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The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will host a public meeting next Thursday, June 12 at 7:00 pm at the Bellaire City Hall Auditorium, 7008 South Rice Avenue, Bellaire, TX. The meeting will focus on natural and cultural resource management activities on state park properties, with a focus on management challenges at Big Bend Ranch State Park. As you may remember, Big Bend and its century-old burro herd were the focus of intense controversy after Park officials shot 71 burros last year. The Park-sanctioned removal policy was driven primarily by a plan to introduce big horn sheep into the Park, presumably to enhance a state-run big game hunting raffle program. The 35-year veteran Park employee who exposed the shootings was transferred and ended up quitting. An investigative officer also quit in disgust, reporting that burros were left to suffer a slow death, shot in belly, hips, and that orphaned babies were left to fend for themselves. If you can attend, please comment on the Park’s misguided idea of wildlife “management” as applied to wild burros. Media Contact:
Lydia.saldana@tpwd.state.tx.us
The Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) is relying on a brand new population estimating
method to justify the removal of 1,349 horses from the Adobe Town-Salt
Wells Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Wyoming. After horses were rounded
up from the area just last year, only 861 were estimated as remaining
on the range. Using their new estimating method, BLM later increased their
population estimate by about 800% for the Salt Wells HMA alone!
This stunning discrepancy is of great concern as it brings into
question the 'standard' population calculations that BLM has been using
for decades to manage our wild herds, and opens the door to equally drastic
population adjustments for other herds.
The Clark Mountain burros, a small, genetically unique herd located in California’s Mojave desert are threatened with total eradication: unless we make our voices heard, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will soon round up ALL the burros from the area. For a disturbing eye-witness account of last year’s round-up, please go to this page. The removal decision is based on a faulty land use plan that decided, without supporting evidence, that the burros were affecting desert tortoises. The fact is that, provided they have adequate water, the burros do not even range in the same area as the tortoises. The burros’ access to water was closed off when part of their range was allocated to the Park Service. All it would take to remedy the situation is for Park Service to allow water to be piped back to the burros’ range. Park Service officials had originally agreed to that, but then reneged on their offer. Concerned citizens have volunteered labor and materials to complete the simple project at NO COST to taxpayers. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW - Contact BLM to protest this eradication plan. Express concern over the fact that using helicopters for the capture will put this rare genetic line further at risk and that California’s burro population will soon be too low to sustain itself. Email your comments to ca690@ca.blm.gov before December 29. Include your name and address, and this reference number: CA-690-EA-04-27. - Urge the National Park Service to allow water to be piped to the burros. Your tax-dollars should not be wasted on rounding up burros when an alternative is available at no costs to taxpayers. Contact Mary Bomar, NPS Director, phone: 202.208.6843 - fax: 202.208.7889 – email: mary_bomar@nps.gov - Urge the Department of the Interior to reconsider its arbitrary land use plan for the Mojave desert. Point out that there is no scientific evidence of cumulative impact to the land or any other species. Contact Dirk Kempthorne, Interior Secretary, phone: 202.208.3100 - fax: 202.208.5048 – contact via web form - It is also critical that our California supporters contact Senator Diane Feinstein. The Senator spoke out last year to oppose removal of the burros. She has since remained silent on the issue. Please urge her to follow through on her efforts on behalf of the burros. Senator Diane Feinstein, SH-331, Washington, D.C. 20510-0504 - phone: 202.224.3841 - fax: 202.228.3954 - contact via web form A public meeting will be held on this issue Wednesday, December 13 at the BLM Barstow Field Office, 2601 Barstow Road, in Barstow, beginning at 6:00 pm. Please attend if you can. Please also alert the media to this irresponsible plan.
The Bureau of Land Management has issued its 2007 Round-Up Schedule. Close to 7,000 horse and burros will be captured, further threatening the genetic viability of our wild herds. The absolute minimum estimated cost of these round-ups and annual containment of the captured horses exceeds 15 million of our tax-dollars. Of immediate concern is the plan to zero out horses and burros from yet more Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Southern Nevada, leaving less than 100 horses on over 1 million acres. After this latest round, BLM will have zeroed out horses from 6 out of 9 HMAs in the area. A total of 4 HMAs will also have lost their entire burro populations. Cold Creek near Las Vegas is of particular interest, as it was the site of a mystery helicopter round-up last summer. About 200 horses are feared gone, yet BLM denies any horses were taken. Officials have failed to investigate the matter, despite repeated pleas by concerned residents who witnessed most of this beloved herd being hauled away to an uncertain fate. Please protest this gross waste of tax-dollars and mismanagement of our natural resources by contacting the following: - Karla
Norris - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV), who should be urged to revise his position on wild horse management in his state. You can email him by clicking on his name above, or write him at 528 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-2803 - fax: 202.224.7327. - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington DC 20240 - fax: 202.208.5048 - Please also alert Nevada to the fact that continued mismanagement of its wild horse herds will hurt tourism in the state. Contact the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 3150 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89109 – ph: 702.892.0711; fax: 702.892.2906, and the Nevada Commission on Tourism, 401 North Carson Street, Carson City, NV 89701 – ph: 800.638.2328. - Our Nevada supporters should also contact their U.S. Representatives to protest this eradication plan (locate your Representative at www.house.gov).
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act urgently needs to be brought to a Senate vote. Please call your two Senators and urge them to co-sponsor the bill (S. 1915). It is critical that this be done before the end of this Congressional year, or our victory in the House will be lost. To locate your Senators, please visit www.senate.gov.
This morning the House of Representatives passed the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503) by a landslide vote of 263-146. The legislation will now move on to the Senate. Our deepest gratitude goes to bill sponsors John Sweeney (R-NY), John Spratt (D-SC), Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Nick Rahall (D-WV).
Round-up season is now in full swing. On the heels of the Sheldon debacle, we have received yet another disturbing report of abuse at a round-up site, this time in Utah, home of the treasured Sulphur herd: one mare reportedly was run into a panel and broke her neck; a lost foal, carelessly turned in with other horses, was kicked and died; and a mare who had suffered neck injuries apparently from roping, was left for days to agonize on the ground of the corral. For a full report and pictures, please click here. Please protest this abuse by emailing Gene Terland, Utah's Associate State Director at Gene_Terland@blm.gov and Kathleen Clark, BLM Director, at kathleen_clarke@blm.gov. For a list of upcoming round-ups, please click here (wait for file to load).
Cold Creek near Las Vegas, NV, was the site of a mystery helicopter round-up on August 5-6. While no BLM round-up was officially scheduled, local residents witnessed two helicopters flying over the area for hours; a wrangler told one of them that 204 horses were being rounded up that week-end. Locals familiar with the herd have reported that most of the new foals are now missing, as well as many mares and at least one stallion, yet BLM will not acknowledge any horses were taken. Officials have refused to investigate the matter, despite repeated pleas by concerned residents who witnessed most of this beloved herd being hauled away to an uncertain fate.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to remove 402 of the estimated 482 wild horses of the High Rock Herd Management Area in Washoe County, NV, citing "lack of forage and available water." Yet, the environmental assessment states that "the canyons are relatively well-watered." The BLM is working with the Department of Wildlife to permanently re-route the horses' water to "water developments" for big game and cattle. The absolute minimum estimated cost of this round-up and annual containment of the captured horses is $203,000. Please protest this gross misuse of our natural resources and tax-dollars by sending your comments before August 23 to: E-MAIL: asurian@ca.blm.gov Or write to: SURPRISE
FIELD OFFICE Make sure to include your name and signature, and this reference number: # CA-370-06-16
Many of you contacted your federal legislators to express outrage over the disastrous results of the late June round-up conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Well, your efforts were not in vain: on July 19, US Representative Nick Rahall wrote FWS Director Dale Hall requesting that FWS cease and desist from any further wild horse removals at the Refuge. Read Mr. Rahall's letter here. FWS has now cancelled its planned September round-up. Our deepest gratitude goes out to Representative Rahall.
Starting this Friday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be rounding up 1,700 horses, leaving the 12-million acre Buck & Bald Complex in Nevada with only 500, if that (see BLM's fuzzy math below). Unlike the Fish and Wildlife Service (the agency responsible for last month's Sheldon round-up), BLM has a legal obligation to manage wild horses on public lands. For this round-up, BLM has failed to provide a current Environmental Assessment (EA - a fact-finding process required by law for each round-up), relying instead on last year's EA. In its 2005 EA, BLM estimated that the population in the Buck & Bald Complex totaled approximately 1,286 wild horses; 795 were removed. The agency now claims the complex has a population of 2,200 wild horses. Even with a 20% increase in the population from the summer of 2005 until the present, that's a miscalculation by nearly 1,600 animals - an error of approximately 350%. In other words, the BLM now plans to remove more wild horses this summer than they originally estimated even existed on the Complex. Something is very wrong here. Local observers tell us that range conditions currently appear good on the Complex, which contradicts BLM's justifications for the round-up. In addition to the usual pressure from private cattle interests, oil and gas exploration seems to be a factor motivating this sudden ramp-up in population reduction. Although it appears too late to stop this round-up, we hope the media may be interested in observing the proceedings on the heels of the Sheldon debacle. Please contact CNN using this form and suggest they do a story on wild horse round-ups. Specifically, Anderson Cooper's "Keeping Them Honest" segment would be a good venue for this topic.
We are sad to report that a foal that had been trampled during the Sheldon round-up and later rescued by a couple of good Samaritans did not make it after all. He died of internal injuries last night. On a more positive note, the Fish and Wildlife Service is facing a barrage of angry protests and having to answer questions from Washington D.C. After adamantly denying that any horses had been killed during the round-up, FWS had no choice but to acknowledge the deaths in a "progress report" issued after the release of our incriminating report.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has done a very good job of convincing the public that last week's controversial round-up at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge went smoothly and that no horses were killed. That could not be further from the truth. Granted, all round-ups are traumatic events for horses chased by helicopters, torn from their family groups and getting their first taste of confinement; injuries are common. However, nothing could prepare our investigators for what they witnessed. In total, over 330 horses were captured, including very young foals; reportedly, one adult and at least seven foals died, mares aborted their fetuses, and several foals were injured. Some captured mares still had their foaling placentas attached to them, with their newborns unaccounted for. Some foals were simply left behind in the chaos of the round-up. Wranglers could only locate eight of them: three, aged four to six weeks, were rescued after spending days as orphans on the range; the five others were already dead. Supposedly due to security concerns following public outcry, FWS had law enforcement set up a two-mile security perimeter. In spite of the secrecy, our investigators were able to document the process up close. Their report, including some very disturbing pictures and a corroborating vet report, can be found here: www.wildhorsepreservation.org/sheldon.html (WARNING: some graphic pictures) Throughout this process, FWS showed no consideration for public concerns and chose to ignore pleas by humane groups and Members of Congress. All they had to do was postpone the round-up by a month so that days-old foals and heavily pregnant mares would not have to endure such conditions. All in all, a gross betrayal of public trust. Please forward the above link to your federal legislators and to the media. Tell them that you expect public servants to be held accountable for their actions. Dale Hall, Director of Fish and Wildlife Services, should be made aware of his agency's misdeeds: email him a link to our round-up report using this web-contact form; you can also voice your protest by Phone: (202) 208-4717 or Fax: (202) 208-6965.
We are pleased to inform you that the time has finally come for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 503, S 1915) to be voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives! Sometime in the next few days, the House will vote on HR 503, a bill that bans the inhumane practice of horse slaughter in the United States. While our Campaign's main focus is on keeping wild horses in the wild, we must also ensure that the thousands of wild horses unnecessarily rounded up each year do not end up at the slaughterhouse. Slaughter is our wild horses' greatest threat once they have been removed from the range, and nothing the BLM says or does will change that sad reality. Contact your federal Representative today by calling the Capitol Switchboard and providing your zip code: (202) 224-3121. Ask them to support HR 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. After calling, take a moment and send an email or fax. You can find and email your Representative online through www.house.gov. Please remind your Representative that:
Many of you have inquired about the status of the Sheldon round-up denounced in last week's alert. Despite Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) being inundated with calls and emails protesting its plan, it went ahead with the round-up on Monday and Tuesday: over 330 horses were captured, including heavily pregnant mares (some foaling at the round-up site) and orphan foals, some only days old. Please note however that your efforts were not in vain: FWS is facing a massive public outcry; the media has picked up on the story; two federal legislators sent stern letters of protest; and Governor Schwarzenegger even contacted Nevada authorities to inquire about the matter. The fact is that, over the past year, wild horse advocates have generally been recognized in Washington D.C. as the most efficient grassroots group. This was confirmed again just recently by several Members of Congress to the Institute for a Democratic Future, who called us to congratulate wild horse advocates on their grassroots efforts. So please do not let placating responses from government officials shake your confidence. FWS staffers have been very diligent in responding to concerned citizens. Unfortunately, they are not doing so in an honest, truthful manner, spreading lies and misinforming the public. We would like to take this opportunity to address some of their statements:
These public servants' salaries are paid by our tax-dollars. The least they owe us is the truth. Please alert the media and your federal legislators.
On Thursday, June 29th, the Bureau of Land Management will hold a meeting to hear public comments regarding their plan to use motorized vehicles to round up wild horses from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in Montana. The meeting will be held from 7:00-8:00pm at the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Visitor's Center in Lovell, WY. The BLM plans to remove about 24 wild horses from the Pryor herd and make them available for adoption. The use of motorized vehicles causes excessive stress and needless suffering as the animals are chased to exhaustion. If you can attend this important meeting, please plan to do so and let the BLM know that you do not approve of the use of motorized vehicles in the capture and removal of wild horses. Please also take the opportunity to remind them that you would like to see wild horses remain in their rightful home, on America's vast public lands and that this continued removal of horses threatens the genetic viability and long-term survival of one of our most treasured natural resources - the American wild horse. Those who are not able to attend can mail their comments to: BLM Field Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101
Without any opportunity for public review or comment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has engineered a plan to eradicate wild horses from the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. The plan calls for the capture of as many as 1,200 animals, starting June 19, at the height of foaling season. Even the BLM does not conduct round-ups during foaling season, because new-born foals risk being separated from their mothers, trampled to death, or run to exhaustion, and pregnant mares may abort their foals. The stated reason for the removal is to enhance the populations of pronghorn antelope and sage grouse, two species that bring in revenue from hunting permits. However, FWS has failed to conduct a legally-required Environmental Assessment in connection with this removal. Their long-term plan is to leave as few as 75 horses on the Refuge's half a million acres, a number too low to ensure genetic viability of the herd. Even more disturbing, the newly-announced plan allows only "mass adoptions" of the captured horses, with FWS paying three "carefully screened" agents $300 per horse (those are our tax-dollars!) to take them by the truckload. An investigation has shown that the address provided by one of the adopting agents is virtually a Grand Central Station of horse slaughter, used by killer buyers for two slaughterhouses located in Texas. In addition to the $300 paid by FWS, each horse may bring in $500 or more at the slaughterhouse. This plan for the Sheldon horses is extremely disturbing at every level and a gross misuse of our tax-dollars. Please contact the Fish and Wildlife Service and ask them to put a halt to the plan until proper environmental studies have been conducted, as required by law, and until the safety of any captured horses can be ensured; denounce the plan to round-up horses at the height of foaling season:
Please also write your Members of Congress to denounce the Fish and Wildlife Service plan for wild horses on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Visit www.congress.org and enter your zip code to locate your US Representative and two US Senators. The media should also be alerted to this travesty. Visit www.newslink.org for media contact information. Major newspapers and networks should be encouraged to investigate this matter.
Last August, BLM removed 795 horses from the Buck and Bald Complex in Nevada. This year, they plan to remove another 1,700 horses, leaving only 500 on this 12 million-acre Complex. For this round-up, BLM has failed to perform an Environmental Assessment (a fact-finding process required by law for each round-up), relying instead on last year's Environmental Assessment. BLM simply claims last year's census under-estimated population levels. In addition to the usual pressure from private cattle interests, oil and gas exploration appears to be a factor motivating this sudden ramp-up in population reduction on the Complex. Please mail or fax your comments by June 15th to: BLM Elko Field Office, Attn.: Shane DeForest, AFM Renewable Resources, 3900 East Idaho St., Elko, NV 89801. Input can also be sent by FAX: 775-753-0255. Please include your signature and the following reference: Buck and Bald Complex - Comment to Proposed Wild Horse Gather, Summer 2006. Your comments should include the following points:
The Amendment, introduced by Representative Rahall and co-sponsored by Ed Whitfield (KY), John Sweeney (NY) and John Spratt (SC), passes without opposition toward preventing funding for the sale/slaughter of wild horses for fiscal year 2007. The Amendment still needs to go through the Senate. When an identical amendment reached the Senate last year, Senator Conrad Burns (MT), who happens to chair the Senate Appropriations Interior subcommittee, simply, in his own words, "threw it out". Will the Montana Senator choose once again to subvert the democratic process and ignore the will of the American people?
Representative Rahall (WV) has once again stepped forward to give us a real chance to fight for our wild horses, by introducing an amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill. This new amendment, to be offered for a floor vote by the U.S. House of Representatives this week (most likely this Thursday, May 18), ensures that no tax dollars can be used for any sale of wild horses that could lead to their slaughter. An identical amendment passed overwhelmingly in the House last year, but was blocked at the last minute in the Senate by Senator Conrad Burns (MT). Because this is a floor vote, every Representative's vote will be recorded - they know we will be watching. Now is our big chance to speak out for our horses. Before Thursday, we must reach every single member of the U.S. House of Representatives and secure their vote for the Rahall Interior Appropriations Amendment. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW: 1) Please CALL your U.S. Representative and urge that he or she "Please vote for the Rahall Interior Appropriations Amendment to Protect America's Wild Horses from Slaughter. Not another wild horse should go to slaughter." Visit www.congress.org to locate your U.S. Representative. Ask to speak to the Interior Appropriations staffer and if your Representative voted 'yes' on last year's amendment, please mention this when you call. To find out who voted 'yes' last year, click here. 2) Please tell everyone you know to contact their U.S. Representative and urge support for the Rahall Interior Appropriations Amendment.
The Pryor Mountain herd was made famous by Ginger Kathrens' Emmy Award winning PBS series, "Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies." Now Cloud's very herd is threatened by a BLM plan to round up 50% of the coming yearlings, as well as 12 bachelor stallions, in addition to use of fertility control measures. While we support the use of fertility control in certain instances where population control is needed, such measures should be used in lieu of round-ups, not in addition to round-ups. BLM's plan calls for a removal of horses in 2006, and possibly in 2008 and 2010 to reach a population of 100. Such a population level is scientifically recognized as non-genetically viable, so BLM mentions that they are studying the possibility of importing wild horses from Utah to avoid genetic decline! Such an absurd and intrusive management plan should be vehemently protested as a waste of our tax-dollars. Please mail your comments by May 5th to: Bureau of Land Management Please include your signature and the reference number:. EA#BLM-MT-010-FY06-19, Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Population Control, 2006. Your comments should include the following points:
AWHPC's dedication to preserving the American wild horse extends to America's burros as well, and today the Clark Mountain burro herd needs our help. This small, unique herd located in California's Mojave National Preserve is managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and is in serious jeopardy. The NPS is in the process of eradicating burros from the Clark Mountain area. The initial phase of their plan includes helicopter round-ups during which animals are subjected to extremely stressful running conditions under which they can literally be run to death. For a disturbing eye-witness account of such a round-up, please follow this link to our Testimonials page. The last phase of the plan involves elimination by "humane methods," which include gunning down any remaining animals to achieve zero population. We are told that hunters have been solicited by the Park Service to shoot burros on the range. It is important to note that when an animal is shot, it is not necessarily a "kill." The burro could be injured and left to die a slow, painful death. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW to protest such an inhumane plan for the Clark Mountain Burros: voice your concern and outrage to Mojave National Preserve Superintendent Dennis Schramm, 760.252.6103, Dennis_Schramm@nps.gov. Our California supporters should also contact their federal legislators to protest this eradication plan: - Representative Jerry Lewis, 2112 RHOB, Washington, D.C. 20515-0541, Phone: (202) 225-5861, Fax: (202) 225-6498, Contact Via 'Web Form.' - Senator Barbara
Boxer, SH-112, Washington, D.C. 20510-0505, Phone:
(202) 224-3553, Fax: (415) 956-6701 - Senator Diane Feinstein, SH-331, Washington, D.C. 20510-0504, Phone: (202) 224-3841, Fax: (202) 228-3954 , Contact via 'Web Form'
BLM and PLC have sent 15,000 letters to public lands ranchers and are broadcasting radio ads in cattle country urging ranchers to purchase horses at ten dollars a head. This marketing program covers 7,000 mares and geldings ten years of age and older. BLM urges the ranchers to purchase these horses so as to make room for more horses to be rounded up from public lands. In a Casper Star Tribune article published today, Niels Hansen, chairman of the Wyoming State Grazing Board, clearly states he doesn't see a problem with selling "old, unusable horses" to slaughterhouses. His only concern is whether, under BLM's bill of sale, the horses can legally be re-sold to slaughter; but, as BLM Director Kathleen Clarke testified before Congress in March of 2005, "Once the bill of sale has been effectuated, then we have no control over what the buyer does."
In what could be its most absurd and cynical move yet, the Bureau of Land Management is partnering with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Sheep Industry and the Association of National Grasslands (represented by the Public Lands Council), in a campaign that promotes the purchase of wild horses and burros by public lands ranchers. View their joint press release at www.beefusa.org. The very people who lobby tirelessly to remove wild horses from our public lands at taxpayers' expense are now urged to purchase these same horses at bargain basement prices. Ranchers did not want to share their public land allotments with these horses in the first place; do we really think they are now going to let them graze these same allotments out of the goodness of their hearts? Who better than the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to funnel wild horses to slaughter? In fact, it is interesting that this announcement should come on the heels of the USDA's decision to allow horse slaughter to continue despite Congress overwhelmingly passing an amendment banning such practice for one fiscal year; the horse slaughter ban was vehemently opposed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Without independent oversight and incentives to ensure the ranchers will provide long-term care for these horses, we can't help but see something sinister at play in this latest maneuver by the BLM and the cattle lobby. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW to protest this latest maneuver by the BLM and the cattle lobby: voice your concern and outrage to Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior,1849 C Street, N.W., Washington DC 20240 - fax: 202.208.5048.
In direct contradiction with the clearly expressed will of Congress, the USDA has decided to circumvent the recently enacted one-year horse-slaughter ban by allowing three foreign-owned horse slaughter plants to conduct their own private pre-slaughter inspections. This in effect allows the plants to bypass federal legislation and continue slaughtering American horses for human consumption abroad. Slaughter is our wild horses' greatest threat once they have been removed from the range. Please contact the
USDA and express your outrage at this subversion of the democratic process:
Docket Clerk, Docket Number 05-036IF, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 12th Street, SW, Room 102 Cotton
Annex, Washington, DC 20250 Please also write your Members of Congress to urge their support of H.R. 503 and S. 1915 (the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act), which would permanently ban horse slaughter in the United States. Visit www.congress.org to locate your federal legislators.
BLM has implemented an internet adoption program through www.horsetopia.com which allows potential adopters to bid on horses remotely and avoids shipping horses cross-country before they have an adopter. This is generally considered a good idea.
BLM is using brush fires as an excuse to remove ALL the wild horses from an area in Lincoln County, NV, including from unburned lands. BLM has no plan to return the horses to their rightful range once the "emergency" has passed. Yet, BLM continues to allow cattle and/or sheep to graze on every acre of unburned lands, including large portions from which horses are being removed. It is clear that an "emergency" does not exist if BLM is going to allow hundreds if not thousands of head of cattle/sheep to graze right next to, and likely stray into, the burned areas. BLM has not explored reasonable alternatives, such as removal of livestock from sensitive unburned habitats so that wildlife displaced by the burn have some areas without extreme competition from domestic livestock. Please send your comments protesting BLM's herd-removal plan by January 14th (Saturday) to: Caliente Field Station,
BLM Make sure to include your signature and the reference number: EA # BLM -NV-040-06-008 on Ely South Desert Fires Emergency Wild Horse Gather. Your comments should include the following points, in your own words:
A preliminary injunction is preventing the U.S. Forest Service from rounding up hundreds of wild horses in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest (Arizona). Rounded-up horses would likely have ended up at the slaughterhouse. According to a federal judge, the Forest Service failed to prove that the horses had strayed onto the forest after the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire and were domesticated. Three advocacy groups argued that the horses could be traced back hundreds of years and were in fact wild, triggering federal wild horse protection. The preliminary injunction will remain in force until a full trial is held or the case ends with a summary judgment.
Officials at the U. S. Bureau of Land Management are working with veterinarians to determine what has caused the deaths of 18 wild horses that were being held in the agency's Litchfield Corrals near Susanville. The animals died over the past two weeks, including the Labor Day holiday weekend. A veterinarian has examined the animals and sent blood samples to a laboratory to help determine the cause of death. In the meantime, BLM has suspended planned horse gathering operations in the High Rock Canyon area of northwestern Nevada, and suspended wild horse and burro adoptions from the corrals. The affected horses were gathered over the past month from herd areas in the Devil's Garden region of the Modoc National Forest, and from BLM-managed rangelands near High Rock Canyon in northwestern Nevada. They were being held with approximately 300 horses and burros awaiting public adoption. "We are working closely with veterinary experts to determine what happened to these animals," said Linda Hansen, manager of the BLM's Eagle Lake Field Office in Susanville. While no causes have been ruled out, the BLM said there has been no evidence of foul play.
After a workshop held in Santa Fe, NM, November 29 and 30, 2005 on wild horse fertility control, the Humane Society of the United States and the Bureau of Land Management have agreed to develop an Memorandum of Understanding to co-operate on:
"The BLM sees this as a way to reduce horse removals, to place fewer horses in short- and long-term holding facilities, and to achieve budgetary savings," said Don Glenn, Acting Group Manager of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, Washington, DC. *** AWHPC supports the use of fertility control methods on wild horses solely to the extent population control is necessary in certain areas. In using these methods, we can only hope that BLM will respect the intent of the 1971 Act and allow our wild horse herds to thrive on their legally allocated herd areas. For more information on wild horse management solutions advocated by AWHPC, please visit our Solutions page.
AWHPC is happy to report that over 30 local and college radio/TV stations nationwide have offered to air our PSA featuring Viggo Mortensen. If you believe your local radio or TV station may be interested in airing the PSA, please send their email contact to info@wildhorsepreservation.com so that we can approach them.
Congress has given the National Park Service permission to increase the size of the wild horse herd on Shackleford Banks, North Carolina. The mandate is meant to maintain the herd's genetic diversity without straining the resources of the grassy barrier island where they live, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The herd's base size will increase to 110 and will periodically be allowed to expand to 130 or more, under a bill approved by unanimous consent Wednesday by the U.S. Senate. The House already approved the measure. "Numerous studies by world-renowned scientists ... have confirmed that in order to maintain the herd's long-term viability, its optimum size is around 120 animals," said Representative Walter Jones (R-NC), who sponsored the bill. The same concerns regarding herd viability should dictate herd management decisions on BLM lands in the West. Unfortunately for our Western herds, when cattle interests are at stake, policy-makers tend to disregard "studies by world-renowned scientists."
Sales Summary as of mid-September: Number of horses sold
-- 1,445 Twenty individuals and two Native American tribes seeking a total of 427 wild horses canceled their purchases after the BLM revised its sale contracts to impose criminal penalties for selling the animals to slaughter.
Source: Bureau of Land Management
Eureka, NV, July 8: herd of 390 reduced to 60 Fish Lake, NV, July 24: 819 horses removed Buck and Bald Complex, NV, August 11: 795 horses removed Spring Creek Basin, CO, August 21: herd of 90 reduced to 40 Adobe Town, WY, August 24: 600 horses removed Salt Wells Creek, WY, September 5: 300 horses removed Sandwash Basin, CO, September 28: herd of 360 reduced to 160 Green Mountain, WY, this week-end: BLM plans to remove 490 wild horses, i.e. 90% of the herd, and use fertility control on most of the remaining mares. Spring Creek round-up testimonial (from local Coalition member WindFlyers Mustang Sanctuary): There were some round-up injuries - mostly puncture wounds to legs from being run through sage and oakbrush. A yearling colt was injured sufficiently for a veterinarian to pull him from the adoption. He is now at our Sanctuary where we are working with him to overcome his terrible fear of people due to rough treatment he endured while in the stocks at the adoption facility. One fatality did occur - a 2-year-old colt was used in a training demonstration. Ropes were used in the round pen session and the colt suffered from a spiral fracture of the pastern. He was euthanized, but not until he endured standing on three legs for an entire night and day in a small pen with three other 2-year-olds. A local vet said the herd looked in excellent condition, weight wise, and that reflected good range conditions. This begs the question: if these horses are healthy and well-fed, why cull more than half of this already small herd?
In a press release from its Whiter River Field Office, the BLM recently announced its decision to remove ALL wild horses from the historic West Douglas Herd Area by 2007. This would be a violation of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, but the livestock permittees want these horses GONE, so that their cows have exclusive use of this pasture. They seem to have a lot of political influence, and even got Senator Wayne Allard's office to write a letter on their behalf to the White River Field Office, encouraging them to get rid of the horses. We urge you to call, fax and write the BLM to tell them you, as an owner of these PUBLIC lands, want a viable herd of wild horses in West Douglas, Colorado. The phone number for the White River Field Office is: 970.878.3822 for the Area Manager, Kent Walter; 970.878.3800 for the main desk. Please also contact BLM's national office: Kathleen Clarke, Director, Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW Rm. 406-LS, Washington, D.C. 20240 - ph: 202.208.4896; fax: 202.452.5124. Our Colorado supporters should also contact their U.S. legislators to protest this eradication plan (locate your legislators at www.congress.org).
The Ensign/Byrd Amendment passes in the Senate toward preventing funding for the slaughter of horses for fiscal year 2006. Click here for a voting summary. The amendment, which prohibits the use of Federal funding for the slaughter of horses, will go into effect on October 1, 2005, protecting ALL horses in the United States - both wild and domestic -from the brutality of the slaughterhouse.
Last June, your efforts were instrumental in the House of Representatives voting to stop the use of any federal taxpayer funds to slaughter horses. Now Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) are expected to introduce an identical measure in the Senate, in the form of an amendment to the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill. If the amendment passes in the Senate, it will in effect stop the brutal slaughter of horses - both wild and domestic - in the United States for human consumption abroad. Please take a moment to contact your two U.S. Senators TODAY, urging their immediate support of the Ensign/Byrd Agriculture Appropriations Amendment. The Senate will consider the amendment during the week of Sept. 12 (most likely on Tuesday, Sept. 13), so your immediate assistance is critical. We must reach every single member of the U.S. Senate and secure their vote. There is no other way to win this battle for America's horses. TAKE ACTION TODAY! . Call or fax YOUR TWO US SENATORS before Tuesday, September 13th. Ask them to support the Ensign/Byrd Agriculture Appropriations Amendment (prohibiting your tax dollars from being spent on horse slaughter) and respectfully request their specific position on the issue. Your phone call or fax could make all the difference. . Pass the message far and wide - it is critical that the phones resonate on Capitol Hill To find your two US Senators, visit www.senate.gov or call the Capitol Hill operator at (202) 224-3121.
The Department of the Interior just issued a press release further misrepresenting the facts and issue through the media, and urging Americans to save wild horses by buying them from the government. The truth is that BLM continues to round up too many horses at PUBLIC expense and then asks for the public to bail them out by pulling at our heartstrings.
Several weeks ago, the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment to stop federal funding of the sale/slaughter of wild horses for fiscal year 2006 won by a landslide in the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the Amendment was not introduced in the Senate version of the Interior Appropriations bill and was ultimately removed by House and Senate negotiators from the final version of the bill. So Senator Burns got his way, despite overwhelming opposition from the House of Representatives and the American public. Meanwhile, we are still working toward passage of the Rahall-Whitfield bill (H.R. 297/S.576), which would permanently repeal the Burns Amendment.
BLM is conducting a round-up in Nevada (Buck and Bald complex) of 1,300 horses in 100 degree heat (780 are being removed while the rest are given birth-control). Although the land area affected is 1.7 million acres, BLM blames a 5,000-acre forest fire and lack of forage for the removal. We eagerly await the day when BLM removes cattle from 1.7 million acres because it had a 5,000-acre wildfire! In fact, claims of limited forage directly contradict a local BLM Manager's recent statement to one of our supporters that "there's a lot of feed out there." This round-up is particularly ironic in that the local BLM office increased grazing allotments for private cattle this year, based on "extra" forage due to all the rain last winter. BLM issued a Full Force and Effect decision for this round-up, which means it went into effect immediately, without the possibility of an appeal.
Several weeks ago we asked you to contact your U.S. Representatives to urge them to support the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment to stop federal funding of the sale/slaughter of wild horses for fiscal year 2006. You spoke out in massive numbers and we won that vote by a landslide! Unfortunately, the Amendment was not introduced in the Senate version of the Interior Appropriations bill. However, there is still a chance to hold onto the victory that we achieved in the House: The House and Senate will be meeting in Conference to hash out the differences between their bills and draft a final, unified version. We need you to contact Members of the Senate that are on the Conference Committee and ask them to keep the Rahall Whitfield amendment in the final version of the Interior Appropriations bill. Here is the list of Senators on the Conference Committee:
June 20, 2005 - New wild horse bill introduced on Capitol Hill by Nevada legislators extends Burns sale mandate to ALL wild horses in government holding. A bill introduced today by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) in the U.S. Senate, with a companion introduced by Representatives John Porter (R-NV) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) would reduce minimum horse adoption fees by 80% to $25, eliminate the limit of four horses per adopter per year, and establish a one-year waiting period for buyers to receive titles to wild horses purchased through the Burns Amendment's sales program. Without a limitation on how many horses can be titled to an adopter/purchaser each year, the one-year limitation becomes meaningless because large operations will now be able to obtain very cheap horses in unlimited numbers, keep them for a year in large pastures and turn a handsome profit at the slaughterhouse after a year. The bill would also extend the Burns Amendment's sale mandate to ALL "excess" wild horses, i.e. the 22,000 animals currently in government holding, giving the government a quick and dirty way to dispose of all rounded up horses. This new provision, dressed up by the Nevada legislators as a nice solution to the Burns Amendment debacle, is yet another blow to the wild horse cause, with 22,000 horses now in jeopardy.
As announced a month ago, the Bureau of Land Management has resumed sales under the Burns Amendment, with restrictions on buyers to prevent the horses from ending up at the slaughterhouse. Our initial reaction was that the restrictions announced by BLM would do little to protect the horses. BLM's own National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recently validated our concerns: during their last board meeting, they found not only that the restrictions are unenforceable, but also that BLM had no legal authority to impose such restrictions in the first place. In a glaring example of BLM's failure to properly screen potential buyers, it has now come to our attention that BLM recently sold a load of horses to an ex-con who has been under watch by BLM's special investigators due to past misdeeds.
BLM laments "poor range conditions" to justify its current aggressive removal campaign, with 10,000 wild horses in the process of being rounded up for this fiscal year alone. Yet, in a stunning display of double standards, BLM announced today it would ease restrictions on permittees - mainly large corporations such as Anheiser Busch and Hilton Hotels - grazing their private cattle on our public lands. The new rules will make it harder to crack down on overgrazing and other harmful practices, and limit public comment on grazing decisions made by the government. Range biologists have long blamed cows for range degradation, rather than the few remaining wild horse herds (see Wild Horses and the Ecosystem). Still, the horses are the ones coming off by the thousands.
The Sweeney/Spratt Amendment passes in the House toward preventing funding for the slaughter of horses for fiscal year 2006. Click here for a voting summary. The Amendment will go into effect on October 1, 2005, protecting ALL horses in the United States - both wild and domestic - from the brutality of the slaughterhouse. The Amendment still needs to go through the Senate, but we can be sure that Congress is getting the message that Americans care about their horses and do not want to see them on foreign dinner tables. On the heels of another success in the House, it is critical that we use our momentum to push H.R. 297 through, to ensure a permanent repeal of the Burns Amendment. Please contact your Representative to either thank them for voting "yes" on the Sweeney/Spratt Amendment, or express your disappointment if they voted "no." Click here to find out how your Representative voted. If they voted "yes" and are not yet a co-sponsor of H.R. 297, please point out that you also expect their support for H.R. 297, which would PERMANENTLY protect wild horses from slaughter.
The Pryor Mountain wild horse herd was made famous by Ginger Kathrens' Emmy Award winning PBS series, "Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies." Now Cloud's very herd
is threatened by a BLM plan to suppress herd growth through use of fertility
control measures. They need your help. While we support the use of fertility
control in certain instances where population control is needed, this
is not the case for Cloud's herd, as the population level is already low
due to mountain lion predation. Bureau of Land Management Please include your signature and the reference number: EA # BLM -MT-010-FY05-16 on Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. Your comments should include the following points:
While our Campaign's main focus is on keeping wild horses in the wild, we must also ensure that the thousands of wild horses unnecessarily rounded up each year do not end up at the slaughterhouse. Slaughter is our wild horses' greatest threat once they have been removed from the range, and nothing the BLM says or does will change that sad reality. This Wednesday, June 8, Representatives John Sweeney (R-NY) and John Spratt (D-SC) will offer an amendment on the agriculture appropriations bill to stop the funding of USDA inspections of horses for slaughter. AWHPC fully supports the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment which would in effect stop the brutal slaughter of horses - both wild and domestic - in the United States for human consumption abroad. It is critical that
we reach every single member of the U.S. House of Representatives and
secure their vote for the Sweeney-Spratt Agriculture Appropriations
Amendment. There is no other way to win this vote for America's
horses! . Call YOUR US Representative before Wednesday June 8th! Your phone call could make all the difference. . Pass the message far and wide - it is critical that the phones resonate on Capitol Hill. Use the Congressional Switchboard to find your US Representative: 202-224-3121 or go to http://www.house.gov/.
Wild horses were chosen by the Nevada public to represent their state - home to more than half of our Nation's free-roaming wild horses - on a quarter to be minted in January next year and distributed nationwide. Nearly 60,000 people voted in the contest to choose one of five designs for the state's quarter. The wild horses were a clear winner, gathering 18,900 votes or 32 percent of the people who cast ballots.
In a move that defies common sense, BLM has increased the number of horses it plans to round up this fiscal year from 9,800 to 10,335, while projections for the number of horses that will find adoptive homes have been lowered from 7,150 to 6,676. With adoption pipelines saturated and 8,400 horses already up for sale under the Burns Amendment, these numbers are extremely disturbing, both ethically and fiscally. Once this summer's round-ups are completed, there will be officially more wild horses in captivity than in the wild.
When the amendment reaches the Senate, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations interior subcommittee, plans "to throw it out." Senator Burns' allegiance became clear when he stated: "I'm in the livestock business, and I've bought and sold horses all my life, Basically, the marketplace works." Senator Burns' infamous rider, surreptitiously included in the 3,300 page federal budget last November, allows the government to sell wild horses at livestock auctions, freeing up subsidized public land grazing for private cattle. Maybe Senator Burns needs to be reminded he is now in the U.S. Senate, not in the livestock business.
The Rahall/Whitfield Amendment passes in the House toward preventing funding for the sale/slaughter of wild horses for fiscal year 2006. The Amendment still needs to go through the Senate, and will not go into effect until November '05. However, this floor vote helps demonstrate that Congress has heard the people's voice loud and clear: Americans want their wild horses protected. With a recorded, up or down vote, Representatives knew their constituents would be watching. And so the horses won. It is critical that we use our momentum to push H.R. 297 through, to ensure a permanent repeal of the Burns Amendment. Please contact your Representative to either thank them for voting "yes" on the Rahall/Whitfield Amendment, or express your disappointment if they voted "no." Click here to find out how your Representative voted. If they voted "yes" and are not yet a co-sponsor of H.R. 297, please point out that you also expect their support for H.R. 297, which would PERMANENTLY reverse the Burns Amendment. If they voted "no", please ask for an explanation: many legislators are simply misinformed due to BLM's aggressive propaganda; we need to help educate them on the issue so that they can make an informed decision on the fate of our wild horses. Do not hesitate to forward negative responses to info@wildhorsepreservation.com so that we can help you formulate an accurate, well-informed response.
In a last ditch effort to derail the Rahall/Whitfield Amendment, BLM came out this morning with the news that sales of wild horses under the Burns Amendment would resume today, but with limitations to prevent the horses from ending up at the slaughterhouse. Representative Richard Pombo (CA) used this piece of news to urge his colleagues to vote "no" on the Amendment. The fact is that the restrictions on buyers announced by BLM will do little to protect the horses: when BLM Director Kathleen Clarke testified before Congress in March, she stated that, "Once the bill of sale has been effectuated, then we have no control over what the buyer does." No changes, no tightening of language, and no amount of rhetoric will change that fact. A sale is a sale. Under the changes announced by BLM, 35 of the wild horses that went to slaughter in recent weeks would still have gone to slaughter, and there would be absolutely nothing that anyone could do about it. No liability. No recourse. All a buyer has to do is to sell the horses to a middle person and then there are NO PROTECTIONS in place against a sale to slaughter.
BLM announces a partnership
with the Ford Motor Company and Take Pride in America to raise funding
through the newly created "Save the Mustangs" Fund. The purpose of the
Fund, which looks to the public for donations, is to facilitate placement
of the Burns horses with good homes. We encourage Ford, the BLM, and Take
Pride in America to thoroughly investigate any potential sanctuaries/tribal
lands before placing horses in these situations. History has proven that
many well intended rescuers have been unable to care for these animals
who then ended up neglected, abused or slaughtered.
Celebrities are speaking out en masse on behalf of America's wild horses. Click on the links to read Robert Redford's letter and an appeal by Willie Nelson, signed by the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Gere, Carole King and Richard Pryor.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on Thursday, May 19, on an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that ensures that no tax dollars can be used for any sale of wild horses that could lead to their slaughter. By introducing this amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill, Representatives Rahall (D-WV) and Whitfield (R-KY) have once again stepped forward to counter the Burns Amendment. Unlike H.R. 297/S. 576, the Rahall/Whitfield Amendment does not rescind the Burns Amendment, but simply prevents funding for its implementation for fiscal year 2006. This means that if the amendment passes, the BLM will not be able to spend any money on implementing Burns' sale mandate. This also means that H.R. 297/S. 576 will still be needed for a permanent reversal of the Burns Amendment. The vote on May 19 will be a floor vote: every Representative's vote will be recorded, giving the public a chance to know where their Representatives stand on the slaughter of wild horses. Before Thursday, we must reach every single member of the U.S. House of Representatives and secure their vote for the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment. TAKE ACTION: 1) Please CALL your U.S. Representative and urge that he or she "Please vote for the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment to Protect Wild Horses from Slaughter. Not another wild horse should go to slaughter - we already lost 41 to the slaughterhouse in the last few weeks." Visit www.hsus.org/leglookup to locate your U.S. Representative. Ask to speak to the Interior Appropriations staffer. 2) Please tell everyone you know to contact their U.S. Representative and urge support for the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment.
Representatives Rahall (D-WV) and Whitfield (R-KY) held a press conference today to address the slaughter of 41 wild horses sold by BLM under the Burns Amendment. Mr. Rahall called the slaughter a "wake up call" for Congress to re-examine a law it passed last year relaxing sales of the animals. Several celebrities provided signed statements and quotes denouncing the slaughter: Willie Nelson, Richard Gere, Richard Pryor, Nicollette Sheridan, Mary Tyler Moore, John Fusco, Patrick McDonnell, Peter Max, Tony Curtis, and Bo Derek.
After more horses slip through the cracks, the Secretary of the Interior's office suspends indefinitely all sales of wild horses under the Burns Amendment. Here is what happened: A Native American tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, who had purchased 200 animals from the BLM, exchanged these older animals with younger animals with a horse dealer, whose intent was to send them directly to slaughter. Of the two loads (a total of 87) that were slated to be shipped to the slaughter plant in DeKalb, Illinois, only one (containing 51 animals) actually arrived at the plant. Unfortunately, 35 of those animals were slaughtered before BLM could intervene. The remaining animals from the first load are currently being held safely at the DeKalb plant, and the second load of animals is being held safely at the horse dealer's. Law enforcement has been involved, and BLM will be buying back all of the remaining horses, with financial help from the Ford Motor Company.
Multiple sources have confirmed that on Monday, April 18th, six wild horses were slaughtered at the Cavel International facility in DeKalb, Il. The horses, sold by the Bureau of Land Management pursuant to the Burns Amendment's sale mandate on Friday, April 15th, had been purchased in Canon City, CO, for $50 each by Dustin Herbert of Meeker, OK. Mr. Herbert, a former rodeo clown, had claimed that the horses would be used for a church youth program, and would not be sold for slaughter. But by Monday, less than 3 days after he purchased the animals, all six were slaughtered so that their meat could be shipped overseas to end up on foreign dinner tables. The six animals had been rounded up from the Antelope Hills Herd Management Area, WY, on October 11, 2004. Please contact your local and national media expressing your outrage over this latest development. Please also keep the pressure on Senators Conrad Burns (MT) - fax: 202.224.8594, and Harry Reid (NV) - fax: 202.224.7327. They need to hear from their constituents as well as from concerned citizens from all states protesting this latest development. Please also express your outrage to Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior,1849 C Street, N.W. , Washington DC 20240 - fax: 202.208.5048.
While we ALL keep pushing for and await passage of the House/Senate bills, H.R. 297/S. 576, we need to urge the BLM/Dept. of Interior to implement some formal rules regulating the sale of the horses now subject to the Burns Amendment. We are part of a coalition that filed a formal petition for rulemaking for just this purpose about three weeks ago. We did this because the horses ARE being sold. While we hope to stop this, and pass the bills, we need these rules as part of our practical plan to help the horses being sold now. Regulations would set specific standards on how to accurately determine a horse's age, what constitutes "offered for adoption three times," how the sales and transportation should take place, and other rules to ensure humane treatment of the Burns horses, all contained in the petition for rulemaking. The agency contacts are below. We need your short letters urging that the regulations be promulgated to go out as soon as possible (with a copy to your U.S. Representative/Senators). Gale
Norton,
Secretary of Interior Kathleen Clarke,
Director of the BLM Jeff Rawson, Director
of the Wild Horse and Burro Program in D.C. Dear ___________, I am writing to urge you to draft and implement formal rules regulating the sale of horses pursuant to the recent Burns Amendment to the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. A formal petition for rulemaking was recently filed requesting that regulations set specific standards on how to accurately determine a horse's age, what constitutes "offered for adoption three times," how the sales and transportation should take place, and other rules to ensure humane treatment of the Burns horses. I respectfully request
that your agency act swiftly to implement the proposed rules.
The Bureau of Land Management says it is selling wild horses to Native American tribes for the first time. The BLM has sold 141 horses to the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota and 120 horses to the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota. More sales are planned in the next several weeks, bringing the total to more than 500 horses.
A couple of weeks ago, BLM announced the sale of 200 wild mares to a for-profit Wyoming company - the first transaction under the Burns sale mandate. In a new development that confirms our worst fears regarding privatization of wild horses, Wild Horse Wyoming just announced its intent to breed the mares - an absurdity in and of itself given the current crisis - and sell their foals to Mexico and third-world countries. Please note that Mexico is the second largest supplier of horse meat worldwide. Click here to read the full article. Please write a letter
to Deb Thomson,
the Laramie Boomerang editor, expressing your outrage. Please also alert
Kathleen Clarke,
Director, Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW Rm. 406-LS,
Washington, D.C. 20240 - fax: 202.452.5124.
Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), introduces S. 576, a companion bill to H.R. 297, which would restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros. Please call and write your two U.S. Senators urging them to co-sponsor S. 576. Visit www.senate.gov to identify your two Senators. Letters should be addressed to: The Honorable [Name Here], U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Please also call and write Senator Robert C. Byrd- Phone: (202) 224-3954; Fax: (202) 228-0002, to thank him for taking action on our behalf and introducing S. 576.
Spearheaded and hosted by the American Horse Defense Fund, the National Capitol Hill Day for Horses brought us to DC to lobby in favor of H.R. 297. AWHPC representatives met with staffers from Senators Burns and Reid's offices to convey the public's overwhelming dissatisfaction with BLM's new sale mandate. We also met with numerous Representatives to urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 297. We are happy to report that the co-sponsor list is growing rapidly, with a new total of 34 co-sponsors. Finally, Representatives Rahall, Sweeney and Whitfield joined us for a press conference to close the event. Carol King was also present and spoke in support of the horses; actor Viggo Mortensen contributed his voice to a moving PSA. Our heartfelt thanks to all of them for their support.
BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will be meeting in Boise, Idaho, on March 14. You are encouraged to send comments to the Advisory Board regarding BLM's wild horse management practices. Specifically, you are encouraged to express your deep concerns over the fact that 9,800 wild horses and burros are slated to be rounded up for fiscal year 2005, yet BLM, by its own admission, only expects to adopt out 7,150 animals during that same period. With adoption pipelines saturated and 8,400 horses already up for sale under the Burns Amendment, these numbers are extremely disturbing. Please speak up to denounce the continued mismanagement of our wild horses on our public lands. Two copies of your comments should be submitted no later than March 9 to: Bureau of Land Management Those able to attend the meeting in Boise can do so at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel, 1109 Main Street, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on March 14.
The BLM has announced
the sale of 200 wild mares to a Wyoming company, the first transaction
under its new sale mandate for wild horses and burros. The 200 mares were
sold to Wild Horses Wyoming, LLC, a southeastern Wyoming for-profit company.
Ron Hawkins, ranch operations partner in the company, said, "I'm very
pleased and proud that Wild Horses Wyoming is the BLM's first buyer of
wild horses under the legislation recently passed by Congress. Our company
is committed to the long-term care of these historic animals, and I urge
the public to support us in our efforts to ensure good homes for those
horses facing an uncertain future under the new law." Wild Horse Wyoming's
business plan includes breeding the mares. The American Horse Defense Fund, an AWHPC Coalition member, is organizing the National Capitol Hill Day for Horses on March 7. The goal of the event is to educate our federal legislators and gain cosponsors for H.R. 297 (the Rahall/Whitfield bill that would reverse the Burns Amendment) and for H.R. 503 (the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act). We encourage you to schedule meetings in Washington D.C. for that day with your U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators or their staff. Participants should print and fax the registration form. AHDF has an arrangement for preferred rates at the Best Western (call 202-457-0565). If you have any questions regarding this event, please email ahdf@aol.com. If you are unable to attend in D.C., please schedule appointments for March 7 with your U.S. Representative and Senators' district offices in your home area (make your appointments early, as schedules fill up quickly). Please find attached talking points for you to use in these meetings, as well as a cover letter and supporting documentation for you to hand out to your legislators or their staff. If you cannot obtain an appointment on March 7, plan on assembling outside the district office a few minutes prior to the office opening; carry AWHPC flyers and alert your local media. We need critical mass for that day, in D.C. and across the country.
We appreciate BLM's efforts to find good homes for these 8,400 horses, but the fact is that the market is already saturated. Thousands more are getting rounded up as we speak and will soon take their place in government holding facilities. The government cannot expect wild horse advocates and humane groups to continue cleaning up its mess. We need to keep up our efforts to reverse the Burns Amendment and send a clear message that we want our wild horses managed in the wild.
Out of the 1,916 horses captured, only the 440 too old to be easily adopted out but too young to be sold under the Burns Amendment, will be released back into to the wild. All horses over nine years of age are being removed and will be sold without limitations, pursuant to the Burns Amendment. A total of 1,476 horses will join the 22,000 animals already in BLM pipelines. Click here to see pictures of a Nevada round-up.
To make sure the Rahall-Whitfield bill (H.R. 297) actually comes to a vote, we must turn our attention to the House Committee on Resources, where the bill was introduced. Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (CA) should be urged to promptly bring H.R. 297 to public hearing. Contact him at 1324 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C., 20515; ph: 202.225.1947; fax: 202.226.0861. If your U.S. Representative is among the members of the House Committee on Resources, it is also crucial that you contact them. If you have already called or written them about the Burns Amendment, please also write them at the Committee's address (1324 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C., 20515) to request their support for H.R. 297 and urge them to promptly bring the bill to public hearing.
While AWHPC wholeheartedly supports H.R. 503, it is critical that we keep up our efforts in support of H.R. 297, which would reverse the Burns Amendment and address the immediate threat currently faced by our wild horses.
"Very few icons of the West remain, and wild horses are certainly a symbol of the frontier era and our nation's spirit. To allow them to be slaughtered without exhausting all other options, such as adoption, is an affront to our history," declared Rahall. "It has been illegal for the past 33 years to sell or transfer wild horses and burros for processing into commercial products because many Americans abhor the thought. They would be aghast to know that these animals now can and will be slaughtered so their meat can be offered on menus in France, Belgium and Japan," stated Rahall. "To suggest that an acceptable solution to a federal agency's management dilemma is commercial slaughter is an irresponsible approach to our public lands and the wildlife that roam them," said Rahall. "A public outcry has again begun across the United States over the change in law that now allows this disgraceful deed. We need to act before it is too late for thousands of these animals," concluded Rahall. Please call and write Reps. Nick J. Rahall (WV) - ph: 202.225.3452; fax: 202.225.9061, and Ed Whitfield (KY) - ph: 202.225.3115; fax: 202.225.3547, to thank them for taking action on our behalf and introducing H.R. 297.
While a BLM official assured us there is no immediate plan to sell wild horses to slaughter, he conceded that over 8,400 horses have already been identified by the BLM as subject to the Burns Amendment's sale mandate. By law, these horses are no longer available for adoption and have been pulled from BLM's adoption listings. BLM officials will be meeting in Phoenix, AZ (Jan. 20-30) to determine logistics for implementation of the new sale mandate.
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