These horses are being taken off of public lands not because of the reasons they are citing, but to get them off of the land under pressure from cattle ranchers. They plan to kill them using either overdoses of barbituates, a bullet to the head, or a prod to the head like they use on cattle. This is horrible. I have a family retreat nearby and have lived in and been familiar withthis area for 22 years and have seen their numbers dwindle. This is so dear to my heart and to anyone who cares about the wild horses... majestic animals...a national treasure!!
Wild horse groups are outraged over plans by the BLM to euthanize thousands of wild horses that have been captured, most of them from ranges here in Nevada. BLM says it has no choice but to put horses to death because it can no longer afford to feed the ones it already has. Critics say the initials "B.L.M." more accurately stand for Bureau of Livestock and Mining, since those industries are so often the beneficiaries of federal land policies. Horses certainly aren't in good standing with BLM. BLM says it has no choice but to pull the trigger on thousands of captured horses. Others say BLM created this crisis by clearing 75,000 horses off the range in the last seven years, for reasons that appear specious at best. At a muddy depression in the Nevada desert, three healthy looking wild horses, surrounded by dozens of antelope, plop around while warily eyeing our camera.Just down the road at the gate of the classified Tonopah Test Range, trucks are loaded with the remnants of a makeshift corral, the last vestiges of a roundup effort that carted away hundreds of other horses. The trucks will head down the road in anticipation of the BLM's next roundup. It's uncertain how these three horses dodged the government this time, but if you believe the BLM, the horses out here are dying of thirst or starving.
more info at:
I-Team: Wild Horses Face Threat of Extermination
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8664333
What you can do now:
Please also contact your US Representative, two US Senators
To locate your US Representative and two US Senators, visit www.congress.org and enter your zip code.
To contact Chairman Nick Rahall, a long-time friend of the horses, click here:http://www.rahall.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=v...
BLM has set up a web-page for the public to comment. While we are under no illusion that they have any interest in the American public’s wishes, you may give them a piece of your mind by calling 202-208-7351 or by following this link: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/feedback.html
Remind them that we, the American people, entrusted them with our wild horses, living symbols of our freedom and spirit. After thirty-five years of lies and backroom deals, millions of acres lost to private livestock, and millions of our tax-dollars wasted on rounding up horses by the thousands, our precious herds are decimated and 30 thousand horses languish in government corrals. Now a bullet or slaughter are the only alternatives they can offer us for our wild horses?
BLM cannot say we did not warn them and plead with them; they cannot say we did not offer solutions. They have failed us and we will be asking our congressional representatives to hold them accountable for their wild horse management duties, duties so egregiously subordinated to special interests. Enough is enough.
It is time America stand up for its wild horses, a national treasure. Ask your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues to speak out at this critical time. We are the horses’ only voice.
http://wildhorsepreservation.com/news_alerts.html
More to do:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper should be urged to investigate the matter:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html?1
Please also contact your US Representative, two US Senators, and Rep. Nick Rahall, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, noted above.
You can also see the HSUS page:
http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/wildlife_news/blm_wild_horses_071108.html
and the other group fighting for horses:
http://www.awionline.org/news/2008/blm_kills_horses.htm
Here is an interesting article from Sheryl Crow:
Sheryl Crow Joins in Wild Horse Fight
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=9340288#
Singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow is not a celebrity-come-lately to the wild horse debate. She owns horses, including an adopted wild mustang, and has campaigned for the protection of the herds for years.
Crow has lent her support to the Cloud Foundation, a Colorado-based organization dedicated to preserving wild horses on the range and to finding homes for those already in captivity.
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/11.08(2).html
In a backstage interview, Crow summed up the urgency of the moment, "33,000 horses are being held right now by the BLM and due to budgetary problems, they're saying now they can't afford to feed them, which is kind of a great excuse to exterminate them."
Just weeks ago, wild horse advocates had reason for hope. They held a summit in Las Vegas at which the BLM offered to work with the groups on mutually acceptable solutions to the huge population of horses now being held in government pens. But this week, a report from the GAO provided new impetus for mass euthanizations of captured horses, as well as the sale of the herds to foreign slaughterhouses.
GAO says the BLM simply can't afford to keep feeding so many horses.
Like other wild horse advocates, Crow isn't buying it, "Like a lot of big organizations that are steeped in red tape, the Bureau of Land Management has taken the path of least resistance -- whatever is quick and can be brushed under the rug, and that's to exterminate."
Critics of the BLM program say the elimination of the horses from public ranges has been systematic. 40-percent of the horses in the wild have been rounded up in the last seven years. More than 100 regions set aside specifically as horse habitat have been zeroed out, all of the horses are now gone from those areas, often replaced by cattle or sheep.
And while BLM complains it can't afford to feed the horses it has, it still keeps rounding up more.
"They've been told get the horses off there, just remove them. End of story," said wild horse advocate Jerry Reynoldson.
"Its just being dictated by their agenda, which is to minimize or eliminate wild horses or burros wherever they can," said former BLM range scientist Craig Downer.
On Monday, backed up by a GAO report which paves the way for mass euthanizations, BLM will address the Wild Horse Advisory Board and seek the ok to move forward with more drastic alternatives.
Horse groups are hoping that Sheryl Crow's high profile will help them to mobilize the broader public into letting Washington know euthanization or slaughter are not acceptable options.
"We as humans, how much land do we need to possess? This land is designated as land but is rented out to ranchers and the administration makes a lot of money off of that, but what winds up happening. The animals that belong there end up being removed for convenience purposes," said Crow. "These animals need to be protected and they can be protected. It's just a matter of what the administration deems important. So many horses have already been exterminated. This is our biggest opportunity to save those that are in danger."
On Monday in Reno, wild horse groups say they will present a united front to the advisory board and will ask that before any horses are put to death, the BLM should explain why it eliminated the herds from 19 million acres instead of just leaving them out there.
Sheryl Crow and the other horse advocates are urging people who care about the issue to make their voices heard, before that meeting.
Take Action:
The BLM is currently accepting public comment on wild horse and burro management. Please send an email to James L. Caswell, the Director of the BLM, urging him to end the war on wild horses on our public lands.
Contact information:
James L. Caswell, Director
Bureau of Land Management
1949 C. Street NW
Washington D.C. 20240
Tel: 202-208-3801
James_Caswell@blm.gov
Wild Horse Management online comment form:
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/feedback.html
MICHELLE
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