News & Events

Six New Members of Our Saving America’s Mustangs Family

Six New Members of Our Saving America’s Mustangs Family

I am pleased to introduce six new members of our SAM family and their amazing trainers who worked so hard with them!

All six mustangs competed in the 2012 Extreme Mustang Makeover and are now the newest members of our team! We can’t wait to show you more updates and photos!! Aren’t they just beautiful?!

Xo Madeleine Pickens

Jerry Jones and Sugar

Logan Leach and Kiowa

Betsy Moles and Annie Oakley

Teryn Muench and Jade

Tate Weber and Q.T.

J-Dub Weisiger and Little Roan Riding Hood

A Sneak Peek at Mustang Monument!

SAM Cam Update: Madeleine Pickens Addresses Questions from CBS Video

SAM Cam Update: Madeleine Pickens Addresses Questions from CBS Video

Madeleine Pickens Will Not Take No for An Answer

Madeleine Pickens Will Not Take No for An Answer

Newsdate:
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 - 01:12 PM
Location:
RENO, Nevada

After more than two years of hard work, Madeleine Pickens and The Saving America’s Mustangs (Foundation) are continuing to work toward getting the BLM and the federal government to allow the creation of a wild horse sanctuary and has offered the federal government a proposal to resolve their dilemma of excess horses, solve their administrative challenges, and provide a permanent home for these horses.

Madeleine Picken’s alternative that will save taxpayers tremendous amounts of money.  She has purchased land (with her own money) in northern Nevada on which she plans to build a wild horse sanctuary.

Her plan is to then donate it to a non-profit foundation, add public range land, and create an eco-tourism center where the horses that are already living in holding pens in captivity could go to live and roam freely.  The combined property would encompass more than 900 square miles.

In addition to saving the lives of horses and saving taxpayers money, Madeleine plans for this sanctuary to be a “living museum” where families can visit and stay while they learn about Native American culture and watch the wild horses roaming freely.

When asked by one interviewer “What’s your concern if you can’t make this work out with the government?” Madeleine’s unhesitating reply was:

“I’m going to make this work.  This is divine intervention.  No question it’s going to work.  I’ve been on it for two years.  There’s no question it should have never taken this long, but the government’s going to have to listen…”

Under the proposal, the Foundation would purchase and operate a ranch for the sole purpose of providing proper care and a perpetual home for the horses.

This ranch would have year-long grazing capability, federal and private land for management flexibility, sufficient private land for hay production for at least 20,000 head during hard times of drought, deep snow, and rangeland fire, plus adequate water and sufficient size to support a minimum herd of this size.

The Foundation would enter into a contract or cooperative agreement, as already stipulated in the Wild Horse and Burro Act, with the Secretary of Interior to relocate the 9,000 wild horses currently held in short term holding corrals to the ranch, and to accept future non-adopted wild horses.

The total population of horses on the ranch would be determined by its carrying capacity (approximately 20,000 to 30,000 head).  The horse population would be managed as a non reproductive herd.

The Foundation will be able to take an additional 2,000 to 4,000 animals annually from future government wild horse gathers.  With abundant forage, water, and acreage will provide for a near normal life expectancy of wild horses on the ranch.

In turn, there will be no further need for BLM utilizing holding pens to hold horses for years is eliminated.  This is good for the government having a readily available permanent home for the horses which will ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands.  Taxpayers will save tens of millions annually.

SOURCE: EquiMed

CBS This Morning- Feature About Mustang Monument Eco-Preserve

Please thank CBS This Morning for spotlighting this issue and let them know you would like to see more about Mustang Monument and our plan. This only touches the surface of what is really going on and needs to be done.

Your friend,
Madeleine Pickens & all the mustangs

Click Here to Learn More About Our Eco-Preserve Plan

1. Why are there over 40,000 Wild Horses in holding facilities and not Home on the Range?
Most of the wild horses and burros on public rangelands are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which is managed by multiple use mandates, and is a branch of the Department of the Interior.  These public rangelands are located in grazing areas that are controlled by private land and water rights.  In stressful times, due to drought or other environmental factors, the BLM has no choice but to remove animals from the public rangelands while livestock producers will move their animals to private lands with water and high forage productivity within these grazing areas.  BLM is restricted in managing Wild Horses and Burros on public rangelands because the water and irrigated pastures in these areas are private property.  Also, the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 prohibits the relocation of these animals to other public rangeland where they were not found at the passage of this Act.

The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service are charged to protect, manage, and control wild horses and burros under the authority of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to ensure healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands.  These federal agencies attempt to manage wild horses and burros as part of their multiple-use mission under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.

BLM’s key challenge in its wild horse and burro program is to maintain the appropriate management level of approximately 27,300 animals on rangelands set aside in 1971 for horses and burros in the West.  That is the number of free-roaming horses and burros the Bureau determined can roam on BLM-managed lands in balance with other uses, such as livestock and wildlife grazing.

As of 2008, there were more than 33,000 wild horses and burros roaming on BLM-managed lands, a population that exceeds the BLM appropriate management level by some 5,700 animals.  Removed from their natural homes are more than 35,000 additional wild horses and burros held in corrals (short-term holding: STH) and private pastures (long-term holding: LTH).

Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years.  As a result, the agencies remove thousands of animals from their designated rangelands each year to ensure herd sizes are consistent with the land’s capacity to support them and adequate feed is available for livestock and wildlife which share these designated lands.  From 2001 to 2008, the BLM removed more than 79,000 wild horses and burros from their rangelands while placing only 47,000 into private care through adoption.

The dilemma of excess horses became impossible for the BLM to solve when the existing long-term holding private pastures were filled to capacity and no additional private land pastures were found.  Now, horses and burros are kept in corrals with no solution to their plight and have struck up a lot of controversy all over the nation with animal advocates. In 2008, the cost of holding these animals in corrals exceeded $27 million, accounting for three-fourths of the 2008 enacted funding level of $36.2 million for the total wild horse and burro program.  If current removal and holding practices continue, annual funding for the total wild horse and burro program, funded by American Taxpayers, would rise to approximately $85 million by 2012, and an estimated additional 20,000 horses will be stood up in pens.

With no strategy to relocate these excess animals to a permanent home, the BLM just keeps putting gathered animals into more and more corrals year after year.  The cost of holding these animals continues to increase annually and money allocated for proper herd management instead goes to feeding captive animals.  With inappropriate use of herd management money, to ensure herd sizes are consistent with the land’s capacity to support them, the BLM now irresponsibly allows the herds to continue to grow so more horses will eventually be captured and put into corrals.  So, every year more and more taxpayer dollars go into feeding penned up horses and less and less taxpayer dollars are used for rangeland herd management.

2. Why do we need a Private Foundation to save Wild Horses and Burros?
Western rangelands have had a violent history of range wars in which whoever controlled the water controlled the adjacent federal grazing lands which is the BLM lands.  The only practical solution to finding an appropriate permanent home for the excess horses is for a Private Foundation which owns these private water rights and irrigated pastures, in cooperation with BLM, operate a very large ranch.  A public/private ranch can ensure a healthy herd thriving on healthy rangelands.

The Saving America’s Mustangs (Foundation) offered the federal government such a proposal to resolve their dilemma of excess horses solve their administrative challenges and provide a permanent home for these horses.

Under the proposal, the Foundation would purchase and operate a ranch for the sole purpose of providing proper care and a perpetual home for the horses.  This ranch would have yearlong grazing capability, federal and private land for management flexibility, sufficient private land for hay production for at least 20,000 head during grave times (drought, deep snow, and rangeland fire), adequate water and sufficient size to support a minimum herd of this size.

The Foundation would enter into a contract or cooperative agreement, as already stipulated in the Wild Horse and Burro Act, with the Secretary of Interior to relocate the 9,000 wild horses currently held in short term holding corrals to the ranch, and to accept future non-adopted wild horses. The total population of horses on the ranch would be determined by its carrying capacity (approximately 20,000 to 30,000 head).  The horse population would be managed as a non reproductive herd.

The Foundation will be able to take an additional 2,000 to 4,000 animals annually from future government wild horse gathers.  With abundant forage, water, and acreage will provide for a near normal life expectancy of wild horses on the ranch.  In turn, there will be no further need for BLM utilizing holding pens to hold horses for years is eliminated.  This is good for the government having a readily available permanent home for the horses which will ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands.  Taxpayers will save tens of millions annually.

3. Why does the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 need to be amended to save Wild Horses and Burros?
This Act needs to be amended to ensure that excess wild horse and burros can be provided long-term care on western rangelands including public and private lands.  The Act prohibits moving these animals to other public rangeland where they were not found at the passage of the Act.  Congress and the Secretary of Interior should insist these excess wild horses and burros be allowed to freely roam on the range instead of be confined in corrals.

The Wild Horse and Burro Act need amended.  Section 10 of the Wild Horse and Burro Act states:  “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to relocate wild free-roaming horses or burros to areas of the public lands where they do not presently exist.” An amendment to exempt this provision would allow the Secretary to relocate wild horses to suitable ranches with public and private lands.  Relocation should be authorized only if the Secretary enters into a Cooperative Agreement to form a partnership using the private and public lands to provide for a permanent home for horses.

Amazingly, the Wild Horse and Burro Act already states:  “The Secretary is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with other landowners and with the State and local governmental agencies and may issue such regulations as he deems necessary for the furtherance of the purposes of this Act.”  An amendment will allow the Secretary to enter into a Cooperative Agreement using both private and public lands for permanent protection, management, and control of excess non-reproductive wild horse herds.

The Cooperative Agreement would guarantee:
(a)  Public lands would be administered by BLM for permanent protection, management, and care of excess wild horses.
(b)  Grazing capacity on public lands shall be determined by the agency using scientific fundamentals of healthy rangelands.
(c) The agency can authorize the periods of use and temporary grazing use on adjacent public grazing allotments with the consent of adjacent livestock operators.
(d)  Appropriated funds would be provided for maintenance of range improvements on public lands.
(e) The fiduciary responsibilities of the federal government for wild horses on the Foundation ranch are stipulated.
(f) Appropriate due diligence is conducted to qualify applicants and ranches.

The Wild Horse and Burro Act amendment needs to define the fiduciary responsibility of the federal government for their horses. Short- term holding contracts currently cost taxpayers $5.75 per day per horse for feeding and watering horses.  An amendment will allow the Secretary to enter into an agreement for permanent protection, management, and care of excess non reproductive wild horse herds at a substantially lower cost.

4. What can you do to save these excess 30,000 Wild Horses and Burros held in holding facilities?
Write letters to your Senators and Congressmen supporting an amendment to the Wild Horse and Burro Act.  Ask them to provide authority to the Secretary of Interior to relocate excess wild horses to exclusive horse ranches containing public land.  Ask them to provide adequate funding through cooperative agreements between the Secretary and private Foundations for permanent protection, management, and care of wild horses removed from their homes on the range. Each Take Action button on our homepage will send an email to your state’s representative and President Obama.

5. Why do we need to create a Wild Horse Sanctuary?
The purpose of the Sanctuary is to use private and federal lands to provide long-term care and permanent protection for non-adopted wild horses and burros that have been removed from federal rangelands.  Currently over 9,000 of these wild animals are rounded up off the range by low-flying helicopters contracted by the BLM and are then confined in pens year after year.  They are provided water and feed, but no shade, no room to roam, no escape from the heat or cold by moving to the other side of the mountain, and no clean spot to roll.

The federal government needs the support of private rangelands to move these animals to a safe and clean environment.

6. How many wild horses can the Saving America’s Mustangs Ranch support?
Two thirds of the Ranch is high summer range and one third of the ranch is low winter range combined with a large farming operation which provide ample year around forage.

A river runs through the middle of the ranch with several large reservoirs and many hundreds of springs to provide abundant water for forage production, horses and wildlife.

The stocking level of horses will be phased in over time, starting with about 10,000 animals and increasing about 4,000 animals per year until the appropriate stocking rate is reached.  This phase-in of stocking is necessary for additional forage production projects to come on line.

The maximum number of horses the ranch can support is near 30,000. (Please see Addendum)

7. Can the Saving America’s Mustangs Ranch be managed without negative environmental impacts?
Rangeland and Animal Husbandry professionals will be on staff to ensure animal and rangeland health are protected, on both private and federal lands with additional oversight from the appropriate federal land management authority.

The land use planning process for federal lands already includes environmental concerns and wildlife needs into their grazing program.  The private lands on the Ranch currently provide most of the outdoor recreation (hunting and fishing) opportunities for this area and an important revenue stream for the ranch.  The Saving America’s Mustangs Ranch plans to enhance these recreation opportunities and revenue streams through wildlife habitat improvements on private lands.

Private lands with water rights on the Ranch offer the flexibility with intensive agricultural practices to provide forage for over 30,000 horses, if for some emergency; forage is not available on the open rangeland.

8. How can you keep 30,000 head of wild horses from escaping the Ranch?
The Ranch boundary is securely fenced.  Fenced railroad & highway right-of-ways are major portions of the boundary.  The fenced boundary in the high country would not be pressured by large numbers of horses.  The high country boundary fences may be damaged as a result of winter snow and ice, but would be inspected and repaired prior to the horses returning to the high country each season.  Agreements would be honored to ensure a good neighbor policy.

Cattleguards would be installed on all roads that access through the ranch boundary.

9. What kind of conflicts may exist between wildlife and wild horses on the Saving America’s Mustangs Ranch?
Very little conflict is anticipated.  Wild horses have roamed tens of millions of acres in the West for hundreds of years without conflict with other animals native to North America.

Water sources are numerous on the ranch so there is no concern of horses limiting the availability of water for wildlife species.

Open spaces are plentiful for horses and wildlife in the spring, summer, and fall, but limited in the winter.  The Saving America’s Mustangs Ranch is very fortunate to have one third of the ranch as winter range, including the hay meadows and irrigated fields.  Most of the winter range is private land which will accommodate both horses and wildlife needs during the harsh winters of major snow events and sub zero weather.  Elk, deer, and horses will concentrate on the private land winter range during these major winter events, which is critical to their survival.

10. Could there be impacts to federal land users, adjacent land owners, local communities, county, or state government by changing use from cattle to horses on the Saving America’s Mustangs Ranch?
Legitimate negative impacts are hard to find because:
(a) BLM lands used as a wild horse eco-sanctuary do not preclude any valid existing rights or public land laws for existing land uses.
(b) Federal water rights are not reserved on BLM lands used as a wild horse eco-sanctuary.
(c) The authority of Nevada Department of Wildlife is not precluded on BLM lands used as a wild horse sanctuary.
(d) The Foundation will be a non-profit agricultural business which would employ many businesses and personnel knowledgeable in agricultural practices associated with forage production and animal husbandry.
(e) The Foundation will always maintain its legal rights to private property or options to return to a traditional livestock business or any other private business venture when the opportunity arrives.
(f) A goal of the Foundation is to preserve the Western Heritage Culture.

The biggest impact of the Ranch to its neighbors and surrounding communities is the attraction of perhaps a million and half visitors to Northeast Nevada per year.  These visitors may be accommodated in the nearby communities and business leaders may need time for planning and implementation to accommodate the influx of visitors.

11. Will the federal government acquire any private lands within the ranch if the foundation ceases to exist?
If the Ranch ever ceases to be used as a wild horse eco-sanctuary, the private land will remain private and the federal lands within the ranch will remain federal and continue to be managed for multiple use purposes.

The Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary intends to be a good neighbor by being open and accessible, ensuring fences are maintained and the horses don’t escape, and allow public access to the ranch.

The foundation is being created to protect and care for the wild horses and to allow citizens from around the world to come to the ranch to see thousands of free roaming wild horses.  To achieve these goals, the Foundation will be active in the community promoting eco-tourism, hire within the local area, which will stimulate the economy in Nevada, and have open communication the adjoining ranches to ensure strong fences are maintained and horses are contained to their own million acre ranch.

12. Why do taxpayers have to pay the Foundation to care for and protect wild horses relocated from government pens to the ranch?
Costs to the American taxpayer over the next decade are approximately $1 billion dollars if nothing changes. The Saving America’s Mustangs Foundation will save taxpayers approximately $700 to $800 million dollars with this plan.

The foundation costs are much lower than the government program, but the foundation still needs money to manage the ranch, the farm, repair the fences, install new irrigation, rebuild homes for the help, and care for the horses.

13. How can the federal government be assured that the foundation is capable of managing and caring for the thousands of horses they will receive and provide long term health of both the horses and the rangeland?
The Foundation expects the same level of agency professional oversight the federal government provides for other lands it manages.  The Foundation expects to enter into a contract with the government whereby it provides information on the experience of its personnel, the current carrying capacity of the ranch, the proposed increased carrying capacity, inspection of fences, waters, working facilities, and accurate count and condition of horses.  We expect similar contract stipulations that the government requires of other ranches caring for wild horses on private land.

14. Why not acquire a small ranch which can support between 500 to 1,000 horses where the forage is more plentiful and the overall ranch price is lower so the ranch could be managed without government funding?
The selected ranch is the most acceptable for the horses needs.  It has the capacity to hold all the horses on private land during emergency situations.  It has sufficient size to accommodate over 30,000 wild horses currently held captive in pens.  It has ample forage and open space to accommodate thousands of additional animals removed from federal rangeland for years to come.  It saves the taxpayers millions of dollars annually.

15. Are there other benefits the Foundation proposal provides the government?
The Foundation provides the government with: (1) abundant long term capacity for horses at about the same cost, $500 per year per horse, as its current long term holding facilities, (2) significant savings considering the cost of short-term holding is about $2000 per year per horse, (3) an alternative to attempting to locate more long term holding capacity on private lands through standard contracting procedures and (4) reduced shipping cost of relocating horses from western states to central states.

16. Why does BLM have so many horses in Short Term Holding?
With economic down turn the public is less interested in adopting wild horses.  BLM typically adopts about half the animals they gather each year.

BLM cannot find interested parties to enter into long term contracts to care for the horses.

BLM removes thousands of wild horses annually to protect rangeland vegetation from overgrazing by wildlife, cattle and wild horses.

17. Does it make sense that the BLM relocate excess wild horses to other federal and private lands which has capacity for wild horses, if the WH&BA is amended to provide the Secretary of Interior this authority?
Yes. If directed by the Secretary of Interior the BLM can enter into cooperative agreements for an individual or organization to care for and protect the wild horses.

18. What kinds of attractions will the Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary provide for visitors?
The wild horse eco-sanctuary will be a patriotic place designed for people of all ages to come and see their land; a place that will show how the American West came to be and why the wild horse is such an integral part to our American history and heritage. Visitors will have an opportunity to stay on the land, see the mustangs roaming freely, and appreciate their beautiful natural habitat like they never have before.

There will be electronic classrooms, complete with educators and educational seminars about the wild horses and Native American history. Guided hikes through the terrain, camping in teepees, and special campfires with musical storytelling will be just some of the many fun activities.

We will also have creative writing, photography, and ecology workshops that guests can sign up for. Eventually, we will create a farm to grow organic fruits and vegetables for guests and the animals, as well as teach children how to take care of their environment.
There will be plenty of eco-friendly lodging, such as teepees and cabins. We also intend to accommodate visitors with special needs and invite groups to use our facilities. There will be covered wagon day trips to see the mustangs, and it will surely be a world class experience that will be remembered and shared long after the stay.

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Inmates train America’s wild horses to help enforce U.S. border security

Inmates train America’s wild horses to help enforce U.S. border security
Paul McGuire, of the Bureau of Land Management office in Moore, OK, assists with coordination of the regional program between America’s wild horses and the Border Patrol.

BY SONYA COLBERG scolberg@opubco.com  
Published: January 2, 2012

About midnight, the two mustangs stopped their soft munching.

The U.S. Border Patrol agents quietly had tied their inmate-trained mustangs among thorny shrubs just north of the Rio Grande.

Agent Audra Wannemacher and her partner had information that smugglers would be trying to cross the border illegally from Mexico into the U.S.

With a cunning earned running public rangeland with thousands of other wild horses, the agents’ horses wove through the cactus plants and scrub brush that thwarted the Border Patrol’s white-and-green trucks and ATVs. The agents tracked the group about a mile, while agents farther north moved in to try to box in the group.

The two partners waited in the darkness at the edge of a cliff.

Suddenly, Wannemacher’s black gelding Nitro turned and looked at the agents. Then he and the other horse looked in another direction. They looked again at the agents and away again.

“Hey, can you look over in this direction? I think the horses are trying to tell us something,” Wannemacher said to the agent with the night vision device.

The horses had “alerted” on 30 people crossing the road in the direction the agents hadn’t been watching. Springing into their saddles, the agents could see a half-dozen illegal immigrants climbing the cliff.

They asked them in Spanish to give up. Some did. But more scattered into the black night, igniting a blaze of crashing hooves, horse hide and body-armored agents behind them.

Nitro flattened his ears and galloped after one running immigrant. His black hooves pounded through the darkness, closer and closer to the illegal immigrant. The man stopped, raised his arms and gave up.

“The horses could smell them before we could see them. And with their hearing, they can pick up the noises before we can. They kind of alert to it. Now that they’ve been out there for a few months, they’re picking up on what they’re here to do. It’s very helpful to have those heightened senses of the horses,” Wannemacher said.

She said the agents and their horses caught 21 of the 30 people that night.

Since October, the 11 mounted agents have arrested 784 people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally along the Rio Grande Valley Sector, which snakes over 316 miles from Brownsville, Texas, to Falcon Heights, Texas, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Mary Olivares said. They’ve also seized more than 6,000 pounds of marijuana in the two months.

The mustangs are part of a new partnership in which the Border Patrol adopts wild horses caught on public land by Bureau of Land Management contractors and then trained by prisoners.

Olivares said the former wild horses bring to their jobs something beyond the ruggedness, stealth and instincts of prey animals that must use their hooves and intellect to survive in the wild.

“They make a huge psychological impact. Huge. All you can hear is this thunderous sound behind you. All you hear is hooves. They’re pretty scary,” Olivares said.

Paul McGuire, of the Bureau of Land Management office in Moore, assists with coordination of the regional program between America’s wild horses and the Border Patrol.

“We’re not only working to preserve mustangs as valued icons of the American West and providing Border Patrol with a very useful tool to secure the border, but also providing a program that helps with inmates’ introduction back into society,” McGuire said.

The program began in 2007 with Colorado prisoners training wild horses for the Border Patrol, or private use. It has grown to more than 130 trained mustangs.

The inmate training program just began for the Rio Grande sector, which had been leasing horses to patrol that section of the border.

Olivares said she was initially skeptical when it was suggested that her team look for Border Patrol horse prospects at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas. She said it seemed risky to use horses to patrol the border after just 60 to 90 days of training.

When the team visited the prison to look at mustangs the first time in June, she pictured herself getting bucked off. Instead, she found horses with a solid foundation. Suddenly, her team faced an unexpected dilemma.

“It was almost like “American Idol.” Out of 10 or 12 head, we could bring back just six,” Olivares said.

Assessing the talent, they had to turn down a couple of horses that seemed a little lazy, along with the palomino whose golden coat and white mane and tail would reflect light and catch unwanted attention on patrol.

“If I go to pick up a horse from someone locally, you don’t know what training they’ve had. With these, I know their foundation. I know where they were started. And I know who did the job and I know they do a fantastic job,” Olivares said.

“We’ve gotten 11 so far, and we wouldn’t even consider taking one back.”

She said, even considering the cost of feed, shelter and other expenses, the mustangs have saved the sector about $100,000.

Cents and sense

The Hutchinson prison has a partnership with the bureau to pasture about 300 formerly wild horses that are 5 years old or older or haven’t been adopted for other reasons. The prison receives from the bureau $3.40 per horse per day, or about $372,300 yearly.

From these horses, Dexter Hedrick, wild horse and burro training program manager, and lead trainer Dion Pope select horses to be trained by inmates for adoption by the public or Border Patrol.

“Horses are very smart animals. They will alert the agent to the movement of people before the agents can see it. They’re actually doing the agents’ jobs in a lot of ways,” Hedrick said.

They typically have about 20 or more wild horses in training with inmates who must qualify for the program.

The men make 25 cents to 60 cents per hour, though an occasional rider may get up to $3 per hour. Hedrick said the peak pay for most other jobs at the minimum-security prison is $1.05 per day.

Those who get past their fear or already have some horse sense go on to teach the horses basic maneuvers such as “stop,” “back up” and “walk sideways” so the rider can open and close gates. Instead of the prison corrals turning into a wild West scene of flashing spurs and terrified broncos, Hedrick described a “horse whisperer” approach in which they train the horses as gently as possible.

“I feel blessed to be able, at my age, to do something for my country. Being 60, I can’t join the military, can’t be in the Border Patrol. But I can get these horses ready for the Border Patrol,” Hedrick said.

Hedrick said the program offers a second chance for both horses and humans.

“It’s good for the guys, and it’s good for the public,” Hedrick said.

“You can see changes in the guys. Now, they’ve got something to care about. Something to be responsible for.”

A wild horse stand warily as a prisoner at Hutchington Correctional Facility pats the animal, one of the steps in gentling horses. Some of the captured, trained mustangs are adopted by the U.S. Border Patrol to tighten security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HUTCHINGTON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

SOURCE: News OK

Mustang Plan Riles the West

Mustang Plan Riles the West

Some Fear for Wild Horses’ Fighting Spirit as Castration Is Proposed to Thin Herd

By STEPHANIE SIMON

Federal wildlife managers are fighting in court to take the unprecedented step of castrating 200 wild stallions in Nevada, in an effort to control surging populations of wild horses across the West.

Animal-rights activists oppose the plan, which they contend would strip the wild stallions of their fighting spirit and change herd dynamics. A coalition of horse advocates last month filed suit to block the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from castrating the stallions, also known as gelding. In response, the agency agreed to postpone the castration until a federal court in Washington, D.C., can hear arguments later this year.

Reuters
The federal government occasionally gathers up wild horses, then puts them up for adoption. Pictured here, a 2010 roundup in Utah’s Conger Mountains.

Federal scientists contend they have no choice but to try dramatic steps such as castration because the wild horse population is out of control—and costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year. Mustangs have few natural predators, and herds can double in size every four years. “We’re on an unsustainable path,” said Tom Gorey, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management.

Wild horses are not native to America; they’re descended from domesticated horses brought over by early European explorers. Still, federal law protects mustangs as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”

Wild-horse advocates say that castrating stallions will change that. “Gelding destroys what these animals are,” said Neda DeMayo, who runs a wild horse sanctuary in California.

Gelding stallions changes their hormonal balance and will likely leave them unable to perform typical behaviors, such as corralling a harem of mares into a close-knit herd and fighting off challenges from other males, said Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, one of the advocacy groups that sued to block the castrations. “You’re changing their social structures,” Ms. Roy said.

The wild horses roam across millions of acres of federal land in states including Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and California.

Federal scientists say the portions of range designated as wild horse and burro habitat can sustain just 26,600 animals. The population now exceeds 38,000 (including about 5,500 burros). Officials say that’s causing ecological damage, as herds trample streams and strip vegetation, destroying habitat needed by other animals, such as the sage grouse.

For decades, the Bureau of Land Management has conducted periodic roundups to thin herds by putting some of the horses up for adoption. Federal law authorizes euthanizing the captured horses, but public opinion runs strongly against that option.

Reno Gazette-Journal/Associated Press
Two young mustangs in the Huffaker Hills, near Reno, Nev., in 2010

In the past 40 years, more than 225,000 wild horses and burros have found new homes through the adoption program. But fewer families have come forward in recent years, a drop federal officials and horse advocates attribute to the economic downturn. In fiscal year 2011, 2,844 horses and burros were adopted, compared with 5,701 in fiscal year 2005.

The federal government is now holding more than 45,000 wild horses and burros in captivity—at a cost nearly $36 million a year. Many end up in corrals and pastures in the Midwest and Southwest, where ranchers are paid about $500 a year per animal to care for them.

Total federal spending on wild-horse management, including the cost of sheltering captured animals, topped $75 million this fiscal year, double the annual budget of just three years ago.

The agency has been testing a contraceptive vaccine on wild mares since 2004, but the treatment costs $300 per horse, must be repeated every two years and is not entirely effective; about a third of treated mares give birth, according to the agency. Castration of males is permanent and would cost $50 to $100 per stallion, federal officials said.

Officials at the Bureau of Land Management acknowledge that horse behavior and herd dynamics could change with the castrations, and say they aren’t sure the plan will hold down the birthrate, because not every stallion will be treated. The pilot project in Nevada, which aims to geld 200 stallions over the next six to 10 years, was designed to let scientists study the efficacy and side effects of castration, said Heather Emmons, a bureau spokeswoman.

The agency also planned to geld about 175 stallions in Wyoming last summer, but backed off under fire from animal-rights activists.

Some veterinary experts agree with activists that castration isn’t a good option. Nat Messer, the former chairman of a federal wild-horse advisory panel, said he fears that tinkering with natural selection by picking certain stallions to be gelded could harm herd genetics and weaken the horses’ ability to survive in the wild.

Dr. Messer, a professor of equine medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia, instead urges the government to euthanize surplus horses. Held in captivity, “they just become a herd of unwanted horses, really,” he said. “They’re no longer a symbol of the American West.”

The Bureau of Land Management has commissioned a comprehensive study of wild-horse management strategies from the National Academy of Sciences. The report is due next year.

Write to Stephanie Simon at stephanie.simon@wsj.com

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal

Nicole Pacquette: Horse slaughter comes with cruelty

Nicole Pacquette: Horse slaughter comes with cruelty

Posted: December 31, 2011 - 2:33pm

Americans, and Texans in particular, love their horses. They are our trusted companions, and horse lovers, breeders and owners shudder at the thought of any horse of theirs ending up as a high-priced appetizer in Belgium or Japan.

The facts surrounding horse slaughter make it clear why it is such a despicable end for horses; the process is innately inhumane. Inside the bloody, panic-stricken environment of the slaughterhouse, horses are tortured during often repeated attempts to render them unconscious. The U.S. Department of Agriculture documented cruelty at foreign-owned plants in the United States prior to their closure, despite the presence of federal inspectors. If horse slaughter returns to the United States, the cruelty will return with it.

The horse slaughter industry was never good for the economy — it was good for the profiteers and no one else. The foreign-owned horse slaughter plants that operated in Texas until 2007 caused nothing but controversy and problems. They employed only a few dozen people in low-paying, dangerous jobs. Profits were pocketed overseas by foreign corporations. The communities that hosted the plants were constantly beset by pollution and the unending stench of rotten blood and offal.

Paula Bacon knows all too well what it’s like to have a horse slaughter plant in the community. She’s the former mayor of Kaufman, where one of the plants was located.

“As a community leader where we are directly impacted by the horse slaughter industry, I can assure you the economic development return to our community is negative,” she said. “The foreign-owned companies profit at our expense — it is time for them to go.”

Slaughtering horses at plants in Texas never prevented the illegal acts of horse neglect and abandonment, nor has the export of horses to plants across our borders. In the midst of today’s difficult economic times, neglect and abandonment continue, though the same number of our horses are still being slaughtered. The USDA documented that more than 92 percent of horses who go to slaughter are in good condition — they do not need to be euthanized. There’s no single fix to the problem of homeless or neglected horses, just like there is no single fix to the pet overpopulation problem. These challenges can be solved only with a blend of wise policy solutions, rescue and sanctuary work, and a large dose of personal responsibility.

For its part, the American Quarter Horse Association, based in Amarillo, should stop equating the horror of the slaughter plant with humane euthanasia. There is nothing peaceful or dignified about hauling a horse thousands of miles in terrible conditions to a harrowing death in the kill box.

The horse industry should discourage the overbreeding of America’s horses and stop relying on the cruel and predatory killer buyers to snatch up the excess. Reducing the horse supply and focusing on improved quality are the best and most sustainable ways to give the equine industry the boost it needs. If the AQHA truly wanted to educate horse owners about their options, they wouldn’t ignore all of the humane alternatives the majority of horse owners choose, including selling or leasing the horse, relinquishing him to a sanctuary or rescue or donating him to a riding program or mounted police unit.

Opinion polls are clear — more than 70 percent of Americans and nearly 80 percent of Texans oppose horse slaughter. A recent Government Accounting Office report confirmed shipping horses long distances and killing them for food exports isn’t good for them, and it ultimately recommended Congress consider passing a federal ban on horse slaughter. The report also noted that a return to domestic slaughter would require additional federal spending — something American taxpayers plainly do not want.

Horses are members of the family, trusted companions and partners in recreation and sport. Those few but noisy individuals clamoring for a return to slaughter in the U.S. should find real ways to “help” horses if that is their aim. Let’s start by finally banning the slaughter of our horses all across the country by passing the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

Nicole Pacquette is Texas director of the Humane Society of the United States.

SOURCE: Amarillo Globe News

Where do the GOP Candidates Stand on Animal Issues?

Where do the GOP Candidates Stand on Animal Issues?

Friday, December 30, 2011

The Humane Society Legislative Fund has not yet made any recommendation in the 2012 presidential race, but over the coming months we will be evaluating President Obama’s animal welfare record during his first term and looking at where the major Republican candidates stand on animal issues. Three of the major candidates remaining are current or ex-governors, one is a former U.S. Senator and House member, two serve in the U.S. House, and one served in the House and was Speaker of the House.
In short, each one has a record on animal welfare issues, and it’s an especially good time to examine the issues with the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday evening, and primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina later in January. Animal advocates should factor animal issues when they evaluate the candidates and make a final decision.

Michelle Bachmann: Bachmann has generally gotten low marks on animal issues in Congress, earning an 8 percent (out of 100) on the Humane Scorecard for the 110th Congress, a 13 percent for the 111th Congress, and she’s on track to get 13 percent again for 2011. She has supported only a handful of animal protection bills during her congressional career, voting for measures to make animal fighting a federal felony, to ban commerce in animal crush videos, and to pair veterans with service dogs for therapy. She also supported an amendment in the House this year to limit agriculture subsidy payments to factory farms. She has, however, opposed most animal welfare measures, including modest reforms to ban the trade in dangerous primates as pets, to stop the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses from public lands, to prohibit the import of sport-hunted polar bear trophies from Canada, and to assist conservation programs that protect rare cats and dogs, cranes, marine turtles, and sea otters. She also voted to use tax dollars to kill wildlife as a subsidy to private livestock ranchers, and to block the Environmental Protection Agency from collecting data on greenhouse gases from factory farms.

Newt Gingrich: Gingrich earned a 21 percent on the Humane Scorecard for the 103rd Congress, but did not have scores for subsequent sessions since the Speaker of the House typically does not vote. He did vote to allow sport hunting in the Mojave National Preserve, and to allow foreign aid dollars to be used to promote trophy hunting of elephants and other species. On the positive side, he cosponsored legislation to strengthen the Endangered Species Act, and when he was Speaker helped to prevent the weakening of endangered species protections. Gingrich is, so far, the only presidential candidate who has actively talked about the importance of the human-animal bond while on the campaign trail. He launched a web site called “Pets with Newt,” and he is widely known to be a fan of zoos. Gingrich wrote the foreword to the guidebook “America’s Best Zoos,” and often stops by to visit the local zoo when he’s in a new city.

Jon Huntsman: During his time as governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009, Huntsman signed a number of animal protection bills into law, including measures to create a dog and cat spay and neuter fund, to allow out-of-state veterinarians to assist during emergencies, and to ban the remote-controlled shooting of live animals over the Internet. He did more than sign bills, and actively used his leadership position to move an important policy toward enactment: At a time when Utah was one of a handful of states that did not have felony-level penalties for animal cruelty, Huntsman called a special session of the legislature in 2007 to address, among other issues, a felony animal cruelty bill known as Henry’s Law, named after a tortured dog. His spokeswoman said the governor supported the bill and that “Gov. Huntsman believes this legislation is very important and a progressive step in the right direction in how we can all better treat animals.” When he signed a bill in 2008 creating a first-offense felony penalty for abusing dogs or cats, he praised the animal advocates for their persistence in advocating for the new law, and stated, “As we treat our animals, so do we treat our fellow human beings. There is a connection there that I think is undeniable.”

Ron Paul: Like Bachmann, Ron Paul has consistently received low marks on animal issues in Congress: He earned a 10 percent on the Humane Scorecard for the 108th Congress, a 14 percent in the 109th Congress, a zero in the 110th Congress, a 7 percent in the 111th Congress, and he’s on track to get a 25 percent for 2011. He has voted to allow the slaughter of American horses for food exports, the killing of Yellowstone National Park bison, the trophy shooting of bears over piles of bait on federal lands, the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses from public lands, the import of sport-hunted polar bear trophies, and the slaughter of downer livestock too sick or injured to walk on their own. He voted to block EPA from collecting data on factory farm emissions and voted against conservation legislation to protect rare cats and dogs, cranes, marine turtles, and sea otters. He was one of only a handful of lawmakers who opposed legislation to ban commerce in animal crush videos, to provide for pets in disaster planning, to ban the trade in dangerous primates as pets, to make dogfighting and cockfighting a felony, and to fund the enforcement of the federal animal fighting law. He has supported a handful of animal protection measures, to bar the trade in big cats as pets, to pair veterans with service dogs, and to cut funding for several government programs that harm animals, such as agriculture subsidies, lethal predator control, trapping on national wildlife refuges, and trophy hunting programs in foreign countries.

Rick Perry: During his time as governor of Texas over the last decade, Perry has amassed a very strong record on animal protection, signing a number of animal protection bills into law, including measures to strengthen the animal cruelty and animal fighting laws multiple times, to regulate the private ownership of dangerous captive wildlife, to require the inclusion of animals in disaster plans, to protect bats, to allow the establishment of pet trusts, and to restrict the tethering of dogs, among others. The most recent legislative session was a banner year for animal protection lawmaking in Texas, and Perry signed bills in 2011 to regulate large-scale commercial dog and cat breeders, to ban attendance at cockfights and possession of cockfighting weapons, to require people convicted of cruelty to reimburse shelters for the costs of holding animals, and to allow pets and companion animals to be included in protective orders. The cockfighting industry and large-scale dog breeders urged him to veto these bills, and he tossed aside their concerns. He did veto a bill that would have allowed counties with populations greater than 450,000 to adopt ordinances regulating the roadside sale of animals. Perry famously paused while on a morning jog last year to shoot a coyote, and the state recently authorized the shooting of feral hogs from helicopters as well as the shooting of feral burros in Big Bend State Park. His staff members, however, are working with HSUS staff on the burro issue, and they have indicated that they are open to non-lethal approaches.

Mitt Romney: Romney attracted the ire of animal advocates when they learned that during a 1983 vacation, he put the family’s Irish setter, Seamus, in a carrier and strapped him to the roof rack of the station wagon. When the terrified dog urinated and defecated during the 12-hour drive, Romney pulled over, hosed down the dog, and continued the voyage from Boston to Ontario. As chief executive of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Romney also came under fire from animal protection groups for allowing a rodeo exhibition that included calf roping. His term as Massachusetts governor from 2003 to 2007 was mixed, and Romney did not distinguish himself on animal issues. He appointed a raft of animal-unfriendly people to the state Fisheries and Wildlife Board, even though Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure calling for more balanced wildlife policy. He vetoed a bill that would have given students the right to choose alternatives to animal dissection in the classroom. He did, however, sign a number of animal protection bills into law, including measures to strengthen the animal cruelty and animal fighting laws and prevent a convicted animal abuser from getting the animal back.

Rick Santorum: Of all the candidates who have served in Congress, Santorum was arguably the most active on animal protection issues. He earned a 60 percent on the Humane Scorecard for the 108th Congress, and an 80 percent for the 109th Congress. But more importantly, he was the lead sponsor of the Pet Animal Welfare Statute (PAWS) to crack down on large-scale commercial puppy mills, and held a hearing on the bill when he was the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition and General Legislation. He was also a leader in the Senate urging adequate funding for the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the federal animal fighting law, and other animal welfare programs. He cosponsored legislation to establish federal felony penalties for dogfighting and cockfighting, cosponsored legislation to require the addition of a bittering agent to antifreeze and engine coolant to prevent the poisoning of pets, and voted to stop the slaughter of American horses for food exports.

It’s clear that Santorum, Perry, and Huntsman have the strongest animal protection records. They showed leadership and active support for our issues, and HSLF commends them for their past performance. Bachmann and Paul have demonstrated a consistent hostility or indifference to these concerns. Romney has largely been indifferent and has not been an active supporter. Gingrich has been a bit enigmatic, but he understands the power of the human-animal bond and has taken action to protect some of the most charismatic species.

SOURCE

Wild Horses: Wealthy rescuer creates eco-sanctuary

Wild Horses: Wealthy rescuer creates eco-sanctuary

By Laura Myers
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Posted: Dec. 18, 2011 | 12:44 a.m.
Updated: Dec. 18, 2011 | 8:34 a.m.

WELLS—

At the end of America’s most popular Western movies, the celluloid cowboy in the white hat always rides to the rescue.

Madeleine Pickens remembers watching John Wayne flicks with her father and rooting for the late Hollywood hero to save the day.

“I was always sure that I would meet John Wayne and that he would fall in love with me and we would live on the range,” Pickens says. “I did better. I met Boone Pickens. And we’re living happily ever after.”

The Texas billionaire’s wife wants an equally happy ending for the nation’s last wild horses, too. And she wants to be the hero riding to their rescue.

She has purchased two ranches in Elko County, about 25 miles south of Wells, to build a “living museum” for mustangs, an eco-sanctuary where they can roam free.

Her Spruce Mountain and Warm Creek properties cover roughly 18,000 acres of private land and 570,000 acres of public land, including breathtaking desert valleys and one peak above 10,000 feet.

Pickens hopes to run at least 1,000 wild horses on the rugged public land, which came with grazing rights for the same number of cattle.

And she wants to let people come and view the horses, visiting an educational center that would teach children and adults about America’s heritage. Visitors could sleep in tee-pees on the range and take covered-wagon rides along the routes that settled the West.

“My dream is starting to come true,” says Pickens, three years into tangling with red tape and local ranchers. “I want it to come true for the American people, for everybody to see these incredible horses.”

Pickens fears the mustangs will disappear without her help.

Preparing for a helicopter tour of her place, Pickens settles her rescued dachshund, Tommy, on her lap. Once airborne, she starts counting small bands of wild horses already running on the range.

“Not too low, I don’t want to scare them,” she tells the pilot.

The rumbling sound of the rotor sends the mustangs on their way, fleeing each time the helicopter passes high overhead.

Three horses run down from the pinyon pines while another half dozen pound across the valley floor. Silent puffs of dust lift toward the sky. Two more mustangs appear, then a dozen. Pickens spots nearly 50 during a 45-minute flight on public land the BLM says is overpopulated by several hundred horses.

“I don’t see them,” she says. “It’s 10 percent of what they say.”

She stares back out the helicopter window, watching flying manes and tails trace across the desert, chasing the next hill.

“There’s something magical about the herds,” Pickens says, lamenting that she didn’t try to save the mustangs sooner. “Why did I wait so long?”

‘LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE’

Pickens, 64, came to America in 1969, drawn partly by the cowboy and Indian culture of the early U.S. that she saw on the Big Screen.

Born in Iraq of a Lebanese mother and British father, she says that she had always dreamed of coming to America and seeing horses everywhere.

“When I arrived here, there weren’t any and I was disappointed,” she says.

For years, she didn’t know horses were killed for meat.

During her first marriage, Pickens was a thoroughbred racehorse breeder with her husband, Allen Paulson, founder of Gulfstream Aerospace. The California couple owned major winners, including two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, who won 16 consecutive races.

“Whenever a horse would be hurt on the track, I would say, ‘Where are they taking her or him?’ ” Pickens says. “And somebody would laugh and say, ‘The glue factory.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, they’re just being silly.’ “

A Humane Society representative set her straight. It happened after Pickens had rescued 800 dogs and cats from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, airlifting the animals to safety in 2005.

Pickens says she was ashamed she hadn’t known about the slaughter of American horses, including thousands of wild horses over the years.

“I was devastated,” she recalls. “It was a life-changing experience.”

By then, she was married to T. Boone Pickens, and they advocated the end of the U.S. horse slaughter industry, even testifying before Congress. The House outlawed the practice, but the bill never passed the Senate. Instead, lawmakers cut funding for U.S. government inspections, which eventually helped shutter the industry. Now there’s a move in Washington to restore that money.

Stopping the slaughter of wild horses also kick-started the private portion of Pickens’ sanctuary on her Warm Creek property.

A year ago, wild horse advocates pleaded with her to rescue 500 mustangs that were likely headed for slaughter in Mexico.

The wild horses were among 900 rounded up by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s sovereign reservation, northeast of Reno.

Those horses weren’t protected by the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and weren’t managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Tribal Chairman Wayne Burke said the Paiutes’ first concern was to get the horses off the reservation because they weren’t native to the area and were destroying the range “almost like a wildfire.”

“Some of them might be getting slaughtered,” Burke said, adding he didn’t question a horse dealer taking them to auction in Fallon.

Ranchers, horse dealers and so-called “killer buyers” frequent the auction houses, including one in Fallon.

Pickens remembered getting a frantic call around Christmas last year.

“I said, ‘What am I going to do with them? I have no place to put them,’ ” Pickens remembers. “And I prayed. I said, ‘Oh, God, tell me what to do. I don’t want blood on my hands.’ Then it occurred to me that I can put them out here at the Warm Creek. They would have a home.”

A wild horse rescue group from California bought about half the captured Paiute horses on her behalf. The tribe then began dealing directly with the group, including donating captured foals.

Ole Olson, a 76-year-old horse trader in Elko, says he was present when some of the Paiute horses went up for auction. He says Pickens’ buyer outbid everyone, paying $36,000 for 73 horses on one day he was there.

“I think they’re crazy, that’s what I think,” Olson says of the mustang rescuers. “One of these days we’re all going to have to eat horses.”

Olson has a reputation as a “killer buyer,” but he says he won’t touch a horse with a BLM freeze brand because there’s too much controversy.

“What the BLM needs to do is hold a public auction and let the do-gooders buy those horses and pay to feed them,” he says. “And if the highest bidder is a slaughter buyer, then they ought to buy them.”

Olson said he buys about 1,500 horses a year, including at auctions in Nevada and Montana. About half go to a feed lot in New Mexico, which ships them south of the border for slaughter.

The market price for horse meat has dropped from 70 cents to 12 cents a pound since the U.S. horse slaughterhouses closed, he says.

“They’re hurting the horse market so bad,” Olson says. “I like money and I like horses. They’ve been my living all my life.”

SUPPORT FROM CITY

Though Pickens has faced plenty of opposition to her save-the-mustangs project, she has support from the city of Wells. At a crossroads of Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 93, the city and its more than 1,300 citizens could use the business.

She’s already created a few jobs by putting in about $500,000 worth of improvements on her land, including fencing. Pickens says she paid at least several million dollars for the Spruce Ranch and likely less for the smaller Warm Creek, although she refuses to provide a figure: “It’s way too much money for something that should never require this amount of money just to make an impact.”

Her biggest opponents are ranchers and the Elko County Commission, which voted against the eco-sanctuary, although it can’t block it.

Demar Dahl, commission chairman and a second-generation rancher, has long fought encroachment of wild horses on public land, including court cases he filed in the 1970s and 1980s.

His main objection to Pickens’ project is that it will turn a working livestock ranch that contributed tax dollars to public coffers into an operation that will be supported in part by U.S. taxpayers.

“They have to take livestock off the range, and they end up changing the custom and culture of our counties when they do that,” Dahl says. “Instead of a viable economic enterprise paying the taxpayers for use of that land, what Mrs. Pickens wants is for the taxpayers to pay her for running horses on there. It’s just backwards.”

Dahl says the best solution is for BLM to sell the excess wild horses it rounds up and to lift the prohibition against them going to slaughter. He’s supporting a plan for the National Association of Counties to file a lawsuit against the BLM to force the agency to remove more mustangs and use its authority to dispose of the animals it can’t adopt out.

“The idea that you can’t destroy a horse because they’re the symbol of the pioneering West flies in the face of reason,” Dahl said.

If Pickens succeeds, more range could be set aside for sanctuaries.

Pickens has a grand vision for her nonprofit Saving America’s Mustangs Foundation, which she launched for the project. She wants to eventually open a series of eco-sanctuaries for all unadoptable wild horses rounded up by the BLM. Currently, more than 11,000 mustangs are in short-term holding, at a cost of $2,500 per horse per year.

Pickens argues she can save taxpayers $2 million a year by taking in 1,000 wild horses now and as much as $30 million annually if she eventually provides sanctuary for up to 15,000 mustangs.

Under her proposal, the BLM would pay Pickens about $475 per horse per year, about the same as it pays for the 30,000 excess wild horses living out their lives in long-term pastures in the Midwest.

The eco-sanctuary herds would not reproduce since the males would be gelded, and mares might be vaccinated for birth control as well. Pickens also envisions starting a breeding program one day with select herds to preserve diversity among the wild horses.

ECO-SANCTUARIES

Approving Pickens’ project would require a major shift in how the BLM manages the wild horse program. Initially, the agency rejected it.

Last January, BLM Director Bob Abbey turned down her first plan, saying it wouldn’t save taxpayers money and that her land didn’t include enough water and forage for the wild horses. He also said it would require environmental analysis, and that the BLM would have to change grazing allotments from cows to horses, a first for the agency.

Pickens reacted with anger, quoting Abbey as saying publicly just weeks earlier that her project “has merit and deserves serious consideration.”

Then she went back to work. She pressured the BLM through members of Congress, who threatened to cut BLM’s budget unless it worked to get the wild horse and burro program under control.

The tactic succeeded.

In March, the BLM announced it was seeking to form public-private partnerships to create eco-sanctuaries for wild horses.

One type would be on private land only and could be anywhere in the United States. The second type would be located on combined public and private lands around the wild horse herd management areas in the West—a description that fit Pickens’ project perfectly.

Pickens put in proposals for both types of eco-sanctuaries. The BLM asked for more detail, and she supplied it with specifics on a grazing plan and other items on Oct. 31.

The BLM could announce by year’s end how many projects have qualified.

Pickens is confident her eco-sanctuary will be approved. Even then, it will have to go through a rigorous assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act, which could take up to 24 months.

Ken Miller, BLM district manager in Elko, has been working with Pickens and says the process could even be expedited since hers is the only eco-sanctuary proposal in his district. The agency won’t say how many proposals are under consideration in Nevada and nationwide.

As for Pickens, she says her eco-sanctuary will become a reality with or without the government’s help since she has private land and a few bands of wild horses already are roaming her public rangeland.

“I would have been done by now, but you know having to deal with red tape is very difficult,” Pickens says. “Frustration? Yes. You know, I want to get on with it. I want to be alive before this is finished.

“But we will make a home for the horses. And we will move forward.”

SOURCE: The Las Vegas Review Journal

Wild Horses: Preservation program flies out of control

Wild Horses: Preservation program flies out of control

By Laura Myers
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Posted: Dec. 18, 2011 | 12:43 a.m.

SHANTY TOWN—

“Call him off, Ben. Call him off ...”

Laura Leigh’s words echo across the desert valley, then die.

An hour earlier, the sun had risen over the Great Basin, revealing a vast and desolate high desert watershed known as the Big Empty.

Buck, Bald and Butte mountains vie for majesty here in northeastern Nevada, where wagon trains made perilous journeys during the 1800s gold rush that built the West.

Wagon wheel ruts mark the valleys still, permanent scars in a harsh land of survivors.

It is here where man and beast remain at war.

It is here where ranchers who gave the cow counties their nickname compete for scarce resources with America’s last wild horses.

It is here where the mustangs are legally protected as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”

And it is here where, 40 years after a 1971 law put the Bureau of Land Management in charge of preserving those wild horses, the program is as out of control as the untamed animals themselves.

Like a devalued foreclosed home, the program is upside down: The BLM is holding more wild horses—41,000, mostly in Midwestern pastures—than are roaming 10 Western states—about 33,000.

And the cost to taxpayers is soaring as the BLM expands its welfare agency for aging wild horses. More than half of its entire 2012 wild horse and burro budget is for holding costs alone—$43.2 million of $75.8 million. And this year’s total budget is nearly double just two years ago.

Overall, the BLM has spent at least three-quarters of a billion dollars to manage wild horses and burros in the past 40 years. During that time, the agency has rounded up at least 260,000 animals in an attempt to control where mustangs roam and contend with a runaway reproduction rate that has herds doubling every four to five years.

Most of those wild horses have been adopted, but the economic downturn has cut the adoption rate in half, revealing the program’s flaws.

“If you want to learn how badly your public lands are managed, just look at the wild horse program,” says Leigh, who has closely followed and challenged the roundups for two years. “It’s not working at all.”

This is one thing on which wild horse advocates and ranchers can agree.

“We can’t sustain it,” says J.J. Goicoechea, president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and a fourth generation rancher. “They cannot be warehousing horses in the Midwest. … And we’ve got to get the number of horses that are on the range down.”

Nobody’s happy.

Wild horse advocates complain BLM is managing mustangs to extinction by inhumanely rounding up too many. Ranchers and their allies argue the agency must pull more off the overgrazed range and sell the excess—including for possible slaughter—to cull growing herds.

Caught in the middle, the BLM plans to remove at least 15,000 more wild horses from the West during the coming two years, contending the public land can support only 26,600 mustangs and burros. About half live in Nevada, mostly in rugged places where capture isn’t easy.

“We have these living legacies of the American West we would like to have for future generations,” says Joan Guilfoyle, head of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Division.

“But there’s only so much land for these animals to live on in balance with all the other uses.”

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

On this August morning, the battle rages under a brilliant sky.

Chased for miles by a low-flying helicopter across the desert floor, a wild horse finally loses its wind on a sage-covered hill. The pilot, stirring up a choking dust, swings lower, so close a landing skid appears to give the mustang’s rear a bump.

The horse jumps then begins trudging uphill, head low, pumping up and down with effort. Intent on escaping the thumping beast, the mustang moves farther from a carefully laid BLM trap below.

Leigh sits on a hill on the other side of the trap, videotaping the encounter. She urges Ben Noyes, the BLM specialist in charge, to call off the pursuit, a futile plea since Noyes can’t hear her from the trap site 700 feet below.

The close helicopter chase ends after several minutes. Two wranglers on horseback ride out to rope the loose mustang, a “waspy” critter, the wiliest of wild horses and hardest to catch.

The mustang is fine but the damage has been done.

After viewing Leigh’s video, a judge in Reno bans using the helicopter to finish the roundup. U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben rules that the chopper had flown “dangerously or unreasonably” close to the mustang, violating the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

Score one for the wild horse advocates.

As a result of the court action, the BLM conducted an internal review of the helicopter incident and the entire Triple B roundup, which captured 1,269 wild horses.

Videotapes showed isolated cases in which mustangs were struck in the face, kicked in the head, dragged by the neck with a rope, and shocked with electrical prods, mostly as wranglers loaded them into trailers.

The review concluded that “no single incident offered a consensus among animal welfare experts that horses were treated inhumanely.” Nonetheless, the BLM said it would set new standards for more humane handling of wild horses.

“Aggressive and rough handling of wild horses is not acceptable and we are actively taking steps to ensure that such behavior is not repeated,” BLM Director Bob Abbey said in releasing the report on Dec. 7.

WILD HORSE ANNIE

The Triple B gather and helicopter incident was but the latest skirmish in the long-standing conflict among animal rights activists, the BLM and Western ranchers. The cattlemen see wild horses as feral pests that overgraze public lands, violate private ranges and trample vital water holes.

The act, signed into law on Dec. 15, 1971, provides federal protection to the wild horses that are descendants of the Spanish mesteño, or mustang, and other breeds set loose here in the past half century.

It signaled an end of an era. No more cowboys and Indians chasing, capturing and killing wild horses—from the tall-grass Midwestern prairies to the snow-covered mountains and desert valleys of the wild West, an ungentle place resistant to rules.

The law ended the practice of hired-gun mustangers rounding up wild horses and selling them for riding, rodeos and slaughter—for pet food and glue factories as well as for meat markets in Asia and Europe.

By 1971, the free-roaming mustang population that may have peaked at 2 million in America had dropped to as few as 9,500 animals.

Velma Johnston, a Reno secretary also known as Wild Horse Annie, was the force behind the law, becoming an advocate after she saw blood dripping from a truck on its way to a slaughterhouse.

The issue captured the imagination of children who wrote letters to Congress protesting wild horse roundups and slaughters. And it got Big Screen treatment, too, in the 1961 film, “The Misfits.” The movie starred Clark Gable as a mustanger and Marilyn Monroe as the woman who convinced him to stop hauling horses off to be butchered.

“You kill them?” Monroe’s character asked.

“I thought you knew that. Everybody knows that,” he said.

Not everyone did. And once Johnston’s Wild Horse Annie got involved, she made it the government’s job to save the mustangs.

‘EVERYONE SEES BLACK BEAUTY’

From the very start, the BLM program has been troubled.

During the 1980s, it generated controversy when the wild horse population peaked at about 60,000 on the range. The BLM began waiving adoption fees, which sent thousands of horses to inhumane facilities where they died of starvation and dehydration, according to a 1990 General Accounting Office report. Hundreds also were sold to slaughterhouses, the GAO said.

Stung by the GAO’s investigation, the BLM began pasturing excess wild horses. It signed its first contract with a long-term holding facility in the Midwest to care for the horses until the end of their lives, saving them from slaughter, but at taxpayer expense.

When the pastures began filling up, the law was amended in 2004 to give BLM authority to sell excess wild horses “without limitation.” Dozens ended up in the slaughterhouses to great public outcry.

In response, the agency set rules to require buyers to sign a letter pledging not to send mustangs to their commercial deaths.

“When people see wild horses, everyone sees Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, Trigger, Sea Biscuit,” says Debbie Collins, a marketing specialist for the BLM. “It’s kind of like dogs and Lassie.”

If the BLM could adopt out 6,000 to 7,000 wild horses every year, the program would be in balance, but adoptions have dropped off to less than half that because of hard economic times, Collins said.

“Now,” she says, “we’re overwhelmed.”

With holding costs skyrocketing and slaughter off the table, the BLM has been trying harder to turn around the program. Since 2009, BLM Director Bob Abbey has launched scientific studies and new strategies to cut reproduction among free-roaming wild horses and get a solid count of animals on the range.

And under pressure from Congress, the BLM also is exploring private-public partnerships to create eco-sanctuaries where tourists can see wild horses.

Madeleine Pickens, the wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, has been working for several years to open a mustang sanctuary on two ranches she purchased outside Wells and about 570,000 acres of public land on which she holds grazing rights. Initially, the BLM rejected her proposal, but it now is considering her project as part of a formal review process.

“Nobody came before representing the horses because they didn’t have anything to gain,” Pickens says. “There was no money to be made off the horses, which is one of the greatest resources that we have in this country. I liken it to a city that has a river that flows through it. The river brings life. It’s the same with horses.”

LITTLE ROOM FOR COMPROMISE

Government, however, moves slowly.

Guilfoyle, head of the wild horse program since August, says that it could take some time to perfect a better birth control vaccination for mares that would last more than a few years.

The current annual reproduction rate is 15-20 percent. And it could take years to finally approve eco-sanctuaries, which may one day cut holding costs or at least keep them from escalating.

“These things don’t get turned around very quickly,” Guilfoyle acknowledges.

Meanwhile, the BLM won’t sell mustangs for slaughter despite growing pressure from ranchers and the horse industry.

“We don’t see the public support for it,” says BLM spokesman Tom Gorey. “Nor do we see it happening.”

Ultimately, the courts may decide.

The Nevada Association of Counties is preparing to lead a coalition of ranchers, hunters, environmentalists and others to file a “friendly lawsuit” to force BLM to keep the mustang population down on the range. That could mean more roundups and fully using the sale authority the agency won in 2004, including lifting its slaughter ban.

“We can’t as a society continue to pour money down a rat hole,” says Goicoechea, of the Nevada Cattlemen. “We’re spending millions of dollars a year to maintain the horses in long-term holding.”

Activists contend that would destroy the very intent of the 1971 act: to let wild horses roam free in the West, unmolested and untamed.

“Ranchers hate horses: it’s like a religion,” counters Pickens. “They’re brought up hating the horse. The horse, he doesn’t seem to count.”

With little room for compromise, the standoff persists with wild horse rescuers versus the ranchers. The BLM is the unpopular referee.

And then there are the mustangs—manes flying, hoofs pounding, hearts racing—defying capture and control for centuries, running faster, running farther and some still running free in America’s last open spaces.

“They’re not wildlife. They’re not pets. They’re wild horses,” says BLM spokesman Chris Hanefeld of Ely.

“They’re unique unto themselves.”

WILD HORSES TIMELINE

1400s-1500s Spanish explorers bring mustang descendants to North America, where the ice age had killed prehistoric wild horses.
1800s Horses travel west with settlers, including to the Great Basin.
1897 Nevada passes law allowing citizens to shoot unbranded horses on public lands.
1901 Nevada law is repealed after ranchers protest their horses were being shot.
1900 Up to 2 million wild horses roam U.S. rangelands.
Early 1900s Wild horses rounded up, sent to Europe in World War I.
1920s Mustang roundups increase along with a commercial demand for horse-related products, from pet food to glue.
1930s During the Great Depression, poor farmers use captured wild horses to replace tractors, which they can no longer afford to use.
1934 Taylor Grazing Act passes to manage grazing on pubic lands, where cattle and sheep compete with wild horses.
1946 The Bureau of Land Management is formed to handle grazing rights and other uses of public land.
1959 Wild Horse Annie Act passes Congress, prohibiting the use of motor vehicles for hunting wild horses and burros.
1971 Wild and Free-roaming Horses and Burros Act passes Congress, providing federal protection for herds on public lands with the program administered by the BLM.
1975 BLM begins first wild horse roundups.
1976 U.S. Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of 1971 Act.
1976 Congress allows humane use of helicopters to capture wild horses as part of Federal Land Policy and Management Act.
1978 Congress passes Public Rangelands and Improvement Act to require the BLM to inventory herds and determine appropriate management levels of wild horses and burros on public land.
1982 Under public pressure, the BLM director issues moratorium to end the destruction of excess wild horses that can’t be adopted.
Late 1980s BLM begins contracting with long-term pastures to hold excess wild horses to live out their lives, mostly in the Midwest.
2004 Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., inserts a rider into an appropriations bill to permit the BLM to sell excess wild horses “without limitation,” opening the door to sanctioned mustang slaughter.
2005 BLM implements new rules to prevent wild horse buyers from sending them to slaughter after discovering some had been killed.
2007 Last three horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. close, although animals can still be exported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.
2008 The General Accounting Office concludes the BLM’s wild horse and burro program isn’t doing enough to control the mustang population on the range and holding costs. “If not controlled, off-the-range holding costs will continue to overwhelm the program.” It recommends considering “humane destruction and sales without limitations” as allowed by the amended act.
2009 In response to the GAO report, BLM Director Bob Abbey and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announce a new strategy to turn around the program. The effort focuses on slowing population growth rates on the range through better fertility control and managing sex ratios.
2011 As part of its developing new strategies and under pressure from Congress, the BLM puts out requests for bids on private and public-private partnerships to establish sanctuaries to care for wild horses as an alternative to costly short-term holding facilities.

SOURCE: The Las Vegas Review Journal

Mystery Surrounding Abandoned Horses Finally Solved

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
John Holland
540-268-5693
john@equinewelfarealliance.org
Vicki Tobin               
630.961.9292
vicki@equinewelfarealliance.org  
Mystery Surrounding Abandoned Horses Finally Solved
Chicago (EWA) – A six month investigation by the EWA and other animal investigation organizations has finally determined the predominant source of abandoned horses in the Southwestern US. The findings show that most or all of more than 5,000 horses a year are being abandoned after being rejected for slaughter at the Mexican border. 
The investigation explains the source and reason for abandonments, most of which have been reported in the vast stretches of isolated land north of the Mexican border since 2009. Most of these horses could clearly be identified as domestic stock from such indications as nail holes in their hooves (where shoes had recently been removed) but no other clues to their source were found. 
Until now articles about their discovery have speculated that they were abandoned by individual owners because they could no longer afford to feed them. The horse slaughter lobby has further suggested that this was made worse because individuals “no longer had a slaughter option”. 
Equine advocates countered this hypothesis by pointing out that there had been no decrease in slaughter to force such actions, and that the areas where they were being found did not have significant domestic horse populations. 
Moreover, it made no sense that someone who could not afford to euthanize and bury a horse would elect instead to pay for hauling it hundreds or thousands of miles only to turn it loose. In fact, many horse advocates had good reason to suspect the reports were bogus. 
Following the closure of US horse slaughter plants in 2007, there were a large number of stories published claiming horses were being abandoned because of a lack of slaughter. These reports ranged from reclaimed strip mines in Kentucky to the Florida Everglades and Oregon ranches. For a year each of these was investigated and found to be false or hugely distorted. 
But in the past two years there have been an increasing number of authenticated reports of abandoned horses, mostly in the remote stretches of the southwest Border States. A few of these horses actually had hide removed, apparently to obscure a brand. 
In August, the first piece of the puzzle fell into place when approximately 300 horses were spotted from the air starving and dead in a remote feedlot near the port-of-entry town of Presidio, Texas. The fact that living horses were found in different stages of starvation and the dead horses were in various stages of decomposition, indicated they had been dumped there at different times. 
The situation became all the more puzzling when it was revealed that the feedlot was operated by the C4 Cattle Company and Intermeat Inc./Dallas Crown the Belgian meat company that had formerly operated the Dallas Crown horse slaughter plant in Kaufman, Texas. The company buys horses for slaughter in Mexico. It was also discovered that about 40 of the horses came from kill buyer Trenton Saulters. 
The question was of course why they had left the horses to perish only a few miles from the border crossing where they could have been sold to the slaughter plants in Mexico. 
An answer came in the European Union’s (EU’s) report (DG(SANCO) 2010-8524 – MR) from the 2010 audit of their horse slaughter plants in Mexico. In section 5.2.1.2, the report divulged that Mexico had rejected 5,336 slaughter horses out of 62,560 presented at six OISAs (Border Crossing Offices) during the audit period between January and October 2010. 
The horses were rejected under a new system of controls implemented in December, 2009. Reasons for rejection included health problems, advanced pregnancy and injuries. 
The final piece of the puzzle came from an investigation by EWA on how the USDA’s APHIS (Animal and Plant Inspection Service) tracks horses bound for slaughter. EWA’s Valerie James-Patton was researching the Owner/Shipper certificate system which is supposed to allow APHIS to assure humane regulations are being followed. When asked what happens to horses rejected at the Mexican border, she was told simply “they fall out of the system.” 
Normally kill buyers who haul slaughter horses to Mexico try to fill their trailers with cattle and other animals on the return journey. So clearly they need to dispose of the rejected horses, and the most economical way to do so is to simply abandon them on a deserted stretch of road or in an isolated lot. 
Ironically, while the horse slaughter lobby has been claiming abandonment was a result of a lack of slaughter, it now appears it is in large part a result of the practice. 
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization with over 210 member organizations and hundreds of individual members worldwide. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids. www.equinewelfarealliance.org

SOURCE: The Stable Woman Gazette

The shame of the BLM

The shame of the BLM

By George Knapp

Forty years ago this week, the American people spoke with one voice on an issue that clearly touched the heart of the nation. The Wild Horse and Burro Act was signed into law, over the objections of the powerful cattle industry. Congress was flooded with more letters and telegrams about wild mustangs than for any other issue save the Vietnam War. They insisted that wild horses must be preserved on public lands. That demand became law.

But it is doubtful horse lovers are popping champagne corks to celebrate. The law, or what’s left of it, is a hollow farce, a piss-poor replica of what we thought we were getting, about as authentic as a gift-shop Jackalope.

The timing of the anniversary oozes irony. Forty years later, teams of mercenary horse hunters prowl Nevada’s public lands. They are paid a bounty, about $350 per captured animal. The two principal contractors that do this work have raked in tens of millions from their friends in the Bureau of Land Management. And I do mean friends. Some of those awarded fat contracts formerly worked for the Department of the Interior.

Right now, in an area of Northern Nevada known as the Calico complex, wild horses are running in terror across some of the roughest terrain in the West. Calico was the site of the bloodiest mustang roundup in history. Two years ago, I was there for part of it. BLM ignored all warnings about conducting a huge roundup in the middle of winter. The contractors used helicopters to frighten the mustangs, running them for miles across snow-covered ground, their hooves smashing onto sharp volcanic rocks. Dozens died on the spot. Some pregnant mares aborted their young. Others died in holding pens. A few literally ran their feet off—their hooves were worn to bloody stumps, so they collapsed and died.

I have lost count of all the promises the BLM has made in the 25 years I have covered wild horses. But the pace of broken promises has accelerated in the past few years, since former Nevada BLM director Bob Abbey ascended to the job as national director. Every few months, it seems, Mr. Abbey issues a news release in which he swears that the program is turning a corner, that it will be more open, that he welcomes new ideas, even public-private partnerships, and on and on. But as soon as the microphones are off, it’s business as usual—more roundups, more horses stuck in pens on private ranches owned by BLM-connected pals. That is where they stay for the rest of their miserable lives.

BLM has done its best to keep the public far from the roundups, though they make a show of bringing in media crews for tightly controlled observation sessions. There’s a good reason. The roundups are a bloody business, and there is no getting around it. Hundreds of horses have been run to death, or died of thirst or stress, or suffered injuries during the traumatic helicopter assaults. Advocates have captured video snippets of chopper pilots who smack into individual mustangs from the air. I’ve seen the BLM’s hired guns kick burros in the head, just to get their attention. This week, on the same day Abbey promised to ask his contractors to be more careful about the mayhem they inflict on horses, a mustang advocate recorded video of a BLM contractor repeatedly jamming a cattle prod into a band of scared burros. A few feet away, one of the government’s observers watched but didn’t say a damned thing.

My friend Jerry Reynoldson, who has probably done more to help wild horses than anyone, stopped short of predicting that there won’t be any left in 40 years, but he describes the future as “dismal.”

“They promise this, they promise that, they offer partnerships, say they want new ideas, but it is always the same. Round up the horses and stick them in holding pens,” Reynoldson says. “In 2005, they paid $500,000 for a study about how to increase horse adoptions, then ignored it. They stack the deck with friends of the cattle industry every time there is a review, and their allies always say whatever is needed.”

As with everything in American life these days, might makes right. The beef industry wants the horses gone from public ranges, and BLM is happy to comply. “BLM knows they can just wear people down,” Reynoldson says. “Few people can stay on top of this, can stay angry all the time. People have other issues. ... BLM knows that all but the most dedicated advocates will wear down eventually.”

BLM plays a lot of games with numbers. There might be 25,000 horses still in the wild. Maybe. According to the 40-year-old law, the herds are supposed to be preserved on the same lands they roamed when the law went into effect, but more than 22 million acres of mustang country are now mustang-free. Instead, the public land is used to support privately owned cattle. There are 50 times as many cattle as horses on the range, yet it’s the horses that are deemed a threat to the land. BLM has omitted the effects of long-term livestock grazing from its evaluations of range conditions.

A planned study by the National Academies of Science won’t help. The panel is already stacked with members whose ties to the cattle industry are easily documented. NAS will be out with a report that supports whatever BLM’s policy of the moment is, and that will be that. Those who hoped that Obama would be more sympathetic than his rootin’-tootin’ predecessor have been greatly disappointed. As with so many other issues, Obama has been completely absent.

Will we still have wild horses on public lands 40 years from now? Guess we should ask the cattle barons. Because in today’s America, might makes right. All hail the “free market.”

George Knapp is a Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter for KLAS Channel 8. Reach him at gknapp@klastv.com.

Last updated on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 12:07 am

SOURCE: Las Vegas City Life

Details Here on How to Win One-on-One Wild Horse Photography Session

Details Here on How to Win One-on-One Wild Horse Photography Session

Mark Terrell’s Photo Gallery

Horse slaughter in Texas and everywhere else should be against the law

Horse slaughter in Texas and everywhere else should be against the law

By Nicole Paquette

Special to the Star-Telegram

When it comes to the issue of horse slaughter, the Star-Telegram’s Monday editorial got one thing right: The American people, and Texans in particular, love their horses—but because they are trusted companions, not dinner. (See: “State horse slaughter ban needs revisiting”)

American horse lovers, breeders and owners shudder at the thought of any horse of theirs ending up as a high-priced appetizer in Belgium or Japan.

The facts surrounding horse slaughter make it clear why Americans find it to be such a despicable end for horses. The process is brutal and innately inhumane. Inside the bloody, panic-stricken environment of a slaughterhouse, horses endure torture during often-repeated attempts to render them unconscious.

The USDA documented horrendous cruelty at the foreign-owned plants in Texas prior to their closure, despite the presence of federal inspectors. There’s no reason to believe it won’t be the same if plants reopen here.

The horse slaughter industry was never good for the economy—it was good for the profiteers, and no one else. The foreign-owned horse slaughter plants that operated in Texas until 2007 caused nothing but controversy and problems. They employed no more than a few dozen people in low-paying, highly dangerous jobs. Profits didn’t benefit local economies, but were instead pocketed overseas by foreign corporations. The communities that hosted the plants were constantly beset by pollution and the unending stench of rotten blood and offal. In their quest to improve their profit margin, these foreign-owned businesses did everything they could to avoid paying their property taxes and the fines levied against them for their environmental violations.

The negative image created by these operations caused other businesses to look elsewhere for a place to set up shop.

All of these unpleasant factors led Paula Bacon, former mayor of Kaufman (where one of the plants was located), to say, “As a community leader where we are directly impacted by the horse slaughter industry, I can assure you the economic development return to our community is negative. The foreign-owned companies profit at our expense—it is time for them to go.”

Slaughtering horses at plants in Texas never prevented the illegal acts of horse neglect and abandonment, nor has their export to plants across our borders. In the midst of today’s difficult economic times, neglect and abandonment continue, though the same number of our horses are still being slaughtered. There’s no single fix to the problem of homeless or neglected horses, just like there is no single fix to the pet overpopulation problem. These challenges can be solved only with a blend of wise policy solutions, rescue and sanctuary work and a large dose of personal responsibility.

For its part, the American Quarter Horse Association should stop equating the horror of the slaughter plant with “humane euthanasia.” There is nothing peaceful or dignified about hauling a horse thousands of miles in terrible conditions to a harrowing death in the kill box. The horse industry should discourage the overbreeding of America’s horses and relying on the cruel and predatory killer buyers to snatch up the excess. Reducing the supply of horses and focusing on improved quality are the best and most sustainable ways to give the equine industry the boost it needs.

Opinion polls are clear: The vast majority (more than 70 percent) of Americans and nearly 80 percent of Texans oppose the slaughter of horses. It is absurd to consider repealing a law that has been on the books since 1949 and has continuously been upheld in the Texas Legislature and in the courts. The majority of Texans have spoken, and it is high time we listen.

Horses are members of the family, trusted companions and partners in recreation and sport. Those few but noisy individuals clamoring for slaughter should find other ways to “help” horses, if that is their aim. Let’s start by finally banning horse slaughter all across the country, by passing the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S.1176/H.R. 2966).

Nicole G. Paquette of Austin is the Texas senior state director of the Humane Society of the United States.

SOURCE: Fort-Worth Star Telegram

Urgent Action Needed to Save American Horses from Slaughter

Urgent Action Needed to Save American Horses from Slaughter

Saving America’s Mustangs has been fighting to protect wild mustangs and burros, and so many of you around the country have been captivated by these creatures and demanded action to stop the cruel and costly round-ups.  But we’re concerned about all horses, and that includes the unfortunate animals that get funneled into the slaughter pipeline in North America.

In mid November, leaders in Congress failed the horses by choosing not to include a ban on funding of USDA inspectors at horse slaughter plants in the United States, even though a similar provision had been inserted in the department’s spending bill for each of the past five years.

Congressman Jim Moran, co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, worked hard to see the defunding language included again. He even offered an amendment in the House Appropriations Committee and won the vote, albeit narrowly. When the Senate took up the bill, Sen. Max Baucus and other western senators fought against including Moran’s measure. And when the House and Senate leadership on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hashed out their joint package, the horse slaughter provision was dropped.

In the last few days, there have been dozens of news reports indicating that horse slaughter plants can now open up in the United States. That’s true, and that prospect exists because there was no defunding provision in the law. The predatory horse slaughter industry has cash signs in its eyes, and it’s unrestrained by any compassion for these creatures. Its profiteers treat the horses like commodities on the hoof.

It’s a bad outcome and we’ll fight them every step of the way, but that piece was never the main battle in Congress on horse slaughter. The defunding provision has never stopped the shipment of live horses to Canada and Mexico, and that’s been going on uninterrupted since the U.S. plants closed in 2007.

We need to ban the slaughter of American horses not just in the United States, but throughout North America. The way to do that is to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, H.R. 2966 / S. 1176, which would ban the interstate transport of horses for slaughter but also the live export of horses for that purpose.
This is a tough fight. We are battling not only the slaughter industry, but also the National Cattlemen’s Association, the American Farm Bureau, and even the American Veterinary Medical Association are fighting us on the issue, along with their legions of lobbyists.

If you are mad about the defunding language being discarded from the recent spending bill President Obama signed, then use that energy to contact your two U.S. Senators and urge them to cosponsor S. 1176, and contact your U.S. Representative and urge him or her to cosponsor H.R. 2966. Here are the current lists of cosponsors for S. 1176 and for H.R. 2966. If you see any of your legislators on the cosponsor list already, thank them and ask them to do all they can to get this legislation enacted quickly. And please do organize others to call and write too. You can also join our online cause. There’s no time to waste.

We’ve picked up dozens of new cosponsors in the last couple of weeks, but we need many more supporters to win. The American public is with us on the issue, but that support has to be registered in the form of phone calls, letters, and other forms of persuasion. We cannot sit on our hands. We’ve got to take action!

HORSE SLAUGHTER: FACTS ABOUT THE LEGISLATION RECENTLY PASSED

FACTS ABOUT THE LEGISLATION RECENTLY PASSED

There has been a great deal of talk about Congress and the resumption of horse slaughter.  We felt it important to clear a few things up since there is a great deal if misinformation going around the internet. 

What just passed Congress was an annual Appropriations Bill which is a bill that provides funding to the federal government.  Each year Congress must pass 13 appropriations bill to fund the various federal agencies.  For several years Congress has been unable to pass individual bills so they have been passing packages of bills, which is what just happened.  This bill included funding for the USDA, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice.  It was necessary in order to keep the government afloat.  These bills in some form pass every year.  It was never a “horse slaughter bill”.  There was actually no reference to horse slaughter in the entire bill.  But here is how and why it impacted our horses.

In 2006 Congress put language in the Agriculture Appropriations Bill that cut off funding for horse meat inspections and for five years it stayed that way.  That meant that no government money could be spent for inspections in horse slaughter plants. It was always supposed to be a short term fix until we got Federal legislation passed to end horse slaughter and the transport of our horses to slaughter in the U.S. or outside of the country.  That bill is called the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.  While we have made some headway and bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate, we have been unable to get those bills out of committee and to the floor for a vote.

So, that brings us to this year.  Two pro slaughter members of Congress quietly lifted the 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections by taking out the language inserted in 2006.  It did not, however, allocate any new money to pay for horse meat inspections, which could cost taxpayers $5 million or more dollars a year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would have to find the money in its existing budget, which is expected to see more cuts this year as Congress and the White House aim to trim federal spending.  The USDA will also have to take food safety and animal welfare inspectors away from our own food supply oversight.

While President Obama did sign the final bill, it was important to pass this bill to keep the government running.  Many of our allies and sponsors of the anti-slaughter legislation voted for it.  The most important thing to remember is that we need Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, so President Obama can sign it into law, thus protecting our horses from slaughter.   

WHAT WE CAN DO NOW:

Our fight for the horses is not over…Channel that passion in the right direction.  Passing the Federal Legislation to end horse slaughter will make the Appropriations Bill meaningless.  The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act has already been introduced in both the House and the Senate.  With enough cosponsors, we have a better chance of getting these bills to the floor for a vote.

We need to concentrate on gaining cosponsors and support for Senate bill S. 1176 and House bill H.R. 2966. We also need to attend town hall meetings. Please call your Members of Congress to find out when their next town hall meet is.  You will need to call your Congressional members district offices at least once a week to get their current schedule.  You can find your legislator and their contact information by clicking here.  Speak up and let them know that horse slaughter is not acceptable and that any representative that supports it will not have your vote.  Always be polite and respectful.  But SHOW UP!!!  Sitting behind a computer and signing petitions will only get us so far.  We need more.

This latest tragedy has brought horse slaughter to the forefront and we now have many more people aware of the situation.  Our membership has grown by leaps and bounds just in the last week.  Let’s use that to our advantage and strike while the issue is in the news!

We will be posting more information on additional strategy soon. 

The Washington Times: Obama, Congress restore U.S. horse-slaughter industry

Obama, Congress restore U.S. horse-slaughter industry

By Stephen Dinan

The Washington Times

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

President Obama earlier this month quietly signed into law a spending bill that restores the American horse-slaughter industry, just a few months after a government investigation said the ban on slaughtering for human consumption was backfiring.

The agriculture spending bill Mr. Obama signed the week before Thanksgiving did not include a ban on the inspection of horse meat — a backdoor prohibition that had, since 2006, effectively halted the U.S. horse-slaughter industry.

In June the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s official investigative branch, released a report saying the ban had shut down U.S. slaughter, but that only depressed prices for horses here while causing many of the animals to be shipped to “foreign slaughtering facilities where U.S. humane slaughtering protections do not apply.”

In unusually blunt language, GAO suggested Congress and Mr. Obama reconsider the ban.

The options facing Congress were to further ban export of horses for slaughter or to lift the domestic slaughter ban. Congress chose the latter.

“While we have a long way to go, responsible processing represents a vital first step in reversing the unintended consequences to blame for the dismal state of neglected horses and their frustrated caregivers across our country,” said Rep. Adrian Smith, Nebraska Republican. “Reinstating a humane, accountable and legal management tool is good for horses, good for owners, and is good policy.”

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said there are no horse slaughterhouses operating in the U.S. that produce meat for human consumption, but if a facility opens FSIS will be ready to do inspections.

Horse meat regularly is used for consumption by circuses and zoos, and it is now sent to Eastern Hemisphere countries, where it is an accepted food. But slaughter has been a prickly issue in the U.S., where animal-rights activists and some horse lovers pushed to close slaughterhouses and ban exports.

In 2010, about 138,000 horses were exported for slaughter, and another 30,000 horses were shipped for other purposes, though some of those likely were sent to feedlots to be fattened for later slaughter.

Horse slaughter itself was never specifically banned, but Congress in 2006 prohibited any money being spent to regulate and inspect horses being transported for domestic slaughter. Under a 1996 law, those inspections were required for any slaughter intended to produce meat for human consumption.

This year, the House version of the agriculture spending bill maintained the slaughter-ban language. But the Senate spending bill did not include the ban, and when the two chambers reconciled their bills, it was not in the final version.

Mr. Obama signed the spending bill by autopen Nov. 18. He was traveling in Asia at the time the bill was presented to him, so he used the automated signature machine for the second time in his presidency.

Cheri White Owl, founder of Horse Feathers Equine Rescue, is pictured with one of the 33 horses for which she cares in Guthrie, Okla., on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Ms. White Owl said she’s seen more horse neglect during the recession, which coincided with the end of horse slaughtering in the U.S. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

SOURCE: The Washington Times

Las Vegas City Life: A Victory for the Horse Killers

A victory for the horse killers

Been dying for a thick, juicy horse burger but can’t find a meat market that sells the good stuff anymore? Did killjoy animal lovers thwart your plan to send a holiday gift box filled with flash-frozen tenderloins de Flicka to your Uncle Pierre in Bruges? Are herds of dadgum wild mustangs running through your neighborhood again, dropping horse pucky all over your croquet course?

Well, don’t you fret, Tex. Sharpen up the old meat hook and fire up the barbecue because horse slaughter is on its way back.

Like people in most other civilized nations, Americans—as a rule—do not eat horses. We don’t eat dogs or house cats, either, though some folks do in other parts of the world. We generally regard horses, dogs and cats as pets, friends and partners, not as four-legged Sloppy Joes. For the time being, dogs and cats are safe, most likely because there isn’t enough meat on their bones to offer much profit potential.

But horses?

In 2007, horse lovers and animal-welfare groups convinced Congress that the slaughter of horses for human consumption is despicable, barbaric, not something Americans should support. Congress voted to cut off funding for all horse-meat slaughter plants, which effectively closed down those few remaining in the U.S. But ever since, Big Agriculture has been plotting a return to the glory days of sending tens of thousands of horses to be butchered, then shipped to Belgium or Japan for sale in markets or restaurants.

A few rabid ranchers have been out in front on this issue, telling Congress that we are really missing out on some big money by allowing American horses to be shipped to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered instead of carving them up right here at home. The same folks who have pushed to reopen the slaughterhouses are the loudest voices in support of clearing public lands of wild horses, which, presumably, are nice and lean and would be great in a stroganoff. They put some money together, hired a select group of pro-meat lobbyists (such as former Texas Congressman Charlie Stenholm), then let nature take its course. We all know how things work in Washington.

The Government Accounting Office conducted a supposedly impartial study, one that appears to mirror the propaganda written by slaughter proponents, and that’s all the cover Congress needed. As of this week, a conference committee focusing on a massive appropriations bill containing budgets for Agriculture, Justice, Commerce, HUD and other biggies very quietly removed the ban on funding for horse-meat inspectors. One minute it was there. The next it was gone. Poof.

What it means is that unless the full Congress discusses the issue before passing the larger appropriations bill, then horse-meat plants will be back in business very soon. “The roadblock has been removed,” crowed Wyoming representative and rancher Sue Wallis, the most vocal of the pro-slaughter crowd.

Anyone who feels strongly about cutting up horses (including wild mustangs) for food needs to have their voices heard now. It seems doubtful that any of Nevada’s congressional folks are major supporters of horse slaughter, but chances are that what happened in the conference committee is not a high priority. An angry public could help change that.

One issue not given consideration by the pro-slaughter folks is that since the 2007 ban, European countries have raised their standards for horse meat. Most American horses are so riddled with chemicals and contaminants that the meat could only be sold abroad if someone looks the other way. Most of it will likely not pass health inspections. That won’t matter a bit to the bloodthirsty folks with dollar signs in their eyes, but it should matter to the rest of us.

NAMES AND FACES

Anyone who watched the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor recently convicted in the death of singer Michael Jackson, might have seen a familiar Las Vegas face in the courtroom. Local PR guy Mark Fierro, a former TV news reporter who created a niche for himself here by helping attorneys involved in high-profile cases, was present for every day of the trial. He was hired by the law firm that represented Murray and thus served as a liaison to the national media working the story. In typical Fierro fashion, he’s has been going to the wall to defend his client, telling me and other reporters the jury never heard some of the most crucial evidence, and that the judge in the case screwed the pooch. It appears that Fierro now has a business relationship with Murray, though it is unclear what sort of media opportunities will be open to the doc if he gets thrown in the slammer for an extended period. ... Here’s the big question for Murray: Will he be stripped of his Nevada medical license? Ordinarily, you’d think that’s an easy question to answer, given the nature of the crimes for which he was convicted. Oh, but this is Nevada, after all. If a doctor knows the right people, chances are pretty slim the med board would strip him of his license. Anything short of slicing up a patient, frying his liver on a griddle and serving kabobs in the OR is fine with our medical watchdogs. If you doubt that, ask about the medical license of the local doc who has been taking placentas from a local hospital and using them in medical procedures that sound like witch-doctor stuff. He’s still operating here.

GEORGE KNAPP is a Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter for KLAS channel 8. Reach him at gknapp@klastv.com.

Last updated on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 12:08 am

SOURCE: Las Vegas City Life

Animal Welfare Institute: Handful of Legislators Condemn Horses to USDA Approved Abuse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Handful of Legislators Condemn Horses to USDA Approved Abuse
Washington, D.C. (November 15, 2011) – It would appear that some in Congress are all talk when it comes to seriously reducing federal spending and decreasing the size of government.  Despite overwhelming objections from the American public and the horse community, and despite Congress’ own supposed belief in fiscal restraint, the fate of America’s horses was undermined by three Members of Congress and their staffs behind closed doors this week.  For years, an amendment to the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill has prevented tax dollars from being used to “inspect” horse slaughter facilities in the U.S.  The House of Representatives voted this year to again include it in the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill, but three members of the Conference Committee, Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA),  Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), removed it from the final bill.  A fourth member of the Conference Committee, Representative Sam Farr (D-CA), was the lone objector.
“I have been in Washington for a long time and this move baffles me.  Both parties talked about making the hard cuts in federal spending and yet behind closed doors, three of the four men thought it was a good use of taxpayer dollars to ignore their colleagues and restore a federal program that will cost Americans at least $5 million a year and pull limited USDA inspectors from ensuring the humane treatment and safety of our nation’s food supply. To make matters worse, this was all done to appease a few foreign companies and Big Ag,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of AWI’s government and legal affairs department.  “This action shows the true nature of some elected officials—that they are more concerned about helping special interests than doing what they were elected to do.”
Some legislators are trying to disguise what they did as helping the horses, but there is substantial evidence of horses suffering at taxpayers’ expense when slaughter was permitted in the U.S. While a recent GAO report attempted to connect an increase in abuse to a cessation of horse slaughter in the U.S., the authors noted that there was no actual proof other than claims put forward by pro-horse slaughter proponents. 
With this cynical move, there is now only one avenue left for ending the tragedy of the slaughter of horses for human consumption:  Swift action on the GAO’s other recommendation—passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
“AWI commends Representative Farr (D-CA), ranking member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, for being the sole member of the Conference Committee to stand up for America’s horses and fiscal responsibility,” noted Heyde.  “We look forward to working with Representative Farr and other Members of Congress on passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.”
The Animal Welfare Institute is calling on everyone who has horses and cares about the welfare of America’s horses to demand that Congress pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act immediately.
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For More Information:
Chris Heyde, chris@awionline.org ,  (202) 446-2142

To take action on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and see how your legislator stands on animal protection issues, please visit www.compassionindex.org.
____________________________
CHRIS HEYDE
Deputy Director
Government and Legal Affairs
ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE
900 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003
T: (202) 446-2142 ~ F: (202) 446-2131
www.awionline.org ~ www.compassionindex.org
Facebook ~ Twitter
The Animal Welfare Institute has been alleviating the suffering inflicted on animals by humans since 1951.
Please join us in our work to protect animals – visit our website to find out more and to sign up for AWI eAlerts: www.awionline.org.

**OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CONGRESSMAN DAN BURTON IN REGARDS TO NEWS ON THE FY12 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL: “This is a setback, but we must continue to be vigilant in next year’s Agriculture spending bill.”**

Dan Burton’s Letter on Horse Slaughter to Rep. Kingston of Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee

Dan Burton’s Letter on Horse Slaughter to Rep. Kingston, Chair of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee

We have to express our sincere thanks, yet again, to Congressman Dan Burton for going above and beyond for our wild ones and voicing his disapproval for the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture potentially stripping language preventing your tax dollars from being used to inspect horse slaughter facilities, added by a vote before the Appropriations Committee onto the FY12 Agriculture Appropriations Bill earlier this year.

The Amendment approved by the full House Appropriations Committee prevents tax dollars from being used by the USDA to inspect horse slaughter plants, a requirement under federal law.  This language has been included in every Agriculture Appropriations Bill since 2006.  Members from the House and Senate are meeting right now to work out any differences between the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bills.  This means if the House version becomes law, commercial horse slaughter for human consumption will remain illegal.

Please read Dan Burton’s letter below to Chairman, Jack Kingston and Ranking Member, Sam Farr, and we hope you will feel inclined to write and let him know how grateful you are that he is continuing to use his voice in Congress to benefit our wild horses. He has been a tremendous asset for us on all wild horse issues.

Here is his contact info:

2308 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Warm Regards,

Madeleine and all the Mustangs

More About the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill:

Key Committee to Decide on Footing the Bill for Horse Slaughter

By: Michael Markarian

Michael Markarian is executive vice president and chief program and policy officer of The HSUS. He also serves as president of The Fund for Animals, an affiliate of The HSUS providing direct care, food and medical treatment to thousands of animals each year at its wildlife rehabilitation centers and sanctuaries. Additionally, as president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, he oversees the lobbying and political activity of that affiliate.

The House and Senate have passed different versions of the agriculture spending bill for 2012, and a conference committee of key lawmakers is now working to iron out the differences and pass a final bill in the coming days. One key issue to be decided is whether Congress will potentially add millions of tax dollars in new spending to allow foreign-owned horse slaughter plants to re-open on American soil.

Every year since 2005, the agriculture appropriations bill has included a provision de-funding U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections at horse slaughter plants, which ensured the permanent closure of the last remaining equine abattoirs in Illinois and Texas and has prevented other cruel horse slaughter plants from opening around the country. This year, the bill passed by the House retained that language—thanks to a successful amendment offered by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.—but the Senate version did not.

If the conference committee adopts the Senate position and repeals this important de-funding prohibition, it could cost U.S. taxpayers about $5 million annually to subsidize government inspections of foreign-owned horse slaughter plants. Adding millions of dollars to the federal budget to inspect foreign-owned horse slaughter plants would be a step backwards for America’s iconic horses and a waste of tax dollars.

Lobbyists for the horse slaughter industry are scurrying around Capitol Hill making a case for this expenditure, and they would have us believe that they are helping horses by killing them. They’re not. Most American horse lovers and owners shudder at the thought of any horse of theirs ending up on a foreign dinner plate.

Horses gathered up by “killer buyers” don’t fare well. They suffer through long-distance transport and then a harrowing slaughter process, now in either Canada or Mexico. HSUS investigators have documented cruel treatment time and again.

The problem of American horses being slaughtered in Canada and Mexico is not solved by re-opening equine abattoirs on American soil. When a handful of slaughter plants did operate in the U.S., horses still traveled great distances in trucks designed for cattle, and the transport and slaughter processes involved were inherently inhumane. There’s no reason to believe that slaughter plants would spring up in every community to make the transport distances shorter, or that horses would evolve into a species that no longer has a flight response, which makes the stunning and slaughter process very difficult and hazardous to the animals.

We’ve got a policy vehicle, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 1176/H.R. 2966), to put a stop to this mistreatment of animals. Americans don’t eat horses, and they don’t want them inhumanely killed, shrink-wrapped, and sent to Japan or Belgium for a high-priced appetizer. It’s time to stop the export of American horses for slaughter—not add money to the cash-strapped federal budget to open more slaughter plants.

Please take action here and see if your U.S. senator or representative is a member of the agriculture appropriations conference committee. Tell them that you support the House position on de-funding horse slaughter plants, and that taxpayers should not pay millions of dollars as a new subsidy for the cruel horse slaughter industry.

SOURCE: Humane Society Michael Markarian’s Blog

VIDEO: Two-Part Q& A with Madeleine Pickens

On September 28, 2011, Madeleine Pickens was asked to be a keynote speaker at the Equine Welfare Conference in Alexandria, VA. Madeleine addresses some of the most commonly asked questions about the Mustang Monument plan and the wild horse and burro issues.

Please watch both videos below:

SAM Welcomes Steve and Andrea Wynn to Advisory Board

Steve and Andrea Wynn Join Saving America’s Mustangs’ Advisory Board

Saving America’s Mustangs is extremely proud to welcome two Nevada icons to our Advisory Board: Steve & Andrea Wynn.

Casino Developer Stephen A. Wynn is widely credited with transforming Las Vegas into a world renowned resort and convention destination. As Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mirage Resorts, Incorporated, Mr. Wynn envisioned and built The Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio-boldly conceived resorts that set progressively higher standards for quality, luxury and entertainment. Now, as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Wynn Resorts, Limited, Mr. Wynn has developed Wynn Las Vegas, which opened on April 28, 2005; Wynn Macau, which opened in September of 2006; Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, which opened December 22, 2008; and Encore at Wynn Macau, which opened on April 21, 2010.

Mr. Wynn began his career in 1967 as part owner, slot manager and assistant credit manager of the Frontier Hotel. Between 1968 and 1972 he also owned and operated a wine and liquor importing company. But it was an entrepreneurial real estate transaction with Howard Hughes in 1971 that produced sufficient profits for a major investment in the landmark Golden Nugget Casino. Once known only as a “gambling joint,” Mr. Wynn transformed the Golden Nugget into a Four-Diamond resort known for elegance and personal service. By 1973, at the age of 31, Mr. Wynn controlled the property and began developing the Golden Nugget as a complete hotel resort.

In 1978, Mr. Wynn used profits from the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas to build the 506-room Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. The resort became known for its elegant facilities, television ads featuring Frank Sinatra and its impressive lineup of superstar entertainment. From its opening in December 1979 until its sale in 1986, the Atlantic City property dominated the market in revenues and profits in spite of its smaller size.

In 1987 Mr. Wynn sold the Atlantic City Golden Nugget, which had cost $160 million, to Bally’s for $450 million and turned his creativity to developing what would become the company’s flagship property-the Mirage. Opened in November 1989, the elegant hotel with its imaginative erupting volcano and South Seas theme, ignited a $12 billion building boom that catapulted Las Vegas to America’s number one tourist destination and fastest growing city. In 1991 Golden Nugget, Incorporated was renamed Mirage Resorts, Incorporated.

In October 1993, Mr. Wynn opened Treasure Island, establishing a new paradigm by which casino theme-resorts are designed. At the front corner of the resort, the Battle of Buccaneer Bay was acted out on a full-sized pirate ship. Inside the Four-Diamond property, with its romantic tropical theme, is one of the city’s most electrifying casino resorts.

In October 1998, Mr. Wynn raised the bar again when he opened the opulent Bellagio, a $1.6 billion resort considered among the world’s most spectacular hotels. With its sumptuous guest rooms, high-end retail stores and traditional European feel, Bellagio appealed to an audience that long overlooked Las Vegas as a vacation destination. Today, visitors line the street in front of the hotel to watch another Steve Wynn attraction, the “dancing waters”-shooting fountains choreographed to music that “dance” on the hotel’s 8.5 acre man-made lake.

In 1999, Mr. Wynn brought Mirage Resorts’ standard of style to beautiful and historic Biloxi, Mississippi where he oversaw development of the 1,835-room Beau Rivage. Blending Mediterranean beauty with Southern hospitality, the resort was the centerpiece of a building boom that established Biloxi as a regional tourism center along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

In June 2000, Mr. Wynn sold Mirage Resorts, Incorporated to MGM for $6.6 billion and purchased Las Vegas’ legendary Desert Inn Resort and Casino. The Desert Inn was closed in August 2000 and Mr. Wynn began developing Wynn Las Vegas, a 2,716-room luxury casino resort that has inspired yet another wave of development on the Strip. Concurrently, Wynn Resorts developed its Asian flagship casino resort in Macau, China where the company has been awarded a 20-year concession by the Macau government. In 2005, the Association of Travel Marketing Executives awarded Mr. Wynn the ATLAS Lifetime Achievement Award for his innovation in building resorts in Las Vegas.

In March 2011, Barron’s named Mr. Wynn one of the 30 “World’s Best CEOs,” and in 2006 Time Magazine recognized him as one of the “World’s 100 Most Influential People.” He was awarded an honorary doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s 250th Commencement Ceremony in recognition of his transformative vision of Las Vegas.

In October 2006 President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Wynn to serve on the Board of Trustees for the world-renowned John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and in November 2006 he was inducted into the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Hall of Fame. Mr. Wynn is a member of the International Advisory Council for the Moran Eye Center and has received honorary doctoral degrees from his alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Sierra College; The Culinary Institute of America; and Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

On April 29, 2011, Steve Wynn married Andrea Hissom and in her he found a fellow animal lover. They both ride horses and feel strongly on the wild horse issue. We sincerely thank the Wynns for their genuine enthusiasm for getting more involved on this project and joining our board of other highly-respected individuals. We are delighted to have them on our team and please express your gratitude to both for joining our ever-growing mustang family!

xoxo,

Madeleine Pickens & all the mustangs

Comment from the President of Equine Advocates Posted on New York Times Article

Susan Wagner, President of Equine Advocates, posted a comment on the NY Times website today, in response to an article they published about horse slaughter on October 23rd.

Please use discretion when viewing the YouTube videos as they describe content that may not be suitable for young children.


She wrote:

If you want to know the real truth about horse slaughter, please view these two videos of a former horse killer as taken with a lie detector and told to a former California District Attorney:

Horse slaughter is the ultimate betrayal of a favored animal in our culture and is the same as sending our dogs and cats to slaughter, as they are eaten in other countries as well. Americans do not and never will eat horses, as we would not even have a country without the help of The Horse. That is why our forefathers designated them favored animals never to be eaten. Simply put, horse slaughter exists so that irresponsible, greedy people can get money for a horse that they deem to be “inconvenient” rather than taking the time to find the animal a kind home or pay a licensed veterinarian to humanely euthanize the horse. This perpetrates indiscriminate breeding practices (such as by the Quarter Horse Industry and backyard breeders) and a violation of our nation’s animal cruelty laws, not to mention the lack of disclosure and the huge amount of consumer fraud that currently exists at horse slaughter auctions around the country. As far as we are concerned, there is no such thing as humane horse slaughter. That’s an oxymoron. We must push for the passage of strong legislation NOW that would ban horse slaughter in the US and prohibit the transport of equines from this country to other countries for the purpose of slaughter. The result will be a much stronger and healthier horse industry, as well as discouraging the cruel and thoughtless breeding practices which is what this ghastly practice has created. Over 75% of the American people are strongly opposed to horse slaughter, but Big Ag lobbies have continually blocked the passage of legislation that would ban it. It’s time for that to change and the legislation to pass swiftly. Susan Wagner

post your own comments here and ask others to do so as well. Our side needs to be strongly represented here.

The New York Times- Slaughter of Horses Goes On, Just Not in U.S.

Slaughter of Horses Goes On, Just Not in U.S.

John Schoneberg, a Nebraska breeder who has taken in hungry horses, says a slaughtering ban has not improved horses’ lives.

By A.G. SULZBERGER
Published: October 23, 2011

LINCOLN, Neb. — The closing of the country’s last meat processing plant that slaughtered horses for human consumption was hailed as a victory for equine welfare. But five years later just as many American horses are destined for dinner plates to satisfy the still robust appetites for their meat in Europe and Asia.

Brian Lehmann for The New York Times
Horses at John Schoneberg’s farm in Sutton, Neb. There is a de facto ban on slaughtering horses in the United States for meat.

Now they are carved into tartare de cheval or basashi sashimi in Mexico and Canada.

That shift is one of the many unintended consequences of a de facto federal ban on horse slaughter, according to a recent federal government study. As the domestic market for unwanted horses shrinks, more are being neglected and abandoned, and roughly the same number — nearly 140,000 a year — are being killed after a sometimes grueling journey across the border.

“When they closed the plants, that put more of a hardship on our horses than the people who wanted to stop the slaughter can imagine,” said John Schoneberg, a Nebraska horse breeder who recently took in three horses from a nearby farmer who said that he was unable to pay for feed and would otherwise turn them loose.

The study’s findings have been fiercely contested by animal welfare groups, which argue that most of the problems stem from the economic downturn and the high price of feed. The study also breathed new life into the long-smoldering battle over whether to allow the resumption of domestic horse slaughter or, alternatively, to prohibit the animals from being shipped abroad for their meat.

In recent weeks lawmakers have pushed Congress to take action in both directions. The Government Accountability Office, which conducted the study, concluded that either option would be better than the status quo, but advocates on both sides, while hopeful, said a resolution did not appear imminent.

“It’s just a hot political issue,” said Dr. Whitney Miller, a lobbyist for the American Veterinary Medical Association, which supports allowing horse slaughter. “It’s hard to see something definitive happening.”

The effect of the standoff has been deeply felt in rural states like Nebraska. Horse breeders and the owners of livestock auctions say that eliminating slaughter basically removed the floor for horse prices, allowing the market to collapse and forcing many out of the business. One reason, they say, is that owners are now forced to pay hundreds of dollars to euthanize and dispose of unwanted horses when they used to receive about that much to sell them to slaughterhouses.

This year, Nebraska became one of a number of states — along with Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and others — that have pushed to resuscitate the dormant horse slaughter industry, which produced meat valued at an estimated $65 million a year before closing. Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska, a Republican, signed a law to take steps to regulate horsemeat at the state level that passed the single-chamber legislature, the Unicameral, with only one dissenting vote.

These efforts have been fiercely opposed by animal rights groups, which rejected as ridiculous the argument that horses would be better off if they could be killed for meat. Pointing to their own research, they say any increase in improper care for horses can be connected to the economy, rather than to the elimination of slaughter. And if prices have declined, they say, that is because the ban removed an incentive to overbreed horses.

Wayne Pacelle, the president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said that horse owners should commit to providing lifetime care for the animals. He said surveys had found widespread opposition to killing horses for their meat.

“Horses are different than cows and pigs in one very important sense, in that they are not raised for slaughter,” he said.

But there is an enduring chasm in how horses are viewed.

“A horse, to me, is a livestock animal like a cow, sheep or a goat,” said Orbie Bonnett, a Nebraska rancher who stopped selling horses after prices plummeted. “A lot of folks nowadays look at a horse like a pet, like a dog or a cat. When you have a lot of money folk looking at this that way, well, there goes your slaughterhouses, there goes your market and there goes your horse folk — they just can’t make it anymore.”

The United States, much of it settled on horseback, has never really taken to eating horse except in times of need. But elsewhere, the meat — lean and protein-rich — is prized as a delicacy. Selling to a slaughterhouse has long been a way to make some money, to get rid of an old or unwanted horse no longer able to perform at a racetrack, show ring or ranch.

The last slaughterhouses for horses, in Texas and Illinois, closed after Congress stripped financing for federal inspections of horse slaughter in 2006, a move that effectively banned the sale of the meat. That year, only 105,000 horses were slaughtered domestically; 33,000 from the United States were slaughtered abroad. Last year, 138,000 or more were slaughtered abroad, according to government figures. (The population of horses in the United States is about nine million.)
Mr. Schoneberg says the ban causes horses more hardship than “the people who wanted to stop the slaughter can imagine.”

“It’s slightly hypocritical to allow these horses to be slaughtered anyway up in Canada or Mexico and not allow people here to get the income or serve the meat,” said Hugue Dufour, a chef in New York who cooked horse while working in Canada.

Now owners have to pay to get rid of horses. Debby Brehm, director of the Nebraska Quarter Horse Association, spent $200 last month to euthanize a sick horse and $150 more for it to be hauled to a rendering plant. Other owners keep them but are unable to bear the thousands of dollars a year it can cost to feed and care for them. As a result, the sight of malnourished animals is familiar, Ms. Brehm said, and stories abound of horses abandoned on public and private land and even, in one audacious case, in someone else’s horse trailer.

“You see a lot of malnourished and abandoned horses that probably would have been humanely slaughtered before,” said Windy Allen, a horse trainer in the state.

Others say the ban is costing them money, too.

The Southeast Nebraska Livestock Auction used to sell about 100 horses every month, but now that may be the total for a year, said Dale Steinhoff, the owner. At Central Nebraska Packing, which used to slaughter horses but now buys more than one million pounds of horsemeat a year for sale to zoos, the meat is far more expensive when imported from Canada, said Lloyd Woodward, general manager.

And, even as they pay less, those who buy the animals for slaughter — a group known as “kill buyers” — say they are struggling to cover their costs.

“The Mexicans are getting rich off us,” said Derry Mayfield, who buys about 40 horses a month and sometimes has them given to him for no cost. “They’re buying these horses cheap because they can. We have no other options.”

SOURCE NEW YORK TIMES

Support The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 2966)

Please take the time to support The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 2966)

This bill was officially introduced to Congress on September 19, 2011 by Congressmen Dan Burton, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, and 57 original co-sponsors. This bill is similiar to a bill proposed in 2003 (H.R. 857 The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) by Congressmen John E. Sweeney and John Spratt, Jr. to stop horse slaughter for human consumption. H.R. 2966 is a bipartisan measure that will end the export and inhumane killing of American horses for human consumption across our borders. Approximately 100,000 American horses are sent across U.S. borders to slaughter each year. This represents 1 percent of the total population of American horses, as the vast majority of horse owners choose humane euthanasia—not long-distance transport and slaughter—as an end-of-life option for their beloved companions.

Let’s tell our government officials where you stand on horse slaughter by writing to them that you support passing this legislation!

“I personally believe in the importance of treating all horses as humanely and respectfully as possible. That being said, I look forward to working with Rep. Schakowsky to end the cruelty, after decades of effort to stop these practices.” - Congressman Dan Burton, (R-IN)

Here is the full list of co-sponsors (currently at 70) for H.R. 2966:

Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill

Rep. Gary Ackerman [D, NY-5

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R, MD-6]

Rep. Shelley Berkley [D, NV-1]

Rep. Judy Biggert [R, IL-13]

Rep. Brian Bilbray [R, CA-50]

Del. Madeleine Bordallo [D, GU-0]

Rep. John Campbell [R, CA-48]

Rep. Lois Capps [D, CA-23]

Rep. Hansen Clarke [D, MI-13]

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver [D, MO-5]

Rep. Gerald Connolly [D, VA-11]

Rep. John Conyers [D, MI-14]

Rep. Susan Davis [D, CA-53]

Rep. Ted Deutch [D, FL-19]

Rep. Bob Filner [D, CA-51]

Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick [R, PA-8]

Rep. Barney Frank [D, MA-4]

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen [R, NJ-11]

Rep. Elton Gallegly [R, CA-24]

Rep. Jim Gerlach [R, PA-6]

Rep. Raul Grijalva [D, AZ-7]

Rep. Michael Grimm [R, NY-13]

Rep. Maurice Hinchey [D, NY-22]

Rep. Jay Inslee [D, WA-1]

Rep. Steve Israel [D, NY-2]

Rep. Henry Johnson [D, GA-4]

Rep. Walter Jones [R, NC-3]

Rep. William Keating [D, MA-10]

Rep. Peter King [R, NY-3]

Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D, OH-10]

Rep. Leonard Lance [R, NJ-7]

Rep. James Langevin [D, RI-2]

Rep. Barbara Lee [D, CA-9]

Rep. Sander Levin [D, MI-12]

Rep. Frank LoBiondo [R, NJ-2]

Rep. Edward Markey [D, MA-7]

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy [D, NY-4]

Rep. James McGovern [D, MA-3]

Rep. George Miller [D, CA-7]

Rep. Gwen Moore [D, WI-4]

Rep. James Moran [D, VA-8]

Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D, NY-8]

Rep. Grace Napolitano [D, CA-38]

Del. Eleanor Norton [D, DC-0]

Rep. John Olver [D, MA-1]

Rep. William Pascrell [D, NJ-8]

Rep. Gary Peters [D, MI-9]

Res.Comm. Pedro Pierluisi [D, PR-0]

Rep. Todd Platts [R, PA-19]

Rep. Jared Polis [D, CO-2]

Rep. Nick Rahall [D, WV-3]

Rep. Charles Rangel [D, NY-15]

Rep. Dave Reichert [R, WA-8]

Rep. Laura Richardson [D, CA-37]

Rep. Michael Rogers [R, MI-8]

Rep. Steven Rothman [D, NJ-9]

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard [D, CA-34]

Rep. Loretta Sanchez of CA

Rep. John Sarbanes [D, MD-3]

Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D, IL-9]

Rep. José Serrano [D, NY-16]

Rep. Brad Sherman [D, CA-27]

Rep. Christopher Smith [R, NJ-4]

Rep. Jackie Speier [D, CA-12]

Rep. Fortney Stark [D, CA-13]

Rep. Niki Tsongas [D, MA-5]

Rep. Christopher Van Hollen [D, MD-8]

Rep. Melvin Watt [D, NC-12]

Rep. Edward Whitfield [R, KY-1]

Rep. Lynn Woolsey [D, CA-6]

Rep. Bill Young [R, FL-10]

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Wild Horse Advocates - Washington D.C. - February 2011 from New Frontier Video on Vimeo.

Please Take the Time to Comment on EA for Garfield Flat and Marietta Wild Horse & Burro Roundup

Western Nevada is subject to another roundup if the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has its way. The BLM is scheduling a roundup in February of 2012 where they plan to remove 157 wild horses in and around the Garfield Flats Herd Management Area (HMA) and 55 burros from the Marietta Wild Burro Range. The BLM’s decision for the roundup rests on the unreasonably low population levels they have set in these areas, allowing for only 83-125 horses in the Garfield flat which boasts 220-square miles and only 78-104 burros on the 100-square mile Marietta Wild Burro Range. But you have the opportunity to comment on these plans! The BLM is seeking public comments on this roundup until October 26th.

Keep in mind that the BLM’s plan to remove burros from the Marietta Wild Burro Range is currently unfunded making your voice on this particular issue very powerful; you have the chance to help make sure that BLM’s request for funding in the 2012 Fiscal Year is denied by Congress.

Click here to Take Action Today!

For more information regarding this gather, please click the additional links below:

Marietta Wild Burro Range

Garfield Flats Herd Management Area

Environmental Assessment of the Proposed Roundup

RIP Bob Springer 1925-2011

Robert J. Springer Obituary

Robert J. Springer, born on March 25, 1925, in Buffalo, Wyoming has passed on near his home on October 2, 2011. Bob leaves behind his wife Colleen of 58 years and their children Scott and Sandy. Being raised on his family’s ranch in Wyoming, Bob grew up loving horses, cowboy history, wildlife and the great outdoors ; holding a special place for Western Landscapes. He was a respected family man and friend in his community and will be missed.

(picture at left) Robert J. Springer in 1976 after winning the US Supreme Court Hearing for Wild Horses and Burros.
Stories About Bob:

1) Bob went to Reno, Nevada, after the passage of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act to meet with Wild Horse Advocates and Stockmen at the Fair Grounds to discuss how the Act was to be implemented. When he arrived at the Airport, many hundreds of people were waiting including a TV Cameramen and a fierce crowding waiting to get word of what BLM was going to do. Bob told the crowd that he wasn’t going to talk business until he buys a white straw cowboy hat and wanted to know the nearest “Western Wear” Store. The whole crowd followed him to the store and everyone at the fairgrounds wore a white straw cowboy hat during the business meeting, including Wild Horse Annie (Velma Johnston). The Western Wear Store had their best day for White Straw Cowboy Hats because of Bob Springer.


2) Bob always knew when he had the opposing attorneys stumped. They would be tapping their fingers on the table after his statements and testimony. This also happened at the 1976 US Supreme Court Hearing for the Constitutionality of 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act that saved wild horses on public lands.

Biography
In 1951, Bob graduated with a B. S. Degree from the University of Wyoming at Laramie, Wyoming.

In 1953, he graduated with a M. S. Degree in Agricultural Economics from Montana State University at Bozeman, Montana and began his first BLM employment as a Range Aide at Worland, Wyoming.

In 1956, Bob was the Assistant District Manager at Pinedale, Wyoming. In 1959, he was the Assistant District Manager at Rawlins, Wyoming. In 1964, Bob was the District Manager at Bakerfieldsfield, California.

In 1971 , Robert J. Springer was the BLM Chief of the Division of Wild Horses and Burros at Washington D. C. until his reassignment to the BLM Cheyenne State office in 1983 and his retirement to his ranch at Buffalo, Wyoming in 1984.




Condolences may be sent to:
Colleen, Scott, & Sandy Springer
29861 Old Highway 87
Buffalo, WY 82834




Obituary written with love and admiration by his dear friend John Armour Phillips.

Former BLM Director of the Wild Horse and Burro Program Shares His Story with Madeleine Pickens

Dear Friends and Supporters,

It has come to our attention recently that documents containing information regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program and Horse Management Areas in the 1970s were being kept by former BLM employee, Robert Springer.  Mr. Springer was the first to be hired by the BLM to find proper management for the wild horses in Washington, DC.  In 1976, he testified before the Supreme Court that upheld the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 that wild horses are to be federally protected. Without his passionate testimony, we might not have any wild horses left on the range today.  These historical documents have been personally gifted to Saving America’s Mustangs by Robert Springer and his family after so many years of keeping them private.  By sharing his documents, it allows his legacy and life’s work of finding a proper solution for our wild horse to be carried out. We are eternally grateful that he has chosen to share his story and this incredible information with our Foundation. There were six, full boxes that have been passed to us, but we have put together a portion of some very interesting facts for you all to read online.  We thank you all for being so supportive in this process of finding a working solution to this on-going program. We are confident that Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco- Sanctuary is the right solution and we look forward to having you all there with us very soon.

Respectfully,

Madeleine Pickens

Saving America’s Mustangs

By Madeleine Pickens

Introduction

Before we can adequately discuss solutions to a problem, I think it is best to understand the origin of a problem.  So today I want to share with you historical information on the wild horses and burros in the western United States, the management direction for these animals by our federal government, estimated population size over time, and herd management areas set aside for the protection and management of these animals.  Finally I want to offer you another solution which should be considered by Secretary Salazar to bring the management of our wild horses and burros into compliance with the intent of Congress with the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

Historical perspective

Federal Government - Management Direction

Bureau of Land Management policy and management for wild horses and burros had its beginning with passage of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934.  The Taylor Grazing Act was written by and for Stockmen to gain control of the Western Public Lands from itinerant free grazers. These Stockmen who had influence with the western law makers owned the adjacent private lands and water rights to the adjacent Public Lands. The Stockmen who gained livestock grazing control of the Public Lands in 1934 also acquired the ownership of wild horses and burros on public land through their State Estray Laws. Prior to this period, no one had clear ownership of wild horses and burros because of the difficulty to prove ownership with much dissention among the stock raisers, homesteaders, and itinerant free grazers (3).

The attitude, management practices and policy interpretation for wild horses and burros on public lands by the federal government can be summarized by a letter issued by Mr. Archie D. Ryan, Grazing Service Director on July 7, 1939 (11). 

Mr. Archie Ryan’s letter stated the US Grazing Service Policy on Wild Horses is as follows: “[The Grazing Service] is interested in the removal of wild horses from the public ranges but the population of these animals in the grazing districts is localized and for this reason the Division has not attempted removal on a general scale but has relied on the efforts made by individuals who have worked in cooperation with the Division”. Wild Horse removals were accomplished by authorizing horse runners or mustangers through the state estray laws with the County Commissioners issuing the permits (12).

BLM’s acquiesces to state estray laws for wild horse and burro management on public lands was maintained by the agency even after the passage of P.L. 86-234 (Wild Horse Annie Act).  It is amplified by Mr. Ed Pierson, Wyoming BLM State Director letter of March 29, 1967 (6).  In this guidance letter to his Managers Mr. Ed Pierson wrote:

“Licensed users have the full authority to gather their horses in all areas covered by their license or permit to utilize the public lands. Obviously they have the right to gather not only their branded horses, but the progeny of their horses which they can identify. Since these horses are in every sense of the word domestic horses, they may utilize aircraft, motorized vehicles or any of method that they desire to use in capturing these animals”.

“Obviously it is best for the Bureau wherever possible to have the licensed grazing user or his agent gather the horses from his allotted or designated area. He assumes the full responsibility for the horses and the method of gathering. He needs no special permit of any kind. He claims ownership of those horses which he can identify and for which he can establish ownership and this establishes the fact that they are domestic. For this reason he is immune from P.L. 86-234 (Wild Horse Annie Act), and as bona fide owner of the animals, can make a profit from the horse gathering operations”.

“Where owners or their agents cannot or will not gather their unlicensed horses and where horse runners are unable to work out an agreement with the owners authorizing the gathering of their horses, they may be gathered by the Bureau of Land Management in accordance with 43 CFR 9239.3-2©(3) (4) and (5)”.

“Two questions concerning Public Law 86-234 which precludes the use of mechanized means for the rounding up feral horses on public lands remain unanswered at this time. First the law refers to capturing or killing any wild unbranded horse, mare, colt or burro running at large on any of the public land or ranges. Wyoming law recognizes all horses for which ownership cannot be established as strays”. “By interpretation horses not owned by anyone else automatically becomes the property of the State”. “Secondly, there is a question of whether or not policing under Public Law 86-234 is vested in the Federal Bureau of Investigation”. “Recently the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated a horse roundup which occurred in the vicinity of Green Mountain in the Lander District and which involved the capture of a number of unbranded and unclaimed horses. The FBI at the conclusion of this investigation determined that the horse runners involved were not subject to prosecution under Public Law 86-234 because the horses captured were not wild. Analyzing these statements might indicate that Public Law 86-234 does not apply to Wyoming since there are no wild horses”.

In May of 1967, BLM policy stated “Any horse roaming free and uncontrolled can be called a wild horse. But not all free roaming horses are unowned; many are claimed by and often carry brands of nearby ranchers”. “Wild Horses that join bands of domestic horses are unavoidably gathered in private roundup of domestic stock” and “ that BLM cooperates with roundups of privately owned animals on BLM Lands” (4).

These BLM documents are instructive of the actual national direction and goals for wild horse and burro management used to implement federal laws from 1959 until the 1976 US Supreme Court Decision (13).  The unanimous 9-0 decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1976 stated the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 was declared constitutional (5). This decision was a shock and disappointment to the federal land managers and Stockmen who were convinced that State Right’s for animals belonged to the State, including wildlife and livestock. This decision eliminated the question of the ownership of wild horses and burros between the States and Federal Government.

With this Decision both the federal government employees and Stockmen had to live with the law of the land. Prior to 1976, BLM allowed roundups of wild horses on intermingled private and public lands without authorizations (6) and authorized roundups for wild horses on public lands if claimed under Section 5 of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and who paid regular grazing fees for the claimed horses (7). Wild Horses roaming on intermingled private and Public Lands were easily claimed as unbranded domestic horses under the State Estray Laws as progeny of domestic horses without any supervision from BLM (8). The estimate of wild horses rounded up as domestic horses on intermingled private lands and claimed on public lands as domestic horses during the years 1971 and 1976 is approximately 84,000 animals (9).

Many readers of policy and management of wild horses and burros as stated above also question why the BLM Directorate (Director & State Directors) did not respect the intent of Public Law 86-234 (Wild Horse Annie Act of 1959) and Public Law 92-195 (Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971). This probably is best explained in the historical context when the U. S. Taylor Grazing Service was terminated in 1946 by the power and influence of the local stockmen lead by United States Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada.

The Taylor Grazing Service in 1946 was pressured by Eastern United States Senators to raise the grazing fees on Western Stockman from 5 cents to 15 cents per Animal Unit Month on public lands (15). The US Western Senators would not give in on the grazing fee increase to the US Eastern Senators that were on the Budget Committee. This committee threatened not to fund the Taylor Grazing Service and Senator Pat McCarran told the Senate Budget Committee not to fund the Taylor Grazing Service. The Taylor Grazing Service did not exist after this event in 1946.

Most of the BLM Directorate at the time of the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act in 1971 lived through the termination of the Taylor Grazing Service in 1946 as a result of the grazing fee battle in the US Senate. Most of these men were furloughed (McCarran Leave of Duty) from employment for a year until they reassumed their duties with the U S Land Office which became the Bureau of Land Management in 1946. These men became the leaders of the Bureau of Land Management replacing the men from the old US Land Office, and they had firsthand experience of the power of the Western Stockman and Congressional budgetary consequences they were able to rally.

Historic Wild Horse and Burro Numbers

One fact is evident; no one collected actual historical numbers of wild horses and burros which roamed the public lands of the West.  These animals were never scientifically counted prior to 1975; all we have is estimations based on merging of local recollection of the size of local herds.

Nonetheless, the number of wild horses and burros on public lands in the eleven US Western States numbered in the many millions in the early 1800s (16). There were probably 5 million wild horses in 1845 when the United States of America acquired the Mexican Lands in the eleven US Western States as a result of the US War with Mexico (16). 

The significant reductions of wild horses in the West occurred in the 1870s-1890s.  Wild horses were competition for cattle on the open rangelands of the West.  The cattle barons bringing large cattle herds to the West were eliminating horses which they believed were competing with cattle for the grass.  However, the most significant loss of horses equaled the greatest loss of cattle in the history of livestock grazing on the western rangelands.  The Cattle Barons lost as much 85% of their livestock to the bitter winters between the years of 1893 to 1898 (17). These severe winters were a result of Krakatau Volcano eruption in 1893 putting ash into the atmosphere; even Galveston Bay in Texas froze during this catastrophe. Most of the Cattle Barons went into bankruptcy and Spanish cattle were no longer used on the open range with the cold hardy Hereford cattle that took their place on the open range. These bitter winters reduced the wild horse herds to about 400,000 animals on public lands by 1899 (18).

From various documents and government reports, I have accumulated the following wide difference of animal numbers which have limited worth except to know they were estimates for actual and/or political considerations.

In 1910 the number of wild horses on public lands was about 2 Million (2). 

In 1959 the number of wild horses on public lands was about 25,000 (19).

In 1971, BLM estimated wild horse and burro numbers on public lands at 17,300 wild horses and 8,100 burros which were the same numbers used by BLM in 1967 (4).

In 1976, the number of wild horses and burros on public lands was approximately 90,000 animals (9). 

Between 1971 to 1976, there could have been as many as 84,000 wild horses and burros gathered as progeny of domestic horses by grazing permit holders through the state estray laws (9).

In 1980, 52,374 wild horses and 12,171 wild burros were estimated on public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management as stated in the 1982 Public Lands Statistics.

The first actual numbers count of wild horses and burros on public lands did not occur until 1975 with direct aerial counts that were reported as 1976 numbers in subsequent Congressional Reports.  Numbers of wild horses and burros reported by BLM between 1971 and 1976 are suspect because of Section 5 of the Wild Horse Act related to claimed animals and checkerboard private lands using the various state estray laws to gather wild horses as domestic horses. The Federal ownership of wild horses and burros was not solved until the 1976 US Supreme Court Decision (5) and the expiration period for claiming wild horses under Section 5 of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. During this time period of 1971 to 1976, there could have been as many as 84,000 wild horses and burros gathered as progeny of domestic horses by grazing permit holders through the state estray laws (9).

Herd Management Areas

In 1971, there were 266 Herd Management Areas for wild horses and burros (20) that included approximately 50 to 60 million acres or approximately 90,000 square miles (21). The appropriate management levels were to be determined by the Bureau Land Use Planning process (22), but no mention was made to eliminate the herd management areas through the land use planning process which is contrary to Public Law 92-195 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act which states “It is the policy of Congress that wild free roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands”.

By 1982, there was 142 Herd Management Areas for wild horses and burros (23) that included approximately 47 million acres (9).

As of February 2009, BLM was managing 180 HMAs covering 31.9 million acres in 10 western states (24).  This increase in number of HMA’s seems to be the result of the BLM dividing large HMA’s into smaller areas and eliminating significant acreage in the process.

The elimination of herd management areas were a result of BLM’s policy under Section 5 of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act for claimed animals. This policy allowed BLM grazing permit holders who paid grazing fees on wild horses to claim these animals as domestic horses under the State Estray Laws (7).

To summarize the history of the federal governments’ management of the wild horse and burro program without a historical context is inappropriate. In hindsight it is easy to say:

1. BLM was wrong not fighting for the Federal ownership of wild horses and burros in 1959 and again in 1971. 

2. BLM was negligent by allowing the commercial slaughter of wild horses and burros as domestic horses without receiving fair compensation for the general public. The value of a slaughter horses during this time period was approximately $250 per horse or a 30 million dollar commercial business during this time frame. The BLM grazing permit holders with intermingled private lands generally paid no fees for claiming wild horses as domestic horses coming off public lands in accordance with the State Estray Laws and claimed animals on public lands paid regular grazing fees of $1.32 to $2.00 per Animal Unit Month (7) or $12 per year. The profits per animal were about $200 per animal.

3. The BLM was erroneous using various techniques to eliminate 124 Herd Management Areas or approximately 8 million acres or 12,500 square miles of wild horse range that could have been used to relocate excess animals from other Herd Management Areas (20).

4. The agency was misguided eliminating BLM personnel involved with gather operations of wild horses and burros to be replaced with private stockmen contractors. These contractors were in the commercial horse slaughter business prior to 1976 or an agent to BLM grazing permit holders or a BLM grazing permit holder. Much of the problem associated with the excessive cost of the Wild Horse and Burro Program is a result of these private contractors with conflict of interests. These private contractors had the power and influence of the western Stockmen and U. S. Senators concerning wild horses and burros on public land.

However, by researching the records we know national level directions were issued so the agencies could reduce the wild horse and burro herds to an arbitrary 1971 population levels.  Additionally, BLM knew they would face the wrath of Western Stockmen and U. S. Senators and the agency would not receive Congressional funding to accomplish the mandates of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burros Act if done otherwise.

Current Perspective

In recent years the BLM’s wild horse and burro program has had increasing review by the Government Accounting Office and others.  According to the Government Accounting Office, and acknowledged by BLM, two significant challenges have not been fully addressed:

• If not controlled, off-the-range holding costs will continue to overwhelm the program. The Wild Horse and Burro Program’s spending for off-the-range holding increased from $7 million in 2000—46 percent of the program’s direct costs—to about $21 million in 2007—67 percent of the program’s direct costs. In 200 8, BLM anticipates that holding costs will account for about 74 percent of the program’s direct costs. As holding costs continue to increase, less funding is available for on-the-range management, which could result in sharp increases to the animal population in the wild. To deal with its long-term holding problem, BLM has primarily sought increased funding to open additional holding facilities. However, funding is not likely to increase in the future, and limited funding is forcing BLM to make the difficult choice among managing the animals on the range to prevent overpopulation, destroying excess unadoptable animals, or selling them without limitation. If funding is not increased or if BLM does not dispose of animals in other ways, BLM projects that the number of wild horses on the range would reach about 50,000 or about 80 percent over AML, by 2012.

• BLM’s options are limited for dealing with unadoptable animals. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, as amended, requires that excess animals, for which the adoption demand is not sufficient to absorb all the animals removed from the range, be destroyed in the most humane and cost-efficient manner possible or, under certain circumstances, be sold without limitation. From 1988, Congress prohibited BLM from using its Management of Lands and Resources appropriations to destroy excess healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros, despite the amended act’s directive to destroy excess animals. However, since the enactment of the sales directive in 2004, which provided BLM with another means of disposal for these excess animals, Congress has appropriated funds to BLM without the prohibition. BLM has still chosen not to destroy or sell excess animals without limitation because of concerns about public and congressional reaction to the large-scale slaughter of thousands of healthy horses. However, by not destroying or selling them without limitation, BLM is not in compliance with the requirements of the act. Budget constraints have forced BLM to reconsider all of its options, including humane destruction and sales without limitations. BLM has not formally considered other possible solutions to deal with the current number of wild horses in long-term holding other than one pilot project in Wyoming. Some BLM officials suggested that other options are possible, such as placing nonreproducing animals on vacant BLM grazing allotments or on other federal lands, but these actions would require legislative changes.

Two plans to meet the intent of Congress and Public Law 86-234 (Wild Horse Annie Act of 1959) and Public Law 92-195 (Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971

The key elements of these plans, designed to address concerns raised by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Government Accountability Office and the needs of the horses now held in feedlots, would designate wild horse ranges utilizing BLM lands. Citing the historical numbers of thriving wild horse herds living on public lands in the West these horse ranges will provide excellent opportunities to celebrate the historic significance of wild horses, showcase these animals to the American public, and serve as natural assets that support local tourism and economic activity.

The Foundation Approach

1. The wild horse herd placed in these ranges would be non-reproducing.

2. These animals would primarily be those thousands of wild horses captured, removed from their rangeland, not adopted, and existing in cramped feedlots.

3. Managing the horse ranges through cooperative agreements between the BLM and private non-profit organizations to reduce the Bureau’s off-the-range holding costs. This coordinated effort would harness the energy of wild horse and burro supporters, whose enthusiasm would also be tapped to promote wild horse adoptions at a time when adoption demand has softened.

4. Using this proposal, BLM livestock grazing allotments would be acquired from the existing owner by a nonprofit corporation that had been determined by the Internal Revenue Service to be an organization exempt from federal income taxation by virtue of being described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

5. May require amendment to Public Law 92-195

6. The Foundation would contract with the federal government to house the animals on the ranch, and to accept future animals removed by BLM from HMAs, up to the carrying capacity of the ranch.

7. The animals would remain titled to the United States during the time they were protected and managed by the Foundation.

The Uninhabited HMA approach

There are approximately 20 million areas designated within HMA’s which were depopulated by the federal government because they removed, or allowed removal of wild horses and burros as claimed animals.  Many of these uninhabited HMA’s are highly desirable locations to relocate horses.  The ability to restock these desirable rangelands with wild horses is within the authority of the federal land management agencies.

The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior should direct Forest Service and BLM to examine every unoccupied HMA which was depopulated.  This examination should be done with appropriate environmental analysis and public input.  Based on the findings of this evaluation of these millions of acres which once supported viable populations of wild horses and burros in 1971, the agencies should be directed to populate the suitable areas of public land with sustainable populations of wild horses or burros once again.

Rather than stocking with reproductive herds, the agencies should be directed to stock these areas with non-reproductive herds.  This management practice could completely eliminate the need for Short Term Holding (STH) feedlot facilities.

The benefits:

1. A saving to taxpayers of tens of millions annually.  Hundreds of millions of savings within a decade.

2. No need for amending the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 (Act).

3. No animal maintenance payment to the federal land livestock permittee is required or necessary.

4. The animals would be monitored, by agency staff in like manner as wild horses in populated HMA’s.

5. All non-adoptable non-reproductive wild horses and burros would be managed in keeping with BLM’s responsibility under the 1971 Act to manage healthy wild horse and burro populations on healthy rangelands. BLM is obligated by law to manage herds to assure that populations are balanced with other authorized uses of the public lands and that ecological balance is achieved and maintained.

6. All excess animals gathered from HMA’s, which are non-adoptable, can be neutered and moved to these unpopulated HMA areas annually.

7. The public in States such as Montana, Oregon and New Mexico, where almost all wild horses were eliminated on federal land in the 1970’s and 1980’s, by lack of federal enforcement of the Act, could enjoy viewing their wild horses again. 

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.  The opportunity to do the right thing and return these animals to healthy rangelands and close down the feedlots is before us.  We cannot do the right thing for these animals without a partnership with the federal land management agencies.  Do we have the conviction to do the right thing?

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

Founder of Saving America’s Mustangs

FOOTNOTES

1) blank

2) Walker D. Wyman. The Wild Horse of the West. Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1945.

3) U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Information Bulletin No. 5, The Taylor Grazing Act. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1971-0-419-869. ) John H. Gorman. The Western Horse (Danville, Illinois, 1939). Page 222 and Pierson, Ed, Wyoming State Director, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Interior, Cheyenne Wyoming, letter March 29, 1967.

4) Fact Sheet: Wild Horses. Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Department of Interior. GPO 894-629, May 1967.

5) Santa Fe Reporter (Santa Fe, New Mexico), July 1, 1976.

6) Pierson, Ed, Wyoming State Director, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Interior, Cheyenne Wyoming, letter March 29, 1967.

7) Nevada Journal, BLM, Department of Agriculture Present Wild Horse Position.  Letters from Tom Ballow, Director of Nevada Agriculture and E. I. Rowland, Nevada BLM Director. Volume XXXVII, Issue 8, Sparks, Nevada. August 1975. p 4-6, 10, 13 and Instruction Memo No. 73-411 from Paul L. Howard, Asst. Director of Resources, to all State Directors and District Managers. Subject, Grazing Trespass Charges—Unauthorized Domestic Horses and Burros. Washington D. C., October 1, 1973 and Instruction Memo No.75-618 from Roman H. Koenings, Asst. Director of Resources to all State Directors and District Managers. Subject, Grazing Trespass Charges—Unauthorized Domestic Horses and Burros. Washington D. C., December 19, 1975.

8) Section 5 for claimed animals of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act was used to establish Cooperative Agreements with the State Livestock Boards that maintained the same policy of ownership that existed at the time of the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act which was discussed at the Proceedings, National Advisory Board for Wild, Free Roaming Horses and Burros, January 12-13, Salt Lake City, Utah.

(9) Fourth Report to Congress 1982, Administration of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. U. S. Department of Interior, BLM and U. S. Department of Agriculture, FS. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1982-377-243/8370. John A. Phillips (First BLM Wild Horse and Burro Specialist) used the numbers in the 1982 Congressional Report for the determination of wild horses claimed and rounded up as domestic horses during the years 1971 through 1976 from intermingled private and Public Lands. This determination is as follows: 1) The Lincoln Index Population Census method that was used in 1980 determined that the direct aerial population counts accounted for 30% of the population; 2) The 1976 direct aerial count of wild horse numbers reported in the 1982 Congressional Report should of been adjusted to 90,000; 3) Using a conservative population increase rate of 20% for 90,000 wild horses, the wild horse population should have been 156,000 animals by 1980; and 4) The calculations are thus: 156,000 wild horses (1976 numbers adjusted for census error and population increase) minus 52,000 (1980 wild horse population numbers using the Lincoln Index Census Method) minus 20,000 (wild horses adopted into private maintenance) for a total of 84,000 wild horses .

(10) 1978 Report to Congress. U. S. Department of Interior, BLM and U. S. Department of Agriculture, FS. Management of Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros on the Public Land and Lands of the National Forest System. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1978.

11) Ryan, Archie D., Director Grazing Service, Department of Interior, letter July 7, 1939. R. H Rutledge, Director of the Division of Grazing, letter, August 25, 1939. John H. Gorman. The Western Horse (Danville, Illinois, 1939), p.222. Walker D. Wyman. The Wild Horse of the West. Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1945, Chapter 8 and 9.

12) John H. Gorman. The Western Horse (Danville, Illinois, 1939), p.222. Walker D. Wyman. The Wild Horse of the West. Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1945, Chapter 8 and 9.

13) The wild horse gather policy review letter that Mr. Pierson issued in 1967 was essentially the same that was discussed in the Proceedings of the National Advisory Board for Wild, Free-Roaming Horses and Burros, on November 6, 1973 at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, because of interpretation of Section 5 of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act related to claimed animals.

14) blank

15) Study of Fees for Grazing Livestock on Federal Lands. A Report from the Secretary of Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture. October 21, 1977. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1977-248-888/6624.

16) Walker D. Wyman. The Wild Horse of the West. Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1945. B. F. Beebe and James Ralph Johnson. American Wild Horses. David McKay Company, Inc., New York. 1943.

17) Bessie Beatly. Who’s Who in Nevada, Published by Bessie Beatly, Reno Nevada, 1907, P 185. The hard winters of 1888 and 1889 froze the livestock of John Tinnin, a business partner to Governor John Sparks of Nevada. Many other instances of livestock losses due to the hard winters are in this publication.

18) This estimate was determine from the annual population increase of 20% from the 1910 estimates of approximately 2 million wild horses on public lands.

19) T. L. McKnight. The Feral Horse in Anglo America. The Georg. Rev. Vol XLIX (4): 506-525 and Mike Hanley with Ellis Lucia. Owyhee Trails The West’s Forgotten Corner. The Caxton Printers, Ltd. Caldwell, Idaho, 1974.

20) Preliminary Wild Horse and Burro Population Information. Personal Papers of Robert Springer, Chief, Division of Wild Horses and Burros, Washington D. C. October 1, 1983. Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Area Map, Technical Note, Wild Free-Roaming Horses-Status of the Present Knowledge by Mark Zarn, Thomas Heller, and Kay Collins, U. S. Department of Interior, BLM and U. S. Department of Agriculture, FS, Printed DSC, Denver, Colorado, March 1977. Craig C. Downer. Wild Horses Living Symbols of Freedom. Western Printing and Publishing Co. Sparks, Nevada, June 1977, p 26 showing Nevada BLM Map of herd management areas for aerial counts of wild horses and burros.

21) Proceedings National Advisory Board for Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros. U. S. Department of Agriculture, FS and U. S. Department of Interior, BLM. Appendix 4, George Turcott, Associate Director of BLM, Washington D. C., March 26-27, 1974.

22) Proceedings National Advisory Board for Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros. U. S. Department of Agriculture, FS and U. S. Department of Interior, BLM. Page 4, Kay Wilkes, Division Chief for Range Management of BLM, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 12-23, 1973.

23) Preliminary Wild Horse and Burro Population Information. Personal Papers of Robert Springer, Chief, Division of Wild Horses and Burros, Washington D. C. October 1, 1983.

24) Office of the Inspector General, Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Program

Report

Healthy wild horse population on healthy rangeland.

Nevada, Herd Management Areas as of September 2011

Refer to Footnote #9; these direct aerial counts only represented 30% of the population as later determined by the Lincoln Index Census that was used by BLM in 1980.

Feedlot wild horses

Madeleine Pickens, Keynote Speaker at Equine Welfare Conference on September 28th

Madeleine Pickens, the Founder of Saving America’s Mustangs, will be a keynote speaker at this year’s Equine Welfare Conference in Alexandria, VA on September 28th, 2011

Other distinguished speakers include: Senator Mary Landrieu, Congressman Jim Moran, State Senator Dave Wanzenried, Paula Bacon the former mayor of Kaufman, TX, Ann Marini, Ph.D., M.D., Ginger Kathrens of The Cloud Foundation, Michael Blowen of Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Facility, Keith Dane with The Humane Society of the U.S., Lonita Stewart with Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, Katie Fite with Western Watersheds Project and authors Deanne Stillman and Alex Brown. A complete list of the presenters can be viewed here.

Event Location:
Marriott Residence Inn
1456 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

CONFERENCE AGENDA

Registration Fees:
All 3 days, includes Tuesday night banquet $150

Individual Day $75

Student: All 3 days, includes Tuesday night banquet $75
Student: Individual Day $40

note: banquet is only included with 3 day registration

Register Now

For More information, please contact: iec@equinewelfarealliance.org
website: www.equinewelfarealliance.org

We look forward to seeing you there.

Issues with Jane-Velez Mitchell: Will Government end Wild Horse Roundups?

Issues with Jane-Velez Mitchell

Will Government end Wild Horse Roundups?

Why are horses dying at the Presidio holding facility in Texas?

The Presidio holding facility is the last stop before horses are shipped to Mexico for slaughter. The pen is leased by C 4 cattle. Reports have been given that it is a common occurrence for horses to die out at this pen. This video shows very thin, injured animals. Please help stop the abuse out taking place at this holding pen! Just because these are slaughter horses, does not mean they are exempt from Texas animal cruelty laws. Animals are required to be given adequate food, water and shelter and must be maintained in a good state of health. People need to be made accountable for breaking the law and allowing animals to suffer.

Please be advised, the content below may not be suitable for young children. Viewer discretion is encouraged.

Here is a video to detail the situation:

Here is a horse that was alive on August 10th and found dead 4 days later:

Tell Congress: Halt BLM Roundup Causing Small Foals to Suffer

Tell Congress: Halt BLM Roundup Causing Small Foals to Suffer

Report of the Bureau of Land Management “Triple B” Complex

Roundup witnessed by Laura Leigh, 8/10/2011

Contractor: Sun-J out of Vernal Utah. Suspect Contract in that contract was awarded before
company was even incorporated. First roundup observed by this contractor in Warm Springs
Oregon had one witnessed fatality in an inappropriately set trap. Only two observation days
allowed at that roundup and on one of those days no horses came in. All significant handling of
horses by this contractor were kept from public view during the Callaghan/Bald Mountain and
New Pass/Ravenswood roundup in December 2010. Holding at Callaghan had debris,
equipment and horses standing in water in pens as temperatures dipped below freezing.
Antelope roundup demonstrated extraordinary issues including poor flying that jeopardized
horses and crew, over-driving, lack of water and rough unnecessarily rough handling. Many
questions including the wife (Jody) being former BLM employee and DOT violations.
Ground research: Water available and forage available to sustain current population. Road
expansion due to expanding mining operations.

Roundup Concerns: Dates for operation conflict with actual foaling season.The majority of
deaths associated with this operation are of foals. BLM is citing “abnormalities” that are not
abnormal in foals. Many of the “abnormalities” cited can be caused by the roundup operation.
Published foaling season must accurately reflect foaling season on the range.

Bloody legs indicating reckless travel over rocky terrain.

The pilot utilized by Sun J has not improved techniques since the Antelope roundup. Bands are
being shattered. This is particularly disturbing when you take newborn foal behavior into

account. Newborns may be left on the range. The scattering of bands is confirmed by sex
sorting observations day 2, and through observation of pilot performance.
Bands being driven extreme distances. Observation shows bands coming from over ten miles
away. Drives can last more than one hour.

Pilot appears to have extreme difficulty getting horses to enter trap as escapes are prolific.
Horses appear confused as the pilot does not seem to understand how to move horses.
Hot shots were suspected and confirmed to be in use. BLM confirmed hotshot use by the
contractor.

Water and feed distribution has been an ongoing battle with contractor. It is suspected that
ground crew is having difficulty getting contractor to provide basic needs that are not specific to
contract.

Contract must be reviewed or suspended until basic humane care can be provided.

Observation opportunities must be improved. Ability to assess horses is still not provided.
Temperature and range conditions are a factor. Operations in this desert should cease at 85
degrees.

One of the foals euthanized for “abnormality.” Foal is not abnormal. The fetlock is swollen from
the roundup and perfectly “normal” in a foal that NEVER should have been run.

Third horse to try to escape through sloppy setting of trailer and panels. This one gets her head
wedged.

Blood present on many of the pasterns and feet of horses in holding indicating rough travel and
improper loading.

Severe wounds on all four legs. Horse IS NOT included in “gather” report as Brand Inspector
said may be domestic. Horse has no brand as is severely wounded from the roundup. most
likely run through the barbed wire on the range.

Facial wounds present on horses in holding.

Pilot sends confusing messages and scatters horses that are run, not trotted or walked, for
distances lasting as much as an hour.

Alkali dust (caustic) so thick it obscures helicopter in 90 degree heat.

Videos below:

Helicopter hitting horse

Baby Roped

Please take action today in calling for an immediate halt to all summer wild horse roundups. This roundup is taking place during actual foaling season. These animals are not strong enough to endure going through this, especially running for miles during the intense summer heat.

The majority of the nine horses who have been killed to date in the Triple B roundup, which is currently underway in northeastern Nevada, are foals. The tragedy could be prevented by prohibiting the conduct of roundups in the summer, a time when foals are young and vulnerable. Take action below to tell Congress to intervene in this unnecessary abuse of America’s mustangs.

TAKE ACTION
videos and photos provided by Laura Leigh

How a Billionaire’s Wife Is Becoming the Mustangs’ Messiah

Thursday, Aug. 04, 2011

How a Billionaire’s Wife Is Becoming the Mustangs’ Messiah

By Tim McGirk / Wells

As the wife of a billionaire and a wealthy woman in her own right, Madeleine Pickens is accustomed to traveling in limos and private jets. But this afternoon, she is bumping along in a rusty pick-up truck. The truck halts in the middle of a sagebrush valley. Nearby, a broad mountain is shifting in color from ochre to indigo in the fading afternoon light.

Pickens, 64, a petite blonde in a fringed buckskin jacket and matching boots, jumps from the truck and points to a low thundercloud of dust moving across the valley. It’s a galloping herd of mustangs, tan and black and pinto, their manes streaming like water. Soon, the earth is drumming with their hoof beats. “These horses were going to the slaughterhouse,” she says, admiring the racing herd, “and so I brought them to my ranch, where they can run wild.” (Want to Make More than a Banker? Become a Farmer!)

Her giant ranch, in northeastern Nevada, is spread across three valleys and two mountain ranges, and Pickens intends to turn it all into a wild horse sanctuary or, as she calls it, a “Mustang Monument.” The first arrivals are 500 horses she bought from a Piute Indian reservation, which, she says, would otherwise have been slaughtered across the border.

The trouble is, many of Nevada’s ranchers look upon these wild horses as vermin, chomping grass that should be meant for their cattle. And these ranchers say they are afraid that Pickens, who is married to energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, might be leading a stampede of “touchy-feely” millionaire horse-lovers who will start buying up pastures to save the pretty horses. And this, they insist, may run the cattlemen out of business.

Pickens may have money and high connections, but she is confronting powerful forces. The cattle ranchers, according to Chris Heyde, Deputy-Director of the Animal Welfare Institute, an animal rights group in Washington, have an “absolute choke-hold on the state legislature in Nevada.” The ranchers are trying, so far unsuccessfully, to push through a law banning wild horses from having access to water — condemning them to die of thirst. In the U.S. Congress, the cattlemen also have allies among legislators from the 21 farm states and the influential agricultural lobby. (See photos of urban farming around the world.)

Nobody can dictate to ranchers if they want to raise cows or kangaroos on their own land. But in Nevada’s high deserts and extreme weather, most ranches are granted access to vast tracts of federal land for grazing. Pickens’ original spread of 28 sq. mi. gives her access to another 875 sq. mi. of federal grazing land. And it is this public land — controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — that has become the battleground between Pickens and the cattlemen.

Pickens envisions Mustang Monument with a museum and lodging for visitors in futuristic teepee villages beside a creek from where they can view the roaming mustangs. Because her horse sanctuary will partly be on federal land, and because she is angling for federal help to keep the refuge running long after she is gone, Pickens needs approval from the BLM. So far, the federal agency has been slow to respond. Animal rights advocate Heyde says that the federal bureaucracy is lassoed to the cattlemen’s interests and has been “trying to tie Ms. Pickens’ applications in knots.” The BLM says it is studying Pickens’ proposals before giving its approval to help her mustang sanctuary.

Caught in the middle is Pickens’ ranch manager, Clay Nannini, a rangy, ex-rodeo cowboy from Wells, Nevada, as adept with his smart phone as his lariat. “Some of the local ranchers could care less, some are in favor, but mostly they’re opposed to what Ms. Pickens is trying to do,” he adds with a shrug, “People I’ve been involved with all my life are giving me the bird and walking away.”

Nebraskaland: A Tale of Two Farms.

From Farm to Fork.

Back in the sagebrush, Pickens grabs an armful of fresh-cut hay and walks boldly towards a wild stallion, black with a splash of white between its wary eyes. The stallion was gelded a few days before and is understandably skittish, retreating from her fearless advance. “Riding isn’t a big part of my life,” says Pickens, who was born in Iraq to a British father and Lebanese mother. “I used to watch [the TV horse opera] Bonanza, and when I came to America, I saw that the things I loved about it — like the mustangs — were being destroyed.”
Pickens always had a soft spot for animals. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she and her husband T. Boone arranged six airlifts for 800 stranded dogs and cats. Pickens says this gave her a direct, emotional satisfaction she never got by just writing checks to charity. Next, an animal activist drew her attention to the plight of wild mustangs. (The End of the Line.)

Brought to North America by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, horses thrived in the boundless, grassy plains of the West. Estimates in the early 1900s put the number of wild horses at over 2 million, but by the 1960s, the herds were on their way to extinction, with only 17,000 mustangs left alive. Herds were being rounded-up and butchered. Domestic horses were not spared slaughter: even tottering old thoroughbreds ended up being sold for horseflesh. Today, the BLM reckons there are over 33,000 horses in the wild, far too many, the agency insists.

This struck a chord with Pickens. With her first husband, the late Gulfstream Aerospace Founder, Allen Paulson, she had bred racehorses. “The Japanese actually made a big deal of eating a Kentucky Derby winner named ‘Ferdinand’” says Pickens, who is a dainty vegetarian. “I was horrified.”

Her Bonanza-inspired spiritual quest to save America’s mustangs belies the fact that Pickens is an astute operator. As her husband T. Boone tells TIME: “When Madeleine sets her sights on something, you best get on board, or get out of the way. She makes things happen. I’m amazed by her passion for horses and preserving this critical piece of America’s heritage.”

A formidable duo, the billionaire couple lobbied Congress successfully in 2007 to ban horse slaughter in the U.S. Consequently, many horses are trucked over the border to Canada and Mexico to be butchered and exported to Japan and Europe, where horsemeat is a prized delicacy. In 2008, the BLM announced that it was considering a massive cull of wild horses. The BLM backed off on this, due to public outrage, but it spurred Pickens into action. In 2011, she closed on two adjacent Nevada ranches for her eco-sanctuary, a place where mustangs could roam free and the public could watch these equine icons of the wild west.

So far, the BLM keeps over 41,700 horses in captivity. Over 15,000 are crammed into corrals, “butt to butt”, says Pickens, while the others are kept in long-term pastures, costing the taxpayers around $70 million a year to feed and care for the animals. “Forget about sentiment, you’re talking about $70 million for a government that’s busted,” she argues. “I can look after mustangs more cheaply and humanely.” (Farm Camp: Would You Pay $460 to Shovel Crap?)

Prodded by the cattlemen, the BLM also rounds up thousands of wild horses every year, using helicopters that swoop low over the stampeding herds and drive them until they are so exhausted they can be easily caught. The BLM says that over 33,000 mustangs and wild burros are still roaming free, more than can be sustained by the available pasture, but animal rights activists dispute this. Says Heyde, “There are 8 million cattle and sheep on government land and yet a few horses get blamed for everything.”

Pickens knows that even with her fortune, she can’t save all of America’s mustangs. With pasture sparse, even her massive ranch can only handle 1,800 mustangs. But she insists that her eco-sanctuary will serve as a model for other reserves where horses can run free and the size of the herd can be managed. With no predators and ample food, a herd of mustangs can double in size in five years, a prospect that scares cattle ranchers. Steve Boyce, a former President of the Nevada Cattleman’s Association, says, “We’re made out to be the bad guys here. But there’s a limited amount of forage out there. In the winter, it’s all froze out. We’re worried that if the horses aren’t gathered, they’ll eat the pasture for our cattle.”

A helicopter buzzes down to chauffeur Pickens on an aerial tour of her property. She is joined by Tommy, her pet dachshund, who is so accustomed to his mistress’s jet-set lifestyle that, as soon as the helicopter roars skyward, he falls asleep in her lap. The helicopter banks over juniper-clad mountains, up into the high meadows. And there below is a herd of mustangs, racing along the mountain ridge, wild and free-spirited. “To me, these mustangs are emblematic of America’s freedom,” Pickens says later, “And they’re ending up on dinner plates in Japan and Europe.”

Tim McGirk is a former TIME Bureau Chief and currently a fellow at the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism.

In California’s Rich Farm Country, How the Poor May Get Poorer.

The World’s Harvests.

SOURCE: TIME Magazine

Is There Room for All the Pretty (Wild) Horses?

photo by Sean Donnelly

San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price Declares August 2nd Madeleine Pickens Day

Mustang Monument Receives One Million Dollar Donation from Nevada Couple

Philanthropic Nevadans, Stacie & Chuck Mathewson, Donate One Million to Wild Horse Eco-Preserve!

We are delighted to announce that Nevada residents, Stacie and Charles Mathewson, generously donated one million dollars to the Saving America’s Mustangs’ Wild Horse Eco-Preserve- Mustang Monument!

Charles Mathewson is the former president and chief executive officer of International Gaming Technology and recipient of the 2011 Governor’s Philanthropist of the Year. He and his wife, Stacie, have been notably philanthropic to many respected causes in Nevada. The Saving America’s Mustangs Foundation is honored to be chosen to receive such a substantial gift from them.

“We are over the moon to have received such support and generosity from our friends. It’s been really exciting to see so many Americans committed to Saving America’s Mustangs and our western heritage,” said Madeleine Pickens. Their significant contribution will facilitate growth and continued progress with the development at Mustang Monument.

Additionally, SAM has received so much encouragement from thousands of other residents in Nevada who excitedly await the grand opening of Mustang Monument. Communities are recognizing the positive impact that the eco-preserve will have on not only the wild mustangs, but also with our American culture.

Together, we will all provide a better life for our beloved American mustangs and our western heritage!

photo courtesy of Marian Umhoefer- Review Journal

We Will Never Forget You, MWD CHYBA C260

We Are Remembering a Very Special Member of the SAM Family: MWD Chyba (retired). May You Rest in Peace!

Written Tribute by Jim Silveira (RCHS):

For the first time in her long career as a Military Working Dog, Chyba lost a battle early Saturday morning.

She survived her time in the U.S. Army, serving in Germany and Iraq. However, after being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer just seven weeks ago, she has now peacefully crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

She’s reunited with the other brave dogs that she worked alongside in detecting drugs, sniffing out explosives, and giving their lives to save others.

If You have met Chyba, you saw what a precious spirit she had in spite of the dangers she has faced. Her eyes were gentle and kind. Like so many other soldiers, when she was not standing in harm’s way, her face was kind and compassionate.

This Wednesday, August 3 at 11:00 AM we’ll be holding a brief memorial service at Cricket’s Corner Community Dog Park at Rancho Coastal Humane Society (In San Diego County) to honor Chyba. If you are available, we would love for you to join us to pay our respects to our special veteran. If you cannot attend, please pause for a moment to remember Chyba and to offer a prayer for her and all the other Military Working Dogs who serve in silence to keep us free.

Rancho Coastal Humane Society
389 Requeza Street
Encinitas, CA 92024
Phone: (760) 753-6413

The Rainbow Bridge

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….

Saving America’s Mustangs a driving passion for Del Mar philanthropist

Saving America’s Mustangs a driving passion for Del Mar philanthropist

By Joe Tash
Contributor

As a child growing up in Iraq, Madeleine Pickens watched American Western movies and dreamed of immigrating to the United States. Among the images of the Wild West spirit that etched into her memory was that of mustangs roaming on the prairie.

Later, as an adult, Pickens learned of the plight of wild horses in the modern American West — rounded up and confined to government corrals, or even sent to the slaughterhouse.

“The idea of them running free and being gathered up by helicopters in such a traumatic style, being disposed of or warehoused by the government was such a sad thing for me,” said Pickens, a businesswoman and philanthropist, and wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens. “So I got involved.”

Pickens, who owns the Del Mar Country Club, founded Saving America’s Mustangs, a nonprofit foundation. So far, she has purchased two ranches in northeast Nevada totaling more than 18,000 acres, and she wants to use that land, along with some 600,000 acres of federal land surrounding her property, to create a preserve for wild horses.

As part of her efforts to bring attention to her cause, the foundation has created a video appeal to Oprah Winfrey, and she shows off a group of mustangs she rescued at public events, from the Rose Parade to college football games. Her mustangs marched at the Del Mar Racetrack on Wednesday, July 20, as part of opening day festivities for this year’s race meet.

According to Pickens, the situation is urgent — a century ago, she said, some 2 million wild mustangs roamed the west. Today, only about 28,000 survive. “To me, that’s pretty close to extinction.”

Pickens’ plan, which has the support of a number of celebrities, including her husband, is for her foundation to manage thousands of mustangs on the Nevada preserve on behalf of the federal Bureau of Land Management. Pickens said she could save the government millions of dollars in annual costs, and allow the mustangs to flourish.

This summer, she brought 500 mustangs to her ranch that she rescued from being sent to a slaughterhouse, where they have now been released. Eventually, she would like to establish the Mustang Monument, a sanctuary that would also become an attraction for American and foreign tourists to experience a taste of the Wild West.

She envisions an eco-preserve where people could camp out overnight, see mustangs in the wild, and even get a taste of covered wagons and other staples of the days of cowboys and Indians.

“We have a sexy history and I want to capture this,” she said.

The ranch has been transferred to the foundation’s ownership, she said, and all proceeds from the operation will go back into furthering the nonprofit’s goals.

While her plan has drawn the ire of cattle ranchers who want to continue allowing their herds to graze the federal lands, as they have for decades, others in northeast Nevada support her plan because of its potential for generating tourism dollars, according to a December report in the Wall Street Journal.

Pickens said she has invested a sizeable sum of her own money into the foundation, but declined to discuss specific numbers. “This is my passion,” she said.

In April, Pickens testified before members of the House Interior Appropriations Committee, urging them to support the creation of an eco-preserve for wild mustangs.

Her foundation has also held galas, organized letter-writing campaigns and used public appearances — such as bringing the horses to opening day at the Del Mar racetrack — to get the word out.

Pickens said those who are interested in supporting the plan can log on to the foundation’s website at www.savingamericasmustangs.org, to register to receive updates and find out how they can become involved.

The campaign has made a difference, she said, and has caught the attention of officials at the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the public lands where Pickens wants to establish the refuge for wild horses.

“It’s time for a change,” she said, both in the way wild horses are treated, and in the mentality of cattlemen and ranchers who don’t want to provide roaming land for the mustangs.

“All we are saying is leave the horses alone, and they can’t handle that,” she said.

Paiute horses that Madeleine Pickens saved from slaughter last December were released onto the open range. Photo: Jon Collins.

Madeleine Pickens at her eco sanctuary that she is developing in Nevada for wild horses. Photo: Jon Collins

Source

Philanthropist Continues Crusade To Save Wild Mustangs

Philanthropist Continues Crusade To Save Wild Mustangs
Madeleine Pickens, Wife Of Billionaire T. Boone Pickens, Started Saving America’s Mustangs

POSTED: 6:21 pm PDT July 19, 2011
UPDATED: 8:33 pm PDT July 19, 2011

SAN DIEGO—When the Del Mar horse races begin on Wednesday, all eyes will be on the horses, but it’s the horses that will be making an appearance between two races that may be the most astonishing.

The horses that will appear on Wednesday are just a few of the wild mustangs that have been saved by one woman, Madeleine Pickens of Del Mar, the wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens.

Pickens wants to preserve the sight of wild horses that are free to run and roam the range.

“Horses are going to slaughter,” said Pickens. “They’re disappearing. They’re taking them … from freedom. I mean, what are we thinking?”

Pickens believes America’s past will be lost with the disappearance of these horses.

“They round them up by helicopters and truck them to pens in other states,” she said.

About 100 years ago, 2 million horses roamed the plains, according to Pickens. Now, that number has shrunk to less than 30,000.

“There are 45,000 that the government has rounded up now and they’re in holding pens,” she said. “They’re being warehoused.”

Three years ago, Pickens approached the Bureau of Land Management with an offer: release the horses on her land in Nevada that she has named “Mustang Monument.” On the land, the horses will run free. People will also be able to see the horses and learn about U.S. history.

“We need to change the story right now and create a happy ending for an entire Western culture and these incredibly beautiful horses,” said Pickens.

Six of the horses perform with a color guard to bring awareness to the issue. With names such as Victory, Liberty and Justice, the horses perform precision moves.

“Wild horses are a symbol of our American heritage and freedom,” said Pickens.

The wild mustangs were featured in last year’s Rose Parade. On Wednesday, the mustang show will ride into Del Mar to give thousands of spectators a vision of how the Wild West can still live on in the majesty of the mustangs.

Pickens’ foundation, Saving America’s Mustangs, has saved more than 500 mustangs so far, which have been released to Mustang Monument.

For more information on what you can do to help save wild mustangs, visit SavingAmericasMustangs.org

Source

Stunning Footage of Mustang Monument Brought to You by Celebrate Texas 175

Please watch this BEAUTIFUL video done by Celebrate Texas 175. Michael Cerny and Jon Collins. Absolute stunning footage of the Paiutes being released at Mustang Monument! Get your tissues ready!

Breaking News: BLM Roundup of alleged “estrays” in Oregon

For Immediate Release:                            July 14, 2011

contact-

Laura Leigh

wildhorseeducation@gmail.com

Marilyn Wargo

mwmargowolf@gmail.com

BLM Roundup of alleged “estrays” in Oregon

Wild Horse Education has discovered a removal of 30 to 70 horses is being carried out East of Baker City, Oregon, Baker County, in the Vale BLM District, today, July 14th, 2011.

“Looking at the BLM schedule there was obvious down time for the contractor,” said Laura Leigh founder of Wild Horse Education “It lead us to investigate other areas where operations could be occurring.”

In addition to discovering the pending roundup at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, another operation has been found.

Marilyn Wargo was told this action was taking place by Vale District BLM employee Kelly Skerjanec, who said District manager Pat Ryan and BLM WH&B Specialist, Shaney Rockefeller were at this roundup. BLM Baker City Office employee Mark Pierce confirmed that this action was set up on the ground yesterday and to be carried out today.

Wargo was told the private rancher, whose property adjoins BLM land, was not claiming these horses (there was a court case in 2004 in this matter). BLM considers them feral estray. He stated this was not a BLM Oregon helicopter and that a contractor was involved and it could be the one used at Kiger/Riddle just South of Vale District. This would be the Cattoor Livestock Company. At this time no operations official will confirm or deny the contractor.

Pierce elaborated saying: BLM intended to remove horses found only on the BLM lands and not the private property. The horses are considered “trespassers” on public land. The ranchers name was not available at this time.

Piece also said the mares with foals would be sent to Vale District and all others to Prineville.

These offices do not have holding facilities and the destination of these horses is being investigated.

Natural Resources Specialist John Raddemacher from the BLM Baker Office is in charge of this action. 

Mark Wilkening of the BLM has confirmed that this operation may be going on tomorrow as well. He has informed us that the horses have no brands. Wilkening has said that this area has never had horses before.

8 NEWS NOW VIDEO REPORTS on Wild Horse Program

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Award-winning investigative reporter, George Knapp, from Las Vegas Channel 8 News, does another great commentary on Commissioner Collins and the wild horse issue. Please watch.

Thanks,

Madeleine & the mustangs

Here is the text from George Knapp’s commentary:
HE’S THE ROOT’NEST TOOTN’EST ELECTED OFFICIAL WE HAVE, THE COWBOY COMMISSIONER TOM COLLINS, AN AW- SHUCKS, HOWDY MAAM, PRICKLY CACTI OF A POLITICIAN FROM HIS STETSON HAT TO HIS DAN POST BOOTS, A THROWBACK TO THE OLD WEST, RIGHT DOWN TO THE ‘STACHE THAT FALLS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN WYATT EARP AND ONE OF THE SACKETTS.

COLLINS HAS ONLY ONE SACRED COW..AND IT’S COWS. SIMPLY PUT, HE LIKES EM. THEIR BELLOW IS MOO-SIC TO HIS EARS. WE ALWAYS FIGURED HE HAS THE EQUIVALENT OF A PHD IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, MAYBE WROTE HIS DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ABOUT BOVINE FLATULENCE.

BUT WHAT WE DIDN’T KNOW IS THAT HE IS A TRAINED PSYCHIATRIST, THE FRAZIER CRANE OF THE PURPLE SAGE. JUST ASK HIM. WHEN THE LA TIMES RECENTLY INTERVIEWED COLLINS ABOUT THE PUBLIC’S CONCERN FOR THE WILD HORSE HERDS IN NEVADA, HE CHANNELED HIS INNER KARL JUNG AND TOLD THE PAPER: QUOTE . “MOST OF THESE FOLKS, MAYBE THEIR FATHER SLAPPED THEM OR THEIR MOTHER DIDN’T LOVE THEM, SO NOW THEY LOVE THESE WILD HORSES THAT AREN’T REALLY WILD.” SO, ALL YOU WEEPY SCHOOLMARMS WHO WORRY ABOUT THE MUSTANGS ARE HEAD CASES. THAT’S THE DIAGNOSIS ON PLANET HICKOCK ANYWAY. NOTE HOW THE CLINICAL COLLINS LASSOES YOUR MOMMY ISSUES WITH YOUR DADDY ISSUES. HOW OEDIPAL. THE GOOD DOCTOR THINKS THAT IF YOU ARE OPPOSED TO SEEING HORSES RUN TO DEATH, YOU’RE NORMAN BATES, WEARING MOTHER’S OLD HOUSECOAT. BUT MAYBE IT’S COLLINS’ FREUDIAN SLIP THAT’S SHOWING INSTEAD.

LIKE MANY MEMBERS OF THE OLD WEST CATTLE WORSHIP CULT, ANYTHING THAT IS COMPETITION OR A THREAT TO COWS MUST GO..THAT INCLUDES BUFFALO, WOLVES, RUSTLERS, AND INDIANS…OH, AND MUSTANGS, COCKROACHES OF THE RANGE. THEY’VE BEEN LIVING IN THE WILD FOR 400 YEARS BUT THEY’RE NOT WILD ANIMALS, COLLINS SAYS, AS IF MY FRIEND FLICKA ESCAPED FROM THE CORRAL YESTERDAY AND IS MUNCHING GRASS ON THE NEIGHBORS LAWN. AS IT TURNS OUT, COLLINS KNOWS AS MUCH ABOUT MUSTANGS AS YOSEMITE SAM KNOWS ABOUT RABBITS. HORSES ARE NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA. THE VERY FIRST HORSES EVOLVED OVER MILLIONS OF YEARS RIGHT HERE, THEN SPREAD TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. HORSES LIVED IN THIS VALLEY 10,000 YEARS AGO. THEY WERE WIPED OUT, PROBABLY BY PEOPLE, THEN WERE REINTRODUCED LATER.

AND SOMEHOW HORSES ARE INVASIVE BUT COWS BELONG HERE? DOES ANYONE REMEMBER READING IN SCHOOL ABOUT THE VAST HERDS OF PREHISTORIC, SABER TOOTHED COWS THAT ROAMED THE PLAINS AND PRAIRIES? NOT LIKELY. COWS ARE ABOUT AS NATIVE AS CAPUCHIN MONKEYS.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A CITY SLICKER STOREKEEP TO CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO MUSTANGS. THE BLM PROMISED EARLIER THIS YEAR TO BE KINDER AND GENTLER IN ITS TREATMENT OF THE HERDS. THEY SPOKE WITH A FORKED TONGUE. MILLIONS OF ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND SET ASIDE BY LAW FOR THE HORSES ARE NOW ZEROED OUT. THE HORSES WERE REMOVED BUT THE COWS STAYED. WHEN BLM ROUNDED UP HORSES IN THE ANTELOPE COMPLEX IN THE HOTTEST PART OF LAST SUMMER, MANY OF THEM KEELED OVER DEAD FROM THIRST AND EXHAUSTION. IN A FEW WEEKS, THEY WILL START ANOTHER ROUNDUP IN THE VERY SAME PLACE…AND REMEMBER CALICO, SITE OF THE DEADLIEST ROUNDUP IN HISTORY, WHERE DOZENS OF HORSES DIED, DOZENS OF MARES ABORTED THEIR YOUNG, WHILE BEING RUN FOR MILES ACROSS SHARP VOLCANIC ROCK IN THE DEAD OF WINTER, SOME OF THEM SO INJURED THAT THEIR HOOVES FELL OFF? BLM WILL BE BACK IN CALICO THIS WINTER, DOING THE SAME THING ALL OVER AGAIN. THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T APPROVE OF USING PUBLIC MONEY TO DO THIS ON PUBLIC LANDS MUST BE CHEWING CUD MADE OF LOCO WEED, RIGHT?

AS COWBOY TOM MIGHT CONCLUDE, ANYONE WHO GRIPES ABOUT WIPING OUT SOME WILD HORSES, PROBABLY CRIED WHEN THEY SAW BAMBI TOO. YOU SODBUSTERS.

Action! Another Deadly Roundup at the Calico Complex

ACTION! Another Deadly Winter Roundup planned for Calico Complex

COMMENTS DUE JULY 18th

Here are telephone talking points for the Preliminary Environmental Assessment_ Tri-State-Calico Complex gather. Written public comments are due by July 18

The Environmental Assessment and proposed winter roundup continue to demonstrate a lack of responsibility in light of the recognition by the agency of the reforms necessary to this program.

• There is a multimillion dollar study being conducted by the National Academy of Sciences. No action should be taken until this study is completed.

• Roundups have already occurred in both Calico Complex (winter 2009/2010) and Sheldon Wildlife Refuge (summer 2010). To take any action until the migration patterns within, and through, the boundaries of these areas is not responsible management.

• The Secretary of Interior is tasked with removal of “excess” horses within this act. In order to identify “excess,” the population and it’s components must be clearly understood. A broad, sweep roundup is planned, yet without any clear definition of the mission.

• Currently the Bureau of Land Management, through Director, Bob Abbey, have created a document that outlines several areas for reform. Not the least of which addresses humane issues. Until this core issue is addressed no roundup should occur. (Over 10% mortality rate from the past 2009/2010 gather at Calico).

For the BLM to consider undertaking roundups in areas that have already had scheduled roundups completed within the last two years, shows a continuing disregard to the fiscal and moral obligations the agency has to the public and to these horses.

photos by Laura Leigh of two deaths from last year’s Calico Complex Roundup. The “red” foal had his feet literally fall off.

Here are photos from Suzanne Roy, who went to the Calico Complex and photographed the family of mustangs below. These same mustangs will be in danger of being rounded up. Please take action today!

Laura Leigh Article:  Paiutes New Home at Mustang Monument

New Home for the Paiutes at Mustang Monument

As I followed a semi-truck loaded with wild horses on Route 80 we made the familiar turn off into Wells, Nevada. As we passed the Loves gas station, where we met the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) in the bitter cold of dawn during the Antelope roundup, I was flooded with memories of all that was seen. Each trap site with its intricacies of “access no access,” each conversation, each band that was fractured, each face came back to me in detail.

The semi turned down a dusty dirt road. This time the driver came to a slow stop. I could hear the animals settle. He then proceeded down the graded dirt path at a crawl, mindful of the precious load he carried. I began to cry.

My experience has been to drive roads in much worse shape at speeds that make you hold your breath for the safety of the lives inside the container.

Yet the horses onboard were headed to Mustang Monument, Madeleine Pickens’ Mustang Monument Sanctuary run through her organization Saving America’s Mustangs.

That sanctuary has raised no less controversy than the Wild Horse issue itself. But that was not what today was “all about.”

For the last two weeks I rose in the middle of the night to meet the driver at a “Feedlot turned way station” in Fallon. Each dawn I documented the loading of animals that had been saved from certain death. My lens captured the faces of the mares and their babies as they left the confines of that dusty old feedlot and boarded the truck.

The faces belonged to Paiute horses that had gone to a slaughter auction last Christmas. If wild horses are prejudicially referred to as “desert rats,” the Paiute horses are considered no more than fleas on those rats. These reservation horses are regularly sent to kill with little to no hope. They are not managed under the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, but are legally shipped off under the jurisdiction of tribal authority.

The truck slowly backed up to chute at the makeshift round pen of hay bales.

An excited woman met me and crawled with me to the top of the pen to document the off loading of these horses headed home.

The woman was Madeleine Pickens. In her hand she held a small camcorder. She observed the offloading of each horse that warily left that metal container. Her voice into her camera demonstrated concern as she made sure that each mare matched up with each foal. These foals had been born in a dusty feedlot, but they would soon run in the open range for the first time.

The last few horses were reluctant to leave the container. The others began to munch on the bales of hay that made up the pen. Laughter and pleasant conversation filled the air and joined the sounds of the horses calling to those already at home in the field beyond the gate.

The moment had arrived; the moment of “Freedom.” The moment the “fleas on rats” are given the greatest kindness a human could show them. This is their chance to run in the open range, a chance to live as bands, a chance to die with freedom and dignity in the normal course of what they are.

Ranch manager, Clay Nannini, walked to the gate and removed the chain. The gates opened…

It took but a brief moment for the horses to recognize the opportunity.

I cannot describe in words the sensation of “wrong turned right” that flooded my senses. The emaciated, abused, disregarded souls ran to join the others. The babies that I had seen born in that feedlot ran free. The beautiful Spruce Mountain in the background bore witness with us of what I can only describe as “dignity returned.”

Ms. Pickens climbed the rail, opened her arms and declared “I own you now; no one will ever hurt you again.”

That familiar promise we are all accustomed to hearing. How many horse owners have made that promise as they bring home a horse from auction or one they found in a bad situation? The scale was much bigger, yet the promise hung in the air with undeniable truth.

After checking in to the roadside Motel I laid down on the bed, still in my clothing. My life, still on an uncertain path, with roundups beginning again in days, and the Court case still dominating my life. The issues surrounding our horses still unresolved. But I slept.

I slept like I haven’t slept in months.

To learn more about Mustang Monument go to: http://SavingAmericasMustangs.org

Big Day! Mustang Monument Welcomes Its First Horses!

Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-preserve made history yesterday! I’m going to try my best to begin to let you know the power of Mustang Monument.

Yesterday, we were blessed with the arrival of the first truckload of the Paiute mares and foals. These are the lucky mustangs that were rescued days from slaughter last December.

During the unloading process there was such a huge windstorm that kicked up. Luckily the dust started to settle as the mares and foals were unloaded into a temporary round pen built with bales of hay. Then, we opened the gates to set them free in one vast, but still fenced off area.

Literally hundreds of acres was theirs for the taking.

As they saw the gate was open, they each were looking around, and very gently the lead mare floated forward with her mane and tail flowing in the wind. Each of the other horses happily followed her lead. They were all now at their forever home. The sight was truly overwhelming. It was so emotional for me with tears of joy and relief streaming down my cheeks.

I cannot aptly describe the experience, but this is definitely a mission driven by God. He has blessed us all with this wonderful gift. I felt that the wind storm was so poignant to this situation, because when God created the earth and man,  there was a mighty storm. It’s rather like a birthing. We are so lucky. I am so lucky. I’ve been surrounded by so many supporters and friends and I can’t thank you all enough. I am overwhelmed, speechless, and very fulfilled. It’s a new beginning.

Love,  Madeleine and the mustangs   xxxxx

Madeleine Pickens on The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann

Every year - along the California and Nevada border - ten thousand wild horses are rounded up - put into pens - and locked up. During the round-up and lock-up - about 10% of the horses die. The US Government’s Bureau of Land Management is behind these roundups - and they argue that wild horse populations are exploding - straining resources - and starving other animals - and thus they should be controlled. There are roughly 33000 wild horses settling across ten western states - and the Department of Interior says the wild horse roundups are “necessary and justified to maintain the natural ecological balance… of the land.” Critics of the roundups disagree though. One of those critics is Madeleine Pickens - she’s an Animal rights Advocate - and Founder of “Saving America’s Mustangs” and the “Mustang Monument Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary”

SOURCE

Celebrities and Saving America’s Mustangs Ask Oprah and Media for Help

Dear Friends & Supporters,

Supporters and Saving America’s Mustangs have come together in a viral video to show awareness and the importance of protecting our American mustangs from extinction.

The video is directed to the attention of Ms. Oprah Winfrey. She has been instrumental in many animal rights issues including: exposing the dolphins in Japan, puppy mills, and slaughter.
Additionally, please share this video to other influential people in the media who can get this message out before it’s too late. Together, we can create positive change for our wild horses.
Click “Share” at the bottom of the video below and either email the link, post on Facebook, or Tweet it to your friends and family. Or you can simply forward this webpage link.

We are so proud to have the outpouring of support from so many of you. Thank you for speaking out for our wild mustangs.

Very Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

For all media requests please send them to: madeleine.pickens@gmail.com

Please watch the video below and share with as many people that you can:

Great News for the Mustangs, AB329 Didn’t Pass in Nevada

Dear Mustang Supporters,

Great news! After months of dealing with the looming threat of the Assembly Bill 329 (AB329), a bill to be put in place to cut off access to water for wild horses and burros on all land in the state of Nevada, has been halted for now. Passing it onto the full Senate has been stunted for the time being anyway. On Friday, May 20th the Nevada Senate Natural Resources Committee declined to vote on the bill and instead passed it back to the Public Lands Committee for further review, a move which ensures its inability to become law during the current legislative session. AB329 will most likely be brought back to the table this fall, but if we take a stand again then as we did now, we can make sure the bill never makes it to the Senate.

Still under review is the other anti-mustang bill, SJR5. Like the AB329, if it is not voted on by the end of the week, its progress will most likely come to halt. The likelihood of this bill passing is looking very weak at the moment, as the SJR5 has received more voters opposing it on the legislature’s online polling site than any other bill listed there.

Thank you to all the dedicated supporters in Nevada and all across the country who stood up in protest of this anti-mustang measure! Keep sharing this information with everyone you know, so there are more people generating awareness!

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

Kit Moncrief Supports Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Preserve

AB 329 Bill Being Voted on Today- Last Day to Take Action

Dear Friends and Supporters,

If AB 329 passes, the Nevada State Legislature will demonstrate to everyone that they are completely out of touch.  Nevada’s wild horses are both a national treasure and a symbol of the spirit that made Nevada and the American West.  What state, founded with the help of horses, would turn its backs on them and even try to pass a law that deprives those American icons of the protection that comes with being called “wildlife?”

If the state senate passes this bill, then we have a lot more to worry about than just wild horses. What will go next? How much can they take away? Yet, a few special interests are trying to destroy this legacy piece-by-piece.

The Wild Horse and Burro Act was passed in 1971, and since then they have continually eroded the HMA acreage available for the wild horses to roam free on. They continue to try and change the legislation that Congress has passed to offer just such protection. Much like Through the Looking Glass, words have no meaning for them, for “words mean what [we] mean them to mean

AB 329, they are trying to make wild horses less important than a crustacean or a beetle! We really need to let the state of Nevada know that the America people don’t believe that to be true and won’t sit by and permit this happen. Let’s hope the voice of reason prevails!

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

Please see my Eco-Sanctuary plan here that we are currently developing in Nevada.

NOTE: Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Preserve will not only be a sanctuary for the wild horses, but will also be a place where you and your families can come to visit and stay on the land. This project has been planned with visitors’ interests, animal protection, and American patriotism in mind. We look forward to opening day at the sanctuary and invite you all to be our special first guests!

Wild horses wouldn’t be wildlife in Nevada

By SANDRA CHEREB Associated Press

Posted: 05/12/2011

Elko Daily Free Press: Horse haven ‘coming soon’ Pickens still seeking BLM partnership

By ADELLA HARDING Free Press Staff Writer elkodaily.com | Posted: Friday, April 22, 2011 9:09 am

ELKO — Wild horse activist Madeleine Pickens said her Saving America’s Mustangs organization is applying to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to operate an eco-sanctuary on her land in Elko County.

The BLM is accepting proposals for two types of eco-sanctuaries that would be public-private partnerships with the agency. One of them is for a horse sanctuary on private land only and the other is for a combination of private and public land.

“We just filled them both in and will see what happens,” Pickens said.

The deadline for applications for the private-land eco-sanctuaries is May 14, and the deadline for the public-private combination is May 24, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said Wednesday from Washington.

He said he doesn’t know yet how many have submitted proposals.

“We’re just in the process of receiving solicitations,” Gorey said. “Certainly, I can say there has been quite a bit of interest. We’ve received at least 20 phone calls. We’re looking for the best proposals for the good of the animals and taxpayers.”

The proposals for eco-sanctuaries are part of the BLM’s efforts to reform its program for handling the wild horses that roam in the West. Private landowners would take in wild horses removed from the range, and open viewing to tourists.

Currently, the BLM pays landowners in the Midwest to board wild horses taken from Western ranges, but there is no tourism element.

More than 40,000 horses are held in government-funded holding facilities and roughly 33,700 wild horses are roaming in 10 Western states, 50 percent of them in Nevada, according to the BLM.

Gorey said the tourism aspect will benefit local communities.

“We’re excited and Wells is behind this. For them it’s a real boon,” said Pickens, who owns the Spruce Ranch and adjoining Warm Springs Ranch about 25 miles south of Wells.

She said she has roughly 18,500 acres of deeded land and roughly 560,000 acres of grazing permits for public land and spent millions of her own dollars toward creating an eco-sanctuary to help save wild mustangs.

“I’ve hung my hat on this issue,” said Pickens, the wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens.

Saving America’s Mustangs also has a new heavy hitter, with the addition of Ted Turner to the advisory board, according to the organization’s website.

The Saving America’s Mustangs organization’s new billboards in Elko and Wells state that the Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Preserve is coming soon, although Pickens said Wednesday she isn’t sure how soon.

“There is no time estimate. People know we are working on this,” Pickens said.

One billboard is just off Interstate 80 at Wells and the other two are along Idaho Street in Elko.

Wells Mayor Kenny Huff said Wednesday Wells City Hall supports the eco-preserve proposal because of the tourism potential, but he wants to learn more about the mustang organization’s business plan and potential impact on Wells.

“I think it would be a good shot in the arm tourism-wise,” he said.

Matt Holford, president of the Wells Chamber of Commerce, said Pickens and the mustang organization are already spending money in Wells, hiring a local contractor, buying supplies and flying into the Wells airport and joining the chamber of commerce.

Pickens said Wednesday she has started work cleaning up the ranch property that is “not up to par” and needs new fencing and irrigation pivots.

“They’ve been great neighbors,” Holford said, adding that his goal is to promote “putting more heads in beds” and he has heard interest in the Pickens proposal from people throughout the country.

Pickens said there is a lot of excitement about the potential for tourists to visit the preserve, including from Europe, but she acknowledged ranchers continue to oppose the plan.

“We’re trying to fight to do something good for the horses and for taxpayers,” Pickens said, adding that the sanctuary won’t affect the grazing rights of ranchers who have had “a good deal” for years with grazing on public land. “We’re not asking the government to take away their grazing rights.”

Elko County Commis-sioners opposed a proposal last November that Pickens outlined for a sanctuary because of concerns about potential impacts to ranching.

Also, a resolution is pending in the Nevada Senate opposing any expansion of wild horse and burro herd management areas and the “creation of any wild horse and burro preserves on public lands in Nevada.”

The resolution, SJ5, points out that rangelands are subject to multiple uses, including grazing, hunting and recreation and wild horses. It also states that if herds aren’t managed, they threaten rangelands with overgrazing.

BLM Director Bob Abbey earlier this year rejected the proposal Pickens offered that called for the government to reimburse the sanctuary $500 per horse per year.

He was quoted then as saying the BLM didn’t have a detailed proposal and the plan wouldn’t save the government any money.

Pickens disagrees.

The latest figures on the Save America’s Mustangs website state that the organization would charge $475 per horse per year, the same as the government pays, and save the short-term holding costs of $2,500 a year per horse. In all, she said her plan would save more than $2 million per 1,000 horses per year.

Pickens testified last week before a congressional committee on the need for eco-sanctuaries, stating that the government can’t afford to continue gathering horses and keep them in long-term facilities.

“Quite candidly the leadership within the Department of Interior and BLM feel their hands are tied by the language within the Taylor Grazing Act and Wild Horse and Burro Act. These fine men and women are waiting for you to provide new direction and authority so they can create these public-private partnerships,” Pickens told the committee, according to the website www.SavingAmericasMustangs.org .

original source

Report Exposes Abusive Conditions at BLM Wild Horse Holding Facility in Utah

Report exposes abusive conditions at BLM wild horse holding facility in Utah

Cloud Foundation asks Congress to reform Wild Horse and Burro Program

WASHINGTON (April 8, 2011)—The Cloud Foundation received a written report and video documentation from Lisa Friday of Richmond, VA after her tour last month of BLM’s Butterfield Short Term Wild Horse and Burro Holding Facility, outside Salt Lake City. Friday was shocked to find wild horses living in unhealthy conditions that would that raise concerns and charges of abuse if they were observed in private facilities.

“When government is facing a shutdown, tax dollars cannot be used for animal cruelty,” states Anne Novak spokesperson for The Cloud Foundation. “We ask Congress to defund the roundups and use that money to help Americans in their time of need.”

The video contains disturbing images of once-wild horses penned in areas where they were unable to navigate out of a knee-deep mixture of mud, manure, and urine. Friday, a wild horse adopter and long-time horsewoman, reports of seeing 30 horses laying down in mud and excrement for the entire three hours in which she was at the facility. “They never got up,” she states.

“I saw more than 10 horses in one pen alone trying to escape the quagmire but their legs were suctioned deep into the mud,” explains Friday.

“Seeing wild horses in this kind of squalor is heart-breaking,” says Ginger Kathrens, Director of The Cloud Foundation who has spent 17 years documenting the wild lives of horses in her Cloud productions for PBS.  “I don’t understand how BLM can justify the removal of these animals from the safety of their wild homes, only to dump them into these hellish conditions. I seriously doubt that the American taxpayers want their money used for this kind of cruelty.”

In her report, Friday describes conversations with BLM facility employees who acknowledge that wild horses are not given the required three opportunities to be adopted, but are regularly sent to long term holding for life after only one advertised event—which may be nothing more than one exposure on the internet.

Friday noticed a young mare that was extremely emaciated. The BLM told her the female was a three-year old from a roundup in the Moriah Herd Area of Nevada. The mare was captured 8 months ago; raising another red flag about the care the animals receive in the BLM facility. Friday asked where the sick pens were and was told, “Any pen, which contained a sick animal was a sick pen”. She was told there were pregnant mares in the pens. She asked why she hadn’t seen any foals. The employee replied that there was one foal born. When Friday asked where it was, the employee changed the subject.

“Besides their horrible living conditions, it was disturbing to see how cruelly BLM interacted the horses,” explains Friday. “I was horrified to see horses being moved from pen to pen with the help of a ‘Bobcat’ (small bulldozer).”

“Perhaps this is natural horsemanship, BLM style?” asks Kathrens, a wild horse adopter herself. “Anyone who interacts with our wild horses should be required to go through classes to learn the contemporary techniques taught by so many wonderful clinicians. There is really no excuse for this kind of aggression toward already terrorized animals.”

The Cloud Foundation is sharing Lisa Friday’s report with Congress, asking for an investigation of all holding facilities—especially those on private property that are currently off limits to the public. The Foundation demands that BLM follow the law and allow all young wild horses five years and under three legitimate opportunities to find adoptive homes, before being housed for life at taxpayer expense.

The Cloud Foundation and 200 other organizations continue to call for Congress to withhold money for more roundups until BLM undergoes an overhaul of its broken Wild Horse and Burro Program.

The BLM is currently asking Congress for an additional $12 million to conduct their scheduled summer roundups. More than 40,000 wild horses and burros are housed in holding facilities throughout the US at huge taxpayer expense.  The Cloud Foundation estimates that less than 15,000 wild horses remain in the wild. Caroline Betts, PhD, predicts wild horse extinction in 11 years if BLM is allowed to continue removing massive numbers of horses from their legally designated ranges in the West.

“The only way to save the water, land and last wild horses in the American West is to remove the government’s incessantly corrupt Bureau of Land Management…” says Academy Award winner Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak
anne@thecloudfoundation.org

Tel: 415-531-8454

Lauryn Wachs

lauryn@thecloudfoundation.org

Tel: 617-894-6939

Links of interest:

Lisa Friday’s full report to The Cloud Foundation: http://bit.ly/gHIjLX

Butterfield, UT short term wild horse holding video: http://bit.ly/hWO2fG%20

“High Crimes and Misdemeanors” - American Herds Report: http://bit.ly/gQlaxa

Foundation video calling to Defund the Roundups: http://bit.ly/hL0eOj

Unified Moratorium letter and 200 signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L

“Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction?” – Reno Gazette Journal: http://bit.ly/fBCBz9

“Antelope Roundup a Disaster Wild Horses” – Foundation Press Release: http://bit.ly/h0kvEn

54 Members of Congress protest BLM management http://bit.ly/gFJDs1

Independent Report to Defund Roundups: http://bit.ly/gCyiu0

This press release online: http://bit.ly/hvEP1w

AP wire: http://bit.ly/dYAwkV

Anne Novak
415.531.8454
Public Relations Director
www.TheCloudFoundation.org

The Pony Express Has Been Delivered to Capitol Hill- April 14, 2011

70,000 of your letters that you handwrote or emailed have been delivered to Capitol Hill yesterday, April 14, 2011!

Thank you all for your patience in the delivery of these letters. We wanted to wait for the right time to send the most impactful message to the Bureau of Land Management and Washington that Americans are fed up with pay millions of dollars to gather American wild horses off of the range. These letters detailed, from the public of all ages, how appalled they each are of the process that our government takes to round up these magnificent animals.  Low- flying helicopters taunt and scare these animals (many that are in foal) down rocky cliffs, chased for miles to complete exhaustion, until they are finally captured into a chute and small pen, where they will be loaded into trucks and sent off to short-term holding facilities across the nation. The removal and holding of our wild horses has got to be remedied. With my plan, there is a sound solution. Thank you all for speaking up for our wild horses who cannot speak up on their own.
Sincerely,
Madeleine Pickens and all the mustangs

Madeleine Pickens and Rep. Burton Testify Before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee

Dear Friends and Supporters,

On April 14th, I was grateful to have the opportunity to be able to testify before Chairman Simpson and Ranking Member Moran and Congresswoman Lummis of the U.S. House Interior Appropriations Committee.  I was honored to have so many great Americans in the room supporting the American Mustang.  As you can see in the video below, I was able to say everything I planned to.  I am thankful to Chairman Simpson for not cutting me short. We said what we needed to say and we hope they make their decision to stop funding these wild horse roundups and encourage the BLM to adopt my sanctuary plan.

Thank you,

Madeleine Pickens & all the mustangs (with the overwhelming support of so many American citizens)

“My name is Travis Jackson, Jr. One hundred and fifty one years ago our people were moved from the east coast to what is now Oklahoma.  It’s a shame that God’s creatures, your bible, doesn’t say anything about a difference between man- it’s just God’s creatures. We all have the right to live. We all have the right to survive. One hundred and fifty one years ago, someone else wanted our land and they moved it away from us. We now live in Oklahoma, but our heart is still, we believe, in you; we believe, in your God. Show us that we’re right.”

                                      -Travis Jackson, Jr. Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

” I’m the keeper of the Sacred Pipe and we’re from the Sacred Black hills; heart of mother earth.

We use horses in our ceremonies and we have proof that horses were here during the dinosaur time.  We are the first nations here to have ceremonies and maintain the environment through our ceremonies to our sacred sites.

We founded the animal nation and right now the wild animal is showing their sacred color which is white. That’s why we are coming forth to protect the horses, wild horses, all the horses. We need the horses on this sacred land.”

                                                              - Chief Arvol Looking Horse

See photos from the hearing on the Mustang Monument Facebook Fan Page here

Madeleine Pickens’ Written Statement Before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee on April 14th

I am honored to stand before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee as an immigrant. I was born in Iraq, to a British father and Lebanese mother and spent many wonderful childhood days watching American westerns and learning and falling in love with the rich history. I always dreamed of one day immigrating to this great country. I am grateful for so many of the opportunities that have come with my citizenship and my passion for Saving America’s Mustangs really stemmed from my love for our American heritage. I’m honored to be standing beside our friend, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo, Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nation of the Sioux, and his wife Paula, as well as, Travis Jackson, Jr. representing the Seminole Nation from Oklahoma. We are pleased to also be accompanied by wounded Army veterans, Brian Field and Clay Rankin, along with their service dogs, Justice and Harley. They are some of our great American heroes. We also have Stacie Daigle here, representing all of the American citizens, who weren’t able to attend this hearing. All of these special people have traveled from all over the nation to be here in support of our wild horses. I am here to realize another dream, on behalf of our American mustang, a permanent home for them called Mustang Monument in Nevada.

Wild Horses and Burros are unfortunately a frustration and management dilemma for BLM. These wild animals were designated by Congress as living, American, Historical Symbols by the Wild Horse and Burro Act (PL 92-195). How have these “National Living Symbols of American History” been devalued as less deserving than a National Historic Stone Monument?

Why are these wild animals a frustration and dilemma to BLM? It’s because the multiple-use culture of the Agency encourages commercial and political interest to prevail over the interest of Wild Horses and Burros on public lands. I’m sure that if our National Historic Monuments or Parks were managed by BLM, these public properties too would be subject to short term commercial and political interest.

Through the creation of Mustang Monument: a historic living museum, thousands of Wild Horses & Burros could be managed by the Department of Interior, with an emphasis on protection for and public interaction with these magnificent living symbols of American history. Surely this approach is in keeping with the spirit and intent of Congress.

A Living, versus Stone, Historic Monument is a difficult concept for management, but both are equally important to sanctify and preserve our American History and Culture for future generations of American People.

A living monument is the missing key to the proper management of horses and burros removed from (Horse Management Areas) HMA’s which honors the intent and spirit of Congress as ordered in PL 92-195. Over the course of the past three years I have had numerous conversations and meetings with BLM personnel in DC and Nevada. They all agree : the demand for adopting wild horses and burros is inadequate to keep up with animals gathered annually, fertility control has its place but is not slowing the need to gather thousands of animals annually, the cost of confining gathered horses in feedlots is out of control, the living conditions inhumane, the agency needs millions of dollars more each year to feed the growing herds of wild animals in captivity, and the agency needs new authority to implement a new solution.

So, the existing Wild Horse and Burro Program is not sustainable! Every year the program costs the taxpayers millions of dollars more, every year the agency gathers thousands of horses which are non adoptable, and every GAO report on the Wild Horse and Burro Program states the same conclusion “the program needs to be fixed.” We have broken out the current costs of the BLM program with the significant cost savings of my sanctuary proposal in the chart below:

Quite candidly the leadership within the Department of Interior and BLM feel their hands are tied by the language within the Taylor Grazing Act and Wild Horse and Burro Act. These fine men and women are waiting for you to provide new direction and authority so they can create these public/private partnerships. Employees within the BLM cannot lobby Congress for this new authority, but they sure would like your approval to relax the Taylor Grazing Act and the Wild Horse and Burro Act creating a new opportunity to combine large tracks of public lands administered by BLM with private lands as new homes for the wild horses and burros.

I have discussed this plan with the BLM and they agree with the concept. Both Secretary Salazar and Director Abbey have been involved working out the details to ensure the plan is ecologically sound, economically feasible and socially attainable.

Without fail, every western movie I saw as child always had the same ending: the cowboy would rush in and save the day. It is now in your hands to be the right cowboy and turn this program around.
By unanimous decision, in 1971, Congress made it clear that the wild horse is an American icon and we call it the American mustang. We have with us 72,000 emails and letters from the public stating how horrified they are with what the BLM is doing and asking for a moratorium on the roundups immediately. This volume of letters is exponentially high and needs to be justly delivered to the BLM, by way of your ruling. The American public is counting on this Appropriations Committee to take action today and give our mustangs back their right to live on the range.

Please visit our website, www.SavingAmericasMustangs.org for more information on this issue.

Congressman Dan Burton’s Written Statement to the Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives

The Honorable Dan Burton (IN-05)

Statement on Interior Appropriations

4.14.11

_____________________________________________________________________

Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Moran and Members of the Committee, thank you for giving me the opportunity today to share with the Committee my concerns about the Bureau of Land Management’s operation of the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

I would also like to thank Chairman Simpson and Ranking Member Moran for working with me to address this very issue during consideration of the “Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act” (H.R.1).  I believe our efforts to send a message to the Bureau of Land Management that change must come to the Wild Horse and Burro Program NOW has borne some fruit, but more needs to be done, and I urge the Committee to continue its aggressive oversight of this program. 

As the Committee knows, since 1971 the Secretary of the Interior has been charged with managing wild horses and burros on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rangelands in order to protect the herds and ensure healthy rangelands.

Today, there are roughly 36,940 wild horses on BLM lands.  More than 30,000 additional wild horses are being held in short- and long-term holding facilities because by law the Bureau of Land Management must remove thousands of animals from public rangelands each year in order to maintain scientifically appropriate herd sizes.  And by law the Bureau of Land Management assumes responsibility for the care of these animals.

In 2008, as the Committee is well aware, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that if the costs of caring for these horses in holding facilities were not controlled, they would eventually overwhelm the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse budget.  In short, GAO said that if we don’t fix this problem, we are heading for a financial, and environmental disaster.

The Bureau of Land Management itself estimates that the cost of holding animals in all of its facilities - short and long-term - consumes nearly three-quarters of its appropriation for wild horse management.  In order to keep pace, spending for the Bureau of Land Management to manage wild horses has more than tripled from $20.4 million in FY2000 to $64 million in FY2010. For FY2011, the Obama Administration wanted $75.7 million.

To improve the management of BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, GAO in its 2008 report specifically recommended that the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to develop “cost-effective alternatives to the process of caring for wild horses removed from the range in long-term holding facilities and seek the legislative changes that may be necessary to implement those alternatives.”

The witness who spoke before me, Mrs. Madeleine Pickens, proposed to BLM back in 2008 a unique, and I believe cost-effective, alternative to BLM’s current process for caring for wild horses.  I know that some people believe the Pickens’ plan cannot work; that is debatable.  What upsets me is that BLM seems unwilling to even have that debate; unwilling to look beyond business as usual.  When business as usual is costing the American taxpayer money that we don’t have to spend and contributing to inhumane treatment of these animals; business as usual to me is simply unacceptable.

In January 2010, Secretary of the Interior Salazar published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, that “We must recognize that the federal government alone cannot restore the health of wild horse herds. We need citizens to help. We want Americans to visit their public lands where horses roam, to help us care for these magnificent animals, to share their ideas with us and to help us find citizens and animal lovers across the country who will adopt wild horses and provide healthy, happy homes for them.”

Yet, Mrs. Pickens has had an idea on the table for three years and no one at BLM wanted to listen.  They were just happy to go along with the status quo.

That is why I offered my amendment to H.R. 1 to cut a modest $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management’s general funds, as a message to the bureaucracy at the Bureau of Land Management that it is high time to finally get serious about fixing this program.  Developing cost-effective alternatives to the process of caring for wild horses removed from the range in long-term holding facilities would be a win for the animals as well as a win for the American taxpayer.

The House of Representatives approved H.R. 1 on February 19th. On February 24th, the Bureau of Land Management announced that it would accelerate its “planned” reforms to how it manages wild horses and burros on public lands; including issuing a request for proposal for members of the public to enter into partnerships with the Federal government for long-term care of wild horses.  On March 25th the BLM issued a request for proposals to establish wild horse Eco-sanctuaries to be established on public private lands out West - EXACTLY the kind of proposal that Madeleine Pickens first started pitching to the BLM back in 2008.

It is possible that the timing of these actions is purely coincidental but it is also possible that these actions are BLM’s response to the House of Representative’s support of the Burton amendment to H.R. 1.  I am concerned, however, that these long-overdue reforms may once again fall victim to a stubborn bureaucracy unless this Committee continues to exercise aggressive oversight.  That is why I am here today, not to advocate for a specific level of funding for the Wild Horse and Burro program; although I would urge you to do what you can to ensure adequate funding to care for the animals already taken off the range.  I am here today to respectfully ask the Committee to use the tools at your disposal - funding restrictions, regular progress reports, whatever is appropriate - to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management keeps moving forward.  I want them to look at every viable alternative, to explore every idea and find a better and cheaper alternative before it is too late to avoid the financial and environmental disaster that GAO warned about more than three years ago.

Thank you once again for the opportunity to testify today and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Pictured from left:  Stacie Daigle, Jenna Field, Brian Field and his service dog, Justice, Madeleine Pickens, Congressman Burton, Paula Horne-Mullen, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Travis Jackson, Jr., Clay Rankin and his service dog Harley, Austin Field. We were so honored to have them all with us!

Ted Turner Signs on with Saving America’s Mustangs

I-Team: Anti-Wild Horse Bill Passes Nevada Senate Committee

I-Team: Anti-Wild Horse Bill Passes Nevada Senate Committee

LAS VEGAS—With all the financial trouble Nevada is in, you might think state lawmakers would welcome a project that will bring millions of dollars to the state and attract tourists from around the world.

But a panel in the Nevada State Senate has turned thumbs down to a planned wild horse sanctuary without even hearing from the investors who are backing it.

Senate Joint Resolution 5, which was rubber stamped by the Senate Natural Resources Committee, has no power to do anything about wild horses, as the state has no say over what happens on federal, Bureau of Land Management controlled land.

But the resolution could be a huge problem for a proposed horse sanctuary that is already creating jobs and economic benefits. If the bill moves forward, it would tell the BLM and the world that Nevada likes the wild horse situation just as it is.

In 2008, the I-Team tagged along as philanthropist Madeleine Pickens began her search for ranch property in northern Nevada, the potential site for a sprawling sanctuary for wild mustangs.

The idea would be to take horses that have already been gathered and are warehoused in BLM holding facilities in the Midwest, off limits to the public, and allow them to roam free in their natural environment in a large fenced facility. Pickens planned to create a learning center that would also be a major tourist attraction for Elko County.

Since that first scouting trip, Pickens put her money where her mouth is. She ponied up $6 million to purchase two ranches and is spending plenty to build her dream project, to the benefit of towns like Wells, Nevada, which is still recovering from a terrible earthquake

“She spent $100,000 last month in 30 days alone in labor and materials in Elko County in the City of Wells. So it’s already happening. It’s real. The investment is already there,” said wild horse advocate Jerry Reynoldson.

Reynoldson spent more than two years working to get BLM approval for the Pickens plan. The Bureau admitted from the start that this approach would be far more cost effective than feeding horses in government pens for the rest of their lives and would save taxpayers tens of millions.

In February, BLM Director Bob Abbey admitted that the approach of rounding up then warehousing mustangs simply isn’t working. BLM just announced that it is actively seeking proposals to partner with private entities, just like Pickens’ plan. That’s why the timing of Senate Joint Resolution 5 could not be worse. It expresses opposition to any wild horse preserve on public land in Nevada.

“For the Nevada Legislature to say we’re not going to let you build a sanctuary or go on the record against it is simply saying we want more of the same, we want the status quo, and for ranchers, that’s what they want, just gather them and get them out of here,” said Reynoldson.

The resolution was approved by the Senate Natural Resources Committee, largely because it was backed by the longest serving member, Senator Dean Rhoads of Elko. Rhoads, a lifelong cattle rancher, leases tens of thousands of acres of public land for his cows.The hearing took all of 10 minutes.

Senators disregarded hundreds of emails sent by horse advocates and heard no testimony at all about the Pickens plan or its economic benefits. Rhoads is now trying to get the assembly to follow his lead.

Pickens and her allies hope lawmakers get an earful from the public about economic benefits.

“Nevada needs tourism. You can’t stop tourism from coming to northern Nevada. Get over it guys,” said Pickens.

“This joint resolution is bad because it will stop progress on an issue everyone agrees has gone nowhere for years,” said Reynoldson.

Reynoldson says he has been speaking with lawmakers in the assembly to make sure that if the bill gets a hearing, proponents of the sanctuary at least get to tell their side of it.

SJR 5 also contains what amounts to an outright falsehood—the statement that mustangs are an invasive species and don’t belong here. Scientists have established beyond any doubt that the very first horses were born right here, that they evolved for millions of years in the Great Basin, were wiped out then got reintroduced. But no one bothered to point it out before the committee voted.

Contact Senator Mark Manendo, the chairman of Senate Natural Resources Committee, to voice your opinion. He can be reached at (775) 684-6503 or by email. You can also contact Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, the chairperson of the Natural Resources Committee, at (775) 684-8597 or by email.

SOURCE FOR ARTICLE: I-Team: News 8 Now

Ebby Halliday Companies Salute Madeleine Pickens

Ebby Halliday Companies Salute Madeleine Pickens

March 22, 2011 Filed under: General DFW Metroplex News

March 22, 2011

Filed under: General DFW Metroplex News

     

In the spirit of Ebby’s recent birthday celebrations, we would like to spotlight another local heroic woman. Just as Ebby used her birthday celebrations to benefit her favorite philanthropies, her friend and fellow philanthropist, Madeleine Pickens,  has devoted her time to a cause that is special to her heart, Saving Americas Mustangs.

Her foundation aims to preserve America’s wild horses by establishing a plan for their permanent retirement and care. The goal is to build a Wild Horse Eco Sanctuary on private and federal lands to provide long-term care and permanent protection for non-adopted wild horses and burros that have been removed from federal rangelands.

How can you help?  Simply visit www.savingamericasmustangs.org and follow the link to Madeleine’s Pony Express and write a letter to Washington expressing your support for the Wild Horse Eco Sanctuary. Madeline will hand deliver the letter to Washington herself!

CLICK HERE TO SEND YOUR LETTER NOW

The Ebby Halliday Companies are proud to support Madeleine Pickens and quest to save America’s mustangs.

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George Knapp Investigates Nevada Cattle Laws in Las Vegas City Life Article

Cattle-driven Rhoads pushes bullshit horse law

by GEORGE KNAPP

It’s great to know our state lawmakers have solved Nevada’s budget woes and have nothing else to do with their time in Carson City. How else to explain a recent vote by the Senate’s Natural Resources Committee regarding wild horses?

The committee, whose longest-serving and most influential member is Dean Rhoads, staunch defender of all that is bovine, approved a bill that urges the BLM to make sure no public land is designated as habitat for wild horses. See, public land is for one thing and one thing only—cows. Privately owned cows, that is. Maybe an occasional sheep. Sen. Rhoads personally leases 60,000 acres from BLM for his cows, and at a bargain price, too, far less than the market value of the land.

The bill, as approved by Rhoads’ committee, would make sure the number of mustangs in Nevada doesn’t get any higher than it is now, and it strongly discourages the creation of wild horse sanctuaries on public ranges. You might be asking, what authority does the state of Nevada have over federally owned lands? Good point. The answer is none. Nevada can’t dictate what is or is not done with federal land, nor does it have any say in regulating wild horses on federal land. In other words, this resolution has zero chance of affecting the public range in any positive way, but it does have the power to screw with our state in a negative way.

Sen. Rhoads is a cattle rancher. He believes that the public range is for cattle, not wild horses, even though federal law says the mustangs have a right to exist on the public lands, while cattle grazing by private ranchers is, at best, a privilege. Rhoads has campaigned against wild horses in pretty much every session of his long legislative career, even opposing a campaign by fourth-graders to declare the mustang as Nevada’s official animal. He has frequently urged the feds to round up as many wild horses as they can capture, to get them off the public lands, even though private cattle outnumber the horses 40 to 1.

If this bill makes it through the Legislature, it won’t make a rat’s ass bit of difference to the BLM’s management of public lands. After all, in just the past two years, the BLM has wiped horses off the map on more than 1 million acres of Nevada range. It doesn’t exactly need a pep talk from Carson City to round up more horses. This week, the bureau came down off the fence regarding the possibility of creating public/private horse sanctuaries, declaring that it wants to hear proposals right away. Presumably this would include the ambitious plans by philanthropist Madeleine Pickens to create a million-acre mustang eco-sanctuary in Elko County, a plan that could transform a worn-down cattle ranch into a world-class tourist attraction and education center, where visitors could enjoy wild horses in their natural environment. Mrs. Pickens has already plunked millions of her own dollars into the project. She purchased a ranch near Elko and wants to lease the attached public lands to allow wild mustangs to run free. Cattlemen are appalled because it would mean some of the public land now devoted to cows would be redesignated for horses. Perish the thought.

Is Nevada so flush with investors and new businesses that it can say no to something as unique and promising as the Pickens plan?

What worries me most is that Sen. Rhoads is seen as perhaps the key vote in plans by Democrats to raise revenue in this session, so there is a chance they might toss him this bone, allow him to get his meaningless bill through the Legislature so that he might be more inclined to side with the D’s when it comes to taxes and budget cuts.

Those hardy Nevadans who make a living by raising livestock on our oft-parched ranges have my unqualified respect. It’s a tough life, fraught with peril. Without some sort of management program, wild horses could certainly threaten the viability of some ranches. But this bill would do nothing to manage the horse herds and little to protect hard-scrabble ranch operations. This bill is pure horse shit. Anyone who cares about the mustangs should let state lawmakers know that this resolution is not only a waste of time, but could cost our state millions of dollars in outside investment and lost tourism.

Other Stuff

From what we hear, the IRS is taking a hard look at so-called messenger sports bettors, guys who place large wagers on behalf of other, unnamed gamblers. One of the best-known messenger bettors in town was recently questioned by the IRS about whose money is being wagered. Earlier this week, the same messenger bettor died in an apparent suicide. Details to come. ... Tow-truck operators managed to give our town a big black eye by lurking outside the Thomas and Mack, looking for cars to haul away. During the Mountain West basketball tournament, one group of 10 students from BYU had their cars towed from a public street near the arena, even though they were parked legally. It cost the students $4,000 to get their cars released. Also snatched from the same street was the vehicle of one of our town’s best-known businessmen, who paid an on-the-spot “fee” to the driver and got his car released before it was towed to the yard. I have a feeling the tow company picked the wrong guy to mess with. ... It’s been a rough month for the family of late casino magnate William Bennett. Bennett poured millions into renovating the venerable Sahara Hotel and turned it into a money-maker. After his death, his heirs sold the property and, as we learned last week, the new owners simply couldn’t make it work. The Sahara will close for good in May, which is bad news for our town but is particularly melancholic for the Bennett family. On a much more personal note, William Bennett’s son, Bill Allen Bennett, died 24 hours before the closure was announced. The family, as you might expect, is hurting. Our condolences.

George Knapp is a Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter for KLAS-TV Channel 8. He can be reached at gknapp@klastv.com

SOURCE FOR ARTICLE: LAS VEGAS CITY LIFE
Last updated on Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 12:06 am

Click Here to Take Action Today to Urge Nevada Legislators to Vote No on SJR5

Dear Supporters & Friends,

We want you to be aware of the Senate Joint Resolution 5 (SJR 5), which is an anti-wild horse measure backed by a small group of special interest cattlemen that opposes wild horse preserves.

The Saving America’s Mustangs Foundation is currently developing Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary, in Nevada, that will generate jobs and revenue to the state; especially the rural communities in Northeastern Nevada. Mustang Monument will be a patriotic living museum that showcases Nevada’s rich history and culture, the wild west, and of course, America’s beloved wild horses.

So, we have to ask, why in the middle of the worst budget crisis in decades, is the Nevada Legislature considering a resolution to impede an important source of tourism dollars?

Please take action today by the clicking the button below to tell your legislators that SJR5 is bad for Nevada and bad for our mustangs.

We thank you for your continued support and lending your voice to this cause. As always, we encourage you to tell your friends, neighbors, family, and teachers about the plight of the mustangs. Together, we will get a positive change for our 4-legged American icons.

Best,
Madeleine Pickens & all the mustangs

Summary of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Phoenix

Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting
Day 2
By Suzanne Roy and Deniz Bolbol

The day began with a BLM overview of the new strategy, presented by Karla Bird, acting director of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.

At 9 a.m. sharp, the public comment period began. Unlike previous meetings, three full hours were dedicated to public comment, and each speaker was given four minutes to present their case. About 40 speakers addressed the Advisory Board. The vast majority of speakers were advocates for wild horses.

A handful of ranchers were also present. Several – most notably John Fallon, head of the Public Lands Council – also attended the horse slaughter summit in Las Vegas in January. Mr. Fallon stated in his comments that if BLM goes through with its proposed strategy to remove fewer horses, the Public Lands Council will be forced to explore litigation against the agency.

Speakers advocating a fairer policy for wild horses, including filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, volunteer director of The Cloud Foundation, commented on a variety of issues – from unfair forage allocations to livestock in wild horse habitat areas to the inhumanity of the roundups and some of the tragic incidents associated with them. Comments ranged from specific recommendations for the advisory board to personal accounts of roundup observation and criticism of broader issues related to the mismanagement of the program.

Jill Buckley of the ASPCA spoke about the need to end the inhumane roundups and offered the ASPCA’s help in developing a humane observer program to monitor any roundups that do occur. Timothy Harvey, the new humane advocacy appointee to the Advisory Board, later pressed the BLM to ensure that they responded to the ASPCA’s offer of help, as well as the offers of other members of the public.

On behalf of the coalition of over 40 organizations, including Saving America’s Mustangs, the Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA, Suzanne Roy and Deniz Bolbol from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign focused their remarks on requesting specific recommendations from the Advisory Board. AWHPC highlighted the need for BLM to fully and accurately account for the public comments received on the draft strategy document.

BLM is reporting just 9,000 comments received, but AWHPC has confirmed that our coalition partners submitted at least 45,000 comments. AWHPC asked for a full accounting of comments received and a quantitative analysis of their contents. AWHPC has also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for all public comments on the strategy document, but BLM has been unable to produce them for four months.

We urged the Advisory Board to recommend that BLM:
• Improve transparency of roundups by installing video cameras on helicopters, at the traps and processing facilities to ensure that all aspects of the roundups are fully transparent.
• Prioritize fertility control and adoption programs over more wild horse removals.
• Actively pursue and cultivate public/private partnership arrangements like Madeleine Pickens/Saving America’s Mustangs proposal to create an eco-sanctuary and the Return to Freedom model program for on-the-range management of wild horses in herd management areas. We stressed the fact that the government has a moral and fiscal responsibility to care for the horses it has removed from their homes on our public lands, and that proposals like Mrs. Pickens’ offer taxpayers a return on their investment, as public funds will be reinvested for the benefit of the horses and the land.
• Avoid reproductive control strategies – such as skewed sex rations and sterilization—that negatively impact wild horse behavior and herd dynamics.

Following the public comments, the Board made six general recommendations to BLM:
1. Fully fund the Mustang Heritage Foundation proposal for adopting out BLM horses.
2. Prepare a fiscal year annual report on fatalities and injuries associated with the roundups, including deaths at the capture site, processing pens and holding facilities.
3. Appoint advisory board members to be liaisons with BLM on different parts of the strategy’s implementation.
4. Review all public comments before preparing a final report to Congress on the new strategy and the public’s response to it.
5. Develop a scientific integrity plan
6. Develop a centralized tracking response system for offers of volunteer assistance.

The board also made some specific recommendations on the strategy document. In terms of wild horse and burro welfare, the most important of these were the recommendation offered by Robin Lohnes of the American Horse Protection Association, that BLM track and document the effects of various reproductive control strategies on wild horse behavior and herd dynamics, and the recommendation by Timothy Harvey that BLM utilize bait trapping whenever possible to preserve band structures and minimize stress to horses.

Ironically, one of the Advisory Board’s recommendations was to review previous recommendations that the board has made over the years to see if they are still relevant.
The fight for our wild horses and burros now goes to Congress, where BLM will present its new strategy and lobby for the funds necessary to move forward with the removal of 32,800 horses over the next four years.

It’s clear to us that real reform will not come from within the agency itself, but from Congress, which must force the BLM to modernize its decades-old and failed policies. We must continue to let our Senators and Congressman know that we want reform of this broken federal program—for the horses and burros, and for the taxpayers – and we must grow the number of citizens willing to speak up for our mustangs, if we are to receive lasting reform. If you have not done so yet, take action here to let your Senators know that you do not want the BLM to receive a budget increase that will be used to remove more horses from our public lands in the West, and spread this alert far and wide to your family and friends.

Day 1: BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting

By Suzanne Roy and Deniz Bolbol

BLM Says Roundups Over for FY2011 Unless Congress Increases Budget

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting began today, March 10, 2011, in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 40 advocates representing tens of thousands of concerned citizens are present to speak up for the mustangs and burros. A handful of ranchers, some of whom are vocal horse slaughter proponents are also present. The meeting was preceded by a press conference hosted by the Cloud Foundation and other advocacy groups, featuring Academy Award winning writer Michael Blake and philanthropist Madeleine Pickens. Speaking about her eco-sanctuary proposal that offers a cost-effective solution for mustangs currently stockpiled in government-holding pens, Mrs. Pickens challenged the BLM to put action behind their words and start making changes now not five or tens years from now. Michael Blake gave a rousing talk about his 20-year history of advocacy for wild horses and the government’s refusal to make the changes needed. Additional speakers, including filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, highlighted their personal experiences and all issued powerful calls for the BLM to “stop the roundups now.” Several members of the media were present, including television and radio stations.

The Advisory Board meeting started at 1 p.m. The BLM provided program updates including a summary of expenditures and statistics of the number of mustangs rounded up and removed.

For Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, the BLM removed 10,137 horses and 476 burros; 443 mares were treated with the fertility-control drug PZP. The total FY2010 program expenditures were $65 million, of which $44.6 million was spent on roundup, removal and holding.

For FY2011, which began on October 1, 2010, the BLM removed 5,825 horses and 75 burros and PZP-treated 469 mares. So far in FY2011 $4.5 million has been spent on roundup and removal; holding costs for FY2011 are projected to be $38.5 million.

Dean Bolstad, BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Management Specialist, said that unless Congress increased funding over FY2010 levels, there would be not be any additional roundups for FY2011. This means 4,686 horses and 150 burros living in 18 Herd Management Areas (HMAs) will get a reprieve from capture.

The House of Representatives’ FY2011 Budget bill cuts the BLM’s budget by $2 million. However, the FY2011 Budget bill being advanced in the Senate grants the BLM’s $12 million budget increase. Should the full Senate pass the current Budget bill, the House and Senate would iron out the differences in conference committee.

Updates on various other aspects of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program filled the remainder of the afternoon. An unofficial roundtable discussion followed the meeting during which members of the public dialogued with Advisory Board members and BLM representatives.

Tomorrow’s all-day meeting will focus on the BLM’s new strategy and public comments. The BLM is webcasting the Friday, March 11, 2011, meeting at http://blm.gov/webcast from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST/)/10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (EST).

Meeting Roundtable

The Future of BLM’s Excess Wild Horse Holding Program

Dear Friends,

There was a recent announcement by Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey that they would request comments and proposals on future contracts with the program. Below is our official response to our own plan by Saving America’s Mustangs for Mustang Monument: A Wild Horse Eco- Preserve in Nevada. You can also join us on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/mustangmonument or Twitter: @mpickens

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens and all the mustangs!

Click Here to Read About the Future of Excess Wild Horse Holding

PVC Antelope Horses (newborn euthanized)

Wednesday, 3/2/2011
“A baby born from a mare run during the antelope stampede in Nevada at Palomino Valley Complex BLM facility was killed…. Baby never had a chance… our “protected” symbol of American spirit.”
-Laura Leigh

Complete Draft Notes from the Antelope Complex Gather by Laura Leigh

Final (Draft notes) Report of the Bureau of Land Management Antelope Complex Roundup.

Laura Leigh, Grassroots Horse 3/1/2011

Contractor: Sun-J out of Vernal Utah. Suspect Contract in that contract was awarded before company was even incorporated. First roundup observed by this contractor in Warm Springs Oregon had one witnessed fatality in an inappropriately set trap. Only two observation days allowed at that roundup and on one of those days no horses came in. All significant handling of horses by this contractor were kept from public view during the Callaghan/Bald Mountain and New Pass/Ravenswood roundup in December 2010. Holding at Callaghan had debris, equipment and horses standing in water in pens as temperatures dipped below freezing. Many questions including the wife (Jody) being former BLM employee.

Ground research: Very few horses found in initial survey, particularly in the Antelope HMA (Herd Management Area). Findings confirmed by Ben Noyes, Wild Horse and Burro specialist Ely. Scattered small bands not in numbers expected from EA.

Hank Vogler, sheep rancher and owner of 11 allotments (on Nevada Feral Horse Committee attempting to deny horses water in the state) gave interview. Vogler spoke of his friends shooting horses as the act was passed so horses would not be found in their allotments. Roundup occurred almost every day of first half of operations (with repeat traps set) on Voglers allotments. Numbers of horses removed not justified in the use of time and resource for more than half of operation.

Accusations of fixed wing aircraft scattering horses led to discovery of USDA trapper removing coyotes from Vogler’s allotments. Eye-witness account of horses being moved by this plane and photographs held by that individual confirm trapper plane. Trapper plane confirmed by BLM.

Roundup Concerns: Number of horses does not justify time and expense. Range (forage/water) available to sustain current population and foal crop. Date of roundup conflicts with actual foaling season as opposed to BLM’s published foaling season.

Horses coming in have an unusually low percentage of younger/older members and pregnant mares during majority of roundup (foaling season begins in March). Raises concerns about the horses actually making it to the trap based on pilot performance. Observations at holding facility (Palomino Valley Center) confirm births occurring prior to March 1. This raises an even more alarming concern that no foals were seen at the trap site during the last two weeks of the roundup. Disruption of family bands observed at the roundup raises the very real possibility that mares and foals were separated or newly born foals were left on the range. Heavily pregnant mares were repeatedly run at end of roundup and on two instances (from limited ability to observe) entered the trap alone.

Pilot appears to be inexperienced and/or have a lack of equine behavioral knowledge. First Roundup Warm Springs, Oregon. Told by BLM personnel pilot was “learning.” Subsequent roundups have also demonstrated an inexperienced crew. Background check on pilot, Josh Hellyer, show experience as a crop duster, but no significant experience with horses.

Horses repeatedly not given time to “settle” at trap prior to loading. This occurred throughout the roundup.

Pilot repeatedly (from ability to observe) breaks apart bands and has repeated escapes at the trap. From observations horses may be run multiple times in a single day. Pilot has repeatedly flown dangerously close to animals.

Animals arriving at the trap seriously lathered. (When ability to observe allows) This demonstrates long distances and/or undue stress. Horses brought in below freezing and so sweaty they literally “steamed.”

Traps set with obvious safety hazards, i.e. short wings not terrain necessitated, narrow entrances, short alleys, single wings, right angles. Hazards repeatedly pointed out to staff and ignored.

Roped horse left with rope trailing as other horses were run into pen. Horse left this way during loading of other horses. Convenience of contractor, not safety of horses, a repeated observation.

At the temporary facility inadequate water was a repeat problem in the pen that allowed observation. The majority of the horses were kept on the opposite side and no ability to observe allowed.

Horses (multiple) were observed literally throwing themselves over the rail at the same location during processing. The equipment could not be assessed to determine reason.

Handling of horses at the temporary facility was observed to be rough and illogical. From the limited ability to observe the handling on one occasion may have been malicious.

Release of 22 horses at the end of the roundup occurred in an area where a horse was euthanized at temporary holding. Cause was ultimately determined to be from a gunshot wound to her shoulder. As the investigation has not concluded perhaps another area would have been more suitable? Location seemed to be determined due to grazing allotments and contractor convenience due to weather.

Ability to access/observe: Ability to document condition of horses is severely restricted. At one location observation was 1.5 miles away even though there were several areas that observation could have been facilitated. Respiration rate has not been documented. Access to trap and holding is severely restricted due to the new “safety” protocols (that are arbitrary and inconsistent) yet contractor allows access to internal photographer and toddler has been documented playing in area and even on the trap itself.

Photographs and explanations attached to demonstrate some areas of concern.

Reckless travel over rocky terrain, this instance because of an inappropriately set trap, horse fell.

Horses in trap panels show blood on their legs indicating reckless travel over rocky terrain

Not given opportunity to settle creating chaotic loading, repeat problem. (Photo log more examples)

Loaded onto trailer with adults. Loading began less than five minutes after capture. Loading frequently occurred without any opportunity for horses to settle and adults of mixed bands were loaded with youngsters (photo log many examples).

Proximity to horses is a repeat problem. 1/31/2011

2/6

2/6

2/6

2/6

2/6

2/6

See video and photo log for many more examples. High speed chases where horses are literally driven for distance. In one instance a single horse was observed driven in this fashion for over fifteen minutes. Proximity to the fencing and the ground documented.

Lathered horses repeatedly observed 1/29

2/5

2/5 photo log many more examples throughout operation

2/9 sweaty in freezing weather (more examples photo log)

Heavily pregnant mares repeatedly run into the trap. Evaluation of dates of published foaling season (as opposed to actual foaling season, subject of lawsuit “Owyhee”) must be priority.

2/28 last day of the scheduled roundup (called three days early) had foals born in holding that day. Foals born during the last few weeks also observed. Evaluation of “foaling season” must be a priority of future management.

Note: Laura Leigh has witnessed more roundups than any single BLM employee in the last twelve months. She is the Subject Matter Expert for equine welfare organizations and a journalist that has spent significant time observing horses in the wild, at holding, during roundups and the “hands-on” care of wild horses by government agencies.
Laura Leigh can be reached through Grassroots Horse at http://grassrootshorse.com
All photographs in this document copyright, Laura Leigh

Saving America’s Mustangs Responds to BLM’s Thursday’s Announcement…click here

Dear Friends & Supporters,

Saving America’s Mustangs (SAM) is encouraged by yesterday’s announcement by Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey that major changes are on the horizon for the Wild Horse and Burro Program.  However, we have many concerns about the timetable to make these changes and actions that the BLM will take in the intervening time while America waits for these changes to go into effect.  It is also hard not to recognize that promises have been made in the past with no results and the startling number of horses that continue to be gathered remains an untenable fact and something needs to be done about gathers in the short term to protect the diminishing numbers of wild horses left on the range.  The incremental and minimalist approach taken in the past has not served anyone well and the public is crying out for reform in the short-term.

Looking at the specifics of Director Abbey’s statement, we would call for Secretary Salazar and Director Abbey to take an in depth look at the following:

1.    The current Appropriate Management Levels (AML) is severely flawed in a number of ways.  The number of aums allocated to horses compared with those given to cattle is skewed badly and must be changed.  The BLM must do an audit of the forage on all public lands allotments and ensure that there is true equity where multiple uses are concerned.

2.    When the Wild Horse and Burro Act was passed, 53 million acres were allocated to the wild horses.  21 million acres of that has been removed from use, leaving only 32 of the original 53 million acres for use by wild horses   Re-establishing acreage formally designated as wild horse Herd Management Areas that have been zeroed out and converted to other use to return wild horses where possible should be a major goal of the new overall assessment.

3.    Emphasis on public/private land partnerships should take into consideration private investment, entrepreneurship, volunteerism and value to the public good.  Simply issuing new contracts to warehouse wild horses does little or nothing to move us in a new direction when looking at the vast number of horses currently in holding pens.

4.    The reference to additional science being required to respond to many of the deficiencies in the current management of wild horses could not be more pressing than when looking at the current approach to gathers.  We are gathering very healthy horses off of range with sufficient forage to support not only the horses currently there but even larger numbers if the truth were told.  The claim that large numbers of wild horses are starving or will starve is an exaggerated conclusion that has been offered as a stalking horse to continue the current gather policy.  With 40,000 horses currently in holding pens and a schedule to remove another 7500 each year, how long will it be before we have eliminated our wild horse herds or put the Program in such financial hardship that it cannot survive?  SAM will continue to call for a halt to all gathers until such time as real science is applied in this area and we feel that Secretary Salazar would be well served to simply stop gathers now and let the science tell the real story when the NAS study is completed.

SAM firmly believes that the Secretary has it within his current authority to make many of the changes that would move us in a new direction.  We totally support the NAS study approach but strongly question the need to continue to build on the bad policies of the past when everyone seems to recognize the myriad problems in the current Wild Horse and Burro Program management approach.  We offer our resources and commitment to assist the Secretary and Director Abbey in any area where we can bring about change more expeditiously and help manage more effectively.

Click here to read the original BLM Announcement from Thursday.

Very Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens & all the mustangs

Here’s the latest reporting from the Antelope Complex gather
Please read the posts and view the photos.

A National Injustice: The Federal Government’s Systematic Removal and Eradication of an Icon

A National Injustice: The Federal Government’s Systematic Removal and Eradication of an American Icon

By Bruce Wagman & Lisa McCurdy

To read the full article, you can click on the following link:
A National Injustice: The Federal Government’s Systematic Removal and Eradication of an American Icon

You Have Until March 4th to Comment on BLM’s Proposed Restoration Project at Spruce Mountain

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The Bureau of Land Management has issued a letter to the public proposing a “restoration project” in the Spruce Mountain Allotment (The Spruce Ranch is the future site of Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary that we are developing). They will burn, mow, and thin the land using several different methods. They also propose to apply an herbicide to “control cheatgrass and/or other annual invasve species.” Please read their proposal thoroughly. You have until March 4th to comment on this. (2010 is a typo). Send your comments to: spruce_mt_rest@blm.gov

Sincerely,
Madeleine & all the mustangs

See our sanctuary proposal here

See current photos of the BLM’s current roundup at the Antelope Complex (future home of Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco Sanctuary)

Here is a link to the Original letter for comment sent by the BLM

Preliminary (Draft notes) Report of the Bureau of Land Management Antelope Complex Roundup

Preliminary (Draft notes) Report of the Bureau of Land Management Antelope Complex Roundup. Leigh, Horseback Magazine prep 2/8/2011

Contractor: Sun-J out of Vernal Utah. Suspect Contract in that contract was awarded before company was even incorporated. Many questions including the wife (Jody) being former BLM employee.

Ground research: Very few horses found in initial survey. Findings confirmed by Ben Noyes, Wild Horse and Burro specialist Ely. Scattered small bands not in numbers expected from EA.

Hank Vogler, sheep rancher and owner of 11 allotments (on Nevada Feral Horse Committee) gave interview. Vogler spoke of his friends shooting horses as the act was passed so horses would not be found in their allotments. Roundup occurred almost every day (with repeat traps set) on one of Voglers allotments. Numbers of horses removed not justified in the use of time and resource.

Accusations of fixed wing aircraft scattering horses led to discovery of USDA trapper removing coyotes from Vogler’s allotments. Eye-witness account of horses being moved by this plane and photographs held by that individual confirm trapper plane.
Roundup Concerns: Number of horses does not justify time and expense. Range (forage/water) available to sustain current population and foal crop.

Horses coming in have an unusually low percentage of younger members/older members and pregnant mares (foaling season begins in March). Raises concerns about the horses actually making it to the trap based on pilot performance. Pilot appears to be inexperienced and/or have a lack of equine behavioral knowledge. First Roundup Warm Springs, Oregon. Told by BLM personnel pilot was “learning.” Subsequent roundups have also demonstrated an inexperienced crew.

Horses repeatedly not given time to “settle” at trap prior to loading.
Pilot repeatedly (from ability to observe) breaks apart bands and has repeated escapes at the trap. From observations horses may be run multiple times in a single day. Pilot has repeatedly flown dangerously close to animals.

Animals arriving at the trap seriously lathered. (When ability to observe allows) This demonstrates long distances and/or undue stress.

Ability to access/observe: Ability to document horses condition is severely restricted. Respiration rate has not been documented. Access to trap and holding is severely restricted due to the new “safety” protocols yet contractor allows access to internal photographer and toddler has been documented playing in area and even on the trap itself.

Concerns about leaving the Ely district and moving to Elko. Elko district has been notorious for restricting ability to observe.

Photographs attached to demonstrate some areas of concern.

Horses in trap panels show blood on their legs indicating reckless travel over rocky terrain

Not given opportunity to settle creating chaotic loading

Loaded onto trailer with adults. Loading began less than five minutes after capture.

Proximity to horses is a repeat problem.
1/31/2011

2/6

2/6

2/6

2/6

2/6

2/6

Lathered horses repeatedly observed 1/29

2/5

2/5

Las Vegas City Life: Revenge of the Bureau of Land Management

Revenge of the Bureau of Land Management

Should an agency of the federal government be able to conduct business on behalf of American taxpayers based on mood swings, capricious whims, and hissy fits? Is petulance an appropriate reaction for the head of a sprawling agency which plays a vital role in the daily life of our country?

I ask these broad questions because I don’t want some readers to tune out once they see the words “wild horses” in this column. Yeah, I know. I write about the mustangs a lot. But this isn’t a column about poor horsies shivering in the cold or staring at you with those big, sad eyes. This is about how government works, who it is beholden to, and why our country is seemingly unable to solve any problem. What’s happening at the Bureau of Land Management makes the agency a poster child for all that is wrong with government. Politicians can promise change and reform, but it is the career civil servants, the immovable, unyielding bureaucrats who decide what does or does not get done in Washington.

You may have read a few days ago BLM Director Bob Abbey issued a death sentence for a proposed wild horse eco-sanctuary in Northern Nevada. This is the plan touted for the last three years by businesswoman and philanthropist Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens. The Associated Press reported Friday Abbey released a statement that rejected the Pickens plan for a wild horse sanctuary, saying “it would not save taxpayers any money and doesn’t include enough water and grazing area for the mustangs.”

Sounds like a fairly definitive statement from the BLM, right? The AP isn’t known for getting its stories completely wrong, especially when those stores are based on released statements, as opposed to interviews wherein someone can be misquoted, which is the favorite excuse of bureaucrats who screw up and say something they later regret. Is it possible the venerable AP got is story completely and totally wrong, that it misread the statement altogether?

I think if someone were to ask Abbey what he meant to say, they would find out that the Pickens plan is not really dead after all and that Abbey didn’t really say any such thing to a reporter. Maybe Abbey really was misquoted (doubtful), or maybe he changed his mind (possible) or maybe he realized that his decision smacked of pettiness and hurt feelings. Whatever the case, Abbey has told folks in Washington that he did not declare the Pickens plan to be dead and is willing to talk about it more. Beware the tempter tantrum of a lifelong bureaucrat with tears in his eyes and a pout on his mug. Poor widdle guy.

How do I know Abbey’s words were poorly chosen and spoken in haste? Because they are total bullshit, and BLM knows it. For the past few months, Abbey and others from the Interior Department have been bragged again and again about their plans to create public/private partnerships. A mere three weeks ago in Las Vegas, Abbey said the Pickens plan had merit and that he had high hopes for it.

As for the claims the plan won’t work, again BLM knows better. Back In December, BLM honchos met in Elko with the Pickens folks to hash out the details. They basically decided then and there to green light the ecosanctuary, starting with 1,000 horses that are now being warehoused in short-term holding corrals. The math is inescapable. It costs the government—read, taxpayers—$5.75 per day to feed a single horse in short-term holding. The horses that would be turned over to Pickens’ sanctuary would cost only $1.75 per day. Moving those initial 1,000 horses from government corrals into an ecosanctuary would save BLM $1.6 million in the first year, not a huge amount but a good start for this pilot program.

And the BLM has 40,000 will horses in its facilities. It spends tens of millions every year just to feed them. And the statement that there isn’t enough water or forage for horses on the land purchased by Pickens is so patently false that it is embarrassing to hear Abbey make such a claim. Pickens bought two ranches with 18,000 deeded acres and more than 500,000 leased public acres attached.

There isn’t enough food and water for 1,000 horses on more than half a million acres? Ridiculous. Makes one wonder how cattle ranchers have raised vast herds of cows on the same land for more than half a century. Gold mines adjacent the Pickens land have to divert tens of thousands of gallons of groundwater every single hour just to keep from being flooded. There’s plenty of water, and more than enough forage, which means Abbey has resorted to simply making stuff up as a reason to dismiss the Pickens plan.

When I say it stems from sheer petulance, I’m not kidding. BLM keeps saying the Pickens idea is promising but keeps coming up with new hoops for Pickens to jump through. She has done everything they’ve asked, put a pile of her own money on the barrel, and still can’t get BLM to give her the green light. The latest monkey wrench is the order from BLM that Pickens spend $250,000 on a 15-month engineering and environmental assessment, and when that’s finished, she might have to pony up for a full environmental impact statement, which requires another year or so.

Pickens is not used to operating at government speed. This latest stall tactic from BLM suggested to her that the agency will happily drag this out as long as possible, make it as expensive as possible, and even then there are no guarantees. BLM is quite happy to spend millions a year on the same old strategy of rounding up horses, stashing them in corrals, and caring for them until they die. Pickens decided to make her point by taking out full page ad in Politico which criticized BLM;s foot dragging.

The very next day, Abbey announced that the Pickens plan, the same one he had touted for weeks, was dead. Or maybe not. So you tell me, why did he do it?

I get the feeling the BLM is not comfortable dealing with a strong woman like Pickens. To have her take out a newspaper ad criticizing BLM was to much for the bureaucrats to handle. Even though the pilot program is solid on every level, BLM stands ready to kill it because the agency’s feelings are hurt.

That, in nutshell, is what’s wrong with government.

George Knapp is a Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter for KLAS-TV Channel 8. You can reach him at gknapp@klastv.com.

SOURCE

Please thank Congressman Dan Burton for his outstanding leadership on behalf of the wild horses

BLM MISMANAGEMENT OF WILD HORSES—

(House of Representatives - January 24, 2011)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, last week, at the request of a lady named Madeline Pickens, I met with Mr. Bob Abbey, who is the head of the Bureau of Land Management, to talk to him about dealing with the wild horses, the mustangs that roam out west in the western States. The Bureau of Land Management has somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 of these mustangs in pens around the country; and the cost of this is estimated to be as much as $2,500 per horse per year. The Bureau of Land Management just last week started rounding up another 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 of them to take them to holding pens and move them to Oklahoma.

Now, the thing that’s interesting about this is that when I talked to Mr. Abbey, he admitted that they want to move these horses from Nevada 1,000 miles to Oklahoma in order to put them in these pens. Now Ms. Pickens, she is very concerned about these mustangs because they’re part of America’s heritage, and she wants to protect them as much as possible. Toward that end, she bought two ranches, the Spruce Ranch, which has 14,000 acres in it, and the ranch next to it in Nevada, the Warm Creek Ranch, which has about another 4,000 acres; and then she got permits for another 550,000 acres so that they could put those horses on this land, protect them, and save the taxpayer money and make sure that these horses will not be put in pens and shipped all over the country.

But the Bureau of Land Management is recalcitrant. They want to move these horses 1,000 miles into these pens, and they want to keep them there at a cost of as much as $2,500 per year per horse.

Now, Ms. Pickens says that for $500 a year, she can keep them on her range and protect them, create a kind of museum for these horses so that people can come and see them in the wild. And she would have them injected so that they can’t reproduce; therefore, they wouldn’t have to worry about an expanding population of mustangs, but they would be protected. But the Bureau of Land Management wants to move them a thousand miles, where her ranch and her permits are within just a few miles of where the horses are right now.

Now, when I talked to Mr. Abbey last week, he said that they couldn’t reach an agreement with Ms. Pickens, that there’d have to be some major changes made over at the Bureau of Land Management in order for them to facilitate what she wants to do.

This is another bureaucratic nightmare that we in this Congress should not—and I don’t believe will—put up with. And I’m going to ask the Appropriations Committee to cut the budget of the Bureau of Land Management because they’re wasting the taxpayers’ money by millions and millions and maybe hundreds of millions of dollars.

Last year, the government spent about $144 million managing private livestock on Federal public lands, and they only collect $21 million for grazing rights. So they lost at least $123 million per year. And some people estimate that they lose as much as $500 million a year, half a billion dollars, by keeping these grazing lands in private hands where people get them for almost nothing. $21 million was what the fee was that they got last year.

So they’re losing as much as $500 million; they’re moving these horses up to a thousand miles, and they’re doing it for no good purpose other than the bureaucracy wants to keep control of them.

Now, the reason Ms. Pickens started this organization to protect these mustangs was because, in 2008, the Bureau of Land Management said, well, they weren’t sure they could take care of all of these horses—they have almost 40,000 in these pens right now—so they were thinking about killing them, euthanasia, starting to kill these horses.

Well, the people who love these mustangs and love the West the way it was don’t want this to happen. So they came up with this organization to deal with the problem in a realistic way so that the horses wouldn’t be killed. The organization they started when they heard they were going to euthanize them was called Saving America’s Mustangs, and they offered to enter into a contract with the Bureau of Land Management to relocate at least 9,000 of these horses into these lands that they just bought and got permits for so they wouldn’t have to be shipped to these pens a thousand miles away.

Now, it makes absolutely no sense to me, at a time when we’re fighting fiscal problems in this country—we’ve got trillions of dollars in debt, and unless we start cutting spending, we’re going to see this country go into bankruptcy. Moody’s has already said they may have to reevaluate the bond rating for the country.

Let me just end up, Mr. Speaker, by saying it seems to me that we ought to be frugal with the public’s money. We ought to cut the Bureau of Land Management’s budget so that we can save the money and save the mustangs. That’s what this is all about—a humane way of treating the mustangs in this country, which are a part of our heritage.

You can send a letter to the following address to personally thank Congressman Burton:
2308 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0001

OR use Postal Code 46229 to Send an EMAIL thanking Congressman Burton for his outstanding leadership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Humane Society of the United States Criticizes BLM Decision to Reject Madeleine Pickens’ Wild Horse Solution
Congressman Calls Decision a “Bureaucratic Nightmare” and Threatens BLM Budget Cut

(Jan. 25, 2011) — The Humane Society of the United States strongly criticized the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to reject a proposal by philanthropist and wild horse advocate Madeleine Pickens to create an eco-sanctuary for America’s mustangs. Her plan would be one important component within a broader plan to fix the agency’s broken wild horse and burro management program and to allow the BLM to demonstrate that it is listening to the American public.

The BLM announcement came only weeks after Director Bob Abbey stated publicly that the agency would pursue public and private partnerships in an effort to put the federal government’s dysfunctional wild horse management program on a more sustainable track.

Back in 2008, Pickens first offered to help create life-time sanctuaries for thousands of wild horses and burros currently housed in the BLM’s short- and long-term holding facilities. At the time, the BLM had announced that it would euthanize and sell for slaughter thousands of wild horses, due to a fiscal crisis caused by its failed management policies and programs. Since then, the BLM and Pickens’ foundation, Saving America’s Mustangs, have been working together in an attempt to develop a partnership that would provide homes for wild horses and educate the public about the need to preserve and protect these icons of the American West, while at the same time saving taxpayer dollars.

“The BLM continues to have opportunities to gain ground with the public and to turn its broken wild horse program around, but it continues to deliver self-inflicted wounds,” said Wayne Pacelle, The HSUS’ president and CEO. “The BLM claims that it wants to engage in public-private partnerships, but if the agency refuses to work with a private partner as passionate and creative as Madeleine Pickens, it begs the question: With whom can this agency work?”

Just today, U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., shared his outrage at the agency’s decision. On the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, he stated, “This is another bureaucratic nightmare that we in this Congress should not—and I don’t believe will—put up with. And I’m going to ask the Appropriations Committee to cut the budget of the Bureau of Land Management because they’re wasting the taxpayers’ money by millions and millions and maybe hundreds of millions of dollars … We ought to cut the Bureau of Land Management’s budget so that we can save the money and save the mustangs. That’s what this is all about—a humane way of treating the mustangs in this country, which are a part of our heritage.”

The BLM’s rejection of Pickens’ wild horse eco-sanctuary comes on the heels of the agency’s rejection of a more modest proposal from Pickens to provide short- and long-term holding for more than 2,000 wild horses scheduled to be removed from Antelope Valley Herd Management Complex in northeast Nevada between Jan. 24 and Feb 28. Pickens’ proposal would save taxpayers thousands of dollars, but the agency refused to postpone the scheduled roundup.
The HSUS has been working with the agency on a contraceptive program to keep wild horses on the range and to control reproduction. But the agency has been too slow to roll out that program, and the agency continues to round up and remove thousands of wild horses, creating a financial burden that the government is going to be hard pressed to meet for years to come.

-30-

Media Contact: Pepper Ballard: 301-258-1417; pballard@humanesociety.org
Follow The HSUS on Twitter. See our work for animals on your iPhone by searching “HumaneTV” in the App Store.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization — backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037
humanesociety.org
Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD:  At the Antelope Complex Gather

REPORTS FROM THE ANTELOPE COMPLEX GATHER

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Here are blogs from each day since the Antelope Complex gather began, from January 23rd to present. Posts are starting with the most recent to the oldest at the bottom. Once you look at these photos, you will see with your own eyes how far these animals are being pushed.

Horses (including foals) are coming in completely drenched with sweat from miles of running. Babies are coming in with bloody noses and exhausted. One could only imagine how far these animals are being pushed. This isn’t just rounding up, this is animal abuse. There is no excuse to roundup a solitary horse with a helicopter. The trauma is all over the faces of the horses pictured below. Please read through these posts and photos and take action by sharing this post and the album on our Facebook fan page.

Thank you,

Madeleine Pickens & all the mustangs

Full update and report soon.

But they say a picture is worth a thousand words…
Baby and mom being chased by wranglers to separate them out of general
population.

<

Antelope Complex Roundup Monday, 2/28/11
Palomino Valley Center

Today would have been the last day of the Roundup.
BLM needs to figure out that “foaling season” is not March 1-July1…

But the larger questions are:
Why were there so few pregnant mares when Sun J was flying like it was at the
beginning of the roundup?
Why were there no new babies at the end?

Day 34
Saturday, February 26, 2011

By: Laura Leigh

I write this at the conclusion of the largest roundup of the first half of the 2011 Fiscal year calendar for the Bureau of Land Management. “Foaling season” has officially begun.

Tomorrow I will begin to compile the statistical data collected from the Antelope Complex roundup. Tonight I want to share a personal message.

The last year has left me with images I will never forget. Images that speak of a program that needs serious reform. A program so flawed that no part of it actually operates with the intent of Legislation that was passed in 1971. Images that speak to a program that suffers the same abuse and neglect that is demonstrated in the actually hands-on care of our symbol of American Freedom.

The images taken here at this Roundup, from days before it began to the bittersweet ending, demonstrate irrefutable evidence of a system in denial of its own actions.

To hear “we really care about the horses” as I point out trap after trap that is set improperly, inadequate water, careless endangerment and outright apparent malice has left me in a state of disbelief. Can those people performing the function tasked to them by Congress (literally the protectors of our wild herds) be so brainwashed, afraid of losing their jobs, desensitized that they can no longer see what happens in front of their own eyes?

The final statement of this roundup came to me from Ken Miller, Elko district office manager “The roundup was called off because of the mares. The poor body condition made us weigh the number of horses against the risk, “as the reason this roundup ended three days early.”

We then went and watched 22 horses released. Two older studs and 20 older mares that had been PZP treated were let go.

They were let go in the same area where the mare came in that had a bullet hole in her shoulder came from. They were let go across the highway from where the pilot repeatedly chased single horses and came within arm’s length of them. They were released where horses were brought in sub-freezing temperatures steaming from the run. They were released on the other side of the mountain range where heavily pregnant mares were run in a trap set for disaster. They were released where the same horses were run multiple times in a single day.

They were released at a roundup that on paper claimed to be a selective removal done carefully to ensure that the horses that remain were genetically viable and older horses allowed to return. On paper this program exists in almost a schizophrenic fashion than it manifests into existence.

I will compile the report as soon as possible. Tonight I sleep knowing the choppers won’t fly tomorrow… but I feel like a marathon runner that has just crossed the finish line only to realize I fractured an ankle three miles back.

This experience has been burned into my soul and what I witnessed must not be repeated.

UPDATE: SAM will adopt this band of horses immediately.

Day 32
Thursday, February 24, 2011
By: Laura Leigh
6 rounded up today before the roundup was called for wind.
(Incredibly beautiful stallion with youngsters and pregnant mare that will be separated forever on a day that the operation should have been halted before it began.)
First band evaded capture by continually fighting at the rocky wall.
We are at another trapsite set up for a train wreck.

Wings are not adequate for the mountainous rocky terrain and the decline, that is out of view of observers, is steep with an abrupt stop at the panels.

Day 31
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
By: Laura Leigh

27 today.
Trapsite is relocating tomorrow.

Horses getting harder to find and there is more time between loads.
Weather expected to turn bad tomorrow.

At the 90 degree turn that the BLM had been warned was dangerous we had an incident where a horse got hung up on the panel. He was roped and pulled off and then led back into the pen. There the wrangler left the horse with the rope tied to his neck. The chopper drove other horses in and there was a fight. The poor horse with the rope on his neck tries to stay out of the way.

Then he gets loaded onto a trailer with two others and left for a couple of hours… as they load from range to trailer and let the horses sit until the trailer fills.

More pregnant mares, more horses fought for freedom, more families shattered.

Day 30
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

By: Laura Leigh

Today BLM is saying that they took about 64. I will get exact count tomorrow.
Yesterday when I left they had between 60 and 70 horses. The hotline said they continued to go until dark.

Based on that I estimated about 100. They are saying that not many more were taken after we left yesterday.

Today was more of the same.

This pilot continues to fracture family bands and run horses until they are lathered in the severe cold. Today operations continued even as gusts hit over 33 mph.

A call came over the radio that about 14 horses were near the cattle guard (note the cattle guard is 10 miles driving from our position). Sometime later the pilot drove 9 horses into view. A stallion broke and came over the rise into an area of good visibility. He was heavily lathered. A very pregnant mare tried to follow him but was too slow. Pilot drove in seven and then went in pursuit of the pregnant mare and drove her in alone.

The horses were driven with long intervals in between implying that horses are not easy to find and are further from the current location.

I am increasingly concerned. The proximity to foaling season and the current weather would lead any real horse “expert” to the conclusion that these mares should not be stressed prior to the expected weather conditions regardless of if they break and remain wild or end up in captivity. The stress can cause these mares to abort late term. The WH&B specialist has the ability to call this roundup based on number of heavily pregnant mares.

Weather is expected to take a turn for the worst and we should see snow and plummeting temperatures.

Horses continue to be ran into the trap that is still set at a ninety degree angle at