Tag Archives: Bureau of Land Management

*Featured/Spotlights

BLM Proposes Livestock Grazing Where Wild Horse Roundup Is Planned

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Photo credit ©TheCloudFoundation.

BLM wants to create new livestock grazing permits in the same area where they propose a massive wild horse roundup in the Stone Cabin Complex. Coincidentally, Tonopah NV BLM also proposes to re-start livestock grazing in two allotments (Monitor and Ralston), which are adjacent to the Stone Cabin Complex.

Ranchers have illegally grazed livestock in these two allotments for 23 YEARS! These allotments have not had any livestock grazing permits for the past 6 years and there is no permittee.

We’re calling on BLM to use Adaptive Management to convert the allotments and permits for wild horse usage. By doing this, the BLM could cancel its proposal to round up nearly 75% of the wild horse population (that’s 689 of the estimated 931 horses) in the Stone Cabin Complex… leaving behind just 242 horses on more than 484,888 acres (that’s 758 square miles).

Your Voice Matters! PLEASE click here and here to take action. You will have the opportunity to personalize our suggested comments before submitting.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

‘Just Doing My Job’ – A Bureau of Land Management Excuse for Mismanaging Wild Horses

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Photo from NBC News video shows BLM contractor abusing a burro during BLM managed roundup.

History is replete with examples of people and agencies causing great harm or that have been caught in the act of some form of wrongdoing, only to offer the excuse, “I was just doing my job…”

On 16 March 1968, First Lieutenant William L. “Rusty” Calley, Jr., and his platoon murdered at least 300 Vietnamese civilians (and perhaps as many as 500) at a small South Vietnamese sub-hamlet called My Lai.

The excuse offered to the military court in regard to that massacre was “I was only following orders.”

Is it ever acceptable for Government agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management (‘BLM’) and the U.S. Forest Service (‘USFS’) or their employees, to engage in wrongdoing as a function of ‘just doing their job’?

Are employees of Government agencies required to follow directives from their superiors even when such directives are highly questionable or fly in the face of common sense, logic, and established policies and law?

Is it reasonable for the BLM and USFS to willfully ignore the best available science that would lead to a more honest, humane, and ecologically appropriate wild horse management model?

Is it fair to American taxpayers for the BLM to knowingly waste over $100 million annually in taxpayer funds mismanaging wild horses when there exists a far more cost-effective and humane method for managing native species wild horses in America?

History teaches many lessons for those who ask the right questions.

Read full article HERE.

*Featured/Spotlights

BLM Targets One of the Last Two Herds in New Mexico

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Photo credit ©GingerKathrens.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico has wiped out nearly 75% of the original wild horse habitat in the state. Now the agency plans to decimate one of the last two remaining herds – Bordo Atravesado – by removing 190 of the 230 wild horses living in the area.

PLEASE add your name to the list of people who stand against this systematic destruction of our wild herds.

BLM also plans to use Gonacon as fertility control on mares returned to the range. Studies show that Gonacon is likely permanent after just two applications. It effectively destroys the ovaries and therefore natural hormone production that drives natural, wild behaviors.

We need as many Americans ON RECORD opposing this extermination plan for the Bordo Atravesado horses as possible. Will you join us now? Please take a stand today — it takes less than a minute to add your name to the list of those who stand in resistance to BLM’s plan for our wild herds.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

BLM Plans Research on Wild Mares

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Gaelic Princess, pictured in her Pryor Mountain home with Cloud’s blue roan son, Mato Ska.

When Ginger first visited wild horses, she fell in love with these magnificent animals and their natural, wild behaviors. Observing the sophisticated herd social structure and intimate interactions in wild horse families fascinates millions of people around the world.

We know and love lead mares, like Gaelic Princess. She was Mato Ska’s first lead mare and helped him understand the job of a good band stallion. Lead mares like Gaelic Princess help organize and direct the family band. They often decide when to head to water, when to rest, when it’s playtime (and when it’s not!).

One of the biggest threats to our beloved wild horses and burros is the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) pursuit of fertility control that is permanent and/or destroys the natural, wild behaviors that make wild horses who they are.

Today we’re asking you to PLEASE add your name to the list of people who stand against sterilizing our wild mares and destroying their natural wild behaviors.

Help us send the BLM a message — that We the People demand that all fertility control used in management of our wild horses be reversible and NOT destroy or interfere with their normal hormone production.

Please take a stand for them now, before we lose them forever.

Deadline for Public Comments: August 22, 2022

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

BLM Ends Roundup in Colorado’s Piceance East Douglas HMA

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©GingerKathrens.

The Bureau of Land Management has ended their Piceance East Douglas roundup 190 wild horses short of their planned removal.

Thank you for taking action on behalf of these innocent animals!

According to BLM’s website, they’ve captured 864 wild horses including 166 foals. They returned 41 stallions to the range, and we understand they are treating some mares with fertility control and holding them for release in 30 days.

Hundreds of Piceance wild horses have been spared the trauma of the chase and capture in the sweltering summer temperatures — thanks to YOU.

Thank you for NEVER giving up and for TAKING ACTION on behalf of our wild horses! Without YOU, the helicopters would still be flying.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

Help Stop BLM Plan to Remove 75% of Utah’s Cedar Mountain Wild Horses

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The situation facing America’s wild horses and burros is dire.

Congress is beholden to the livestock industry and is set to continue increased funding for roundups in 2023. On top of that, they’ve allocated $11 million more for fertility control. This would be a win IF the BLM weren’t using Gonacon, an injection which, based on BLM research, may permanently sterilize mares after just 2 injections.

What can we do to stop this?

There is no easy answer. One thing we cannot do is give up. Most Americans want our wild horses managed humanely on the range. Will you be one who speaks up for them now?

Silence is complicity… and Utah’s Cedar Mountain wild horses need us now. As Americans, we have a right and a duty to voice opposition when the government is wrong. Every Cloud Foundation alert, like this one, gives us an opportunity to say: we will NOT shut up; we will continue to fight for these animals that we love and their right to live wild and free.

Please take 30 seconds to add your name and stand up for them now.  Deadline for public comments: July 28, 2022.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

What in the World Is Happening with Wild Horses?

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Photo: Cloud’s Pride, Pryor Mountains. Credit: ©ErinPhillips – https://mustangmission.blogspot.com.

In a landmark move, legislators led by the heroic Dina Titus (NV) and Steve Cohen (TN) called for an oversight hearing on the Bureau of Land Management.

Friends, this is something the Cloud Foundation and our advocacy colleagues have been pushing for since 2019 when the hideous Path Forward was first revealed!

Change does not happen quickly (especially when the government is involved). Social Justice movements take time, and they are often a dance — one step forward and two steps back.

But over time movement happens, as long as we NEVER, EVER give up.

In other happy news, the SAFE Act has been given forward momentum out of Committee. It hasn’t passed yet, but this is a big step forward in ending the gruesome equine slaughter trade between US kill buyers and slaughter plants across our borders.

The Cloud Foundation also continues to investigate the situation in the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area of Colorado. In 2015 we sued to stop the last large removal in this HMA and the zeroing out of the entire West Douglas herd. Unfortunately, the court decided against us.

Colorado Governor Polis, First Gentleman Marlon Reis, and Representative Joe Neguse remain staunch supporters of Colorado’s wild horses. They’re not giving up and neither are we. We are in touch with local advocates who know the range inside and out, and who have the Piceance horses’ best interests at heart.

Thank you for all of your support! Our founder Ginger Kathrens started this work in the 1990s when she first stepped onto the Pryor Wild Horse Range and met a striking black stallion named Raven — father to the indomitable Cloud. Three decades later, her work has expanded to impact the world and her organization has become a leading voice in the fight to save all of America’s wild horses and burros.

We will ALWAYS keep fighting!

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

Oppose BLM’s Disaster Plan for Utah’s Bible Spring Complex Wild Horses

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Based on the nearly 40-year-old “Framework Plan” created in 1983, the Bureau of Land Management Utah plans to remove more than 750 of the 831 wild horses they claim live in the Bible Springs Complex in southwestern Utah.  Of course, BLM continues to authorize livestock grazing in Blawn Wash HMA.

The BLM’s plan leaves behind just 70 wild horses in an area where the agency permits over 8x more commercial livestock grazing. BLM plans to use Gonacon, IUDs, sex ratio skewing, and sterilization on horses left on the range.

If you are SICK and TIRED of BLM’s mismanagement of wild horses, please take action today. Deadline for public comments: June 17, 2022.

Silence is complicity — it is wholly American to voice opposition when the government is wrong.

Every alert, like this one, gives us an opportunity to say: We will NOT shut up; we will continue to fight for what is right.

Please take a moment to say “No.”  Please use YOUR voice now — speak up against the inhumane management of Utah’s Bible Spring Complex herd.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Uncategorized

The Cloud Foundation Calls for Independent Investigation and Moratorium on Roundups

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The Cloud Foundation (TCF) is urging Federal legislators and Colorado State officials to convene an independent investigation into how an illness has now killed almost 150 captured wild horses at BLM’s Canyon City holding facility.

We are calling for a moratorium on ALL wild horse and burro roundups until the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) can ensure the animals’ health and safety off the range.

BLM officials claim the horse deaths are attributable to equine influenza virus H3N8. We are demanding answers as to how the virus entered the facility and ravaged one specific herd – the West Douglas horses – with such devastating effect.

“These are the American public’s wild horses; they don’t belong to the BLM,” stated Ginger Kathrens, Founder and Board President of The Cloud Foundation. “Secrecy breeds suspicion and doubt. Due to a long history of not being transparent, how can we trust the BLM to be unbiased while investigating itself?”

Read more here.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Uncategorized

Please Speak Up for Oregon’s Wild Horses

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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Oregon is pushing a management plan that would take effect for 10 YEARS until 2032. NOW is your time to speak up!

The BLM’s plan to round up these horses, leaving just 75 in each HMA, is dangerous. It will threaten the long-term genetic health of these herds, increase the risk of inbreeding and the threat of physical health problems.

Taking these herds to such low levels will severely limit opportunities for the public to view and enjoy the horses in their natural environment.

BLM also plans to use Gonacon on these mares, a fertility control which has been shown to shut down and shrivel the ovaries. In studies, only 30% of mares reversed to fertility within 10 years after 2 shots of Gonacon. The BLM shut down that study, but based on the data, it’s safe to say that Gonacon may cause permanent sterilization after just two injections.

We’re asking you to take a stand against these actions, and to tell BLM to make sure cameras are put on helicopters and trap sites at roundups. As Americans, we have a constitutional right to observe the action of our government, and we’re demanding they provide this opportunity.

We all know that the treatment of wild horses and burros during a roundup is abusive. With video documentation will we be able to change things for these beloved animals.

Please take a minute to submit your comments NOW.  Every voice counts. Please use YOURS now — stand against cruelty to wild horses and burros.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org