Palomino Valley ~ by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Despite 100 degree temperatures, the Federal Bureau of Land Management is refusing to provide shade or sprinklers for nearly two thousand warehoused wild horses and burros at its Palomino Valley holding facility north of Reno, Nevada. Native Wild Horse Protection, a S.F. based organization, contacted an equine expert Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian who is calling the situation “critical” and warns the animals are at serious risk of dying from heat related deaths. <
For several weeks, Native Wild Horse Protection and animal welfare supporters have been calling on the BLM to address the lack of shade for the animals, including many young foals, who cannot escape the relentless sun and heat. Unlike their native wild habitat, they are enclosed on barren ground – there is no grass to lay on, nor are there any trees or bushes for shelter from the searing sun and high temperatures. Study of impact of full sun upon surface temperature indicates in 104 degrees, barren ground temperatures will reach 146 degrees in a matter of minutes. Despite numerous calls, James Beck, director of the facility, has not responded to Native Wild Horse Protection nor their supporters, who have offered to donate materials or pay for the construction of an overhead shaded shelter for the animals. Instead, BLM spokeswoman Debbie Collins issued a statement claiming the animals are in no danger from the heat, because “They are wild and used to having no shelter on the range”. Collins went on to say, “A built shelter could collapse and harm the animals”. This is in direct opposition to the BLM’s own requirement that in order to adopt one of the horses or burros, a person must provide proof they have a shelter from the elements available for the animals.
Dr. Lester Friedlander, former Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer with the USDA, and veterinarian for the NY State Horse Racing and Wagering Board, says conditions at the Palomino Valley Center call for “emergency action” by the Federal government to ensure the safety of the animals. He says if the horses and burros are not properly protected from the heat and sun, “countless numbers will be lost to disease, infections and heat-related deaths.”
Native Wild Horse Protection member and supporter Coleen Denson, a Nevada horse advocate, visited the Palomino Valley facility in early June. Several of her photos are attached, showing the conditions the animals live in. While there, she witnessed moldy hay sitting on the ground. She was told by a facility employee that the animals “knew better” and would “eat around” the mold. Dr. Friedlander disagrees: “Eating hay contaminated with mold will surely sicken the horses and burros,” he says, “and if not treated on a timely basis they will succumb to an excruciating death. The spores of the mold will migrate thru the animal and get lodged in the lungs causing them to barely breathe normally.
Last year, Palomino Valley reported that 241 horses and foals died at their facility between 2010 and 2012. However, the Nevada By-Product rendering facility reported that they received 577 horses from Palomino Valley, not 241 – a startling difference in reporting the BLM has yet to be explained. This lack of transparency has horse advocates concerned that these deaths, coupled with the BLM’s failure to comply with even their own basic humane standards of care, is the result of an agency that is willing to let the animals die rather than care for them adequately.
On June 5th, the National Academy of Sciences issued a scathing indictment of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program, concluding that the warehousing of the animals was detrimental to their well-being and calling for sweeping reform of the program. One of the report‘s recommendations was to let the horses and burros stay in their own environment as was mandated by Congress in 1971 with the “Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act”. That law made it a crime for anyone to harass or kill feral horses or burros on Federal land, required the departments of the Interior and Agriculture to protect the animals, required studies of the animals’ habits and habitats, and permitted public land to be set aside for their use. However today, due to countless roundups, there are nearly fifty-thousand horses in government holding facilities, compared to fifteen thousand wild horses and burros still living in the wild.
On June 20th, Congressman Grijalva obtained support of 29 constituents and sent a letter to new Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell for her immediate address and change to set BLM’s wild horse & burro management program onto a sustainable path by making it more humane and cost effective.
With temperatures forecast to once again top 100 degrees in the Reno area next week, animal welfare supporters and organizations are calling on the BLM to do as they are mandated by law and to protect ‘America’s horses’ by providing shelter and/or sprinklers for the horses at the Palomino Valley facility and to immediately remove contaminated, moldy hay from their enclosures.
Yesterday, Coleen Denson concerned about this weekend’s forecasted 105 degree temperatures, contacted the Palomino Valley Center and was curtly informed the facility will be closed and was not provided an answer as to whether or not any BLM personnel would be present to ensure needed water for the horses be provided.
Native Wild Horse Protection, supporters, concerned citizens and animal welfare advocates request the Bureau of Land Management, Palomino Valley Center to immediately provide needed shade and humane care for horses warehoused within, or to open the gates and return these native wild horses and burros to the wild, where they belong by law and are allowed to live out their lives as the Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 1971 intended.<
Contact:
Jetara Séhart, Executive Director, Native Wild Horse Protection
(415)613-7713
“Native Wild Horse” members and supporters:
Monika Courtney, Independent Wild Horse Advocate
Coleen Denson, Photographer, Concerned Citizen
Debbie Catalina, Media Liason, Animal Welfare Advocate
Patty Bumgarner, Palomino Valley Wild Horse Advocate, Photographer
Joanne Cronan-Hamoy, Development Director/Author-Save America’s Wild Horses National Education Youth Campaign
Dr. Lester Friedlander, BA, DVM
(570) 637-3000 iamlfbadvm@pa.net
Related Articles
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- Wild Horse and Burro Advocates Say Enough is Enough to the BLM’s Continued Stampede Tactics (rtfitchauthor.com)
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- 2 Million Bucks: BLM is Mismanaging Wild Horses and Burros – ‘DOINK’ (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Critique of BLM’s Broken Wild Horse & Burro Program (ppjg.me)
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
SHARED!!!
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LET THEM LOOSE INSTEAD!!!!!! ..AT NIGHT… IF I LIVED THERE, I WOULD GET IT DONE …SUCH TORTURING // ABUSE// NEGLECT !!!! HOW ON EARTH CAN THIS BE ALLOWED !! A.S.P.C.A. – HAVE TO GET INVOLVED NOW– IMMEDIATELY !! WHO THE %^%$$%%^ IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ANIMAL- CRUELTY ????? LET THEM LOOSE –BACK TO THE WILD – FOR THE LOVE OF GOD !!!! DO SOMETHING …. I,M SENDING THIS -HORRIFIC- INFO. OVER TO MY EUROPEAN HORSE FRIENDS I HAVE IN THE- U.K … THIS TO CRUEL TO BE TRUE …. MY GOD !!!!
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They are beyond cruel, those inconsiderate fools !!!!!!! They should be made to stand out in the element Naked like the horses do , with no shade or shelter !!!! Release them back to the LAND where they belong , NATURE awaits to help them , and give the Mustangs what the NEED, shade and water Geeze these people have no heart !!! at all, for the LOVE of God PUT THEM BACK !!!!!!!!
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R.T., just when I think I’m going to lose it, your “signature” pulls me back into line, reminding me that the only way to destroy hate and fear and all ills is for me to love, love, love — to see and be nothing but love, and to find love buried under the most wretched circumstances, the most unfair injustices, the most evil events.
It also helps me to pause and reflect that the inverse of EVIL is LIVE. And the only way to truly live is to love. Of course not to love evil in any of its ways, shapes, and forms, but to love goodness so thoroughly that goodness comes to the fore and overtakes all wrongs.
The author you quote also wrote: “Human hate has no legitimate mandate, and no kingdom. Love is enthroned.”
With love from your fellow geek BlessUsAll
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Mystery solved!
Having noticed that R.T.’s opening comment to this blog was suddenly missing and realizing that its disappearance made it look like I was replying to thin air (see my June 27th early morning comment), I tracked down our adventuresome Tibet trekker today and learned that he had a good reason to delete it.
No need to share the whys and wherefores, but I do feel it right to repeat here the “signature” R.T. uses on his emails (the one to which I was referring above) to give my remark context.
These words remind me NOT to take umbrage at what anyone does (BLM officials included):
“O make me glad for every scalding tear, for hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear no ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.”
~ Mary Baker Eddy
I so appreciate fellow advocates’ unrelenting insistence that the BLM do what is best for the wild horses (best from the horses’ point of view, that is).
By refusing to let wrongdoing be perpetuated at Palomino Valley, by exposing and denouncing that wrongdoing, we’re advancing justice for all horses and humans everywhere — even if the results of our calls for action aren’t yet apparent.
My sense is that we citizens of the world are being prodded individually to go higher in our thinking. It seems like we’re realizing that we must stop relying on mere mortal men and mere human laws to govern us as a people and begin to trust more in the immutable law of good — the natural, divine law of harmony which overcomes all discord, including the unfair and unmerciful treatment of our freedom-loving equine friends (and all animals, for that matter).
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I have been saying all along the BLM wants the horses to die…it get’s them off the hook from having to feed and look at them………….
This is making me CRAZY!!! ……The “BLM” talks out both sides of their mouth….. Tell you what you must have to be considered for adoption…. ..But they do not abide by their own rules!@!@!@@…………I have an application to adopt one and it clearly requires shelter.
I am very sad for our Mustangs in this heat!!!!.I wished I could be there to hose them down…
My horses enjoyed the hose in the 100 degree heat today…..
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These conditions are deplorable, Scorching sun and no shelter. Disgracefully inhumane. Please act urgently to protect these horses and foals from this relentless heat. It is tantamount to being baked alive.
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This is Horrific for the Mustangs in the wild they rest under the trees, the BLM better just PUT OUR MUSTANGS BACK< and spend our hard earned cash we pay them ,to give them whAT IS THEIRS FREEDOM, …… The whole entire thing of round ups is totally ridiculous !!!!! PUT OUR TREASURES BACK damn it !!!!!!!! USE MY MONEY TO HELP THEM !!!!!!!!
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The spin BLM’s PR people put on this fail to take into account that in the wild, wild horses can get UNDER TREES or move to a higher elevation that is cooler or have other ways to deal with the elements. Also, BLM says they can’t use 3 sided shelters. So, how about (for snow) a steeply pitched roof on 4 posts? Aren’t there any engineers at any of the government agencies that the BLM can “partner” with to work on this issue and get some workable ideas?
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A series of shelter roofs could be suspended from a heavy one sided base on the outside of the fence. These could be interspersed along the fence lines. And as long as they are based where the horses could not get at it and higher than they could rear to, then they could be made out of a variety of materials that would be safe and efficient to use. And making many would give more individuals the chance to seek shade and the shade areas would be longer as the day passes.
It is very possible to design something.
But what I would prefer is for this entire mass abusive mess be put to rest and all those captives set free. NOW.
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YEp, people use that engineering for cover shades in their backyards. Its called cantilever and is as old as the hills.
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Yes, Jan, it is Cantilever! It is just stationary.
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I WILL make the call tomorrow for sure, just so sick, and for me it is very very hard not to be really angry at these people and want nothing but bad to happen to this Organization in all that they have done and are doing, I can’t help it, I don’t want anyone to get hurt I want PAYBACK in full if you know what I mean….. anyway I will call for sure and call can call….. COUNT ON IT!!!
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So this is how the BLM is “saving” wild horses from “starvation” and “drought” – by warehousing them in large dirt pens with absolutely no relief from the sun or any other kind of weather, and feeding them moldy hay – which every real horseman knows kills horses – how about their water? Is it nice and hot too sitting directly in the sun? I can’t even see water troughs in the photo. This is “saving” them? Are they buying cheap moldy “cow hay” or is it going moldy on their property from the stack being rained on? If there hasn’t been any rain in awhile my guess is they’re buying it that way. Then there’s chasing them around the hot pen in a big flatbed truck trying to cut one horse out of the herd. And they still have the nerve to call themselves “wild horse and burro specialists,” amazing…. and utterly disgusting.
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Please bear in mind folks we need to be pressuring Congress to intervene in emergency circumstances and keep telling Congress the truth. This is a ploy by pro-slaughter to attempt to show these animals need slaughtered or deaths will occur. Keep in mind, this is a ploy, whether it appears as though they are attempting to avoid a report or advice, this is a decision to kill to allow slaughter. The people behind this filthy scene are the same people who are advocating ‘they believe in animal welfare”. We need to push all these articles into the public eye. The city people they refer too, and the animal owners who are savvy to this type of harassment of animals, the taxpayers, and the politicians who are still divided on what choice to make. To get this out there in the public eye to get feedback prior to pro-slaughter using it as a knife to be able to claim this is a result of no slaughter plants. Its just like the tribal horses they are pushing to their deaths and calculating the money they will making off the blood flowing. I refuse to allow the BLM to squander my taxdollars while they sit on their thumbs and pretend to care meanwhile collecting paychecks off the millions that should have already been spent over the years to build shelters for emergencies like now. I want, no I demand, no, I’ll ask like my grandfather before me…where the HELL did my tax dollars go? and why are these horses suffering? I refuse to allow slaughter because they refuse to use the money properly over the past several decades and offer shelter and the basic care due to the unnatural circumstances the BLM has housed them in. This is the epitomy of animal cruelty!
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It is true that even if the BLM were not removing wild horses and burros that having adequate shelter at this adoption center would have been an intelligent move. I know I would die out there. Foals will. Who knows how many others will?
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Would it help if we contacted Senator Moran? We need to talk to the people who can REALLY help with this emergency. We need to take action immediately.
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Rep Jim Moran (VA)….he is in the House.
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please save these poor horses this is a slow cruel death sentence!!
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What is wrong with these people surely they must understand that these shelters are so important all animals must have shelter from very high temperature’s common sense if they really care about these animals as they say they do provide these and good hay etc
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Where are the activists of the 1970s?
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Some of them are here.
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As we all know, these horses would be better off in the wild where they could find shelter from the sweltering heat and food and water in their migrations. Cut the dammed fences and let these animals go free. They’ll take care of themselves. Damn the murderous BLM!
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The Wild Horse Sanctuary in Shingletown, Ca has approx the same number of mustangs as Palomino Valley, spread over 5,000 acres. Two weeks ago with temps in the 80’s, I rode 11 hours over 3 days and saw only a dozen horses NOT in the shade. Those 12 were at a waterhole.
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I’ll be that was a great ride??….perfect day and weather.. Nice to hear all the horses at that Beautiful Sanctuary are doing well??
Why can’t there be another place like that for the remaining Mustangs at hell hole formerly known as “Palomino Valley”? Until they can be released one day?? I guess I am dreaming??
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Wondeif they could order some canvas tent tops that people use for large outdoor gatherings. Something that would provide shade but not block the breeze. On the hottest days of summer the mares in the pasture where my horses are like to stand at the top of the hill where there is a really good breeze. There are lots of woods around the pasture, so there is always natural shelter. But you wouldn’t want to block the breeze in summer. There is a standard size frame for building an indoor arena roof. This is difficult because their are so many horses in each pen. No private owner would have that many horses in such a small space. Dominant horses may try to keep less dominant horses out.
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LET THEM LOOSE INSTEAD!!!!!! ..AT NIGHT… IF I LIVED THERE, I WOULD GET IT DONE …SUCH TORTURING // ABUSE// NEGLECT !!!! HOW ON EARTH CAN THIS BE ALLOWED !! A.S.P.C.A. – HAVE TO GET INVOLVED NOW– IMMEDIATELY !! WHO THE %^%$$%%^ IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ANIMAL- CRUELTY ????? LET THEM LOOSE –BACK TO THE WILD – FOR THE LOVE OF GOD !!!! DO SOMETHING …. I,M SENDING THIS -HORRIFIC- INFO. OVER TO MY EUROPEAN HORSE FRIENDS I HAVE IN THE- U.K … THIS TO CRUEL TO BE TRUE …. MY GOD !!!!
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Thank you for posting. This is a very bad day for all of us. Sec. Jewell needs to be bombarded with messages to change this.
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Please stop this despicable treatment .
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Join the TweetStorm: https://www.facebook.com/events/505462482856688/
Link for Retweet:https://twitter.com/sooozanne/status/350997353995571200
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This is torture / abuse why is this even going on !!!!!?? Rip them from happy homes to die like this ??????? Millions of cows!!!!! I bet they wouldn’t be left like this !! Oh no !!! They are money !!Greedy people !!! not even a quarter of horses left and 1100 acres to one !!!Horses help build this world !! If your gonna kill them like this!!!! at least give them food and shelter & water or make them out to adopt !! Ohh but You can’t adopt one unless there’s criteria involved so how is this even close !!!!! Not right !! Let them go !!!!! Waste of life and money!!!!!
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Free these horse , there is no reason to keep them cage with no cover in the heat .. There is no reason to keep them Period !!! This is animal abuse and we as a nation are watching U!!
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I am heartsick over the treatment of these animals. Please sign the petition and share it too. Thanks. http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shade-for-captive-wild-horses-and-burros
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