“Adobe Town, Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin are home to the largest free-roaming wild horse herds left in Wyoming,” states Carol Walker, director of field documentation and board member of Wild Horse Freedom Federation. Walker has a bond with the Wyoming herds she has been photographing for the past 10 years. “To lose the wild horses in this vast landscape, known by local residents as the ‘Big Empty,’ would be to lose touch with our western history, heritage and the untamed spirit of the West.”
For immediate release:
Advocates Will Speak Out for Wild Horses at Press Conference during BLM National Advisory Board Meeting
Proposed roundups would rob American public of their rightful legacy.
Simone Netherlands, Ginger Kathrens and R.T. Fitch speak to Utah Press Corp. at BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting in 2012~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (August 18, 2014) – The Cloud Foundation, Respect 4 Horses and Wild Horse Freedom Federation will hold a press conference and rally at the BLM’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting, August 25 in Riverton, Wyoming. The press conference will begin at noon, in front of the Central Wyoming College Student Center Building.
The purpose of the press conference and rally are to better inform the public of the costs and risks of ongoing wild horse roundups which have already eliminated wild horses from 20 million acres designated for their use. Of the 339 herds originally identified for protection, 179 remain on only 11% of public lands and the BLM seeks to remove most of the horses in Southern Wyoming in September.
The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the BLM and its plan to roundup over 800 horses from Adobe Town, Salt Wells and Divide Basin Herd Management Areas (HMAs) known as the Wyoming Checkerboard. The lawsuit alleges that the BLM violated the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (Wild Horse Act) and the Administrative Procedure Act, by authorizing the permanent removal of hundreds of wild horses from public and private lands within these three HMA’s, without conducting any environmental analysis, engaging the public during the decision-making process or making certain statutorily required determinations under the Wild Horse Act. In response to the lawsuit, the BLM has agreed to delay the roundup which had been scheduled to begin on August 20, to at least Sept. 1.
“Adobe Town, Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin are home to the largest free-roaming wild horse herds left in Wyoming,” states Carol Walker, director of field documentation and board member of Wild Horse Freedom Federation. Walker has a bond with the Wyoming herds she has been photographing for the past 10 years. “To lose the wild horses in this vast landscape, known by local residents as the ‘Big Empty,’ would be to lose touch with our western history, heritage and the untamed spirit of the West.”
BLM claims that wild horses need to be removed from public lands to protect rangeland health. However the vast majority of public lands are open to livestock grazing, which causes enormous damage to the land. In most cases, even in the wild horses’ own HMA’s, livestock far outnumber wild horses. According to the BLM’s own data, on average, 68,740 cattle and 10,741 sheep occupy the three HMA’s targeted for roundup, compared to 1,912 wild horses.
“Instead of protecting wild horses, the BLM’s roundups threaten the ongoing survival of wild horse herds in the west,” states Simone Netherlands, President of Respect4Horses added. “Eerily similar to the rainforests of the Amazon, our public lands are being exploited for the benefit of profit driven business.”
“BLM must begin to manage wild horses ‘on the range’ with the goal of balancing reproduction and mortality. Over 70% of our wild horse herds are not large enough to be considered genetically viable, sustainable herds,” states Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation “The Wild Horse and Burro Act mandates that the BLM manage wild horses at a sustainable level, which is essential if we are to preserve wild horse herds for future generations of Americans.”
Links:
BLM Delays Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup as Preliminary Injunction Motion Filed
Wild Horse Groups File Suit to Block Massive Roundup in Southwest Wyoming
Media Contact:
Paula Todd King, The Cloud Foundation, 843-592-0720, paula@thecloudfoundation.org
The Cloud Foundation (TCF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of wild horses and burros on our western public lands with a focus on Cloud’s herd in the Arrowhead Mountains of Montana.
Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered, Texas non-profit corporation with federal 501(c)(3) status. WHFF puts people between America’s wild equids and extinction.
www.wildhorsefreedomfederation.org
Respect4Horses (R4H) is a horse welfare organization whose goals include providing information and documentation to educate the public, the media and legislators in order to promote changes in legislation in regards to current horse welfare issues such as horse slaughter and the roundups of our last remaining wild horses and burros.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
What is the backup plan if these arguments (as always) are ignored and the removals commence yet again? Can this issue be taken to a higher level court or any decisions appealed?
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Sick and tired of the BLM Hoopla. Blowing so much air and not giving solid reasons shy they do these crazy round ups. Our horses are suffering so badly and we must protect them. It is up to all of us to keep up the great work and protecting our wild horses anyway we can. Kudos to all of you there in Wyoming. I wish I could hop on a plane and I would be there too. You have all of my support. Ginger, R.T, Simone. I am with you all. Give the BLM a boot in the pants please.
All for our wild horses. We just have to protect them. Kudos to Carol Walker, I am sooooo proud of you. Keep up the great work. Advocates keep at the front lines and never back down. Never, ever give up. Our horses need us more than ever. Especially so few left on the range. We must keep them there. We must. Thank you for all you are doing. Call me if I can help in any way 941-232-1262. Love you all. Judith. See you at the Equine Convention in Wellington Florida. Fighting to protect and defend our wild horses to live in freedom. I always will fight for their right to be free.
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Reblogged this on hocuspocus13 and commented:
It’s a step in the right direction
Thank You
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This is an “endless battle”” Never give up the fright to protect our precious Wild Horses/Burrows.
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To Lose any of our Precious Mustangs is a loss of Our heritage !!!!!!!!!! Stop these Hitler Scums !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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“BLM claims that wild horses need to be removed from public lands to protect rangeland health. However the vast majority of public lands are open to livestock grazing, which causes enormous damage to the land. In most cases, even in the wild horses’ own HMA’s, livestock far outnumber wild horses. According to the BLM’s own data, on average, 68,740 cattle and 10,741 sheep occupy the three HMA’s targeted for roundup, compared to 1,912 wild horses.”
photos of the exact land alon with a 10 year difference from increased cattle/seep pressure. Some pictures of wallowing cattle, sheep and the trampled land they create, Along with pictures of the small bands of wild horses would go a long way to show how the BLM outtright lies about any land damage caused by a few horses that have been there for hundreds of years.
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I agree with Sunlei – would it be possible to find photos as she suggested? We all see the supposed “proof” of the damage the wild horses do – how can there possibly not be real, actual proof of the true causes of damage? If the BLM itself shows the data of 68,000 cattle & over 10,000 sheep on these HMAs that are targeted – cant that be put right in the boards face? with only 1900 horses! It just seems so darn impossible for these people to ignore the facts! (I know, this is what they do & have done for years) to the detriment of the horses.
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Reblogged this on Pass the SAFE Act!.
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I agree a picture is worth a thousand words—‘Ginger Kathrens and Carol Walker who have been in the field for years, should have an ample supply of pictures I am sure they will be providing – but the BLM are not only liers but blind also.
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I contacted PETA out of curiosity to see if they were involved in the issue of wild horses because I have never seen anything posted by them about it. Here is the response that I received:
Thank you for caring and for the information you provided to help this cause. I hadn’t seen anything posted by PETA that indicated their involvement in this issue. I will share your response with the horse advocate groups that I am in contact with. Thanks again, and please keep this issue alive on your weekly posts before these wonderful creatures are driven to the point of extinction.
On Wednesday, August 20, 2014 2:14 PM, PETA Info wrote:
Dear Ms. McClintock,
Thank you for contacting PETA about wild-horse roundups.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is conducting sweeping helicopter roundups of wild horses living on our nation’s open ranges. The bureau claims that range conditions can’t support wild horse populations, but the land can support the herds. The millions of acres of land designated for the wild horses have been leased to ranchers for cattle to graze. While the wild horses are being blamed for the lack of food and water remaining on the land, it is the cattle who are using all these vital resources.
Helicopters are one of the most terrifying methods the BLM could possibly use to round up the wild horses. Traumatized by the inescapable fear and noise that the helicopters cause, physically exhausted from running, and often injured, horses are packed by the thousands into government holding facilities to await their fate. Many are sold at auction, and those believed to be more than 10 years of age are usually trucked to Canada or Mexico for slaughter.
PETA is pushing the BLM to enact a policy prohibiting helicopter roundups. You can help by contacting the officials below to tell them that wild-horse roundups via helicopter are inherently cruel and can’t be carried out humanely. For help drafting a letter, please see our guide to letter writing at http://www.PETA.org/action/activism-guide/letter-writing/.
Please send polite comments to:
Principal Deputy Director Neil Kornze
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
202-208-3801
866-468-7826
director@blm.gov
The Honorable Sally Jewell
Secretary
U.S. Department of Interior
202-208-3100
feedback@ios.doi.gov
PETA has been actively helping horses for many years. We’ve pursued cruelty charges against individuals who have abused or killed horses, worked for new legislation that would help protect them from abuse and ban horse slaughter, demanded that regulatory agencies enforce existing laws, and educated people about the ways in which horses are made to suffer, including in the cruel horse-racing (http://www.PETA.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/horse-racing/) and horse-drawn carriage (http://www.PETA.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/horse-drawn-carriages/) industries and in the production of prescription drugs made from horse urine (http://www.PETA.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/premarin-prescription-cruelty/).
Most crucial to the protection of wild horses (as well as mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, and many other animals) is PETA’s work to promote vegan living. The U.S. government traps, shoots, and kills wild animals—and removes wild horses—so that ranchers can feed their cattle on public lands. This “corporate welfare” program is the basis of the exploitation of Western lands and the root cause of the abuse of horses and other free-living animals. For more information about helping wild horses, please contact Saving America’s Mustangs (http://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/).
To make a donation in support of PETA’s lifesaving work, please visit http://www.PETA.org/Donate.
Thank you for caring and for everything that you do to help animals!
Sincerely,
The PETA Staff
http://www.peta.org/
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by stevedocwra on
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Dear Vickie , i also have been contacting PETA, , these people mean business, I did a photo thing for them with the elephants in a certain Circus just 2 weeks ago !!!!!
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hey folks wish i could be in wyoming with you and the horses . texas just seems so far away at this time . every time i get on the yahoo news . i’m always writing about the horses and how they are losing their homes and families are being broken at the demands of the politically connected ranchers . i get some positive feed back but lots of them just don’t care . i write to my congressmen , they don’t respond now i don”t even get the form letters any more . i write to different news heads . mostly i’m just ignored . how do you get the attention of the very people who are suppose to be looking out for my interest ? even the news people that i have written to don’t even bother to respond with a i don’t care . who are we to emplore to care about this matter that means so much to me. i go to bed at night and i pray to god to not let this happen , please change their minds. to see the beauty i see and accept that they deserve to live and to live free from these minipulations that are passed upon them . i wish i could do more then i;m doing now
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Reblogged this on cindymendoza47 and commented:
blm may god have a hand in your devastating plans .
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There is already a rally planned for that day, there..please join forces with these advocates! Organizers of this event are Beverley Hughes, Diana Kline and Deb McQueen.
August 25, Riverton, Wyoming, at the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in the Little Theater, located in the Student Center Building of Central Wyoming College, 2660 Peck Avenue.
https://www.facebook.com/events/731985150200318/
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