Press Release from Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Wild Horse Freedom Federation’s White Paper exposes BLM: Never-seen evidence proves America’s wild horses and burros are disappearing without explanation
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
photo by Carol Walker
Pinehurst, Texas—(PR NEWSWIRE)— Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Inc. (WHFF), today released its white paper, “Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse & Burro Program, with a Focus on Problems Related to Holding Facilities.” America’s wild horses and burros – long a national treasure and symbol of freedom – are endangered and being pushed towards extinction, despite the Trump administration’s promise to uphold the rule of law.
The comprehensive white paper cites taxpayer waste and multitudes of inconsistencies in documentation presented to both the American public and Congress. These alleged offenses continue to occur under the direction of Trump-appointed Secretary of the Department of Interior (DOI), Ryan Zinke.
WHFF’s document notes current and historical violations that include evidence of misrepresentation, wasting taxpayer funds, and lack of scientific accounting for the wild horses and burros — in absolute defiance of the Congressional statute that provides for the safety of the iconic wild herds.
The five-year investigation culminating in the document has uncovered a consistent pattern of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) releasing misinformation thought to confuse and mislead the American taxpaying public and legislators.
For years, the BLM has taken healthy wild horses and burros from their legally protected lands in the American West at the expense of taxpayers. Notably, on those lands, the cost to taxpayers was nothing, yet the BLM roundups have continued, taking tens of thousands of wild horses into captivity. Despite the reported number of horses in captivity (46,000) to date, large numbers of horses have mysteriously disappeared from the holding pens or during transports where they never arrived. And it appears that taxpayer money has been wasted by the BLM, at the expense of the wild horses and burros they are supposed to protect.
WHFF’s FOIA obtained documentation on this topic, many of which have never been reviewed by Congress or the public, appear to verify that BLM statements are filled with inaccuracies and poor math. The beneficiaries of this systemic misrepresentation have been ranching and corporate energy interests, both of whom, not surprisingly, are major donors to politicians who cover the areas where the most wild horses and burros are found.
Despite a strident outcry from American taxpayers who want, as the law requires, the horses and burros protected and returned to their rightful place on public lands, the BLM has repeatedly asserted to America that the wild horses and burros need to be under its care. In the last century, the wild horse population has gone from two million to less than 36,000 under BLM management. Less than two out of 100 wild horses that were present then remain in 2017.
WHFF’s white paper details multiple examples of mishandling of taxpayer funds, but the upshot is simple: alleged false assurances have been offered up to taxpayers while private and special interests have had their way with the use of public lands. In another words, the BLM is the fox that guards the henhouse, seemingly unwilling to enforce the laws that obligate them to protect wild horses and burros.
“The DOI and the BLM have undertaken a long term ‘Fake News’ campaign to spread misinformation to confuse the issue. They want the wild horses and burros slaughtered, gone, full stop. Americans are not going to stand for that,” says Wild Horse Freedom Federation’s President R.T. Fitch. “It appears that President Trump appointed a long time horse slaughter proponent to oversee the DOI and his first major act could be to kill tens of thousands of wild horses and burros making this White Paper a timely must read for all Americans.” he continued.
This is paramount in importance right now for the wild horses and burros and American taxpayers. In the coming days the Senate Appropriations Committee will take up the Interior appropriations bill, which includes the Wild Horse and Burro Program with the threat of killing wild horses and burros touted as a budgetary necessity. Without intervention, for the rising generations of America, wild horses and burros will be gone forever.
To read the WHFF white paper and for more information go to:
http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/white-paper/
###
Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a Texas non-profit corporation with federal 501c3 status. WHFF is the voice of not only those animals that cannot speak for themselves but also, most effectively, for the majority of the American public which has repeatedly expressed the desire to stop the unnecessary removal of wild horses and burros from public lands where they should remain, and the proper, legal management of the Wild Horse & Burro Program.
WHFF is funded exclusively through the generosity of the American public.
Media Contacts:
R.T. Fitch
President/Co-Founder of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
rtfitch@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org ~ rt@rtfitch.com
1-800-974-3684
Carol Walker
Director of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation
cwlivingimages@gmail.com
1-800-974-3684
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, The Force of the Horse, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Reblogged this on Paths I Walk.
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Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
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PROOF PROOF PROOF of BLM fraud.
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The current POTUS is a liar (Trump promise), sorry…at the same time he and his sons have no respect for wild horses or any other wild animal since they are known trophy hunters,and added to that the horrendous BLM has been carrying on atrocities for years now at taxpayers expense,sick!
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this president is the responsibility of the Republican party and most of them (not all)are-pro horse slaughter. That party also doesn’t ‘like’ animal, environment activistist/protest or the press reporting such- they never have. We have to provide proof of BLM/DOI breaking the laws, frauding with their budget money and not following policy/laws for our public land use. To ban all horse slaughter in USA and ALL transport of horses to border for slaughter in foreign countries and toxic medicated meat for use as food for humans or use as dog food/animal feed is key to save our wild horses.
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Get rid of BLM… murders and liars seeking money.
Zinke is human skum.
Save these beautiful horses and burros from a sick government.
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Cattlemen want OUR WILD LANDS to graze privately owned cattle and make a huge profit$$$$.
If they’ll kill a cow, they’ll kill a horse.
No heart. No patriotism. Only greed.
Why are government officials allowing this? Does anyone else smell corruption?
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Who can start a congressional oversight on the BLM? Will this report be given to reps in DC that can pull strings and expose this fraud?
Breaks my heart, the horses shouldn’t pay with their lives!
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Won’t work. Congress in in the pockets of these people! They need to be hit in the pocketbook for anything to have any kind of chance at all.
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Why don’t we start a movement to remove BLM from managing any and all wild horses, and put their care into the hands of an organization that has their best interests first and foremost. In any other world managers get fired regularly for piss poor results. If the only strategy they now hold up as realistic is mass murder, it’s time for new management.
We are paying for this and should insist the BLM be removed from wild horse and burro management, period. Since DJT is so adept at firing people, this should be as simple as a 140 character tweet in the night.
Can anyone create a petition to remove the BLM and USFS from any legal oversight of America’s wild horses and burros? Anything has to be better than this endless and expensive culture of death.
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Reblogged this on Love's Last Refuge and commented:
It’s up to us to save this national treasure.
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We need to stop eating beef – in droves. A boycott by individuals has better chance of success than trying to remove the BLM! The fact that so many eat beef gives the entire industry the power in government to do as they please. Don’t give them that power, and boycott their products. They are nothing but destructive.
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Ida, boycotting beef wouldn’t make much difference as the cattle (and sheep) raised on public lands make up less than 3% or so of our national supply, and most of it is exported. All boycotting would do is force some smaller ranchers without permits out of business and most likely cause them to sell off land to developers. Blanket blaming of entire groups of people helps nobody, and least of all the wild horses. To be effective we need to stay focused on what can really make a difference for our wild ones. Though it might make some feel self righteous, boycotting beef altogether won’t do that. It would do nothing to save horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard, which is grazed mostly by domestic sheep.
Worse, widespread boycotting would further amplify use of our public lands to profit foreign interests.
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Wrong. I’ve heard that tired excuse about the 3% – but the rest of the livestock industry looks out for its own, just like the NRA. So it is a lot more than the 3%.
If you eat meat, you are allowing this to continue. Trying to make changes to entrenched agencies like the BLM which are extremely political and stacked with people from the livestock industry is going to go nowhere. An oversight committee made up of these people?
Individually, people can make a difference by refusing to buy their products. There are more than 300 million people in this country.
Do you want to help our wildlife or don’t you?
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Ida, of course the livestock industry protects their own — but boycotting will make zero positive difference on public lands grazing and probably increase animal numbers since it’s the cheapest grazing around for livestock producers lucky enough to have permits. It’s a low margin business anyway and there is a large export demand, so think it through. The ones who will suffer from a boycott will be those raising beef etc. on private lands, at higher costs, but who have to compete against those with an unfair market advantage.
I agree with the problems, just disagree with your proposed “solution” which would accomplish essentially nothing. To protect our wildlife and our public lands, We need to reduce domestic livestock numbers grazing on public lands, not increase them.
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these days the main cattle grazers on our public lands are one huge corporation. they get the majority of our government provided subsidies and the low lease fees to graze. They have a lot of pull with congress and senators. I wish there was a cut-off for subsidies and low lease fees so small ranchers (under a million income per year?) have the benefits and the large beef corporation gets nothing ‘free’ from our government.
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http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2017/07/28/feds-plan-big-wild-horse-roundup-near-ely/519940001/ BLM rats on itself. They inflated numbers to 7000 after stating less but they claim the lands only support 1700 horses. This isn’t true because if these herds were to grow into such incredible numbers and the lands only support 1700 these animals would all be dead not fully hethy, fit and in perfect condition mentally, physically, emotionally and sound enough to continue to stay in that location. The BLM outs itself. THEIR own lies prove OUR case against them. You need to file suit Against the Bureau for harassment of horses, failure to comply with realistic adoption standards, deceiving the public with false information, including fraudulent growing numbers, just the media excerpts will prove that, collusion with horse hater politicians unfit to speak on horse welfare given their proslaughters stance and the destructive misinformation they use to confuse the public resulting in less adoptions intentionally. They should be forced into a 365 day a year adoption process to stop the 3 strikes your jailed to defray the numbers. The above article shows they are lying about the facts from their own mouths. You Can eat meat, just don’t buy it outside of a local butcher shop
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“Inflated” is an understatement. Per the official BLM annual published statistics (which we KNOW are greatly overestimated and fraudulent year after year) as of March 1, 2017 the wild horse population of the Triple B HMA was 1702 and the Antelope was 1320.
Total = 3022
And now there are 7000 per BLM???
Lies.
Lies that will lead to a zeroing out of these HMAs.
Example: Triple B HMA (as reported by BLM) had a 122% increase in one year (2013-2014) which would require a total population of 498 horses to produce 609 successful, surviving foals in ONE year. Of course that would require every mare including the very young and very old and every STALLION to give birth to multiple foals!
The BLM has officially reported, on more than one occasion, statistics that would establish a 750 to 1250 percent increase in population over the course of one year. This is not feasible or possible under the absolute best circumstances, and demonstrates one portion of the unreliability of the BLM’s records. This inaccurate – indeed, biologically impossible – factual reporting must be understood for the damage it does, on multiple levels, and for the legal violations it admits.
– Excerpt from White Paper
NEEDED: Congressional Investigation into the corruption of the BLM!
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Something along these lines, putting established political crooks in charge of watching government agencies is not going to work, especially under this Administration, which is slowing coming apart at the seams. Truly scary times we live in now:
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/boycott-public-range?source=c.em.cp&r_by=242429
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What we have been doing is mostly a failure. I still cannot believe when I came here the other day and people are still asking what they can do – when the plight of our wild horses, bison, wolves and grizzlies next are in a steady decline.
Don’t buy their products. Stand up to them, grow a spine, and don’t buy their products. Not everyone will, but if enough do it could make a difference. And we don’t know that the land would be sold to developers.
I agree with RT – apparently there are only six politicians (Democrats) in WA that can be counted on, and zero Republicans from the looks of it. While everyone is tied up with the Heath Care mess, these crooks are passing laws to even repeal the ESA.
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Meating eating is also bad for climate change, so cutting back is a win/win for all – the planet and the wildlife, and us and our health. Another eye-roll is to hold out for less methane-producing cattle – we really can’t change biology, and any minor progress will be offset by increased population consumption. There’s nothing negative to say about at least cutting back on meat eating. It may not be the only way, but it must be done.
What is the solution, then? Letter writing campaigns are meaningless (not that we shouldn’t keep trying), and have had very little result except for to keep us constantly in a holding pattern, just barely keeping horse slaughter at bay. Stay focused on what? How it keeps getting worse?
We have face up to the fact that we must take personal responsibility in some way, and not look to others. Especially under this administration. On top of the previous eight years of neglect.
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sorry but we won’t be able to stop foreign countries from demanding USA beef exports stop. and the last admin did add protections to more lands & sea then any president in our history, added more for native americans then any president in history, made Salazar resign and added couple lines to a policy bill to stop horse slaughter plants from opening. also required BLM to take better care of their employees, start computerized maps (BLM used paper maps! before last 8 admin) and pay their ‘sub contractors’ living wage. IMO, stopping foreign governments from feeding their citizens tainted meat (horse medicines are poison to humans & pets) and catching beef suppliers who mix horsemeat with beef will help our wild horses in the long run.
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And the Horses and Burros have NO ONE to speak to someone to educate Trump? Robert Redford? Willie? even HSUS has no one to get thru to Trump??
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I think he only listens to little blue birds tweeting in the night.
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the man doesn’t ‘like’ animals, not even pets. He also doesn’t ‘like’ Redford or willie nelson. Animals don’t like him either, he’s the kind of man horses lay back their ears at, dogs bark at and cats hiss & leave the room. “A no pets allowed “high-end-real estate agent” hates animals his entire life. he eats animals and takes trophies from dead wildlife.
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we know there are trespass cattle. we know that rounded up horses go missing when they’re supposed to be in holding. we know the law states wild horses should be in the places they were in 1971 and many of those areas are vacant of wild horses. Not sure why this information isn’t sent to all members of congress. fly over picture with GPS is proof. cattle are trespass. holding pens are vacant. long-term holder permits have foals running with what are supposed to be all old mares. local renderers buy dead wild horses. foals aren’t counted and go missing. rounded up horses aren’t freeze branded or microchipped when every single one goes through a shute and trailer ride. Our government, congress doesn’t want to waste money on fraud. show them the fraud. pictures, pictures, pictures and KISS with the words.
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“Our government, congress doesn’t want to waste money on fraud. show them the fraud. pictures, pictures, pictures and KISS with the words.”
Our government supports the kind of fraud they want and what benefits them, and they waste money on it all the time – like for special interests, and with drastic cutbacks on the environmental programs to support waste for their special interests, such as dirt-cheap grazing permits, taxpayer funded wildlife extermination, tax breaks for the energy industry to name a few. That ranchers are just getting by on the margins is a myth. Showing them has been done for decades, and even a very very wealthy woman couldn’t do much against the livestock cabal and the BLM! They do. not. care. Except for a handful maybe, of our politicians.
Show the people, but the government isn’t going to help you.
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how many times have you called your states senators and congress person and told them? Even if you call a couple times a year, you make a difference. Your call is counted. I guarantee this. If you have twitter you can post right on twitter for every congress person and @White House @POTUS your concerns for our Native American wildlife. Horses are a native north American species. They should be protected like our Eagles are.
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We get the government we vote for, and when so few citizens even bother, that leads to a minority rule further empowering the already powerful. IMO we need to get about 325 million people waking up and speaking up against the few who would rather they remain quiet.
The laws we function under now can be changed, and didn’t always exist in their present form. The Taylor Grazing Act, for instance, has only been on the books since 1934, and is what first entrenched the grazing permit system in our society. It perhaps has outlived its usefulness and could be amended or abolished with sufficient public demand for change. It wasn’t chiseled in stone, though has created a highly unfair system which favors the few over the many, and the related bank equity debt has trapped people within it while further concentrating power away from small operators into fewer and larger corporate interests. While all carry the label “ranchers” it is wrong to put everyone raising livestock into that same pot, as all are working within the system we voted for (or allowed through not voting). The answers can’t be found by pointing fingers but by changing the rules.
The only way I see to effect positive change is to get a helluva lot more citizens aware and engaged. Politicians do listen eventually but it takes a whole lot of villages to get their attention. Wild Horse Annie knew this and did this, with far fewer tools than we have. We can do better.
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http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2017/07/28/feds-plan-big-wild-horse-roundup-near-ely/519940001/ BLM rats on itself. They inflated numbers to 7000 after stating less but they claim the lands only support 1700 horses. This isn’t true because if these herds were to grow into such incredible numbers and the lands only support 1700 these animals would all be dead not fully hethy, fit and in perfect condition mentally, physically, emotionally and sound enough to continue to stay in that location. The BLM outs itself. THEIR own lies prove OUR case against them. You need to file suit Against the Bureau for harassment of horses, failure to comply with realistic adoption standards, deceiving the public with false information, including fraudulent growing numbers, just the media excerpts will prove that, collusion with horse hater politicians unfit to speak on horse welfare given their proslaughters stance and the destructive misinformation they use to confuse the public resulting in less adoptions intentionally. They should be forced into a 365 day a year adoption process to stop the 3 strikes your jailed to defray the numbers. The above article shows they are lying about the facts from their own mouths.
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On that we can agree, IcySpots! I don’t mean to be harsh, but it’s very worrisome for our wildlife these days. Apologies if I have offended anyone, but we’re all on the same side. 🙂
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Yes, these are really trying times, and we all have to find ways to dig deeper, try harder, and try to get more of our citizens to speak up. Anything less is unconscionable, and unAmerican, or at least what America once represented.
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“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together”
Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm
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BLM & FWS are the BIGGEST killers of our American wildlife! We MUST keep on protesting these SLAUGHTERS! Keep the pressure up, please, keep on writing & calling your reps!
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Science and truth do not matter to this administration. So unless you can give our Congress a reason to save them, they will be doomed. We must give them not only the white paper, but the evidence that putting them back on their rightful lands will stop wild fires. Without an alternative reason to release them, why should they? So when visiting your Congressman/woman, give them the evidence they need to decide that their lives are of a benefit to mankind and we will continue to have devastating wild fires everywhere unless we get them managed back on their own lands. Start here, and there is many more evidenced back information to make this fact truth.
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2017/07/08/fighting-fires-wild-horses/
https://www.friendsofanimals.org/magazine/summer-2014/leave-wild-horses-untouched
You get my point. Please advise advocates to give them a way out.
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http://www.westernjournalism.com/fire-brigade-wild-horses-value-proposition/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=InFeedSharingButtons&utm_content=2017-07-02&utm_campaign=websitesharingbuttons
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BLM intends to capture and remove MORE Federally Protected Wild Horses in Nevada
Big federal wild horse roundup planned in northeast Nevada
By: Caroline Bleakley
Posted: Jul 28, 2017
ELKO, Nev. – Federal officials are preparing for the biggest round-up in years of wild horses roaming public rangeland in northeast Nevada.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments for an environmental assessment of the removal of more than 6,700 horses from area between Wells and Ely.
The agency estimates the current wild horse population in the Antelope and Triple B wild horse complexes at about 7,700, not including foals born this year.
It says food and water in the herd areas in Elko and White Pine counties should be able to support fewer than 1,700 horses.
The proposed roundup comes after the federal land management chief in Nevada’s BLM chief and Gov. Brian Sandoval called last year for removing 4,000 horses from the region.
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/big-federal-wild-horse-roundup-planned-in-northeast-nevada/777596952
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Kamma Mountains Wild Horses of Nevada
Several years ago, my husband and I had occasion to visit Pershing County, Nevada and, while there, decided to explore. We enjoyed the region and began to return regularly. Rosebud Canyon in the Kamma Mountains became a favorite destination and from there we gradually increased our explorations of the Kamma range, as well as the adjoining Lava Beds and Seven Troughs. The Kamma Mountains lie west of Winnemucca and north of Lovelock in a desert wilderness region of Pershing County.
In August of 2012 as we drove through the Kamma Mountains at the southeast edge of the Black Rock Desert, a wild horse crossed the road in front of us to challenge a stallion with two mares. For me it was love at first sight.
I cried for a long time as I watched. I cried because the research clanging in my head–the mustangs are feral, the mustangs are native, the mustangs don’t have a right to be on public lands, the mustangs are protected by legislation, they are protected but they eat too much, they are sick, they are starving, the mustangs will be better off in captivity–finally quieted, and before me, gleaming, muscled, proud and purposed was one of those horses and I knew then that I wanted only one thing from that horse: more. From that point on the Kamma Mountains wild horses became a major focus of our Nevada desert journeys.
As cherished as it is, the experience of coming to know the Kamma Mountains mustangs has been bittersweet. Juxtaposed with our visits to the Kamma Mountains has been the removal by the U.S. government of thousands of wild horses from our western states, including Nevada and its Kamma Mountains. The Bureau of Land Management, field agency for the Department of the Interior, “gathers” the horses and, if they survive, places them in holding facilities. The gathers are held in response to protests from ranchers that the wild horses are consuming too much of the range’s forage.
Ranchers pay the BLM a nominal fee to supplement grazing with forage on U.S. public lands.
https://godguidesme.com/nevada-wild-horses-kamma-mountains/
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MORE Federally Protected Wild Burros captured and removed from Public Land and Public view… taken to Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) PRIVATE holding facility…GONE
BLM to capture 125 burros, wild horses on Marietta Wild Burro Range (Nev.)
The Bureau of Land Management plans to start the bait and water trapping of up to 125 burros and wild horses from the Marietta Wild Burro Range during the week of July 17.
Captured burros and wild horses will be transported to the Indian Lakes facility located in Fallon, Nev., and later offered from adoption
https://returntofreedom.org/2017/07/01/blm-to-capture-125-burros-wild-horses-on-marietta-wild-burro-range-nev/
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BLM ‘priority’ list pushes drilling, wall – leaked docs
Scott Streater, E&E News reporter
Published: Monday, April 10, 2017
The Trump administration is developing a “priority work” list for the Bureau of Land Management’s 10,000 employees that calls on the agency to focus on permitting oil, gas and coal projects and securing the U.S.-Mexico border, presumably through construction of a wall, according to internal documents obtained by E&E News.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/10/stories/1060052879
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Zinke moving dozens of senior Interior Department officials in shake-up
Other moves include the transfer of the Bureau of Land Management’s New Mexico state director, Amy Lueders, to Fish and Wildlife,
and the reassignment of Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Weldon “Bruce” Loudermilk, acting assistant secretary of Indian affairs Michael S. Black and acting special trustee for American Indians Debra L. DuMontier.
Dan Ashe, who headed the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Obama administration and worked at the agency for more than two decades, said in an interview that having closely watched every transition since Ronald Reagan took the helm of the federal government from Jimmy Carter in 1981, “anything at this scale is unprecedented.”
In phone calls to SES officials at the Bureau of Land Management on Thursday, according to an individual briefed on the matter, BLM acting director Mike Nedd informed them that Zinke liked the idea of moving officials between agencies.
Clement was informed that he would go to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, which collects royalty payments, according to two individuals familiar with the move, while
Fish and Wildlife’s chief of law enforcement, Bill Woody, is slated for the BLM.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/zinke-moving-dozens-of-senior-interior-officials-in-shake-up/2017/06/16/11801d3a-5295-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html
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Elko NV Roundup article — needs comments!
http://elkodaily.com/news/local/blm-plans-big-horse-roundup-in-elko-white-pine-counties/article_1680a369-e1ed-5d2d-af35-56ee58465ef9.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-siderail-latest
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