Tag: Craig Downer

Recognized Wild Horse Expert Adds More to Obama’s BLM Dunce List

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On page 23 of your document you paint a very rosy picture of the results of the roundup, but in fact overlook many positive aspects of leaving the wild horses alone. You mention that the rate of foaling will increase after the roundup. Yes, I agree, but is this not what you want to prevent by allowing the herds to self-stabilize? They do self-stabilize if allowed to fill their niche. I suggest you look into natural boundaries, predators, buffer zones, etc., as part of an effective Reserve Design concept.

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Renowned Wild Horse Expert Disputes BLM’s Flawed Math

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Thank you for this opportunity to give input. I have reviewed the E.A. and am disturbed by the repeated arguments that I have read many times before as concerns “wild horse overpopulation,” “multiple use,” “thriving ecological balance,” etc. The employment of these terms to justify what you are planning to do to the wild horses makes a mockery of their true meaning.

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Renowned Wildlife Ecologist Responds to Biased Audubon Anti-Wild Horse Ranting

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Often times it is best to let bad news and glaring stupidity simply slip away into the night without any notice and that was exactly what I intended to do regarding the Audubon Magazine’s recent article about wild horses. Written by Ted Williams, no not the famous guy, the article is riddled with misinformation and tainted with a leering overtone that leaves a bitter taste in the reader’s mouth. Poor journalism at best for such a highly regarded conservation publication.

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Aerial Survey Reveals Twin Peaks Wild Horse Population Decimated

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A September 24th flyover survey of the California-Nevada Twin Peaks Herd Management Area by respected wildlife ecologist Craig Downer reveals that only about 265 wild horses remain in this 798,000-acre range in the wake of the recent BLM roundup, which captured 1638 horses. Fourteen of those horses died in BLM custody or as a direct result of physical injuries or trauma sustained during their capture.

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BLM Says Dead Foal at Twin Peaks Not Shot

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On Aug 17th federal officials released a report stating that the holes in the carcass of a young foal found by wild horse advocates probably came from scavenger birds and not gunshot wounds.

Two days after the remains were found by concerned U.S. citizens a vet from the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service examined the carcass and stated that the cause of death could not be determined due to advance stages of decomposition according to BLM spokesperson Jan Bedrosian.

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Two-Week-Old Wild Horse Shot and Killed Before California Roundup

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Sacramento, CA (August 13, 2010)—The body of a wild horse foal was found near the site of the Twin Peaks roundup Wednesday by Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation Board member, and Christy Davis, wild horse advocate. Davis, an experienced horse woman, examined the foal for any broken bones. What she found was an apparent rope burn on a rear leg as well as a gunshot wound.

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Seven Wild Horses Killed on First Day of Roundup Makes It Deadliest Salazar Massacre This Year

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Tuscarora, NV (IDA) – Yesterday, In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection and rescue organization, called for a summer moratorium of all roundups and is blasting the Department of Interior which, despite a federal lawsuit and legal appeal, began a controversial roundup of wild horses in Northeastern Nevada on July 10 which has resulted in seven (7) fatalities and numerous injuries in just the first day of the roundup. BLM has indicated that 228 wild horses were captured. These horses were stampeded with the use of a helicopter over eight miles in the deadly desert summer heat. The majority of deaths are dehydration-related.

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Breaking News: Young Wild Foals at Risk as BLM Violates Protocol

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Elko, NV (July 8, 2010)— Over 1,400 federally-protected wild mustangs are to be rounded up beginning tomorrow, July 9, in the Tuscarora area of Elko County Nevada during the hottest month of the year. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is violating their own set-protocol for waiting six weeks after the main foaling season, defined as March 1-June 30, so that young foals can escape the inherent danger of a high-heat summer roundup. BLM will dispatch privately contracted choppers to run the Tuscarora mustangs over miles of rugged terrain in a taxpayer-funded roundup expected to last three weeks and result in the removal of some 1,100 mustangs. Only last month, Oregon BLM wild horse managers postponed a planned roundup that would have started the day after foaling season—opting to begin instead in mid-August for the horses’ safety.

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BLM Admits Helicopter Stampede Caused Wild Horse Deaths, Refuses Outside Observers in Nevada Census

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HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management, under siege by press and public for it’s handling of offshore drilling, again has proven it is an agency with a tin ear when it comes to public relations.

With 150 horses and foals now dead in the wake of the most deadly “gather” in BLM history, the agency continues with an apparent government cover-up of the number of horses remaining in Nevada’s remote Calico Mountains.

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