Senate Appropriations maintains protections for wild horses

Despite crazy ideas pushed around to kill or slaughter America’s last wild horses, the United States Senate Appropriations Committee has upheld the law and we are grateful. We would like to thank Senator Udall for spearheading the moral path to honor the law.

We also want to thank you for taking action with phone calls, meetings and emails!

Please call the following Senators. Thank them for protecting America’s last wild horses and politely ask them for an independent head count.

Sen. Mitch McConnell: (202) 224-2541
Sen. Chuck Schumer: (202) 224-6542
Sen. Thad Cochran: (202) 224-5054
Sen. Patrcky Leahy: (202) 224-4242
Sen. John Hoeven: (202) 224-2551
Sen. Jeff Merkley: (202) 224-3753
Sen. Lisa Murkowski: (202)-224-6665
Sen. Tom Udall: (202) 224-6621

Join more than 46,000 people who have signed the Petition for a Head Count of Wild Horses and Burros: https://www.change.org/p/u-s-senate-investigate-the-wild-horse-burro-count-in-captivity-and-freedom It’s essential we find out how many are left.

The fight continues

Sadly the Bureau of Land Management and groups who lobby for population control experimentation, as well as permanent and semi-permanent sterilization will continue to fear monger the trusting public up through the end of the year. . . It’s now that the public can notice who is in the fight to protect the wild horses and who is playing the game for the research grants, long-term holding contracts and slick end of the year campaigns for fertility control–on a species threatened with extinction.

For the Wild Ones,

Anne Novak
Volunteer Executive Director
Protect Mustangs

Anne Novak interviewed at a protest outside Senator Feinstein’s office July 3, 2017

Protect Mustangs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org



2 special needs wild horses escape death at roundup

Day 2 of Devil's Garden Roundup courtesy Devils Garden Wild Horses FB Page

Day 2 of Devil’s Garden Roundup courtesy Devils Garden Wild Horses FB Page

Protect Mustangs will help find homes for 2 wild horses who would have been killed at Modoc Forest roundup

ALTURAS, Ca.(September 27, 2016)–Last week Anne Novak, founder and director of Protect Mustangs reached out to U.S. Forest Service staff with an offer to help find homes for any wild horses rounded up with pre-existing conditions–who would be killed–not offered a chance at adoption. Tonight Novak received the first call from Forest Service staff.

“It’s always bothered me that after wild horses heal from injuries and survive in the wild, they are chased by helicopters, rounded up and killed upon capture because they don’t seem like they would get adopted,” says Novak. “Some people don’t want a riding horse. Some people want to save a life.”

So far, two wild horses from the roundup have pre-existing conditions. One is believed to be pigeon toed due to a broken foot that healed in the wild. The other mustang’s condition is unknown at this time.

“They need to go to loving homes to become pets–not riding partners–or go to sanctuaries,” explains Novak. “They have survived in the wild and that’s a harsh life. They deserve our compassion after the roundup and they deserve to live.”

After the mustang protectors make an assessment of the wild horses with pre-existing conditions, a sanctuary might be a more suitable forever home. It’s too early to tell.

These two California wild horses from Modoc County will join their herd-mates at the Bureau of Land Management’s Litchfield holding Corrals near Susanville. There they will be prepared for adoption with the others.

Adoption applications are here: Protect-Mustangs-BLM-facility-adoption-app

    • Cost to adopt is $125.
    • Adoptions by appointment only, call (530) 254-6575.
    • Open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Summer hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The facilities are closed on federal holidays. Please call for current information.
    • Information is available 24 hours a day by calling 1-800-545-4256.
    • Completed adoption applications can be sent to Videll Retterath by e-mail vrettera@blm.gov or fax (530)252-6762.
    • The Corrals are located 21 miles east of Susanville , CA on US Highway 395.
    • Adopters receive title to wild horses after one year

Protect Mustangs will post photos as soon as we get them. Tax-deductible Gas donations are always needed to help us help the wild ones.

pm-ufs-devils-garden

Photo by the US Forest Service

Members of the public with questions about the BLM’s requirements for adoption, questions about the wild horses with pre-existing conditions, who want to help network homes for wild horses who would be killed for pre-existing conditions, need trainer referrals, or want some tips on how to build an inexpensive shelter are invited to email the mustang protectors at Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

“I pray we can change the trend of killing special needs wild horses at roundups,” says Novak. ‘Someone’s going to fall in love with them. After all they’re still American mustangs.”

Protect Mustangs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org




Will There Be a Healthy Future for America’s Wild Horses and Burros IN THE WILD?

PM Helicopter Mustang Roundup

(Roundup to administer Pesticide PZP for experiments)

PZP or Reserve Design? You Decide

By Craig C. Downer, Wildlife Ecologist, Wild Horse and Burro Fund

September 24th, 2016

On September 7th, 2016, I participated in the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board rangeland tour of the Antelope Valley Wild Horse Herd Management Area (HMA); and on September 8th, I again participated in this board’s official meeting at the historical Stockman’s Hotel in Elko, Nevada. Though both tour and meeting provided for some public input, these were “one slick operation” by BLM officials and certain members of the board. This event aimed to convince all board members as well as the public of a “wild horse overpopulation crisis” with a pre-meditated selection of sites to visit and points to make. And I can well understand why a person with little knowledge and background on wild horse and public lands issues or with a pre-existing selfish agenda could be easily stampeded into accepting the over-population myth.

Indeed, on Friday, September 9th, the board voted 8 to 1 to recommend disposal of ca. 44,000 wild horses and burros currently in holding throughout the United States. If accepted by the BLM, such a recommendation would result in the cruel killing of most of these national heritage animals.

Being all too aware of how wild horses and burros have been set up to fail, all too aware of how they have been used as scapegoats for ecological problems that overpopulated humans have basically caused, I was relieved that BLM officials did not – at least for now – accept their appointed board’s advice. I was also pleased to learn that BLM recently cancelled certain surgical sterilization experiments on over 200 captured wild mares in Oregon and others in Wyoming for which over $11 million dollars had been allocated.
The board’s recommendation would have been tantamount to murdering nearly all of the 44 thousand horses and burros in holding. This proposed bloodbath created an enormous national and international outcry, becoming a global bone of contention. And I find it heartening to see evidence that so many people care about the wild ones and their right to live freely and naturally.

Horses and their burro cousins are highly-evolved beings, fellow sojourners on planet Earth, companions who have lived and labored alongside us humans for many generations –even several millennia! What horses and humans have experienced together concerning Life’s unfolding story is truly awesome! Could this be why the cavalier disposal of the lives of so many horse souls rankles so deeply and with so many?

Today a great moral challenge stridently calls for us humans to more fairly and justly treat our fellow inhabitants of planet Earth. We must give these fellow conscious beings the life they deserve for a change! In the case at hand, horses present highly evolved beings present here on Earth for millions of years of free and natural living, often in wide-open spaces. In diverse ecosystems, they have developed intricate relationships with an astounding diversity of plants and animals and in a way that is truly splendid. As an ecologist, I realize that they are mutually complemental to the other species of fauna and flora. And that they are extraordinarily beautiful should give us some clue as to why they are pleasing to Heaven.

Such realizations occurred to those who established the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFHBA). This was one of the first times Americans decided to do something major that was genuinely good for a fellow species. And it defied centuries, even millennia, of human self-absorption, thoughtlessness, cruelty and greed. For rather than merely continuing to take from, we humans actually chose to give back to horse kind something of true worth and excellence: their natural freedom to live on their rightful natural land, or home. In other words, to be themselves!

Along with the Wilderness and similar acts, the WFHBA was a “great forward leap for mankind.” Yet, an “all-points bulletin” today concerns our government’s emerging plans for America’s last remaining wild horses and burros. As a wildlife ecologist and even more as a human being who appreciates horses in the wild, I perceive their enemies not only among those traditionally opposed to them, but in our very government and even among people who claim to be wild horse advocates yet who are quick to overly compromise the future of these wild horses and burros as naturally living Earthlings! Why are the latter buckling under to the wild horses’ and burros’ traditional detractors and enemies? It seems that they are being duped into conceding to plans that will only ensure the decline of the wild herds? Many of us believe that this pusillanimous position must not pass! (No pasara! as we speakers of Spanish say.)

Core to what’s wrong are the so-called “Appropriate Management Levels” (AMLs) that have been assigned to the legal wild horse and wild burro herds on their legal lands throughout the West, both on BLM and US Forest Service lands. And along with these, the failure to fairly allocate natural resources for truly viable populations. These AMLs are simply much too low! They are genetically non-viable and would result in under-populated herds.

Any group of creatures that senses itself to be underpopulated usually “struggles to survive,” as Charles Darwin so aptly stated. Herd numbers as well as the locations and sizes of Herd Management Areas (HMAs) have been too arbitrarily set to fit the demands of cattle and sheep ranchers, big mining corporations, expansion-hooked land developers, ORV rippers up of the land, and the kill-focused hunting establishment. As is so typical, the root of the problem lies with that thoughtlessness and greed that infects too many humans today. The consequence has been many millions of acres of zeroed-out, though still legal, herd areas, and herd sizes and the sizes and habitat composition of HMAs (BLM) and Territories (US Forest Service) that are simply not adequate to the long-term survival needs of those wild horses and burros who still remain. To my very bones I feel that we humans must rise to the great moral challenge concerning the horses and burros and their right to live free. And this also has to do with our own success as a species, for it concerns obeying the laws of Higher Justice that govern the universe.

Truly realizing and living the noble intent of the WFHBA will make America great again, allow it to stand uprightly on solid moral ground. We shall learn to share the land and freedom with the wild ones, and this lesson shall be our salvation. We shall no longer restrict and exploit such “paragons of Nature” as the horses and their rightful lands in such a way that denies them their true place in the world we share with them as home. Today we have arrived at a crucial crossroad, a critical turning point:

Faulty PZP-type Choice for America’s Wild Horses and Burros

Shall we only continue to restrict and distort the true natures of the horses and burros and to ever greater degrees, as well as their proper habitats here on Earth? Shall we only continue to deny them genuine freedom here on Earth by condoning marginally productive, water-deprived, and un-whole habitats that have been carelessly and deviously assigned for them? Shall we be cornered into accepting the application of harmful, FDA-classified pesticides such as Porcine Zona Pelucida, or PZP, GonaCon, SpayVac, etc.?

These drugs, vaccines, inhibitors of healthy horses – call them what you like – only distort and suppress the true health and well-being of vigorous wild horses and burros! And then do we expect the wild horses and burros so violated to fit into unfairly small and inadequate habitats that do not provide their long-term survival needs? No! Such marginal habitats, substandard population numbers, and biologically compromised individuals are simply unacceptable! They would not be genetically viable and would only set the horses and burros up for inbreeding suppression while at the same time preventing their filling their ecological niches in a harmoniously adapted way. And these animals already face enough survival challenges without having to deal with the violation of their most intimate parts!

Is PZP really a solution that works for the horses/burros?

I have participated in many wild horse and burro meetings and heard talks given by experts describing PZP and its actions on wild horses, including by PZP’s inventor Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick and by Dr. Daniel Rubenstein, a behavioral zoologist who has studied PZPed wild horses in nature. I have also perused many scientific and popular articles about the effects of PZP upon wild horses, both short- and long-term, and both upon individuals and their social groups.

Here are some of the major proven damages to wild horses caused by PZP:

(1) PZP weakens immune systems of individuals and their herds since it inhibits reproduction in horses with stronger immune systems. Horses with weaker immune systems are precisely those who reproduce in greater numbers in PZP-treated herds. Eventually, PZP weakens wild horse herds’ overall immune systems. (Reference: Gray, M.E. & Cameron, E.Z. 2010. Does contraceptive treatment in wildlife result in side effects? Reproduction 139: 45-55.)

(2) Increased stress is experienced by mares who have been successfully darted by PZP and by other members of their social bands. This is because of PZPed mares’ frustration in completing their natural reproductive cycle, which affects the other members of their bands. Ironically, it is precisely the mature and stable, more content and non-PZPed bands that do, in fact, cause a slowing of reproductive rates, as years of research by the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) and others abundantly proves. (Reference: Sussman, Karen. 6/6/2015. Suspicious deaths with use of anti-fertility drugs. ISPMB Journal. www.ispmb.org/BirthControlDeaths.html.)

(3) PZP adversely affects mares’ hormonal systems and consequently the social groups to which they belong. PZPed mares become irritable, aggressive, and more masculine, causing disharmony in their bands. PZP lowers estrogen and increases testosterone in mares and also produces ovarian cysts. Cysts increase testosterone levels. (Reference: U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. Ovarian overproduction of androgens. (Reference: https://www.nim.nih.gov/medicineplus/ency/article/001165.htm.)

(4) Auto-immune oophoritis, aka ovaritis or inflammation of ovaries, and also stillbirths result from PZP. Autoimmune oophoritis can lead to the development of other autoimmune diseases. (Reference: Kaur, K. & Prabha, V. 2014. Immunocontraceptives: New Approaches to Fertility Control. BioMed Research International, Vol. 2014, Article ID: 868196.)

(5) PZP-darted herds in Little Book Cliffs, McCullough Peaks, and Pryor Mountains wild horse legal herd management areas gave birth nearly year-round, i.e. 341 days, rather than in the normal spring season. This exposed PZPed wild mares and their offspring to extremes of temperature, and, consequently, to suffering and death. (Reference: Ransom, J.I. et al. 2013. Contraception Can Lead to Trophic Asynchrony between Birth Pulse and Resources. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54972. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054972.

(6) It is quite disturbing that PZP antibodies transfer to foals from the mare through the placenta while they are in the womb as well as through mare’s milk. These antibodies react with and bind to the zona pellucida of female newborns. Yet, BLM regularly administers PZP to pregnant and lactating mares in spite of these published scientific findings. (Reference: Sacco, A.G. et al. 1981. Passage of zona antibodies via placenta and milk following active immunization of female mice with porcine zonae pellucidae. Journal of Reproductive Immunology. 1981, December; Vol 3, Issue 6: pages 313-322.)

(7) Weakening of immune system subjects wild horses to mal-adaptiveness to unforeseen major changes such as are occurring due to Global Warming, or catastrophes such as epidemics or wildfires. (Reference: Gray & Cameron, 2010, op cit.)

(8) PZP causes the immune system to attack and destroy the ovaries and produces a large variety of adverse effects. (References: Gray & Cameron, 2010, op cit.; Kaur & Prabha, 2014, op. cit.)

(9) By extending the lifespans of PZPed mares, PZP creates abnormal numbers of aged, sterile mares. This disadvantages younger horses, who continue to be taken away by BLM roundups to reach arbitrary AMLs. This appeases livestock or other wild-horse-adverse interests on the public lands, rather than respecting the General Public, whose majority values wild horses and burros and wants them to be fairly treated. (Reference: Knight, C.M. & Rubenstein, D.I. 2014. The Effects of Porcine Zona Pellucida Immunocontraception on Health and Behavior of Feral Horses (Equus caballus). Princeton University thesis, Dept. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.)

(10) PZPed mares are no longer reproductively active in the wild horse population, thus diminishing the genetic viability of the herd. The resources they consume would otherwise contribute to reproducing adults and their offspring and maintain the vigor of the herd into ongoing future generations that adapt to ongoing environmental changes, thus assuring their long-term survival. (Reference: Ransom, J.I. et al. 2013, op. cit.)

(11) PZP is a safety hazard to humans, especially to females who administer it. (Reference: Devlin, M. and Protect Mustangs 2015. Fact Sheet: The Truth about PZP. http://protectmustangs.org/?p=8749.)

For these and related reasons, I believe that PZP will seriously harm and undermine the vigor of wild horse and burro populations that our nation’s laws mandate us to protect and preserve, as well as to manage. The restoration and maintenance of herd vigor is essential to the ongoing ecological adaptation and long-term survival of each herd. Healthy reproduction is key to healthy wild horse and burro individuals, bands and herds. Tampering with reproduction produces a variety of aberrations that lead to dysfunctional and disordered wild horses. This results in a decline of the herds.

I have heard from many people who closely observe and/or live near wild horses treated with PZP. They describe many still-born or defective foals produced by mares in whom the effects of PZP have worn off, permitting them to again try to reproduce. Also please consider that after a few to several years of yearly application, PZP generally produces total sterility in mares, depending upon the strength of their individual immune systems. This calls into serious question the proclaimed “reversibility of PZP” to enable mares to reproduce again! To reiterate: of great concern is the fact that PZP is less effective in those mares with weakened immune systems. Hence, the wide-spread use of PZP among America’s last wild horse/burro herds – nearly all below minimum viable population (MVP) level – will seriously undermine their long term survival.

But thankfully there exists an honorable alternative to PZP, and similar horse-disrespectful “quick fixes”. As a wildlife ecologist, I have formulated a sound alternative to PZP and similar invasive proposals. This Reserve Design strategy would restore long-term viable, ecologically well-adapted, and naturally self-stabilizing populations of wild horses and burros throughout the West. (References concerning Reserve Design: Peck, S. 1998. Reserve Design. In: Planning for Biodiversity: Issues and Examples. Island Press, Washington, D.C. Pages 89-114; Soule, M.E. & Terborgh, J. 1999. Continental Conservation: Scientific Foundations of Regional Reserve Networks. Island Press, Washington, D.C.; Downer, C.C. 2010. Proposal for wild horse/burro reserve design as a solution to present crisis. Natural Horse Volume 12, Issue 5, pages 26 to 27; Downer, C.C. 2014. The Wild Horse Conspiracy, www.amazon.com/dp/1461068983, look up “Reserve Design” in Index.)

Reserve Design: the Intelligent and Caring Choice for America’s Wild Horses and Burros

If followed correctly, the unanimously passed WFHBA would have set aside somewhere between 54 million and 90 million acres for the preservation of wild horses and burros in the wild. Lamentably, the rights of these animals—and their human supporters—have been undermined by wild horse and burro enemies, including officials charged with their protection. Current policies toward these “national heritage species” are thinly disguised plans for reducing the herds to cripplingly low, non-viable population numbers. These levels would be unable to sufficiently and adequately reproduce so as to survive into the long-term future. Too often the plan has been to simply eliminate them from their legal areas, i.e. “zero-out”. Indeed, anywhere from 22 million to 40 or more million legal acres have been declared officially empty and “not for” the wild horses and burros or simply ignored at the onset of the WFHBA in the early years of this act (see Downer, C.C. 2014. The Wild Horse Conspiracy).

Some wild horse advocates and observers say there are only 33,000 wild horses and burros remaining on America’s public lands as independently estimated for mid-2016 (Louise, Katia, wild horse documentary filmmaker, pers. comm.). Even if the official BLM figure of 67,027 wild horse and burros remain on the public lands (55,311 horses & 11,716 burros [BLM report of March 1, 2016]), either level would be out of step with the amount of ecologically appropriate habitat where these animals have a legal right to live. The small number of horses and burros our government intends to leave on each of the ca. 179 remaining BLM-designated areas is a sure prescription for the over-fragmentation and isolation of wild horse/burro populations. This would only jeopardize their long-term survival, compromising their true vigor in the wild.

The nationwide population of wild horses and burros that our government plans to allow as the high end Appropriate Management Level is only 26,715. This would be composed of only 1,676 individual wild horses and/or burros in Arizona; 2,200 in California, 812 in Colorado, 617 in Idaho, 120 in Montana, 12,811 in Nevada, 83 in New Mexico, 2,715 in Oregon, 1,956 in Utah, and 3,725 in Wyoming. (Source: Herd Area and Herd Management Area Statistics as of March 1, 2016. BLM, Washington, D.C.) These assigned population levels are very unfair and cater to wild horse and burro detractors while largely disregarding the General Public that are strongly support this Quality of Life issue.

Our government’s current goal of and plans for drastically reducing small and genetically vulnerable wild herds include the partial—and very possibly total—sterilization of mares through PZP injection. These plans also include the unnatural skewing of sex ratios to establish excess males, even in the naturally harem social structure of naturally living horses in which females are usually more numerous. And even more invasive measures have been planned in the past and are likely to crop up again, including painful—often lethal castration of stallions and the ovariectomies (removal of ovaries) of mares (thankfully recently cancelled in Oregon and Wyoming), as well as the individually deranging and socially disruptive injection of sterilization drugs or vaccines, such as PZP.

Clearly, our wild horses and burros are in a very critical situation today. I judge them to be more imperiled than they were in 1971 just before the passage of the WFHBA when they were “fast disappearing from the American scene”—and I used to work with Wild Horse Annie. We must quickly respond with a well-conceived plan for reforms that will restore the true rights of wild horses and burros upon our public lands. These lands belong to all Americans, not just to resource exploiters, whether officials of corporations or private individuals. As a wildlife ecologist and deeply rooted native Nevadan personally familiar with many of the West’s wild horse and burro herds, I strongly urge the restoration of these deeply rooted North American native species. Their return to North America should be as genetically viable and naturally self-stabilizing herds that are allowed too adapt ecologically to each specific region where they have legal right. This can be accomplished by following the sound principles of Reserve Design. Such a plan would end cruel, disruptive roundups and reproductive manipulations – practices that mock the true intent of the 1971 WFHBA by causing untold suffering and death to these beautiful and highly evolved, sensitive, wise, and freedom-loving creatures.

Reserve Design combines ecological, biological, social, and political considerations in order to achieve desired results. Basically, it involves setting aside areas of complete year-round habitat where human intervention is buffered against and where natural processes are allowed to reestablish natural checks and balances. Reserve Design will achieve internal harmony for the diverse, yet interrelated, species living within each wild horse/burro-containing ecosystem.

Critical steps for realizing Reserve Design in wild horse and wild burro habitats are as follows:

[1] Properly identify the long-term survival requirements for viable equid population levels to be accommodated in each reserve. Our chief focus would be to promote wild horse/burro-containing ecosystems of adequate size and condition to sustain viable equid populations and where plant and animal species are allowed to adapt naturally over the generations and in inter-balanced fashion. The level of 2,500 individual has been recommended for the viability of an equid population by the IUCN SSC Equid Survival Group (Equid Action Plan, IUCN SSC ESG, 1992).

[2] Conscientiously identify appropriate ecological areas suitable for the implementation of wild horse/burro-containing reserves. This would involve travel to, on-ground inspection of, flights over, and GIS analysis of a wide variety of places throughout the West. This would also entail setting up Cooperative Agreements under Sections 4 and 6 of the WFHBA in order to achieve complete habitats around the federally designated wild equid lands and involving both private and other government lands such as state and local.

[3] Wherever possible, wisely incorporate natural equid predators (such as puma, bear, and wolf) that would both limit and tone/strengthen, wild horse and burro populations.

[4] Wherever possible, wisely incorporate natural barriers that would limit the ingress and/or the egress of certain species, including the wild horses and burros. This would avoid conflicts and set up conditions for the natural self-regulation of populations.

[5] Identify where buffer zones, artificial barriers, or other means of impeding movements in and out of a reserve should be established in order to keep the species in question from coming into conflict with humans. Buffer zones possibly involving non-injurious means of “adverse conditioning” could be employed as well as “positive reinforcement” as a means of encouraging the wild equids to stay within the reserve, as for example, by providing all of their habitat needs. Also, “semi-permeable barriers” that do not restrict most species but do prevent equids from passing out of the reserve may be used. These means would be described in practical detail and as tailored to fit each specific reserve area.

[6] Identify the presence and abundance of necessary food, water, shelter, mineral procurement sites, elevation gradients for seasonal migrations, etc., that will accommodate the long-term habitat needs of long-term viable wild equid populations. Such will also allow the natural rest-rotation of foraging between the natural subdivisions of the reserve. Fences within the reserve that impede the free-roaming lifestyle of the wild equids will be located and their removal accomplished. The intrinsic Carrying Capacity of the land in question will also be estimated as closely as possible. Such will be based upon the Productivity of forage adequate to at least a minimally viable population of wild horses/burros. Besides food, this determination will take into account other survival factors such as water, minerals, shelter, breeding and nurturing habitat, seasonal migrations, and needed protection from existing threats to the wild equids.

[7] Identify geographical regions whose human inhabitants are benignly disposed toward the creation and long-term implementation of extensive, ecologically balanced wild horse/burro-containing reserves. This would involve traveling to different areas and setting up meetings with pertinent individuals, town and government officials, etc. This also relates to the setting up of Cooperative Agreements under Sections 4 and 6 of the WFHBA, as mentioned above.

[8] Identify ways of and benefits from implementing Reserve Design that result in win-win relationships centered on the presence of wild horses and burros. Ecotourism is one major possibility here, and wild horse/burro viewing tours have already proven to be successful in several states, including Craig London’s tours to the Montgomery Pass wild horses of eastern California. Restoring native ecosystems, including soils and native species, would be a major ecological benefit. The reduction of flammable vegetation through equid grazing and the restoration of hydrographic basins through the enrichment of soils, would be other major, positive contributions by wild horses and burros. Another major benefit concerns the prevention of catastrophic wildfires that over-burn vegetation, sterilize soils and denature their stored seed banks. Such fires can set the life community back to very primitive evolutionary stages. Indeed, it can be strongly argued that the restoration of wild equids in North America is crucial to combating life-disrupting Global Warming itself.

[9] Of key importance is informing the public concerning the many ways that horses and burros, as ecological “climax” species, self-limit their own populations once their respective ecological niches are filled in any given bounded area. This knowledge is key to realizing a humane relationship with these animals, a relationship that does justice to and demonstrates respect for them. And it is this respect and appreciation on the part of us humans that is key to allowing the horses and burros to fulfill their important natural roles within the life community.

Whom to Contact to Help Wild Horses and Burros:

Please contact your Senators and Representatives, the President, the Secretary of Interior and its Bureau of Land Management; and the Secretary of Agriculture and its US Forest Service. Both of these agencies are mandated by the WFHBA to preserve and protect as well as to manage the wild horses and burros and their legal lands and resources for the benefit of the former.

Also contact your state governor and state, county, and municipal officials concerned with wildlife and natural resources. Get in touch with the media: newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations. Make all of the above aware of what is needed to stop the over-reduction or zeroing-out of the herds and the cruel abuse of wild horses and burros, whether through drugging, vaccines, surgeries, or other unnatural and invasive methods. Rather, persist in the restoration of the wild horse and burro herds and their habitats to viable levels, healthy conditions and sizes. This will be to restore the pure intent of the law.

A key committee to contact right away is the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee, particularly its Interior, Environment & Related Agencies Subcommittee. The telephone number of the latter is (202) 225-3081. Emails of staff to contact are betsy.bina@mail.house.gov and Kristin.richmond@mail.house.gov. This subcommittee is now deciding which direction to take in regards to the wild horses and burros. It has been hearing too exclusively from traditional wild horse and burro enemies.

Those of us who value and appreciate the wild horses and burros and their rightful place in the world of nature must set the record straight for these wonderful and ancient presences on Earth. We must not allow their enemies or those ignorant of their worthiness prevail!

The spirited and intelligent horses and burros are depending on you and I!

In addition to contacting the above, be sure to contact the President of the United States and the White House staff at (202) 456-1111 (TTY/TTD: (202) 456-6213). Switchboard (202) 456-1414. You can also do this by email at http://www.whitehourse.gov/contact or president@whitehouse.gov.

You may contact your Senators and Congressmen/State Representatives (federal and state) by linking on internet with “Elected Officials / USA Gov”. This will provide you with the contacts you require for federal, state, and local offices. The link is: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.

And in closing I urge you to contact the natural resource and public lands committee and subcommittee in the U.S. Senate.

On behalf of our wonderful wild horses and burros, I sincerely thank all of you for your caring and for your effective action.

Craig Downer

 

Wildlife Ecologist. A.B. UCB; M.S. UNR; Ph.D. Cand. U. Durham UK. Link to his article The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributed Returned Natives in North America is http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo.aspx?journalid=118&doi=10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12 Website to check out is www.thewildhorseconspiracy.org in which the links to the article and how to order his book are present.

Also please consider signing this important petition to stop this massacre of the wild horses and burros from happening: The link to this petition is: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/907/592/301/demand-nokill-45000-wild-horses-burros-in-holding/

Secret documents from 2008 reveal plan to kill and dispose of America’s wild horses and burros

© 2014 Anne Novak, all rights reserved.

© 2014 Anne Novak, all rights reserved.

 The Bureau of Land Management plots to wipe out wild horses and burros at taxpayer expense.  Is this how you want your tax dollars used?

“Jim says Burns takes them to a pit but they have always used it  . . .”

Notice that Pesticide PZP, made from slaughterhouse pig ovaries, is part of their wipe out plan. It sterilizes after multiple use. Their goal is zero population increase which would ruin natural selection and make it impossible for the species to survive climate change.

Members of the public and some organizations have been fooled into supporting Pesticide PZP as the “lesser of two evils”. Those who believe in the true spirit of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 are attacked for speaking out against Pesticide PZP.

Follow the money if you want to understand who profits from forcibly drugging wild mares with Pesticide PZP for population control. . .

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is the registrant of Pesticide PZP https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf. HSUS called native wild horses and burros “PESTS” on the EPA Pesticide Application. Have they changed the legal definition of wild horses and burros with the EPA application that should be revoked?

Scott Beckstead, who was born and raised on a working cattle ranch and now works for HSUS, reported at the BoLM’s Spring 2016 Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting that HSUS is experimenting on a stronger form of Pesticide PZP. Does “stronger” mean their new form of Pesticide PZP will forcibly sterilize native wild horses and burros with one injection?

Wild horses and burros are underpopulated on public land which is overpopulated by beef cattle and sheep. Ranchers, BoLM and others try to scapegoat wild horses and burros for range damage when the truth is commercial livestock is destroying, or already has destroyed, the ecosystem.

July 29, 2008

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“GonaCon® is also a product that needs to be relooked at for sterilization of mares.” (Quoted from item 4 above)

Read about the GonaCon® experiment at Water Canyon that launched in 2015: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=8488 They have hopes to use GonaCon™ on the whole Antelope Complex.

 

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August 12, 2008

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PM Aerial Photo 6

Thanks to Jane Cheuvront for the Google Earth photo)

Read our August 11th blog post: What’s in the mounds, craters and pits at American wild horse holding facilities? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=9458

See all the notes from the secret conference calls in 2008 about killing off America’s wild horses and burros: pm-blm-secret-killing-conference-calls-2008

 

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Special thanks to Dr. Patricia Haight, RIP, with the Conquistador Equine Rescue for acquiring the documents through FOIA.

See the draft of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Alternative Management Options from October 2008 the result of the secret conference calls: pm-blm-killing-plans

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(Fred T. Woehl, Jr. and Sue McDonnell, PhD. for Wild Horse & Burro Research are some of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board members, who voted on September 9, 2016, to kill the alleged “unadoptable” wild horses and burros)

 

Protect Mustangs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of native and wild horses. www.ProtectMustangs.org




Heinous BLM Roundup = Slaughter 4 #Mustangs

Stop the Roundups

URGENT: Sign and share the Petition to Defund the Roundups! This heinous act was funded by American tax dollars http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups

 

TAKE ACTION! Call and email your senators and rep ASAP. Demand the American wild horses be returned to the American public!  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Tweet: BLM Roundup = Slaughter

Sign up for action updates www.ProtectMustangs.org

Free Roaming Wyoming Horses Rounded up by BLM and sold to Canadian Slaughterhouse by Wyoming Livestock Board

No public comment period and no transparency

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. (March 31, 2014) – On March 24, The Cloud Foundation received an anonymous tip that BLM had rounded up and removed 41 free-roaming horses from public lands in northern Wyoming.  Further investigation revealed that BLM conducted a helicopter roundup of the horses and turned them over to the Wyoming Livestock Board who sold the horses directly to the Canadian Bouvry Slaughterhouse. The taxpayer-funded roundup was conducted with no notice of sale after the horses were impounded, giving no one the opportunity to step in and negotiate a deal to purchase any of the horses. Even Bighorn County Sheriff, Kenneth Blackburn, was surprised that he received no notification of the roundup, which was conducted in his jurisdiction. The horses were driven to Shelby, Montana, to the Bouvry-owned feedlot, the jumping off point to their Canadian slaughterhouse, the largest slaughterhouse in Canada.

“These were colorful wild horses I spotted several years ago while driving to the Pryor Mountains,” stated  Ginger Kathrens Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “They lived on what we’ve been told was a wild horse Herd Area southeast of the Pryors.” The small, remnant herd roamed a starkly beautiful landscape east of US 310 between Lovell and Greybull, WY. ‘”We stopped to admire them on March 10th on our way back to Colorado.” Kathrens adds. “The sight of these lovely, free-spirited animals, some with their newborn foals, against the backdrop of the snow-covered Bighorn Mountains was glorious. It’s hard to think about the horror they suffered just days later.”

On March 18, only eight days after Kathrens last spotted the horses, the BLM Field Office in Cody, WY supervised their roundup and removal. A BLM spokesperson told a Cloud Foundation representative that the horses would be held at the Worland Livestock Auction for 10 days and then sold.  However, later investigation revealed that the 41 horses rounded up by Cattoor Livestock Company on March 18-19 were delivered to the Worland Livestock Auction for brand inspection. Just a few hours later, once the brand inspection was completed, 37 horses were loaded onto a truck paid for by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and hauled to the Canadian border.

“According to Wyoming, Statute, Title 11, Chapter 24 entitled Agriculture, Livestock and Other Animals, ‘Estray horses rounded up must be held for not more than 10 days before going to auction,'” reported Paula Todd King, Communications Director for the Cloud Foundation. “These horses were rounded up and within hours they were on their way to the border. We found no notice announcing the roundup.”

The history of these horses is debatable. The BLM contends they are not wild, stating that they once belonged to an area rancher who died and his horses have only been in the area for 40 years. However, the Wild Horse and Burro Act (WHB Act) defines a wild horses as an “unclaimed, unbranded horse on federal lands in the United States.” Wyoming brand inspector, Frank Barrett, verified there were no brands of any kind on any of the animals.

Less than a mile from where Kathrens had been observing the horses is the boundary of the “zeroed out” Foster Gulch/Dry Creek Herd Area, designated for wild horse use after the passage of the WHB Act in 1971. “As they have done over a hundred times, the BLM decided not to manage wild horses in the area in 1987,” explains Kathrens. “If the horses have lived in the area for 40 years as BLM states, it is entirely possible that these horses were descendants of the herd eliminated from management in 1987.”

It is clear that these horses have survived for many years on their own, living in wild family bands, and thriving without human intervention.  Conflicting reasons have been given for the timing of this BLM roundup when the horses had newborn foals. BLM indicated that private landowners in the area have complained about horses trespassing on their land.  Sarah Beckwith, BLM spokesperson said that the horses were a threat to public safety – vehicles had killed two horses.  However, after further investigation, TCF found that a train struck one horse 6-8 years ago, and a private vehicle struck another around 5 years ago. Jack Mononi, Supervisory Rangeland Management Specialist for Cody BLM, told Todd-King that if the Agency did not spend the federal dollars by the end of March, the funds would no longer be available.

Kathrens called the Bouvry Exports Shelby facility in an attempt to negotiate purchase of the 37 horses. The woman who answered the phone would not confirm that the horses had arrived in Shelby and told Kathrens that “these horses were rounded up and removed for slaughter and that is where they are going.” Kathrens offered to pay more than the going price and was told that this was not possible. “I was shaking when I got off the phone,” Kathrens said. “To think that this could be happening sickens me.”

Kim Michels of Red Lodge, MT, purchased all that appears to have survived of the small herd, four tiny foals born this year. “We will do all we can to see that these babies not only survive but thrive as a fitting legacy to their lost freedom and their families,” said Michels. The foals were rescued by Stacey Newby, co-owner of the Worland Livestock Auction, who fed and cared for the foals, bottle-feeding the tiniest, a 3-week-old filly. The foals are now in the care of equine veterinarian, Lisa Jacobson, in Colorado.

TCF continues to investigate the legality of what appears to be a carefully planned and executed operation at taxpayer expense. “Was it legal?” Kathrens questions. “It is clear to me that it was not moral and certainly inhumane. I do not believe that American taxpayers want their money spent to roundup and send horses to slaughter.”

Protect Mustangs suggests links of interest™:

Bouvry: http://www.vianderichelieu.com/qui-sommes-nous.php

Bouvry Investigation: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs161/1101655399670/archive/1111647580202.html

Cloud Foundation: http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/

Catoor Livestock: http://www.wildhorseroundups.com/

Helicopter roundup gets attention of horse advocates: http://www.greybullstandard.com/?p=2364

 

Request a 10 year moratorium on wild horse roundups for science

 

Tibetan prayer flag depicting Windhorse

Tibetan prayer flag depicting the Windhorse

Dear Friends of American wild horses,

In 2009 while I was working with Ginger at the Cloud Foundation, Cheryl Crow asked Obama to stop the roundups. Crow even went to the White House with Ginger’s Cloud DVD and a pitch to stop the roundups. She also spoke with Sec. Salazar on the phone. There was tons of national and international media buzz about Sheryl Crow asking to ‘Stop the Roundups’. Sadly it didn’t work to stop any roundups 🙁

Let’s join together and all ask for a 10 year moratorium on roundups for scientific studies (population, migration, etc.) I believe the National Academy of Sciences said more scientific studies were needed.

How can any member of Congress avoid looking like a sell-out and fool if there isn’t any scientific research proving there is an overpopulation of wild horses–compared to livestock–to justify mega-millions spent on roundups and warehousing?

Let’s push for Congress to use science to govern policy. Can we all get behind science and a 10 year moratorium on roundups? Then, we could have a chance to save America’s wild horses and burros.

The Internet is in our favor to spread the truth to voters. Just let the Senators’ and Representatives’ opponents know what they have been doing . . . 2014 is an election year!

Elections for the United States Senate will be held on November 4, 2014, with 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate being contested in regular elections whose winners will serve six-year terms from January 3, 2015 to January 3, 2021. Additionally, special elections may be held to fill vacancies that occur during the 113th United States Congress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014

The 2014 United States House of Representatives elections will be held on November 4, 2014. Elections will be held for all 435 seats, representing the 50 U.S. states. Elections will also be held for the non-voting delegates from the District of Columbia and four of the five U.S. territories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2014

All my best wishes,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
www.ProtectMustangs.org

Email the team at Protect Mustangs: Contact at ProtectMustangs.org

 

Energy Committee Passes 12 Public Lands Bills

Washington, D.C. (November 21, 2013) – Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed 12 bills that would designate certain lands as wilderness, fund rural water projects in the West, establish new segments of wild and scenic rivers and protect historically significant battlefield sites in several states.

Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, praised their colleagues for their work on one of the bills passed during the markup, the Grazing Improvement Act (S. 258), introduced by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Committee members amended the bill to continue existing policies for reviewing grazing leases, while also creating pilot programs in Oregon and New Mexico that would allow ranchers to voluntarily relinquish grazing permits to the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service, something long sought by conservation groups.

“This bill as amended brings together a very broad coalition, including ranchers and environmental folks,” Wyden said. “My colleagues worked together creatively to find common ground on grazing rights and it’s my hope that their work will serve as a building block on similar types of issues going forward.”

“Managing grazing through a series of appropriations riders, as we are doing now, is not a sound long-term policy for our western rangelands,” Murkowski said. “This bill, as amended, would allow the agencies to get back to what really counts – stewardship of our rangelands to support multiple use, including grazing. I hope we can emulate the example my colleagues have set as we work through the hard issues presented in managing our public lands.”

The committee also passed a bill that authorizes $150 million in funding for vital rural water improvements across the West, including Oregon, and for water infrastructure on Indian lands.

The committee has now passed 79 bills in 2013, the most of any Senate committee. Wyden and Murkowski also said they expect the committee to consider their bipartisan Nuclear Waste Administration Act (S. 1240) before the end of the year.

Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., asked to be recorded as voting against S. 258. Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Landrieu asked to be recorded as voting against S. 715. Flake and Scott also asked to be recorded as voting in favor of the Barrasso amendment to S. 715.

Below is the full list of bills passed today by a voice vote:

  • S. 258, a bill to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to improve the management of grazing leases and permits, and for other purposes
  • S. 364,   a bill to establish the Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Management Area, to designate certain Federal land as wilderness, and to improve the management of noxious weeds in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, and for other purposes
  • S.715, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to use designated funding to pay for construction of authorized rural water projects, and for other purposes
  • S. 782, a bill to amend Public Law 101-377 to revise the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park to include the Gettysburg Train Station, and for other purposes
  • S. 995, a bill to authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial as a commemorative work in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes
  • S. 1044,  a bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to install in the area of the World War II Memorial in the District of Columbia a suitable plaque or an inscription with the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the United States on D-Day, June 6, 1944
  • S. 1252, a bill to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Missisquoi River and the Trout River in the State of Vermont, as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System
  • H.R. 507, an Act to provide for the conveyance of certain land inholdings owned by the United States to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, and for other purposes
  • H.R. 697, an Act to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in Clark County, Nevada, for the environmental remidiation and reclamation of the Three Kids Mine Project Site, and for other purposes
  • H.R. 862,  an Act to authorize the conveyance of two small parcels of land within the boundaries of the Coconino National Forest containing private improvements that were developed based upon the reliance of the landowners in an erroneous survey conducted in May 1960
  • H.R. 876, an Act to authorize the continued use of certain water diversions located on National Forest System land in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in the State of Idaho, and for other purposes
  • H.R. 1033, an Act to authorize the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 under the American Battlefield Protection Program

Permalink: http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/11/energy-committee-passes-12-public-lands-bills

Mustang advocates ask for federal spending transparency

Calico Roundup (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

For immediate release

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.”

# # #

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:

Contracts for Wild Horse and Burro Control Services (FY 2000-2009) http://bit.ly/xVlVm5

Contractor handling wild horses: http://bit.ly/xxUzJz

Resources to advocate for horses: http://bit.ly/z99DSm

Saving America’s Horses (film): http://bit.ly/A1gxPJ

The Petition (film): http://www.ThePetitionmovie.com

Change.org Petition to Protect Horses & pass American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-usa-horse-slaughter

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uDF5JP

Protect Mustangs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/protectmustangs

Protect Mustangs on You Tube: http://www.YouTube.com/ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs website: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

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.


Water wars threatens wild horses

 For immediate release

Water for wildlife in Nevada (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

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 Wildlife proving 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.”

# # #

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:

A.B. 329: http://leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/Bills/AB/AB329.pdf

Draft letter to Nevada State Engineer from Wildlife Commission against wild horses and burros drinking water: http://bit.ly/yaCNg3

Pete Goicoechea is running for Senator: http://bit.ly/zpKLAX

J.J. Goicoechea, President of Nevada Cattlemen’s Association & rancher complains wild horses: http://bit.ly/zraapE

Science proves wild horses are native: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Contracts for Wild Horse and Burro Control Services (FY 2000-2009) http://bit.ly/xVlVm5

Opposition to A.B. 329 (Video at 2011 hearing) http://bit.ly/zlCiU3

Protect Mustangs’ website: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

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.