BREAKING NEWS: San Francisco protest against U.S.A. horse slaughter today

Protest Horse Slaughter Med

 

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King

for immediate release

BREAKING NEWS:  San Francisco protest against U.S.A. horse slaughter today

Outrage over plant scheduled to open in the West

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (January 10, 2014)–Concerned Americans protest in downtown San Francisco against slaughtering domestic and wild horses for human consumption in foreign countries. They stand with Attorney General Gary King in New Mexico who is fighting against horse slaughter plants opening in the West. King’s case will be heard in court Monday.

“Majestic horses must not be cruelly slaughtered in America to be served on a dinner plate abroad,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We hope Gary King will be able to fight horse slaughter in court and win.”

“Native wild horses and domestic horses are at risk of slaughter if the New Mexico plant opens,” explains Kerry Becklund, outreach director for Protect Mustangs. “80% of Americans are against horse slaughter. It’s disgusting.”

San Francisco Protest Info:

When: Friday January 10th from Noon – 1pm

Where: Corner of Market & Montgomery, San Francisco

Info: www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs
is a San Francisco based non-profit 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.

# # #

Media Contacts:

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

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

Photos, interviews and video available upon request

Links of Interest™:


New Mexico AG sues to stop horse slaughter: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/19/new-mexico-ag-sues-to-stop-horse-slaughter/4133191/



Judge blocks horse slaughter for at least 48 hours http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/12/state-judge-in-new-mexico-blocks-horse-slaughter-at-least-for-48-hours/#.Us7pEvas1Nc



Countersuit: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/06/us-usa-horses-slaughter-idUSBREA0518720140106
Wild horse roundup footage & abuse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM

Protect Mustangs www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

 

Happy New Year! Become a member of Protect Mustangs for 2014

Photo Copyright Anne Novak

Photo Copyright Anne Novak

 

This is the year of the horse! Make a difference in 2014. America’s iconic wild horses need your help!

Become a 2014 member of Protect Mustangs for $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $250, $500, $750 or $1000. Join us as we continue our rescue, research, outreach and education. We are advocating for wild horses to live unharmed in freedom and to protect the mustangs in captivity.

Besides becoming a member, we welcome your continued support earmarked for our Save the Mustangs Fund, Field Work Fund, Legal Fund, or the Outreach Fund.

You may donate via PayPal to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org. Visit our homepage for the donate button or mail your check to:

Protect Mustangs

P.O. Box 5661

Berkeley, Ca. 94705

Please include your name, email and address so we may send you a receipt. We are a nonprofit organization registered in California who believes in accountability and transparency. We are currently filing for our 501c3 nonprofit status which makes your 2014 donations tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes to you for 2014!

Many blessings,

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

 

Press Release: How many tiny foals are dying after the roundups and in holding?

MUSTANG Captured Young Wild Horses Dec 27, 2010

For immediate release:

No accountability for dead foals at Nevada wild horse facility  

RENO, Nv. (May 1, 2013)–Protect Mustangs™ calls for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Nevada to provide accurate wild horse and burro death counts for all government funded facilities as well as at roundups. Currently the BLM is not recording the dead foals or other unbranded newborn dead wild horses at the Palomino Valley National Center, a facility near Reno used for processing and adoption. Faulty roundup protocol also allows the BLM to attribute deaths to pre-existing conditions to avoid attributing them to the roundups. The native wild horse conservation group discovered that 37 wild horses died at the Nevada facility from January 1 to April 1, 2013 but the additional deaths of the unbranded have gone unrecorded.

“It’s shocking that the BLM is not counting the unbranded dead foals and dead newborns,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs™. “This lack of transparency and lack of accountability needs to stop. Taxpayers don’t like knowing baby mustangs are dying after roundups–especially when Americans want native wild horses to live in freedom.”

Protect Mustangs™ is very concerned the BLM facilities are not keeping an accurate death count related to roundups and holding facilities. The BLM admits they are not including the unbranded foals, aborted fetuses, animals born dead nor dead newborns in their count. One must ask, “How many are really dying in holding facilities after roundups?

Animals Angels recently uncovered a discrepancy in the mortality numbers at Palomino Valley Center.

“If they are not counting the dead correctly then are some young foals being sold into the slaughter pipeline as well?,” asks Novak. “Why is there no accountability regarding the unbranded young wild horse population?”

Tom Davis, who purchased many wild horses from the BLM said in a Propublica interview, “Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt. What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?”

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415.531.8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510.502.1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, video and interviews available upon request

Links of interest:

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

Wild-horse advocates: Rallies held in 50 states to drum up opposition to roundups, slaughter http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/80561cc4e8a64b43ae909f7d09a0473e/NV–Wild-Horses-Rallies

Animals Angels investigative report: http://www.animalsangels.org/the-issues/horse-slaughter/foia-requests/497-blm-nevada-mortality-records-a-nevada-rendering-animals-angels-foia-request-reveals-discrepancies.html

ProPublica: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the gov’t?http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

Washington Post 4/30/13 USDA secretary says New Mexico horse slaughter plant expected to open soon  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/usda-secretary-says-new-mexico-horse-slaughter-plant-expected-to-open-soon/2013/04/30/95f16c7e-b1b1-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

Press Release: Protests to stop roundups and sales to kill buyers

(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

For immediate release

Call for peaceful protests to stop the roundups and stop the BLM from selling federally protected wild horses to kill-buyers

American public outraged at cruel ‘management’

WASHINGTON (October 6, 2012)–Protect Mustangs announced on Facebook Friday their call for nationwide protests to stop the roundups and stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from selling federally protected indigenous wild horses to kill buyers.

“We are calling for peaceful protests as well as candlelight vigils so no more wild horses will die from roundups, be tortured by the helicopters or sold to kill buyers for delicacy meat abroad,” states Anne Novak, executive director for California based Protect Mustangs “The public is outraged.”

Last week ProPublica exposed the BLM selling at least 1,700 federally protected wild horses to known pro-slaughter buyer, Tom Davis, and the public is furious. The BLM is charged with managing and protecting wild horses–not selling them for $10 a head to a pro-slaughter middle man to reduce the numbers in holding due to years of fiscally irresponsible roundups.

“Members of the public who are active in their communities must let their friends, family and neighbors know they can contact Congress if they don’t like their tax dollars used to fund cruel roundups,” says Tami Hottes, Protect Mustangs’ outreach coordinator for the Midwest and South. “People are upset to learn about the BLM selling all those historic wild horses to a guy like Tom Davis. It’s disgusting.”

This week the Antelope roundup, in northeastern Nevada, started under the pretense of saving the wild horses from a drought stricken area.

“We are concerned the BLM is jumping on the drought opportunity to zero out herds for industrialization of public land–especially massive energy projects that could pollute the water,” explains Novak. “Our indigenous wild horses are environmental barometers. If they die from drinking the water then that’s a red flag something is poisoning the water out there.”

Novak continues,”If there is a real problem on the range then bring them aid in the field–don’t round them up and warehouse them at taxpayer expense. It won’t cost much to bring them hay and water for a few months to get them through a difficult time.”

In watching videos from the roundup it should be pointed out that these wild horses were actually in excellent shape and there is no sign they have been suffering from lack of water or forage this summer. They are efficient browsers.

Even though the BLM announced last spring they would bait trap, they are not keeping their word to the American public. The BLM continues with cruel helicopter roundups.

The contractor has been criticized in the past for deadly incidents that could have been prevented. Despite objections from advocates and members of the public, the BLM continues to hire the contractor.

At the Antelope roundup advocates from The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) recorded videos showing healthy horses stampeded into traps, foals terrorized by choppers and a terrified stallion jumping out of the capture corral breaking his leg and running away. He was then euthanized by the BLM.

During the roundup wild horses were traumatized with whips and a wild mare broke her neck and died in transport.

If these historic wild horses had not been rounded up surely they would be alive with their families roaming in the West.

Outraged members of the public are calling BLM officials requesting the roundups stop. Officials downplay the cruelty and trauma, claiming these were rare incidents and touting that roundups, also known as “gathers”, only have a 1% death rate.

“We disagree with their whittled down death rate,” states Novak. “For years we have caught the BLM avoiding the correct death count and misleading Congress about the true number of horses painfully dying in roundups. During winter 2010 more than 180 wild horses died or were euthanized as a result of the roundup but the BLM tried to rewrite the numbers.”

The federal agency, funded by Congress to manage wild horses and burros, attributes the gross majority of roundup deaths to pre-existing conditions when they are obviously roundup related. If the horses weren’t rounded up they surely would not have died at that time.

The BLM often kills indigenous wild horses for being “old” and claims it was a pre-existing condition. They also kill baby horses claiming they have leg deformities. The foals can’t tolerate being stampeded for many miles on their undeveloped baby feet and legs and suffer severe injuries and are euthanized. BLM resists taking responsibility for their heinous actions.

At roundups since 2009, advocates as well as members of the press and public have been pushed back from the trap site and the holding corrals. It appears the BLM wants to hide the cruel roundups and injured animals from public view.

“The Wild Horse and Burro Program avoids transparency because of their disgusting secrets,” states Novak. “The public has a right to know what’s happening at roundups and afterwards. The public wants to know how many federally protected wild horses have been sold to the slaughter middle men since 2005.”

In 2004, a stealth rider known as the Burns amendment was attached to the Congressional Appropriations Bill to allow unlimited sales of captive wild horses over the age of ten or those who have been presented at adoption venues (live or Internet) three times–even pregnant mares and one-year-olds called yearlings.

The recent ProPublica article, written by Dave Phillips, highlights a corrupt program and interviews a pro-slaughter middle man. According to ProPublica, ‘Tom Davis buys 100s of mustangs at a time, sight unseen, for $10 a head. BLM has sold him more than 1,700 wild horses and burros since 2009.

“Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt,” he says.

“. . . but BLM’s Sally Spencer said it would be unfair for BLM to look more closely at him based on the volume of his purchases. “It’s no good to just stir up rumors,” she said.’

In 1997 Associated Press investigative journalist, Martha Mendoza, uncovered BLM’s internal corruption wherein adopted wild horses were quickly being sold to slaughter even by BLM employees who adopted them.

‘A multimillion-dollar federal program created to save the lives of wild horses instead is channeling them by the thousands to slaughterhouses where they are chopped into cuts of meat.

Among those profiting from the slaughter are employees of the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that administers the program.’

Mendoza’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) research and the story she exposed, forced the adoption program to change their protocol and only give title to the mustangs after one year to prevent the wild horses from being sold into the slaughter pipeline.

Today the BLM sends America’s living treasures to slaughter by selling them to the middle men who sell them to slaughter. Protect Mustangs asks Congress for a freeze on roundups, a freeze on sales and a full investigation into the ‘sale authority program’ since 2005.

The roundups ramped up in 2009 with the stimulus package push for the New Energy Frontier on public land and a new mandate to wipe out the wild herds of the West known as The Salazar Plan.

Despite nationwide protests in 2009-10 against the Secretary of the Interior’s plan, the majority of wild horses and burros were ripped from their family bands, taken off their land and the stallions were sterilized. President Obama ignored public outcry and Congress eventually fell for the BLM pleas for funding to ‘help the wild horses’.

In 2010, 54 members of Congress joined Congressman Raul Grijalva requesting a moratorium on roundups and a National Academy of Science (NAS) investigation into the broken program. Somehow the BLM has taken charge of the NAS investigation now called a “study” and is feeding the NAS the information instead of the Academy conducting independent research.

Today more than 52,000 wild horses and burros are living in captivity–mostly in the Midwest as specified in the Salazar Plan. Last year the controversial Wild Horse and Burro Program cost the American taxpayer 78 million dollars. Next year the cost will increase.

Protect Mustangs requests that Congress work with advocates to find a way to return wild horses to their wild lands in the West–to create biodiversity on the range–a win-win for wild horses, livestock, landowners, tourism and energy development on the New Energy Frontier. Their presence also helps greatly to reduce wildfires.

“Shrinking the numbers of wild horses left on public land today could be dangerous,” explains Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Giving already small herds fertility control will ruin genetic viability and could create inbreeding.”

The BLM’s reproduction rates don’t account much for mortality within the herd. Often foals don’t live to be two years old but the BLM spin on population has them multiplying like rabbits.

Studies show predators such as mountain lions and coyotes reduce the wild horse foal population. Last summer several young foals were killed by coyotes at a BLM holding facility near Sparks, Nevada. Even so, the BLM hides the truth about predators reducing the population and continues to repeat they have no natural predators despite the fact they do.

“Show me a real independent headcount before we talk about fertility control,”says Novak. “There aren’t enough wild horses left on the range any more. The truth is that the BLM will continue to roundup wild horses to treat them with fertility control. Roundups have been deadly so far. Roundups are NOT the answer. Biodiversity is the answer.”

Novak continues, “More than 52,000 indigenous wild horses have been captured and are warehoused in government holding. Selling ‘excess’ wild horses to kill-buyers is a heinous act and must stop now as well as the gluttony of roundups”

# # #

Media Contacts:

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

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

Links of interest:

AP reports & Protect Mustangs speaks out against the roundups: 3,500 Wild horses going to loose their freedom starting October 1st Federal roundup of wild horses burros starts today http://www.lvrj.com/news/federal-roundup-for-wild-horses-burros-starts-today-172056591.html

ProPublica reports: All the missing horses: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the government  http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

Brutal report for day 1 of Nevada’s Antelope roundup. Two horses die. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3ppBnbr7g&feature=youtu.be

Day 3 of Antelope roundup. Foals are terrorized by the helicopter and chased too long on their tender hooves. AWHPC video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9LDAwZqyU&feature=youtu.be

Buffalo News (January 5, 1997) US effort to save wild horses leads thousands to slaughter as workers profit by Martha Mendoza http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BN&p_theme=bn&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF99E45C1DF5CF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

The Burns amendment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Burns#The_Burns_Amendment

Huffington Post (October 17, 2009) Ken Salazar’s wild horse plan fuels accusations that he’s in the pocket of ranchers by Martin Griffith http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/17/ken-salazars-wild-horse-p_n_324799.html

News 4 KRNV Reno BLM selling to kill buyer? http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/BLM-selling-to-a-kill-buyer/s7svkl_zd0i1NVKHbd0ceA.cspx

Oct 5th Facebook announcement~Call to Stop the Roundups: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=418628774862814&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Protect Mustangs on the web http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

 

Stop the Roundups Rally in Sacramento July 10th at 2 pm outside the Federal Courthouse

Come to the rally to show that you care about the wild horses and burros in America.

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

The Sacramento Stop the Roundups Rally and Press Conference is at 2 p.m. July 10th on the sidewalk outside the Federal Courthouse across from the Amtrak station. ( 501 ” I ” Street at the 5th Street intersection in Sacramento, CA 95814)

Here is a list of speakers:

Carla Bowers, National Wild Horse Advocate

Tina Brodrick, Owner of Sonny Boys Tours

Craig Downer, Wildlife Biologist and acclaimed Wild Horse and Burro Expert

Terri Farley, Award winning writer and beloved author of The Phantom Stallion series

Cat Kindsfather, Award winning wild horse photographer

Marilyn Kroplick, MD, Board President for In Defense of Animals

Simone Netherlands, President of Respect for Horses

Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

Jetara Séhart, Executive Director of Native Wild Horse Protection & Marin Mustangs

Robin Warren  (Wild Mustang Robin), Director of The Youth Campaign for Protect Mustangs

Bring homemade signs and your friends. It will be hot so bring a rain umbrella for shade and plenty of water. Protect Mustangs encourages members of the public to carpool or take Amtrak to save on fuel and reduce pollution. Oil and gas extraction–on public land–is one of the main reasons wild horses are being wiped off their home on the range.  Be part of the solution and take the train if you can.

The voiceless wild horses and burros need your help after the rally too. Give oral or written comment against helicopter roundups and attend the 6:30 pm BLM Wild Horse & Burro Helicopter/Vehicle Use Public Hearing for roundups and management. The meeting runs from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Woodlake Hotel (formerly the Radisson near Arden Fair Mall) 500 Leisure Lane in Sacramento.

“Like” and check for updates on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

Join the dynamic conversation on Facebook about helicopter roundups: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=387209591338066&set=a.240625045996522.58710.233633560029004&type=1&theater

Driving directions from the rally to the meeting:

Driving directions to 500 Leisure Ln, Sacramento, CA 95815
501 I St
Sacramento, CA 95814
1. Head north on 5th St toward H St
194 ft
2. 5th St turns right and becomes H St
0.8 mi
3. Turn left onto CA-160 N/16th St

Continue to follow CA-160 N
2.3 mi
4. Take exit 47A for Leisure Ln towardCanterbury Rd
0.1 mi
5. Keep left at the fork, follow signs forLeisure
79 ft
6. Turn left onto Leisure Ln

Destination will be on the right
354 ft
500 Leisure Ln
Sacramento, CA 95815

Special thanks to Jetara Séhart, Executive Director of Native Wild Horse Protection & Marin Mustangs for her help to put together this event.

If you have any questions or would like to speak at the rally feel free to send us an email at Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Good News: California helicopter hearing has been postponed ~ Bad News: Nevada resists transparency

For immediate release:

California BLM shows transparency—why not Nevada?

Advocates ask BLM Nevada to reschedule their ‘public’ hearing

SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (June 2, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, the Bay Area-based preservation group, has been in negotiation with BLM California and is happy to announce that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has agreed to postpone the California helicopter and motorized use public hearing to a later date. Using helicopters at wild horse and burro roundups is controversial. Americans nationwide call helicopter roundups cruel.

“We want to thank BLM California for their act of good faith to promote transparency,” says Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “The American public wants to participate but they need 30 days notice in order to make travel arrangements.”

On May 30th the preservation group discovered BLM California’s press release online. With only 4-5 days until the hearing, they contacted BLM and opened up the dialogue requesting the public hearing be postponed and rescheduled.

The Nevada saga

“Even though 80% of America’s indigenous wild horses live on public land in the State of Nevada, they belong to all Americans–from San Francisco to New York City,” explains Novak. “They are icons of freedom and must not be terrorized by helicopters.”

After discovering an unpublicized yet critical hearing, Protect Mustangs requested for Nevada BLM to reschedule their public hearing, for helicopter and motorized vehicle use for roundups and management, because their public notice was too short (5 business days) and basically no one knew about it.

Unlike the California BLM who took proper action to protect public process, the Nevada BLM refused to reschedule the public hearing on helicopters so the public would have adequate notice (30 days) to attend.

On May 29th, in Carson City, Nevada, only 4 people commented in a close to empty hearing room because interested members of the public were not informed. The hearing notice was published online, 5 business days before, in a small town local paper in Mesquite, Nevada–487 miles away.

“BLM Nevada shows the American people they want to avoid engaging public input,” says Kerry Becklund, outreach director for Protect Mustangs. “Hiding public hearings from the public demonstrates a lack of transparency.”

Reno News 4 reported on Wild horse advocates say BLM jeopardized public process.

Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech

In an unsuccessful gesture to placate public outrage, BLM Nevada announced, during the hearing, they would extend the written comment period until June 12th with new comment guidelines.

Protect Mustangs and members of the public oppose BLM’s disclaimer that the agency will not safeguard the personal identifying information PII) BLM requires in order to comment. Clearly this invasion of privacy suppresses free speech. The group is asking for the PII to be minimal and for the BLM to withhold the PII if requested by the commenter.

“One of the gems of America is that the people can participate through public comment and public hearings,” says Novak. “We don’t want people to feel their rights to privacy will be violated if they speak out.”

The group continues negotiations with BLM Nevada, to reschedule the controversial Nevada helicopter hearing so members of the public may attend and give oral comment.

Members of the public are encouraged to fax the BLM head office in Washington DC to request the Nevada helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public. The fax number is: 202-208-5242. They may also email their request to Deputy Director Mike Pool at Mike_Pool@blm.gov .

Meanwhile, the group asks the public to send in their comments about using helicopters and other motorized vehicles at roundups and for other wild horse and burro management. They welcome the public to send them a copy of their comments to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org so Protect Mustangs can watchdog the process.

 # # #

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:

Reno News 4 reported 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

Posted May 21 via Mesquite Citizen Journal BLM Public Hearing Set on Management of Wild Horses and Burros: http://mesquitecitizen.com/viewnews.php?newsid=1994&id=38

May 18th BLM press release on public hearing for helicopters and motorized vehicles: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/blm_to_hold_public.html

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

Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Comment period extended but Nevada public hearing a sham http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1441

BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

Protect Mustangs website: http://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.  


Breaking News: Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech

BLM places outrageous conditions on public comment

For immediate release:

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, a Bay Area-based preservation group, asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise their conditions for receiving written comment that requires personal identifying information that BLM says they can not safeguard. What started as an issue jeopardizing public process for people who want helicopters roundups to stop has mushroomed into a free speech issue for all Americans.

“This in an invasion of privacy—a restriction of our rights of free speech,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It will stifle public participation.”

Due to the BLM’s lack of public notice for a public hearing, the preservation group released an alert titled: Government transparency and public process jeopardized. They gathered comments requesting the Nevada public hearing  be rescheduled with 30 days notice and comments against using helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management. Early Tuesday morning the group sent the comments to the Director of BLM in Washington requesting he intervene and reschedule the public hearing. Wild horse photographer, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered the comments to BLM officials at the hearing.

As a result of Protect Mustangs’ grassroots efforts and the public rallying for their right to comment,  the BLM released the press release announcing they will extend only the written comment period for the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management in Nevada.

BLM also states:

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.

The preservation group opposes BLM’s terms for public comment for 2 reasons:

1.) The controversial Nevada public hearing regarding using helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management, must be held with 30 days notice so the American public may attend and give oral comment as well as written comment.

2.) The BLM must accept written comments and protect personal identifying information if the commenter has requested their information be withheld from public view. Requested personal identifying information should not be excessive.

“Any person who requests that their personal information be safeguarded should have that right to privacy—especially by a government agency,” states Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs.

Refusing to keep personal identifying information confidential, stifles the public process because anyone can get a copy of the comments according to BLM protocol. The public wants to know their rights to privacy are ensured.

“Are the BLM’s new written comment conditions intended to suppress public comment?” asks Novak. “It’s a no-brainer that this is going to discourage people. What’s happening to America’s public process and our rights to free speech?”

 

# # #

 

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:

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Video of helicopter roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=player_embedded

Freedom of speech in the U.S.A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

 

Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.

 

 


Breaking News: Government transparency and public process jeopardized

Mustang advocates want 30 days notice for public hearings on use of Helicopters at roundups

for immediate release:

RENO (May 28, 2012)—Protect Mustangs has discovered that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scheduled an important public hearing for 10 a.m. the morning after Memorial Day weekend without adequately notifying the public. The hearing is scheduled for 10-11 a.m., at the BLM Carson City District Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, in Carson City, Nevada. The wild horse preservation group is requesting the BLM reschedule the public hearing—regarding the use of helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management—in order to give the public at least 30 days notice.

“What happened to government transparency and public process?” asks Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “With 80% of America’s federally protected indigenous wild horses and burros living on public land in Nevada, the whole country should be given adequate notice to participate in person as well as via email. Most members of the public are against helicopter roundups. Is BLM trying to sneak this by without public input?”

On Saturday, the preservation group’s website alerted the public about the hearing, after they saw it posted in the Mesquite News online.”Through our social media channels the public began to hear about the public hearing that no one knew about,” said Novak. “Even horse advocates in Carson City hadn’t heard about the hearing.”

“I live in Carson City and never heard a thing about a public hearing regarding helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management,” says photographer and wild horse advocate Cat Kindsfather. “People would like to come to the hearing from around the country but they need proper notice.”

“I live in the Carson area and just found out about the Helicopter hearing,” says Craig Downer, author and wildlife biologist. “These hearings are mandated by the law so why aren’t we being informed about them?”

“I live in Reno and only heard about the hearing today when a friend called,” says Terri Farley, author and wild horse and burro advocate. “Mustangs are the people’s horses, but BLM’s stealth meetings make it impossible for us to stand up for their welfare.”

Advocates, as well as members of the public nationwide, would like to attend the hearing but they need 30 days notice to make arrangements.

“I live in Oakland, California and I would like to speak against the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles,” says Kerry Becklund, Outreach Director for Protect Mustangs. “But I need to give my day job notice to take a vacation day.”

“I live in Houston, Texas and work overseas,” says R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, “Hearing about an important BLM meeting—only a day before it occurs—continues to stack the deck against the horses and burros as our collective voices cannot possibly be present to speak to the issue.”

“I live in Richmond, Virginia and would like to speak at the public hearing against using helicopters but I need adequate notice to make travel plans,” says wild horse advocate Lisa Friday. “30 days notice is standard. Why doesn’t the BLM notify us properly? Is this against the law?”

“I live in New York City and would like to speak at the meeting against helicopter roundups,” says Hope Smith who loves wild horses. “I want to be part of the public process but I need more notice to get out West.”

“I live on 36 acres at the base of the mountains in Arizona and would like to come to the hearing,” says Michael Blake, Academy Award-winner and author of Dances with Wolves. “Helicopter roundups are nothing but incessant warfare against life on earth . . . for money.”

The group is collecting comments against helicopter roundups to take to Tuesday morning’s hearing. Members of the public may email them to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

In the letter addressed to The BLM, Novak states, “The requirement for the public hearing was set in place to protect the public’s rights to participate in government and this must not be ignored.”

The BLM press release reads:

Before helicopters or motorized vehicles can be used, a public hearing is required in order to comply with Section 404 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The BLM proposes to use a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft and other motorized vehicles to estimate population numbers and obtain seasonal distribution information for wild horse and burro herds throughout Nevada. Also proposed is using a helicopter to assist in gathering excess wild horses and burros on gathers and complexes throughout the state during the coming year. The actual number of areas where gathers will be conducted or inventoried will depend on a number of factors including funding.

Members of the public can fax the BLM head office in Washington DC to request the helicopter hearing be rescheduled with a 30 day notice given to the public. The fax number is: 202-208-5242

Controversial helicopter roundups harass and stress wild horses and burros—stampeding them for miles, often resulting in lameness and sometimes in death.

Besides being concerned about animal cruelty at helicopter roundups, Protect Mustangs believes that helicopters flying in the desert for days or weeks emit pollution that harms the environment and contributes to global warming. The group believes motorized vehicles damage the ecosystem—hurting many forms of wildlife, such as sage grouse, and other endangered species on the range as well.

The group opposes the use of helicopter and motorized vehicles (except in a state of emergency or for an accurate population head count—not an estimate.)

“If wild horses and burros are facing a water or food emergency then bring aid out to them, but roundups, they must stop now,” states Novak. “A drought isn’t an excuse for roundups to zero out indigenous wild horses and remove them from their home on public land forever . . .”

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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

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.

Links of interest:

BLM press release on public hearing for helicopters and motorized vehicles: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/blm_to_hold_public.html

Letter requesting rescheduling helicopter hearing: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1409

Protect Mustangs alerts public about Tuesday hearing: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1385

BLM Director’s Office: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/directory/wo100_dir.html

GAO Report: Aircraft Emissions Expected to Grow, but Technological and Operational Improvements and Government Policies Can Help Control Emissions: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-554

Comments against 3 California Roundups: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1377

Wild Horses: The Stresses of Captivity https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/wild-horses-the-stresses-of-captivity/

Anne Novak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theannenovak

Protect Mustangs on YouTube

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

“Like” Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs

 

 

 

Wild horses at risk ~ Get the word out!

Wild horses exist in thriving natural ecological balance on public land ~ removals are a sham. Taxpayers are funding their management to extinction while the Bureau of Land management fails to provide the American public with an accurate head count. Inflated estimates do not justify mistreatment of our living legends of the West.

Permission given to use this photo/flyer/poster to raise awareness. Contact us if you want a jpeg.

 

Music 4 Mustangs

Wise wild stallion (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)

Saving wild horses through music.

Music 4 Mustangs‘ is a Protect Mustangs project. The mission is to raise awareness to protect American wild horses today and for future generations. Through concerts and recorded music, we will be raising money to fund various projects on and off the range.

If you are with a band and want to get involved to play a benefit concert to save the mustangs contact us: Info@Music4Mustangs.org

Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Music4Mustangs

On the web: http://www.Music4Mustangs.org

We also need volunteers.