“Send a handwritten letter to your senators and representatives demanding they stop funding roundups and all kinds of mustang and burro removals”, suggests Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs. “Ask them for an independent scientific head count before giving wild horses any more sketchy contraceptives. We don’t know how many mustangs are out there but we know the Bureau of Land Management’s numbers are inflated to justify receiving funding from Congress for their broken program. $78 million American tax dollars are given to BLM annually so they can rip wild horses from their families and their freedom. That’s $780,000,000. in just ten years to remove wild horses from public land set aside for them with the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act. Write your politicians who are in office to represent you and ask for the change you want.”
The slaughter profiteers—backed with foreign money—want to open a plant in Missouri to kill up to 400 horses a day for human consumption abroad. See one news report here and another here.
We ask President Barack Obama and The United States Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966, which amends the Horse Protection Act (HPA) to prohibit the sale or transport of horses or equine body parts in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to process for human consumption. This Act will put an end to horse slaughter for human consumption in the United States, and put an end to the transportation of horses to slaughterhouses across our borders (typically to Mexico and Canada).
(1) Horses helped build the United States of America. Wild horses are living treasures and symbols of freedom. Most domestic horses are pets. Some have even become icons—such as Secretariat—who uplift the spirit and foster the American dream.
(2) In the U.S.A., horses are not raised for human consumption. Consequently horses are medicated with toxic substances that often do not pass FDA standards, making them unsafe to eat.
(3) We are against wasting tax dollars to fund horse meat inspections at slaughterhouses.
(4) Horse slaughter is animal cruelty—not humane euthanasia. When horses are slaughtered, they are often semi-conscious while the butchering begins.
(5) Humane euthanasia is a kinder way to end a horse’s life.
This Act will protect America’s horses and protect Americans against unhealthy and dangerous horse meat.
Members of Congress: We ask you to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966, when it comes up for a vote.
President Barack Obama: We ask you to push for passage of the Act and to sign it when it reaches your desk.
Outrage over livestock auction companies—paid with tax dollars—to ‘control’ wild horses and burros
WASHINGTON (February 20, 2012)—As the American public prepares their tax returns, Protect Mustangs asks the Department of Interior to disclose why $116,744,281 of taxpayer dollars was paid to 86 contractors from fiscal year 2000 to 2009 for “Wild Horse and Burro ‘Control’ Services“. Besides the more than $13 million paid to a roundup contractor named Dave Cattoor, why was more than $16 million paid to Tadpole Cattle Company, Inc. and more than $15 million paid to Fallon Livestock Auction Inc.?
“Why are livestock auction contractors paid to ‘control’ wild horses and burros?” asks Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “What’s going on? Are America’s living treasures being sold at auctions where kill buyers shop for horse meat?”
“The word ‘auction’ raises the red flag for all horse advocates,” says Kerry Becklund, director of outreach at Protect Mustangs. “Auctions are the first step in the slaughter pipeline—resulting in a cruel death.”
America’s wild horses are particularly vulnerable. They live in remote regions where they can be rounded up and sold to slaughter. They are not filled with chemicals like domestic horses so their meat could be in high demand on the Asian market.
The preservation group wants to know how many wild horses have been rounded up and sold at slaughter auctions since 2000 under BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife or the Forest Service’s jurisdiction.
Protect Mustangs maintains its adamant stance that no tax dollars should pay for inhumane horse slaughter nor support the barbaric industry in any way.
The preservation group is currently working on meeting their goal of one million signatures to petition President Barack Obama and Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966—to ensure all horses in America are treated humanely.
“Be the one in a million who ends horse slaughter”, says Novak. “Sign the petition and share it with your friends.”
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.
Assemblyman sponsors A.B. 329 yet received money from Federal Wild Horse and Burro Control Services
RENO (February 19, 2012)—Controversy surrounds Nevada Assemblyman, now running for Senator and longtime rancher Pete Goicoechea due to his sponsorship of A.B. 329. The bill would redefine wildlife for purposes of access to water to mean any free-living creature that walks, slithers, flies over, or crawls on Nevada soil—except for wild horses and burros. Advocates believe the bill could zero out American wild horses and burros in Nevada, where most of them currently live.
Wild horse preservation group, Protect Mustangs, questions Assemblyman Goicoecha’s motives in sponsoring this bill, given that he has received $674,591 through Federal contract funds between 2000 and 2009 for “Wild Horse and Burro Control Services”. Goicoechea’s son J.J. is the president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association. Is Mr. Goicoechea representing the Nevadans who elected him or special interests?
“We are concerned native wild horses would be wiped out if A.B. 329 is passed,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Indigenous wild horses belong to all of America and must not be removed or killed because special interest groups lobby to prevent them from drinking water in Nevada.”
A.B. 329 reads:
Section 1. Chapter 532 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a new section to read as follows:
As used in this title, unless the context otherwise requires, “wildlife” means any wild mammal, wild bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, mollusk or crustacean found naturally in a wild state, whether indigenous to Nevada or not and whether raised in captivity or not. The term does not include any wild horse or burro.
Recently at the January 2012 Legislative Committee on Public Lands Hearing, wild horse photographer Cat Kindsfather represented Protect Mustangs, and testified that based on modern science, wild horses are an indigenous species that deserve access to water in Nevada, along with other wildlife.
According to scientific findings in 2010, Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. and Patricia M. Fazio, Ph.D updated their research Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlifeproving wild horses are indigenous.
The preservation group seeks transparency and answers. Why is a Nevada Assemblyman who was contracted and paid by the federal government for “Wild Horse and Burro Control Services” sponsoring A.B. 329 to deny the native species the right to drink water in the State, and essentially the right to exist in the State, and what services did Goicoechea provide to the Federal program?
“Attacking wild horses and burros in ‘water wars’ goes against the American public’s wishes,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “Besides healing the land, they are living symbols of American freedom who must be protected and preserved.”
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.
Preservation group asks for pro-slaughter activist to be replaced on national Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Panel
WASHINGTON (February 10, 2012)—Protect Mustangs asks Secretary Salazar, overseeing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to replace the pro-slaughter appointment of Callie Hendrickson, for the ‘General Public’ position on the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board with a neutral person. Hendrickson has a history of lobbying in support of slaughter and zeroing-out wild horses. Protect Mustangs is concerned that the BLM has given the green light to plans to kill and slaughter the more than 50,000 American wild horses taken off the range as revealed in secret documents including one found on Wikileaks.
“We are opposed to BLM’s outrageous decision to choose a pro-slaughter and anti-wild horse activist for the advisory board,” states Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “It is fiscally irresponsible to roundup and warehouse more than 50,000 wild horses but to slaughter and kill them is a heinous act.”
The preservation group and members of the public are gravely concerned the BLM is preparing to kill the 50,000 wild horses in holding according to secret reports from 2008 discovered by Dr. Pat Haight, President of the Conquistador Equine Rescue and Advocacy Program’s FOIA research. The report reveals planning for massive wild horse sales to slaughter and euthanasia on an epic scale that will wipe out the American wild horse.
Protect Mustangs recently learned about a Wikileak document titled Federal Lands Managed by the BLM and Forest Service issued to the 110th Congress in February 2009 discussing how to “dispose” of wild horses.
“In destroying the last wild horses, the U.S. government’s BLM is continuing to destroy the planet,” states Michael Blake author and Academy Award-winner for Dances with Wolves.
Protect Mustangs wants the BLM to honor their promise of ‘a new direction’—not continue to break the public’s trust.
“More than 80% of Americans are against horse slaughter,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Wild horses are a national icon—they are beloved by the public from coast to coast.”
By taking the majority of wild horses off the land at great taxpayer expense, BLM created a fiscal problem. Some ask if it was to ‘help’ big business’ land grab. Now the mustangs are in the care of the BLM and killing them or selling them to slaughter is not supported by the American people.
“BLM is going against the public’s wishes by cruelly rounding up wild horses in secrecy and denying media access,” states Novak. “Are they now moving forward to slaughter and kill all the mustangs they took off the range? If so, this mustang massacre must be stopped.”
Feb 2009 Wikileaks doc Federal Lands Managed by the BLM and Forest Service issued to the 110th Congress discuss how to “dispose” of wild horses: http://bit.ly/Asouv2
Preservation group wants increased visibility for public and media to document native wild horses at roundup and temporary holding
WASHINGTON (February 3, 2012)—On the eve of another expensive Tonopah roundup in Nevada, Protect Mustangs voices their concern for the welfare of the American wild horse during roundups as well as government transparency, fiscal responsibility, public access and accountability. The preservation group awaits the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) response to the following questions:
1.) We are very concerned about the lack of transparency at roundups. Keeping visitors miles away from the trap site is unacceptable. In 2009 and 2010 members of the public and media were allowed closer access to document the roundups. Why has this policy changed?
2.) We want to go on the record to ask that the canvas on the metal corral panels—blocking the ability to see inside the trap site even from a distance—be taken down. It appears the BLM shrouds the mustang removals in secrecy and does not want the media or public to see what is going on when wild horses are captured. This protocol is very upsetting to members of the public. Will BLM take down the canvas tarps blocking media and public visibility to document the roundup?
3.) We would like to see a burro expert on site to prevent animal cruelty at taxpayer expense. Will a burro behavior expert be on site every time burros are being rounded up and transported so the cruel hot-shotting incident at Calico will not be repeated?
4.) The American public wants all roundup-related deaths to be counted correctly. If a wild horse—enjoying life out on the range—is removed from the range alive and BLM kills it because it is “old” or for whatever other reason this needs to go on the record as “roundup related”. The horse would have continued to live for some time if the BLM had not rounded it up. Will the BLM attribute the death of wild horses as “roundup-related” for a minimum of 30 days from their capture?
5.) We also want to go on the record asking for BLM to hold all aspects of capture, temporary holding, processing and adoption on public land—giving reasonable access to the media and the public—as an act of good faith to show the global community that the Wild Horse and Burros program has taken the new direction the courts are expecting the BLM has taken. Will you hold all aspects of the roundup, holding, processing and adoption on public land to build trust with the public?
Upon receiving the response from BLM, Protect Mustangs will post it to their website: www.ProtectMustangs.org
Rounding up healthy wild horses illustrates fiscal irresponsibility during America’s economic crisis. The overpopulation myth was created by BLM to justify spending millions of tax dollars.
In 1900, 2 million wild horses roamed the West. Today, Protect Mustangs believes less than 20,000 exist in the ten western states combined.
“After hearing the State of the Union address we are concerned that the Obama Administration will forfeit wildlife for the New Energy Frontier,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We want to see genetically viable wild horses and other wildlife remain on public land for the public to enjoy. There can be a win-win for wild horses and energy. Industrialization must not wipe out wildlife.”
The preservation group urges interested people to contact the Tonopah BLM to adopt a wild horse or burro at the roundup site. Their office telephone is 775-482-7801.
Protect Mustangs is a Berkeley-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.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has the legal right–under the 2004 Burns Amendment passed by Congress–to dispose of America’s legendary wild horses through “unlimited sales”. People buying truckloads of wild horses generally sell them to slaughter. In August 2011 one such truckload was busted on it’s way to slaughter.
BLM claims it does not sell wild horses to slaughter directly at this time. . . In effect, the middle man buys the truckloads of wild horses and sells them to the slaughterhouse.
It’s time for more eyes on roundups and more eyes on wild horses in holding.
The public wants to re-protect America’s wild horses especially with horse slaughter plants scheduled to reopen in the U.S.A.
Thank you Lise Stampfli for creating the popular poster for the Stop the Roundups! launch of nationwide and international protests, conceived of and organized by Anne Novak, in San Francisco, December 2009, outside of Senator Feinstein’s office.
Wild horse supporters may use this poster at peaceful protests.
Young wild horses are getting injured or killed after being rounded up. Stop the Roundup$.
Share the video, write letters to your senators and representatives to ask for what you want and make a donation so we can save some Calico Complex wild horses.
Are American wild horses going to slaughter? What will happen to the “sale authority” mustangs from the Calico roundup December 2011, near Gerlach, Nevada?
