GREEN RIVER — In 2008, federal officials said they would have to consider euthanizing wild horses because of rising numbers and the high cost of caring for the animals in long-term holding facilities.
But in early 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reversed course and said the agency would instead pursue shipping horses to holding corrals and pastures in the Midwest and East
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The BLM cleared up the issue of ownership of water in a desert waterhole near a stampede area where almost 20 horses have died.
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – When Laura Leigh, an author, artist, journalist, and litigant chased the BLM into the desert to observe wild horse capture after a federal judge told her she could do so, she wasn’t allowed to see horses – but she did see water.
ITHACA, NY (ALC) – The BLM had temporarily suspended its Tuscarora roundup of wild horses initiated in the intense summer heat just days ago on July 10, 2010.
BLM halted the roundup after public outcry over the deaths of horses now said to number 12 including 3 foals.
Based on BLM’s representation the roundup would not begin again until Sunday, July 19, 2010, the judge set a hearing yesterday, July 14 on a motion for restraining order filed by plaintiff Laura Leigh to delay the roundup until August and compel BLM to allow access to the roundup by the media and the public. The judge explained that he was then informed regardless, BLM Director Bob Abbey had issued an order for an “emergency” roundup of the horses prior to the hearing.
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.
The catch phrases that have caught my attention most recently – and begged for further review – were ‘Portions of Public land will be temporarily closed…” for whatever reasons; and ‘Drought’. So I did a little exploration. Let’s talk about ‘temporary closure of Public Lands’.
CHICAGO, (EWA) – On June 23, 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District office buried on its website a notice that approximately 175 “abandoned, domestic, estray” horses located within Pilot Valley, NV, were scheduled for impoundment beginning June 25. The round up was expected to take 3 – 4 days with corrals set up on nearby private land owned by Simplot Land and Livestock until the horses could be transported and placed under the jurisdiction of the State of Nevada.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has appointed a hunter, rancher and a horse trainer to the WHB Advisory Board. Equine advocates around the world had hoped that the BLM would live up to their staged promise of increased compassion and understanding but instead they have proven, once again, to wage all out war upon our native wild horses by staffing their advisory board with enemies to the horses versus knowledgeable advocates and horse people.
Well warm up the BBQ pit and break out the beer because the ole BLM is about to fire off a rerun of the death and destruction and hundreds of native wild horses are now doomed.
In the face of public and Congressional outrage over the roundup of nearly 2,000 wild horses from Nevada’s Calico Mountains region, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced plans to control and minimize criticism by restricting the very limited public viewing of its operations to a small group of cherry-picked organizations and individuals. The agency is ramping up its capture plans, with over 5,000 more wild horses targeted for roundup and removal over the next four months.
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