Tag Archives: wild horses

Uncategorized

Wild Horse Mares Are Suffering Extreme Abuse and Need Your Help

Leave a comment

Nov 12, 2014 — Dear Friends of Wild Horses & Burros,

Right now we are hosting an online Forum to foster transparency on the “restricted-use pesticide” called PZP — proposed for federally protected wild horses and burros on public land and endorsed by certain organizations. You are invited to join in or just read the posts to gain information. It’s on Facebook right here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ForumPZPWildHorsesBurros/.

We are outraged over information coming in about PZP:

* Cruel taxpayer-funded experiments on captive wild horses.

* PZP, made from slaughterhouse pig ovaries, sterilizes wild mares after multiple use according to Princeton research.

* Wild foals are born close to winter, as a result of their mothers previously being on PZP so their chance of survival is threatened.

* Yearlings are drugged with PZP at 18 months — while their reproductive systems are still growing — putting them at great risk.

* An eye witness reports she saw a wild Pryor mare, drugged with PZP, being raped over and over because the mares come into heat over and over on PZP and the studs are frustrated.

This horrific cruelty and disregard of the natural world must stop. We need to get more signatures on this petition and you can help to make it happen: http://www.change.org/p/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups.

It’s time to demand the brutal roundups, drugging and removals stop now. Wild horse and burro land must be protected because they are underpopulated. They are an inspiration, symbol of American freedom and fill their niche as a native species in the eco-system. Join us to end the abuse and protect their place in the American West.

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Uncategorized

Real Reasons behind Brutal Roundups Are Unravelling

Leave a comment

Oct 14, 2014 — Dear Friends of Wild Horses & Burros,
The public has a right to know the real reasons why America’s wild horses are being terrorized, pushed off public land and end up at risk of going to slaughter for human consumption abroad. Sadly the news in Wyoming doesn’t know what fair reporting means and is not covering the crisis as they should.

We wanted to attend the Wyoming Checkerboard Roundup but public viewing was censored by holding observers often a mile or more from the trap so we decided it was not a wise use of funds. We are grateful other witnesses were present with long lenses. Even so they didn’t catch much due to government censorship. Here is a sample of what BLM roundups look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM.

It’s shameful that the energy industry, government employees and our elected officials refuse to find the win-win for wildlife and industry to coexist. Instead they are wiping out America’s wild horses to cash in on their land.

Recently in the Wyoming Checkerboard roundup, the BLM zeroed out most of the wild horses despite international public outcry. The BLM also tried to blame horse advocates for taking more than 400 additional wild horses when the truth is they were allegedly pushed by Governor Mead to take as many as they could find. Read more here: www.ProtectMustangs.org.

Anne Novak
Founder & Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org

Uncategorized

Dangerous Times for Wild Horses and Burros

Leave a comment

Oct 12, 2014 — Dear Friends of Wild Horses and Burros,
There are several dark forces at work who want to control America’s wild horses and burros. Some want to steal them from the people so corrupt state officials can hunt and kill them or sell them to slaughter. Others want to drug them with EPA approved restricted-use pesticides such as PZP that sterilizes WILD mares after multiple uses. Fertility control research trials are big business. Left unchallenged, wild horses and burros will continue to be lab rats for human fertility control research. Many soulless degenerates want to slaughter wild horses for human consumption abroad. They really want to make room for energy development and subsidized grazing on public land at the expense of wildlife and especially wild horses and burros.

Be careful what you sign. Read everything carefully. Please read this petition carefully too then send it to your friends and family so the voiceless can be protected from the exploiters and the killers. If you want to know the truth behind the facade… follow the money.

Thank you for taking action to help America’s wild horses and burros by sharing this petition (http://www.change.org/p/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups) by email and through your social networks. Together we can shine the light on the truth to turn things around. Stop the roundups!

Many blessings,
Anne

Anne Novak
Founder & Executive Director
www.ProtectMustangs.org
Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

Uncategorized

Update about ‘Defund and Stop the Wild Horse & Burro Roundups’ on Change.org

Leave a comment

Dear Friends of Wild Horses and Burros,

Here is the latest problem we are facing to stop the roundups and protect all the threatened herds of wild horses living in freedom on public land:

We encourage the public to stop panicking and read everything they are asking their senators and representatives to do on their behalf.

Are wild horses really at risk of being slaughtered if they aren’t sterilized?

Is something in that form letter you received that you don’t agree with? Do you want wild horses sterilized using EPA approved restricted use pesticides?

These pesticides are not safe for domestic horses so why are they being pushed for use on wild horses? Are you giving up the fight for their freedom to live in natural family bands?

Why is an advocacy group encouraging their supporters to write members of Congress–via click and send form letter–asking them to sign on to the pledge to sterilize wild horses (already in non-viable herds) when BLM overpopulation claim is false?

We found their pitch citing a quote from the National Academy of Sciences 2013 report in their form letter being circulated around the Internet. It reads:
“…  Considering all the current options, [porcine zona pellucida (PZP) vaccines and GonaCon vaccine for females and chemical vasectomy for males] either alone or in combination, offer the most acceptable alternative to removing animals for managing population numbers…. ”

Even worse is the pledge they are requesting members of Congress sign and return the advocacy group’s office.

Senators and representatives will think the public wants “[porcine zona pellucida (PZP) vaccines and GonaCon vaccine for females and chemical vasectomy for males] either alone or in combination.” Is that what you want?

Or do you want to stop the roundups with a 10-year moratorium (suspension) on roundups for scientific research to investigate what’s the best way to manage the underpopulated herds of wild horses left in the West?

Why is this group pushing an elected official “pledge” to use “available fertility control” without scientific studies on population, migration, and holistic land management? What is going on here? Who is funding this scare-tactic-based campaign to sterilize America’s wild horses?

Why isn’t the group mentioning to members of Congress that the National Academy of Sciences report also said there is “no evidence” of overpopulation–why omit this?

Why hasn’t the group done any independent aerial or in-the-field research on population? Is it because it would not support the BLM’s faulty overpopulation claim?

See for yourself how many wild horses are left in the 800,000 acre Twin Peaks area during a recent aerial survey: VIDEO: http://vimeo.com/81195843. Read the scientific report exposing an underpopulation crisis on public land: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6278.

The group appears to know wild horses are not overpopulated. Recently they were quoted in an Associated Press article debunking the BLM’s overpopulation claim in comparison with livestock on public land.

Why then are they attempting to lead the public into blindly supporting a plan lacking good science–a plan calling for permanent and temporary sterility actions against indigenous wild horses?

Is the group alluding to a false risk of all wild horses going to slaughter if they aren’t sterilized?

Why create all the panic so people will quickly click, sign and share the pledge with their senators and congressional representatives asking them to “take the pledge” for sterilization, etc.? Is the public reading what they are signing on to?

Why is the group pushing for “fertility control”–using sterilizants passed by the EPA as “restricted use pest control”? Wild horses are a native species. How can restricted use pesticides be used on native species? Read more here: http://www.thedesertinde.com/Articles-2012/EPA-Calls-Wild-Horses-Pests–0511.html.

Many other valid concerns about PZP were brought up in this 2010 article as well: http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2010/10/220.shtml#axzz2tlL9dGaX, and in Ecologist Craig Downer speaks out against using PZP in the Pryors: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4178.

Did you know that International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) wild horse herd study shows that functional social structures contribute to low herd growth compared to BLM managed herds? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6057

Even the National Academy of Sciences reported roundups resulted in abnormal increased birthrate. Are wild horses and burros fearing extinction now?

What if you follow the money?

Are American wild horses becoming lab rats for immunocontraceptives for other species including humans? Read the reference section at the bottom this research paper: http://randc.ovinfo.com/e200501/yuanmm.pdf.

How can man (BLM and others) decide which wild horses to sterilize on the range and who to breed? That would be the end of survival of the fittest and the beginning of domestication of the wild horse and burro.

Is the group’s paradigm flawed because it focuses on the individual wild horse and neglects to view the herd as most important–as the lifeblood?

Sanctuaries might need to sterilize wild horses because they have limited space but policy for native wild horses living in the wild should not be modeled after a sanctuary model–unless it is based on reserve design.

America’s native wild horses and burros are wild animals who benefit the ecosystem and fill their niche, reduce wildfire fuel, and help reverse desertification. They are not back alley cats that should be spayed and neutered because of an overpopulation problem. (No offense to cats.)

The alleged overpopulation problem for wild horses and burros is a farce.

Now the question is: What do we do to save the wild horses from those who are pushing for risky temporary and permanent sterilization using EPA approved “restricted use pesticides” on non-viable herds?

1.) Share this petition widely and don’t forget friends and family. http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

2.) Sign and share everywhere the petition for a moratorium on roundups for scientific research. http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-scientific-research?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice Good science will find real solutions to protect wild horses and burros on the range.

3.) Send an email to your senators and your representatives if you don’t want America’s wild horses to be sterilized. Let them know you didn’t read the fine print of the form letter you signed and sent to them, if that is the truth.

4.) Meet with your senator’s aides and your representative to request they intervene in the wipe-out of America’s wild horses and burros by defunding the roundups and granting a 10-year moratorium on roundups for scientific research on population, migration, reserve design, holistic land management, etc.

5.) Visualize miracles of wild horses living in natural family bands in freedom.

Remember don’t let anyone scare you into believing wild horses are going to be slaughtered if they aren’t sterilized. Fight the good fight for our symbols of freedom and our national living treasures–America’s wild horses and burros.

Links of interest:

Contact your senators and representatives: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Petition for a Moratorium on Roundups: http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-scientific-research?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America, American Journal of Life Sciences by Craig C. Downer: http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo.aspx?journalid=118&doi=10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12

American wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3842 and http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

January 26, 2014 Washington Post (Viral) U.S. looking for ideas to help manage wild-horse overpopulation: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-looking-for-ideas-to-help-manage-wild-horse-overpopulation/2014/01/26/8cae7c96-84f2-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html

Ecologist Craig Downer speaks out against using PZP in the Pryors: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4178

International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) herds show that functional social structures contribute to low herd growth compared to BLM managed herds: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6057
Public outraged over the EPA approving pesticides for NATIVE wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=3866

GASLAND 2, a film by Josh Fox, the plight of wild horses is featured: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

Wild Horses and Renegades, a film by James Anaquad Kleinert: http://theamericanwildhorse.com/

EPA calls wild horses pests, Desert Independent: http://www.thedesertinde.com/Articles-2012/EPA-Calls-Wild-Horses-Pests–0511.html

Protect Mustangs’ letter requesting EPA repair error classifying iconic American wild horses “pests”: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1191

EPA Pesticide Information for ZonaStat-H: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/pending/fs_PC-176603_01-Jan-12.pdf

AVMA Reports: Vaccine could reduce wild horse overpopulation: http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/apr12/120415k.asp

Wildlife fertility vaccine approved by EPA: http://www.sccpzp.org/blog/locally-produced-wildlife-contraceptive-vaccine-approved-by-epa/

Oxford Journal on PZP for Humans and more: http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/12/3271.long
PZP research for humans http://randc.ovinfo.com/e200501/yuanmm.pdf

Wild horse predators: http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080302002619AADTWzh

Princeton reports: Wildlife and cows can be partners, not enemies, in search for food: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/93/41K10/index.xml?section=featured

Visit our website: www.ProtectMustangs.org

Contact us if you want to help the wild horses and burros survive the politics that are trying to bring them down. We need volunteers, donors and people to help get this petition out there! Email Contact@ProtectMustangs.org.

Thank you for helping the wild horses and burros by signing and sharing the Petition to Defund and Stop the Roundups!

The star studded documentary, ‘Wild Horses and Renegades’ by James Anaquad Kleinert requests a moratorium on roundups.  See the video clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1FUpzBIGs.

It’s time to pick the torch back up and continue the fight. Never give up. We the people must take back the power for the voiceless wild ones we love!

Please share this petition far and wide: http://www.change.org/petitions/defund-and-stop-the-wild-horse-burro-roundups?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

Together we can turn this around.

In gratitude,
Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
www.ProtectMustangs.org

Breeds

On the Road for Wild Horses in Wyoming and Utah

Leave a comment

North Lander mustangs behind bars.

Dear Friends of our Wild Horses and Burros:
At the end of January, I accompanied TCF Board Member and Advocate Extraordinaire, Lisa Friday, on a trip to both Rock Springs, Wyoming and the Onaqui Herd Management Area southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. After we landed in Salt Lake, we hit the road northeast to Rock Springs.

The next morning we visited the Rocks Springs Short Term Holding Corrals near the Bureau of Land Management Office on the north side of town. Over 600 wild horses are currently confined in dirt corrals with virtually no protection from the weather, which frequently includes biting winds out of the west and winter temperatures below zero. From the public viewing platform we stood on the lee side of a sign to get out of the brisk wind and to watch the once-wild horses below us.

Some from the North Lander Wyoming herd have been here since late 2012; however, most are the Salt Wells Wild Horses captured two months ago. Hundreds of mares, some with foals, were crowded in corrals with little opportunity to run or to get out of the wind.

An hour later, we were sitting in a meeting with BLM District Manager, Mark Storzer, and Resource Advisor, Kimberlee Foster.  Lisa and I were there to get acquainted and to encourage the BLM to accept our help in constructing wind breaks for the horses. It was a good meeting with a respectful conversation and we felt that the BLM might be open to our offer to help protect horses that could be incarcerated in this feedlot style facility for years.

“Short Term Holding” areas used to be just that. Horses would be corralled, freeze branded, given their shots and males would be gelded. Then younger animals would be made available for adoption in Rock Springs and elsewhere. Older animals used to be released back on the range but in recent years have been removed and sent to long-term pastures. But the long-term pasture areas are full now and adoptions are down as well. Unfortunately, this has not deterred the aggressive BLM helicopter roundups in lieu of bait trapping and use of the safe, dartable, reversible, and effective PZP vaccine.

Lisa and I are trying to make the best of a bad situation, offering ideas to make the multi-year confinement of these once wild, freedom-loving animals more humane.  Although we felt good about our visit with Mark and Kimberlee, the National Office will have to approve our offer of help. As yet, I have been unable to get a call back from Wild Horse and Burro Chief, Joan Guilfoyle.  As I have often contended, the field people on the local level want to do what is best for the animals, but do not always have the authority to act or the support of their bosses. I hope this is not the case with the Rock Springs Corral situation. Also, I have not been able to meet with Interior Secretary Sally Jewel to make the case for less costly and more humane management of our remaining wild horse and burro herds.

The uplifting part of our Wyoming journey included an afternoon drive up on the snowy White Mountain Wild Horse loop just north of Rock Springs.  After a dozen misidentifications (“Sage” and “rock” horses are abundant in White Mountain!) we found our first real wild horse band a half mile or so off a drifted side road. I tried to walk closer to the small band, but found myself knee deep in the slabby drifts that held me up one second and gave way to my weight the next. I had to settle for distant images.

We spotted a couple of bachelors wandering nearby and one handsome fellow did us a favor by walking across the road 100 yards in front of the car. He stopped to eat some snow, casually glancing our way before he ambled on.

mustangs2The next sighting was near the end of the loop. A band of 10 wild horses were foraging close to the road. Trailing the band was a Curly bachelor stallion. The big sorrel had a wavy mane, tail and coat, characteristics of this rare and hardy breed.

Jay D’Ewart, the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Specialist for the herd, confirmed that there were still some Curlies in the area and he had released a Curly stallion in the last roundup. We watched the horses interact with each other and nibble for scant bits of grass. I know both Lisa and I felt privileged to spend time with these rugged survivors.

We drove back to Salt Lake and the next morning we met Utah Wild Horse and Burro Lead Gus Warr, Public Information Officer Lisa Reid, Field Manager Bekee Hotze, and Wrangler Tami Howell. They were kind enough to take the time to show us a wild horse herd management area called Onaqui, adjacent to the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground. From November through February the 250 wild horses share their home range with over 800 head of cattle.

Typical of cattle use, the black cows were in the low valleys but the mustangs were mostly on the high hills and the BLM led us to over 40 wild horses in multiple bands. The view and the colorful mustangs were breathtaking!

There were pintos of various shades, bays, blacks, grays, palominos, grullos and sorrels. They raced across the hillside below us with the open valleys and distant mountain ranges beyond. I expected them to keep running but they slowed and started to graze. With Lisa Reid’s encouragement we walked slowly toward them and set up our camera. They stared at us curiously and then continued foraging. What perfect candidates for field darting using the reversible, one-year vaccine, PZP.

Several months ago I chatted with Lisa Reid about beginning “on the range management” of wild horses in Utah, with the ultimate goal of balancing reproduction with mortality, thereby allowing all foals born to live their lives in freedom. To our surprise, Gus and Lisa, along with Bekee and Tami, had already begun formulating plans to dart the mares to limit reproduction to mortality.

mustangs3We were thrilled to hear this and offered our help in making this minimally invasive technique a reality.  It is our hope that Onaqui will prove to be the first of many such agency-wide efforts to end the stock-piling of wild horses in costly, tax payer funded corrals and pastures and to allow them to live in freedom.

If the National BLM Office supports the Utah initiative, there will be an Environmental Assessment (EA) developed, which the public can read and comment on. We will let you all know if and when this EA is available for comment and we hope that many of you will support this effort by BLM to manage the wild horses without helicopter roundups and life-long confinement.

Thanks Lisa Friday for sharing this journey with me and for being such a dedicated advocate on behalf of mustang freedom. And thanks to all of you for your support of our efforts to keep wild horses safe with their families on their home ranges in the West!

Happy Trails!
Ginger

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

Uncategorized

Mustang Monument Featured in American Airlines In-Flight Magazine

Leave a comment

The Saving America’s Mustangs & Mustang Monument Teams are thrilled to share with you an article on Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Resort that is in the current issue of American Way (The American Airlines in-flight magazine). Journalist Rebecca Miller visited our ranch last summer and her story can be read in every seat back on all American Airlines flights. Be sure to check it out when you’re soaring through the friendly skies this month.

Born to Run
By Rebecca Miller

A cloud of dust billows in the distance. “Look! It’s the horses!” cries Madeleine Pickens, delighted at the sight of 28 of her rescued mustangs galloping across our path, manes blowing in the breeze. Once doomed for slaughter, these rescues enjoy a transformed life of health and freedom in the 900 square miles that is the Mustang Monument Wild Horse Eco-Resort and Preserve.

A scenic three-hour drive west from Salt Lake City, Mustang Monument is off Highway 93 in northeast Nevada. (It took me four hours, because I stopped at the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats.) The preserve, which opens in summer 2014, is nestled between the East Humboldt Range and Spruce Mountain, the land stretching out to the Pequop Mountains and Goshute Valley. It feels like something out of the past.

“Let’s take a drive in the Tomcar,” Pickens says as she jumps out of our truck and into the small off-road vehicle sitting in the shade of Spruce Mountain. We weren’t really on a road to begin with – we are deep in the preserve on a dusty trail – but we are most definitely “off-road” in the Tomcar. With Pickens behind the wheel, we ramble across rugged hillsides. The smell of spruce fills the air as the Tomcar drives easily over the woody shrubs.

I hope to see the native mustangs of the West, which have been known to share the land with those horses that Pickens has rescued from captivity. In the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act of 1971, Congress called the free-roaming horses “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” and declared that they “shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death.” Madeleine Pickens, too, wants to save mustangs from slaughter – both free-roaming ones and those she’s rescued – so she bought and transformed this preserve of lush grassland, scrubby hillsides and mountains. It now serves as a home for 600 mustangs she’s rescued since 2011. The 28 we saw were followed minutes later by 15 more.

“Where are the others?” I ask.

“Who knows?” she laughs. “That’s the idea.”

A businesswoman, philanthropist and animal-welfare activist, Pickens found success in thoroughbred breeding and racing while her passion grew for the preservation and retirement of horses. She fought to close the last slaughterhouse in the U.S., leading to the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011. In 2008, when the U.S. government considered euthanizing or selling 30,000 wild mustangs to slaughterhouses overseas, Pickens started Saving America’s Mustangs, the organization that raised the funding for Mustang Monument.

For her, it’s a calling.

I grew up in New Orleans, where cowboy boots and hats were costumes for Mardi Gras and Halloween. I remember the white fringe skirt and boots I got for Christmas when I was 8. Wanting to be a cowgirl, I would practice lassoing various objects. (An animal lover and rescuer myself, I never tried to lasso the dog.)

Mustang Monument is how I imagined the West to be: big and wide with mountains and grassland. It’s not like Dallas/Fort Worth, where I currently live. It’s also not like Phoenix; Denver; Santa Fe, N.M.; or any Western town I’ve visited. In fact, if Fort Worth’s motto is “where the West begins,” northeast Nevada’s should be “you’re smack dab in the middle.” Here, I get to wear my turquoise cowboy boots and straw cowboy hat for function; I get to be a cowgirl. Pickens knows the spirit this place elicits in its guests. “I didn’t start this for tourism,” she says, “but why not share it?”

Indeed, Mustang Monument will be open to the public June through September. Beyond vacationing, one-day trips are available too. Your adventure is limited only by your mind’s imagination. And keeping in step with the resort’s surroundings, guests sleep in tepees perched in scenic vistas at the foothills of the Goshute Mountains, much like Native Americans did in the 1800s. Except these are luxury tepees, each painted in a different motif and outfitted with king-size beds, lush linens, hardwood floors with wool rugs, dressers and more beautiful antiques and Western decor from a variety of high-end vendors and retailers. Each tepee has its own adjacent bathroom with a toilet and a shower. In and around your accommodations, you can relax while watching wildlife, play horseshoes or bocce ball, practice archery or even swing in a hammock.

There are also organized activities, like wagon rides and cooking lessons. And though most people – myself included – might imagine beans heated over a fire and coffee you have to chew when thinking of cuisine of the Wild West, Mustang Monument takes cowboy chow to a whole new level. The five-star menu includes delicacies like smoked rainbow trout, black pepper duck confit and seared scallops. Guests eat in the dining-room tepee, which is charmingly decorated with sunflowers, American flags and tabletop lanterns that give the canvas walls a soft glow. Following dinner, guests can relax in the game-room tepee, which has card tables and a bar.

Of course, 19th-century settlers didn’t have it this good, and the resort’s historians will be all too happy to educate you on what life was like for those pioneers. Landscape architects and environmental scientists are also on hand to teach you about your surroundings, while astronomers will help you navigate the night sky. By the end of your stay, you’d be well versed enough to lead a cattle drive across the desert on your own. That is, if your digs weren’t so temptingly comfortable.

Dust devils pirouette harmlessly in the distance, dissipating as rapidly as they form. Pickens tells me about other rescue animals at the preserve, like Tommy, her beloved dachshund, and Nero, a Belgian Malinois that was used in combat for several years. Nero, who has been here a few months, suffers from PTSD and jumps at the slightest noise. He is slowly recovering.

I share pictures of my own rescues: three Shelties, a schnauzer and a cat. Pickens is more than merely courteous as I speak – she’s genuinely interested. After all, she paid for and arranged the rescue of more than 800 dogs and cats from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Later, while I’m resting in my room, there’s a commotion in the kitchen. Pickens’ staff found a Sheltie stumbling into ­traffic on a remote stretch of highway. Matted, tired, hot and nearly run over, he’s now safe – rescued like the mustangs.

On my last morning at Mustang Monument, we indulge in a hearty breakfast and delicious coffee (no chewing required). Our new furry friend greets Pickens with a special Sheltie dance, to which Pickens says, “Hello, Sunshine!” That becomes his name; Sunny for short.

Sunny hangs out with Nero and Tommy while we humans visit a special group of older horses living their last years in luxury. Some are caisson horses whose duty it was to transport service members to their final resting place. Incomprehensibly discarded for slaughter, the horses have been given by Pickens the dignity and respect they deserve. These horses happily saunter up for ear scratches while pronghorn watch from a safe distance.

When the end of my time here comes (far too soon), I say my goodbyes. Pickens has already found a home for Sunny. Sad as I am not to take him home with me, I know Pickens has made sure he has a wonderful life ahead of him. She’s good at that.

To learn more about Madeleine Pickens and her horses, visit
www.mustangmonument.com
www.SavingAmericasMustangs.org

Uncategorized

Ft. McDermitt Unbranded Wild Horses Saved

Leave a comment

Team effort secures a future for slaughter bound mustangs

RENO, Nev. (August 23, 2013) – On Wednesday, US District Court Judge, Miranda Du, lifted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) which allowed for the sale of 149 unbranded wild horses captured by the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe in northern Nevada. Realizing that these unbranded wild horses were likely bound for slaughter in Canada and Mexico, Ginger Kathrens of The Cloud Foundation (TCF) reached out to Victoria McCullough of the Triumph Project in Wellington, Florida. McCullough in turn asked Florida State Senator Joseph Abruzzo to begin negotiating with the tribe and an offer was accepted today.

Behind the scenes, this effort was a collaboration of not only the Cloud Foundation but other organizations committed to horse protection. These include Suzanne Roy and Deniz Bolbol of American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), Ellie Phipps Price, a northern California businesswoman, Madeleine Pickens of Saving America’s Mustang, Jim Hart of Liberty for Horses, Sally Summers of Horse Power, and Neda DeMayo of Return to Freedom, who agreed to provide homes for the 149 animals, which includes 16 mares with foals.

“What an incredible, collaborative effort by all involved,” said Ginger Kathrens. “Acting as a team, and with Victoria’s tremendous support, we are able ensure a future for mustangs that were a heartbeat away from a long journey to slaughter.”

Through the collaborative efforts of the wild horse advocacy groups, and private parties, the purchase of all 149 wild horses has been negotiated. The horses will be going to their permanent and temporary homes in California and Nevada today and tomorrow.

This purchase would not have been necessary if the US Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) weren’t negligent in their duties to protect wild horses and burros as charged by the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The Wild Horse & Burro Act imposes criminal liability for “willfully” removing wild horses from public lands converting wild horses to private use, maliciously causing the harassment of a wild horse or selling a wild horse on private land. This entire roundup should have been stopped by the BLM and USFS until they determined that no wild horses would be included. Instead, the very agencies charged with protecting our wild horses turned their backs.

Initially the USFS planned to bankroll the helicopter roundup of horses from USFS, BLM and reservation land and transport of horses to a slaughter auction, but the USFS issued a “stand down” when TCF, AWHPC, Return to Freedom, and Western Watersheds threatened to file suit for noncompliance with environmental regulations and violation of first amendment rights. Unfortunately the tribe proceeded with the roundup and removal with the intention of selling all the horses at the Fallon Auction house, known for selling to kill buyers.

Both the USFS and tribal members claimed that all the horses were domestic and owned by the tribe, but after examining each of the 467 horses, 149 were discovered to be unbranded. Under the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, “wild free-roaming horses and burros” means all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands of the United States. The horses were rounded up in an area only a few miles from the Little Owyhee Herd Management Area, and many were driven onto the reservation from federal land with BLM and Forest Service approval.

“The entire deal was fraught with subterfuge. Had it not been for the secret leaking out, all of the horses rounded up would have been transported to a slaughter auction at taxpayer expense,” states Kathrens. “This is a blatant misuse of American taxpayer dollars. With 80% of Americans opposed to slaughter, why should taxpayer dollars be used to fulfill this action?”

Over 300 branded horses were sold at auction on Saturday. Approximately 150 were purchased by local residents and rescue groups, the remainder were purchased by kill buyers.

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

Uncategorized

Hide and Go Seek: An Intern’s Quest to Find Horses in White Mountain

Leave a comment

Gladiator on left and Ender on right.

Dear Wild Horse and Burro Fans,
This past weekend my friend Rachel Reeves and I headed to the White Mountain herd near Rock Springs, Wyoming. We had emailed about it for months, but I had only met Rachel in person once before and my excitement grew as we started the drive.

We arrived Saturday morning and right away we saw Rachel’s favorite horse Gladiator. Rachel’s been documenting these horses since 2011 and is very knowledgeable about their history. The dominant color in White Mountain is sorrel and I was in awe of Rachel as she identified their subtle differences in order to ID each band. It’s not like the Pryors where there’s a good chance that you’ll see the band later in your trip. Often we needed to ID the bands quickly from a distance before they had enough of us and moved away.

We were lucky Saturday morning, for another bachelor named Ender joined Gladiator and soon they were making their way to harass some of the band stallions in the area. Ender especially would not give up on one mare. At one point she had at least six different stallions after her. She was cranky and the constant attention did nothing to improve her mood. Even when her own stallion tried to snake her away she would kick at him. He would then be forced to confront the stallions himself.

Eventually, we tore ourselves away in the hope of finding more horses. Later in the day we did find some horses peering at us behind the sea of tall sage. I think this is a typical behavior for these horses. The horses are tall enough to see above the sage, and the sage is tall enough to make a barrier between them and the perceived threat. They can either then decide to leave or stay put. Rarely do they get closer. As the sun set, we said goodnight to the bands and headed to camp.

One of the more relaxed bands at sunset
One of the more relaxed bands at sunset

The next morning, on the way out we spent a couple of hours with the horses we had seen the previous day.  I was beginning to get a handle on some of the names, but it was easiest to ID horses that are Curly. It’s one of the things that make the herd unique. As much fun as it is to visit a new herd it is underscored with a slight feeling of sadness.  For such a large HMA there did not seem to be as many horses as I would have expected. Yet, the BLM is determined to make this herd non-reproducing.

The math does not add up. The White Mountain Horses bring tourists to Rock Springs, so the BLM should work to enhance the herd, not limit it. Many of the bands had only one foal and some mares had lost their foals since Rachel was last there. Clearly PZP and natural selection have been working well for this herd. I would like to see the herd become more publicized and the BLM needs to commit more to the White Mountain horses. At the very least, the BLM needs to add more signage to promote the herd. Not just for the horses, but for the community of Rock Springs. Until that happens I will take all the time with the White Mountain horses I can get and I will enjoy telling stories about the amazing experiences I do get to have.

Yours,
Livi Martin

Livi Martin is a natural resource student at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Before studying at Crookston, she called Burnsville, Minnesota her home. She visited the Pryors for the first time as a teenager and is now interning at TCF. She started her internship in May and will be heading home in August.

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

Uncategorized

Upcoming Appeal Hearing for the Twin Peaks Wild Horses and Burros

Leave a comment

For the first time in the history of the Wild Horse Act, an Appeals Court will determine whether the BLM’s interpretation of the Act is consistent with Congress’s intent to protect these living symbols of the West over 40 years ago. The Twin Peaks roundup resulted in the permanent removal of more than 1,500 wild horses and 160 burros from the range. Fifteen more were killed and 54 mares were injected with immuno-contraceptives before being released. As of August 2012, 977 of the wild horses removed from the range are still incarcerated and 158 more have died. The BLM failed to consider current data regarding ecological resources in the herd management area, and also illegally harassed and captured horses that were not even considered “excess” by their own inappropriate standards. Don’t miss this important hearing – please fill the courtroom and show your support for the Twin Peaks wild horses and burros.

If you are able to be in Southern California in late August, please help plaintiffs IDA and Dream Catcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary fill the courtroom to show your support for the Twin Peaks wild horses and burros! An appeal hearing on the groundbreaking Twin Peaks wild horse lawsuit is scheduled for August 29th at 2 p.m. at the Ninth Circuit Courthouse in Pasadena, California.

What: Appeal Hearing for the Twin Peaks Wild Horses and Burros

When: Thursday, August 29, 2 pm – please arrive no later than 1:30 pm

Where: Ninth Circuit Courthouse, 125 South Grand Ave., Pasadena, CA

No recording devices, cameras, cell phones or electronic devices are allowed in the courtroom. We suggest not bringing any such devices into the courthouse. Photo identification is required to get into the courthouse. If you are planning to attend, RSVP by sending an e-mail to nicolem@idausa.org.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031
idainfo@idausa.org