Tag Archives: BLM

Cloud Foundation Wins Reprieve for Pryor Wild Horse Herd

September 2, 2018 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Photo: Galaxy’s band and Knight’s band atop the Pryor Mountains, summer 2018.

Temporary Restraining Order Prevents September 2 Trapping and Removal

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Susan P. Watters, United States District Judge, has ruled in favor of Ginger Kathrens and the Cloud Foundation in their efforts to protect the small Pryor Mountain mustang herd from capture and removal, stating, “Plaintiffs’ application for TRO is GRANTED. Defendants are hereby ENJOINED from conducting the wild horse gather set for September 2, 2018, pending a hearing on Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction.”

“We won,” stated a jubilant Ginger Kathrens, who brought the herd to international prominence with her documentaries about Cloud, a charismatic palomino stallion she documented from the day he was born. “I hope that the TRO and what we believe will be a permanent decision later next month will ensure a lasting future for this unique Spanish herd.”

In her ruling, Judge Waters acknowledged that BLM fell short in managing for both rare genetics and the unusual colors.

The Pryor Mustangs are descended of Crow Indian horses (the range borders reservation lands) and before that, the horses of the Conquistadors. Genetic and color experts have concluded that this is a rare Spanish Colonial herd. Their range is located on the Montana/Wyoming border east of Yellowstone National Park. Kathrens, who began her journey with wild horses in 1994, was ridiculed in the Government’s brief for her repeated efforts to protect the Pryor Herd. “I hope this is a turning point for America’s beleaguered wild horse herds that have been so cruelly treated and that the BLM will finally adopt humane methods of management that take into account the essential need for family structures and the basic right to live in freedom as the Wild Horse and Burro Act intended,” Kathrens said.

In her decision to grant the TRO, Judge Watters states: “BLM argues that one removal action will not result in the permanent loss of genetic diversity of the Pryor Herd.… This conclusion is contrary to the evidence before the court. Extinction of a bloodline or phenotype is, by its nature, loss of genetic diversity. And extinction, meaning forever, is certainly a long duration. This court finds that Plaintiffs have established a likelihood of irreparable harm absent a TRO.”

“We could not have brought this suit without a high level of confidence in our donors.” Kathrens continued. “Cloud fans are loyal to wild horses and understand that maintaining the family structure and genetic strength are the essentials to living wild.”

2018 is the 50th Anniversary of the creation of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, the first nationally designated area established to provide a home for free-roaming horses. “What a grand way to celebrate!” Ginger Kathrens concludes.

The hearing in Billings, MT is set for September 28 at 9:30 am.

The Cloud Foundation is being represented in the lawsuit by Katherine A. Meyer and Elizabeth Lewis of the Washington DC public interest firm Meyer, Glitzenstein, and Eubanks.

The Cloud Foundation
107 South 7th St
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
www.thecloudfoundation.org

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Pryor Herd Legal Action Update, from Ginger Kathrens

August 29, 2018 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Hopi, her daughter Quintasket, and Demure. Quintasket is targeted for removal. Pic: Kristen Collett, 2017.

I am discouraged and shocked by the statements made by the BLM person in charge of managing the Pryor wild horse herd. A bait trap removal is to begin on September 2nd. Our attorneys requested that the operation be delayed so that legal arguments on both sides could be presented before a judge. BLM says they cannot delay because BLM “key personnel would not be available later in September as some have approved leave for vacations that they have already paid for.”

Their lack of caring for animals we love takes my breath away. With their timeline, the young males targeted, Okomi (Firestorm/Jackson), Quanah (Flint/Halcyon), Oak and Parry (Hidalgo and Fresia), Orlando and Quaid (Greta and Garcia), Quasar (Kitalpha/Hickok), and Rio (Jacinta/Garay), would be captured, hauled to the Britton Springs corrals at the base of the mountain, gelded, and offered for sale on September 18th. What’s the hurry, you might ask?

Here is what BLM says about this: “Government travel in September becomes more problematic as BLM approaches the end of the fiscal year.” And If the young Pryor mustangs are still there in late October BLM has indicated they will move them to “other BLM facilities with space for short-term holding.” Again, a horrifying lack of concern.

We are fighting as hard as we can for our friends on the mountain. Please do your part. Call your Congressional Reps and Senators and let them know about the needless and cruel measures BLM is planning. And stress not only the intangibles of kindness over cruelty but the economic benefits to the Montana and Wyoming communities who play host to visitors from around the world, visitors anxious to glimpse the unforgettable sight of wild Spanish colonial mustangs in their spectacular mountain stronghold.

Other points you will want to make to your Congressional Representatives and US Senators:

–The wild horses in the Pryor Mountains are a genetically unique, rare Spanish Colonial Herd, descended from the horses of the Conquistadors. Their range is dedicated to wild horses and other wildlife. The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was the first public wild horse range created in the United States and precedes the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

–Currently, the Pryor Herd is at the same population level as after the 2015 removal: 152. That means there has been no population change in the last 3 yrs., so BLM could easily delay another month or two or even a year rather than hurrying up to meet “vacation” schedules. Despite the facts on population, BLM claims that the population is increasing by 8% annually. This is not true.

Find phone numbers here:
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Please call and help our Pryor wild horses today and we also need your help with DONATIONS to our fund on our webpage:
https://www.thecloudfoundation.org/checkout/donate

We can’t let this happen to animals so many of us cherish!

Thanks to each and every one of you for caring so much.

–Ginger Kathrens

The Cloud Foundation
107 South 7th St
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
www.thecloudfoundation.org

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BLM Plans to Destroy and Slaughter Three Herds of Wild Horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard

August 6, 2017 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Source: wildhoofbeats.com

It is a very familiar and unwelcome feeling that I have, writing about the BLM’s plans to round up and remove over 55% of the wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard. It seems like just yesterday I was writing about this plan that affects wild horses on 2.4 million acres in Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin. The last roundup was in 2014 when 1263 wild horses were removed from their homes and lands. 14 died during the roundup and over 100 died in short term holding facilities in the four months following the roundup.

This time, however, the situation facing the wild horses in Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek and Greek Divide Basin is much more dire. The consequences of being rounded up and removed from public lands could not be more serious because right now the BLM is asking Congress to lift the restrictions on killing and slaughtering wild horses, and every one of the 1560 wild horses that the BLM is planning to remove is facing imminent death. The BLM does not consider in its Environmental Assessments what will happen to the wild horses that are removed according to their Proposed Actions. They do not care about the suffering, illnesses and deaths of the horses and they do not care about you and me, the taxpayers, funding a lifetime of each horse being kept in pens, in captivity. It is a wasteful, cruel and insane policy that favors overwhelmingly corrupt livestock interests who get to graze and overgraze their private livestock on our lands, losing millions of dollars on this program each year.

In this Proposed Action, the BLM is pandering to the Rock Springs Grazing Association, which only has 24 members, and whose grazing rights on public land are a privilege, not a right – but they don’t see it that way. Land swaps could have easily solved the problem of the checkerboard of public and private lands, but it is not in their interests to cooperate. They want to control all the land. And they want the horses gone at any cost. But 70% of the land, of the 2.4 million acres in Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin is public land. It should not be managed as if it was all private land, but it is. We stopped the 2016 Checkerboard Roundup because we won an appeal which said that the BLM cannot manage all these lands as if they were private.

This time, we need your help to speak up, write the BLM and demand that they select Alternative C – no roundup or removal.

The BLM should not be allowed to move forward with this roundup only on the basis of an Environmental Assessment.

Read the rest of this article HERE.

By Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation, Wild Horse Freedom Federation

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Who Are the Traitors?

July 18, 2016 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Jul 17, 2016 — CLUE: FOIA the contracts, the agreements and their emails with BLM

Do you realize who has betrayed America’s wild horses? Do you know who is who? Do you know who are the BLM supporters and partners now? Read more here: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=9226.

Protect Mustangs

Art/Photography

Renowned Wild Horse Advocate Finally Appointed to BLM Board

March 29, 2016 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Ginger filming Cloud and Family, May 2014 ~ photo by R. T. Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

“It’s a first and a long time in coming. Internationally acclaimed cinematographer and wild horse advocate Ginger Kathrens has finally been appointed to sit on the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board. Ginger and other advocates have attempted to be a voice for the wild horses and burros in the past but have been inexplicably passed over, but not this round. The BoD of Wild Horse Freedom Federation would like to express their congratulations to Ginger and sincerely hope that her sage advice will be listened to and acted upon by the other members of the board. Job well done.”
~ R. T. Fitch

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The BLM: Failure at Its Finest

March 8, 2016 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Simple Math

$50,000 per Horse
X 100,000 Horses
——————————
$5,000,000,000 Taxpayer Dollars

The BLM manages to waste $5 billion in taxpayer money managing the Wild Horse and Burro Program while doing absolutely nothing new to manage the program. How much longer can Members of Congress and the American public sit idly by while the BLM turns its back on those who bring real solutions to the table to help solve the outlandish problems presented by the current management of our Wild Horse and Burro Program?

As you may recall from our recent announcement, unfortunately we will not be able to open our eco-resort, Mustang Monument, this year due to the interference of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other government entities that effectively preclude us from obtaining the necessary permits. On the heels of our announcement, the BLM sent out its own press release containing two very revealing numbers; first it indicated that the current Wild Horse and Burro Program was spending $50,000 per horse for horses kept in holding for their natural lifetime, and second, they currently had 100,000 horses that fell under the umbrella of this financial responsibility. Simple math informs all of us that the BLM will spend $5 billion dollars of taxpayer money supporting a program that by their own admission is a failure.

In recent testimony before a House Committee just last week, the BLM Director, Neil Kornze, advised members of Congress that 60% of the BLM’s budget for wild horse management was being consumed by care for horses in captivity, up from 46% in 2000. This number staggers the mind when you consider that the BLM has been advised for years from experts on all sides of the issue to find more innovative ways to manage wild horses on the range, rather than to continue to gather and stockpile horses in holding pens. In the same hearing, Congressman Calvert, the Subcommittee Chairman, advised Kornze to “keep the agency driving for a solution that allows the BLM to spay and neuter wild horses on a permanent and broader scale,” in the interest of keeping more horses where they are.

As you know, I started our eco-resort with the specific intention of giving these mustangs a place to live free and wild. I went to Washington, D.C. and explained my plan to Senator Harry Reid and Senator Diane Feinstein. Both of them encouraged me to go buy the land and stated if I did, they would support the project. I put my own money up to purchase the land and to improve it so that it could support the mustangs and other wildlife, rather than being dedicated to continuous cattle grazing. Again, I did so only after to speaking to countless elected officials, who assured me that they recognized the benefits, on both the financial and moral side of the equation. I can’t help but ask where they are now.

The ranch I purchased has the ability to keep thousands of mustangs on it, manage them in a way that allows them to remain there instead of being placed in holding pens at $50,000 per horse, and save the BLM and taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. What I have presented is the classic opportunity to leverage private dollars against federal dollars to accomplish a goal everyone states they are seeking in the wild horse and burro management arena, yet I find myself stymied at every turn by the BLM finding ways to delay or outright stop the project. This is because the BLM is NOT truly committed to finding new management solutions to managing wild horses; the only thing they understand is gathering and holding horses in pens. The BLM argues that there are 60,000 wild horses on the range today. That number is not supported by any accurate census modeling and, in fact, totally ignores the fact that there is a natural attrition rate of 20-25% per year. Of course, this attrition rate is reduced significantly when the horses are placed in domestic holding pens, another argument for keeping more horses on the range through creative management solutions.

As a taxpayer and an American, it is time for you to speak. It is time for you to call to account those who waste your money and who seek to destroy the great example that these mustangs represent.

Take action now.

Contact your elected officials and let them know that this waste should not be permitted. Let them know that you support the right of the mustangs to live free as great symbols of America. Take action today by writing to any or all of the names listed below. Ask Senators Reid and Feinstein why they have abandoned support for the Mustang Monument project.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid
Washington DC Office
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3542
Fax: 202-224-7327

California Senator Dianne Feinstein
Washington DC Office
331 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3841
Fax: 202-228-3954

Secretary Jewell, Department of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-3100
Email: feedback@ios.doi.gov

Madeleine Pickens
SavingAmericasMustangs.org

Saving America’s Mustangs, 2683 Via De La Valle, G 313, Del Mar, CA 92014

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Help Save the White Mountain and Little Colorado Wild Horse Herds!

January 12, 2016 Associate Editor Leave a comment

Photo: Ginger Kathrens and Lisa Friday.

Comment on BLM’s Plan to Sterilize Mares! Deadline: Thursday, January 14th

Dear Friends of our Wyoming Wild Horses,
BLM is planning to sterilize the mares in the White Mountain Herd Management Area… unless we can stop them. White Mountain is the most visible, most photographed, most approachable wild horse herd in Southern Wyoming with a driving loop and signage to facilitate the viewing experience. The White Mountain Herd is the biggest tourist attraction in the immediate Rock Springs area, and the herd is also within the BLM’s “Appropriate Management Level of 205-300 horses.

Despite all these facts, the BLM proposes to use the White Mountain mustangs in a mare spaying research experiment to be conducted with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The adjacent Little Colorado Herd would serve as the control group.

BLM proposes to conduct helicopter roundups, removing all wild horses over the “Appropriate Management Level” on over 1 million acres of mostly public lands. Currently, BLM estimates 268 wild horses in White Mountain. Little Colorado numbers are estimated to be 330 with an AML of only 69-100 on over 600,000 acres of federally owned land. This amounts to one wild horse allowed for every 6,000 acres!

Once rounded up, approximately 300 horses would be permanently removed. In White Mountain 30-50 mares would be fitted with radio collars and stallions would have tracker tags placed in their tails. One year later the horses would again be rounded up with helicopters and mares would be spayed using surgical techniques as yet unspecified and then tracked to determine changes in behavior/band fidelity/mortality in comparison to the control group in Little Colorado.

The bands would be destroyed in both herds as the stallions will be separated from the mares after capture so the band fidelity and behavior data will be useless. We don’t want to think about the mortality rate as we know horses will be killed during and after the helicopter stampedes and may die as a result of the collaring and subsequent operations.

Politely express your outrage! We suggest the following talking points:

Conduct field research to determine the habits and natural behaviors of the White Mountain-Little Colorado using non-invasive techniques (i.e. ground observations/photographs/GPS recorded locations, etc.)
Conduct behavioral research while field darting with the reversible vaccine PZP. Over 50 mares in these HMAs received PZP-22 in 2011 and will only require a booster shot to render them infertile for 1 to 2 years.
Conduct any removals in the late winter/spring months using bait or water trapping. Do not chase them with helicopters! Keep traps in place for several weeks to recapture for boostering young mares that did not receive PZP-22 and are not dartable (most, if not all, mares in White Mountain can be field darted). Mares in a trap can be darted without touching them.
Do not put collars on mares or tail tracker tags on stallions. This is not necessary in the White Mountain HMA. It will require capture and will result in the shattering of the bands just to put on the collars and tail tags.
Do not operate on the mares. Sterilized wild horses are no longer wild horses!
Raise the AML of 79-100 in Little Colorado to a genetically viable number of 150-200 adult animals. Reduce livestock grazing. There are 6,000 cows with potentially 6,000 calves or 30,000 head of sheep in the two legally designated wild horse herd management areas!
Collaborate with interested organizations and individuals to conduct the above field darting and record-keeping. (Data sheets are already compiled for over 200 of the White Mountain wild horses!)
Save millions of taxpayer dollars and manage the herds on the range, living in freedom with their families.

Send your comments to:
Wild Horse and Burro Specialist
BLM Rock Springs Field Office
280 Highway 191 North
Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901
Fax: (307) 352-0329

Electronic comments must be sent to the following email address to be considered:
BLM _WY_ whitemtn _littleco _ hma@blm.gov
(Include “White Mountain & Little Colorado EA Comments” in the subject line.)

Here are the links to the BLM Scoping Letter and Documents.

http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rsfodocs/whitemtn_littlecolo/FY16.Par.25386.File.dat/ScopingLetter.pdf

http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2015/december/16-wh-wmlc.html

Please do what you can! This is nothing more than a wild horse extermination plan dressed up as a research project. Time is short – send your comments by day’s end Thursday, January 14. Thanks!

Happy Trails!
Ginger

The Cloud Foundation
info@thecloudfoundation.org

Horses in the South – An Equine News Publisher

Tag Archives: BLM

BLM Plans to Destroy and Slaughter Three Herds of Wild Horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard

Who Are the Traitors?

Renowned Wild Horse Advocate Finally Appointed to BLM Board

The BLM: Failure at Its Finest

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