On September 13, 2010, the District Court of Idaho granted Advocates for the West a victory in an important case under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to disclose to the public basic information on its grazing program – including the names of livestock permittees authorized to grazing the public lands.
According to the Wyoming lobbying group, United Organizations of the Horse, its affiliate, the United Horsemen’s Front is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and charitable corporation who mission is:
On March 9, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal signed into law a bill that enables the Wyoming Livestock Board to send stray, unwanted or feral horses to slaughter. Prior to this legislation, the Board could only send such horses to public sale. This bill (http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2010/Enroll/HB0122.pdf), was introduced into the Wyoming House on February 11, 2010 by Rep. Sue Wallis, and was signed into law less than 30 days later.
Clare Major, of the New York Times, caught on video BLM Wild Horse Stampede contractor Dave Cattoor discussing with his company and BLM personnel the process of killing a horse, that his firm would injure, and how to hide it and dispose of it in such a manner that the public and press would not see it or become aware of the incident. How sweet is that?
Escalated removals of wild herds from the West are categorized as necessary by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management officials. In a recent article, BLM Director Bob Abbey cited the need to “protect wildlife habitat, the horses themselves and the public rangelands from the environmental effects of herd overpopulation” as reasoning behind what appears to be a mad rush to clear the herds from publicly owned Western rangelands.
The recent New York Times video report of the BLM’s destruction of the Wild Horse herd of Twin Peaks captures Helicopter Stampede contractor, David Cattoor, clearly stating how he and the BLM will shoot and hide the death of an injured horse so that “we aren’t going to give them the shot that they want.”
It’s rare that I either have the time or the inclination to personally respond to individuals who take issue with what we publish and question the depth of our convictions. Most assaults come from phony email addresses and are only meant to damage or demean with four letter words used in rants; so it goes for the opposition. But today I received an email from a woman who claims to be the wife of one of the “ranchers” who set upon the female observers, last week, at the Twin Peaks debacle. Being that I was there, listened, recorded, photographed and elected to disengage during the conversation I feel that it is necessary to respond to this individual, who will be known as “Linda” during this conversation.
We wrote on Sunday regarding the impact that visiting a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse Concentration Camp can have upon one’s soul. The facility that we highlighted was Palomino Valley north of Sparks, NV where we were granted unfettered access and did not experience the feeling of being watched or guarded, unlike our experiences at the Litchfield facility outside of Susanville, NV…ground zero for the Twin Peaks Wild Horse extermination.
It happened just like clockwork, the timing was excellent. There had been no local “Ranchers” to speak of at the Twin Peaks roundup the day before, but today was different. There was a reporter from the New York Times on hand with a photographer documenting the carefully orchestrated “gather” and for the grand finale, wild horse advocates were on the menu.
With no advanced commentary or notice my wife, and talented photographer, Terry and I have arrived at the Twin Peaks stampede. I flew directly from the other side of the world to meet Terry in Denver, who had just been in the Pryor Mts., and then on to Reno to tag up with Laura Leigh, Coordinator of Herd Watch.
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