Despite legal efforts from wild horse advocates, this Monday the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began a massive, two-month long roundup of over 2,500 wild horses from the Calico Complex in North Western Nevada. This will take place in the dead of winter, and will drive the herds for miles out of the mountains over snowy and icy terrain. Young foals, older horses or pregnant mares will face the brunt of this brutal roundup. Aside from the immediate humane implications is the glaring fact that the BLM has no viable plan for these horses.
It was not long ago that the BLM announced a proposal to euthanize some 30,000 wild horses stockpiled in federal holding facilities,. This overstock of horses is a result of years of capturing more wild horses from the range than the agency could successfully place through their adoption program. Rather than discontinuing the roundups, and implementing proven ?in the wild? management solutions, the BLM is marching forward to the beat of the same old drum.
BLM claims that the horses are being removed to protect the range from overgrazing, yet they increased allotted cattle grazing on the 500,000-acre Calico Complex. Please join us in protesting this egregious mismanagement of America?s last remaining wild horses.
Protests in Four Cities Tomorrow
Who: AWHPC, In Defense of Animals, The Cloud Foundation and Author Terri Farley
What: Peaceful protest featuring Figaro the horse, Fluffy the donkey, and colorful signs and banners.
When: Wed, December 30, 2009. Citizens gather at 11am, press conference at 12 noon.
Where: Outside Sen. Feinstein’s office, One Post Street, San Francisco
Why: Call attention to the ongoing, brutal winter roundup of over 2,500 horses off public lands in northwestern Nevada and issue plea for help to Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has always been a friend of America’s wild horses.
Similar rallies will be held Wednesday in Chicago, Denver and London.
If you cannot attend the rallies, you can still have your voices heard:
- Write your representatives in Congress and ask them to protect America?s wild horses by supporting The ROAM Act (HR 1018/S 1579). Find your Reps at www.congress.org or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected.
- Write to Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and ask him to support policy initiatives that protect America?s wild horses on the range where they currently exist, and to issue a moratorium on further round ups until the BLM?s mismanagement can be addressed and reformed.
The Honorable Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
On behalf of the horses, thank you for your support,
The AWHPC Team
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.org
