Posts Tagged ‘burro’

A Life and Death Plea for HELP from our Braying Buddies

Posted: April 5, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Wild Burros
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Lots more to learn and little time to do it – our comments are due TODAY – 4/5/2013

In our opinion, this Hickison Wild Burro Complex (USFS/BLM) proposal is a gigantic step toward zeroing out ALL the Wild Burros.  We quote the USFS document: “…the authorized officer should consider setting the AML at zero.”   Yes, it does say ZERO – read it for yourself on the below link.

Per BLM stats, Nevada has lost (zeroed out) over 10 million acres that were legally designated by Congress as Wild Horse and Burro land already and this looks like they plan to add the Hickison Wild Burro Complex to this.

To give us a generalized idea how many burros could be supported by this Hickison Complex, BLM has stated that it could take up to 240 acres to support one horse per year.  The Hickison Complex (USFS/BLM) is 109,845 acres thus it could support over 400 burros.

Livestock grazing uses 1,100 AUMs per year and these AUMs by law belong to the Wild Burro and could support more than 92 MORE burros.

Wild burros are legally DESIGNATED on the Hickison Complex and livestock are PERMITTED.

Definition of the word “designated” is to “set aside for” or “assign” or “authorize”.  Definition of “permit” is to “allow” or “let” or “tolerate”.  The Hickison Complex land is set aside by Congress for the authorized use of Wild Burros whereas the livestock is only allowed or let to use the public range resources.

Any regulation or policy by any agency that does NOT come under the umbrella of the LAW is thus illegal.  The law is the law not only for me to follow but especially for our governmental agencies and their employees to follow.  The Wild Horses and Wild Burros and their legally designated land belongs to YOU and ME.  Please give your voice for our braying buddies.

“Hickison Wild Burro Territory Appropriate Management Levels and Management Actions Project”  … more information:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72BTUwMTAwgAykeaxRtBeY4WBv4eHmF-YT4GMHkidBvgAI6EdIeDXIvfdrAJuM3388jPTdUvyA2NMMgyUQQAyrgQmg!!/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfS000MjZOMDcxT1RVODBJN0o2MTJQRDMwODQ!/?project=40995

AND

http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/93330_FSPLT2_382343.pdf

To provide comments on the Proposed Action, please go to:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/htnf/hickison
(their email form)

USFS District Ranger, Austin Ranger District
100 Midas Canyon Road, P.O. Box 130
Austin, Nevada 89310

More Wild Burro information:
https://www.facebook.com/Wild.Burro.Protection.League
www.facebook.com/SavingAssInAmerica

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Donkey’s Stage and Screen Life Story Told in New Book

Posted: February 10, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, The Force of the Horse
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from the pages of the BBC

Mistreated, neglected and moments from slaughter, the future looked pretty bleak for Pollyanne the donkey until an Oxfordshire sanctuary came to her rescue

“It’s “Feel Good Sunday” and it is almost difficult to take time off from the EU Horse Slaughter/Meat Scandal, the BLM’s typical propaganda that we can hardly see the light of day for all of the alligators; BUT we are going to take a few moments off and share an interesting story with you so that we can take a few hours off and reflect on why we do what we do.  Tomorrow we can get back to business and we have some great things planned for the horses in the next several weeks so hang in there, we are making progress.  Keep the faith and it is ALL about the horses.” ~ R.T.

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Pollyanne and John McLaren behind the scenes of Carmen at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Pollyanne and John McLaren behind the scenes of Carmen at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Dubbed “a great scene-stealer” by legendary operatic tenor Placido Domingo, Pollyanne went from the knacker’s yard to the West End stage in less than a decade.

Believe it or not, this rags-to-riches fairytale has now become the subject of a book telling the grey mare’s life story.

From the Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary in Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell, near Wallingford, the next stop for Pollyanne turned out to be the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

But, it could all have been so different for the 22-year-old had sanctuary owner John McLaren not decided to take Pollyanne in and nurture her back to health.

Salami meat

He said: “She came from the horse sales market near Salisbury where she had been earmarked for slaughter in March 1997.

“Her owner was reluctant to let me have her at first as at the time, there was a great demand for donkey meat among Italians for salami.

“But, with a little persuasion he came round and Pollyanne was ours.

“Sadly, she had been taken to the market with very badly overgrown and mishaped hooves. She was turning them in and actually stepping over herself to get moving.

“When she first arrived with us, she was not a very happy donkey at all and was in a lot of pain. You couldn’t get near her for her kicking you, but slowly in time she came around.”

Pollyanne has shared the stage with operatic tenor Placido Domingo

Pollyanne has shared the stage with operatic tenor Placido Domingo

Pollyanne soon became a great companion and her first acting job was for the Kempton Theatre in Henley-On-Thames, wandering around the town with an advertising board previewing future performances.

It was during this time that she and John, 65, were spotted by a representative from agency Animal Ambassadors. On the spot, they were offered the chance to go to London to audition for a coveted part in a production of Italian opera Pagliacci.

Stage presence

“I was more nervous than the donkey to be honest on the first day we went to London for rehearsals,” recalled Mr McLaren.

“But I need not have been, Pollyanne proved a big hit and before we knew it, she was a natural on stage.”

For the last seven years, Pollyanne and Mr McLaren have performed hand-in-hand in productions of Bizet’s Carmen, taking the stage together as extras with added presence.

Pollyanne’s other artistic credits include appearances in episodes of Midsomer Murders as well as church services at Christmas and on Palm Sunday, where she regularly leads a procession through Wantage.

Her portfolio also includes a photoshoot in Vogue.

Away from the bright lights of the opera house stage, Pollyanne shares a stable with three other female donkeys at the Island Farm Sanctuary.

Mr McLaren, who has run the sanctuary for more than 20 years, said putting Pollyanne’s story into print seemed a logical next step.

He said: “It’s been quite a rollercoaster ride for her and it’s quite a sad story in places, but one all ages will enjoy.”

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Bobbie Watson Wants to Tell Shooter Who Killed Miniature Donkey ‘What They Took Away’

Posted: January 22, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News
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Owner doesn’t want shooter punished

LYONS, Colo. – A month after someone used a high-powered rifle to kill a miniature donkey in an otherwise peaceful pasture near Lyons, the animal’s owner Bobbie Watson still asks why?

For six years the Watsons — Bobbie and her husband, Tim — have raised two miniature donkeys, Kaitlyn and her brother, Tucker.

“We’re very close to our animals,” Watson told 7NEWS photojournalist Major King. “The donkeys were our companions.  And they were joyful and they were lovely and they were fun to watch and they were fun to play with.”

“They have excellent memories,” she said. “They kept the coyotes off the property. They kept the grasslands down.”

But that all changed — suddenly and violently — on Dec. 21.

Bobbie Watson knew something was wrong when Tucker came up to her without his usually inseparable sister, Kaitlyn.

Watson went looking for the small donkey and found her dead.

“She was lying there and she was cold,” the owner said. “I’m a nurse…and I saw the bullet holes. Somebody shot my donkey.”

Watson believes the shooter fired from Rock Wedge Drive, hitting the donkey grazing about 75 yards from the road.

“Kaitlin got shot once straight through the chest and once up through the neck ,” Watson said.

Yet, Bobbie Watson said, “I don’t want to see this person punished.”

“I would love to see them caught, just so that I could explain to them what they took away — that sense of peace and some of the beauty of this valley is gone,” she said.

“Just to say, ‘Would you think twice?’” Don’t do this again. Don’t do this again,” Watson said. “Because anger doesn’t get you anything… Forgiveness pays forward and that’s a valuable price.”

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said it has not identified any suspects in the shooting.

Bobbie Watson said sheriff’s investigators told her the best hope to solve the case is if the shooter tells someone what happened and that person comes forward to authorities.

Click (HERE) to visit Channel 7 and to Comment

BLM Reneges on Promise to Return Native Wild Horses to their Rightful Range

Posted: November 10, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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News Update from Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Making Policy on the Fly, as Usual

BLM’s Wild Horse Harvesting Machine coming to an HMA near YOU! ~ by John Holland

As predicted by many wild horse and burro advocates the BLM has decided to keep and forever imprison the wild horses it has stampeded and captured in the Nevada Wassuk Herd Management area under the guise of an “emergency” and a trumped up excuse that it is for the benefit of the horses.

In a recent news interview Terri Knutson, BLM Stillwater Field Manager stated;

“These horses are in such poor condition, it’s not really an option to release them back to the same circumstances they came from.  Lack of forage because of excessive drought conditions and overpopulation of animals are worse than it has been in years.”

The BLM’s original plan was to stampede and capture 475 wild horses and permanently remove 250 wild horses from their rightful  range. As many as 250 wild horses were promised to be released back to the range following the helicopter stampede—mares having been vaccinated with a fertility vaccine and a skewed sex ratio of 60 percent males and 40 percent females on the range to further hasten the herd’s destruction.

But by using the new anti-horse tool of “emergency” and “we care about the horses” the BLM claims that due to poor body condition of the majority of the captured and imprisoned horses won’t be released back into the wild.  This action circumvents standing Environmental Assessments and any pending legal litigation as to the BLM strives to manage America’s wild horses and burros into extinction.

The BLM estimated, with no third party verification, that the pre-stampede population was approximately 625 wild horses and their  unjustified appropriate management level for the HMA is 110-165.  It is currently unknown how many wild horses will remain on their rightful land after the BLM wild horse harvesting machine has concluded it’s operation at Wassak.

The BLM continues to delude the public, and elected officials, on the the number of horses in the wild while selling captured horses to known killer buyer for slaughter and human consumption.

A Congressional Investigation is long over-due for this special interest pandering agency.

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Judge Dismisses Wild Horse Suit

Posted: October 6, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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By on Sat, Oct 6, 2012

“BLM has  said the horses don’t fall under the protections of the Wild Horse and Burro Act…”

A federal judge has dismissed a case filed by a group of Placitas wild horse enthusiasts against Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, the Bureau of Land Management and an Algodones man the suit claimed was working with the BLM to round up the horses.

Members of the Wild Horse Observers Association filed the lawsuit last year, claiming Salazar and the BLM violated a 1971 federal law designed to protect wild horses because they have never recognized horses that roam around Placitas as wild.

The group later amended the lawsuit to seek an injunction preventing the BLM and Al Baca from capturing, transporting or allowing the sale of the horses except as permitted by the Wild Horse and Burro Act. It claimed Baca was working with the BLM and planning to capture and sell the roaming Placitas horses.

Late last month, U.S. District Court Judge Christina Armijo denied the association’s request to further amend its case and granted Baca’s request to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled.

In her order, Armijo granted Baca’s request because the Wild Horse Act does not provide for an action filed by a private group or individual. It also said the law the association sought relief under did not apply to a “non-governmental defendant.”

Wild Horse Observers Association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and preserve horses that roam freely in Placitas and their habitat.

The lawsuit claimed removal of the horses would harm association members who enjoy observing, photographing and writing about the horses.

BLM representatives have said the horses don’t fall under the protections of the Wild Horse and Burro Act because they belong to San Felipe Pueblo and were not therefore classified as wild.

The lawsuit disputed that position, saying the pueblo has never made efforts to claim the horses and the BLM is breaking the law by not recognizing them as wild and protecting them.

San Felipe Gov. Anthony Ortiz recently disagreed with the BLM position in a letter to Association members and its President Patience O’Dowd.

“Contrary to statements made by others, neither San Felipe nor any of its members claims the wild horses as private property or views them as livestock,” the Sept. 5 letter stated.

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A Slick In The Night

Posted: October 1, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, The Force of the Horse, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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A Guest Editorial by Valerie James-Patton ~ of the Equine Welfare Alliance

“It’s our job to disburse those horses so we do our best to get rid of as many as we can.”

“On Saturday we published an OpEd that raised a few eyebrows and, thankfully, increased a few folks awareness regarding inconsistencies within the advocacy that attempt to utilize trauma and drama to drive personal agendas and most importantly that we have been aware of and almost had the chance to verify that the BLM sells “sale authority” wild horses to kill buyers who run them across the boarder for slaughter and a fast buck.  Our installment today takes it one step further to the point where the BLM actually plays a shell game and juggles the numbers of wild horses captured so…well, read on.

This article was written July 29th, 2010 and it is just as relevant, if not more so, as it was then.  The BLM is just an election date away of declaring a fiscal emergency where all horses in holding will be declared “sale authority” and tens of thousands will be hauled off to slaughter, hence the reason we wanted the now botched investigation to succeed so that we had a chance of heading this massacre off.  None the less, the editorial below will shock and inflame you so if you are sitting down, buckle yourself in as this is going to be a very bumpy and painful ride.” ~ R.T.

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We keep hearing the upsetting stories from our wild horse advocates living in Nevada near the BLM wild horse holding facilities about wild horses being hauled in the middle of the night and disappearing. We hear it often.

We’ve been told by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), that’s to prevent the horses from getting overheated during the high temperatures in the hot summer months, but that doesn’t fly when we hear of it happening during the cold winter months.

When numbers from BLM reports don’t add up, and large numbers of horses are missing from the charts, all those stories of night-time hauls come to mind.

So does the story from a BLM informant, who anonymously gave his testimony to a special agent from the Department of Justice back in 1994, and was exposed in the 1997 PEER Review Report: Horses to Slaughter – Anatomy of A Cover-Up.

Sure, it’s an old document from the past, telling how BLM escaped a grand jury trial over BLM’s decades long horse theft program, which was concluded to be so vast and wide spread throughout the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program that no one could be held accountable, but has anything changed? Or has BLM just gotten better at covering the trail of disappearing wild horses?

In a condensed version from 3 pages of testimony from the PEER report by a BLM informant in the horse theft program, he explains that, 50 head out of 65 horses would be reported at a location, the excess 15 horses would be transported to satellite ranches which are actually holding pens. The ranch receives money to hold the horses for a certain time until they’re picked up again. They may be hot-branded with different brands, or transported as “slicks”, meaning they have no brand at all. Most of them over a time period will go to the killers. Sometimes the horses are transported during working hours, but “most of the time it’s been at night, after the count’s been jimmied around. You strictly drive down to a certain location, open a gate and dump those horses in with a bunch of other horses. The BLM guy goes home around 4:30 and guys would load up the stolen horses, take them to satellite ranches and be back by the next morning for business as usual.”

Double-booking or black-booking is when more than one horse is branded with the same brand, and one set of legitimate paperwork is filled out to go with one horse, and depending on how many horses are wearing that same brand, a fake set of paperwork is made for them. “They are sold as legitimate horses, and sold within a week to sale barns or… The odds of you ever being checked are 100 to 1, and I’ve never seen a title on a wild horse.”

When asked if this was a pretty good organization, the informant replied that it’s very well set up, and “nobody that participates in it isn’t well known, and it can’t be done without the BLM guy standing right there.”

He further explained that “You can’t enforce a common practice that’s been going on for years and years. You can’t stop everybody that’s in it. You catch one guy, so there’s 50 more out there doing the same thing.”

The informant justified and summed up the operation by saying, “It’s not actually stealing in our way of looking at it. It’s just a way of life, you know. It’s been a common practice for numbers and numbers of years. There’s never been any paperwork ever required. If we wanted to trade horses, move horses, you know, it’s just a way of life. You’ve got ranchers out there that are paying the permit fees on grazing, and then they have a bunch of wild horses move in, they’re losing money because they’re paying for that grass. These wild horses come in and are eating up the grass, so sure they’re pissed off. It’s our job to disburse those horses, you know, so we do our best to get rid of as many as we can. I don’t really consider it stealing”.

But we do. And we currently have a large number of horses missing. Flash forward to June/July 2010:

As we explained in our EWA press release, (7-27-2010), it appears we have at least 2,282 horses missing from the BLM wild horse holding facilities, and no rocket science is needed to add and subtract the numbers in the BLM population facility reports and compare those to horses removed from the range along with the reported deaths, adoptions and sales of the wild horses.

Even though there are questions on BLM’s math skills, it’s important to remember we’re not just questioning calculations on paper, but we’re questioning the lives of horses that have disappeared. There’s a huge problem taking place in BLM’s wild horse facilities and the horses removed from the range than just what paper work reveals, and much more than what BLM is willing to tell.

One can only wonder if they became “slicks” quietly hauled away in the night.

Even a rocket scientist adding the numbers up would not be able to give us an answer to that question.

Contact:
Valerie James-Patton
Vice President, Equine Welfare Alliance
EWA Research Subject Matter Expert (SME)
valerie_jamespatton@yahoo.com
http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/

Click (HERE) to download this article in it’s original format from EWA
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Equine Advocates Rock Las Vegas

Posted: September 23, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Well Being of American Horses is the Order of the Day

John Holland, President of Equine Welfare Alliance, speaks to a packed house at the International Equine Conference

Pro-horse advocates from across North America rode into Las Vegas for an intensive weekend of sharing, learning, strategizing and brainstorming on the future welfare of America’s iconic horses, donkeys and mules at the second annual International Equine Conference hosted by the Equine Welfare Alliance on Saturday.

Noted equine experts in the areas of advocating, veterinarian medicine, legal, legislation and food safety kicked off the the first day of the gathering before a sold out crowd at the UNLV campus.

Advocates and leaders in many equestrian disciplines are combining forces in an effort to thwart special interest special interest groups who have made efforts to slaughter horses for human consumption abroad and to eradicate wild horses and burros from their rightful lands.

“The intent of this conference is to give equine advocates a qualified ‘toolkit’”, said R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation and co-moderator of the event, “so that groups and individuals can share the facts and the truth on issues involving equine welfare with family, friends, community and local news agencies when they return home.”

“Many great ideas were hatched in last year’s session”, stated Vicki Tobin, VP of Equine Welfare Alliance, “and those same concepts grew to fruition and have made notable strides forward in improving the welfare of horses and burros over the past year.”

“We hope to ramp up the momentum and hatch a few more great strategies during this session”‘ she continued.

The conference will conclude Sunday Evening.

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