Press Release from The Cloud Foundation
Public’s stake in future of wild horse herds only grows
Washington, D.C. (May 25, 2010)— Solely on the basis of standing and mootness the lawsuit brought against the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) by In Defense of Animals (IDA), wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation Board Member Craig Downer and author Terri Farley was dismissed by the Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. on May 24th. The Cloud Foundation continues to call for the return to the wild of the beleaguered Calico horses now in holding pens. To date at least 90 horses have died, 40 or more mares had spontaneous late term abortions due to stress and an unknown number of young foals have died in the privately-owned feedlot-style pens in Fallon, Nevada where the majority of the captured horses are held without windbreaks, shade or cover.
“The case remains that these horses need to be turned back out onto their designated range. After the suffering they continue to endure they deserve no less,” states Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation. “We’re asking the public to write the President. It is time for an executive order to be handed down to place an immediate moratorium on roundups. The public is speaking clearly—they want their wild horses protected on our public lands and this ruling does nothing to change this unified appeal.”
The Cloud Foundation thanks the law firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, who worked pro-bono to stop what became a deadly winter roundup in which nearly 2000 horses lost their freedom. Judge Friedman’s decision did not address the merits of the argument, only the plaintiffs’ lack of standing. Additionally, Judge Friedman ruled that the arguments against the roundup methods were moot as the roundup/removal operation had already taken place.
“I’m heartsick that Judge Friedman didn’t rule in favor of the Calico horses, but it’s important to note that he dismissed the case on a technicality, not on the merits of the case” explains co-plaintiff Terri Farley, author of the children’s Phantom Stallion Series. “This lawsuit shone the light of public scrutiny on BLM’s abuse of the mustang. Those of us who had our eyes opened will never look away.
Links of interest:
Case decision https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2009cv2222-55
Law Firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney http://www.bipc.com/home.php
In Defense of Animals http://www.idausa.org/
BLM Daily Fallon Reports http://bit.ly/dailyfallon
Humane Observer Reports from Fallon http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/
CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE
Herd-Watch http://bit.ly/9Wvh58
Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/74789s
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign: Report on the Calico Rounduphttp://bit.ly/9R8bgM
Dr. Bruce Nock Report “Wild Horses: Stress of Captivity” http://bit.ly/9R8bgM
Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV
Americans Want to Stop the Roundups in Der Spiegle http://bit.ly/cqZvKr
American Herds – “What’s Left?” http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html
Photos, video and interviews available from:
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
The Cloud Foundation and maybe PBS should adjoin the case and likely would have “standing” because of irreparable harm done by a violation of Federal law by the BLM. The Court would be obligated to enforce the law as a remedy. But I feel the management of horses is conflicted with the BLM’s mandate to manage land and a new wild life agency needs to be established with American Wild Mustangs as a priority. Salazar just divided two of its agencies with oversight of the Gulf oil spill. If it can be proven the BLM is conflicted between land management and the well-being of our Mustangs then it is moot in its mandate as evidenced by their demise, and needs to give up mustang mamagement.
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Frank, you are “spot on”! And will somebody at the BLM PLEASE establish AMLs for wildlife like deer and especially elk! And then go out and COUNT them. We took three horses to a 15 ACRE summer pasture near Durango, CO, and there must have been 20-30 elk relaxing under the trees. The property owner said she’s sometimes seen over 100 come down the hillside. I can only imagine how many roam Colorado and other states. We saw a number of large herds of elk the last time we took the narrow-gauge train to Silverton.
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Linda – in surfin’ the Net, I’ve found articles on elk. Most cattlemen find them nearly as big a pest as Wild Equines. The only difference is you can hunt elk. All it takes is complaints from stockmen to a government agency, and the elk get hunted out.
And AMLs for wildlife are usually all-inclusive – for deer, Big Horn, pronghorn, elk – whatever roams the neighborhood. Those AMLs are way below what’s allowed for stock, but, in fairness, Wild Equine AMLs are also above what’s alloted to wildlife in a given area. (Of course, range life is not constricted to Herd Management Areas. They can go pretty much anywhere they want.)
Bottom line – ALL range life takes it in the shorts when it come to who’s allowed to eat and how much; stock animals are always given priority.
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AND GOLF COURSES–IF ANYTHING IS A NUISANCE THERE.
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FIGHT ON!!!
Obama – Abolish Salazar and BLM! Let’s get Grijalva in charge, legislation (again) to protect the wild horses, a heritage wildlife designation for wild horses, and a separate wildlife agency who is not beholding to the cattle industry!
BLM and Nevada – think about what you are doing! I will be vacationing in New Mexico or California instead of Nevada and will encourage all my friends to do the same. I would feel sick right now, not what a vacation is supposed to feel like, to even enter Nevada, much less spend any money there, knowing of those horses, depressed shells, torn from everything, their spirit torn from within them – like walking through an old Nazi concentration camp! Heartbreaking! Sickening!
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http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2010/05/calico-past-present-future-v.html
This is a terrific article and video..american herds deserves the Wurletzer wild horse award for this series…
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Feeling discouraged? Read this and recharge.
Letters to a Young Activist…
http://www.judithrich.com/761/
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That’s us, Yo: Perfected the Knack of Ressurection.
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