BREAKING NEWS: Michael Blake joins lawsuit to stop ongoing wild horse roundups

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Michael Blake with Twelve

For immediate release

Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter file preliminary injunction Friday.

RENO, NV. (August 24, 2013) — Academy Award Winner Michael Blake, author of Dances With Wolves, and member of Protect Mustangs, joins Citizens Against Equine Slaughter and Protect Mustangs versus The United States Forest Service, a department of the United States Department of Agriculture; Jeff Ulrich, Santa Rosa District Ranger; The United States Bureau of Land Management, a department of the United States Department of the Interior, to stop alleged illegal and continuous roundups of federally protected wild horses and burros through the duration of the agreement ending on May 31, 2015. Attorneys, Jordan Beckett, of Ashland, Oregon and Charles A. Jones, of Reno, filed a preliminary injunction friday to safeguard federally protected wild horses in the vast Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Blake states in his declaration he has received great inspiration, for decades, watching wild horses roaming free in Nevada. He believes that if they are rounded up, removed, killed or slaughtered, he would suffer harm by the loss of his inspiration.

Michael Blake writes in his book Twelve, The King:

“But he and hundreds of thousand like him are gone now from this beautiful land, and for that reason alone I could not stop as I traveled over four hundred miles of Nevada roads. Something evil is still afoot in this land, and it has left its imprint everywhere. In all those miles of open, free country, the mark of evil is present in what is absent. The wild horses are missing from the land.”

Blake is a long time admirer of the american wild horse. His book and acclaimed screenplay Dances with Wolves prominently features horses in the American West.

In the early ’90s he commissioned the first independent aerial survey of wild horses. They found the population on the range was much lower than the BLM’s overpopulation claim.

This summer the National Academy of Sciences announced there is no evidence to support the BLM’s rampant chant alleging overpopulation. Protect Mustangs has called for a moratorium on all roundups in order to conduct scientific population studies before using widespread fertility control. The conservation group is concerned wild horses are being managed to extinction by the BLM–the agency put in change of allegedly protecting America’s iconic wild horses.

“We filed in court to end this nightmare,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We believe federally protected wild horses are at risk of going to slaughter as a result of the flawed roundups. We want this to stop now.”

“We are very thankful people have come together to save wild horses from auction but we never want to see this happen again,” says Dr.Lester Castro Friedlander, DVM, president of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter.

Esteemed wildlife biologist and author, Craig Downer, a member of Protect Mustangs, filed a compelling declaration filled with details from decades of studying the area.

“Most of the legal wild equid herds throughout the West have dangerously low populations and the ratios of wild equids to livestock/big game animals are ridiculously low,” explains Downer. “For example, in the Spring Mountain Complex of wild horse and burro herd areas, the Las Vegas BLM District and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest plans to allow only one wild equid per seven thousand-plus legal acres. Here big game and to a lesser extent livestock outnumber and out-consume the wild equids many times over . . . . And here most of the Spring Mountain public waters have been fenced off so that wild horses cannot access them, but game animals, such as trophy bighorn sheep, can.”

Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter are challenging the entirety of the USFS decision authorizing an undisclosed number of roundups and an undisclosed number of horses to be removed from the range over the next two years. They filed their original complaint on Friday, August 16, 2013.

“While the first roundup has already been conducted, without further legal action these unbranded, wild horses will be continuously rounded up and removed from the range, impounded, and auctioned off to the highest bidder until May 2015,” explains Jordan Beckett, attorney for Plaintiffs. “The public’s unbranded wild horses are under the jurisdiction of the USFS and the BLM. They need to be managed in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.”

Protect Mustangs is a California-based non-profit organization devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horses, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter is an Oregon-based non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of America’s wild and domestic horses.

# # #

Media Contacts:

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

Photos, interviews and video (Preview) available upon request

Links of interest™:

Preliminary Injunction filed Friday: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5056

Read the complaint here: PM Complaint CAES Protect mustangs v USFS BLM

Sign the petition to Defund the Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

Last week’s press release with links of interest:

For immediate release

Alleged violations put iconic wild horses at risk of disappearing

Coalition against slaughter and for the protection of mustangs files lawsuit

RENO, NV. (August 16, 2013)–Protect Mustangs, the California-based conservation group, dedicated to protecting native wild horses and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter(CAES), the Oregon nonprofit, have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service asking for an injunction on their intent to impound unauthorized livestock in conjunction with the Fort McDermitt Tribal Council on and in the vicinity of the Humboltd-Toiyabe National Forest. The coalition hopes to prevent wild horses from loosing their protections and going to probable slaughter.

“This may be the first time that protected mustangs are being auctioned off for alleged slaughter en masse and publicly with the tacit approval & cooperation of federal officials,” explains Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs.

Right now hundreds of wild horses are being fattened up at a Fallon, Nevada auction yard for the sale because the Forest Service allegedly rounded up wild free roaming horses in violation of the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act and in violation ofNational Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

“Horse slaughter is cruel and inhumane and we need to stop it,” says Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM and president of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. “This stealth roundup is a heinous act toward our icons of liberty.”

“The U.S. Forest Service needs to comply with the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act as well as NEPA before rounding up hundreds of potentially wild horses–especially when the BLM’s nearby Owyhee gather plan doesn’t authorize this action,” states Jordan Beckett, attorney for Plaintiffs Citizens Against Equine Slaughter and Protect Mustangs.

The Judge has not ruled on the complaint filed by Protect Mustangs and Citizens against Equine Slaughter as of this moment.

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.

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of America’s wild and domestic horses.

# # #

Media Contacts:

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

Patience O’Dowd, 505-610-7644, patience_odowd@yahoo.com

Photos, interviews and video (Preview) available upon request

Links of interest:

Read the complaint here: PM Complaint CAES Protect mustangs v USFS BLM

U.S. Judge refuses to block NV tribe’s mustang sale, The Associated Press,http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/15/3565447/us-judge-in-nv-asked-to-block.html

Protect Mustangs www.ProtectMustangs.org

Citizens Against Equine Slaughterhttp://www.noequineslaughter.org/

Beckett Law Office, P.C. http://www.roguevalleylawyer.com/

Jones Law Firm http://cjoneslawfirm.com/

Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm

NEPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_Act

Roundup footage & abuse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM (Preview)

PLAINTIFFS’ PRAYER FOR RELIEF

Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court:

1. Declare that the USFS and the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and their implementing regulation in implementing the Fort McDermitt Horse Gather;

2. Order the USFS and the BLM to withdraw the Notice and 2013 Horse Gather Agreement until such time as the agency demonstrates to this Court that it has adequately complied with the law, including but not limited to putting the 2013 Agreement through notice and comment procedures, ordering DNA testing to determine the origin of captured wild horses, ordering the BLM and USFS to comply with the law to determine ownership of the wild horses, and ordering the BLM and USFS return to public lands or the HMAs all seized or removed wild, free-roaming, and unbranded horses being held at Fallon Livestock Auction;

3. Enjoin the USFS, the BLM, and their agents from proceeding with the Fort McDermitt Horse Gather, or any portion thereof, unless and until the violations of federal law set forth herein have been corrected to the satisfaction of this court;

Bad science, spin and alleged subterfuge

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Joan Guilfoyle (BLM), Debbie Collins (BLM) and Facilitator

For the record

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) public workshop on August 6, 2013 in Reno was a pitch session for the agency’s point of view that shade is not necessary at the Palomino Valley Center (PVC). The facility is the largest wild horse and burro short-term holding, adoption and processing center in America.

PVC resembles a feedlot–fattening up wild horses before probable slaughter for human consumption. Even so there is no shelter for the close to 2,000 captive wild horses, including pregnant mares and foals, at the huge facility.

The workshop was more of a “spin-shop” and failed the BLM’s interactive promise. Often questions from the public were repeated but not answered.

The BLM’s neglectful point of view was supported by biased consultants with a history of working for the cattle industry–a long time foe of the wild horse.

We received many complaints from members of the public who were in the room, and those on the webinar, stating that their questions and comments were not answered.

Advocates were put off after traveling to Reno to give public comment but were not allowed to share their findings because the BLM was not letting them speak.

There was no brainstorming session of substance–only a BLM pitch against shade that allowed the concerned public to ask questions and some colorful writing on boards.

The advocate community and members of the global public are up in arms that the BLM appears to have found consultants from U.C. Davis who speak with alleged forked tongues to back up the BLM’s negligent care.

Ph.D. from U.C. Davis advises against minimum standards of shade/shelter at BLM facility

The recommendation by Dr. Carolyn Stull, Ph.D. from U.C. Davis, to deny America’s captive wild horses access to shade/shelter is appalling. Everyone knows the minimum basics of Animal Husbandry 101 is food, shelter, water. Obviously there is a conflict of interest. Is this because of her ties to the cattle industry or is it something else?

Stull wrote a paper titled “Managing Equine Neglect Cases” in which it states at the top, in the definitions, quote, ‘NEGLECT: is the failure to provide proper shelter, food, or water. Neglect may also include failure to provide veterinary care to a horse that is ill or injured.”

When I asked her why she was recommending no shade/shelter for captive wild horses in the BLM’s care, especially after Stull herself wrote a well known paper on NEGLECT, she appeared to downplay the importance of shade by stating that her paper was for domestic horses in California.

Everyone saw through her shocking response. Many advocates have the episode on video and will publish the whole dog and pony show soon.

The BLM’s proposition to shade only the “compromised” equids is outrageous. All captive wild horses and burros need access to food, water and shelter.

The crowd in the room, the viewers on line, and the public wants all the captive wild horses to have access to shelter.

The BLM requires all adopters provide shelter in order to adopt wild horses and burros yet they are not providing it themselves.

When asked questions about the number of uncounted dead wild horses, the BLM’s vet appeared evasive and appeared to demonstrate a blatant lack of transparency to the taxpayer. He seemed to show disrespect for his oath as a DVM by appearing to hide information about all the dead horses at the government facility.

The BLM and/or their vet appear to have neglected to perform necropsies to prove exposure to triple digit heat–without shade–contributed to the death of more than 3 wild horses during the heat wave. Without necropies, there is a lack of scientific proof–even though the BLM’s negligence points to subterfuge. Keep in mind, the BLM is routinely skewing the death count by not counting the dead without brands showing their id numbers.

The BLM’s mortality statistics avoid counting the majority of captured dead horses and burros. False mortality statistics are reported to convince Congress things “aren’t so bad”.

We request accurate death counts for transparency. Congress and the greater public need to know the truth.

More than 26,000 people have signed our petition and the number is growing every hour. http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shade-for-captive-wild-horses-and-burros

Every day the BLM refuses to bring emergency shade and shelter, more people learn about the horrible way America’s captive wild horses are being treated by the agency charged to protect them.

Research on shade for wild horses and burros would be a waste of taxpayer funding as food shelter, water and veterinary care are the basics for animal welfare.

More roundups are inexcusable when the BLM neglects their basic care in captivity.

Protect Mustangs formally reinstates our request for captive wild horses and burros to have access to shade and shelter from the elements.

This shameful issue is being well documented by many advocates. The bad science allegedly pushed by consultants is being well documented. The BLM’s lack of transparency and avoidance to work with the public is being well documented and the whole world is watching their heinous acts of neglect towards native wild horses and burros.

If the BLM had cared for the captive wild horses then little Shadow would probably still be alive. See and share the video investigation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdM2NrJcX8o&feature=c4-overview&list=UUX02ydgQl6GSD0XdTBz9vaQ

Please sign, share and email out the petition for emergency shade: http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shade-for-captive-wild-horses-and-burros

Now contact your senators and representative and request they intervene to bring shade/shelter to the captive wild horses and burros.

Best wishes,

Anne Novak

Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

www.ProtectMustangs.org

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.

Links of Interest:

August 9, 2013 This is Reno, Palomino horse facility needs shade http://thisisreno.com/2013/08/opinion-palomino-horse-facility-needs-shade/

July 20, 2013 Kansas City Star by Martin Griffith, The Associated Press BLM seeks ideas to protect wild horses from heat http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/20/4357157/blm-seeks-ideas-on-how-to-protect.html

July 20, 2013 CBS San Francisco BLM seeks ways to protect wild horses from heat after pressure from Bay Area advocate http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/07/20/blm-seeks-to-protect-wild-horses-from-heat-after-pressure-from-bay-area-advocate/

BLM’s wild horse and burro program looks to community for ideas at workshop: http://thisisreno.com/2013/07/blms-wild-horse-and-burro-program-looks-to-community-for-ideas-at-workshop/

Captive wild horses need relief from heat says HSUS http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/07/18/captive-wild-horses-need-relief-heat-says-hsus/#axzz2ZcyetMGy

Captive wild horses need shade, advocates say http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/07/02/captive-wild-horses-need-shade-advocates-say/#axzz2ZcyetMGy

How many foals are dying after roundups?: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4246

BLM’s email revealing they are not counting the unbranded dead amongst the 37 dead mustangs at the Nevada facility http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4220

BLM avoids necropsy to avoid proof of heat distress http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4808

Report from the Spinshop #Shade4Mustangs

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

August 6, 2013

The BLM Workshop in Reno eroded down to a presentation of BLM spin with:

1.) Ph.D.s making statements with NO EVIDENCE and NO RESEARCH on native wild horses. (FYI the Ph.Ds’ research is only on DOMESTIC horses)

2.) A facility DVM avoiding questions regarding the true number of DEAD foals

3.) Fabulous questions repeated but NOT answered by the BLM nor their contractors.

4.) BLM personnel NOT providing answers to questions and evading transparency.

One of the Ph.D.s explained the “basic necessities’ for humane horse care yet she avoided listing “shelter”. That same Ph.D. is known for citing failure to provide shelter as “Neglect”.

Anne Novak, our Executive Director, asked her, “Why are you not including shelter as a necessity in your presentation but are putting it over into a secondary category of optional horse care elements? Why are you saying this when you wrote a paper titled “Managing Equine Neglect Cases” in which it states at the top, in the definitions, quote, ‘NEGLECT: is the failure to provide proper shelter, food, or water. Neglect may also include failure to provide veterinary care to a horse that is ill or injured.”

The Ph.D. avoided the question and made the statement that her study was for California domestic horses not wild horses.

Captive wild horses deserve shade.

Adopters are required to provide not just shade but also shelter in order to adopt a wild horse that the BLM wants to dispose of.

We ask you~

Should the BLM be allowed different care standards than they demand of their adopters?

Why is a Ph.D.s skewing their published studies and standards of care to avoid requiring shelter for wild horses?

Later the workshop facilitator was pushing for the attendees to accept the BLM’s idea to give shelter to only the sick and injured wild horses but advocates would not be duped into supporting such an offer. Advocates stayed on focus and requested shelter for all captive wild horses and burros.

During the meeting, Anne Novak was in communication with Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM and President of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. She presented his statement that “All captive wild horses must have access to shade at the Palomino Valley facility.”

We are grateful the advocates in the room and many viewing the web transmission saw through the Delphi Technique used at the meeting and left more empowered and unified to get shade and shelter for the wild horses at Palomino Valley Center and elsewhere.

We want to thank our supporters who donated toward the gas to get the Protect Mustangs delegation to the meeting.

Please email your friends and relatives to meet the challenge for 50,000 signatures. Here is the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shade-for-captive-wild-horses-and-burros Thank you!

Links of interest:

U.C. Davis expert cites failure to provide shelter as neglect http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4867

Managing Equine Neglect Cases by Crolyn L. Stull, PhD, UC Davis

http://www.scribd.com/doc/99002797/Managing-Equine-Neglect-Cases-by-Dr-Carolyn-L-Stull-PhD-UC-Davis

Delphi Technique: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4422 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_method

Urgent Signature Challenge: Petition for Emergency Shade for captive wild #horses & burros

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Take Action to increase petition signatures.

Sample email:

Dear friends and family,

Captive American wild horses and burros have suffered roundups and are now kept in pens without shade–in the sweltering desert heat. In the wild, our national treasures can migrate to cooler zones as well as find trees or mountainsides for shade. In the pens they are trapped and must be provided for humanely. We need to bring shade to them immediately.

Many groups and advocates have joined the call for shade yet the feds are stalling. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) highly publicized sprinkler mitigation is inadequate.

Horses have died in the triple digit heat wave since the handful of sprinklers were installed.

Using water from a few sprinklers during a drought doesn’t make sense especially when shade can be provided if the BLM will make the commitment to humane care.

Protect Mustangs has called for Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, to utilize the Army Corps of Engineers to bring emergency shade to America’s captive wild horses and burros.

When there are at least 50K signatures on the petition then we will go to Washington to deliver the petition to Secretary Sally Jewell’s office.

Hurry! Email all your friends the link to the petition for shade.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=545541502171540&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Ask them to sign it and forward a copy of this email on to their friends.

Thank you for taking action right now to bring emergency shade to the captive wild horses and burros.

Together our voices for the voiceless can be heard.

In gratitude,

[Your name]

Get ready! #Rally4Mustangs on Flag Day June 14th, International

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Mustang flag with stars by Robin Warren, Youth Campaign Director © Protect Mustangs

Inaugural Flag Day Rally

The SF Rally is outside Senator Feinstein’s Office Building in SF from 11-12, June 14th (Flag Day is not an official federal holiday) 1 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94104. Meet at 10:30 with your signs. Come early to park or take BART. The station is Montgomery. Handmade signs are the best. Bring the kids!

The Carson City rally, from 4pm to 7 pm on Friday June 14th, is in front of the Legislative building, across the street from Comma Coffee house on 395/ Carson Street ~ Address: 401 S. Carson St, Carson City, NV 89701.

Many cities are participating. See rally info, organize, start a rally and post it on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/433778203386782/433944553370147/?notif_t=event_mall_comment

The press release calling for a moratorium on roundups and national rallies to Save the Mustangs is here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4479

Sign and share the Petition to Defund the Wild Horse and Burro Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

Tweet: Get ready! #Rally4Mustangs on Flag Day July 14th International http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4539 #WildHorses #Animals #Fracking

Barbie Hardrock joins Protect Mustangs' Oakland protest through the web (Photo © Rocquette)

Adopt these two and save them! (Photo © Taylor James)

Robin Warren, Youth Campaign Director for Protect Mustangs with her mother Denise Delucia at the Sacramento Rally to Stop the Roundups. (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved.)

OBAMA ~ Mustang poster © Lise Stampfli 2009

Protect native wild horses! © Protect Mustangs.org

Stop the Roundups rally organized by Protect Mustangs & Native Wild Horse Protection. (Photo © Respect 4 Horses.)

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

Petition to Defund and Stop the Wild Horse Roundups

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Protect Mustangs

Sign and share the petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

Wild horses are a native species to America. Rounding up federally protected wild horses and burros has been documented as cruel. Warehousing them for decades is fiscally irresponsible. Clearing mustangs and burros off public land–for industrialization, fracking, grazing and the water grab–goes against the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act put in place to protect the living legends of the American West.

We request you defund and stop the roundups immediately.

There is no accurate census and the Bureau of Land Management figures do not add up. We request an independent census because we are concerned there are less than 18,000 wild horses and burros in the 10 western states combined. More roundups will wipe them out.

Wild horses are not overpopulating despite spin from the forces that want to perform heinous sterilizations in the field. Humane fertility control can be looked at as an option after a census has been taken that proves overpopulation but now that’s premature.

Field observers have noticed a worrisome decline in wild horse and burro population since the BLM’s rampant roundups from 2009 to this day.

The Associated Press reports another 3,500 wild horses will be rounded uphttp://www.idahopress.com/news/state/feds-plan-roundup-for-wild-horses-burros/article_5f02fad7-d0c5-52d4-ae5f-5e1e8c9b0c20.html

Kindly allow native wild horses and the burros to reverse desertification, reduce the fuel for wildfires and create biodiversity on public land–while living with their families in freedom.

Gov’t hotshotting wild horses exposed!

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

Stop the cruel roundups where they hotshot wild horses and burros just because they can. Sign and share the petition!

http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

Meet with your elected officials and ask that they stand up and say NO MORE ABUSE!

Request Mike Pool, BLM Acting Director, shut the Owyhee roundup down. Email: mpool@blm.gov Phone: 202-208-3801

Thank you Stephanie Martin for witnessing the roundup. We are very grateful you were there to document this horror.

Stephanie Martin is making a short film called Wild Horses and was at the Owyhee roundup.

Petition to De-Fund the roundups

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Protect Mustangs

Please sign and share the Change.org petition to De-Fund the roundups.

We request you de-fund the roundups immediatley.

Kindly allow native wild horses and the burros to reverse desertification, reduce the fuel for wildfires and create biodiversity on public land–while living with their families in freedom.

Petition Letter

De-fund the Roundups

Wild horses are a native species to America. Rounding up federally protected wild horses has been documented as cruel and fiscally irresponsible. Clearing mustangs off public land–for industrialization and fracking–goes against the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act put in place to protect the living legends of the American West.

[Your name]

Take Action: Stop the Calico Roundup Petition

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Protect Mustangs

It’s the eve of the Calico roundup. Let’s get this petition out to our friends and networks to Stop the Roundup!

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-calico-roundup

Protect Mustangs™

Forever wild and free™

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