R.T. Fitch, author of "Straight from the Horse's Heart" and President/Co-Founder of 'Wild Horse Freedom Federation' ~ putting People between Wild Horses and Extinction
“I pledge Allegiance to the Wild Equines
of the United States of America and to the Icon
for which they stand, one symbol, understood,
undeniable, with liberty and freedom for all.” ~ R.T. Fitch
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Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Inc. is a Texas registered non-profit corporation, a Federally registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and has now registered as a non-profit corporation with the States Attorney Offices of all 50 states. All donations to WHFF are 100% tax deductible. Federal Tax Identification number: 45-2526314
Lenas Buddy Nic, rider Shane Steffen and his wife, Beth Lenas Buddy Nic, a late-blooming horse who didn’t endear himself to his trainer at first, shined at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity today, carrying Shane Stef...
A lot of folks have been asking us about all the wildfires that are happening in the state of Colorado. There are a lot of them occurring. One question on a lot of peoples’ minds: what does this mean for the wild horses? Right now, none of the fires burning in the state are threatening […]
Please note that several of the photos in the articles are "Extremely Graphic." While we had an interesting debate about publishing the photos, we'd rather show you the reality than just say the words. As the pro-slaughter industry has proven, words said to prove a point are easily twisted to hide the truth, while un-Photoshopped pictures simp […]
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there and to my mine in particular. Love you bunches Mom! (Piceance Creek/East Douglas HMA, Colorado). Photos are for viewing purposes only. Most images are available online at: http://www.NickolesPhotography.com. Images by Pam Nickoles Photography, along with all site content are copyright protected and owned solely by […]
The FDA is trampling free speech to limit your access to supplements. But ANH-USA has a bold new legal strategy. Will you join us in this historic battle? Did you know that if a supplement company “Likes” a customer’s Facebook post, it magically transforms nutritional supplements into drugs? The same thing happens if a supplement’s website […]
Sorry for being MIA for the past few weeks. I’ve had a lot on my plate, but will try to keep up a bit better soon. I’m kinda posting this on the fly today but thought y’all would like to know that one of our PSA poster children has been at it again and not […]
On Saturday, June 1, Cloud’s 18th birthday will be celebrated in Arvada, Colorado at the Horse Protection League, Horse Protection League, 17999 W. 60th Ave. Of course, Cloud will not be in attendance as he is busy with his family in the Pryor Mountains, but many of his adopted relations and fellow mustangs will be ...
We will be featuring key presentations, everyday during this upcoming week. The information contained within each is invaluable in fighting the horse-eaters and their propaganda. Direct YouTube link for Ginger’s presentation is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jYcGc71c5s
Please be advised, up front, that this is neither an OpEd or Editorial of any sort; but instead a most heartfelt thank you note to so many who have given so much to support those who cannot advocate for themselves.
On March 4th and 5th of this year we turned a very sharp and significant corner in the way of advocating for our companion and wild horses and burros. Put quite simply, your voices were heard, not just by ourselves but also by the press, the BLM and the public. That is huge.
Too often I feel that we are preaching to the choir; not that doing so is particularly bad as it is important to get together to build our advocacy tool box and to network/strategize but for one that has a type “A” personality I often feel that we are treading water and not making headway or getting a decent return on our investment of time and money; but not so this week.
We managed to turn some heads, open a few eyes, peak a lot of interest and it was all managed and accomplished by hard working, everyday, regular, stick-in-your-throat, grass roots, American tax payers. That speaks volumes.
No glitzy public relation firms were hired, no professional speech writers were retained, no qualified logistical experts were employed it was just us, the heartbeat of America and I am so very honored to stand amongst you.
A few thanks are in order but if you don’t mind please allow me to give you some background on how the Unified Equine Welfare Press Conference/Rally was born and how it normally works. (If you note, Cloud Foundation, Respect4Horses and Wild Horse Freedom Federation have fallen into the habit of doing this over the past several years. But this time it was killer.)
Last month, half way around the world I picked up the BLM’s news release announcing the Advisory Board Meeting. I contacted Simone and asked if she was up for another press conference and she was in full agreement and, as usual, Ginger jumped on board. Done deal…I think not.
Ms. Simone Netherlands worked this issue like a full time job for weeks for no pay for no glory and totally for the horses. She made the arrangements, along with volunteer help, and secured services with her own funds and allowed her income generating operation to slide as she prepared, for all of us, the venue, schedule and structure to pull off this major media event.
Terry and I owe Simone a most sincere debt of gratitude for years of hard work and dedication. Little did we know when we first met her while lobbying in D.C., years ago, what a fine friend she would become. The words of “thank you” just don’t seem to reach as deep as they should.
Thanks go to Ginger, as always, and to Lisa Friday from the Cloud Foundation for their continued support and total alliance. The Cloud Foundation and their staunch Director and Board are a living model and showcase of not only how to run a non-profit correctly but how to actually put your money where your mouth is and get things done. We are forever in debt.
Thanks to Doc Friedlander for coming to speak and to further educate not only us but the public on the horrors of horse slaughter and how medically dangerous it would be if it were allowed back into our country.
Thanks to the press for attending and for spreading the word.
Thanks to several members of the BLM Advisory Board for listening, and I really mean that this time, I think several of our messages actually got through to a few folks and the tone of the meeting shifted to a more positive ring on the last day.
And last but not least, thanks to all of you whether you were there in person or sitting listening/watching on your computer…your presence and your support pushed these issues into the spotlight and if we can keep the pressure on and the volume turned up we WILL get to where we need to be.
Below are links to news videos and articles regarding the press conference and the rally. (I know that I have missed several) As is usually the case, due to time constraints and lack of research, several of the reports may not have been as in-depth or accurate as you may have wished them to be and several even highlight an organization that was not even involved but that is how it works in the wild and wacky world of fast paced media news. The main point is that the message is getting out and THAT message is all about the horses…and YOU made it happen.
(Oklahoma City) – Equine Welfare Advocacy organizations, the Cloud Foundation, Respect4Horses and Wild Horse Freedom Federation held a unified press conference during the lunch break of the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting at the downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Sheraton this day. The press conference covered the topics of horse slaughter, which Oklahoma politicians are attempting to fast track laws to bring it into their state, and the gross mismanagement of America’s wild horse and burro herds by the Department of Interior’s (DoI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Press from all four major networks were on hand while advocates from around the country quickly filled up the existing 60 chairs available and soon the room was packed with the crowd standing and pouring out the door into the hallway to hear the equine advocacy leaders speak.
Simone Netherlands, natural horsemanship trainer, founder of Respect4Horses and principle organizer of the event, opened with an informative presentation on exactly what is happening in the state of Oklahoma with the fast-tracking of legislation to allow predatory horse slaughter plants to be able to slaughter American horses so that their flesh can be shipped overseas to satisfy fringe foreign pallets. With the roaring support of over 150 spectators it soon became apparent that the bulk of the audience were from Oklahoma and the concept of horse slaughter coming to their state is not an option that they would care to endure.
Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM and former USDA Veterinarian, next spoke to the inhumanity of horse slaughter and the suffering it causes to an animal that is not intended to be a food animal.
R.T. Fitch, author, writer, blogger and president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation, spoke to the issue of the BLM selling wild horses to known kill buyers for slaughter and produced BLM bulk sales and state brand department documentation, obtained through a WHFF FOIA, which proves that BLM contractors have been selling BLM wild horses to kill buyers.
Lisa Friday, member of the Cloud Foundation’s Board of Directors, displayed graphic pictures depicting the cruelty of BLM helicopter roundups and gave eye witness accounts of abuse during the last BLM helicopter stampede conducted in Utah.
Emmy Award winning cinematographer and the creator of the PBS’s “Cloud” series Ginger Kathrens closed out the educational and informative conference by outlining the broken program and gross mismanagment of our last remaining wild horses and burros and offered sane and humane ways to manage the herds on the range versus attacking them with helicopters, destroying their families and sentencing them to concentration camps for the remainder of their lives.
“I think that the advocates and press walked away with much more knowledge and information on the cruelty of horse slaughter,” stated Dr. Friedlander, “I would travel around the world to save one horse and I think that with arming the audience with this information my translate into saving hundreds of horses if not thousands.”
Simone Netherlands, R.T. Fitch, Ginger Kathrens and Lisa Friday ~ photo by Terry Fitch
Organizer, Simone Netherlands said, “I hope that we did a service for the people of Oklahoma, today. They are extremely unhappy and disgruntled over what their state government is attempting to pull off and the over the top attendance of the conference is a clear indication that these citizens want to be heard as well they should”
“I was shocked by the number of attendees,” said Lisa Friday, “Both the state of Oklahoma and we as an advocacy are lucky to have so many great people who truly care about the welfare of horses.”
R.T. Fitch said, “I hope that this sort of active engagement and the high volume of unhappy Americans begins to sink into the skulls of the bonehead BLM. After attending the first day of the Board meeting most of these advocates now know when the BLM is lying and attempting to pull the wool over their eyes; it’s when their lips are moving. We are not stupid.”
“It has been years since the BLM has seen that sort of attendance and today they got nothing but a huge dose of more bad press.” stated Ginger Kathrens, “All those great people want is what is best for their state and for the wild horses out west; we are exceedingly lucky to be supported and to be able to give back to such a great bunch of positive and compassionate people.”
Immediately following the press conference a rally was staged outside with dozens of signs, banners, chants, circulating horse trailers with banners and even a miniature horse participating.
Day two of the BLM’s board meeting commences tomorrow, Tuesday, and be viewed live on www.blm.gov/live.
R.T. Fitch, Wild Horse Freedom Federation, and Wild Mustang Robin at the second, annual International Equine Conference in Las Vegas, Sept. 2012 ~ photo by Terry Fitch
There is so much turbulent activity swirling around our equine companions that it is often times difficult to take the day off and share a “Feel Good Sunday” moment.
This week Terry wanted me to share my thoughts on the BLM Wild Horse & Burro’s Advisory Board’s recommendation to perform Ovariectomys in the field…of course there is a tad bit of humor in my recommendation to, instead, perform a few surgical Cattleoscomies and Sheepectomys on our public lands but there is no humor in what the board has purposed in it’s “end game” assault upon our few remaining wild horses.
But there is a “feel good” take away from the meeting that if you missed it we will share with you, here.
Eleven year old Robin Warren started a petition on Change.org, see below, where she has asked others to join her in demanding that the reckless and deadly BLM wild horse and burro roundups stop while an external investigation is launched to find out why the BLM sold over 1,700 captured wild horses to a known kill buyer, and neighbor to Ken Salazar, for slaughter in Mexico. That singular petition and the response it garnered moved Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation and Terry and myself with Wild Horse Freedom Federation to such an extent that the Cloud Foundation funded the printing of 113, 526 signatures, over 800 pages, and I laid aside my prepared three minute speech to the board to, instead, read Robin’s letter while Ginger and Terry laid the massive pile of signatures on the table in front of the board and WH&B manager Joan Goifoyle. It was dynamic and if anyone missed the point they were brain dead…then again, it was the advisory board and the BLM.
Listed below is the letter I read to the board for Robin. Please feel free to join her in the attempt to make a point, to illicit action, to stop the bloody roundups and to investigate the sale of our national icons to slaughter. Even though a serious issue, it still makes for a warm feeling, this day, when a youngster shines with a much brighter light than any government employee, or appointee, could ever hope to match.
Robin, along with Declan, J.C. and many more…you ROCK!
(as of this writing the signatures stand at 118,435)
My name is Robin, and I’m 11 years old. People call me “Wild Mustang Robin” because I want to save wild horses like Wild Horse Annie, who got the government to pass lawsprotecting the horses of the American West. But I’m worried that the government isn’t keeping its promise.
I started this petition with my mom because we read a news report about a man named Tom Davis who bought hundreds of wild horses from the government, some for as little as $10. Now no one knows where they are. I am afraid they were killed because the article also said he supports horse slaughter and he’s friends with people who are known for killing horses.
The government is supposed to be protecting wild horses, but instead they use helicopters to round them up and send them to holding facilities. The holding facilities fill up and they sell the horses to people like Tom Davis without a way to make sure the horses don’t end up slaughtered.
We need to restore the basic protections that Wild Horse Annie won for horses and make sure they’re not sold for slaughter. Help me tell the government to stop selling our wild horses and start protecting them.
Petition Letter
Dear Bureau of Land Management,
I am joining 11-year-old Robin Warren in asking you to protect wild horses from slaughter.
A recent investigation revealed that hundreds of wild horses have been sold in bulk to a man with ties to the slaughter industry who will not say where they are now. This is the latest in a string of accusations of mismanagement of America’s wild horses.
I urge you to immediately suspend the wild horse program — including horse roundups and the sale of horses already in holding facilities — until it can be thoroughly investigated by independent third party experts and reformed to ensure that the law Wild Horse Annie fought so hard to get passed is followed.
America’s wild horses are supposed to be protected because they are historically significant and they contribute to the rangeland of the West. Please stop selling them to people who can sell them for slaughter.
Dangerous field mutilation procedure endorsed for American icons of the West
SALT LAKE CITY (October 30, 2012) – The Cloud Foundation opposes the recommendation of spaying wild horse mares in their native western rangelands. During its meeting in Salt Lake City today, the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recommended that the agency implement spaying wild horse mares in the field.
“They talk about this mutilation of mares as an immediate response to a crisis,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation (TCF). “How can they recommend a procedure that is proven to be dangerous and invasive?”
The Arizona-based Conquistador Program obtained information regarding field-testing of mares via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The invasive sterilization procedure was tested on wild horse mares from the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, and resulted in 10% mortality rate, with recovery taking at least a month.
“This is a very invasive procedure and most veterinarians are reluctant, at best, to even recommend it,” states Donald Moore, DVM, of Fruita, Colorado who questions the ability of BLM to conduct such a dangerous technique. “It is not feasible to perform this surgery in the field. Even if this ill-advised surgery were to be performed, BLM is not equipped to house and handle the mares in a manner that meets an acceptable level of care required for their recovery.”
Even BLM’s vet, Dr. Al Kane USDA-APHIS, expressed concerns regarding this protocol: “It’s a lot more complicated and the potential for complications and side effects is much greater,” he reported to the Advisory Board last year. “The potential effects on herd behavior or individual mare behavior are an issue.”
Spaying mares was proposed in the summer of 2011 on two herds in southern Wyoming. This proposal was met with public outcry and was withdrawn from the table.
The Advisory Board also brought up concerns regarding the ineffectiveness of the immunocontraceptive drug known as PZP. “BLM used PZP on only 1000 mares this past year, and proposes to only use it on 1000 again in 2013,” explains wild horse advocate and TCF board member Linda Hanick. “They have set PZP up for failure and instead are opting for permanent sterilization.”
Spaying of mares largely stems from concerns over the lack of space in BLM holding facilities. BLM faces increased scrutiny since it was revealed that more than 1,700 wild horses being sold to one man, Tom Davis, who apparently sold the horses to slaughter.
“BLM approved Davis’ applications for the purchase of wild horses. The man is a known kill buyer,” states Lauryn Wachs, Associate Director of TCF. “How do you authorize the sale of truckloads of horses and not question where they’re going?”
BLM Assistant Director Ed Roberson confirmed this week that the Department of Interior’s Office of the Inspector General is going to investigate the slaughter allegations. BLM won’t comment on the subject. Meanwhile the Advisory Board continues making dangerous recommendations for the management of wild horses on their native rangelands.
“Ken Salazar should be proud,” says Kathrens of the Secretary of the Interior. “This is an advisory board he has created to manage wild horses to extinction.”
SALT LAKE CITY — An investigation is underway to find out if 17 hundred wild horses were illegally shipped off to slaughter.
That number was confirmed for the first time today amidst demands for an immediate halt to roundups on public land.
Wild horse lovers accuse the BLM of driving them to extinction while turning a blind eye to their slaughter for horse meat. The BLM countered they’re stepping up roundups because the horses are facing disaster.
They’re an icon of the West. But they’re threatened by extreme pressure from drought and wildfires, the BLM says, so they can’t be left out on the range to die.
“It would be an ecological and, I think, a social disaster,” said Edwin Roberson, Assistant Director at the Bureau of Land Management.
The government’s top wild horse people are meeting in Salt Lake. Their critics turned up the heat at a news conference.
“Cease and desist all roundups now,” demanded Simone Netherlands of Respect4Horses.
“These animals are being managed to extinction. There is no doubt about it,” added Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation.
BLM officials say they’re required by law to protect the horses, even if it means putting them in long-term holding corrals. But critics want the horses left alone. They claim the BLM is doing the bidding of the ranching, mining and energy industry.
“These are our taxpayer dollars that are funding this unspeakable cruelty,” said Netherlands.
But the BLM says Nature has been cruel, especially in Nevada.
“There was very little forage for the winter, and all the summer forage was gone,” offered Roberson.
Critics are angry that the BLM sold 1700 horses to a single buyer who may have shipped them to slaughter in Mexico.
“I can confirm right now that the inspector general of the Department of Interior is investigating,” said Roberson, “(and) has an ongoing investigation into those allegations. Beyond that, I can’t comment.”
“There will be no peace until those individuals are behind bars in long-term holding corrals of their own construction, and then we’ll see how they like it,” said R.T. Fitch of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.
So far, the drought-related roundups have been concentrated in Nevada. But the BLM has just approved one in western Utah about a month from now.
