Contempt of Court Re-filed Against Ken Salazar and BLM

Here we go again, folks. The BLM is clearly in contempt of court and we have another chance to prove it. Please help support Laura! The only place you can donate to Laura Leigh's legal fund is at www.grassrootshorse.com.

Amplify’d from thedesertinde.com

Contempt of Court Re-filed Against Ken Salazar and BLM

By ROBERT WINKLER

The Desert Independent

July 31, 2010

RENO, Nevada – On July 30th   Laura Leigh re-filed Contempt of Court charges against Ken Salazar, Secretary ofthe Department of the Interior, Bob Abbey, Director of the BLM and Ron Wenker, Nevada State Director of the BLM in regard to what BLM calls the “Tuscarora wild horse gather.” The BLM continually refers to the three herd management areas of Owyhee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt under one umbrella name of Tuscarora. Thejudge, at the time of hearing earlier motions, recognized that Tuscarora was three herds and not one as BLM would like people to believe.

Adding to what seems like a deliberate move to create confusion, every day the gather schedules change. At present the BLM website, touted in BLM press releases as the only place for correct information, has two completely different gather schedules posted. If a person really wants to know the true schedule they have to contact the appropriatefield offices. It would seem to even the casual observer to be a shell game of now you see it, now you don’t.

The judge denied the original motion to hear the case based on the parameters set forth in a statute known as the Winters standard. This is the standard by which actions seeking injunctive relief are judged on their merit. On July 28, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals modified its position on the test used to determine the element, “likelihood of success on the merits” when granting or denying injunctive relief under the Winters decision. The circuit court reaffirmed the use of its sliding scale method, finding it consistent with Winters.

The law change opened the door for the re-filing under the new guidelines. “We are not going away,” said Laura Leigh, plaintiff in the lawsuit brought about through the support of Grass Roots Horse, a citizen action group. Support for Laura Leigh’s court action is coming in from people all over the country. “Some people are donating to further the cause with $3.00 donations,” said Maureen VanDerStad, member of Grass Roots Horse. “That tells it all right there. People are so fed up with the mismanagement of the wild horses and burros that they want to be a part of doing something to stop it. The blatant disregard for our First Amendment rights by BLM and the cruel and inhumane treatment of the wild horses, which belong to the American people, has spurred the movement on with a vengeance,” she further states.

Laura Leigh is an artist, author and journalist who is best known for her work in documenting wild horses. She is the founder and director of Herd Watch, a citizen group that monitors the actions of the BLM and the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Full reports documenting range conditions in herd management areas and the condition of the horses themselves are conducted by Herd Watch with a meticulous eye for detail.

Yesterday at the Nevada State Legislative meeting, the main focus was on the implications of the Western Watershed Organization’s multi-million dollar settlement with Ruby Corporaton, representing Ruby Pipeline. The Wild Horse and Burro Program came into the discussion and Laura Leigh was there to set the record straight. “Sitting in the audience it was really interesting to see the cattlemen bringing up the very same issues of the difficulties of dealing with the BLM that the wild horse advocates have been dealing with for years. If people do not support accountability in government, it is easy to see how that failure to demand accountability and transparency can turn against them,” Laura Leigh said.

To read the legal filings, donate to the legal fund, or volunteer please visit www.grassrootshorse.com where there are links to the best sites with more information on the issue.

Read more at thedesertinde.com

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BLM Reports of Wild Horse Deaths During Tuscarora Roundup Are Laced With Contradictions

Maureen is being polite. The BLM lied. They lied to the advocates, the press and the Federal Judge. And got away with it. Are we still living under the Rule of Law or not? Ask your Senators and Representatives about that. I'm sure going to ask mine!

Amplify’d from www.examiner.com

BLM reports of wild horse deaths during Tuscarora roundup are laced with contradictions

July 26, 2:21 PM Equine Advocacy Examiner Maureen Harmonay

Newly captured Owyhee mares and foals huddle at Palomino Valley, photographed by Cat Kindsfather

In an apparent effort to rebut the arguments put forth by advocate Laura Leigh in her motions for Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs) against the Owyhee, Rock Creek, and Little Humboldt portions of the Tuscarora "Gather" in north Elko County, Nevada, the BLM has falsely attributed some of the mustang mortalities to dehydration issues when in fact, other factors were at work.

For example, on Tuesday, July 20th, BLM reported that "two animals were euthanized due to pre-existing water starvation/dehydration related complications."  But when the Owyhee Veterinary Reports for these horses were released, they told a very different story.  One of the horses who was shot was a 25-year-old sorrel mare, who was put down "for a pre-existing condition that was a severe LF (left front) lameness attributable to a poorly healed old fracture injury," and the other was an 18-year-old bay stallion who had a "severe enlargement of the RF (right front) fetlock, producing a chronic and incurable lameness."

Really?  How were these "lame" horses able to survive, and thrive, on the range for so many years, and then gallop at a breakneck pace over unforgiving ground to flee the BLM-hired helicopter that chased them into waiting traps?  Would it be more accurate to surmise that in fact, both horses were crippled by the chase itself, and that in spite of BLM's protestations to the contrary, their deaths were very much "gather-related?"  In the absence of independent observers, it's hard to know the truth.

The Owyhee roundup has been the direct conduit to the deaths of at least 25 horses (that we know of), in spite of BLM's repeated insistence that most of the fatatlities were not "gather-related."  The agency's long-strained credibility is continuing to erode, as a nation of horrified spectators begins to raise its voices in protest against what looks more and more like a deliberate effort to eradicate wild horses from America's public lands.

Indeed, in her Supporting Declaration for Laura Leigh's latest motion against the Tuscarora Gather, Dr. Nena Winand, DVM, a respected equine veterinarian affiliated with Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine in New York, unequivocally asserts that it was the roundup itself, and not any pre-existing conditions, that killed the Owyhee wild horse victims:

"Pushing the animals, having been driven via helicopter over the distances they traveled, at a more rapid gait than they would otherwise travel in such environmental conditions, in environmental conditions which included elevated summer temperatures, and where the condition of many of the gathered horses improved rapidly following the gather, all lead me to compellingly conclude to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that the deaths and injuries to these horses were substantially due to the gather itself, the manner in which the horses were driven during the gather and in their having to negotiate the environmental conditions existing there at the time.

And it my further opinion to the same degree of reasonable medical certainty that the conditions existing on the range prior to the gather, were not causative in injuring and killing those horses who perished on the dates of the gather.  The uncontroverted fact remains that nearly all horses who reportedly perished, did so during the process of the gather itself or immediately thereafter while the horses were in the custody of the BLM, but not before."

Read more at www.examiner.com

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The BLM is totally out of control, killing and brutalizing the Mustangs they are supposed to protect. They spin their way out from under the law, doing only the bidding of Big Cattle and Big Energy.

Let's stop them NOW!

Amplify’d from animals.change.org

Government Spin Machine Goes into Overdrive in Wild Horse Case

by Laura Allen

July 19, 2010

The Bureau of Land Management is the federal agency within the Department of Interior that is tasked with protecting wild horses and burros.

But someone needs to tell the BLM that.

The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act is specific in requiring BLM to protect wild horses and burros as "components" of the public lands, free from "harassment" and "capture," and manage them at the "minimal feasible level" to maintain "free -roaming" behavior. Instead, BLM has turned the Act on its head, managing these animals primarily by rounding them up and placing them in long term holding facilities.

Two federal judges have already warned BLM that its policy of keeping wild horses and burros in long term holding facilities may not be legal.

This past week, Laura Leigh filed a lawsuit in Nevada federal court asking Judge Larry Hicks to order BLM to delay the Tuscarora roundup until after foaling season, and also to allow media access to the roundup.

Stop government roundups of wild horses and burros Read more at animals.change.org

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/agG1CC

Why is the BLM allowed to ignore both the law and the mandate of a Federal Judge? Are we sill living under the rule of law or not?



This is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable. If you agree, tell your elected officials so, and in NO uncertain terms.

Amplify’d from horsebackmagazine.com

Government Lawyers Mislead Federal Judge on Wild Horse Water

July 21, 2010

By Steven Long

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.

Judge Larry Hicks lifted his temporary injunction and permitted the federal Bureau of Land Management to capture horses in the fierce July desert heat of Nevada. As in previous death chases, the result was predictable. Horses dropped after being relentlessly stampeded by a roaring helicopter owned by BLM contractor, Cattoor Livestock Roundups out of Nephi, Utah. The federal agency had lied to the judge, telling him that death by thirst was imminent if they weren’t removed.

Thus far, 21 horses and foals have died after the latest high summer stampedes.

Hicks granted the plaintiff, Leigh, a first amendment stake in the chase. He told her it was unconstitutional for the BLM to ban her from observing the horses. In reply, the agency pulled off a cowboy hat trick of sorts in the desert. They moved the trap, the pen where the wild animals were to be driven, onto private land in a mountain canyon out of sight and then told the sheriff’s cops to arrest trespassers, including the litigant who had just won the right to see what BLM was doing in their “gather” first hand.

While Leigh didn’t get to see the objects of the BLM chase, North American Mustangs, she spotted something equally important and precious in the desert – water at the fenced off Desert Ranch Reservoir.

“While the reservoir is located on BLM public land, the water in the reservoir is privately owned (i.e., the private owner holds the water rights in accordance with State of Nevada water law),” said BLM’s Washington spokesman, Tom Gorey. “The reservoir is mostly fenced, but the fences are constructed in a manner that allows wild horses access to the privately owned water in at least three locations. As a result, wild horses are able to move freely to and from the water using the large gaps in the fencing.  In short, access to the reservoir water by wild horses is not blocked.”

If access to the water hole was open in three places, Leigh had caught the BLM lying to a federal judge.

“Desert Ranch Reservoir on public land is less than 5 miles from the trap site,” Leigh told Horseback Magazine late Monday. “BLM has the authority to utilize resources on private property to deal with emergencies. (BLM Director Bob) Abbey declared this issue in Owyhee an emergency.”

Gorey acknowledged late Tuesday that there is water available to the horses that are being stampeded by the BLM contractor.

“In general, water within the Owyhee Herd Management Area (HMA) is provided primarily by unfenced public land reservoirs (water catchments),” he said. “There is also one spring, called Bookkeeper Spring, which is located on unfenced private land within the HMA.  This spring is normally adequate to water a small number of wild horses, but because of drought conditions, there is very little water available for use this year.”

Claiming extreme drought conditions, the BLM has delivered more than 30,000 gallons of water to the horses in the Owyhee HMA since Monday.

By admitting that water on public land is privately owned, Gorey raised a significant issue. What was the federal government thinking when it privatized an asset as precious as desert water, selling it out of government control? Moreover, when was it sold, for how much, and to whom?

“My assumption is that the BLM has never held the right to this water,” Gorey said.

It the government doesn’t own the water on federal land, who owns it?

Gorey has promised to research the ownership issue of water BLM lawyers claimed was nonexistent, so scarce, the deaths of hundreds of otherwise healthy horses and foals was imminent.

“Why did the BLM choose to press a stressed population through the round up instead of stabilizing the situation and waiting?” Leigh asked. “The claims made in the report given to a federal judge outline a population so fragile that BLM projected would be dead in three days (if the agency was not allowed to round them up.)”

“In the event of an emergency (such as one declared by Bob Abbey in this case,

the BLM can utilize resources on private land (not just public) and reimburse

the landowner,” Leigh said. “If the horses were gong to die off at the rate of 75 percent they had the authority to open gates.”

Leigh has filed briefs charging the BLM with contempt of court. Read more at horsebackmagazine.com

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Grass Roots Activism Takes a Stand!

Stand with us at GrassRootsHorse.com

Amplify’d from blog.homehorsehound.com

Friday, July 16, 2010

Grass Roots Activism Takes a Stand

Many people have asked me how this grassroots supported lawsuit to stop the Tuscarora roundup in Nevada cam about.

I would like to share that and say this is just the beginning.

Geographical location is not a hindrance to making a difference in the fight to save our wild horses. I took action right from kitchen counter.

Last week, when it came to my attention that no lawsuits were being filed to stop the Tuscarora roundup ( I just can’t call it a gather) grassroots activism took a stand.  Through networking, regular people were able to bring a lawsuit to stop the Tuscarora roundup and to make an argument that our First Amendment Rights are being violated by barring the public from witnessing and documenting what the government was doing to the horses on our public lands.  The argument that really got me fired up was the one that the BLM would be rounding up during foaling season.

Many newborn horses and pregnant and nursing mares would be stampeded along with the others. Babies and young horses who could not keep up would be left to die in the desert as the helicopters stampeded their mothers onward to capture pens.

All the horses would be driven over razor sharp volcanic rock.

As if what is being done to all our wild horses isn’t bad enough, this was too much to bear.

In record time we hired our own attorney to bring the suit with Laura Leigh, as a plaintiff with standing. Within 24 hours the papers were filed. Read more at blog.homehorsehound.com

 

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NV Woman Files Suit to Stop Mustang Roundup 7/9/10

 

NV Woman Files Suit to Stop Mustang Roundup 7/9/10

09 July 2010

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman

Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak

Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release:

Mustang Advocate Finds BLM Violates Own Rules, Files Lawsuit

Hundreds of young wild horse foals risk death in imminent Nevada roundup

Reno NV (July 9, 2010)—One woman from Herd-Watch, a program of The Cloud Foundation, studied the newly published Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro handbook and caught BLM in the act of violating their own protocol for the Tuscarora (Owyhee Complex) roundup. The handbook states roundups are prohibited until six weeks after foaling season which ends on June 30th. Therefore the earliest date to start the roundup is August 11th. Laura Leigh, Project Manager of Herd Watch filed a lawsuit today in US District Court in Nevada to stop the roundup.

"I found their error right in the BLM's management handbook," explains Leigh adding, "The BLM disregards their own rules when it comes to ‘managing’ wild horse population.”

Based on past experience and the current rush to remove 6,000 wild horses in three months, The Cloud Foundation believes that the BLM's priorities are based on contractor availability not humane treatment of wild horses—especially foals, some of whom may be only weeks or days old.

The Foundation is requesting that humane observers and members of the public be present during all phases of all the roundups. Since the deadly Calico roundup in NW Nevada, BLM has tightened restrictions, preventing the public and humane observers from viewing the horses adequately. In the case of Tuscarora, the public will not be allowed to view any round up activities for the first two weeks.

Ginger Kathrens

Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation, shares Leigh’s concerns that "more foals may have their feet literally run off because they are too young to be chased by helicopter over sharp, volcanic terrain for miles in the hottest month of the year. At least two foals died a horrible death like this in the Calico roundup. Didn’t BLM learn anything from Calico?”   

More than 100 wild horses died and more than 40 spontaneous abortions occurred as a result of the Calico roundup.

“Currently, the only way to gain accountability—with an agency apparently left to police itself—is for a member of the public to file suit,” remarks Leigh. Leigh’s efforts are being supported by Grassroots Horse, an organization based in grassroots activism to prevent cruel wild horse roundups.

“If this roundup were being conducted in a safe manner,” says Leigh’s attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno, Nevada “one would make the assumption that the BLM would want the public to witness its entirety. Barring observers and press raises concerns.”

 

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