Two different Fort McDermitt lawsuits for two different issues

Summary

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, Laura Leigh et al sued over the Fort McDermitt roundup. Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter sued over the agreement that called for years of similar roundups. Though the USFS didn’t participate in the Fort McDermitt roundup, the USFS-McDermitt agreement was left on the table. Protect Mustangs and Citizens Against Equine Slaughter got the illegal agreement scrubbed out on Sept. 3, 2013, after the roundup cases had been lost/dismissed in mid-August.

Links of interest™:

September 30,2013 Horsetalk, New Zealand Roundup agreement canned following legal challenge http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/09/30/roundup-agreement-canned-following-legal-challenge/#axzz2gPxqlhX1

September 28, 2013 CBS San Francisco Wild Horse Advocates’ Legal Victory Halts Roundups in NorCal Forest http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/09/28/wild-horse-advocates-legal-victory-halts-roundups-in-norcal-forest/#.UkhzyrcAdyU.twitter

Press Release: Legal win creates public transparency and halts 2-year roundup contract (September 26, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5185

PM Protect Mustangs & Citizens Against Equine Slaughter Win Transparency for Public for Forest Service Roundups with Tribes (September 17, 2013)

Termination of roundup agreement (September 3, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/PM-Protect-Mustangs-CAES-McDermitt-Participating-Agreement-Termination-September-3-2013.pdf

August 24, 2013 Horseback Magazine Dances with Wolves author Michael Blake joins lawsuit to stop ongoing wild horse roundups: http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/24124

Breaking News: Michael Blake joins lawsuit to stop ongoing wild horse roundups (August 24, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5060

Citizens Against Equine Slaughter and Protect Mustangs file preliminary injunction (August 24, 2013): PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT

Horses saved and horses lost at Native American horse auction (August 17, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5023

Information about Fallon Livestock Auction (August 17, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4999

Temporary Restraining Order Granted (August 16, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4990

Viral article: August 16, 2013 The Associated Press US judge refuses to block NV tribe’s mustang sale http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/08/15/2708155/us-judge-in-nv-asked-to-block.html

Press Release: Lawsuit filed to save wild horses from alleged slaughter (August 16, 2013):  http://protectmustangs.org/?p=5001

Official request to terminate roundup agreement, request DNA testing, separate unbranded wild horses, etc. (August 15, 2013): http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4969

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Montreal Gazette: Independent panel: Wild horse roundups don’t work; use fertility drugs, let nature cull herds

Wild horse mares in holding (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Wild horse mares in holding (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

as seen in the Montreal Gazette, June 5, 2013

BY SCOTT SONNER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO, Nev. – A scathing independent scientific review of wild horse roundups in the U.S. West concludes the government would be better off investing in widespread fertility control of the mustangs and let nature cull any excess herds instead of spending millions to house them in overflowing holding pens.

A 14-member panel assembled by the National Science Academy’s National Research Council, at the request of the Bureau of Land Management, concluded BLM’s removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.

By stepping in prematurely when food and water supplies remain adequate, and with most natural predators long gone, the land management agency is producing artificial conditions that ultimately serve to perpetuate population growth, the committee said Wednesday in a 451-page report recommending more emphasis on the use of contraceptives and other methods of fertility control.

The research panel sympathized with BLM’s struggle to find middle ground between horse advocates and ranchers who see the animals as unwelcome competitors for forage. It noted there’s “little if any public support” for allowing harm to come to either the horses or the rangeland itself.

The report says the current method may work in the short term, but results in continually high population growth, exacerbating the long-term problem.

The American Wild Horse Preservation Fund, a national coalition of more than 50 advocacy groups, said the report makes a strong case for an immediate halt to the roundups that livestock ranchers say are necessary to protect the range and provide their sheep and cattle with a fair share of forage.

“This is a turning point for the decades-long fight to protect America’s mustangs,” said Neda DeMayo, president of the coalition’s Return to Freedom.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is among the livestock groups that have voiced support in the past for aggressive, increased use of fertility control but remain adamantly opposed to curtailing roundups. Horse advocates themselves are not united behind the idea of stepping up use of contraception on the range.

“We are grateful that the National Academy of Science recommends stopping cruel roundups, but we challenge their decision to control alleged overpopulation like a domestic herd with humans deciding who survives and breeds,” said Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs in San Francisco.

The conflict has raged for decades but has intensified in recent years for cash-strapped federal land managers with skyrocketing bills for food and corrals and no room for incoming animals.

BLM officials said they welcomed the recommendations in their effort to make the program more cost-effective but had no immediate reaction to the criticisms.

“Our agency is committed to protecting and managing these iconic animals for current and future generations,” Deputy Director Neil Kornze said.

Compounding the problem is a horse census system and rangeland assessment practice rife with inconsistencies and poor documentation, the committee said, noting a previous NRC committee charged with the same task reached the same conclusion 30 years ago.

Panel members said they found little scientific basis for establishing what BLM considers to be appropriate, ecologically based caps on horse numbers and even less basis for estimating the overall population itself.

“It seems that the national statistics are the product of hundreds of subjective, probably independent, judgments and assumptions by range managers and administrators,” the report said.

BLM’s current population estimate likely is anywhere from 10 per cent to 50 per cent short of the true level, the report said.

The questions about the estimates come after a BLM report said the number of animals at holding facilities surpassed the estimated number on the range in 10 Western states earlier this year for the first time since President Richard Nixon signed the Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

The agency averaged removing 8,000 horses from the range annually from 2002 to 2011. Last year, it spent 60 per cent of its wild horse budget on holding facilities alone, more than $40 million, the committee said.

Palmer said the public traditionally adopted about 3,000 of the horses annually but that has fallen off in recent years.

“The goal would be to manage horses better on the range so that any numbers that would be taken off would be matched with the adoption demand, which is not the current case. The number taken off far exceeds the adoption demand.”

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/Independent+panel+Wild+horse+roundups+dont+work+fertility/8484302/story.html#ixzz2VO34SMgc

Breaking News: Protesters want to end native wild horse abuse and use mustangs to fight wildfires

PM Wildland Fire Risk 2013

Wildfire risk potential version 2013, data origin & source: USDA Forest Service

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For immediate release:

More than 40 international protests today to stop the roundups and stop horse slaughter

OAKLAND, Ca. (April 27, 2013)–Protect Mustangs™, the Bay Area-based native wild horse conservation group, is holding protests today in Oakland and Rock Springs, Wyoming to save indigenous wild horses from roundups, abuse, slaughter and pass the SAFE Act. The Oakland rally is held outside the Rockridge BART station from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The Rock Springs rally is held at 70 Gateway Blvd at 2 p.m. The group wants all the wild horses in government funded holding to be returned to the range to help reduce wildfires. More than 40 international protests, spearheaded by Nevada’s Patty Bumgarner on Facebook, are being held to save the horses. Protect Mustangs™ requests Congress stop the cruelty, the slaughter and save taxpayer dollars–especially during the Sequester.

“We are united across the country to say no to slaughter, roundups and cruel overectomies in the field,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs™. “We want our wild horses to be protected. Did you know America’s wild horses are indigenous? Are you aware that CalTrans found ancient horse fossils while digging the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel?”

The horse, E. caballus, originated in America over a million years ago and returned with the Conquistadors if it ever went extinct in the first place. With history written by the Inquisition, one must read between the lines. It was heresy for Old World animals, such as the horse, to have originated in the heathen Americas.

Novak points out,”Recent DNA testing proves our iconic wild horses are the same species as E. caballus–the original horse.”

Esteemed scientists Kirkpatrick, J.F., and P.M. Fazio explained the following in Wild Horses as Native North American Wildlife (Revised January 2010). The Science and Conservation Center, ZooMontana, Billings:

‘The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. 6 caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about ‘breeds,’ but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about ‘species.’

The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.’

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received $78 million last year to run the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Two-thirds of the expenses went towards caring for the equids in captivity. Despite the federal budget crisis, the program received a $2 million increase in funding for their 2014 fiscal budget–including $6 million for the helicopter contractor.

California’s Senator Feinstein chairs Energy and Water subcommittee as well as rules on Interior issues within the Committee on Appropriations. The Committee gives taxpayer dollars to fiscally irresponsible and cruel wild horse and burro roundups despite public outcry.

Roundups and removals are linked to mining and toxic fracking in the West. It appears native horses are being removed to fast track the extractive industry’s use of public land for private profit yet the public and the environment are hit with the costs.

Native wild horses will soon be zeroed out from Wyoming’s “checkerboard” public-private land–allegedly in preparation for the largest natural gas field in the country. The conservation group has requested a $50 million fund be created to mitigate environmental distress from fracking on the range.

“Tourists love to come to Wyoming to see our wild horses,” states Melissa Maser, outreach coordinator for Protect Mustangs™ in Wyoming and Texas. “We’d like to see native wild horses protected for future generations.”

Advocates are documenting wild horses being removed throughout the West as healthy and with fewer foals. The starving and overpopulation myths from BLM spin doctors are fabricated to sway Congress to fund roundups and removals.

“We’d like to find a win-win for wild horses in the West,” explains Novak. “Native horses will help reduce wildfires that cost insurance companies billions of dollars annually and contribute to global warming. We have requested the BLM put a freeze on roundups and return the 50,000 wild horses stockpiled in holding to public land. This will take the burden off the taxpayer and help to reduce wildfires.”

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.

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@Protect Mustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, February 10, 2013: Wild-horse advocates split over interior nominee http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020332496_apnvwildhorses1stldwritethru.html

US property exposed to wildfire valued at $136 billion says report: http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2012/09/17/u-s-property-exposed-to-wildfire-valued-at-136-billion-says-report/

KQED Horse fossil found in Caldecott Tunnel: http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/05/26/new-fossils-from-the-caldecott-tunnel/

Gone viral~ The Associated Press, March 24, 2013: Budget axe nicks BLM wild-horse adoption center http://www.denverpost.com/colorado/ci_22862206

Horseback Magazine: Sequester prompts call for wild horses and burros to be returned to the wild http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/21568

Horseback Magazine, March 8, 2013: Protect Mustangs calls for fund for Wyoming wild horses http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/20979

Horseback Magazine: Group takes umbridge at use of the word “feral” http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/19392

Ruby pipeline and wild horse roundups? http://www.8newsnow.com/story/12769788/i-team-bp-connected-to-wild-horse-roundups

BLM’s 2014 Budget: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/april/04_10_2013.html

Why are the wild horses being removed? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWWgOugF2U

Wyoming Tourism’s video of wild horses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRZkBXkbyY

Protect Mustangs™: www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs™ on Facebook

Protect Mustangs™ on Twitter

Protect Mustangs™ on YouTube

Protect Mustangs™ in the News

Information on native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562 

BREAKING NEWS: Oakland to protest Reno’s wild horses facing slaughter

Reno: Damonte wild horses trapped w/ cruelty

Nevada trapper drags 4 month old foal by string around neck to send to auction (Photo © Bo Rodriguez)

For immediate release:

BREAKING NEWS: Bay Area Residents Protest Killing Wild Horses near Reno

Barbie Hardrock stands up for American mustangs from Europe

OAKLAND, Ca. (January 4, 2013)–Protect Mustangs, the Bay Area-based wild horse preservation group is organizing a peaceful protest during rush hour tonight outside the Rockridge BART Station (College Ave. in Oakland) from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Members of the public of all ages are gathering to show they want the cruelty & slaughter of indigenous wild horses to stop now. The preservation group recently learned of Nevada’s interest in opening a horse slaughterhouse to kill wild horses on tribal land near Reno. Many protests are being held in conjunction with the Carson City Protest, organized by the Wild Horse Preservation League, where the protestors are marching at midday to deliver Governor Sandoval letters from around the world asking him to stop the cruelty and let the advocates help the horses find homes or sanctuary.

“We stand together to demand a STOP to the crimes against America’s indigenous wild horses,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We enjoy photographing the very horses they want to slaughter when we go to Reno/Tahoe. These horses are on the edge of Reno. Did you know horses evolved in America and wild horses are a reintroduced native species?”

“We have been working with The Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund and other groups to bring awareness to the crisis,” continues Novak. “The public around the world is outraged. Some people even refuse to travel to Nevada because of this. Citizens have requested Governor Sandoval stop trapping native wild horses and selling them off at auctions–where kill-buyers go to pick up horses. He has done nothing–only turned a deaf ear.”

Other protests are being held such as the primary one in Carson City, one in Mill Valley tonight at The Depot Plaza sponsored by Wild horse Protection Act as well as protests held in Phoenix, on the East Coast, Europe and elsewhere.

“We are sharing out posts of people protesting today from around the world. Our first photo came in from Barbie Hardrock’s band, Roquette, in Europe,” says Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Join the movement to protect wild horses on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs.”

“American mustangs are so beautiful to watch living in freedom but now they are hard to find because there aren’t many left,” explains Hardrock who enjoys visiting the American West to take photos of wild horses.

“Native wild horses create biodiversity and reverse desertification when managed using reserve design,” states Novak. “Roundups and removals are cruel–slaughtering them is a heinous idea. We want to make sure they are protected.”

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Media Contacts:

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

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

Contact us for photos, video and interviews

Links of Interest:

BREAKING: Shocking meeting minutes reveal Nevada wants to slaughter wild horses! Read them here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3405

News reporting: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/b4490271c8d34f06a683a62a375d2f2e/NV–Wild-Horse-Slaughter

Protect Mustangs in the news: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

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

Requests to Governor Sandoval: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3189

Barbie Hardrock protest photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151389882539756&set=o.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Rocquette’s website: http://rocquette.com/

The law and the BLM roundups: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3248

Mill Valley protest sponsored by Wild Horse Protection Act. Jan 4th 5:00-7:00 pm at the Depot Plaza. Info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/296738457113266/?suggestsessionid=5884581321357255870

Here are ways you can take action: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=454780331247658&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater&notif_t=photo_commentMore information here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3343

Sponsored by Protect Mustangs www.ProtectMustangs.org where you can find a lot of information on the wild horse crisis.

Protect Mustangs is the California-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.

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

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

 

Seasons Greetings from BLM

© Michelle Guillot, all rights reserved. Released through Protect Mustangs.

Public outrage gets creative

SAN FRANCISCO (December 20, 2012)–Citizens around the word are outraged at the BLM’s cruelty towards America’s native wild horses. The alleged federally protected mustangs are being rounded up and removed by the thousands only to be stockpiled in the Midwest at taxpayer expense. Some end up in the slaughter pipeline. During the current Owyhee roundup wild horse advocates documented mustangs being chased by a helicopter through barbed wire fencing. Protect Mustangs wants the roundups to stop and for the government to use the wild herds in Holistic Rangeland Management instead to reverse desertification on public land.

Artist Michelle Guillot says she was inspired by the horrific scenes of wild horses being driven through barbed wire at the Owyhee Roundup in Nevada.

“I was so appalled that I had to do something!” states Guillot. “How can the government hire helicopter contractors to push mustangs into barbed wire?”

She made the Seasons Greeting poster to let the world know what’s going on. Protect Mustangs is grateful to be able to release Guillot’s powerful message.

Public outrage is mounting and as a result, Protect Mustangs is organizing a Rally in San Francisco for January 2013. Date, time and place to be announced.

“The cruel roundups must stop,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “Congress needs to listen to the public. They must stop enabling the wild horse wipe out–even if lobbyists are throwing cash around Washington.”

Protect Mustangs encourages Americans to meet with their senators and representatives to ask them to stop the roundups and use wild equids with livestock for Holistic Rangeland Management. This is a powerful solution for climate change–one that will reverse desertification.

The Petition to Defund and Stop the Roundups is circulating. Animal lovers around the world are encouraged to share it with their friends and request the United States Congress stop the cruelty and stop the roundups.

Michelle Guillot retains the copyright to the poster but encourages animal lovers to share the poster to spread awareness. She does not want the poster used for fundraising or commercial use.

The poster may be downloaded from www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a California-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.  

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Media Contacts:

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

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

 

 

Comment period extended but Nevada public hearing a sham

Yesterday we took your comments to the hearing, requesting BLM reschedule the Carson City helicopter hearing with adequate public notice and comments against helicopter roundups, etc. Photographer and honorary board member, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered them and spoke on behalf of Protect Mustangs as well as the American public.

Kindsfather brought up the fact that people across the country wanted to participate in the public process but there was not enough notice given.

At the meeting, BLM announced they would extend the comment period. Comments can be received no later than June 12, 2012. Only comments sent to the address, email or fax number identified below will be accepted and “considered”.

Comments may be sent by mail or fax:

BLM Carson City District Office

5665 Morgan Mill Road

Carson City, NV 89701

Attn: WHB Motorized Hearing.

FAX: 775-885-6147.

 

Comments may also be sent by email:

ccfoweb@blm.gov, Attn: WHB Motorized.

 

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.

 

Please copy us on all the comments you send the BLM so we can keep a record of the comments received to watchdog this faulty process.

We will send the Carson City District Office all the comments on your behalf that you have sent us after 7 a.m. May 29, 2012 to ensure your comments are received.

We continue to ask for the Carson City hearing to be rescheduled to allow oral comments and for the public to be given 30 days notice for any other BLM public hearings.

Denying the public their right to be present and comment at a public hearing shows the BLM has no intention of engaging the American public nor do they want to be transparent.

The NBC affiliate, KRNV Reno News 4, attended the public hearing and reported on wild horse advocates say BLM jeopardized public process.

Thank you for sending in your comments. Now tell your friends about what is going on and invite them to send in comments against the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles as well.

Stop the Roundups!

 

Links of interest:

KRNV Reports on wild horse advocates say BLM jeopardized public process. http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

Protect Mustangs news release: Government transparency and public process jeopardized: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Protect Mustangs letter requesting BLM give the public 30 days notice for helicopter use hearing: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1409

BLM press release announcing they will extend comments: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

BLM press release on hearing: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/blm_to_hold_public.html

 

 

Mr President

OBAMA poster © Lise Stampfli 2009

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.