The Bureau of Land Management (BoLM) is providing shade for the captive wild horses up for adoption at the Wyoming State Fair this weekend.
It’s time for the Wild Horse and Burro Program to follow their own example.
We would like to see the federal agency, who rakes in more than $4 billion a year in receipts, provide shade and shelter for all the captive wild horses in holding facilities. More than 43,500 people have signed our petition for shade and shelter (http://chn.ge/1DriOvN).
On June 9, 2013 Nevada State Senator Mark Manendo and Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs officially requested shade for the wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center, near Reno and elsewhere to ensure the welfare of these treasured equids. Their request for shade was refused and the sprinkler mitigation offered was unsuccessful because shelter is needed.
Now it is the summer of 2016 and due to public pressure some facilities are taking baby steps and some are conducting trials but it’s not enough. America’s captive icons of freedom deserve shade now!
The BoLM partnered with UC Davis for an expensive shade study that determined wild horses don’t need shade when they are in the corrals. It’s obvious they like having access to shade and use it as seen in the photo taken at Palomino Valley Center last week. The BoLM continues to conduct various shade trials while the years fly by and the wild ones suffer. Please sign and share the petition (http://chn.ge/1DriOvN) to get the BoLM to stop dragging their feet and do the right thing before more wild horses die.
Send this blog post to your congressional representative and two senators so they can get this done for the captives in the pens with no voice.
Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
“Meet Tarzan, a 6-7 week old colt orphaned during an ’emergency’ roundup of the Seaman NV herd. He was fortunate to be adopted by photographer Jeanne Nations who used an old tarp to make him this simple shaded shelter in the corner of his paddock. It’s Tarzan’s shade, shelter & sanctuary. Do the foals at Palomino Valley need and deserve any less?” ~ Carl Mrozek, filmmaker and Advisory Board Member of Protect Mustangs.
Read Jeanne’s description of Tarzan’s attachment to his shady retreat:
“Tarzan wanders in and out of the shelter all day. He will go eat some hay, drink water then go back to the shade, especially during the hot afternoons where he’ll take siestas. If he ‘s frightened by dogs, thunder, loud noises…anything, he’ll run there. It’s his safe haven and he spends the night there too.
Summer temps here hit 90-95 degrees & sometimes the 100s, so there is definitely a need for horses to have shade and burros too.”
Jeanne is planning a more permanent shelter, but didn’t want Tarzan to suffer through the heat of summer without some kind of shade. Why can’t BLM do the same ? They demand no less from all adopters!”
The BLM Workshop in Reno eroded down to a presentation of BLM spin with:
1.) Ph.D.s making statements with NO EVIDENCE and NO RESEARCH on native wild horses. (FYI the Ph.Ds’ research is only on DOMESTIC horses)
2.) A facility DVM avoiding questions regarding the true number of DEAD foals
3.) Fabulous questions repeated but NOT answered by the BLM nor their contractors.
4.) BLM personnel NOT providing answers to questions and evading transparency.
One of the Ph.D.s explained the “basic necessities’ for humane horse care yet she avoided listing “shelter”. That same Ph.D. is known for citing failure to provide shelter as “Neglect”.
Anne Novak, our Executive Director, asked her, “Why are you not including shelter as a necessity in your presentation but are putting it over into a secondary category of optional horse care elements? Why are you saying this when you wrote a paper titled “Managing Equine Neglect Cases” in which it states at the top, in the definitions, quote, ‘NEGLECT: is the failure to provide proper shelter, food, or water. Neglect may also include failure to provide veterinary care to a horse that is ill or injured.”
The Ph.D. avoided the question and made the statement that her study was for California domestic horses not wild horses.
Captive wild horses deserve shade.
Adopters are required to provide not just shade but also shelter in order to adopt a wild horse that the BLM wants to dispose of.
We ask you~
Should the BLM be allowed different care standards than they demand of their adopters?
Why is a Ph.D.s skewing their published studies and standards of care to avoid requiring shelter for wild horses?
Later the workshop facilitator was pushing for the attendees to accept the BLM’s idea to give shelter to only the sick and injured wild horses but advocates would not be duped into supporting such an offer. Advocates stayed on focus and requested shelter for all captive wild horses and burros.
During the meeting, Anne Novak was in communication with Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM and President of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter. She presented his statement that “All captive wild horses must have access to shade at the Palomino Valley facility.”
We are grateful the advocates in the room and many viewing the web transmission saw through the Delphi Technique used at the meeting and left more empowered and unified to get shade and shelter for the wild horses at Palomino Valley Center and elsewhere.
We want to thank our supporters who donated toward the gas to get the Protect Mustangs delegation to the meeting.
Video Investigation reveals wild horses are dying in the heat wave!
As a result of public outcry, the Bureau of Land Management is holding a public workshop at the Reno City Council Chamber in Reno, Nev., on Aug. 6 from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.
4 horses died during the last heat wave but only 3 deaths (A,C,D) could be related to the heat wave. (see email from BLM below). Strangles is a respiratory illness (Equine Distemper). Horses with repiratory illness have a higher chance of death when enduring a heat wave, because they are already having difficulty breathing and the heat aggrivates that.
BLM’s Debbie Collins responds to Anne Novak’s email:
So, I am listing a response to the specific questions you submitted to Jeb below:1. How many unbranded foals, etc. have died from June 27 to July? Jeb has already provided you a response to this, but at this time no records are kept on unbranded animals that die.3. For the listed time period, what were the dates of any deaths, how old were the horses and what were their id #s?A. #12620475 – 1yr old Female – Died 6/28/13 from stranglesB. #06619316 – 7yr old Gelding – Died 6/28/13 from Neck/Head injuryC. #10617585 – 3yr old Female – Died 6/30/13 from Unknown*D. #12619358 – 1yr old Female – Died 7/2/13 from Unknown*
* PVC’s Vet and staff reported no signs of heat-related symptoms prior to the deaths of #10617585 & #12619358. In addition, these animals had a continuous supply of water, quality hay, and sprinklers present; therefore, there was no life or death issue present. It is not always possible to make a determination of the cause of death. But, if the BLM has any future deaths at PVC that are not associated with a particular illness or injury, a necropsy will be performed.
“It will be almost two weeks ago that I sent the letter to Congressman Raúl Grijalva of Arizona stating that the wild horses and burros need shade at the long and short term holding facilities that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, especially at the Palomino Valley Complex near Reno, Nevada,” explains Dr. Lester Friedlander, BA, DVM. “I am shocked and dismayed to see the photograph of the dead horse in the middle of the pen. I explicitly told of the danger of high temperatures that could take the toll on those horses. This death and others could have been prevented if the authorites in charge of that facility would have taken the proper procedures to protect the horses. This is an American Tragedy and I pray that no more wild horses or burros succumb to such an excruciating death.”
“The BLM’s historic disregard for America’s wild horses is a global embarrassment,” states Anne Novak. “We hope the new Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, will intervene to bring them shade and call for a moratorium on roundups for population studies, based on science of course. They’re underpopulated on the range now. That’s why they are breeding at a higher rate–to prevent extinction.”
BREAKING NEWS: Citizen investigation reveals wild horses are sick and dying at national adoption center without shade
Video report calls for Secretary Jewell to intervene with emergency shelters
RENO,Nv (July 8 2013)–Protect Mustangs is releasing a preliminary video report of captive wild horses denied shade in the recent triple-digit heat wave. Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs, America’s indigenous horse conservation group, has been leading a nationwide outreach campaign (#Shade4Mustangs) on Facebook and Twitter to bring shade to captive wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center outside Reno, and elsewhere. Last week’s heat wave broke records. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) refused to install shade despite Novak and Senator Mark Manendo’s requests, outcry from the public and other groups. Protect Mustangs conducted a field investigation during the heat wave with the help of Reno photographer Taylor James, Jim Hart the President of Liberty for Horses and Dennis Walker. The video report calls for the new Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell, to have compassion and bring emergency shade because captive mustangs are sick and dying. In the wild they can migrate to shade and cooler zones. Trapped in pens it’s cruel to deny them access to shade and shelter.
“The BLM’s historic disregard for America’s wild horses is a global embarrassment,” states Anne Novak. “We hope the new Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, will intervene to bring them shade and call for a moratorium on roundups for population studies, based on science of course. They’re underpopulated on the range now. That’s why they are breeding at a higher rate–to prevent extinction.”
The heat wave investigation found horses without shade who appear to have respiratory illness, as well as ones who have other illneses and diseases. They are exhausted from repeated exposure to triple-digit temperatures, sore, stiff, probably lame foals, lactating mares, and young wild horses who also appear dehydrated, obese horses, hot sweaty horses and hot horses not sweating, young horses not wanting to get up and eat, who are ill or dying as well as a dead filly the group named “Shadow”.
When the summer heat started to rise on June 9th Anne Novak & Senator Manendo officially called for shade for more than 1,800 captive wild horses at Palomino Valley Center, the largest short-term federal holding facility in America.
Novak uses Facebook & Twitter to reach thousands of people through her widespread outreach. Celebrities such as Daryl Hannah, and Holly Marie Combs graciously shared out Novak’s calls for shade.
On June 24, 2013, esteemed Dr. Lester Friedlander BA DVM called for an emergency action to bring shelter to the wild horses and burros.
Novak continued to contact elected officials, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) personnel and the newly appointed Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, requesting shade to prevent deaths from the upcoming heat wave. To this date she has not heard back from Secretary Jewell.
No shade was provided in triple-digit heat–only a handful of ineffective sprinklers for “mitigation”. Neither Protect Mustangs nor Dr. Friedlander suggested using sprinklers. They requested shade and shelter.
Dr. Friedlander DVM and Anne Novak warned the Bureau of Land Management that the wild horses would suffer disease, infections and heat related deaths without shelter from the heat.
Protect Mustangs has been working with Dr. Lester Friedlander BA, DVM, photographer Taylor James, Jim Hart, President of Liberty for Horses, Dennis Walker and other advocates to document the fiasco during the record-breaking heat wave and advocate for change–shelters for wild horses and burros in holding facilities.
Despite the BLM’s ‘sprinkler mitigation’ PR campaign, the Protect Mustangs’ investigation found sick, sore, horses as well as a dead filly hours before the BLM facility official, Jeb Beck, gave Fox News an interview about the ‘sprinklers’.
“We witnessed several young wild horses who would not get up,” says Jim Hart, President of Liberty for Horses. “They were just lying there. The heat wave seemed to have taken its toll on them. Then we found ‘Shadow’ who had died. The horses in the pen were coming over as if to say good-bye. When we came back to the pen later Shadow’s body had disappeared.”
Eye witnesses have documented the following during the heat wave:
1.) Triple-digit temperatures
2.) No shade and no relief from the record-breaking heat
3.) No shelter from the strong winds and dust storms
4.) One or No sprinklers seen (depending on the day)
5.) Wild horses stayed away from the sprinkler.
6.) Lactating mares and foals appeared depressed, sore and dehydrated
7..) Horses with bad hoof care
8.) A lot of depressed horses and possibly ill horses
9.) Horses missing their tags
10.) Horses with respiratory illness
11.) Obese horses
12.) Yearlings and other horses who were lying down, breathing hard and not getting up to eat.
13.) Most of them had severe gas
14.) A dead bay filly named Shadow in the pens
15.) The dead filly named Shadow “disappeared” when they came back to the pen
The public wants to know “How many had died? And why is the BLM hiding the deaths?”
Novak has requested the mortality count during the heat wave since June 27 and wants to know the number of sick horses also. Witnesses Hart & Walker asked to view the sick pens but were denied permission to view from a distance.
Palomino Valley Center doesn’t keep track of the dead unbranded foals according to Heather Emmons Jasinki, Public Affairs Officer for the Bureau of Land Management.
“We are requesting immediate transparency and accountability for the mortality rates at all facilities as well as shade and shelter for the captive wild horses and burros,” states Novak. “These wild horses should be living with their families in freedom on the range not enduring cruelty in a government holding pen. Is it time for another agency–without a conflict of interest–to manage America’s native wild horses and burros?”
Less than 18,000 native wild horses and burros are estimated to be living in freedom in all ten western states combined. Today more than 50,000 are stockpiled in government funded holding–at risk of disappearing into the slaughter pipeline. Horse advocates want to see them returned to the range.
The National Academy of Sciences has stated there is no accurate population count. Protect Mustangs, AANHCP and other horse advocate groups know that when a scientific population study is done, the numbers will be very low.
The BLM’s population numbers have been inflated by BLM to justify costly roundups and removals for the public land grab and industrialization.
“The BLM requires adopters to provide ‘access to shelter’ so why aren’t they doing the same?” asks Dennis Walker from Northern California. “It was horrible to see these horses surfing with no shade.”
“They are all so sweet and young,” says James. “I’ve been visiting them sometimes twice a day, to check on them. They would be flaring their nostrils and after the first day they didn’t sweat as much. I was worried. After a few days some would not eat but clearly were weak and dehydrated. They should have never been removed from the range, It’s not fair that Shadow died because the BLM didn’t want to give them shade while they sit in their air conditioned offices, drinking their fresh, cold water.”
This #MustangMonday, July 8th, we are calling on the good people of America to call and fax their Senators and Representatives asking they intervene to get #Shade4Mustangs at the Palomino Valley Center near Reno, NV.
This is a federal issue and that means voices all around America count. Contact information for your elected officials is here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Lead contact for this action is Tami Hottes, Protect Mustangs’ Outreach Coordinator for the Midwest and South.
Check back here and “Like” us on Facebook for more updates
Photo taken by Taylor James on July 1, 2013 at Palomino Valley where the BLM employees refuse to give the 1,800 wild horses shade in the triple-digit heat wave.
