Category Archives: Wild Horse Sources

Official SAM Statement Regarding BLM Appointing Callie Hendrickson to Advisory Board

SAM has received thousands of emails regarding the appointment of Callie Hendrickson to the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. By a large majority, the comments received through various social media sites have raised concern and strong opposition to Ms. Hendrickson being appointed to the Board because of her ardent support for slaughter of wild horses. While others on the Board have also expressed support for efforts to revive the slaughter of wild horses, as well as domestic horses, Ms. Hendrickson has signaled her support for United Horsemen, the most aggressive coalition in this country advising support for horse slaughter for human consumption. SAM feels compelled to respond to the thousands of inquires we have received about Ms. Hendrickson’s appointment.

The most glaring and perplexing part of the Hendrickson appointment is this: at a time when the Bureau of Land Management, from the Secretary of the Interior and the current BLM Director on down have expressed in no uncertain terms that there will be no slaughter of wild horses, why appoint an individual that supports slaughter to the only public advisory Board that makes recommendations on how to improve the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Continue reading Official SAM Statement Regarding BLM Appointing Callie Hendrickson to Advisory Board

Madeleine Pickens Comments on BLM Announcing First Eco Sanctuary in Wyoming

Dear Friends and Supporters,
SAM would like to express its appreciation for the BLM’s selection of a 4,000 acre ranch in Wyoming to house some wild horses, but this proposal raises more questions than it answers. It continues along the outdated and inhumane path the BLM has pursued for years; continuing to give wild horses to private ranch operations that profit from them without assurances of a real public benefit.

But, let’s look at some of the other aspects of this proposed plan.

BLM has suggested they can do the necessary NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) compliance work in about 3-6 months. I have been waiting for over two years and have been told all along that the NEPA compliance work on the proposal that I submitted for an Eco sanctuary in northern NV would take as long as two years, if they ever start on it. I can only presume that there is a special, unique “fast track” for a rancher where NEPA is concerned.

Continue reading Madeleine Pickens Comments on BLM Announcing First Eco Sanctuary in Wyoming

Petition to Dump Interior Secretary’s Pro Wild Horse Slaughter Appointee

Velvet, Echo (Cloud's grandson), & Jewel (Cloud's grandaughter) in the Pryors. Photo by Pam Nickoles

Dear Wild Horse and Burro Defenders;
Many thanks to all of you who contacted Secretary Salazar’s office yesterday to ask him to rescind the appointment of Callie Hendrickson to BLM’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. DOI & BLM received thousands of calls in protest all thanks to you!

Now, there is another important step you can take to stop the Hendrickson appointment. In conjunction with American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, Animal Law Coalition, Front Range Equine Rescue, International Fund for Horses, Protect Mustangs, Respect4Horses, and Wild Horse Freedom Federation, we’ve created a petition asking the Secretary to rescind Ms. Hendrickson’s appointment and stop BLM from creating an Advisory Board stacked with pro-slaughter members. The petition with everyone’s signature will be presented at the next BLM Advisory Board Meeting.

Continue reading Petition to Dump Interior Secretary’s Pro Wild Horse Slaughter Appointee

Action Alert: Arizona’s Burros Need Your Help

Comments Needed for Cibola-Trigo Environmental Assessment

Jennie & foal, Marietta Wild Burro Range, NV

Dear Wild Horse & Burro Supporters;
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages wild burro herds at disastrously low numbers throughout the West. One of the few viable burro herds lives in the immense Cibola-Trigo Herd Management Area (HMA) in southwestern Arizona along the Colorado River — a 600,000 acre area.

Yet, even here, burros are in danger. The inept Sun J roundup crew is set to swoop into their peaceful desert home in early April, the height of the foaling time for burros.* Pregnant jennies are in danger of spontaneous abortion and small foals can be permanently damaged or killed.

350 burros will lose their freedom — roughly half the herd.

Continue reading Action Alert: Arizona’s Burros Need Your Help

Mustang Monument Will Be Featured on CBS “This Morning” January 10

courtesy of CBS News

Dear Friends and Supporters,
Tomorrow, January 10th, at the top of the 8am hour (all time zones), Mustang Monument will be featured on “CBS This Morning,” a morning show, hosted by Charlie Rose, Gayle King, Erica Hill, with a brand new format and look, in state-of-the-art studio. Please be sure to tune in or set your DVRs. Also, let CBS know you appreciate them bringing light to this very important issue.

Read more about the show here.

Your Friend,
Madeleine Pickens & all the Mustangs

Comment Period for Pryors Extended

BLM Allows Comments through January 20th

Little Lynx in Cloud's band could be removed if bait-trapping proceeds.

Dear Pryor Wild Horse Defenders;
We’ve just learned that the BLM Field Office in Billings has extended the comment period for the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Preliminary Environmental Assessment (PEA) until January 20th. Emailed comments will be accepted (BLM_MT_Billings_FO@blm.gov), but physically mailed comments are encouraged (Jim Sparks: BLM Billings Field Manager, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101).

In light of this extension, we are doing more research on alternatives to an unnecessary removal of 30 young Pryor mustangs. We will be sending this new information soon.

Stay tuned!

Happy Trails!
Ginger

The Cloud Foundation
107 South 7th St
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
719-633-3842

Help Protect the Pryor Wild Horses

BLM Now Accepting Email Comments

2-year-old Adelina, granddaughter of Blue Sioux & Red Raven

Dear Cloud Friends;
The Billings BLM has decided to accept emails (BLM_MT_Billings_FO@blm.gov) and faxes (406-896-5281) for comments on their Preliminary Environmental Assessment (PEA) which calls for the permanent removal of 30 young horses (ages 1-3 years) from the Pryor Wild Horse Range during 2012. Comments are due by close of business (4:30 pm MST) January 6th.

The removal will bring the herd to the “Appropriate” Management Level of 120. This drastic plan is completely unacceptable and dangerous for the future survival of the Pryor Wild Horse Herd.

The herd currently numbers only 150 adults (one year and older), the bare minimum to maintain genetic viability.

In 2011, mortality equaled births which is exactly what BLM states as their goal for the herd.

Continue reading Help Protect the Pryor Wild Horses

Park Service Puts Up Pryor Signage

Climbs High, May 2011

Dear Supporters of the Pryor Wild Horse Herd;
I want to share the following letter (link below) we received this week from the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (BCNRA) regarding signage which they have erected along the paved Park Highway. It alerts motorists that there are animals on the road. We appreciate your emails and letters encouraging this action by the BCNRA in response to the hit and run deaths of the band stallion, Admiral, and his yearling son, Climbs High (Kapitan is his BLM name) along the park highway last summer.

As you may recall, the driver of a truck, Adam Finn of Germantown TN, was intoxicated when he ran them down at 2 am on July 24th. His case is being heard in the Lander, WY U.S. District Court and, as yet, no decision has been reached. Mr. Finn drove away from the accident, but his truck broke down about a mile from the crime scene. Authorities found him still drunk in his truck the next morning.

Continue reading Park Service Puts Up Pryor Signage

A Field Account of a Colorado Roundup

Ginger & Trace in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, Colorado. Photo by Ann Evans

Dear Friends of the Wild;
I moved to Colorado nearly 40 years ago, captivated by the wild beauty of this inspiring place. Here I could immerse myself in true wilderness where opportunities existed to glimpse animals I had only seen in pictures — mountain lions, bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk, black bears, golden eagles, mountain goats, and even wild horses.

Much has changed in these last four decades. Colorado has been highly developed on the front range of our magnificent Rockies, but there are still those hauntingly beautiful, undisturbed landscapes I once dreamed about. Linda Hanick, an extraordinary Colorado wild horse advocate, writes about one of them in her report below.

Our state has only a few hundred wild horses remaining and often they live tucked away in secluded country like that visited by Linda last week. She was present on the last day of the largest roundup of the year in Colorado. Over two hundred robust, glowing mustangs were stampeded by a helicopter, losing in an instant what they value most — their freedom and their families. I encourage you to read the account of her journey to Colorado’s western slope.

Continue reading A Field Account of a Colorado Roundup

Comments Needed Immediately for NAS Study Review

Tentative Panel Stacked against Wild Horses

Two wild horses from the White Mountain herd in southern Wyoming

Dear Friends of our Wild Horses and Burros,
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is accepting comments on their provisional committee members. The study will be reviewing the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. However, the current provisional committee makeup is vastly unbalanced.

An NAS committee is supposed to be balanced and free of conflicts of interest, as mandated by federal law. But the current committee members chosen for this study do not represent this impartiality. Some of the committee members have strong ties with largely anti-wild horse organizations, such as the Nevada Cattleman’s Association and the Wildlife Society.

The future of America’s wild horses and burros may rest in the hands of this NAS study. The scope of the study itself is expected to take two years to complete and is to include information on total populations, genetic diversity, annual growth rates, population control, immunocontraception, appropriate management level (AML) establishments or adjustments, and managing a portion of a population as non-reproducing.

I encourage everyone to make their own comments (which are only being accepted electronically here) on these tentatively selected committee members. Below are some talking points you can make in your comments.

You can submit your comments here no later than September 26th.

Continue reading Comments Needed Immediately for NAS Study Review