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MustangsAs Study Begins, the Animal Welfare Institute Calls on BLM to Halt Wild Horse RoundupsWashington, DC (September 1, 2010) – While the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) welcomes the recent news that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has asked the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council (NAS/NRC) to review its National Wild Horse and Burro Program starting January 1, 2011, we are deeply disappointed with the agency’s blatant disregard for calls to halt wild horse roundups pending completion of the review. AWI first recommended this outside review along with a moratorium on roundups over a year ago given the widespread problems being reported in the BLM’s management of wild horses. “While we are grateful that the BLM has finally realized the urgent need for advice from scientific experts, we continue to be disappointed at their stubborn refusal to halt the massive wild horse roundups they are conducting at an alarming rate,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for AWI. In testimony to the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees, AWI laid out its reasoning and criteria for an independent study by the NAS, a moratorium on all non-emergency roundups, and the critical importance of maintaining language preventing the BLM from killing tens of thousands of healthy wild horses. In July, similar concerns were raised with the BLM in a bipartisan letter from House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV), National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and 52 of their colleagues. The Public Has Spoken – Our Pony Express Goal Has Been Exceeded!Dear Supporters, Wow! What amazing supporters we have! On August 1st, we gave you a goal of 20,000 letters to take with us for our Pony Express Mustang Delivery to Washington. Our deadline was set for September 1st. We just wanted to let you know that we have completely blown our goal out of the water with the overwhelming response from so many wild horse supporters! Just over this past weekend, we received 7,234 letters from so many of you, which brings our current count to 26, 995! *Keep the letters coming and each of you can stand as a voice for each individual mustang that has been rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and the ones left on the range. We are their voices, their spokespeople. PZP in the Pryors
 Bolder & Texas, a ten-year-old mare who has foaled only once, PZP'd again last fall in the roundup Comments on BLM’s Plan to Extend Infertility Drug Use through 2015 Due by September 16th Dear Cloud Supporters; Mark your calendars. Comments regarding a five-year plan to continue the use of Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) infertility drugs on Pryor wild horse mares are due on September 16. The initial scoping letter from the Billings BLM was mailed on August 18. As a result of aggressive infertility applications delivered via shots last fall and dart guns this spring, 52 mares on the mountain are cycling monthly (coming into estrous or heat), being bred, and defended by their band stallions. Makendra and I were in the Pryors last week for 5 days and I witnessed more societal disruption than I have seen in over 16 years of documenting these horses. Currently, it is a herd in chaos. 60% of the 18 bands we observed have had some kind of disruption. Three band stallions have lost their families all together. Some band stallions have benefitted from the intense competition — like Cloud, who won a new mare. This high degree of disruption has taken place just since our last visit in July. Upcoming Interview Schedule with Madeleine Pickens and Pony Express UpdateDear Humanitarians, Here’s an update on the Pony Express Campaign: We have been sent 17,351 letters! You all have been fabulous in sending the letters and promoting the campaign! Keep them coming. We’re in the home stretch now. We need 20,000 by September 1st. It takes less than a minute to click here and send your letter to us. Please do this for our wild mustangs and for future generations so that they can see these majestic creatures thriving in their natural environment. A huge thanks to all the organizations that have added the Pony Express to your websites, blogs, and E-blasts, we truly appreciate every single one of our supporters! I will also be a guest on Mr. Wayne’s Radio Show on Restless Republic Radio at 11:15am PST on Thursday, August 26th. He is the Host for The Green Revolution Show. Interior Dept. Accelerates Assault on Wild Horses – Three Actions You Can Take to Help!
Largest Roundup of Wild Horses in California’s History Underway – Act Today to Oppose Other Planned Roundups On August 11, 2010, the Interior Department began the largest roundup of wild horses in California’s history. Nearly half of the 4,000 wild horses left in the state will be removed from their homes and families in the next few weeks. This devastating and unnecessary roundup began despite a lawsuit filed by In Defense of Animals (IDA) and others. We have a representative on the ground at the roundup and will provide an update on the IDA blog later this week. Today we are asking you to take three actions to help wild horses. Congress and the Interior Department must continue to hear from you! Together we can change this broken system if we continue to fight the deeply-entrenched special interests which control the Interior Department’s management of our public lands and the wild horses who live there. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=11934 Don’t Fence Cloud’s Herd In, by Ginger Kathrens
 Photos by The Cloud Foundation The Fight to Save a Legendary Wild Horse Herd The Custer National Forest awarded a contract on August 6, 2010. It calls for the building of new, bigger, stronger, longer fence to prevent the Pryor Wild Horse Herd from grazing on their mid-summer through fall pastures atop their mountain home. The first question I am always asked is “Why?” To answer honestly, I am not sure what is pushing this kind of expensive and unwanted project. But, to even try to answer the question requires a bit of a history lesson. The wild horses of the Pryor Mountains, known as the Arrowhead Mountains to the Crow Indians, have been documented as living in this area since the early 1800s. But, they probably have lived here for far longer. The Arrowheads were the sacred heart of Crow Indian country, and the Crow tribe possessed the largest horse herd in the West. The wild horses are likely descended of their treasured war ponies. It is also likely that they are the descendants of the horses of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The famous explorers had traded for Shoshone and Nez Perce stock and on their return trip from the West Coast in 1806 they put Sgt. Nathaniel Pryor in charge of bringing the horses back to the Missouri River. While camped in the Arrowheads, the Crow Indians stole all the horses. The mountains were subsequently named for the hapless Sergeant. California’s Wild Horses & Burros Need Your Help
 Photos by Craig Downer BLM conducting a bloody 2000+ mustang and burro roundup California doesn’t have many wild horses and very few wild burros left but that, along with a public outcry, has not stopped the Bureau of Land Management from rounding up thousands more of California’s wild equids. The BLM, responsible for managing most of the remaining wild horses and burros in ten Western States, are now running horses ten miles or more over rough volcanic terrain with helicopters. Horses bleeding from their noses in the thick dust, very young foals separated from their mothers, a mare with a broken leg and a colicking mare have been observed by a dedicated team of advocates observing the Twin Peaks roundup. California has lost 16 of the original 38 wild horse herds designated for protection in 1971 and over 2/3 of the public land tagged for wild horses and burros has been taken away from these celebrated icons of the West. Now BLM is working fast to remove 1855 mustangs and 210 wild burros from the Twin Peaks area, just north of Susanville, California. The roundup is scheduled to last 45-60 days and BLM aims to leave only 450 mustangs and 72 burros on this 1250-square mile range, larger than the state of Rhode Island. Almost all the mares returned would be given infertility drugs and a mere 72 burros is not a genetically viable population in this beautiful area designated principally for their use. Over 32,000 privately-owned cattle and sheep are permitted to graze annually on the Twin Peaks area. Revenues generated yearly from livestock grazing fees are estimated at $120,000 while the cost of rounding up/processing of 1,980 wild horses and burros would be 35 times the annual grazing revenues – over $4 million. Over 38,000 wild horses are in government holding while less than half that remain on the range and BLM plans to complete the removal of 12,000 wild horses and burros this fiscal year alone. Oppose Massive Roundup of Nearly 1,600 Wild Horses in Wyoming’s Red Desert
Last week, at least 54 members of Congress wrote to the Interior Department demanding a halt to the wild horse roundups. This important action would not have happened without your voice opposing each of these unnecessary roundups. While the BLM is moving forward with its wild horse roundup schedule, despite overwhelming public and Congressional opposition, we must keep up the pressure. In October, the BLM plans to remove nearly 1,600 wild horses – 80 percent of the estimated mustang population living in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek Herd Management Areas in the pristine Red Desert region of Wyoming. This is another unnecessary roundup to cater to the private livestock industry, which uses the same lands for cheap grazing. Click here to take action to oppose this roundup. In Defense of Animals Madeleine Pickens Will Be on NPR Aug. 11 at 9 am PST and KLAS TV Nightly News
Dear Humanitarians, To find your local station, please visit http://www.npr.org. Also, you can listen to the live stream of the broadcast via your computer tomorrow as well. That’s 11am EST and 9am PST time. Later, you can catch Madeleine Pickens live on KLAS TV Channel 8 News in Las Vegas with George Knapp at 6pm and 11pm. For more information about KLAS TV, click here. Just Because Congress Is Taking a Break Doesn’t Mean We Can!
Dear Humanitarian: Members of the U.S. Congress return home for the month of August to meet with constituents and hold town hall meetings so they can better understand what is happening in their districts. This is a key time for you to take direct action on the important animal protection bills currently before Congress. AWI is constantly advocating for these issues in Washington, D.C., and you often ask us what you can do in addition to writing letters and calling your legislators. Well, this is it. Our elected officials need to hear in-person from their constituents – including you! They need to realize how important these issues are to you, your family and friends. AWI is asking you to take some time to set up a one-on-one meeting in your legislators’ district offices and attend town hall meetings to bring these concerns to the attention of your U.S. Senators and Representative while they are back home. While there are many important animal protection bills pending before Congress, AWI is asking in particular that you address the tragic plight facing America’s wild horses, as well as the need to end horse slaughter through passage of the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503 and S. 727). There is broad bipartisan support for corrective action in support of the horses, but legislation has not yet been put before the full House and Senate. It is critical that Congress take action before the end of the year. |
