Tag Archives: wild horses

*Featured/Spotlights

Trigger’s Final Surprise, by Ginger Kathrens

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A few short months ago, I got a surprise nighttime text and photos from our Freedom Family caretakers Jaime and Jeremy Wade. Mae West had a newborn foal. Knock me over with a feather.

Our aging stallion Trigger passed away last fall, and I imagined that with his death, there would be no more foals. Before he passed, we had darted Mae West (our only mare to foal in the past few years) with the safe and reversible fertility control PZP. But every once in a while, a mare will not respond to the vaccine. Mae sure fits into that category, but who can be sorry when the result is so beautiful?

Last week, great friends of The Cloud Foundation, Cynthia Smoot, her husband Bill Weller, and their friend Karen traveled east with me to visit our “Freedom Family” mares and our still unnamed filly. She is bold as brass and gave Bill a chance to nearly touch the wild!

Would you help us name her? We want to have a naming contest. When you make a donation of any size to help us support the Freedom Family, you can submit one name to be considered for Trigger’s ‘last surprise.’

With a father named Trigger, mom Mae West, and sisters Josie and Calamity Jane, we hope you have fun coming up with a name for this little filly. As a thank you, we’ll send an autographed 8×10 photograph of her if your name is selected.

It truly takes a village to both keep wild horses in the wild and to keep our Freedom Family horses safe and protected in their Colorado home. Please consider helping us name this new member of the Freedom Family and making a donation to support our important work.

Submit your suggestions by next Sunday, August 21st to be considered.

Happy trails,
Ginger

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

*Featured/Spotlights

Honoring Cloud, Wild Stallion of the Rockies

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Cloud ©GingerKathrens.

Happy Birthday, Cloud!

The magnificent stallion who taught millions the importance of being wild and free was born 27 years ago.

Today, we celebrate the indomitable spirit of Cloud. His courageous heart and wild spirit made millions fall in love with wild mustangs in Ginger Kathrens’ first documentary: Cloud, Wild Stallion of the Rockies.

This year, perhaps more than EVER, we are very aware of the dangers facing our wild horses and burros. Massive government roundups tear wild families apart; horses are injured and killed, and holding facilities have become breeding grounds for disease.

The Cloud Foundation was created by Ginger to fight for wild families like Cloud’s. It’s a difficult battle against the behemoth that is the federal government, but we won’t EVER give up.

Today, on the magnificent Cloud’s birthday, we’re asking for your help, if you can. For as little as $5/month you can join our herd as a Cloud Foundation sponsor — OR you can choose to give $10, $25, $50, or more.

Legal Action

Lawsuits are often the only way to stop the WORST BLM plans. TCF has won many suits over the years on our own and in collaboration with other groups. In 2017, we sued to stop a roundup in the Pryor Mountains, and more recently, we succeeded in halting the barbaric ovariectomy experiments planned for the Warm Springs mares in Oregon.

Lawsuits are SO expensive. We need to keep our legal fund robust in order to fight future BLM actions.

Educating members of Congress

Most legislators hear only from the BLM and livestock lobby. Congress was sold a terrible plan for mass removals, which is what is now driving the destruction of our wild herds.

We must teach our legislators that wild horses and burros are not overpopulated on public lands, but commercial livestock sure are. We are carrying the message that wild horses and burros deserve their fair share on the range, and we’re NOT giving up.

Cloud and his mother, Phoenix, shortly after he was born. Photo by Ginger Kathrens.

Careful documentation of Cloud’s herd

Ginger Kathrens has worked tirelessly for 3 decades to educate the public about wild horses. TCF takes an active interest in the management of the Pryor mustangs, and fights for them and for all our wild herds.

We fight for fair allocation of forage, humane on-range management, and protecting their wild behaviors, which means no fertility control that would affect natural hormone production.

Rescue Operations and the Freedom Family

TCF provides sanctuary for the “Freedom Family,” a rescued band of Pryor mustangs saved after the horrible 2009 helicopter roundup.

We also partner with our allies in equine rescue to save mustangs and burros in danger when we can. Rescue operations are costly, but every single life is important.

Regular news and action alerts

We work hard to ensure you have the opportunity to speak out against bad BLM plans. As Americans, we have the RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to participate in our government. It is one of the most important things we can do to protect our wild horses and burros.

Supporting TCF is easy. If you can’t give monthly, consider a one-time donation. Every contribution quite literally makes a difference.

Thank you so much for all you do.

The Cloud Foundation team
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

Help Protect Nevada’s Marietta Wild Burros

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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has so mismanaged America’s wild burros that the hardy little animals are currently facing a genetic crisis.

Despite knowing this, BLM does nothing to address the crisis they’ve created. Instead, they continue to round up our wild burros, knowing full well they’re keeping the burro populations so low that the animals are forced to inbreed.

There isn’t a worse example of their utter FAILURE to adhere to best practices and carry out their responsibility to manage “healthy self-sustaining populations.”

Please take a minute to speak up for the Marietta Wild Burros today.

The BLM wants to remove 400 of the 500 burros in this area — 80% of the population! We MUST stop this dangerous, broken cycle of roundups and stockpiling — and that starts with raising our voices to tell BLM we DO NOT support this plan.

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

*Featured/Spotlights

Tell BLM to Put Cameras on Roundup Helicopters

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Sick and old wild horses and burros and foals are terrorized, injured, and killed in helicopter roundups.

They are chased in extreme heat in the summer and below freezing temperatures in winter. They are driven countless miles — no one knows for sure how many, because no one monitors the helicopters.

Heavily pregnant mares are sometimes pursued so long and hard that they miscarry their foals, sometimes on the run, due to the physical stress caused by the chase.

We know how the Bureau of Land Management uses helicopters is inhumane — and The Cloud Foundation is dedicated to changing BLM policy, to get cameras on the roundup helicopters, trap sites, and roundup holding facilities.

Just like law enforcement cameras, this would help to ensure transparency, accountability, and added protection for our wild horses and burros.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!

Submit your personalized comments by clicking here and demanding BLM incorporate cameras on each stage of the roundup activity — on helicopters, on the trap, and on holding sites.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org