March 29, 2010 – CHICAGO, (EWA) – March 25 will be remembered by equine advocates across the United States and the United Kingdom as the day the international cries for the wild horses and burros were raised loud and clear.
Rallies held in Washington, DC, London, England, Las Vegas, NV and Los Angeles, CA culminated with a report on CNN that exposed the propaganda being fed to the public by the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The video footage of the “starving” horses was released on a prime time report and left no doubt, the rationale given for the round-ups is pure fiction.
Mariana Tosca, Actor and Social Activist, was among the advocates attending the Los Angeles rally. Ms. Tosca delivered an impassioned speech that moved the crowd to tears. Ms. Tosca commented, “It is an honor to stand united with the citizens of our global community to bring attention to this urgent matter, which being left virtually unchecked is eroding the landscape of our national heritage.”
Advocates Call on President Obama to Give America’s Wild Horses a Christmas Reprieve
Cloud from an IDA Photo
Washington, DC (December 23, 2009). . . . Wild horse advocates today celebrated a partial victory as U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ordered a lawsuit challenging a Bureau of Land Management roundup of thousands of wild horses in Nevada forward, but denied a preliminary injunction to stop the removal of horses, which is scheduled to begin December 28.
Judge Friedman’s 25-page decision indicates that he found merit in IDA’s argument that the BLM’s practice of stockpiling tens of thousands of horses in long-term holding facilities in the Midwest is not authorized by law, and invited both parties to expedite briefing on that issue. Based on that preliminary finding regarding long-term holding facilities, Judge Friedman stated that “the agency’s [BLM] best option may be to postpone the [Calico] gather,” but he said that was for the BLM to decide while also noting potential harms in such a delay.
Advocates are now calling on President Obama to give the horses a holiday reprieve after filing complaints with the Department of Interior and White House Office of Environmental Quality (CEQ) alleging multiple violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“The President should order a halt to this roundup until the legality of the long-term holding facilities is determined. The BLM itself says this is not an emergency roundup, so there would be no harm in waiting for adjudication of this enormously important issue,” said William J. Spriggs, of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, which filed the case on behalf of IDA, ecologist Craig Downer and noted children’s author Terri Farley.
“We are on strong ground in charging that the BLM’s policy of stockpiling tens of thousands of horses in the Midwest, off their rightful Western ranges, is contrary to law, the intent of Congress and the will of the American people,” Mr. Spriggs concluded.
Meanwhile, IDA is turning to the Administration in an effort to save the wild horses living in the Calico Mountains Complex which is comprised of more than 500 thousand acres in northwestern Nevada. Beginning December 28, the BLM intends to wipe out 80-90 percent of the estimated 3,000 horses there by stampeding them with helicopters over dangerous winter terrain into capture pens, then loading them on to trucks bound for government holding facilities in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Just four years ago, the BLM rounded up more than two thousand wild horses in Calico in the winter of 2004-2005 and shipped 1,623 horses to short- and long-term holding.
“This is a Christmastime appeal to President Obama on behalf of America’s wild horses,” said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, IDA President. “While the President is enjoying the holidays with his lovely family, In Defense of Animals asks him to think of the horse families who are about to be torn apart forever in the BLM roundup. With the stroke of a pen, he can stop the terror that is about to befall the majestic wild horses of the Calico Mountains in Nevada.”
IDA is asking the Administration to halt the roundup, charging that the BLM violated NEPA by failing to adequately assess the environmental impacts of its massive wild horse capture plan. Over 10,000 public comments were submitted in opposition to the Calico roundup, which the BLM has stated will cost taxpayers $1.7 million.
Despite promising to deliver change, the Obama Administration has continued the Bush Administration’s policy of removing tens of thousands of wild horses from their rightful Western ranges, often to make room for increased grazing of privately-owned livestock on public lands. The BLM currently warehouses 33,000 wild horses in government holding facilities – the legality of which Judge Friedman has just questioned – yet intends to round up and remove 12,000 more horses a year from the West for the next three years. After that time, the number of wild horses held captive in zoo-like conditions will far exceed those left in the wild.
Contacts: William J. Spriggs, Esq., 202-452-6051; Eric Kleiman, 717-939-3231
In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in Mumbai, India, Cameroon, Africa, and rural Mississippi
December 20, 2009 – “Pure propaganda” was Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokesperson Tom Gorey’s reaction in a recent AP interview when asked about the growing accusations that his agency is in the process of virtually exterminating the very herds of wild horses and burros that it is supposed to protect.
However, Gorey’s denial of the BLM’s intentions rings false in the light of recently uncovered documents from the BLM itself and of its own published plans and estimates. It is not possible to interpret these in any way other than a plan to virtually eradicate the wild herds.
Two internal-use BLM reports were obtained earlier this year through the Freedom of Information Act; Alternative Management Options Plans from October 2008 and the Team Conference Calls Report from July – September 2008. In these documents, BLM members presented, analyzed and discussed several management plans aimed at reducing the population of the wild horses on the range as well as those in holding facilities.
Proposals for reducing the populations included adjusting herd sex ratios with some of the horses returned being gelded, and an increased use of the contraceptive PZP, the use of other unauthorized fertility drugs called Gonacon and SpayVac and even surgical sterilization of mares (a process that has resulted in 10% mortality).
Also found in the Team Conference Calls report were these notes submitted by Don Glenn:
“Sally had an e-mail from a person in Canada who wants 10,000 horses that he would slaughter the horses and send them to a third world country. Don is going to send the email. Jim said he has a demand for horses going to Denmark, but they are having a problem getting titled horses.”
Adding further to the plan for sending wild horses to foreign countries, the following recommendations were submitted to BLM from BLM’s advisory board members at the June 15th, 2009, Advisory Board Meeting held in Sacramento, CA:
“That BLM advertise and market sale eligible animals (with the intent clause) in foreign countries with known good homes by offering “select sales” for sale eligible animals 11 years of age and over, and for younger animals that have been offered for adoption three times during a 90 day period and that BLM continue to explore opportunities to foster foreign aid by providing sale eligible animals (with the intent clause) to foreign countries for agricultural (nonfood) use.”
The BLM’s response to these recommendations was that it is considering these plans as part of a 5 year strategy plan.
Clearly, the BLM has already been corresponding with foreign countries to market the wild horses with the intent to send the horses to slaughter. The board recommendation that the sales include the “intent clause” was clearly a fig leaf. The BLM is well aware that it would be impossible to enforce the intent clause in foreign countries.
But if that were not an obvious enough fig leaf, then the reference to “countries with known good homes” is a laughable one. It comes as no surprise that the notes from Don Glenn, who is also a member of the advisory board, were not mentioned at the advisory board meeting.
While Tom Gorey may continue to claim that it’s pure propaganda that the BLM is in the process of eliminating the wild horses, the notes regarding the slaughter of our wild horses in foreign countries, combined with the advisory board recommendation to sell the horses to foreign countries proves otherwise.
The BLM’s plan is now clear. They will first ignore the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act and gather virtually all the wild herds, working year-round until only a few small, sterile bands remain free. If delayed in one place, they will simply shift their schedule and gather at another as they did with Buckhorn when Calico was delayed.
The cost of feeding these captured horses, along with the 37,000 already in holding, will then precipitate an enormous financial crisis. This will leave the BLM with no option but to euthanize or ship to slaughter most of the horses in holding.
BLM’s handling of the Pryor Mountains (Cloud) gather on the heels of the West Douglas court decision started BLM’s slide down the slippery slope to disaster. The agency’s handling of their proposed Calico Mountains Complex roundup of some 2,700 horses will only add speed to BLM’s downward plunge.rtfitch.wordpress.com, Straight from the Horse’s Heart, Dec 2009
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