BP Killing Off Horses On Public Land To Get Oil Leases
Posted by Alexander Higgins - July 13, 2010 at 6:33 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Above Top Secret is reporting that their investigative piece into the killing of Mustangs on public lands to allow BP to receive drilling leases and oil pipeline permits on public lands is being picked up by CNN.
The ATS report investigates the relationship of corruption between BP and the Federal Government, which includes a corrupt culture of sex, drugs and bribes, to side step Federal laws that would otherwise prevent BP from attaining the leases on public lands.
The La Times reports on the issue:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s take on controversial wild horse roundup
The federal Bureau of Land Management’s controversial roundup of approximately 2,500 wild horses in Nevada has been met with protest from outraged animal advocates who argue that the measure is cruel and unnecessary. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar explains his position on the mustang dilemma in The Times’ Opinion section…
In the Times’ opinion piece published by Salazar begins by pointing out that wild horses have been under threat from loss of habitat for decades.
Since Spanish conquistadors brought horses to the American continent four centuries ago, the majestic animals that once roamed wild on our nation’s great prairies have endured dramatic changes in the American landscape. The grasslands of the Midwest gave way to farms. Barbed-wire fences closed the ranges of Texas. Western cities grew and suburbs sprawled.
Having lost much of their range, wild horses teetered on the verge of disappearing in the 1960s, prompting Congress to pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which established new federal protections for the animals. Over the last four decades, the Bureau of Land Management has helped wild horses thrive and populations recover on the arid expanses of public lands in the West.
Salazar then goes on to point out while much work has been done to protect the horses and help them to regrow their population there is still much work to be done.
Though an American icon is again flourishing, the job of restoring the health of wild horse herds is far from complete.
Salazar then contradicts himself by saying the horses are under threat from over population on Federal Lands and then makes the argument that the best way to protect them is to drive them off of Federal Lands the only place where their populations are flourishing.
Without natural predators, wild horse populations have grown beyond the carrying capacity of the sensitive and sparse lands on which they live, causing damage to ecosystems and putting them at risk of starvation. As a result, federal managers must move thousands of wild horses each year off the range to pastures and corrals, where they are fed, cared for and put up for adoption.
The current situation is unsustainable.
The American people expect the health of their lands and watersheds to be protected, and it is unacceptable to allow wild horses to be malnourished on inadequate ranges. Yet no one wants to see them gathered and moved off Western ranges. Moreover, the status quo comes with a steep price tag. The federal government spends more than $60 million a year on the wild horse and burro program, of which $35 million goes to the care and feeding of the horses.
A broad range of animal rights organizations, conservationists and Western communities agree that we cannot continue down the current path. We must change course.
I agree.
Go figure.
The ATS investigation reveals the real reason that Salazar made the decision to drive the the horses from Federal lands was so BP could install an oil pipeline.
Here is a rushed transcript from a piece of part 2 of the investigation by ATS News.
We have guys like Ken Salazar now talking toughing saying we are going to crack down we are going to get to the bottom of this.
I am not sure if I trust Ken Salazar to do that.
Ken Salazar before he became a Senator, before he became Secretary of the Interior was a cattle rancher.
… I know what [Ken Salazar] has said about horses. Wild Horses they have no place on public range. They have no place there despite the fact that is what the law of the land says.
Ken Salazar has the same view of public lands that Bush and Cheney had for all of those years.
The public lands are for the public of oil companies, mining companies and cattle companies.
That’s the public they serve.
Those public lands are there to be exploited.
The American public is being ripped off every single day, every year to the tunes of billions of dollars.
We have this image of oil men, and gas men, wild catters, and the miners, the rugged individuals cattleists taming the west.
Its a bunch of crap.
All of those individuals exist because they suck off the public teet.
They are welfare, it is corporate welfare or they wouldn’t exist.
The report then goes on to discuss how environmentalists put together the a trail of documents showing that the Federal Government had other motives to drive the horses off Federal Lands.
The decision to drive the horses off the land was made during the course of discussions about the installation of a BP oil pipeline on the Federal Lands called the Ruby pipeline.
Watch The ATS investigative report on the Killing of the Mustangs which will be discussed on CNN tonight.
Update: July 30th 2010
Watch Wild Mustangs Herded by Helicopter
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I hope someone will end this repulsive and gruesome treatment of the horses! And STOP BP from killing our animals and ruining our land & sea!
It will not play for me.
I hope those people that did this cruelty to the horses would be locked away for good!
They are a permanent danger to the society & animals too!!!
I think they should be punished the same way themselves! Sadly I think that is the only thing that will help! This MUST NEVER happen again! Thankfully there is organizations who can help these defensless horses & other animals. We should not forget that we all can help ourselves too!
Horses are our symbol of freedom and native to this land…what will they kill next! …will it be our children, or yours? Please stop this now.
I think we all here should spread the word about the horse killing on Facebook & Twitter etc
Bp are murderers plain and simple. They must be stopped by whatever means possible. They are hiding the true extent of the damage they have caused. They have done little to stop the raging oil from destroying countless animals and peoples livelihoods. They don’t care one bit about what they have done as long as they are making money. None of the so called remedies to stop the spill have worked this is because they have been trying to save their precious rig. They are no continuing their murderous rampage by killing numerous wild horses. These people should be sent to prison for life at the very least.
if I had a farm I would adopt some of these horses…what a disgrace.
We should not read too deep into everything we see written. I don’t believe that B.P. is killing off those horses. They are just “herding” them so they can move them to other land so they can drill. I really think that they have the horses best interest in mind. They arent out to hurt them. Just move them so they can work the land without the horses getting hurt !!
I AM COMPLETELY WITH YOU. STOP IT ALTOGETHER ALREADY. THE WORLD IT IS NOT THEIRS TO DECIDE ANYTHING. HORRIBLE PEOPLE WITH THEIR HANDS EVERYWHERE MAKING EVERYTHING DIE AND RUIN THE PEOPLE IN EVERY ASPECT. STOP IT ALREADY. SO MANY GANGSTERS with weapons…
and do you have proof of this?
RESPONSE TO SPINELESSONE… I HOPE YOU ARE CORRECT… BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT BP IS NOT KILLING THESE BEAUTIFUL WILD HORSES… I AM THE DIRECTOR OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OPERATIONS WITH THE NASSAU COUNTY SPCA (LONG ISLAND N.Y.)
I WILL FOLLOW-UP WITH THIS STORY TO MAKE SURE THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. I DO NOT TRUST SALAZAR OR ANY ONE ELSE IN THE obama ADMINISTRATION. IF THIS STORY IS TRUE THEN EVERY ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP IN THE COUNTRY SHOULD SEE THAT BP IS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. I DO NOT LIKE BP THEY ARE BAD NEWS. MOST OF THE OTHER MAJOR OILS COMPANIES ARE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE.
@spinelessone–With all respect, that is a naive belief. If you look at the helicopter roundups, not only do many horses die directly, including many aborted foals, the horses are ripped from their family groups, an intense suffering for them. The reasons given for removing them are false and unscientific, and the will of the American Public is being trashed along with the horses. The BLM adoption program is a joke. Do not give any of these people the benefit of the doubt when there is no doubt about their greedy motives.
This information needs to be brought forward to the American people so that responsible individuals of these situations will be 1-recognized for there impropper actions (fined), 2-
removed from office, 3- and to cease the harm of Americas wildlife. These conditions are foolish, and irresponsible, and should not be allowed to continue by any person, nor a recognized public leader.
Opinion by Barbara Clarke
In a recent documentary about the problems involved with the reintroduction of the nearly extinct Mexican wolf, a rancher was quoted as saying “we don’t want them”. No science. No statistics. No reason or clear argument. Just “we don’t want them”.
That statement is the crux of the whole problem facing animals in the west today and the basis for Ken Salazar’s opinions as to how to mange the dwindling herds of wild horses. The ranching community still believes in the notion of manifest destiny: the right to claim the west for human endeavors.
And this is no small notion. For Salazar, a product of five generations of ranching, the belief that the west belongs to ranchers and by extension cattle, is deep and pervasive. For over one hundred fifty years the livestock industry, by sweat and blood, has clawed its way across the continent in search of the ever needed forage for hungry cattle and sheep. This neo-exploration was and still is backed by the government through subsidies and ridiculously low grazing fees.
And even though the prairies and rangelands had once supported millions of grazing wildlife including buffalo and mustangs, by the beginning of the twentieth century the once lush rangeland west of the Mississippi had been reduced to stubble, with native grasses obliterated and alarming damage done to waterways.
Anything and anyone that threatened this quest for manifest destiny or was seen as competitors for forage, was soon eliminated. Native Americans were pushed off of ancestral lands and whole species were slaughtered in the name of protecting livestock and grazing. Wolves, coyotes, eagles, bears, ground squirrels and wild horses all found themselves in the cross-hairs of powerful weapons with the full support of our nation’s leaders.
The American government wanted the west. The ranchers gave it to them. And in no small way this has made cattle and all the issues surrounding them, politically untouchable.
So it is no surprise that with the appointment of a fifth generation rancher to head the Department of the Interior, the president, who espouses change – but is granting a $26 million dollar increase in budget for Salazar to remove horses – has opened the door to an increase in the agonies that accompany manifest destiny. Wolves, coyotes, ground squirrels and wild horses are fighting for their very lives.
Wild horses, which have a clear fossil and DNA linage to our continent, are being pushed off of lands set aside for them by congress in unprecedented numbers in the dubious name of saving them from starvation or protecting eco-systems. Yet observers at roundups continue to see healthy horses being captured, thriving rangeland and most notably, no decrease in the number of cattle allowed to graze the same supposedly sensitive areas.
This rush to sweep the wild horses off the rangeland has the full support of Salazar. And why not? When he looks at the mustang, he sees them through a hundred and fifty year lens of ranching. Wild horses are competitors for forage, inhabit areas wanted for mining, the infamous and powerfully backed Ruby Pipeline and California Heliostat projects, and do not generate hunting fees. So Salazar wants them removed. But not only removed, he wants them transplanted back east……somewhere, on pseudo-sanctuaries, at a cost of $96 million dollars, where he believes people will actually pay to watch once wild horses eat grass all day.
His plan, therefore, to move them to areas in the east, is not surprising, nor is his revisionist view of wild horse history. It is the final chapter in the long saga of claiming the west. Soon the horses, like the buffalo and the wolf and so many other beings, will be mere shadows of the species they once were. And our president, and his appointees, can go down in history as those who stole the magnificence of the west from our children.
Barbara Clarke is director of the 2000 acre DreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary in Northeastern California, home to 225 horses and burros and supporter of the ROAM Act SB 1579 which provides added protections for wild horses.
(530) 260-0377
Barbara Clarke, You are right about salazar and hi ilk, namely, the obama regime… Since I am in animal law enforcement, I would strongly suggest that concerned Americans contact (via letter,telephone and email) salazar, as well as their respective Congress person and Senator AND DEMAND THAT THIS BARBARIC FORM OF KILLING ALL WILD LIFE BE STOPPED. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OWN THIS LAND… NOT SOME LOWLIFE BUREAUCRAT!!!!!!!!!
Next time you vote a congressman/senator/president in you have to ask yourself who funded their campaign. BP is behind allot of these candidates and the representatives you vote in. BP is on the list of campaign funders for Obama too. Don’t vote on a good message or propaganda, instead do your homework and find out this information so we can get all these awful unethical bureacratic pass the buck leeches out of these offices. This comes from politicians getting greased. BP would never get this done without the corruption in our politicians. This is from where it stems!
@Nicholas P Vessio – You suggest people protest so here is some feedback on that. There are a huge number of wild horse advocates including several advocacy organizations who have been fighting this extermination of wild horses for years. Thousands of people are making formal objections to each and every roundup plan the BLM presents (it must go through a “public” process per law but that doesn’t mean they have to listen to any objection and they do not). There are some lawsuits in process right now and there have been several lawsuits against the DOI/BLM in the past couple of years. David & Goliath struggles and not much has been achieved, YET.
In addition to individuals, some of the larger groups fighting for reform of BLM’s wild horse program include: The Cloud Foundation, In Defense of Animals, HSUS, Madeleine Pickens’ Saving America’s Horses, ASPCA. Even the Center for Biological Diversity, while not wild horse advocates, places blame on cattle for our catastsrophic range destruction and points out that BLM is scapegoating the horses as range destroyers in order to justify removing them. the CBD is suing BLM right now for failure to produce freedom of information documents regarding the public welfare grazing program that CBD would like to see deactivated.
There are dozens of advocacy groups on Facebook and elsewhere that you can get involved in if you want to help. We need bodies, brains, connections and voices. You might want to read this page for current news: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/
And you might want to contribute to HerdWatch – a group dedicated to going to the range to record data on the horses and range ourselves to counter the untrue claims BLM makes when “justifying” the roundups and removals – http://herdwatch.wordpress.com/ BLM specialty: questionable census numbers and other “science”.
You can also contribute to the ongoing legal battle brought by the Humane Observer/writer Laura Leigh, (just a regular-Jane artist & writer) against Salazar and the DOI here: http://grassrootshorse.com/ — this is also an EXCELLENT place for links to more info and this group also helps fund other unpaid independent advocates who work as humane observers to chronicle and collect photo evidence of the carnage on location – when allowed by the BLM. Here is one of their blogs: http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ – and if you look at posts in Jan/Feb/Mar 2010, you’ll see what is actually happening as these are the chronicles from the last huge bloody roundup in Calico complex NV in those months.
Another excellent reference site that covers the latest and offers lots of depth: http://wildhorsesneedyou.com/ — BE SURE TO VIEW the “Stampede To Oblivion” video here and then follow back to reporter George Knapp’s Las Vegas CBS TV affiliate website which has well over a dozen feature videos with the latest episodes just from this week on this topic – VERY revealing: http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 — George is the featured interviewee in the abovetopsecret.com video referenced in this article.
Advocacy is really heating up now and thousands more are joining the ranks because social networking is making more people aware. Many citizens know NOTHING of how our govt is killing horses and spending our million$$$ to do it. Thousands of advocates are writing, calling, faxing, emailing legislators, the president and Salazar and all his mgmt underlings involved repeatedly. Protests on the streets in DC, NYC, LA, PHX, Reno, LV, London and many more places have been taking place over the past year. More are planned. A contingent of advocates http://www.respect4horses.com just wound up a full week of lobbying legislators in DC to bring more awareness to the wild horse plight due to BLM as well as other horse humane issues.
Please, to all reading, if you find this disturbing, get involved with the links I shared. The horses are like the canary in the coal mine – when they are gone, it’s over for our western public lands, they’ll be industrialized and off limits. Speak out for these animals who have NO VOICE to defend themselves against this extermination plan wrought by Ken Salazar and his BLM agency. Only via a massive mainstream rejection and coast to coast loud outcry against this hideous program and agency will we accomplish anything, so every voice and every effort counts. Please stand up today. Thank you for reading.
One last point: The 1971 Wild Horse protection Act was the ONLY law ever passed by our Congress unanimously. Even the vote to enter WWII was not unanimous. Wild horse Annie, of Nevada, witnessed mustang killers out on the range, knew the wild horses numbers were dwindling and waged many years of legislative lobbying on her own — as a regular Jane American — to protect these animals. She proved that Americans highly value Our American Wild Mustangs because we spoke then and continue to speak today. The problem is our government is NOT LISTENING and has ulterior motives and questionable conflicts of interest. We cannot let this extermination happen – so we have to speak up right now and take action in whatever ways we can, from telling others to protesting to our lawmakers to more involved advocacy. Please do what you can, the horses can do nothing to help themselves and once they are gone, it will be too late for them and for the land.
@Nicholas P Vessio – You suggest people protest so here is some feedback on that. There are a huge number of wild horse advocates including several advocacy organizations who have been fighting this extermination of wild horses for years. Thousands of people are making formal objections to each and every roundup plan the BLM presents (it must go through a “public” process per law but that doesn’t mean they have to listen to any objection and they do not). There are some lawsuits in process right now and there have been several lawsuits against the DOI/BLM in the past couple of years. David & Goliath struggles and not much has been achieved, YET.
In addition to individuals, some of the larger groups fighting for reform of BLM’s wild horse program include: The Cloud Foundation, In Defense of Animals, HSUS, Madeleine Pickens’ Saving America’s Horses, ASPCA. Even the Center for Biological Diversity, while not wild horse advocates, places blame on cattle for our catastsrophic range destruction and points out that BLM is scapegoating the horses as range destroyers in order to justify removing them. the CBD is suing BLM right now for failure to produce freedom of information documents regarding the public welfare grazing program that CBD would like to see deactivated.
There are dozens of advocacy groups on Facebook and elsewhere that you can get involved in if you want to help. We need bodies, brains, connections and voices. You might want to read this page for current news: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/
And you might want to contribute to HerdWatch – a group dedicated to going to the range to record data on the horses and range ourselves to counter the untrue claims BLM makes when “justifying” the roundups and removals – http://herdwatch.wordpress.com/ BLM specialty: questionable census numbers and other “science”.
You can also contribute to the ongoing legal battle brought by the Humane Observer/writer Laura Leigh, (just a regular-Jane artist & writer) against Salazar and the DOI here: http://grassrootshorse.com/ — this is also an EXCELLENT place for links to more info and this group also helps fund other unpaid independent advocates who work as humane observers to chronicle and collect photo evidence of the carnage on location – when allowed by the BLM. Here is one of their blogs: http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ – and if you look at posts in Jan/Feb/Mar 2010, you’ll see what is actually happening as these are the chronicles from the last huge bloody roundup in Calico complex NV in those months.
Another excellent reference site that covers the latest and offers lots of depth: http://wildhorsesneedyou.com/ — BE SURE TO VIEW the “Stampede To Oblivion” video here and then follow back to reporter George Knapp’s Las Vegas CBS TV affiliate website which has well over a dozen feature videos with the latest episodes just from this week on this topic – VERY revealing: http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 — George is the featured interviewee in the abovetopsecret.com video referenced in this article.
Advocacy is really heating up now and thousands more are joining the ranks because social networking is making more people aware. Many citizens know NOTHING of how our govt is killing horses and spending our million$$$ to do it. Thousands of advocates are writing, calling, faxing, emailing legislators, the president and Salazar and all his mgmt underlings involved repeatedly. Protests on the streets in DC, NYC, LA, PHX, Reno, LV, London and many more places have been taking place over the past year. More are planned. A contingent of advocates http://www.respect4horses.com just wound up a full week of lobbying legislators in DC to bring more awareness to the wild horse plight due to BLM as well as other horse humane issues.
Please, to all reading, if you find this disturbing, get involved with the links I shared. The horses are like the canary in the coal mine – when they are gone, it’s over for our western public lands, they’ll be industrialized and off limits. Speak out for these animals who have NO VOICE to defend themselves against this extermination plan wrought by Ken Salazar and his BLM agency. Only via a massive mainstream rejection and coast to coast loud outcry against this hideous program and agency will we accomplish anything, so every voice and every effort counts. Please stand up today. Thank you for reading.
One last point: The 1971 Wild Horse protection Act was the ONLY law ever passed by our Congress unanimously. Even the vote to enter WWII was not unanimous. Wild horse Annie, of Nevada, witnessed mustang killers out on the range, knew the wild horses numbers were dwindling and waged many years of legislative lobbying on her own — as a regular Jane American — to protect these animals. She proved that Americans highly value Our American Wild Mustangs because we spoke then and continue to speak today. The problem is our government is NOT LISTENING and has ulterior motives and questionable conflicts of interest. We cannot let this extermination happen – so we have to speak up right now and take action in whatever ways we can, from telling others to protesting to our lawmakers to more involved advocacy. Please do what you can, the horses can do nothing to help themselves and once they are gone, it will be too late for them and for the land.
@Nicholas P Vessio – You suggest people protest so here is some feedback on that. There are a huge number of wild horse advocates including several advocacy organizations who have been fighting this extermination of wild horses for years. Thousands of people are making formal objections to each and every roundup plan the BLM presents (it must go through a “public” process per law but that doesn’t mean they have to listen to any objection and they do not). There are some lawsuits in process right now and there have been several lawsuits against the DOI/BLM in the past couple of years. David & Goliath struggles and not much has been achieved, YET.
In addition to individuals, some of the larger groups fighting for reform of BLM’s wild horse program include: The Cloud Foundation, In Defense of Animals, HSUS, Madeleine Pickens’ Saving America’s Horses, ASPCA. Even the Center for Biological Diversity, while not wild horse advocates, places blame on cattle for our catastsrophic range destruction and points out that BLM is scapegoating the horses as range destroyers in order to justify removing them. the CBD is suing BLM right now for failure to produce freedom of information documents regarding the public welfare grazing program that CBD would like to see deactivated.
Flood the White House with letters, no slaughtering horses.
Protection now for wild horses to live in peace and safety.
Immediate action required, please hurry, write call..gather.
TAKE ACTION on this issue:
There are dozens of advocacy groups on Facebook and elsewhere that you can get involved in if you want to learn more. We need bodies, brains, connections and voices. You might want to read this page for most current news: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/
And you might want to contribute to HerdWatch – a group dedicated to going to the range to record data on the horses and range ourselves to counter BLM’s specialty: questionable census numbers and other “science”, i.e.the untrue claims BLM makes when “justifying” the roundups and removals – http://herdwatch.wordpress.com/
You can also contribute to the ongoing legal battle brought by the Humane Observer/writer Laura Leigh, (just a regular-Jane artist & writer) against Salazar and the DOI here: http://grassrootshorse.com/
– this is also an EXCELLENT place for links to more info and this group also helps fund other unpaid independent advocates who work as humane observers to chronicle and collect photo evidence of the carnage on location – when allowed by the BLM.
Here is one of the observer’s blogs: http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/
- and if you look at posts in Jan/Feb/Mar 2010, you’ll see what is actually happening as these are the chronicles from the last huge bloody roundup in Calico complex NV in those months.
Another excellent reference site that covers the latest and offers lots of depth: http://wildhorsesneedyou.com/
– BE SURE TO VIEW the “Stampede To Oblivion” video here and then follow back to reporter George Knapp’s Las Vegas CBS TV affiliate website which has well over a dozen feature videos with the latest episodes just from this week on this topic – VERY revealing: http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225
– George is the featured interviewee in the abovetopsecret.com video referenced in this article.
Write, call, email & fax the president, your representatives as often as possible. Tell them to: Stop the roundups – moratorium until the program can be completely reformed, full congressional investigation of the BLM, remove BLM’s authority over wild horses (they are the LAND managers, not HORSE manager as they themselves tell us), form a consortium of wild horse advocates, experts, scientists, biologists, vets to rework this this program to ensure genetic efficacy and humane handling as well as mgmt of the rangelands where horses roam. PLEASE RAISE YOUR VOICE for the voiceless wild horses today — BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!
TAKE ACTION TODAY on this issue:
There are dozens of advocacy groups on Facebook and elsewhere that you can get involved in if you want to learn more. We need bodies, brains, connections and voices. You might want to read this page for most current news: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/
And you might want to contribute to HerdWatch – a group dedicated to going to the range to record data on the horses and range ourselves to counter BLM’s specialty: questionable census numbers and other “science”, i.e.the untrue claims BLM makes when “justifying” the roundups and removals – http://herdwatch.wordpress.com/
You can also contribute to the ongoing legal battle brought by the Humane Observer/writer Laura Leigh, (just a regular-Jane artist & writer) against Salazar and the DOI here: http://grassrootshorse.com/
– this is also an EXCELLENT place for links to more info and this group also helps fund other unpaid independent advocates who work as humane observers to chronicle and collect photo evidence of the carnage on location – when allowed by the BLM.
Here is one of the observer’s blogs: http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/
- and if you look at posts in Jan/Feb/Mar 2010, you’ll see what is actually happening as these are the chronicles from the last huge bloody roundup in Calico complex NV in those months.
Another excellent reference site that covers the latest and offers lots of depth: http://wildhorsesneedyou.com/
– BE SURE TO VIEW the “Stampede To Oblivion” video here and then follow back to reporter George Knapp’s Las Vegas CBS TV affiliate website which has well over a dozen feature videos with the latest episodes just from this week on this topic – VERY revealing: http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225
– George is the featured interviewee in the abovetopsecret.com video referenced in this article.
Write, call, email & fax the president, your representatives as often as possible. Tell them to: Stop the roundups – moratorium until the program can be completely reformed, full congressional investigation of the BLM, remove BLM’s authority over wild horses (they are the LAND managers, not HORSE manager as they themselves tell us), form a consortium of wild horse advocates, experts, scientists, biologists, vets to rework this this program to ensure genetic efficacy and humane handling as well as mgmt of the rangelands where horses roam. PLEASE RAISE YOUR VOICE for the voiceless wild horses today — BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!
Write, call, email & fax the president, your representatives as often as possible. Tell them to: Stop the roundups – moratorium until the program can be completely reformed, full congressional investigation of the BLM, remove BLM’s authority over wild horses (they are the LAND managers, not HORSE manager as they themselves tell us), form a consortium of wild horse advocates, experts, scientists, biologists, vets to rework this this program to ensure genetic efficacy and humane handling as well as mgmt of the rangelands where horses roam. PLEASE RAISE YOUR VOICE for the voiceless wild horses today — BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!
Sorry for the repeated paragraph/post – am receiving no message when posting comments and no indication comments are pending moderation so have broken up posts trying to get info out there.
One more IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE: when the mustangs are gone, the government will undoubtedly then be free (of federally “protected” horses on land that is protected by that virtue) to lease out our entire western public lands system to the highest bidder – many foreign – for water, mineral rights, exploration, alt energy, pipelines and more. Please realize this is already happening, there are MANY foreign interests already deeply entrenched in OUR public lands. We have to stop this. The horses are like the canary in a coal mine – symptoms of great and horrific things to come.
Mustang round-ups have been going on for years and years. Ranchers didn’t want them around because they compete with their livestock for food. They usually adopt out as many as they can, but, unfortunately, a bunch of them go to the “glue factory.” BP and the like are just another preditor and the people in power at the BLM and Fish and Wild Game don’t always use common sense.
Below is a letter I sent last night to both President Obama and Secretary of the Interior Salazar asking them to please immediate stop the rounding up of America’s free-roaming wild horses and burros:
July 29, 2010
Mr. President:
Mr. Salazar:
It was completely unconstitutional for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to blanket close off to the public, the press and to wild horse advocates, the entire Tuscarora Herd Management Area (HMA) in the state of Nevada.
This obviously was done to prevent the observation of the Tuscarora roundup in it’s entirety. But when 12 horses were reported dead, they stopped. Until recently, BLM stopped roundups if the weather reached 85 degrees and over. The weather on this roundup was well over 90 degrees and the horses were dying from dehydration……
Please take note: In a recent press release, BLM representative Sanchez, came out with the following statement: “We will be setting up areas where people will be able to go and WE’LL BE OFFERING OBSERVATION DAYS.”
My husband & I have been invited to witness HMA roundups in the past. These so-called ‘Observation Days’ for both the public and the press, were – and still are – nothing but BLM ‘PUBLIC RELATIONS DAYS. These are simply, ‘Dog and Pony Shows.’
Of course the BLM’s hired private contractors (who actually run the helicopter roundups and corralling of the horses) would be sure everything possible on these days be be done for the ‘safety’ of the animals so as to look good for the INVITED observers.
As so many wild horses are now being maimed or killed during roundups (and who knows the actual death count from all previous roundups), the following is what we should be insisting on:
1) All Wild Horse and Burro Roundups must be halted immediately and a thorough investigation be done by the Attorney General of the United States.
2) In the future, when SMALL gathers need to be held, we are demanding to be allowed to witness how these roundups are being done on not just “Observation Days,” but ON ALL THE OTHER GATHER DAYS where wild horse advocates are not allowed – nor invited to attend.
3) We believe in the management of our wild horses and burros, but MANAGED ON OUR PUBLIC LANDS. The wild ones shall never again be rounded up and ‘exported’ across the country. Now, with portable corrals and self-contained trailers, it’s possible for animals to be gently gathered in SMALL NUMBERS ONLY. Separate some of the foals and younger horses to be made available for adoption, use safe and long-term birth control methods on mares, and in a few short days, return them and the stallions safely back to the HMA where they belong. And,
4) In the future, when BLM does an aerial count of a HMA, a qualified and experienced wild horse specialist be allowed to fly with them to make sure the count they give to the public is the ACTUAL accounting of the number of wild horses they say are on each individual HMA. No positive proof has ever been shown to have advocates believe their numbers.
BLM is always stressing ‘We need to get to Appropriate Management Level (AML)!’ Because BLM is – and has for the past 40 years – so poorly managed their Wild Horse and Burro Program, it’s impossible for them to ever get to AML. The methods BLM uses for this Program has and never will work successfully.
Remember, it wasn’t until after the Calico Roundup disaster, whick occurred in the state of Nevada in December 2009, that the BLM website started showing day-by-day accounting of the horses which had actually died during roundups and continued to die afterwards while being held in short-term holding facilities by the thousands. Not only was this roundup held in the middle of December, with well over a foot of snow covering the ground, but most of the mares were heavy in foal. Many of their foals were aborted because of the stress the mares had to endure.
Over 150 horses have now died because of their criminal mishandling of this ’roundup.’ And, many of these animals will have harmful, lasting effects because of it. BLM stopped the roundup when word of the deaths and maiming of wild horses was leaked to the press. Who actually gave the order to do this roundup in December? BLM representatives said they wanted to do it a month earlier ‘for the protection of the mares and before the foals starting dropping,’ but they said the advocates prevented it. I have never heard of a BLM ‘gather’ occurring right in the middle of winter in any given year.
Protection of Wild Horses and Burros by the Bureau of Land Management is the first and most important requirement stated in the National Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Apparently, it is the first requirement the Bureau of Land Management has conveniently forgotten.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Matton
H. Bonnie Matton, President
Wild Horse Preservation League
mattonco@prodigy.net/ 775-220-6806
http://www.WildHorsePL.org
http://www.WildHorseAdventure.net
Please everyone, we need to support Peter Rowen, he is speaking up for our wild horses and all the letters we are sending to Washington is great, but it’s not working.
See his statement and his history with U2.
Karen Mayfield
http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org
We have the same problems here in Australia only the names change the national parks and wildlife department did this a few years ago shooting them from a helicopter it was reported mares giving birth while being wounded lots of them standing there for days dying in agony or left laying there to die if protections are there in place for these horses then they should not be touched in any way nature will take care of the weak and frail as has happened for sometime if the US government spends $35m on feeding these horses then what other reason only greed I think and the senator Salazar needs to realise he is only feathering his own nest we call it a conflict of interest and makes you wonder what else is going on.
WHy are we surprised?
Since the 2000 coup, let’s be honest, the game plan has been to keep a grip on the US population and the world as usual,even more so; to keep the defense industry going at any cost with war, false pretences or not; to borrow to the max to do it; while taking the least from the richest people, and leaving the country to itself as far as material matters are concerned (housing, cities, transportation -hence collapsing bridges), and generally not just milking, but straight-out gutting the economy for all it’s worth, running into the ground to squeez every last cent out of it, including the environment. No conspiracy is actually necessary. It’s business as usual. Friends in government help friends in commerce and industry, and vice-versa, all “sides” of each socialize and make the way smooth for one another. Ouila.
They don’t care about mustangs. They look at all that beauty only in terms of its status as public land available for free drilling… (very fitting: penetration). They own their own estates where they can enjoy nature and they can travel the world to enjoy nature, see animals, including horses, so why would they bother about these?
“Spineless” give me a break!….you don’t actually believe what you are saying?! Because neither do we! Haven’t you listenned…they got the CONTRACT!!!
There is an entire page of supporting documents – including THE CONTRACT – and they are compiling more all the time. George Knapp is a Peabody Award winning investigative reporter in Las Vegas who has been following the destruction of our Mustangs for years. I highly recommend ALL his reports and videos – links posted above.
The BLM and the entire DOI are heartless, greedy profiteers. Anyone who thinks differently needs to get themselves informed.
I just called 702-388-5020 stated that harry reid needs to support hr 503 and s727 it is fast and simple the aid (man answering phone) will merely ask for your zip code.
Call people call we can do this!
Agreed. It was so simple took a few seconds for me.
what is going on with the horses now? we need an update!!
August 22, 2010. It is still going on, and the situation is getting worse by the hour. The BLM has started rushing the roundups and abandoned all pretense that they have any other goal but getting the horses OFF the land.
The careless cruelty is chilling. And the horses are indeed suffering. If you want to help Laura Leigh in her ongoing law suit against the BLM, please donate here: http://grassrootshorse.com This is the ONLY place you can donate to Laura. All legal documents are on this site.
For an example of what’s happening: http://www.examiner.com/equine-advocacy-in-national/more-questions-than-answers-plague-twin-peaks-wild-horse-roundup
You can find links and more info at my blog, Golden Days URL listed above.
Please help if you can. The horses don’t have much time left.
The horsed having returned to a domestic state from once being tamed (ferol) are not indigenous. The indigenous horse found in the tar pits are 5k years old and all but bred out by the feral horses from Spain. The US and UK nuclear weapons testing in the Great Basin (Nevada ares)has created vulnerabilities in the land (don’t ask the BLM) that allow noxious and invasive plants to take hold and thrive placing additional stress on the hores. Removing the horse is good for the land. Forgot to tell you that much of the west is Western Shoshone treaty land and technically part of the US. America has done more damage than to that of the imported horses.