6/27/10

Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue


Please watch this video about the infamous 3 Strikes Horses.
This is the very short version of the 3 Strikes Ranch rescue story as told by Jill Starr, President, Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue. The 3 Strikes Ranch starvation case was the worst and largest abuse case in the history of Nebraska.









There are always more horses in need, just like these. Learn more at LIFESAVERS INC


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6/25/10

Ask Congress To Force BLM To Allow Public Observation Of Wild Horse Program

In Defense of Animals:
Ask Congress To Force BLM To Allow Public Observation Of Wild Horse Program

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) announced plans to control and minimize criticism by further restricting public viewing of its operations to a small group of cherry-picked organizations and individuals for limited viewing. 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.

By its own admission, BLM’s crackdown on public observation of its roundup activities and wild horse holding facilities is designed to control images released on blogs, YouTube and other social media, thereby quashing escalating public opposition to the agency’s handling of America’s treasured mustangs.

We can’t let the BLM get away with this. The agency ignores the wishes of the American public by clearing wild horses off the land to make room for cattle ranchers and gas and mining companies who want to exploit public lands. Most of these formerly free mustangs are stockpiled in BLM holding facilities in the Midwest, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually. Now this public agency is attempting to prevent all but a handpicked few from observing and documenting its treatment of the wild horses who are beloved by so many Americans.

Please follow this link to In Defense of Animals and submit the form today. Ask your representatives in Congress to force the BLM to allow the public to see and document how the agency is spending tax dollars to roundup and hold wild horses and burros. After you submit this form, please call your senators and representatives to follow up and ask them what action they have taken on this issue.




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6/24/10

Top U.S. Law Firm Threatens Suit over BLM Wild Horse Roundup in California

Let's hope that Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney can get someone to listen to reason.
clipped from www.idanews.org

Top U.S. Law Firm Threatens Suit over BLM Wild Horse Roundup in California

  • Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 12:07
  • Planned Capture of 2,000 Mustangs and Burros Sets Stage For Court Battle Over
    Federal Wild Horse Management Program

    Washington, DC (June 22, 2010) – Today, the national law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney P.C. (BIR) notified the U.S. Department of Justice that it intends to file suit over the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) proposed roundup and removal of 1,855 wild horses and 210 burros in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) located in Northeastern California. The letter was written after extensive public comments on the roundup (available here) were submitted to the BLM by In Defense of Animals (IDA), which also filed suit in federal court last November over the controversial roundup of nearly 2,000 wild horses from the Calico Mountains Complex in northwestern Nevada.

    6/20/10

    ATAMANENKO MOVES TO BAN HORSE MEAT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION

    ATAMANENKO MOVES TO BAN HORSE MEAT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION | Alex Atamanenko
    Thu 17 Jun 2010

    OTTAWA – New Democrat Agriculture Critic, Alex Atamanenko (BC southern Interior) tabled a Private Members Bill (C-544) yesterday that would effectively shut down the slaughtering of horses for human consumption in Canada.

    “The fact is that drugs which are prohibited for use during the life of any animals destined for the human food supply are routinely being administered to horses,” said Atamanenko. “It is irresponsible for Canada to allow the sale of meat from horses as a food item when they have never been raised in accordance with the food safety practices required for all other animals.”

    Atamanenko points to the inexpensive, easily available and widely used anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone (bute), as one example of what is quite likely to be prevalent in horsemeat. Bute is a known carcinogen and its use is illegal in any animal that enters the food supply.

    “It is more likely than not that the vast majority of horses will have been administered bute, or ‘horse’s aspirin’ as it is commonly called,” said Atamanenko.

    According to Atamanenko, at least fifty per cent of the horses being slaughtered in Canada are imported from the US where horse slaughter has been banned. The meat is then sold to markets in Europe. There are no regulations in the US to prevent horse owners from administering banned substances because horses are not regarded or treated as food-producing animals.

    Under pressure from the European Union (EU), Canada is set to introduce a new ‘equine passport’ system to track the health history and medical treatments of horses arriving at slaughterhouses, including those from the States.

    Atamanenko believes that it will be impossible for CFIA to verify data in these passports and expects to see a high incidence of inaccurate records.

    “Many in the US believe it should be our job to verify information from US horses since Canada is the only one slaughtering them for human consumption,” concluded the Atamanenko. “It’s a stretch to think that information on hundreds of thousands of unwanted horses that were never raised to be food, will be complete or accurate.”

    Now, if we could only get our own government to step up and do the same! Write your Senators and Representatives and ask them what comes first - special interest groups or human safety? Even if they don't care about how much horses suffer, poisoning people in other countries should at least get their attention! 




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    6/14/10

    Spin Drs Hired to Wipe Out Wild Horses

    Is this the way you want your tax money spent? If not, follow these links and TAKE ACTION! 




    June 2010


    Media Contacts:


    Makendra Silverman

    Anne Novak


    For Immediate Release:
    Spin Doctors Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds
    BLM uses MMS’s PR and Public Affairs agency to facilitate Salazar’s agenda at June 14th public workshop in Denver—protest on June 15th
    Denver, CO (June 14, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation has learned that the San Francisco based public relations and public affairs firm, Kearns and West, with ties to big energy and offices across the country, has been hired to push the Salazar Plan for Wild Horses and Burros through Congress in Fall 2010—despite public outrage. Kearns and West has expertise in crisis management as well as accomplishing policy and regulatory goals. Their clients range from Mineral Management Services (MMS) and PG&E to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Department of Interior (DOI) has enlisted the firm using the Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) as the go between. Senior mediator of Kearns and West, J. Michael Harty will facilitate an unprecedented public workshop in Denver, Colorado at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th Street, on June 14th followed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Public Advisory Board Meeting on June 15th. Both days will be live-streamed and viewing available on www.thecloudfoundation.org. The public and members of Congress are encouraged to watch. The public will protest on June 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a press conference at noon.
    BLM’s recently announced and highly polished but unsubstantial, “Strategy Plan” as well as their association with PR firm Kearns and West, appears designed to manipulate the public and marginalize the opposition to the Salazar Plan for wild horses and burros. The plan calls for the purchase of Eastern and Midwestern “preserves” populated by sterilized wild horses, captured from their Western ranges.
    "This is ALL about manipulating public opinion. And ramming ONE thing – Salazar’s Plan – through” states author R.T. Fitch.
    The Kearns and West Salazar Plan Executive Summary states, ‘The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (‘Institute’) is assisting BLM in assessing stakeholder interests and developing an effective stakeholder engagement plan for the Strategy.’ Disturbingly, BLM often does not include the public as a stakeholder in their planning documents regarding the management of wild horses and burros.
    “Who is the biggest stakeholder in the discussion of the public’s land and its wild horses if not the public?” asks Terri Farley, author of the Phantom Stallion series, adding “A public agency must represent the public and utilize taxpayer dollars responsibly—not spend excessively on another private contractor.”
    According to their website, Kearns and West offers their clients (in this case the BLM) ‘A compelling credible, resonant case. True, high-impact support for your position.’ Advocates support a new direction that abandons the endless, expensive cycle of roundup, removal, and warehousing. BLM must adopt a far less expensive path that is kinder to the land and the wild horses legally living there, one that contains truly transparent solutions, not a slick, taxpayer-funded PR campaign.
    “By hiring a high powered PR and Public Affairs firm, it seems that BLM is aiming to extinguish the opposition rather than solve the controversy over their management of our wild herds,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “The public by the thousands has shared their opposition to the Salazar Plan. I hope we can sit down at this public forum and seriously talk about a moratorium on roundups while we work to reinstate protections that are consistent with the intent of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act.
    According to The Holmes Report, “Kearns & West recognizes the important value of collaborating both with our clients and their stakeholders. For more than 20 years, the firm has employed its unique brand of stakeholder-centric strategic communications and collaboration processes to design innovative, but pragmatic programs, achieving superior results for clients in the federal, state and local government, private and nonprofit sectors. Kearns & West works with tough issues and big ideas.”
    Besides specializing in ‘accomplishing policy and regulatory goals’ Kearns and West also represents PG&E—a primary customer in the Ruby Pipeline natural gas project threatening public lands and five public herds with environmental devastation from Wyoming to Oregon. Kearns and West also represents Duke Energy, the Association of Western Governors and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, among others.
    While Secretary Salazar vowed to restore the Interior Department's ‘respect for scientific integrity’ he has failed to consider science, reason, or even the law when it comes to managing our wild herds. Kearns and West has been known to gather scientific experts and build a movement of common interest “stakeholders” to crush public outcry and true environmentalism. Wild horse advocates feel the Kearns and West prepared Salazar report for Congress will be biased in favor of big energy ties with DOI at the expense of federally protected wild horses who somehow are in the way of ‘The New Energy Frontier’.
    “We hope Monday’s workshop will be a productive one rather than a demonstration of BLM’s inability to change,” concludes Kathrens.
    # # #
    Lnks of interest:
    Interior Department Wild Horse Public Workshop, Livestream June 14, 8 a.m. -4 p.m. and Advisory Board Meeting June 15, 8 a.m. -5:00 p.m. http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/
    Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y
    Kearns and West http://bit.ly/deT894
    CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE
    Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm
    Rolling Stone: The Spill, The Scandal and the President. June 2010 http://bit.ly/d3Bjcm

    Vanity Fair: A Solution to America’s Wild Horse Crisis? June 2010 http://bit.ly/a7Esyd
    Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext
    Ken Salazar's "candy shop": Denver Post Guest Commentary, June 2010 http://bit.ly/aNbLz9
    ‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58
    Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/a0xcq7
    Informative Blog: American Herds http://americanherds.blogspot.com/
    Photos, video and interviews available from:
    The Cloud Foundation  ~ makendra@thecloudfoundation.org
    The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
    107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

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    6/12/10

    Report From Renownd Wildlife Ecologist Craig Downer

    Letter to BLM by Craig DownerThe Cloud Foundation and The Equine Welfare Alliance

    Wild Horse and Burro Division
    Bureau of Land Management
    Reno, NV
    Freedom by Craig Downer
    Dear Sirs:

    I am concerned about the fate of Calico complex wild horses now in captivity north of Fallon as well as those that remain living in the wild in the five HMA’s from which the former where captured.  I recently flew over southern and central portions of Black Rock East, Black Rock West, Calico Mountain, and Granite Range HMA’s in a light plane. In this very open area I was only able to observe only 31 wild horses in several bands, while  during this same flight I observed 350 cattle.  There was a reasonable spring green-up of the landscape and the open treeless character of the terrain permitted a high degree of horse detection.

    My concern is this: there appears to be a real dearth of wild horses remaining in the complex after the last helicopter roundups.  In light of this, I am requesting that the Calico horses now in captivity not be moved to holding and adoption centers until after the aerial population inventory you are planning for the complex is completed.  I understand this is to take place right away.  If, in fact, there are far fewer wild horses remaining in the complex  than earlier estimated, I would urge you to release a fair number of the wild horses of equal sex ratios in order to bring the herd up to a more adequate level.

    Looking forward to your response,

    Sincerely,

    Craig C. Downer

    Craig’s Documented Observations

    RETURN FLIGHT OVER CALICO MOUNTAIN WILD HORSE HERD MANAGEMENT AREAS COMPLEX (WINNEMUCCA BLM DISTRICT) AND BUFFALO HILLS WHHMA TO WEST

    Date of Flight: Monday, May 3, 2010

    Date of Report: Tuesday, May 4, 2010

    Pilot: Mr. Shane Gorman (Reno, NV) of Lighthawk organization. Flight arranged through Sharon Stone of Lighthawk. Plane is lightweight acrobatic Citabrio, similar to Piper Cub. 2 passenger.  Superior wing.

    Passenger and observer/photographer(digital stills) and author of this report: Craig C. Downer, wildlife ecologist

    Leave Truckee (Calif.) airport ca. 8:40 AM.  Airport located off Hwy 267, SE of I-80 hwy and near town of Truckee, mid elevation Sierra Nevada mtns.

    Weather: Sunny, cool, clear.  Fly to Winnemucca, central northern Nevada to fuel up.

    Land at Winnemucca (Nevada) airport at 10 AM. Fuel up and take off heading NW toward Black Rock Range (BRR) and BRR East Wild Horse Herd Management Area (whhma), spotting for wild horses, cattle and noting range condition and other factors.  A strong head wind is encountered blowing from the West

    11:15 AM.  50 Black Angus cattle observed SE portion of BRR East.  No wild horses in sight.  Coming over ridge GPS Coordinates are: 41 deg 33 min N; 118 deg 31 min W.

    11:22 AM.  Ca. 100 Hereford cattle seen. No wild horses observed.  GPS Coordinates: 41 deg 33 min N; 118 deg. 42 min W.  One small band of 7 wild horses finally sighted.  Band includes bays and sorrels.  Flying south another small band of 4 wild horses is spotted to the NW.  GPS Coordinates 41 deg 30 min N; 118 deg 48 min W.  Several herds of cattle observed, estimated at ca. 80, feeding on spring green up of range.  Area has hardly any wild horses.  They have been lost to the recent BLM-contracted roundups conducted by Cattoor Livestock Roundup company out of Nephi, Utah.

    11:43 AM.  Flying just to south of Paiute Meadows Ranch and south of Elephant Mountain, SE of Little Big Mtn. and Big Mtn.  Freedom, famous stallion who escaped capture corrals at Paiute Meadows on Jan. 2, 2010, and his band were from this area.  The helicopter drove them in from the northern part of Elephant Mtn.  Freedom escaped toward Big Mtn. (Photo above.)  Lamentably no wild horses are observed during our flight over this vast and spectacular area.  Portions of BRR West whhma observed.  We decide to turn back toward the SW due to increased turbulence and dark clouds with some sculpted clouds to the north.

    11:56 AM.  Two wild horse bands spotted, one with 8 wild horses, the other with 7 wild horses.  GPS Coordinates 41 deg 04 min N; 119 deg 13 min W toward S end of Calico Hills, Calico Mtn whhma.  Another band of 5 wild horses spotted to N.  GPS Coordinates: 41 deg 03 min N; 119 deg 15 min W.  South of Division Peak.

    12:09 PM.  GPS Coordinates 40 deg 55 min N; 119 deg 31 min W.  N. Granite Range and Granite Range whhma.  No wild horses observed.  Formerly several wild horse bands frequented here.  Proceeding west.  Smoke Creek Desert to south.  Large dust plumes arising from desert indicates strong gusts.  Head wind remains strong.  Very sparse vegetation with a few stunted Juniper trees, sparsely distributed.  Spring green up noted.
    12:13 PM.  Use binoculars to carefully inspect W side Granite range from north.  No wild horses observed.  Digital photos.  Many cattle grazing here, est. 120, in diverse locations.  These tend to cluster around water sources.

    12:16 PM.  Pass over reservoir.  No wild horses, nor wild horse trails.  No dung depots.
    Overall conclusion: Portions of Calico Mtn whhma Complex inspected from the air are nearly devoid of wild horses whereas before there was a fair number of wild horses in these areas, evenly distributed in a mosaic formed of wild horse band home ranges.

    12:19 PM.  One band of 7 wild horses spotted by reservoir and another band of 5 wild horses observed far off.  GPS Coordinates: 40 deg 49 min N; 119 deg 43 min W.  This is in the Buffalo Hills whhma (not part of Calico Mtn whhma Complex).  Snow capped Lassen Peak (and active volcano) visible to NNW.

    12:21 PM.  One band of 4 wild horses spotted. GPS Coordinates: 40 deg 47 min N; 119 deg 47 min W.

    12:22 PM.  Flying above a ranch.  GPS Coordinates: 40 deg 45 min N; 119 deg 50 min W.  52 cattle congregated around a reservoir.  Due to turbulence, we’ll head to Susanville (Calif.) airport to SW.   Strong headwind, increasing gusts buffet plane.

    12:28 PM.  Due south of Warner Mtns.  Many cattle observed (not counted). Very sparse vegetation, due in part to volcanic activity from Lassen as well as intense and extensive livestock overgrazing of the public lands here.  Wave clouds to north indicate turbulence and high velocity winds.

    1:00 PM.  Mr. Gorman lands Citabrio at Susanville airport on dirt runway that allows going directly into the strong headwind that is 25 knots and gusting to 35 knots, dangerous for a light plane. Two passes necessary before landing made.  Several men have to aid in securing airplane in hangar as high winds would have flipped it. I remained in plane for weight.

    2 PM.  Return to Truckee via Reno in a rental car.

    TOTAL WILD HORSES OBSERVED: 47, OF WHICH 31 OBSERVED IN CALICO MTN COMPLEX OF WHHMA’S.

    TOTAL CATTLE OBSERVED: 402 OF WHICH 350 OBSERVED IN CALICO MTN COMPLEX OF WHHMA’S.

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    6/4/10

    Horses Mistreated?

    clipped from www.cbc.ca
    Jun 3, 2010
    3:21
    The National - Horses mistreated?

    Horses mistreated?

    June 3, 2010News > TV Shows > The National
    Canadian Food Inspection Agency officers were instructed to break their own rules regarding the use of firearms to render horses unconscious before being killed: documents show

    blog it
    "From my earliest memories, I have loved horses with a longing beyond words." ~ Robert Vavra