Wild Mustangs in Need of Your Help -- Urgent

[CREATIVE1]

Just leave it to the federal government.  Despite petitions, expert opinions, and legal actions--even a bill that has passed the house protecting mustangs--the Bureau of Land Management is in the process of gathering horses in the Pryor Mountains in 90 degree heat, reducing the herd to one that is not genetically viable.  This is happening all over the west.  Nevada's wild horses are all gone.

I've called, emailed, and written everyone I can think of, but it's not working.  Read about it here:

www.thecloudfoundation.org

and if you agree, add your voice.  Thanks

[glenn kangiser]

They have been doing it since the 70's that I know of.  I did welding in a horse slaughterhouse -- for food--- in about 1976.

They brought them in by the truckload.

[CREATIVE1]

There used to be 2 million wild horses, now less than 60,000, 33,000 penned up and with an uncertain future.  First bison, then wolves, grizzly bears, some panther populations.  Look out, people --- 300 empty federal prisons across the US --- we're next.

[glenn kangiser]

As you apparently know, from your comment, Creative, we are simply another herd of useless eaters, to be managed as utility animals of the elite.

We are managed to provide cannon fodder either as soldiers or contractors for the military industrial complex.  We are simply breeding stock.  

There is never enough money and power for the elite.  When will more of us see them for what they are and actively start to resist their will?

Total control of every aspect of our lives and years of brainwashing to make us think we are free have totally made us lose the will to resist and think for ourselves.  We are sniveling mental wimps who will do everything they say.

Like the Mustangs who are under the illusion they are free, the trail boss and his men will be here soon enough to round up the ones who are deemed to be in excess.

Head 'em up....move 'em out...  

[diyfrank]

There used to be 2 million wild horses, now less than 60,000, 33,000 penned up and with an uncertain future.  First bison, then wolves, grizzly bears, some panther populations.  Look out, people --- 300 empty federal prisons across the US --- we're next.

Mustangs aren't native. Why should they be saved?

[CREATIVE1]

Why should they be herded, separated from their families, shot up with experimental birth control, penned and/or slaughtered?  Roundups over the last 9 years, not including the massive ones going on now, have cost taxpayers 20 million dollars.  Penning them has cost more.  Solution:  just leave them alone.

Do some reading.  This particular herd can be traced back to the Spanish conquistadors.  They are genetically distinct from other horses.

A foreign company wants to mine the uranium in that area.  When something doesn't make sense, follow the money.

Again, if you think the mustangs have the right to live free, please email, fax, mail, sign petitions----all contact information is on the Cloud Foundation website.  If you don't agree, you're entitled to your opinion.

[MountainDon]

American Mustangs may not be native, true. But then neither are most of the people living in this country, myself included.    I love the wild horses of the American west. If our mountain property had road access all winter and we could live there I'd love to have one or two.

[CREATIVE1]

OK, we've now shifted to getting the news media involved.  Nothing else is working.  This guy says it better than me.  He's on the front lines.

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/cloud%E2%80%99s-herd-the-death-of-a-promise/

Oprah, do your stuff!

[Virginia Gent]

The Federal Government turning on a promise it made? Never! 

It's such a shame. Mustangs aren't a nuisance species, at least that I'm aware of, so them being not native to this country is moot in my opinion. I hope this gets sorted out and fast. I've written my Congress person about this issue. I do so because he is a good man who actually writes back, personally, when you write to him; it ain't the standard e-mail/letter that most send out.

[CREATIVE1]

I'm continuing writing and calling.  The roundup is over, but the fight has only begun.  This is what the BLM has in mind. 

PRESS RELEASE

June 11, 2009 - for immediate release

Documents Reveal BLM Secret Plan to Destroy Wild Horses

Documents obtained from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) via the Freedom of Information Act by a Phoenix-based non-profit, The Conquistador Program, reveal shocking and detailed plans to destroy healthy wild horses in government holding facilities as well as those still remaining in the wild on public lands.

BLM employees as well as a USDA veterinarian held weekly "Implementation Team" meetings beginning in July of 2008 in which they discussed and developed strategies aimed at ridding BLM of thousands of mustangs. In October they completed a 68 page document entitled "Alternative Management Options". Tactics included in this document are reminiscent of those used to wipe out Native American tribes in the 1800s.

The BLM team created scenarios for killing mustangs using barbiturates, gun shots, or captive bolts. Bodies would be disposed of through rendering, burial or incineration. They discussed killing 1200-2000 wild horses per year. The document states that "the general public would be prohibited from viewing euthanasia." Additionally, the Team felt that "increased support from public relations and management staff would also be needed to insulate those doing the actual work from the public, media and Congressional scrutiny/criticism."
"Minutes from these meetings as well as the Draft Plan reveal what amounts to 'the final solution' for the American mustang," states Ginger Kathrens, filmmaker and Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. "Despite a huge outcry from the American public last year regarding BLM plans to kill wild horses in holding, the agency is still pressing forward with a plan to destroy our American mustangs both on and off the range."

Division Chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program Don Glenn told The Cloud Foundation that "no decision has been made to move forward on a large scale with this plan, yet."

BLM meeting minutes speak for themselves. "Security at facilities and at gathers would need to be increased to combat eco-terrorism. Having the people that are willing to put down healthy horses at gather sites could be a problem. Having vets putting down healthy horses at preparation facility[ies] could also be a problem." Meeting minutes reveal the psychological toll that employees would pay-"have counseling for employees and contractors that have to euthanize the healthy horses because it is very stressful."

The report created an option in which wild horses of all ages could be sold "without limitation". In other words, horses could be sold directly to killer buyers in unchecked numbers. The Team admitted that "some wild horses will go to slaughter".

"Once they are gone, they're gone" says Karen Sussman, President of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros. "To lose this incomparable species would be a travesty."

Team Members formulated ways in which they could circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act, asking "How many (wild horses) could be euthanized during a gather (roundup) without having NEPA?" BLM discussed ways to circumvent the federal carcass disposal law (43 CFR 4730.2). Conversations included how many wild horses could be rendered at the Reno Rendering plant or "disposed of in pits". The Team concluded that "there will not be large numbers of horses euthanized during gathers or in the field. This is due to state environmental laws."

Recommendations include the creation of gelding herds, and sterilization of mares to create non-reproductive herds in the wild in place of natural herds. The team recommended changing the sex ratio from the normal 50% males and 50% females to 70% males and 30% females. Then the experimental two-year infertility drug, PZP-22, would be given to all mares that are returned to the wild. Plans call for rounding up the wild horses every two years to re-administer the drug.

"Mares on the drug will cycle monthly and, with the altered sex ratio, the social chaos will be dangerous and on-going," Kathrens explains. "Any semblance of normal wild horse society will be completely destroyed."

Kathrens has spent 15 years in the wild documenting mustang behavior for her PBS television documentaries which chronicle the life story of Cloud, the now famous pale palomino stallion she has filmed since birth. "Even Cloud and his little herd in Montana are in serious danger if BLM implements these options," she continues. "The BLM plans a massive round up in Cloud's herd beginning August 30, 2009."

The BLM will not guarantee that Cloud and his family will remain free.

[ScottA]

Sadly this has been going on for a very long time (decades). The horses graze range that cattlemen want to graze their herds on. Profit always wins.

[peternap]

Sadly this has been going on for a very long time (decades). The horses graze range that cattlemen want to graze their herds on. Profit always wins.

Billy Jack saved them back when! Looks like it didn't stay fixed.

[lonelytree]

Population control without natural predators is not possible. Even then, cycles of overpopulation and starvation would eventually begin. I love horses.

[CREATIVE1]

I know that the wild horse issue isn't totally clear cut.  But compared to the millions of cats and dogs put down every year, a situation totally out of control with no quick and easy solution, it seems that something could be done for the 60,000 or so horses still out there.  Even without predators, the herd in the Pryors is down 11% last year. Some experts not aligned with the BLM think many of the herds would maintain close to zero population growth if left alone.  If that's true, the BLM's new directive to systematically destroy wild mustangs absolutely is not for the benefit of the horses they are sworn to protect.   They simply want to use the land for other purposes.