Archive for July 7, 2010

Opposition Grows for California Roundup of 2,500 Wild Horses and Burros

Posted: July 7, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Press Release from The Cloud Foundation

Northern CA Twin Peaks herd is targeted for a destructive multi-million dollar summer roundup

San Francisco, CA (July 7, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation opposes and is calling for a stop to the proposed roundup of over 2,500 mustangs and burros from one of the last viable herds in California. To avoid conflicting with deer hunting season, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to unleash contracted helicopters in the August heat to round up 2,500 mustangs and burros, including their young foals, from the Twin Peaks Range near Susanville. Vastly outnumbered by thousands of corporate-owned destructive livestock, the public’s wild horses and burros are the BLM’s scapegoats for damage on the range. Over 2,000 are now slated for removal despite healthy range conditions and an outdated census.

Anne Novak, with the Cloud Foundation, is an East Bay resident and fifth generation Californian. She visited the HMA outside of Susanville last week and recounts, “We were looking forward to seeing a lot of wild horses on the range after hearing the BLM’s reasons for the proposed roundup but we didn’t see any horses at all. We found three pronghorn and a small group of burros after covering the range all day on safari.”

The Twin Peaks wild horse and burro herd area is larger than the state of Rhode Island at 1,250 square miles. Despite the vast landscape, BLM wants to slash the herd from what they claim are 2,585 horses and burros to only 450 wild horses and 74 burros.

“We spent all day with BLM on a scheduled tour, combing the Twin Peaks area looking for wild horses and burros. We found a grand total of 20 wild horses including one foal and no burros,” explains Deb Coffey who traveled from Los Angeles to see the horses. “I really don’t believe that there are thousands of wild horses in the area.”

The BLM census estimates have come under increased scrutiny after the Calico round up in which 1,922 horses could be found, even though BLM had estimated that closer to 3,000 wild horses occupied an area of over half a million acres. The Twin Peaks numbers are based on even wilder projections. BLM numbers indicate that the herd has doubled in size in three years—a biological impossibility.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation, Ginger Kathrens, has filed comments on behalf of thousands of supporters who want a freeze on all the roundups until an accurate and independent census is completed and a sustainable management plan is in effect.

“Obviously BLM doesn’t have a handle on how many wild horses and burros are living in their designated ranges,” explains Kathrens. “Twin Peaks is a perfect example of a lack of scientific range data which would include an accurate census. None of the numbers add up and nothing is consistent except BLM’s mismanagement of America’s treasured wild horses and burros.”

Carla Bowers, of Volcano California reminds fellow residents that the public may “voice their opposition to the rounding up of the increasingly rare California wild horses by calling Senator Feinstein at 415-393-0707 and Senator Boxer at 916-448-2787 as well as sending emails and faxes of concern to the Senators and their representatives.”

The BLM Eagle Lake Field Office in Susanville, which manages the Twin Peaks herd, reports receiving some 2,300 letters requesting cancellation of the roundup from individuals and groups but only 15 letters supporting the planned removal. Despite growing public outrage over BLM’s continuing massive roundups, which condemn wild horses to a life of confinement at taxpayer expense, BLM is expected to select alternative A (removing the maximum number of wild horses and burros) while allowing thousands of head of livestock to dominant the range.

“BLM prefers to excessively grant land use to damaging livestock rather than honor the wild horse’s unique place in the western ecosystem. If the government would consider adaptive and holistic management of America’s public land we would all reap the benefits,” adds wildlife ecologist and author, Craig Downer, who has spent 40 years on the range studying the survival strategies and contributions wild equids make to their home ranges. “When is BLM going to bring science to the table and give wild horses and the American taxpayer a break?”

The Cloud Foundation continues to ask for DOI’s assurance that the elimination of wild horse and burro herds across the West is not motivated by extractive industries.  This is difficult to believe because tens of thousands of privately-owned livestock are grazing on herd management areas across the West and oil and gas exploration is rampant in some herd areas.

“We want to safeguard our wild horses and burros on public lands and stop these dangerous roundups. We want an independent census to know exactly how many are out there,” explains Novak, continuing with, “Once they’re gone they’re gone forever. This heritage area is the home of the last stronghold of wild mustangs in California.”

Quick facts on California’s Wild Horses and Burros
Lost herds on lost ground:

At the passage of the Wild horse and burro act of 1971 there were 38 Herds designated for protection on a total of 6.6 million acres of public land. Today only 22 remain on a mere 2.4 million acres. Livestock Grazing is allowed on 8.1 million acres (including acres allocated to wild horses and burros). BLM estimates that the current population of California wild horses/burros is 4,952 and aims to reduce that to only 2,201 animals. Currently approximately 43,750 privately-owned livestock graze on California’s public lands at highly subsidized rates.

Financial Cost of the Proposed Twin Peaks Roundup & Review of Grazing Fees

10,460 cattle and up to 22,000 sheep are permitted to graze on the Twin Peaks area while BLM’s “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) for burros falls short of genetic viability at a range of 72-116 and for wild horses is unreasonably low at 448-758. The estimated revenues generated annually from livestock grazing fees of $1.35 per cow/calf per month is $120,000 while the cost of the proposed roundup/processing of 1,980 wild horses and burros (assuming 420 of these will be adopted) is at least $4.2 million: 35 times annual grazing revenues. Additional costs of 1500 wild horses placed in long-term holding for a five year period adds $3.5 million to the cost of the proposed action. Grazing revenues for the same 5 year period don’t come close to covering the cost at only $600,000 gross. Nationwide the public lands ‘welfare’ grazing program costs taxpayers well over $123 million per year.

Links of interest:

Proposed Roundup of Wild Horses Criticized – Sacramento Bee 7/5/10 http://bit.ly/SacBeeMustang

BLM Eagle Lake Field Office Roundup Planning Documents http://bit.ly/EagleLakeBLM

The Mustang Conspiracy: Sex, Drugs, Corruption, and BP – investigative report http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press)

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE

Disappointment Valley… A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

American Herds Blog http://americanherds.blogspot.com/

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Roundup Schedule- updated July 2010 http://bit.ly/2010roundup

PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Straight from the Horse’s Heart http://www.sfthh.com

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation ~ Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. – Colorado Springs, CO 80905 – 719-633-3842
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EWA and Animal Law Coalition Call for Federal Investigation into BLM Covert Wild Horse Roundup

Posted: July 7, 2010 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Breaking News from Horseback Magazine

Doubt Cast On Pilot Valley “Estray” Horses Rounded-Up By BLM

CHICAGO, (EWA) – On June 23, 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District office buried on its website a notice that  approximately 175 “abandoned, domestic, estray” horses located within Pilot Valley, NV, were scheduled for impoundment beginning June 25. The round up was expected to take 3 – 4 days with corrals set up on nearby private land owned by Simplot Land and Livestock until the horses could be transported and placed under the jurisdiction of the State of Nevada.

According to Nevada laws, an estray is a horse that is found running loose on public lands but shows signs of domestication and the owner is unknown. A horse is considered “feral” under Nevada law if the animal was domesticated or is the offspring of domesticated horses and has become wild with no physical signs of domestication. The state of Nevada owns estray and feral horses. Wild horses and free-roaming Mustangs are protected by the BLM under the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

Nevada authorities plan to sell the horses rounded up by the BLM at auction on July 10. The horses will be available to all buyers and are therefore at risk of ending up at slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada.

But serious questions are being raised as to whether these horses are, in fact, estray or feral. After investigating the history and location of the Pilot Valley area, wild horse advocates found Pilot Valley sits at the edge of a known wild horse territory called the Toano Wild Horse Herd Area. BLM wanted to make this area “horse free” in 1993, but according to BLM’s Program statistics, approximately 168 wild horses were reported as still residing in the Toano range as of last year.

The proximity and near identical number of horses has lead mustang advocates to speculate that the horses the BLM rounded up as estray might actually be wild horses from the Toano range that are entitled to roam free under federal protection. How, they ask, does BLM know these horses are estray or feral and not wild horses?

Suspicions are further fueled by the unusual suddenness of the roundup, just 48 hours after notice of the removal was posted.  “These horses will go from free roaming to sold in fifteen days or less with tight security at the facilities where they are now being held,” said Valerie James Patton, Vice President of Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA).

“Even BLM’s own news release stated those horses had been there a long time, long enough to grow in size”, Patton added.  “So now the question becomes, how long is a long time?  Since 1993 when BLM filed papers to zero out the Toano Herd Area?”

“Given the long history of abuse and impropriety that has characterized the Wild Horse & Burro Program, I have to ask,” said EWA’s Vicki Tobin, “Did BLM openly remove federally protected wild horses from the range to sell them for slaughter because they have no fear of being held accountable? It would be illegal for BLM to round up wild horses declaring them estray and turn them over to the State. The BLM is prohibited from sending wild horses to slaughter, whether directly or indirectly.”

While questions have begun surfacing as to the true status of the Pilot Valley horses, Laura Allen of Animal Law Coalition and EWA points out, ” Before selling estray horses, the state is supposed to use reasonable diligence to try to find the owner including placing a notice about the estray with a full description in the local paper. BLM’s news release states these are domestic estray horses abandoned by local residents. So why isn’t an effort being made to find the local owners and hold them responsible to care for these horses instead of rushing these horses off for instant sale?”

“Another concern is, there are very specific definitions as to how to determine estray and feral livestock from federally protected wild horses and so far, the only thing we’ve seen is a take-our-word-for-it position from officials”, she said.

“The Department of Interior has an almost unblemished reputation as a consistent source of scandal, mismanagement and corruption,” explained EWA president John Holland, “starting with Teapot Dome in the Harding Administration through to the current disaster in the Gulf. So when things look this suspicious, questions are bound to arise.”

In fairness to the BLM, EWA contacted them on July 1, to ask how they determined the horses were estray and is still awaiting a response.

EWA calls for a federal investigation to find out how BLM determined these horses are not the federally protected wild horses from the Toano range, which should include genetic testing and an accounting of the Toano wild horses.

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