Horse News

Action alert: A critical message from Ginger Kathrens of The Cloud Foundation about the Pryor wild horses

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While the BLM moves heaven and earth to to roundup the remaining wild horses & burros in the West, grants more and more permits to the extractive industries, and spares no expense for things like flying BLM personnel to the Slaughter Summit in Utah, they just can’t seem to find a way to delay the trapping of Pryor Mountain wild horses until the Judge can hear the arguments.  Please call your Congressional representatives.  –  Debbie

Source:  The Cloud Foundation

Hopi, her daughter Quintasket, and Demure. Quintasket is targeted for removal. (Pic-Kristen Collett. 2017)

Hi Everyone;
I am discouraged and shocked by the statements made by the BLM person in charge of managing the Pryor wild horse herd.  A bait trap removal is to begin on September 2nd.  Our attorneys requested that the operation be delayed so that legal arguments on both sides could be presented before a judge.  BLM says they cannot delay because BLM “key personnel would not be available later in September as some have approved leave for vacations that they have already paid for.”

(Below, Rio, targeted for removal, visits the waterhole with his mother, Jacinta and band member, Navajo.  August 2017)

Their lack of caring for animals we love takes my breath away. With their timeline, the young males targeted: Okomi (Firestorm/Jackson), Quanah (Flint/Halcyon), Oak and Parry (Hidalgo and Fresia), Orlando and Quaid (Greta and Garcia), Quasar (Kitalpha/Hickok) and Rio (Jacinta/Garay) would be captured, hauled to the Britton Springs corrals at the base of the mountain, gelded and offered for sale on September 18th. What’s the hurry you might ask?

Here is what BLM says about this:  “government travel in September becomes more problematic as BLM approaches the end of the fiscal year.”  And If the young Pryor mustangs are still there in late October BLM has indicated they will move them to “other BLM facilities with space for short-term holding.” Again, a horrifying lack of concern.

We are fighting as hard as we can for our friends on the mountain. Please do your part.  Call your Congressional Reps and Senators and let them know about the needless and cruel measures BLM is planning.  And stress not only the intangibles of kindness over cruelty but the economic benefits to the Montana and Wyoming communities who play host to visitors from around the world, visitors anxious to glimpse the unforgettable sight of wild Spanish colonial mustangs in their spectacular mountain stronghold.

(Below; Quahneah is the end of the line for Washakie and Baja-a beloved wild horse couple.  She is their only offspring on the range that might reproduce but she is scheduled for removal!)

    

Other points you will want to make to your Congressional Representatives and US Senators:

-The wild horses in the Pryor Mountains are a genetically unique, rare Spanish Colonial Herd, descended from the horses of the Conquistadors. Their range is dedicated to wild horses and other wildlife. The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was the first public wild horse range created in the United States and precedes the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

-Currently, the Pryor Herd is at the same population level as after the 2015 removal—152. That means there has been no population change in the last 3 yrs, so BLM could easily delay another month or two or even a year rather than hurrying up to meet “vacation” schedules. Despite the facts on population, BLM claims that the population is increasing by 8% annually. This is not true.

Find phone#’s here:
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Please call and help our Pryor wild horses today.

We can’t let this happen to animals so many of us cherish!

Thanks to each and every one of you for caring so much.
Happy Trails!
Ginger

Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs

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13 replies »

  1. Have shared this information on facebook. Also, have phoned Jerrie Bertola, Billings, BLM office. She maintains that these horses are starving!! Insufficient forage for them!! This is not true. Her phone number: 406-896-5223!

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  3. Sept. 2 is a Sunday, and part of a federal holiday weekend. I suppose they (we) will be paying folks overtime to hurriedly beging trapping horses?

    There are plenty of BLM “resources” sitting at desks shuffling papers so I find it hard to accept at face value the dire need to hurry so (how many ?) in MT can hurry off to vacations. How many does it take to micromanage this well known and well followed tiny herd, the only one in all of Big Sky Country?

    We hear every day how budgets are being cut for firefighters and other critical land management personnel, yet somehow believe there is a critical need to remove a handful of horses from a tiny part of MT. A bolt of lightning could take out this many or more in one instant!

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  4. What. An we do? Is there a court a tuonthst could halt this. They are playing games. Where there are arguments to be made, they have no right to take OUR horses because they can’t be bothered to wait until the opposition( which is mighty) has achan e to stop this. There has to be a Federal Judge that can halt this.

    My family and friends are willing to do just about anything to stop this unwarranted, brutal roundup.

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  5. Just a thought
    It would appear that there is a strong legal argument that could put a stop to this

    From PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)
    TEMPORARY INTERIOR DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS ILLEGAL

    All Decisions by Acting Park Service, BLM, and Fish & Wildlife Heads LEGALLY VOID

    https://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/temporary-interior-department-directors-illegal.html

    There’s not even an “Acting” Director of the Bureau of Land Management: Brian Steed is just “Exercising Authority of the Director”
    From STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S HEART/ August 11, 2018

    The Bureau of Land Management doesn’t have a Director or an Acting Director. Brian Steed is the Deputy Director, Policy & Programs, but he is “Exercising Authority of the Director.” There are 8 “Acting” Directors under him.

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  8. This is govermentl and big companies way to take over the land .Get our horses and burros out of the way. It is time to stand up for our horses,burros,all the other animals that live on public lands.The land belongs to our animals, to the plants,to us not the government or ranchers or companies. God I pray help us now.

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  9. I wrote to NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen about our wild horses. She is on the wild horse committee. Here is here response:

    Dear Denise,

    Thank you for contacting my office about wild horses. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue, and I share your concerns.

    In 1971, wild horses were granted federal protection and entrusted to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Department of the Interior for responsible and sustainable management. Since that time, more than 250,000 wild horses have been removed from the range. Because the rate of horse roundups has greatly exceeded the rate of wild horse adoptions for years, the BLM now spends the majority of its budget for wild horse management on the more than forty thousand horses it keeps in government holding facilities. For more than thirty years, Congress has included provisions in annual government funding bills that have prevented the BLM from slaughtering any healthy wild horses and burros. As you may know, in its 2018 budget proposal, the Trump administration requested the removal of this prohibition. However, I was pleased that the final 2018 government funding bill retained this ban and it remains illegal to use government funds to slaughter wild horses.

    The Trump administration has again requested removal of the ban on horse slaughter in its 2019 budget request. Please be assured that I oppose the slaughter of wild horses and will keep your comments in mind as the Senate considers future funding legislation. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me and please do not hesitate to contact my office with any future concerns.

    Sincerely,

    Jeanne Shaheen
    United States Senator

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