Mr. President, Wild horses are an indigenous species who prevent wildfires

Wild horses prevent wildfires as an essential part of the thriving natural ecological balance. When the BLM removes native wild horses we see a direct increase in catastrophic wildfires.

It would be much cheaper and better for the environment to leave wild horses alone on public land. Predators exist and fill their niche if Wildlife Services would only stop killing them.

The truth is wild horses are underpopulated. Even the National Academy of Sciences said there is “no evidence” of overpopulation. Perhaps that’s why there are more wildfires.

Bands of wild horses reduce hazardous fuels in areas with varied terrain without the use of poisonous herbicides and that’s good for the environment. Dedicated federally protected wild-horse habitats cover only 11% of public land so increasing their habitat would help prevent more wildfires.

It’s time to look at wildfire prevention holistically. Wild horses should be moved back into the Tahoe Basin area to bring back the balance lost to roundups and removals. Right now there are too few left and the wildfire risk is high.

Please stop treating America’s wild horses like invasive species Mr. President. Read about native wild horses here: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562  Thank you.

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PM Lennox meme

 

“The most important changes are the changes made by us.” ~ President Barack Obama, 20th Anniversary of the Lake Tahoe Summit. 

PM No Evidence Overpopulation

Protect Mustangs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.




Appeal to stop the wild horse wipe out

© Cynthia Smalley

 

Dear Friends of wild horses and burros,

Despite the fact that the National Academy of Sciences stated there is “no evidence of overpopulation”, a group with alleged funding related conflict of interest is pushing the sterilizant known as PZP on an uninformed public using the ‘it’s either slaughter or PZP’ scare tactic.

Today’s drug pitch is found in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-roy/wild-horses-at-risk-of-sl_b_4934857.html  It references population control experiments on the less than 48,000 acre Assateague Island in the East and lacks scientific comparison with the vast open range found in the West–where some herd management areas cover 800,000 acres or more.

Why did the coalition of several groups give up the fight for wild horses’ real freedom?

Freedom is the American mustangs’ right according to the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. They should not be manipulated by man on the range nor in congressional back rooms. Native wild horses should never be domesticated through sterilizants with man choosing who breeds. That’s nature’s job in the wild. It fosters survival of the fittest.

The solution to the fertility control debate is to focus on what the wild herds need to thrive in freedom not what a campaign, driven by a sanctuary or the BLM, wants to achieve. We need good science to find solutions.

The BLM wants to eliminate the majority of wild herds to free up public land for toxic drilling so why is this coalition following BLM’s lead to push population control before science?

There is no accurate population count to justify roundups. BLM’s overpopulation claims are a farce.

What’s the solution for a falsified overpopulation problem?  A reality check and good science.

Fearing extinction from excessive roundups since the 2009 public land grab for energy exports, America’s wild horse birthrate in the West is abnormally high. That should be a red flag that there is something seriously wrong with ecology on their native range.

The Chainman Shale deposit of oil and natural gas in northeastern Nevada and into Utah is about to boom. Exploration began around 2009 in tandem with vast roundups removing the majority of wild horses who have the legal right to be on public land. Some went to probable slaughter and others make up the 50,000 captives warehoused in long-term holding facilities at taxpayer expense.

America’s wild horses should live wild and free–not drugged up with “restricted use pesticides” passed by the EPA for pest control and unsafe for domestic horses.

We invite the public and elected officials to demand a 10 year moratorium on roundups for recovery and studies to develop good science for management. Wild horses are an essential part of the thriving natural ecological balance. They will help reverse desertification and reduce global warming by filling their niche on their native range.

Please sign and share the petition for a 10 year moratorium on roundups for recovery and scientific studies: http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-scientific-studies

Contact us if you want to keep America’s herds wild and free. Our email is Contact@ProtectMustangs.org  We need your help in various ways.

Remember the herds are the lifeblood of our native wild horses. Due to underpopulation their genetic viability is in crisis today. American wild horses must be protected from experimentation and from domestication so they can always run wild and free.

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director for Protect Mustangs™
www.ProtectMustangs.org

Links of interest:

Chainman Shale: http://info.drillinginfo.com/chainman-shale-could-it-be-the-next-big-land-grab/

One of the many pesticide fact sheets: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

Are wild horses going to be sterilized due to an advocacy campaign? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6356

Washington Post reports: U.S. looking for ideas to help manage overpopulation http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-looking-for-ideas-to-help-manage-wild-horse-overpopulation/2014/01/26/8cae7c96-84f2-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html

The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America: http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo.aspx?journalid=118&doi=10.11648%2Fj.ajls.20140201.12

Press Release: No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4453

Bogus Science and Profiteering Stampeding Their Way into Wild Horse Country http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4475

Protect Mustangs speaks out against the Cloud Foundation’s PARTNERSHIP with BLM using risky PZP that could terminate natural selection: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4941

Wildlife Ecologist, Craig Downer, speaks out against using PZP in the Pryors: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4178

Report unveils wild horse underpopulation on 800,000 acre Twin Peaks range: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6278

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

 

XL Dissent Inspires More Keystone Protests Across the Nation

 

The 398 students arrested at the White House on Sunday protesting the Keystone XL pipeline are inspiring more protests across the nation, as opponents of the controversial project ramp up their activism in anticipation of a final decision from President Obama later this spring.

On Monday morning, nine more students were arrested for a sit-in at a State Department office in San Francisco, California. The activists called their protest “XL Dissent West,” to echo the larger XL Dissent action that happened in DC over the weekend.

This Wednesday, pipeline opponents in Boston are expecting upwards of 100 students and community members to protest outside of a fundraiser President Obama is hosting in the city.

“The 398 students arrested at the White House were just the beginning,” said Ophir Bruck, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, who was arrested on Monday in San Francisco. “We’re prepared to do whatever it takes to stop this pipeline and we know that tens of thousands more people are right behind us.”

More than 86,000 people have signed the Keystone XL pledge of resistance, organized by CREDO Action, Rainforest Action Network and The Other 98%, committing to take part in civil disobedience if the State Department determines the pipeline in the country’s national interest and recommends President Obama approve the project.

The XL Dissent protest in Washington, DC, which turned out over 1,200 students from more than 100 schools the country, was particularly inspiring for other young people, thousands of whom tuned in to watch a live-stream of the event online and have been sharing photos of their friends who were arrested across Facebook and Twitter.

1,000+ Health Professionals Call on President Obama to Act on Fracking

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

 

Washington, D.C. – Today, Environment America Research & Policy Center and its state affiliates delivered letters from more than 1,000 doctors, nurses, and other health professionals to President Obama and state decision-makers asserting that fracking should be stopped, given the overwhelming threats to public health. The letters come as public awareness of the health and environmental impacts of fracking is on the rise. For example, in a peer-reviewed study published last month, researchers found an increased rate of birth defects in babies born to mothers in Colorado who lived in close proximity to multiple oil and gas wells.

“Fracking is making people sick—period. Families from Pennsylvania to Colorado to North Dakota are already suffering from dangerous air pollution and water contamination caused by dirty drilling,” said Courtney Abrams, clean water program director for Environment America Research & Policy Center. “The time for action is now. And more than 1,000 doctors, nurses, and health professionals nationwide agree. This should serve as a wake up call for our decision-makers.”

Fracking is expanding rapidly across the country, and its effect on public health and the environment is increasingly taking its toll. There is a growing number of documented cases of individuals suffering acute and chronic health effects while living near fracking operations—including nausea, rashes, dizziness, headaches and nose bleeds. Physicians reviewing medical records in Pennsylvania have called these illnesses “the tip of the iceberg” of fracking’s impact on health.

“Fracking harms health in many ways: releasing toxic gases, contaminating huge amounts of water, and contributing heavily to climate change. As a nation, we should develop clean renewable energy instead,” said Catherine Thomasson, MD and Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Generating electricity shouldn’t be a source of illness; power shouldn’t be poisonous.”

Fracking operations have contaminated drinking water sources from Pennsylvania to New Mexico. Leaks and spills of fracking fluid, which often contain known carcinogens (e.g. benzene) and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, have polluted rivers and streams. Fracking wastewater—often laced with heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic) and radioactive materials (e.g. radon, uranium)—has leached from hundreds of waste pits into groundwater.

Air contaminants released from fracking operations include volatile organic compounds (VOCs); some are carcinogenic, and some damage the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Public Health found that people living within a half-mile of gas fracking wells had a higher excess lifetime risk of developing cancer than people living farther away.

Despite these impacts, fracking is exempt from key provisions of the nation’s leading public health and environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the law that regulates hazardous waste.

“As a nurse, I recognize prevention is a key component to health care. That’s why research showing infants born near fracking sites have an increased risk of birth defects is cause for deep concern,” said Katie Huffling, RN, MS, CNM and Director of Programs for the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. “Closing these regulatory loopholes is key to preventing exposure to potentially toxic fracking chemicals and air pollutants.”

While the Obama administration is considering action on fracking’s impacts – they are conducting a study to assess the threats to drinking water and are considering rules to regulate fracking on public lands and control methane emissions from oil and gas operations — there is very little federal oversight of the practice. State regulations are widely varying and largely inadequate to protect public health. For example, a Pennsylvania law has even issued a “gag order” on physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, which prohibits them from telling patients or other providers the chemicals that patients may have been exposed to.

In the letters delivered today, the health professionals state, “the prudent and precautionary response would be to stop fracking.” Some of the letters call on state decision-makers to ban fracking, while a national letter calls on President Obama to take two immediate steps to better protect families and communities:

• Call for closing the loopholes that exempt fracking from the nation’s major environmental and public health laws; and
• Declare sensitive areas—including places that provide drinking water for millions of Americans—”off-limits” to fracking.

“Fracking is a public health emergency. The Obama administration should act with all its authority to better protect communities. And given the onslaught of damage fracking has already caused, we should ban this dirty drilling practice,” concluded Abrams.