For Immediate Release

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Judge Denies BLM Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit to Preserve World Famous Wild Horse Herd

Court Declares Challenge to BLM Mismanagement to be “Ripe for Review”

Washington D.C. (August 27, 2010)— On August 25th United States District Judge, James S. Gwin, granted a legal request by The Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and photographer/author Carol Walker, to file a Second Amended Complaint against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) actions in the mismanagement of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses. The ruling allows addition of the United States Forest Service (USFS) to the suit. The Custer National Forest is presently moving forward with building a restrictive boundary fence to prevent the wild horses from accessing crucial current and historical summer grazing lands. Judge Gwin ruled that the Plaintiffs’ claim against the fence is not moot as the fence could be removed or further fence building activities stopped should subsequent legal decisions rule in the Plaintiffs’ favor. Judge Gwin ordered the BLM and USFS to answer the Second Amended Complaint within 30 days.

“BLM’s tactic of completing removals of wild horses and burros from the range in whirlwind fashion and avoiding legal challenges to its underlying management of these animals did not work in this case,” explained Valerie J. Stanley. Attorneys Valerie J. Stanley and Bruce A. Wagman represent the Plaintiffs in this action.

In his decision, Judge Gwin wrote that “[the] government is also incorrect that the Plaintiffs’ claim challenging the 1987 Custer National Forest Plan is time-barred” and found the Cloud Foundation’s legal challenge to BLM’s use of a Categorical Exclusion that BLM uses to avoid analyzing the environmental impacts of the processing of wild horses and burros removed from the range to be “ripe for review because it is a purely legal question fit for judicial review.”

The ruling represents a significant step forward in the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and Carol Walker’s legal attempts to protect the beloved and historically significant Pryor wild horses. Commonly known as “Cloud’s herd”, the horses are descendents of the horses of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Lewis and Clark expedition and Crow War Ponies.

“We will never give up fighting to preserve this unique herd,” explains Cloud Foundation Director and Emmy award-winning producer, Ginger Kathrens, who has been documenting the Pryor Wild Horses for over 16 years. “They have a right to live free on lands we know they have continuously roamed for centuries. Attempting to fence them out of their home is unconscionable.”

Kathrens journey with the wild stallion she named Cloud began when he was just hours old. It represents the only on-going documentation of a wild animal from birth in our hemisphere.

I also want to thank other animal organizations that have added us to their websites and blogs, including PETA and ASPCA!! Way to go everyone on uniting on this great cause for our beautiful wild mustangs!

xo Madeleine Pickens

Speak Up for Wild Horses; Send a Letter via Pony Express

Posted: August 26, 2010 01:46 PM

Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of you have contacted the federal Bureau of Land Management, encouraging the agency to impose an immediate moratorium on the senseless wild horse gathers being conducted on our public lands. BLM seems resolved to continue toward its goal of removing 12,000 horses from the range before next fall — roundup levels to match those of the Bush Administration.

The round up of these horses — on top of the roundups that have left more than 30,000 horses in BLM short-term and long-term holding facilities — will produce suffering for horses, swamp the adoption program, and result in the stockpiling of more animals, digging a deeper financial hole for the agency and ultimately for American taxpayers. This sort of mismanagement is all the more glaring since BLM has the know-how to implement a far more aggressive contraception program, keeping horses on the range, but slowly bringing under control the reproduction of the already diminished herds.

 To draw attention to the BLM’s stubborn refusal to turn around this program, Madeleine Pickens, the founder of Saving America’s Mustangs and a strong ally of The Humane Society of the United States, has launched the Pony Express campaign. Between now and Sept. 1, Madeleine is asking advocates to sign a letter urging President Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and BLM Director Robert Abbey to stop rounding up wild horses and warehousing them in costly federal holding facilities.

Then, with the help of her adopted wild mustang “Pony Express,” Madeleine will personally deliver these letters to Washington, D.C. She’s aiming to bring along 20,000 letters; please help her meet this goal by adding your voice.

Also, if you haven’t already done so, before Sept. 3 be sure to submit comments on the BLM’s new policy proposal for wild horse management, which the agency will use to develop a long-term plan. We’ve made it easy for you to tell the BLM to make good on the change it has promised in the past — to steer the program in a new, sustainable, more humane direction using effective, cost-beneficial methods such as fertility control to stabilize and manage wild horse populations.

This post originally appeared on Pacelle’s blog, A Humane Nation.

Huffington Post Article

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Madeleine Pickens is personally delivering your letters to Washington, via the Pony Express (atop a beautiful American mustang). Goal is 20,000 letters by September 1st. Please take a minute to email a letter showing that you care about protecting our national treasures.

www.savingamericasmustangs.org

Please visit the website for more information on the eco-sanctuary plan and instructions on how to email your letter for the Pony Express.

Please Click the button below to Get on Board the Pony Express!!!

Follow Madeleine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mpickens
Become Madeleine Pickens’ Friend on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/madeleine.pickens
Visit her websites for up to the minute information: www.savingamericasmustangs.org or www.madeleinepickens.com

Please take some time to read up on this disturbing story of a two-week old foal being brutally shot to death near where the latest gather, Twin Peaks (California), by the Bureau of Land Management is taking place. Please note the photos below are actual photos and are very alarming.

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

Sacramento, CA (August 13, 2010)—The body of a wild horse foal was found near the site of the Twin Peaks roundup Wednesday by Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation Board member, and Christy Davis, wild horse advocate. Davis, an experienced horse woman, examined the foal for any broken bones. What she found was an apparent rope burn on a rear leg as well as a gunshot wound.

“It seems as though the foal was shot in the gut,” Davis states. “It looked as though the foal was abused, lassoed around the hind legs and dragged.”

The foal, approximately 2 weeks old, was killed prior to the start of the controversial Twin Peaks Herd Management Area roundup in Northern California. When Davis told BLM officials about finding the gunshot foal, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee, Carman Prisco, told Davis she must be confused and the dead animal was an antelope. Photos taken by Downer confirmed that this is indeed a wild horse foal.

Photographs taken at the capture site, set on sharp lava rock, reveal blood stains within the trap.

Mustang advocates ask BLM law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation into the abuse and death of the federally protected wild horse—killed before independent contractor, Cattoor Livestock, began rounding up wild horses with helicopters.

Field reports from those on the ground noted a severely injured white stallion that suffered head trauma supposedly from fighting with other stallions in tightly packed transport vehicles. Even though the injury was serious, the BLM contractor was quoted as saying a vet “might need” to be called. The whereabouts of that stallion are currently unknown. Another stallion was off loaded into a pen with eight mules that attacked him, causing traumatic injuries. This incident was also brought to the attention of the BLM by public observers.

Advocates were told yesterday that there were no injuries, yet when they went to look at the horses in holding, the area was blocked off. They were told that they could not access the area because the “injured horses” needed to rest.

Injuries are not uncommon in roundups and underscore the need for public access, says Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation and EMMY Award-winning producer.

“Access is absolutely essential and is granted by the Constitution,”  says  Kathrens. “The ‘acceptable’ suffering of these horses is simply not acceptable to the caring public.”

Laura Leigh, Cloud Foundation Herd Watch coordinator, agrees.

“If this is what we see when the BLM actually allows us in, what happens when they black out their actions to the press and public?” asks Leigh,  plaintiff for the Owyhee round-up that ended July 20 in Nevada, “The time for real Congressional intervention is long overdue.”

The recent round-up in Tuscarora, Nevada—also run by Cattoor Livestock—resulted in the deaths of thirty-six wild horses.

SOURCE

Twin Peaks Gather Information

Please take a minute to read up on this case of extreme animal abuse. Convicted horse killer and Cattle Rancher, Jason Meduna will come up for Parole this month. We have two more weeks to write letters to the Nebraska Parole Board to prevent the parole from happening. Please write a letter on behalf of the 145 counts of animal cruelty he was punished with.

Sincerely,

Madeleine Pickens

HOUSTON -(SFTHH) Nebraska’s Parole Board has informed sources that convicted wild horse killer, Jason Meduna, will come up for review during the month of August with no disclosed date. The review is not public although public comment is welcomed.
Meduna becomes eligible for parole on October 20th, 2011. The public is welcome to submit written comment to the Parole Board as all comments are kept on file and utilized in the board’s final decision. Meduna, nor his attorney, are privy to the comments.

If you would like to comment on the man who was convicted on 145 counts of cruel neglect of an animal resulting in death or injury please write to:
Board of Parole
Correctional Service Building
P.O. Box 94754
Lincoln, NE 68509-4754

Full Story

Wild Horses

AIR DATE: August 11, 2010

http://www.knpr.org/audio2010/SON-mp3/100811_wild-horses.mp3

The Bureau of Land Management is continuing its round-up of wild horses in Nevada and other western states. Various animal rights groups have sued to stop the round-up because of the deaths and injuries. Other critics insist the round-up is designed to open up more range land for ranchers and not to protect the horses.

Guests discussing the issue include:  wild horse advocate and Saving America’s Mustangs, Madeleine Pickens, Chief Investigative Reporter from KLAS I-Team, George Knapp and Sr Public Affairs Specialist, BLM, Tom Gorey.

Dear Friends,

For those of you who have asked why I am so passionate about horses, here is the reason:
Before there was Saving America’s Mustangs, I bred and raced horses with my late husband, Allen Paulson.  Cigar was a world-champion thoroughbred horse that we shared together. Cigar was our baby! We bred many champions and we were blessed with much success.
However, years into our breeding and racing career, I found out horrifying news; that most of the horses that either retire from their careers or aren’t successful in racing go to slaughter. These are champion, thoroughbred  horses that have an untimely fate if not adopted or donated to a living museum or horse park after they are done racing.  There was nothing wrong with these horses at all! This information made me feel so ashamed, because I never knew in so many years of racing that this was happening. So many Americans were probably in the dark like me, and  unaware of the nasty side of this business. We bred so many champion horses, but I often look back and think of what happened to the ones who weren’t near Cigar’s racing level. Chances are very good that 80-90% of horses like that have gone to slaughter.

It was so embarrassing for me when I finally found out, because  I never thought living in a civilized country like the United States of America that there would be such inhumane and barbaric treatment of animals!

So, now that I’m equipped with the knowledge, I am doing everything in my power to make sure we speak up for animals. That’s why I have fought so hard for the R.O.A.M Act to be passed and so dedicated to protecting all animals, but especially horses from slaughter. We are now the voices of the horses.

I founded Saving America’s Mustangs in 2008 and for the past two years I have worked so hard to come up with a solution for our wild horses. I am developing a wild horse eco sanctuary for horses that cannot be adopted, the horses in the government holding pens, and any other horses that need to be able to go back to roaming freely, like they are naturally used to.

Cigar is one of the lucky ones. He now calls the Kentucky Horse Park home and has a great setup there. I love going to visit him. He truly still looks as beautiful as the day he was born. He had great lines and we always knew he was going to be a special horse. I’m still very proud of him.

Please enjoy this video that HRTV filmed on the Life of Cigar. It was very emotional for me to watch. He was truly a world champion and a very beloved horse. Let’s put all of our wild horses up on a pedestal like our champion racehorses, like Cigar.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/videos/watch/66AF9D40-6242-4BF3-9E10-5DA876D920D5
Warmly,

Madeleine Pickens

This episode will be available on Time Warner’s San Diego OnDemand until October 7th in San Diego, channel 144, San Diego North Carlsbad, channel 1, and Desert Cities, channel 111.

It will also be airing on TWCSD Local Origination Channel 19 on August 11, 16, and 18 at 9pm

And August 14 and 21 at 9am