Tag Archives: Cloud Foundation

How Can We Promote the Health & Safety of America’s Horses?

Slaughter-bound Wind River mare Amazing Grace and 6 foals rescued from a CO kill pen arrive at TCF equine vet Dr. Lisa Jacobson’s ranch in late August of 2023 to begin their road to freedom.

March 1 was National Horse Protection Day, we wanted to take a look at an important pending federal legislation to protect our beloved equines – the Save America’s Forgotten Equines, or SAFE Act, H.R.3475/S.2037.

What is the SAFE Act? It would amend the 2018 Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act, which bans the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption, by adding the words “or equines” to the prohibition – thus protecting our nation’s most beloved companion animal species from the horrors of the slaughter process.

Roughly 20,000 American equines are exported every year to meat companies in Canada and Mexico, where they are subject to horrible cruelty before being butchered and their meat exported to foreign countries for human consumption — including China and Russia. For decades, advocates have worked to get this important bill passed, but despite broad public support, our efforts have been thwarted by the political influence of meat industry groups.

But now we have a two-pronged opportunity to get the protections needed.

First, Congress is now considering the 2023 Farm Bill, a must-pass piece of legislation that was the vehicle for passing the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act in 2018. As with that bill, we are asking Congress to add the SAFE Act as an amendment to the 2023 Farm Bill.

Second, even if the Farm Bill strategy is unsuccessful, the SAFE Act will continue as a free-standing bill that Congress can pass on its own merits. A majority of House members have signed onto the bill making it eligible for a committee hearing, yet it remains stuck with no hearing scheduled.

Here is where we most need your advocacy — to convince Congress to schedule the bill for a hearing so it advances to the full House for a vote.

The slaughter pipeline is an unimaginably horrific experience for horses and other equines. As natural prey animals they experience extreme misery and terror throughout the process. The entire slaughter pipeline — including the terror and chaos of the auction barns and kill pens, the misery of transport on crowded trucks to Canada and Mexico, and the killing itself — is incapable of being humane.

If we are unsuccessful in adding the SAFE Act as an amendment to the 2023 Farm Bill, it will be another FIVE YEARS before we have another Farm Bill opportunity. Similarly, if we are unsuccessful in getting it to move forward as a free-standing bill, we will have to wait until the next Congress in 2025 to begin the process again.

In other words, the time to act is NOW – and what better time than National Horse Protection Day?

Please give this legislation a look. If, like so many, you feel that it’s time to take our equines out of the slaughter pipeline – as we did for our dogs and cats – please let your congressional representatives know that you support H.R. 3475/S. 2037 – The SAFE Act of 2023.

Please join us in working to make a significant impact in eradicating slaughter for America’s horses — wild and domestic.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Wyoming’s Wild Horses Are under Attack: Stop BLM’s Wild Horse Extermination Plan

As we start a fresh new year, BLM Wyoming is finalizing its disastrous plan to further destroy wild horse herds in the southern portion of the state. 10 years in the making, this plan includes eliminating all wild horses in the Salt Wells Creek and Divide Basin Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and sterilizing all horses in the White Mountain HMA.

In October of 2021, The Cloud Foundation released a national opinion poll, which was conducted online by The Harris Poll. The poll found that more than 2 in 3 Americans (69%) oppose removing all wild horses from 1.5 million acres of public lands in southern Wyoming to accommodate the oil/gas and livestock industries.  Yet sadly, in 2024, BLM’s goal to destroy wild herds to accommodate commercial livestock interests continues.

How do they get away with this? It’s disgusting that commercial interests seem to continually prevail over the will of the people. The biased and inhumane treatment of our wild herds is unforgivable. But we are more fortunate than most people in the world — we have our voice. We know that when Americans act en masse, government will listen.

So, here is OUR call to action: show up and speak up! Will you join us?

Please take a moment to join The Cloud Foundation in opposing this ill-conceived plan by signing our petition. Then, please share this alert with friends and family.

Thank you for ALL that you do — because together we will make a difference!

The deadline for public comments: January 17, 2024

For those who would like to submit your own comments, you may do so by visiting the BLM Rock Springs RMP Revision Eplanning page and selecting the “participate now” button. If needed, you may use the talking points included in the above petition for ideas to help craft your personal comments.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

BLM Is Rounding Up over 1000 Horses

Photo ©GingerKathrens

More of Nevada’s wild horses are being taken from their homes and families.

On Oct. 22nd, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began its wild horse roundup on and around the Roberts Mountain Complex located in Eureka County, approximately 20 miles northwest of Eureka, NV. The roundup operation is being conducted using helicopters.

According to a BLM statement,

(the) Roberts Mountain Complex encompasses approximately 556,500 acres of public and private lands and has an Appropriate Management Level (AML) of 110-184 wild horses. The complex includes the Roberts Mountain, Whistler Mountain, the northern portion of the Fish Creek Herd Management Areas, and the Kobeh Valley Herd Area. Based on the March 2023 population stats, which does not include foals born this year, BLM documented 1,161 wild horses within and outside the management areas of Roberts Mountain and Whistler Mountain HMAs – over 6 times above the high end of the established appropriate management level.

As of Monday, Oct. 30th, BLM had captured 589 Wild Horses (229 Stallions, 270 Mares, and 90 Foals). Their goal is to remove about 1,068 wild horses deemed “excess,” and treat up to 19 mares with GonaCon before being released back to the range — along with up to 19 stallions.

DEATHS
BLM’s Gather Status report states that 4 horses have died as of Oct. 30. This does not include 7 horses who were killed when the truck transporting 36 horses on Monday CRASHED:

A contracted semi-truck transporting horses gathered during the ongoing Roberts Mountain Gather in Nevada to Utah’s Axtell Holding Corrals turned over on its side on Highway 50 outside of Delta, Utah on October 30. The truck was transporting 36 horses. Three horses were killed in the accident, four were humanely euthanized due to their injuries, and many suffered minor cuts and bruises. BLM transported the 29 remaining horses to a holding facility in Delta where they continue to be evaluated and closely monitored by the on-site veterinarian. The driver was not injured. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
(BLM Gather Report)

We hope that the remaining horses continue to do well and there are no further deaths or complications as a result of this crash.

Once this roundup is completed, approximately 110 wild horses will remain in the HMA, as well as 122 wild horses left uncaptured outside of the HMA. This roundup is expected to last up to 19 days.

Livestock grazing in this area? Yes. Mining in this area? Yes.

You may follow the daily reports for this roundup here:
Roberts Valley Wild Horse Roundup (Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Daily Gather Reports to read detailed comments.)
Roberts Mountain Complex information hotline: (775) 861-6700.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Urge Park Service to Preserve Horses in Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Previously we have asked you to submit comments to save wild horses in the Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). We are sorry to say, we have to ask you to speak up once more. Despite North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and the state’s Senator John Hoeven pushing to keep the wild horses, the Park Service is still pushing to remove the vast majority of horses or all of them.

TRNP, located in North Dakota, is dedicated in honor of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and his leadership in conservation policy.  While these horses are not protected under Federal law and are referred to as “livestock,” they have been cherished cultural icons for decades. When Teddy Roosevelt was young, he visited the area and experienced the magnificence and beauty of the natural landscape which included wild bison and wild horses exhibiting natural wild behaviors — living in family bands, with stallions protecting their families.

The Park Service continues to propose to either get rid of all of the horses or allow only 35-60 — of the nearly 200 horses living in the area — to remain. The Park Service manages the Park for cultural and natural resources and claims to rely on public input for Park management. PLEASE SPEAK UP for these magnificent horses NOW — they truly are CULTURAL ICONS!

Please tell the Park Service the following (in your own words):

  • Preserving the Teddy Roosevelt horses MUST be a cornerstone of the Park’s livestock management plan, since they contributed to President Teddy Roosevelt’s wonder at the natural world, leading to his CREATION of the NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM.
  • Horses have lived “wild” in TRNP for generations and MILLIONS of Park visitors cherish these animals as an integral part of the cultural heritage of the Badlands.
  • These horses must be managed to preserve natural behaviors just as Teddy Roosevelt would have experienced. He would have seen stallions protecting their families, foals with their mothers and aunties, and the entire repertoire of natural “wild” horse behaviors.
  • To protect the GENETIC HEALTH of the herd and promote its genetic viability, the minimum population should be 150 or more. By allowing the horses to use additional areas of the TRNP, the herd can – and should – be managed at a HIGHER MINIMUM POPULATION LEVEL.

Your voice makes a difference.  Please submit your comments directly to the Park Service by clicking here. The deadline for submitting comments is October 25, 2023.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

BLM Proposes Massive Burro Roundup + New Cattle Grazing

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a MASSIVE roundup of burros in Arizona’s Three River Complex, which includes the Alamo, Big Sandy, and Havasu Herd Management Areas (HMAs). BLM plans to round up 1,794 of the estimated 2,259 burros living in the area, leaving behind just 465 burros. Livestock grazing in the Big Sandy HMA is equivalent to 1,000 year-round cows; BLM only allows 139 burros to live in that same area.

America’s wild burros face a genetic crisis due to BLM’s mismanagement of these hardy little animals. The agency keeps most burro populations so small that inbreeding is inevitable.

BLM plans this massive burro roundup while at the same time the agency proposes ADDING COWS to graze in the same area! After nearly 30 years of no livestock grazing in the Alamo HMA, BLM wants to add cows despite claiming the HMA is over-grazed. This is CRAZY.

BLM’s unscientific “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) is a rigged system where any animal over BLM’s arbitrary quota is considered “overpopulation.” The only way to address this is to reduce livestock grazing and increase the number of burros allowed on the range.

Please take action NOW by signing our two petitions here and here, which call on BLM to ditch the massive roundup and reject the proposal to add new livestock grazing in the Alamo HMA.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Enough Is Enough

How do you spell cruelty? At the Cloud Foundation, we spell it:  R-O-U-N-D-U-P.  Specifically, helicopter roundup.

The BLM’s Antelope Valley Complex roundup commenced on July 9th and is unfortunately making our point for us. In 16 days, 19 horses have been killed. At least 7 tiny foals have died from the stress of the BLM miles-long run in hot and extreme temperatures. It’s unknown how many may have collapsed out on the range during the helicopter stampedes. Mares have been driven so hard that they’ve broken their necks – likely crashing gates.  Stallions have lost their lives, as well – one dying in the loading process (broken neck), and another that admirers named Mr. Sunshine for his palomino color breaking his leg jumping the 6′ high trap in a valiant attempt at freedom, which ended in a three-legged, 35-minute chase from both helicopter and horseman before his suffering was finally ended. Meanwhile, the cruelty continues.

BLM reports 19 deaths so far.  With the roundup still in progress, final reports are yet to come. An accurate count may never be known.

“The undercounting of deaths is, unfortunately, all too common,” says TCF Founder, Ginger Kathrens. “It is BLM practice to eliminate foals from the death count, as if they were never born and cared for by their mothers and the rest of their family. BLM literally gets away with murder.”

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! This kind of horrific cruelty needs to stop. There’s no accountability.

If you agree, please take action!

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Idaho’s Few Remaining Wild Horses Are under Attack

A curious Sands Basin HMA stallion watches our friends from Save Our Wild Horses.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Idaho (Owyhee Field Office) plans to reduce wild horse numbers in the Black Mountain, Hardtrigger, and Sands Basin Herd Management Areas to low numbers of just 30 horses in the Black Mountain HMA, 33 horses in the Sands Basin HMA, and 66 horses in the Hardtrigger HMA.

This disastrous plan creates a scenario in which inbreeding among the wild horses is inevitable — daughters with fathers, brothers with sisters, and mothers with sons. This effectively destroys their ability to survive. Inbreeding results in an increase of the offspring being affected by recessive traits such as blindness, deafness, a breakdown of natural immunities, and physical deformities.

BLM’s response is to bring in a few horses from other HMAs to address genetic problems. The practice of introducing new horses diminishes the unique qualities present in these herds — for better or for worse — and speaks to BLM creating a problem (lack of genetic viability) that they will have to continuously – and retroactively – fix.

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 CANNOT GIVE UP ON THESE HORSES.  Fighting for needed change is the least we can do for these precious animals. Will you please join us?

Please take a stand today — it takes less than a minute to submit your comments to BLM to state your opposition to this ill-conceived proposal.

TIPS on How to Comment: We have provided talking points for you to use. You can leave them as written if you like. However, we encourage you to edit the suggested comments to reflect your unique thoughts and perspectives.

If you would like to research this Environmental Assessment a bit further, you may find it (and supporting documents) here: EplanningUi (blm.gov).

For a LIVE tutorial — Join our friends with Save Our Wild Horses on Thursday, June 8th, at 7 pm EST.

They will have a 1-hour, 2-part Zoom:

Part 1 – Journalist Vickery Eckhoff presents: Speaking Truth to Power: The Media, BLM, & You

Part 2 addresses how to submit Public Comments on the Owyhee Field Office Herd Management’s proposed plan for the Idaho wild horse herds.

To register for this Zoom meeting, please email Heather Hellyer (Save Our Wild Horses) at kaya97524@yahoo.com.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Help Preserve the Pryor Wild Horses

Red Wolf and his mother, Feldspar, graze near the top of the PMWHR.

Comments are due on the Pryor Wild Horse Environmental Assessment (EA) on April 28th. If you haven’t done so, please take a moment to protect the Pryor Mustangs. Feel free to invite friends to do the same.

To comment, just click here. It will take you to the comments page where you may customize any of the suggested comments before submitting.

Speak up now to preserve the well-balanced Pryor range management that has existed for decades. In this EA, BLM wants to take a cookie-cutter approach that would disregard the unique qualities of this special herd. Also, among the proposed alternative plans:

  • genetics may no longer be a criterion for management actions
  • the already low AML may be further reduced
  • alternate fertility controls never before used in the Pryors — that destroy the natural wild behaviors — may be used on our beloved herd

You may reference the EA documents here: EplanningUi (blm.gov).

Please let the Bureau of Land Management know how much this herd means to all of us. Submit your comments on the proposed management plan that will govern the future of these horses for years to come.

We thank you for caring about these magnificent animals and for your support in keeping them WILD and FREE — you are sincerely appreciated.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Urge BLM to Preserve ALL Wild Horses in Clan Alpine HMA

The Bureau of Land Management rounded up a record number of wild horses and burros in 2022 — more than 20,000 precious animals. This is happening thanks to Congress giving record-breaking increased funding for roundups and fertility control methods that destroy who these horses really are and their natural behaviors. Sadly, the agency is hellbent on removing another 20,000 this year too.

We KNOW how frustrating and heartbreaking this is. It’s infuriating our government caters to a small special interest group – public land ranchers – for the management of OUR public lands. It’s shameful that our government refuses to use science to manage our country’s resources and instead continues the good ol’ boy status quo.

But giving up is not an option. We CAN change things — but only if we persist in our efforts. Most social change comes far too slowly; those brave souls who continue the fight and refuse to accept defeat are the ones who prevail in the end.

Your voice makes a difference.  Please submit your comments directly to the BLM.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Urge BLM to Preserve ALL Wild Horses in McCullough Peaks HMA

“Wild Pinto Family at the Waterhole” by Carol Walker, Living Images Photography.

The McCullough Peaks wild horses are a beloved herd. Given the herd’s proximity to Yellowstone National Park, they amaze and charm both locals and visitors from around the world.

Local volunteers have worked tirelessly for more than 12 years to implement a successful PZP program to manage the population growth of the herd. The program has been a complete success with just 2% population growth each year. Sadly, the BLM now wants to remove the majority of horses from the current population of just 179 horses to the Arbitrary Management Level (AML) of just 70-140 horses.

The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to remove over 100 horses and begin use of controversial fertility control such as GonaCon. BLM, of course, ignores the livestock grazing in the wild horse habitat and refuses to consider repatriating wild horses to the zeroed-out portion of the Herd Area.

Please take a minute to speak up for these magnificent horses.  Tell the BLM the following (in your own words):

  • I support the PZP program that has successfully managed the herd for the last 12 years.
  • I strongly oppose the removal of any wild horses now living in the HMA; these horses deserve to live and die wild and are valued by locals and tourists alike.
  • The successful partnership between volunteers and BLM to manage the McCullough Peaks Herd through darting has been a model for other HMAs.
  • BLM must amend planning documents to increase the Arbitrary Management Level to be in line with science. Nationally respected equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran has long stated that a breeding herd of 150-200 horses is the minimum herd size necessary to prevent inbreeding. Removing horses will jeopardize the long-term genetic health of the herd and will force related horses to inbreed.
  • Utilize BLM authority (43 C.F.R. 4710) to reduce or eliminate livestock grazing in order to accommodate the wild horses.
  • These horses must be managed to preserve natural behaviors using only safe and proven fertility control such as PZP. I oppose the BLM’s proposal to use other fertility controls such as GonaCon, IUDs, surgical sterilization, and other fertility control methods which are documented to destroy ovaries (or testes) and natural hormone production which is necessary for natural “wild” behaviors.
  • These horses are a great tourism draw. The public enjoys observing their natural wild behaviors, including seeing stallions protect their families, watching lead mares direct herd dynamics, and experiencing the entire repertoire of natural “wild” horse behaviors.

Your voice makes a difference.  Please submit your comments directly to the BLM by clicking here (and selecting the Participate Now option).

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org