from DISCOVER Magazine
The big roundup in Nevada has begun. But rather than being fodder for a old-fashioned Western, this one is kicking up a fight. Yesterday the Bureau of Land Management launched its mission to capture 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands across the state.
Contractors in helicopters and on horseback herded some of the mustangs into corrals in the Black Rock Range, a chain of mountains 100 miles north of Reno, according to a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management. Heather Emmons said she did not know how many horses were captured on the first day of the roundup, which will take two months and stretch across 1,750 square miles in the Calico Mountains Complex [Los Angeles Times].
According to the BLM, the Nevada lands can’t sustain the 3,000 wild horses that now live there, as the population will likely double in four years. So, the agency argues, winnowing the population will sustain the environment and protect the horses, too. But where the horses will end up remains uncertain. Long-term plans call for the mustangs to be placed for adoption or sent to holding facilities in the Midwest. The agency said a facility in Reno was full of adoptable horses, making it unclear when the animals gathered in the latest capture could be put up for adoption [AP].
To say that the helicopter roundup riled up some horse lovers would be an understatement. “To start this immense roundup … on private land where members of the public are forbidden to attend is a brilliant, insidious move on the part of the BLM to hide the suffering and death that they are about to inflict on our mustangs,” said activist Eylse Gardner [San Jose Mercury News]. Activists say that helicopter-assisted roundups frighten the horses and can cause injuries like broken legs, which cause horses to be euthanized. However, a federal judge last week denied a request to stop the operation by ruling that it didn’t violate the law, paving the way for its commencement yesterday.
Opposition remains, in both local activists and celebrity sympathizers—it seems the Rolling Stones aren’t the only musicians with a soft spot in their hearts for “Wild Horses.” Celebrities including singers Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow and former Playboy models Shane and Sia Barbi have tried to call attention to the issue. “We must act now before the BLM has managed these magnificent animals into extinction,” Nelson said [USA Today].
Related Content:
80beats: Wife of Billionaire T. Boone Pickens Plots to Save Wild Horses from Slaughter
80beats: Horses Were Tamed, Milked, and Probably Ridden 5,500 Years Ago
DISCOVER: First to Ride, on the intertwined histories of horses & humans
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Categories: Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This is from Vicki Tobin, just now, 1PM;
I just spoke to a wonderful gentleman at the white house. He told me they are getting a lot of calls and suggested that since the president is in Hawaii until the end of the week, we start calling the senators’ offices in Hawaii. He is sure that someone will tell the president of the calls, if they are numerous. He also said to keep pounding the press to keep reporting. He said there is a lot of buzz on the mustangs. He also said don’t bother calling Reid because we’ll get no help from him…
Here are the two senators in Hawaii. I would call the local offices – it is a bit more expensive but our Mustangs are worth it!
Daniel Kahikina Akaka
United States Senate
141 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Tel: (202) 224-6361
Fax: (202) 224-2126
Prince Kuhio Federal Building
300 Ala Moana Blvd., Rm. 3-106
Box 50144
Honolulu, HI 96850
Tel: (808) 522-8970
Fax: (808) 545-4683
101 Aupuni Street, Suite 213
Hilo, HI 96720
Tel: (808) 935-1114
Fax: (808) 935-9064
Dan Inouye
Washington D.C.
722 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: 202-224-3934
Fax: 202-224-6747
Honolulu
300 Ala Moana Boulevard
Room 7-212
Honolulu, Hawaii 96850-4975
Phone: 808-541-2542
Fax: 808-541-2549
Hilo
101 Aupuni Street, #205
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Phone: 808-935-0844
Fax: 808-961-5163
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Yes, let’s get right on this…thanks for forwarding, Mar.
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Thanks–great job! Will get on it right now.
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Map of the current battlefield
Click to access mustang_country_map22x34_ver3_1.pdf
I had lunch with old friend yesterday from Colorado. He is hunter, several generations cattleman, land grant college graduate.Currently going through BLM training.
BLM has lost his support by their actions. PR of the Rose Bowl parade can not put them back together again. Massacre Rim and Winnemuca history collide with this Calico gather.
Weather conditions
http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=5031256#mw
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It’s almost midnight here. I’ve been writing a letter to send to my Congressmen. I’ll get on the Obama fax tomorrow.
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Me too. The emails I sent off to my congressmen today were pretty blunt too.
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