I-Team: Injunction Filed to Fight Wild Horse Roundup

 Chief Investigative Reporter George Knapp and Photojournalist Matt Adams

I-Team: Injunction Filed to Fight Wild Horse Roundup

Posted: Dec 16, 2009 8:06 PM EST Updated: Dec 16, 2009 8:10 PM EST  

The fate of thousands of Nevada's wild horses was on the line Wednesday in the nation's capital. Advocates for the horses asked a federal judge to stop a massive roundup planned for later this month in northern Nevada.

The focus of the court battle is the proposed Calico roundup. The Bureau of Land Management says it needs to remove 2,700 horses from an area larger than 500,000 acres and it needs to happen even in brutal winter weather. Advocates for the horses argued the BLM action is cruel, dangerous and clearly illegal.

"The whole idea of the Wild Horse Act was the horse living in its natural state on the continent of its origin. Now that's being perverted and they are being made into slave horses, against their will and against the will of the people," said Wildlife Ecologist Craig Downer.

Downer is one of two Nevadans who lent their names to the lawsuit filed in Washington by the group In Defense of Animals to stop BLM in its tracks.

BLM had planned to start the roundup December 7, 2009 but delayed its plans for a few weeks. Unless Judge Paul Friedman orders otherwise, BLM will unleash its wranglers and choppers on December 28, 2009. The three-month project could cost $1.7 million in taxpayer money and remove 90-percet of the estimated 3,000 horses that live on more than half a million otherwise empty acres of public land.

The Calico gather is one of many on the BLM schedule. The bureau wants to capture another 12,000 horses to join the 33,000 already living in government pens. Earlier this year, Downer said the BLM's new found sense of urgency goes too far. "It's totally in your face extremism. It's a bold faced attempt to obliterate, and those few they leave, they sterilize them, cut them down to such miserably low numbers that they will become inbred or some rancher is going to come out and shoot the rest of them," he said.

In its public statements, BLM argues it needs to remove the horses right away to protect the range from overgrazing, even though last year the bureau approved an increase in cattle grazing in the very same range, saying then that damage from horses was negligible.

The lawyer representing Downer and the other parties thinks a winter roundup will kill many of the mustangs but his arguments in federal court focused on the law. "It does not include a roundup such as what is contemplated here. In fact, it is quite the opposite," said attorney Bill Spriggs.

Spriggs told the judge that the law lays out specific steps that must be taken before mustangs can be removed from public land, and that BLM hasn't followed any of them in the Calico Hills. He further argued BLM has no legal authority to warehouse horses in out-of-state holding pens, which is where most of them end up, in part because BLM puts minimal effort into adopting them out.

The judge said that if he agrees with the argument and stops the roundup, he's concerned what would become of the horses already captured. Mustang advocates say its BLM's own fault for not following the law. "That was a self-inflicted wound since they're spending 70-percent of their budget on horses in Kansas and should have spent it managing the horses in the first place," said Spriggs.

Because the roundup is slated to begin December 28, a decision on the preliminary injunction will have to come soon, most likely by next week. If it is granted, the mustang advocates will have the time to launch a much broader legal assault on the BLM's entire approach to the wild horse issue.

The I-Team special report on wild horses, Stampede to Oblivion, is re-airing this Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. and it covers many of the central issues in this debate.

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America's Wild Horses - A Study in Mismanagement

How the US Government is eradicating an American icon

Over the past 30 years, under pressure from special interest groups and in blatant disregard of the public’s wishes, the BLM has systematically favored subsidized livestock grazing on public lands to the detriment of wild horse populations. The Burns Amendment, slipped into the 2005 federal budget without so much as a hearing or opportunity for public review, was the last nail in the coffin of federal wild horse protection, opening the door to the slaughter of thousands of these living symbols of our Nation’s spirit. A few months later, while in the process of rounding up another 10,000 horses supposedly due to poor range conditions, BLM eased public land grazing restrictions for private cattle. Now BLM is considering simply killing "excess" horses to help balance its budget.

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In 1971, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, was put in charge of implementing the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. When the Act was passed, the U.S. Senate stated: "An intensive management program of breeding, branding, and physical care would destroy the very concept that this legislation seeks to preserve […], leaving the animals alone to fend for themselves and placing primary emphasis on protecting the animals from continued slaughter and harassment by man." Sadly, this Congressional mandate has been ignored and, over the past thirty-five years, no strategic plan to keep viable herds of wild horses on public lands was ever developed. 

Pursuant to the 1971 Act, BLM is directed to protect and manage wild free-roaming horses and burros as components of the public lands, and may designate and maintain specific ranges on public lands as sanctuaries for their protection and preservation. Yet, its management policy has translated into a diligent and steady herd reduction campaign, causing America’s wild horse population to dwindle to less than 25,000 and to lose 19 million acres of its legally allocated range.
Approximately 36,000 wild horses and burros adopted through BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse program are unaccounted for, and in 1997, BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program Director conceded that about ninety percent of rounded up horses ended up at slaughter. Questioned off-the-record, BLM employees routinely acknowledge rampant mismanagement and disregard for the 1971 Act (see Case Study #1). 


In 1992, wild horses and burros were left out of BLM’s revised mission statement altogether.

“Excess Animals”: A Very Nebulous Concept


The 1971 Act requires that wild horses "be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands." The Act also defines "range" as “the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild free-roaming 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 public lands." By law, only “excess animals” should be removed from the range. It is therefore how BLM determines “excess” that will shape the entire Wild Horse and Burro Program. 


The legal requirement that “excess” be determined based on population monitoring and inventory has been circumvented by allowing BLM to determine “excess” based on whatever information is in its possession at the time a decision is made, rather than requiring that relevant information (such as actual census numbers) be obtained. In fact, only four percent of BLM’s wild horse and burro budget is allocated to population inventory. The legal requirement that BLM consider the “recommendations of qualified scientists in the field of biology and ecology, some of whom shall be independent of both Federal and State agencies,” has also been circumvented or ignored. 

© Laurel Monreal Photography horsesofnature.com

“Excess” is simply determined on paper, using grossly inflated fertility rates (up to 25%, whereas the National Academy of Sciences estimates actual growth rates to be closer to 10%) and generalized data that does not take into account the specificity of each geographic area (foaling rates, mortality rates and foal survival rates can vary greatly from one area to the next). This questionable methodology leads to highly inaccurate population estimates (e.g. an 800% discrepancy in the Salt Wells HMA - WY, 2006). 


In conjunction with flawed population monitoring, BLM relies on the notion of “Appropriate Management Level” (AML) to determine “excess.” AMLs dictate how many horses and burros can be allowed on the range, and therefore what constitutes “excess.” AMLs are the single most important tool in BLM’s arsenal. They are also a moving target: once AML is reached in an area, meaning the wild horse population is deemed at an acceptable level, it is often subsequently lowered, paving the way for more round-ups (e.g. in 2001, the national wild horse AML was drastically lowered to 26,000; since then, it has crept down by a few hundred every year, adding up to a further loss of 1,500 as of 2006). 

AML for a given Herd Management Area (HMA) is based on forage and water availability, or rather, forage and water allocation. Case study after case study have shown that BLM consistently allocates substantially more forage to private livestock and game animals on the very areas that were legally designated for wild horses (e.g. 700% more forage allocated to livestock than to horses in the Stone Cabin Complex - NV, 2007), steadily reducing wild horse AMLs, sometimes to the point of eradication (the so-called “zeroing out” of a herd area). 


Likewise, only a small fraction of water available in a given area will be allocated to wild horses (e.g. 7% in the Spring Mountain Complex - NV, 2006), who will then be removed due to supposed lack of water, while livestock and game animals are allowed to thrive in areas that, by law, were to be “devoted principally” to wild horses (see Case Study #2). Case in point: bighorn sheep can be found on seventy-five percent of Nevada’s Muddy Mountain HMA and are allocated water from the National Park Service (NPS), water guzzlers and specially made dams. These water developments have allowed the HMA to be turned from seasonal into year-round bighorn habitat, a victory for the local hunting lobby, but are not taken into account in determining wild horse and burro AMLs for the area, despite a federal mandate that “all range improvements […] be installed, used, maintained and/or modified on public lands […] in a manner consistent with multiple-use application” (43 CFR 4120.3-1 (A)).


Another critical piece of federal regulation states: “If necessary to provide habitat for wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury, the authorized officer may close appropriate areas of the public lands to grazing use by all or a particular kind of livestock.” (43 CFR 4710.5 (A)) This provision is also routinely ignored.

More Round-Ups


Round-ups (or “gathers,” to use a placating BLM euphemism), are BLM’s “management” tool of choice: the fewer horses on public lands, the more convenient for public land managers and special interest groups. Oftentimes, livestock is restocked shortly after wild horses have been removed (e.g. about 1,000 sheep reportedly brought in the Dry Lake Complex just a couple of weeks after 200 horses had been removed from that same area - NV, 2006; ten-year grazing permit granted for 6,882 head of cattle in New Pass Ravenswood HMA the same month as 692 horses are removed from the same HMA due to "lack of forage" - NV, Oct. 2007). 


In addition to the concept of “excess animals,” BLM has several tools at its disposal to justify round-ups. Early on, BLM did not capture wild horses who ranged out of their herd boundaries. Today, if wild horses step out of their boundaries, BLM removes them permanently from public lands. In the state of Nevada, home to about seventy percent of our nation’s wild herds, horses found outside of their federal boundaries are treated as stray animals and sold at auction, usually ending up at slaughter. 


Another well-established BLM practice is to thin out herds to the point where they are no longer deemed genetically viable, and then use the threat of in-breeding as an excuse to zero out such herds completely. It has been estimated that up to three-fourths of our remaining wild horse and burro herds are below population levels that would guarantee their long-term survival. Sex ratios in wild horse herds normally average 50/50. To further affect viability, BLM will stack herds with seventy percent of males, severely disrupting herd dynamics and behavioral patterns. 
Still, BLM’s most often used rationale for round-ups is the threat of starvation and drought conditions: so-called “emergency gathers” are another way for BLM to circumvent the legal requirement that only “excess” animals be rounded up. 


Whereas private cattle and sheep are promptly restocked, if in fact they were removed at all (e.g. almost 50% of the total estimated horse population removed from the Ely District following brush fires, but no reduction in authorized livestock for the 23 affected grazing allotments - NV, 2006), horses are not returned to the area after the “emergency” conditions subside. BLM simply makes the zeroing out of the HMA official by issuing an AML of zero: a wild horse range originally managed under the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act is now permanently devoid of wild horses (e.g. Blue Nose Peak HMA, AML of 1 - NV, 2003). Over the years, dozens of HMAs, representing millions of acres, have met this fate.

“This is not a Democracy”
(Jim Sparks, BLM District Manager, at a Sept. 2008 public hearing in Billings, MT)


A 1990 GAO report found that “in many areas where wild horse removals have taken place, BLM authorized livestock grazing levels have either not been reduced or have been increased thereby largely negating any reduction in forage consumption.”  In 1997, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility noted that “little has changed since the 1990 GAO report.  Wild horse management decisions continue to be made within the BLM on a political rather than scientific basis, and in the political balance between horse and cow, the cattle industry almost always wins.” (see Case Study #3)


Today, BLM continues to conduct indiscriminate round-ups, zeroing out herds in violation of the 1971 Act. In 2001, it obtained a 50% increase in annual budget to $29 million for implementation of an aggressive removal campaign (in 2005, that budget rose to $39 million). Twenty-four thousand horses were slated for capture; no long-term plan was put in place for these horses after their removal.

Case Studies
#1 - Jackson Mountain round-up/Palomino Valley deaths, NV, 2007
#2 - Nevada drought, 2004
#3 - Highland Peak HMA, NV, 2003-07
#4 - Wild burro status: critical analysis

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BLM Destroyed Another Wild Horse Herd While Advocates Sat At Advisory Meeting

Get MAD! Get VERY mad while there are still some wild horses left for us to protect! 

clipped from rtfitch.wordpress.com BLM Destroyed another Wild Horse Herd while Advocates sat at Advisory Meeting December 13, 2009 R.T. Fitch Leave a comment Go to comments BLM’s Don Glenn Openly Lied to Press and Advocates while Wild Horses were Rounded up article courtesy of  The Cloud Foundation Once free, their beautiful lives ruined - Palomino Valley 12/11/09 - Photo by K. McCovey Read The AP’s Martin Griffith’s 12-12-09 article on the Clandestine Buckhorn Roundup of 217 horses (San Francisco Chronicle, Examiner.com) Following the yet-unsolved shooting death of 6 federally-protected mustangs, more of America’s mustangs are removed; at least one mare has died to date. The discovery of shooting deaths of six wild horses on the California-Nevada border has led to the exposure of an apparently clandestine BLM roundup of over 200 horses. The roundup of the Buckhorn Wild Horses was scheduled to begin in August 2010.

Read more --

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Cattle Grazing Regulations Include Doctored Environmental Analysis | Union of Concerned Scientists

This happened during the Bush Administration - but, why hasn't anything been done to correct the situation? Please, contact your Senators and Representatives and ask them.

Grazing Regulations Include Doctored Environmental Analysis

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials compromised the integrity of a BLM study by removing scientific concerns about the effects newly relaxed grazing regulations would have on public lands. Millions of acres of public land in the western U. S. are protected by BLM grazing rules, which regulate when, where, and for how long cattle may graze there.

Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times reported that prior to relaxing Clinton-era restrictions on cattle grazing in June 2004, the BLM edited out portions of an environmental analysis calling into question the environmental sustainability of the new regulations.1 Agency scientists had studied the effects of grazing on wildlife and water quality and expressed concerns.

Cart reported that the BLM eliminated the original draft's warning that the "the Proposed Action will have a slow, long-term adverse impact on wildlife and biological diversity in general." Instead, the final version of the environmental analysis endorsed the new regulations, which were supported by the cattle industry, stating that the new rules would prove "beneficial to animals."2

Erick Campbell and Bill Brookes are both recently retired scientists, each with more than 30 years experience at the BLM. Campbell, a biologist, authored the section of the BLM study on the impacts of the rule change on wildlife and endangered species, while Brookes, a hydrologist, evaluated the impact on water resources. Both characterized the edits as an attempt to suppress scientific information. Campbell termed the matter "a whitewash" and "a crime." "They took all of our science and reversed it 180 degrees," he said. Brookes agreed, adding "Everything I wrote was totally rewritten and watered down."3

The BLM argued that the changes resulted from a standard editorial process and issued a statement saying the conclusions reached by Campbell and Brookes were "based on personal opinion and unsubstantiated assertions rather than sound environmental analysis."4 In an interview Campbell refuted those charges, saying "All the science they extracted from my narrative was peer-reviewed science. This was not gray literature...This was peer-reviewed science in major journals."5 The concerns of Campbell and Brookes were echoed by wildlife experts at the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and by officials at the Environmental Protection Agency.6

1. Cart, Julie. "Land Study on Grazing Denounced." Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2005. latimes.com requires subscription, article available from advocacy website, accessed December 5, 2006.
2. Bureau of Land Management, "Grazing Administration--Exclusive of Alaska; Final Rule," Department of the Interior, July 12, 2006, accessed December 5, 2006.
3. Cart.
4. Bearden, Tom. "New Grazing Rules." NewsHour with JimLehrer, August 10, 2005. Transcript online, accessed December 5, 2006.
5. Mitchell, Michele and Breslauer, Brenda. NOW with David Brancaccio, July 22, 2005. Transcript online, accessed December 5, 2006.
6. Cart, Julie. "Federal Officials Echoed Grazing-Rule Warnings." Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2005. latimes.com requires subscription, available online from advocacy site, accessed December 5, 2006.


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Senate Votes to Stop Slaughter of Wild Horses and Burros!

This just in from The Animal Law Coalition ~

Senate Votes to Stop Slaughter of Wild Horses and Burros!
Posted Feb 25, 2009 by lauraallen

* Wildlife
* Horse Slaughter

Wild burros

The Senate also prohibited BLM from using funds to kill healthy unadopted wild horses and burros!

Update Sept. 25, 2009: The Senate has voted to pass H.R. 2996, an appropriations bill for 2010 for the Dept. of Interior including the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM").

BLM manages the nation's wild horses and burros. In the bill the Senate made clear to the BLM: Appropriations ... made [in this bill]shall not be available for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of the Bureau of Land Management or its contractors or for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products.

Follow the link below to read all about it!

Senate Votes to Stop Slaughter of Wild Horses and Burros! | Animal Law Coalition

MustangGate

Another outstanding blog post from R.T. Fitch here. What he is referring to in that since the BLM "happened" to schedule the Pryor Mountain roundup over the Labor Day holiday - when we couldn't contact our Congress people, animal welfare advocates or news services - the BLM agents working the roundup were getting double time pay on Labor day and overtime pay on Sunday. What does that little nugget do for your blood pressure?

Yup, while Cloud and his family were running for their lives, down the mountain, BLM agents were dipping their hands even deeper into your pockets and laughing all the time.   See how profitable hunting down innocent mustangs can be?  There is big bucks for the BLM in stripping our native wild horses from our public lands and it’s just not the big boys, with special interests, who make out but the field agents get a slice of the pie too and you get to pay for it all.  That really leaves one with a warm and fuzzy feeling, doesn’t it?rtfitch.wordpress.com, Straight from the Horse's Heart, Sep 2009

You really do need to read the entire article.

Wanna do something about it? You can ~

Phone calls to make:

ask for the release of the older horses and reform of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, fax your comments as well:

    * White House Switchboard – 202-456-1414 (fax: 202-456-2461) E-mail here  Ask for Senior Advisors:  Valerie Jarrett  and David Axelrod. Ask for Michelle Obama too, her office is recieving a tremendous number of calls and they need to continue.
    * Call your Senators – switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask that they support S1579, The Restore our American Mustang (ROAM) Act
    * Call the Senate Committee of Natural Resources – 202-224-4971 (fax 202-224-6163) Email here. ask that they push the ROAM Act through immediately– it must go up for a vote soon in the Senate
Take Action… and an update « (17 September 2009)
 http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/take-action-and-an-update/
 http://snipurl.com/ryaas


Demand reform for our wild horses, it is too late for thousands but it is not yet too late for Cloud's herd and many others.  The roundup crews are headed next to the Steens Mountains of Oregon.We have been told that there will be no observers or photographers allowed. This  is illegal- these are the public's wild horses.

Right now 12 herds are being zeroed out in Nevada, 650 horses off 1.4 million acres because the land is not suitable… but the horses have been living there for over a hundred years.

Please join us and many others at the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Arlington, VA on September 28th. Make your voice heard – and then join us on the hill for meetings the following day. Their hoofbeats need to be heard in Washington DC.

Take Action… and an update « (18 September 2009)
 http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/take-action-and-an-update/
 http://snipurl.com/ryqa5

Come to DC for Wild Horses!
September 17, 2009 by thecloudfoundation

Please join us for MUSTANGS on the HILL- people are coming from all over the US to speak up and show up for our wild horses.MUSTANGS ON THE HILL Flier
 (18 September 2009)
 http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/
 http://snipurl.com/ryqw2

We will be attending the BLM Advisory Board Meeting on the 28th of September in Arlington, VA and also "Mustangs On The Hill" in Washington DC on September 29th to support the ROAM ACT. Please click for more details on the BLM Meeting. Send in your comments as soon as possible to Ramona_delorme@blm.gov and reference: WH&B Advisory Board Comments. We are working on getting local and national media to both events and also, Celebrity Speakers.

We will be gathering on the West Front Lawn of Capitol Hill on the 29th, which is reserved from 8:00AM to 4:00PM. This is where we will have speakers and we will be meeting with Senators (in their offices) on the Committee of Energy and Natural Resources to urge them to support the ROAM Act and place it on the calendar throughout the day.

We will have a Banner that we will give to the Committee of Energy and Natural Resources with the names of everyone who donated to the Freedom Fund. If you plan on attending either of these events, please RSVP as soon as possible so we can plan for the amount of people coming. You may RSVP to mustangsonthehill@gmail.com. We are expecting 2,000 people for the event on the 29th so please join us and help preserve and protect our wild horses! Thank you to everyone for your continued support and we hope to see you soon!
MUSTANGS on the HILL « (18 September 2009)
 http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/mustangs-on-the-hill/
 http://snipurl.com/ryqz4

For more information about any of the above, contact The Cloud Foundation Blog  Do whatever you can. Remember, the old horses from Cloud's herd will be offered for sale starting September 26th. Time is of the essence!

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The Managed Extinction of Cloud's Herd - KEEP CALLING AND WRITING! THIS IS NOT OVER!

This is NOT over! We MUST keep the pressure on the BLM. They have been extremely careful on this roundup because of the glare of worldwide publicity. We DID make a difference! Keep it up! There is also hope that more horses will be released, but only if we keep calling, posting and writing. If you wrote your Congressmen, write again. Tell them the old stallions and the babies need to be freed! SPREAD THE WORD!

The Managed Extinction of Cloud’s Herd « Straight from the Horse's Heart

And while a deep silence lay over the witnesses, Cloud, the leader, the master of the mountains turned from the gate and took a stance starring back directly at his aggressor, the helicopter.  His intent was obvious, his message was clear, his point was well taken and a few quite sobs were heard within Cloud’s family of human followers.  He made his stand, then turned and walked towards the gate.  He had done all he could do, the observers had tried all that they could and collectively the humans and horses knew that they had lost all control, their future and fate was no longer in their hands, Cloud’s family was to be ripped apart and all that remained for them was a few final moments of togetherness, a gentle touch, while they huddled in fear against the gate that lead to their group’s destruction.  Their cries intermingled with those from their human friends high above who felt their loss and shared their helplessness, they cried together and bowed their heads.

The betrayed innocent, Cloud

We are told that Cloud will once again run free, that the blue mark on his rump dictates that he is one of the lucky ones that can go back to living his life in the beauty of the Pryor Mountains.  But he will do so with several of his loved ones ripped from his band; he will, now, love mares that have been chemically sterilized so that they will bear him no foals and he will be forced to do all of this while surrounded by a herd that will not be able to genetically sustain itself.

This is the gift of managed extinction that we give to our native, American horses, this is the legacy that we leave to our children and this is the image that we Americans project to the rest of the world.

It is not a pretty picture

Status Update

Please! There is still time to help Cloud! Keep calling and writing!

www.thecloudfoundation.org - Status Update

On Sunday we think that the Cattoors will round up all the horses on the mountain-top-- Cloud's band included-- and drive them the 10-12 miles down the mountain. We are most concerned with the week-old filly and the elderly Bigfoot. There is no reason to bring these specific horses down the mountain and we are requesting that the roundup crew leave them alone.
There is an incredible public outcry for these horses and while the BLM is turning a blind eye to the public whose horses they are charged with managing, others are listening. Please continue to call and demand that your congressionals ask the Montana senators Baucus and Tester, as well as congressman Denny Rehberg, why they are allowing the destruction of this unique little herd on their watch. Tester and Baucus' offices have been telling us that this matter is in the BLM's hands-- this is unacceptable. Demand that fewer horses be removed. These horses are far too special to give up on.

Thank you everyone-- all of us here witnessing this roundup feel your support for these horses and we will keep working to save this precious herd.

--Ginger

National Wild Horse and Burro Meeting!

Please attend if you can. If you can't, follow this link to The Cloud Foundation for information on snail mail and email addresses. I can't go myself - but you can be sure I will be sending those letters and emails!

www.thecloudfoundation.org - National Wild Horse and Burro Meeting

National Wild Horse and Burro Meeting
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Wednesday, 02 September 2009 10:51

Sept. 28, 2009 in Arlington, VA - Please come speak for our wild horses

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Contact: Tom Gorey 202-452-5137

BLM Sets Meeting of National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board for September 28 in Arlington, Virginia

LAST CHANCE FOR CLOUD'S HERD

Please follow this link to learn more! The roundup is TODAY!

Fight continues to save Cloud’s herd « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Dear Supporters,
We’re sorry to announce that the District Court judge in DC denied our request for a temporary restraining order today and the roundup of Cloud’s herd is to start tomorrow. You can read the court documents here. BLM’s reasoning for this roundup is pathetic. Please don’t give up - we are doing everything we can to monitor this operation and influence the outcome. Young foals only DAYS OLD are on this mountain. Horses in their LATE TEENS and TWENTIES will be removed- this is unacceptable.

Secretary Salazar and the BLM aren’t listening to the public, nor are the Montana Senators. Cloud’s herd represents all wild horses in the West and if we can’t save this most famous herd, what chances do we have with the rest? Please continue to call and fax your congressionals, President Obama (202-456-9000), and all media outlets you can. Read a recent USA Today article here.


Watch our 2 new YouTube videos! Crow Elder & Historian Howard Boggess speaks out for the horses and Advocate Julianne French tells us just who has been hired to do this roundup.
Read and share our most recent Press Release on the current situation and the federally indicted contractor hired to round up Cloud’s herd.

National media attention is being focused on the plight of the herd. We hope it will make a difference.
Please help us bring the struggle of these wonderful animals to the attention of our government. They must not turn a blind eye as this enduring symbol of the American West is lost.

My thanks to all of you who are working so hard. Never give up!


Happy trails,
Ginger Kathrens
Volunteer Executive Director

Pray For The Horses

Please don't stop calling and writing! I will post the results of this hearing as soon as I know anything.

Hearing Set Wednesday, Sept 2, on Roundup and Removal of Cloud's Herd | Animal Law Coalition

Update Sept. 1, 2009: U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington, D.C., has set a hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009, on a motion for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, (attached below) filed by Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and nature photographer, Carol Walker, in their lawsuit to stop the roundup of Cloud's herd. 

EMERGENCY! Time Is Running Out For Cloud's Herd!

I just received this information from the Cloud Foundation -

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-mails they are receiving. KEEP IT UP- KEEP CALLING, FAXING AND E-MAILING.

These are our wild horses living on our public lands!

HALT THE PRYORS ROUND UP and all others across the west.

BLM Director Bob Abbey
Call: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242
Robert_Abbey@blm.gov

Please visit Angels for Cloud for more information and sign the petition! Time is running out!