Take the Survey - How Best to Help Our Wild Horses

Recently ran into the following survey at the Save Our Wild Horses website and thought it was a good idea. Maybe you may want to stop by too and give them your thoughts on how to best help our wild ones or just pass it along! This is the header on the survey....
"With the much publicized Pryor Mountain herd roundup in the news it becomes even more important for advocates to band together to get the word out to the public about the issues relating to our wild horses and burros. With the planned removals of wild horses and burros being stepped up we are attempting to learn how we can be more effective. Please take a moment to fill in the survey in the link below so we can better understand how to relate wild horse and burro news."
Save Our Wild Horses Survey

Hey!! I got a Letter from Senator Boxer!!

Dear Ms. Lawrence:

Thank you for writing to me regarding the management of the wild horse population on our public lands. I appreciate hearing from you and share your concerns.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), there are more than 36,000 wild horses and burros on the range and more than 31,000 in holding facilities, where many are offered for adoption. Citing increasing costs and low adoption rates, BLM officials say that budgetary constraints make it difficult to properly care for horses in excess of its target "appropriate management level" of 26,600.

The BLM has considered various options in its effort to minimize costs and control the increasing wild horse and burro population. Among these controversial options are the use of euthanasia on healthy animals and the unconditional sale of older horses that have been unsuccessfully offered for adoption. Unfortunately, the sale of horses without limitations could lead to horse slaughter.

As a long-time supporter of wildlife conservation, I believe that destroying these magnificent animals is never a viable management option. The BLM should more seriously consider alternative, more humane solutions such as improving the adoption program, exploring the use of contraceptives or sterilization to reduce herd sizes, or securing additional funds for a more effective program.

I am pleased to report that the Senate Interior Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 would provide $67.5 million for the Wild Horse and Burro Management Program, a $26.9 million increase from FY2009. I strongly support providing this funding for the program to ensure the proper care of these animals.

I also support legislation to expand the range where wild horses could roam freely, enhance the adoption program, encourage the use of non-lethal methods to reduce herd size, reduce the time a horse spends in a holding pen, and prohibit the euthanization or sale for slaughter of wild horses. On July 17, 2009, the House passed the Restore Our Wild Mustangs (ROAM) Act (H.R.1018), which would accomplish all of these goals. This bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

In addition, I believe strongly in a permanent ban on horse slaughter. That is why I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (S.727) to prohibit the transport, export, or sale of any horse to be slaughtered for human consumption.

I have consistently supported legislation to protect horses, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the ROAM Act and the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act and to see both of these important bills signed into law.

Thank you again for contacting me about this important issue. Rest assured that I will continue to support efforts to maintain the integrity of wild horse and burro populations on our public lands.

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator


Please do not respond to this message. If you would like to comment on legislation, please visit my website and use the correspondence form at https://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm

I'm sure five million trillion other people got the same letter, but hey, it's good to know where she stands on these issues!

Shame on the BLM!! (But you knew that....)

"Dear Director Abbey,

Following is the U Tube connection link to the recent Pryor Mt gather.

Explain exactly WHO is responsible for this gather? What tail is wagging this dog??

16 USC 1332 c defines range as the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild free roaming horses and burros, which doesn't not exceed their known territorial limits and which is devoted principally to their welfare but not necessarily exclusively, in keeping with the multiple use management concept for the public lands.

Isn't this the same principle as an ACEC?

Clearly the agency does not do this to other free roaming wild life.

Are we to be our lying eyes or BLM spokesman Tom Gorey who stated “The Cloud Foundation is not a credible source for information.”

Please reply.

Yours truly,

Kathleen Hayden

PO Box 236

Santa Ysabel, Ca. 92070"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eH6g4x4CKs

The Big Story Click Here for More Breaking News Video Shows Cloud Limping, Foals Possibly Vulnerable to Lion Attack Film Maker Release New Footage of Injured Mustangs By Steven Long HOUSTON, (HORSEBACK) - Despite repeated denials by the federal Bureau of Land Management, horses including the iconic mustang Cloud, were injured in a hasty Labor Day weekend round-up. Video evidence shot by Emmy award winning PBS filmmaker Ginger Kathrens show graphic images of horses limping, including Cloud, immediately after their release back into the wild. “All of the babies are clearly footsore,” Kathrens told Horseback Magazine late Saturday. “Some of the adults seem to me as if they are really tired and are a bit foot sore.” Kathrens returned to her ranch from Montana Friday after observing the horses on the mountain Thursday night. The foal most footsore was Cloud’s offspring filly Jasmine, she said. The horse is a baby. “She was really hobbling,” Kathrens said. Some members of the Cloud herd were not allowed to leave BLM pens to return to Pryor Mountain and will be sold on September 26. The herd’s normal grazing area is 5,000 feet above the pens which they were stampeded to by a low flying helicopter. Repeated queries by Horseback Magazine have all received the same answer from the agency which manages the nation’s wild horses on public lands. “There were no injuries or deaths resulting from the gather, to the best of my knowledge,” said BLM Washington spokesman Tom Gorey late Friday when he disputed Kathrens veracity saying, “The Cloud Foundation is not a credible source for information.” Observers from the foundations and press were not allowed at the upper elevations during the chase to the base of the mountain at Britton Springs. Jim Sparks, the BLM field manager of the Billings, Montana office also told Horseback that no horses were injured as they were chased into a trap and then herded into pens. Sparks conceptualized and spearheaded the Pryor Mountains "gather." He acknowledged it was his decision alone to capture and thin the herd because he believes there aren't enough natural resources on the mountain to sustain the horses through winter. Currently the horses all appear to be fat and healthy. Pryor Mountains mustangs have lived through hundreds of Montana winters. Kathrens has spent much of the last decade chronicling the wild horses of Montana’s mountains, a line of animals that is believed to be genetically pure dating back to the 15th century. The next installment of the “Nature” series featuring Cloud and the horses of Montana’s Pryor range will be shown on PBS, October 25, 2009. The special is titled “Cloud Challenges the Stallion.” Two horses featured in the new film are now held in the BLM adoption pen. Makendra Silverman, assistant to Kathrens said some of the horses are now vulnerable to predators because of their inability to move rapidly to escape attack. “When you have foals run for 10 to 15 miles they are much more prone to mountain lion attack.” Kathrens said that during the run down the mountain the Pryor Mustangs may have burned up much needed fat that would help them make it through the fierce Montana winter. In the video all of the animals appear well fed and healthy. Silverman said it is doubtful older horses such as Cloud, bachelor stallions, and mares would fall victim to cougar attacks but very young horses are at risk. Kathrens says she has left messages for BLM director Bob Abbey but has yet to hear from him. Abbey also declined an interview with Horseback.

Can you Watch This All The Way Through?!?!?

Saving America's Horses

...I can't

How Corrupt is the BLM? You Decide.

"You decide How corrupt is the BLM?

You need to make the decision yourself and, after reading the information, decide if this whole issue is being blown all out of proportion or if indeed the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is completely out of control and is a law unto themselves, accountable to no one, and is driven by a series of administrations as corrupt as anything imagined.

This link is to a District Court decision forbidding the BLM from rounding up horses in Colorado. The details are there, the decision is final, read it for your own education. The Soul of a Horse

Next to the final line is this statement, A prerequisite to removal under the Wild Horse Act is that BLM first determine that an overpopulation exists and that the wild free-roaming horses and burros slated for removal are excess animals.

Not done in the case of Clouds herd.

Previous statements by the BLM was that they would remove only 70 of 190 horses. Today they are exceeding that number by going beyond their specific Herd Management Area (HMA) and rounding up bands outside of their legal perimeter in Custer National Forest, branding and tagging them and shipping them to holding pens ready to be sent away. All this is being done by a contractor previously convicted of ..capturing and killing unbranded horses, mares and colts running at large on public land

Lets just momentarily forget the fact that the BLM is attacking this one herd for reasons not fully explained and that no mention has been made of the extreme interest in this area by the Skyline Uranium Corporation, which has direct ties to the United Arab Emirates.

Lets overlook the fact that we only have (the numbers are in dispute) between 12,000 to 30,000 wild horses left free on land belonging to you and I, that they are being removed because of over population, for protection, to prevent starvation, and are being replaced by eight MILLION head of cattle.

I suggest that we dont even think about the fact that cattle ranchers have fenced off access to water, that a reportedly two-thirds of the BLM budget goes to feeding and care of the 30,000 horses the BLM has previously rounded up, or that the BLM cannot come up with the data necessary to determine how many horses a range can fully support.

For a little more information, watch this video: Voluntary Instinct

If you are not outraged yet, read on.

Today I became aware of another fact, one that is so shocking and horrid that it is impossible to even think about. The BLM supposedly has 30,000 horses in holding pens scattered throughout the US, doing nothing more than waiting to die. Now we find out that the BLM refuses to release information on the exact number. Why?

There is a very good possibility that large numbers of these once symbols of America have been secretly shipped across the borders and slaughtered with the full knowledge and acceptance of the BLM. An investigation is now underway. I expect nothing more than a continued cover up by the government. It will take private individuals and organizations to find out the truth.

The White House is being bombarded by phone calls, yet not one word is being uttered. Today, Clouds herd is being destroyed by the very government that promises to protect, manage, and control wild horses and burros to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands. The BLM manages these living symbols of the Western spirit as part of its multiple-use mission.

You decide. If you find that the destruction of our wild horses is a fact, then complain. If you dont, who will?

1. Call/write/fax President Obama as often as you canthis herd is a national treasure and should not be wiped out by a government agency. Please flood the phone lines with calls! Phone: 202-456-1111 or 202-456-9000 Fax: 202-456-2461


2. Ask Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to stop this round up
Call: 202-208-3100


3. BLM Director Bob Abbey, tell him to halt this round up-- he must reconsider his agency's actions
Call: 202-208-3801 or 866-468-7826
Fax: 202-208-5242"

Please Pick-up a phone and Call!! It's Working! Save Our Wild Horses!!

Equine Advocates

Jeanne Lambrecht posting note from the Cloud Foundation: "WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! KEEP CALLING We've just been told that BLM Director Bob Abbey is meeting with other officials regarding this round up due to the number of calls and e-mai......ls they are receiving. KEEP IT UP- KEEP CALLING, FAXING AND E-MAILING. BLM Director Bob Abbey:Call: 202-208-3801 or 866-468-7826 Fax: 202-208-5242 Robert_Abbey@blm.gov "

Call, Write, Fax!!!! Please do it NOW! It'll only take a second, but it is making a difference!!!

BLM Steals the Last Wild Horse Herd from Montana!!

MSNBC reports on the removal of the last herd of wild horses, the Pryor Mountain Herd of which Cloud is a member, in Montana.

US Judge OKs Roundup of Wild Horses

This is so sad!! And such a travesty of justice!!! The American people should be outraged by this!!!

U.S. judge OKs roundup of wild horses

A federal judge has cleared the way for a government roundup of about 190 wild horses along the Montana-Wyoming border.

Two Colorado-based advocacy groups went to court to stop the culling of the herd, saying it's one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the United States. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected their request for an injunction.

The helicopter roundup, delayed since Monday, begins tomorrow at the 38,000-acre Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. Operated by the Bureau of Land Management, it was the first nationally designated home for wild horses.

The entire herd will be captured; 70 adults and their foals will be put up for adoption. The remainder will be freed after mares are given a contraceptive vaccine.
The BLM has more information on the wild herd and efforts to control the population.
Sept. 26 is designated National Wild Horse Adoption Day.
One of the groups that oppose the roundup, The Cloud Foundation, is critical of the contractor hired by the BLM. It writes that contractor Dave Cattoor of Maybell, Colo., "was indicted by a federal grand jury and pled guilty to illegally hunting wild horses, aiding and abetting in 1992. He rounded up protected American mustangs, corralled into pens, loaded them into trucks, and hauled them to a slaughter house in Texas where they lost their lives."
(Can you believe that!!! I'm outraged!!!)

The group states that since 2000, the BLM and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have paid Cattoor more than $13.4 million to round up wild horses. Read some testimonials about Cattoor and his work.
The Cloud Foundation and its allies argued unsuccessfully in court that such roundups violate the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

We Don't Take "No" From Anyone, We just want to Take Your Land..

BLM is Acting Illegally - Time to STOP!

Letter to BLM

"Dear Amy et al,
It has come to my attention that the Ely district wild and free roaming horses have been gathered and shipped to the BLM facility in Ridgecrest Ca.
Still unanswered are the Legal Questions and my comments protesting gathers of our Heritage Herds, and the Ely districts horses in particular.
These questions are based on the various Preservation Acts, namely the Wild Horse and Burro Act, National Historic Preservation Act sec 106 and ESA distinct population segments.
In defiance of the West Douglas finding and decision, land managers continue to zero out and remove non excessive free roaming wild horses from their legally mandated habitat and transport them across state lines for adoption.
The aforementioned laws and processes are circumvented in the facilitation/application of management plans that remove free roaming wild horses and burros These plans are fatally flawed.
The federally mandated herd areas were, and continue to be, grossly under inventoried and misrepresented. The FREE ROAMING WHBA clearly mandated and intended permanent herd areas (ranges) designated.
To sustain viable herds, under the ESA these ranges would be called areas of permanent critical habitat. The term "range" is defined as the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of free roaming wild horses and burros which does not exceed their known territorial limits, and which is devoted principally, but not necessarily exclusively, to their welfare in keeping with the multiple use management concept for the public lands 16 USC 1332 c (page 10 West Douglas memo)
Also restated from the West Douglas Court memo:
#1333 is the only program authorized for removal of excess animals. The court finds that Congress clearly intended to protect non excess animals from removal and that BLMs removal authority is limited to excess animals with in the meaning of the ACT . The court finds that BLMs decision to remove an entire herd is an impermissible construction of the Act under step two of Chevron. It would be anomalous to infer that by authorizing the custodian of the wild horses and burros to "manage" them, Congress intended to permit the animals' custodian to subvert the primary policy of the statute by capturing and removing from the wild the very animals that Congress sought to protect from being captured and removed from the wild. Congress did not authorize BLM to manage the wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long term care as non wild free roaming animals off the public lands. Upon removal for private adoption and or long term cares herds would forever cease to be wild free roaming horses as components of the public lands contrary to congress intent to protect the horses from capture. The court states that is difficult to think of a management activity that is farther from a minimal feasible level than removal.
The court finds that the only plausible inference to be drawn from the omission of any procedure from removing non excess animals is that Congress did not intend for BLM s management authority to be so broad. Further more the Act contains no provision for the adoption sale or destruction of non excess animals removed. The court infers from the 1978 repeal that Congress intended to eliminate BLMS discretion to destroy non excess animals in order to maintain the habitat.

Title to the land
Isn't it true that Real estate law is abundantly clear that pre existing contracts/ covenants/appurtenances attach to the land? Or that the
Free Roaming wild horse and burro mandates cannot be abrogated by transferring title to the land or through conflicting management plans?

Our free roaming herds are held by the government in fiduciary trust (breached) for the American people in perpetuity. They represent the uniquely LOCAL cultural Native American and pioneering history. (National Historic Preservation Act (sec 106 process)
When herds cease to intermingle with other free roaming wild horses they evolve into distinct population segments. They and their habitat is protected under the Endangered Species Act whether or NOT they are listed.
The feral issue is MOOT per ....Proposed Nevada Test and Training Range Resource Management Plan and Final EIS Comment 87, BLM Response, pg. E-25 "The issue of a wild horse as an invasive species is moot since the 1971 WHBA gave wild free roaming horses "special" status based on their heritage of assisting man settle the "west"…

Please also refer also to NOTE From: NHPA expert (testimony) Thomas F. King, PhD whose query remains unanswered to date.
TFKing106@aol.com To: Kats@hughes.net ; don_glenn@blm.gov ; adumas@ca.blm.gov ; tom_pogacnik@ca.blm.gov ; Alex_Neibergs@ca.blm.gov Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 6:39 AMSubject: Re: stop the Clark Mt gather
Kat -- I confess to being quite unable to keep up with the twists and turns of this matter, but can anybody tell me how BLM has purported to comply with Section 106 of NHPA on this federal undertaking? My guess is that they've treated Section 106 as an entirely archaeological matter and made the brilliant observation that horses aren't archaeological sites, but if this is the case they are gravely out of compliance with the law, and ought to do something about it
.Best
Thomas F. King, PhD
PO Box 14515, Silver Spring MD 20911
240-475-0595
Blog: http://crmplus.blogspot.com/
NEW from Left Coast Press: Our Unprotected Heritage: Whitewashing Destruction of Our Cultural and Natural Environment. February 2009.
Appreciation in advance for your response,
Kathleen Hayden
Coyote Canyon Caballos d'Anza
POB 236
Santa Ysabel, Ca. 92070"

BLM Runs SoCal Wild Horses to Extinction

In a letter to BLM Ramona DeLorme, Kathleen Hayden of Coyote Canyon Caballos d'Anza writes:

Dear Ramona,

Please distribute the following communiqué and attached letter from Mike Pool to the Wild Horse Advisory Committee.

Dear Members of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Committee,

We, Coyote Canyon Caballos d'Anza Inc. have provided volumes of documentation to enable BLM to redefine and designate the native ranges of the Coyote Canyon Herd Area that was under-inventoried in 1971. It was defective then as it is now. By operation of law, management plans may be revised to correct this deficiency and make restitution.

We would remind the Committee of the previously provided and numerous preservation avenues within the National Historic Preservation Act Sec 106 and distinct population segments of the Endangered Species Act that support critical habitat designation.

The Coyote Canyon Wild Horse Herd is extinct now in the wild. We have possession of, and BLM retains title to, the 4 remaining stallions. Only through our efforts have this herd been saved for restoration.

It is necessary and imperative to re establish a Coyote Canyon herd to the Native American historic ranges of Beauty Mt (currently BLM)

We rely on BLM's offer of cooperation, assistance and partnership to manage this herd.

We have been informed that BLM instructed the Committee not to make a recommendation and believe that the Committee exists for this purpose.

Your positive action and response would be most appreciated.

Thank you,

Kathleen Hayden

PO Box 236

Santa Ysabel, Ca.

Coyote Canyon Caballos d' Anza