been sold to the slaughter middle men since 2005.”

In 2004, a stealth rider known as the Burns amendment was attached to the Congressional Appropriations Bill to allow unlimited sales of captive wild horses over the age of ten or those who have been presented at adoption venues (live or Internet) three times–even pregnant mares and one-year-olds called yearlings.

The recent ProPublica article, written by Dave Phillips, highlights a corrupt program and interviews a pro-slaughter middle man. According to ProPublica, ‘Tom Davis buys 100s of mustangs at a time, sight unseen, for $10 a head. BLM has sold him more than 1,700 wild horses and burros since 2009.

“Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt,” he says.

“. . . but BLM’s Sally Spencer said it would be unfair for BLM to look more closely at him based on the volume of his purchases. “It’s no good to just stir up rumors,” she said.’

In 1997 Associated Press investigative journalist, Martha Mendoza, uncovered BLM’s internal corruption wherein adopted wild horses were quickly being sold to slaughter even by BLM employees who adopted them.

‘A multimillion-dollar federal program created to save the lives of wild horses instead is channeling them by the thousands to slaughterhouses where they are chopped into cuts of meat.

Among those profiting from the slaughter are employees of the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that administers the program.’

Mendoza’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) research and the story she exposed, forced the adoption program to change their protocol and only give title to the mustangs after one year to prevent the wild horses from being sold into the slaughter pipeline.

Today the BLM sends America’s living treasures to slaughter by selling them to the middle men who sell them to slaughter. Protect Mustangs asks Congress for a freeze on roundups, a freeze on sales and a full investigation into the ‘sale authority program’ since 2005.

The roundups ramped up in 2009 with the stimulus package push for the New Energy Frontier on public land and a new mandate to wipe out the wild herds of the West known as The Salazar Plan.

Despite nationwide protests in 2009-10 against the Secretary of the Interior’s plan, the majority of wild horses and burros were ripped from their family bands, taken off their land and the stallions were sterilized. President Obama ignored public outcry and Congress eventually fell for the BLM pleas for funding to ‘help the wild horses’.

In 2010, 54 members of Congress joined Congressman Raul Grijalva requesting a moratorium on roundups and a National Academy of Science (NAS) investigation into the broken program. Somehow the BLM has taken charge of the NAS investigation now called a “study” and is feeding the NAS the information instead of the Academy conducting independent research.

Today more than 52,000 wild horses and burros are living in captivity–mostly in the Midwest as specified in the Salazar Plan. Last year the controversial Wild Horse and Burro Program cost the American taxpayer 78 million dollars. Next year the cost will increase.

Protect Mustangs requests that Congress work with advocates to find a way to return wild horses to their wild lands in the West–to create biodiversity on the range–a win-win for wild horses, livestock, landowners, tourism and energy development on the New Energy Frontier. Their presence also helps greatly to reduce wildfires.

“Shrinking the numbers of wild horses left on public land today could be dangerous,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Giving already small herds fertility control will ruin genetic viability and could create inbreeding.”

The BLM’s reproduction rates don’t account much for mortality within the herd. Often foals don’t live to be two years old but the BLM spin on population has them multiplying like rabbits.

Studies show predators such as mountain lions and coyotes reduce the wild horse foal population. Last summer several young foals were killed by coyotes at a BLM holding facility near Sparks, Nevada. Even so, the BLM hides the truth about predators reducing the population and continues to repeat they have no natural predators despite the fact they do.

“Show me a real independent headcount before we talk about fertility control,”says Novak. “There aren’t enough wild horses left on the range any more. The truth is that the BLM will continue to roundup wild horses to treat them with fertility control. Roundups have been deadly so far. Roundups are NOT the answer. Biodiversity is the answer.”

Novak continues, “More than 52,000 indigenous wild horses have been captured and are warehoused in government holding. Selling ‘excess’ wild horses to kill-buyers is a heinous act and must stop now as well as the gluttony of roundups”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

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

Links of interest:

AP reports & Protect Mustangs speaks out against the roundups: 3,500 Wild horses going to loose their freedom starting October 1st Federal roundup of wild horses burros starts today http://www.lvrj.com/news/federal-roundup-for-wild-horses-burros-starts-today-172056591.html

ProPublica reports: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the government  http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

Brutal report for day 1 of Nevada’s Antelope roundup. Two horses die. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3ppBnbr7g&feature=youtu.be

Day 3 of Antelope roundup. Foals are terrorized by the helicopter and chased too long on their tender hooves. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9LDAwZqyU&feature=youtu.be

Buffalo News (January 5, 1997) US effort to save wild horses leads thousands to slaughter as workers profit by Martha Mendoza http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BN&p_theme=bn&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF99E45C1DF5CF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

The Burns amendment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Burns#The_Burns_Amendment

Huffington Post (October 17, 2009) Ken Salazar’s wild horse plan fuels accusations that he’s in the pocket of ranchers by Martin Griffith http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/17/ken-salazars-wild-horse-p_n_324799.html

News 4 KRNV Reno BLM selling to kill buyer? http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/BLM-selling-to-a-kill-buyer/s7svkl_zd0i1NVKHbd0ceA.cspx

Oct 5th Facebook announcement~Call to Stop the Roundups: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=418628774862814&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Protect Mustangs on the web http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

Letter to the President

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Mustang flag with stars by Robin Warren (Wild Mustang Robin) for © Protect Mustangs

Dear Mr. President,

Wild horses are indigenous to North America. They will heal the land while creating biodiversity to balance out the surge of grazing, energy, mining and water projects on public land.

We understand your priority to foster the New Energy Frontier and therefore we ask you to find the win-win so America’s wild horses and burros–our living treasures–will not become extinct from the industrialization of western public lands.

It’s essential to leave viable herds (families) on public land so the wind horses and burros can reverse desertification because of their nature to forage and roam.

Predators will control the population as part of nature’s cycle and only the fittest will survive. This cuts out the cost of buying costly pharmaceuticals to control reproduction.

We know all the 51,000 wild horses in holding are at risk of going to slaughter and ask that they be returned to public land where they will cost the government almost nothing to live out their lives. Most male horses in holding have already been sterilized so they will not be able to reproduce.

We oppose creating additional herds of sterile wild horses as they don’t exhibit wild horse behaviors and could threaten the indigenous horse with extinction.

We stand with thousands of Americans to respectfully ask you to stop the cruel wild horse and burro roundups, so that an accurate accounting of horses on the range can take place and alternative sustainable management techniques could be applied to save the indigenous horse.

We thank you in advance for becoming a hero for America’s indigenous horses.

In gratitude,

Anne Novak

 

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

P.O. Box 5661

Berkeley, California 94705

Breaking News: 11-year-old on a mission to save America’s wild horses

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Protect Mustangs’ Youth Campaign Director, Robin Warren (Wild Mustang Robin) at the Rally to Stop the Roundups in Sacramento July 10, 2012. (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, media permission granted.)

Robin Warren leads youth campaign for Protect Mustangs


For immediate release:

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (July 16, 2012)–Since joining Protect Mustangs in June as their new youth campaign director, Robin Warren, age 11, has met with a Nevada State Senator, documented wild horses on the range, was a featured speaker at the Stop the Roundups rally in California’s capital and gave oral comments at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helicopter hearing also in the golden state. At the hearing, Warren presented the BLM representative with her Petition to Save Wild Mustangs asking the BLM to stop helicopter roundups.

“It’s not fair that the Bureau of Land Management has an exemption to the law that protects wild horses and burros,” states Robin Warren, youth campaign director for Protect Mustangs. “We want cruel helicopter roundups to stop and we want to make sure they always have access to clean water.”

The petition reads:

“We, the undersigned, do respectfully request that the Bureau of Land Management adhere to the same rules and regulations as the general public in regards to the humane treatment of wild horses and burros. We find it unreasonable that the Secretary of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, or any person or organization, is found to be exempt from our collective responsibility as humans to treat animals humanely. We further find it unreasonable that the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture are permitted to define “humane” as it pertains to their own areas of command. We respectfully request that the Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 be restored to its original intent, that no person or organization would be permitted to capture wild horses and burros by means of motorized vehicles, or by polluting or closing off watering holes, as these methods have been proven inhumane.”

Warren started the petition 3 years ago under her pen name Wild Mustang Robin–to stop the wild horse roundups. She was inspired to co-author the petition after reading “Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West” by Marguerite Henry.

She has been active in her hometown, Las Vegas, and over the internet to get signatures. After posting the petition online at Change.org she received signatures from 50 States, DC, Puerto Rico & and more than 30 countries.

At last week’s helicopter use hearing in Sacramento, Warren presented 2770 signatures from her petition to Amy Dumas, the BLM representative.”Kids don’t want to see wild horses in zoos,” states Warren. “We want to observe them roaming on the open range with their families.”

Warren’s speech at the BLM helicopter use hearing received a standing ovation from the audience.

“Robin speaks for the youth of America and touches people’s hearts across the nation,” says Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “She wants the wild horses to be protected–not harassed and torn from their families forever.”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

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

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Mustang Robin hands Amy Dumas (BLM) the growing petition against helicopter roundups at the California BLM public hearing on helicopters for roundups, etc. in Sacramento July 10, 2012 (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, media permission granted.)

Wild Mustang Robin present petition to TriRAC BLM January 2012:

Links of interest:

Link to Robin’s petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-president-of-the-united-states-the-blm-is-not-exempt-from-humane-treatment-of-mustangs

Protest, press conference and public hearing information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1828

Celebrities speak out against wild horse roundups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsS9r87tRk

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter hearings and the public process: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1498

Anne Novak on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/theAnneNovak

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=125

Copy of Robin’s speech to BLM delivered as a letter at the hearing:

Robin Warren
Director of the Youth Program Protect Mustangs P.O. Box 5661 Berkley, CA 94705

Mike Pool
Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665
Washington DC 20240

James G. Kenna & Amy Dumas
BLM Wild Horse and Burro State Director, and Program
California State Office
2800 Cottage Way, Suite W1834
Sacramento, CA 95825

July 10th, 2012

Re: Helicopter Roundups

Dear Messrs. Mike Pool and James Kenna and Ms. Amy Dumas;

Hi I am Wild Mustang Robin, Director of the Youth Campaign at Protect Mustangs; I came here today to talk about the mustangs.  I am happy see there are many people here who could come today to say no to the roundups.  First of all I would like to say the roundups are inhumane.  There is a law made by Wild Horse Annie saying you cannot use motorized vehicles to round up the wild horses.  If I – or even the President – was to round them up I would get arrested.  Now there is one interesting thing: the BLM gets an exemption even though it is a law not to use motorized vehicles.

Helicopters are like monsters to the mustangs; children do not want America’s animals to be scared or hurt in anyway. This makes kids feel unsafe because they don’t want to have monsters in their life and children are like animals (they don’t have a voice really). The helicopters are so scary that the mustangs remember the noise for the rest of their lives.  I went to the BLM holding facility in Sparks, NV and when we were walking a slow pace the horses got scared and ran away. They were scared of people walking – how do you think they feel about helicopters?

Another reason the roundups are inhumane is because they separate the families apart – the foals from the mothers and the mothers from the fathers. They might spend the rest of their lives behind gates and never see each other again.  Their ability to have families is a gift because many creatures have to let their babies live on their own after a few weeks of them taking care of them.  I know how it feels because I lost my whole family. I have found a new home and happiness but the mustangs may never get to be in a herd again – and they long for family. It is not humane to separate families from each other.  How would you feel if you lost your family?

A much more humane idea is to keep the family bands whole and send them all together to sanctuaries. It is an idea that would save money and make money as a tourist attraction – a business like a hotel near where the mustangs and burros live. This is a great idea and it can cost less than feeding, watering, and taking care of them when they can take care of themselves.  It could make money for all the states where mustangs still live – both yours and mine.

The mustangs and burros deserve to be treated right.  I know that and a numerous amount of others do too.  Many people care about the wild horses and burros and do not want any of them rounded up or eaten. There are the big names you know, that spoke before me, and then there are the “little names” you don’t know yet, like mine. I represent the voices of many children.

Please do not use helicopters or motorized vehicles for roundups or management. Please reconsider your roundup plans and let them live in freedom.

Sincerely,

Wild Mustang Robin (Robin Warren)

 

Stop the Roundups Rally in Sacramento July 10th at 2 pm outside the Federal Courthouse

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Come to the rally to show that you care about the wild horses and burros in America.

Terri Farley speaks at the Rally to Stop the Roundups (Photo © Anne Novak.)

The Sacramento Stop the Roundups Rally and Press Conference is at 2 p.m. July 10th on the sidewalk outside the Federal Courthouse across from the Amtrak station. ( 501 ” I ” Street at the 5th Street intersection in Sacramento, CA 95814)

Here is a list of speakers:

Carla Bowers, National Wild Horse Advocate

Tina Brodrick, Owner of Sonny Boys Tours

Craig Downer, Wildlife Biologist and acclaimed Wild Horse and Burro Expert

Terri Farley, Award winning writer and beloved author of The Phantom Stallion series

Cat Kindsfather, Award winning wild horse photographer

Marilyn Kroplick, MD, Board President for In Defense of Animals

Simone Netherlands, President of Respect for Horses

Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

Jetara Séhart, Executive Director of Native Wild Horse Protection & Marin Mustangs

Robin Warren  (Wild Mustang Robin), Director of The Youth Campaign for Protect Mustangs

Bring homemade signs and your friends. It will be hot so bring a rain umbrella for shade and plenty of water. Protect Mustangs encourages members of the public to carpool or take Amtrak to save on fuel and reduce pollution. Oil and gas extraction–on public land–is one of the main reasons wild horses are being wiped off their home on the range.  Be part of the solution and take the train if you can.

The voiceless wild horses and burros need your help after the rally too. Give oral or written comment against helicopter roundups and attend the 6:30 pm BLM Wild Horse & Burro Helicopter/Vehicle Use Public Hearing for roundups and management. The meeting runs from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Woodlake Hotel (formerly the Radisson near Arden Fair Mall) 500 Leisure Lane in Sacramento.

“Like” and check for updates on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Join the dynamic conversation on Facebook about helicopter roundups: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=387209591338066&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Driving directions from the rally to the meeting:

Driving directions to 500 Leisure Ln, Sacramento, CA 95815
501 I St
Sacramento, CA 95814
1. Head north on 5th St toward H St
194 ft
2. 5th St turns right and becomes H St
0.8 mi
3. Turn left onto CA-160 N/16th St

Continue to follow CA-160 N
2.3 mi
4. Take exit 47A for Leisure Ln towardCanterbury Rd
0.1 mi
5. Keep left at the fork, follow signs forLeisure
79 ft
6. Turn left onto Leisure Ln

Destination will be on the right
354 ft
500 Leisure Ln
Sacramento, CA 95815

Special thanks to Jetara Séhart, Executive Director of Native Wild Horse Protection & Marin Mustangs for her help to put together this event.

If you have any questions or would like to speak at the rally feel free to send us an email at Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Americans want aid sent to pregnant wild horses and babies—not to stampede them

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Privately owned livestock allowed to remain on the range while wild horses risk death in helicopter roundup

For immediate release:

Freedom Lost & Hell Begins (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2012)—Protect Mustangs opposes the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Jackson Mountain roundup, in northwestern Nevada famous for Burning Man, set to begin tomorrow. The preservation group and members of the public are reaching out to elected officals nationwide to come to the aid of America’s wild horses and burros. The BLM has chosen to endanger heavily pregnant mares and tiny foals by stampeding them in a terrifying helicopter roundup. Protect Mustangs asked BLM to continue trucking out water and other aid as needed for the wild horses. Their request was refused. Trucking aid to them is cheaper than a cruel million dollar roundup paid for by the American taxpayer. Originally the wild horse removal was planned for after foaling season in July but BLM claims the indigenous horses are at risk because of drought conditions even though rain is forecasted and private livestock is allowed to remain grazing on the range.

“We need our elected officials to intervene at this point,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We asked the BLM to continue bringing them water but they refused to wait until foaling season is over. Now the BLM will round them up and jeopardize their ability to peacefully birth their babies.”

The helicopter roundup will endanger more than 96 foals counted in April 2012 as well as the newborns and pregnant mares carrying the unborn.

In March 2012, Joan Guilfoyle, BLM wild horse and burro division chief, announced to the world they would use a new method to capture mustangs—bait trapping. Now the government agency is demonstrating their double speak and lack of human care for America’s wild horses. The roundups, funded by Congress, continue.

“The BLM obviously doesn’t care about the welfare of pregnant mares and tiny foals,” states Novak. “Stampeding them will cause spontaneous abortions and newborn foals won’t be able to keep up. Will they be separated from their mamas and left out there to die?”

Protect Mustangs is calling on Americans to contact their senators and representatives because theses wild horses belong to all Americans. Members of the public are encouraged to ask their elected officials intervene–to stop the Jackson Mountain foaling season roundup and bring America’s indigenous horses aid if needed.

The preservation group also suggests voicing concerns to Nevada’s Congressman Joe Heck 202-225-3252 (fax 202-225-3252) and Senator Dean Heller 202-224-6244 (fax 202-224-6244).

Protect mustangs feels the BLM’s estimate of 930 wild horses is inflated to justify a massive roundup. The entire capture area is more than 775,000 acres including the 286,000 acres within the Jackson Mountain Herd Management Area.

“The BLM is using the drought as an excuse to clear out wild horses while risking their death,” explains Novak. “They are leaving livestock on the same allegedly drought afflicted land to graze, so BLM’s actions don’t make any sense. It just shows how the government agency wants to dispose of America’s icons.”

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 # # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

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

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 

Links of interest:

 

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

KPFA Evening News, KFCF Fresno, KPFK Los Angeles, WBAI New York, KPFT Houston, WPFW Washington, DC  Protect Mustangs says the Nevada BLM jeopardizes public process, privacy and free speech http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/81120  report at 22:35 on the link.

BLM’s plans for bait trapping ~ Gone Viral ~ Las Vegas Review Journal Land managers try new method to capture mustangs http://bit.ly/HKKIrL

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter roundup video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=plcp

Tweet Congress: http://tweetcongress.org/

Contact elected officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Burning Man: http://www.burningman.com/

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

BLM Press Release on the alleged emergency Jackson Mt. roundup: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/june/winnemucca__blm_to.html

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1614

 

Breaking News: Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech

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BLM places outrageous conditions on public comment

For immediate release:

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, a Bay Area-based preservation group, asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise their conditions for receiving written comment that requires personal identifying information that BLM says they can not safeguard. What started as an issue jeopardizing public process for people who want helicopters roundups to stop has mushroomed into a free speech issue for all Americans.

“This in an invasion of privacy—a restriction of our rights of free speech,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It will stifle public participation.”

Due to the BLM’s lack of public notice for a public hearing, the preservation group released an alert titled: Government transparency and public process jeopardized. They gathered comments requesting the Nevada public hearing  be rescheduled with 30 days notice and comments against using helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management. Early Tuesday morning the group sent the comments to the Director of BLM in Washington requesting he intervene and reschedule the public hearing. Wild horse photographer, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered the comments to BLM officials at the hearing.

As a result of Protect Mustangs’ grassroots efforts and the public rallying for their right to comment,  the BLM released the press release announcing they will extend only the written comment period for the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management in Nevada.

BLM also states:

Comments submitted to BLM must include your address, phone number, email, or other personal identifying information in your comment. Please be aware your entire comment–including your personal identifying information–may be made publicly available at any time. While you may request we withhold your personal information from public view, we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

The preservation group opposes BLM’s terms for public comment for 2 reasons:

1.) The controversial Nevada public hearing regarding using helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management, must be held with 30 days notice so the American public may attend and give oral comment as well as written comment.

2.) The BLM must accept written comments and protect personal identifying information if the commenter has requested their information be withheld from public view. Requested personal identifying information should not be excessive.

“Any person who requests that their personal information be safeguarded should have that right to privacy—especially by a government agency,” states Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs.

Refusing to keep personal identifying information confidential, stifles the public process because anyone can get a copy of the comments according to BLM protocol. The public wants to know their rights to privacy are ensured.

“Are the BLM’s new written comment conditions intended to suppress public comment?” asks Novak. “It’s a no-brainer that this is going to discourage people. What’s happening to America’s public process and our rights to free speech?”

 

# # #

 

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

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

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 

Links of interest:

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Video of helicopter roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=player_embedded

Freedom of speech in the U.S.A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

 

Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.

 

 


Wild horses at risk ~ Get the word out!

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Wild horses exist in thriving natural ecological balance on public land ~ removals are a sham. Taxpayers are funding their management to extinction while the Bureau of Land management fails to provide the American public with an accurate head count. Inflated estimates do not justify mistreatment of our living legends of the West.

Permission given to use this photo/flyer/poster to raise awareness. Contact us if you want a jpeg.