BLM Killing More Wild Horses (despite Congressional letter

Our friend George Knapp called me over the weekend to inform me that the BLM is at it again. As we covered in our ATSNews Video series, the BLM has been rounding up the Federally Protected Wild Mustangs because they claim the range can't sustain them.

Part one of our video:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Amazingly, nobody but the BLM believes the range can't sustain the Mustangs and the U.S. Congress has asked for a real scientific study, done by a third party, to prove it. 54 Members of Congress signed a letter seeking the study and asking the BLM to STOP the roundups until the study is completed.

How did the BLM respond? The pictures and the update from George Knapp below should make it pretty clear how they responded...

Mark,

I'm sending an update to the wild horse situation and thought ATS members might be interested in what is unfolding right at this moment.

The BLM recently concluded yet another horse roundup here in Nevada. More than 30 mustangs died during the roundup. BLM temporarily suspended the operation when 7 horses keeled over dead after being run for many miles during the hottest month of the year, then were unwisely allowed to drink their fill of water. They didn't stop the operation for long though, and by the time it was over, almost three dozen animals had been killed. There is no question that the mustangs were in good shape while out on the range, or that the range itself is in good shape. I know because I went there myself, as did several others.

Horses didn't start dying until they were chased for miles by helicopters.

BLM did its best to keep the public from seeing any of this. It declared prior to the roundup that tens of thousands of public acres would be closed off during the roundup, presumably for public safety reasons. BLM even declared the airspace closed, a power which the bureau does not have.

Horse advocates got a federal judge to oder BLM to allow public observers on the open range, but by the time observers tried to get in, the worst of the roundup was already finished. BLM played more games by once again making sure the headquarters for the roundup was on an island of private land in the middle of the public range so that the land owner could declare any observers who came onto his property would be guilty of trespassing. Helpful sheriff's deputies were out in force to warn away anyone who tried to find the roundup to take pictures or video.

Now, another roundup is underway, the Twin Peaks roundup along the California Nevada border. Observers are still being kept at a distance but managed to collect a few telling photos. The attached shots were sent to me by Craig Downer, the former BLM ecologist who is prominently mentioned in the video you and I produced for ATSNews.

As Craig's photos attest, rounding up wild horses is dangerous under any circumstances. These are strong, powerful wild animals, and when they get herded for miles across rough terrain, then crammed into corrals or trailers, fights and accidents can happen. It's why horse advocates believe roundups should not be used unless circumstances demand it.

As you can see form these photos, the mustangs are in excellent shape and the range itself looks healthy. BLM initiated the Twin Peaks roundup for the same reason it justified all the others--to meet its magical AML--appropriate management level, an artificial number pulled out of thin air, having little if anything to do with the reality on the ground. By the way, there was no reduction in the number of cattle being allowed to graze on the very same lands in Nevada and California where the horses were gathered.

Cattle get to stay, but the horses must go.

And now we have hundreds of more horses that will languish for the rest of their lives in government-sponsored pens, most of them on private land where the taxpaying public will not be allowed to see the magnificent animals. Tens of millions of dollars will be spent to feed them for years to come, with only a pittance put into mustang adoption efforts.

And on it goes.

Two weeks ago, 54 members of Congress wrote to the Dept. of the Interior to argue that the wild horse program is broken and needs to be fixed. The BLM essentially flipped them off and informed Congress that is it woefully uninformed about these matters, perhaps reacting to hysteria generated by horse advocates.

I sure hope some of these congressmen realize that they were just told to mind their own business, that BLM has no intention of changing the roundup agenda. I hope ATS members will look at these photos, and read the letter, and maybe send an email to their own members of Congress to suspend these roundups before BLM gets rid of every last horse in the West.

George Knapp

The letter from Congress George mentions above can be found here:
grijalva.house.gov... 30 Letter to Salazar on Reforming Wild Horse Roundup Policies.pdf













The images above tell us all we need to know, the range looks fine (and according to the experts who have walked it, it is fine), the horses are definitely healthy. Yet the BLM is hell bent on removing them, apparently, and according to their critics, to make our Public Lands available for their friends in the Corporate Cattle and Big Oil Industries in spite of the 1971 Law that gave the land to the Mustangs.

What other reason would they have to continue this? We are going to do everything we can to get the truth behind this exposed, and, hopefully make some folks accountable for their actions.

More as we get it.

Springer...


[edit on 8-16-2010 by Springer]

Yea while reading it, all I could think of was to what end.

What is the real reason or goal of this. I mean minerals exploration makes sense, though I would imagine that if that was the real reason there would have been fewer congressman who signed the document.

Very odd though because couldnt the mineral exploration take place with the horses still roaming? I mean they are not wolves or prairie dogs that can maybe attack or damage equipment, they are just horses.

Well good thing this administration is SOOOOO different than the last administration.

I wish, in cases like this, that heads literally would roll when it came to holding people accountable.

Like I say about the music industry, the large cattle industry is also a cancer on society - and on Mother Earth - that needs to go. Fast.

This is terrible. Shows just how little power there is in Congress, as if that's news. Have you alerted the rest of the media yet? I'm going to send some emails now. Thanks for the heads up, and let's hope they're more humane this time at least.

Well, I OWN, 640 acres, of that land. I CONTROL, 9 square miles of it, because of the way, the land is bundled, in Nevada. I'll keep, ANY Mustangs or Burros, that wander onto, my" land!! I'll see to it, they have food & water. I'll "thin the herd", as necessary.
I'll also, "thin" any FEDGOV officers, that show-up, to hassle me!
I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, sabe???

Sic Semper Tyrannis!

reply to post by Patriotgal


You need any help with thinning out government thugs, let me know, and I'll be on the first flight to Nevada.

This is a clear cut objective as defined by Agenda 21.

The whole Agenda 21 outline
www.un.org...

Read it all, but this thread pertains to Section II of the document linked above.
Section II. Conservation and management of resources for development.

On the one hand, they are not a native species and if they are harming the native ones, I can see the point of rounding them up.

On the other hand, they have been in the desert since Spanish colonial times and after nearly 500 years, I would assume some amount of generational adaptation to the environment would have occurred.

I mean, a void has been left since the buffalo were eradicated, and I'm sure some sort of harm occurred in the biospheres that make up the continent, including where the mustangs live. If the mustangs filled that niche that was left by the buffalo in a sustainable way, I wouldn't see a problem with them remaining. However, preferably, the buffalo would be reintroduced.

I'm sure neither will the ultimate outcome: no buffalo reintroduction, no mustang remaining.

Here in Florida, green iguanas from Central and South America have been growing in population over the last couple decades since people started letting them go or losing them (and as an 8 year old in the late 80s, I am as guilty as the next guy for losing mine). Now they live throughout South Florida, in and around water, canals, the Intracoastal, small lakes (including the man-made ones to make the entrance of cookie-cutter housing complexes look good) and, unfortunately, into the Everglades.

The problem is that they eat too much. However, as herbivores in a mostly urban area, cats, people, cars, and some birds (when the iguanas are young) are all "predators" that curtail their population. In the Everglades, alligators and other predators native to Florida will eat them.

I think the only concern is now with the backyard gardener who doesn't like to see their foliage eaten up. Removal is haphazard and moving the animals yourself is forbidden.

We had an unseasonable cold spell this last winter that really felled their numbers. The heartier ones survived, however, so I expect a come back and a future of iguanas that are more cold-resistant.

Lot of secret government facilities and areas in Nevada... None of their arguments supporting this makes sense.... So what if?

There has been some secret chemical or biological weapons tests that got out of control and may have been exposed to "wildlife" in the region?

Rounding up herding animals which may have been exposed would be a top priority.

What can I do though? If our congressman signed it and they have to stop, but aren't; doesn't that mean they're breaking the law? Should I get my vigilante justice on? Just show up, and bring their whole little establishment down? I got the means, but do I got the support?

I'd like to add this L.A. Times article to the story:
Bureau of Land Management Investigates Death of Foal Whose Body Was Found Near Roundup Area

RENO, Nev. — Federal agents at a contentious wild horse roundup on the California-Nevada line are investigating the death of a young mustang that may have been shot before the government this week began gathering 2,000 animals from herds it says are causing ecological damage to public range land. The Bureau of Land Management is "actively investigating," but it hasn't determined the cause of death of the foal that a wildlife biologist from a horse protection group found Wednesday near the roundup, bureau officials said Friday. "BLM rangers did an initial site inspection and observed the animal appeared to have been dead for some time, preceding the start of the gather," said Jan Bedrosian, the bureau's deputy state director for California. "BLM special agents are actively pursuing the case as to the cause of death." The bureau plans to round up 2,000 horses over the next month because it believes the range cannot sustain the overpopulated herds in the Twin Peaks Horse Management Area about 120 miles northwest of Reno. Critics argue that the horses have more of a legal right to be there than the thousands of head of livestock grazing under bureau permits, but that argument has been largely unsuccessful in court. On Tuesday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to halt the roundup with an emergency stay sought by In Defense of Animals and others.

That's an article from Friday (13th August, 2010).



[edit on 16-8-2010 by 2manyquestions]

P.S. Here's another L.A. Times article from August 5th, 2010!

34 Wild Horses Died in Recent Nevada Round-Up, Bureau of Land Management Says

RENO, Nev. — Federal officials confirmed Wednesday that 34 wild horses died or were euthanized during a roundup of animals from parched rangeland in Nevada, sparking fresh criticism from horse protection advocates pressing the Obama administration to suspend such operations. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said 1,224 wild horses were collected in pens during the Tuscarora wild horse gather that concluded Monday outside the Rock Creek Herd Management Area, or HMA, in northeastern Nevada's Elko County. In addition to the 34 horses that died, two more were put down after they were found injured by a contractor herding more than two dozen wild horses away from a steep cliff, Worley said Wednesday.

Sorry about all the links being in separate replies. Something wasn't working for me when I tried to edit my posts.

Here's two more things I found on the topic:
Not One but Five States in which BLM for BP is Killing Mustangs

RENO, Nev. — A government roundup of wild horses can resume in Nevada, a judge ruled Friday, dealing a setback to animal rights activists who had hoped to halt it after 13 mustangs died. Federal land managers hailed U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks' order, warning that more than 500 horses in northern Elko County could die of dehydration in the next week if the roundup didn't continue. On Wednesday, Hicks issued an emergency order stopping the roundup. U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Doran Sanchez said that the condition of the horses was "deteriorating rapidly" and that the roundup would resume Saturday morning. BLM officials blame the deaths on the drought and not the roundup. "We have a major crisis here, and given the critical condition the animals are in, we could lose a lot of animals," Sanchez said. "Our main goal is to save as many animals as possible given the extreme emergency conditions."

BLM Denies Public Access To Captured Calico Mustangs

“I’ve been watching the processing of mustangs on and off for 15 years. What is the big deal this time?” Asks Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, “There’s something very wrong when it’s easier to crash a party at the White House than go view our wild horses being freeze-branded in Nevada. Makes you wonder if there’s something to hide out in Fallon?”

[edit on 16-8-2010 by 2manyquestions]

reply to post by Springer


It makes me sad to hear this horrendous most recent news Mark, thank you for the update.

It seems that more public exposure thru the major TV news networks would help resolve this from happening.

My guess is the BLM has a plan to use this leased land for more cattle mutilations via covert testing out of Area 51 and section 4. Cause it sure as hell doesn't make any sense to round up the mustangs.

reply to post by Sphota


Actually, the horses ARE native to this land. The Spanish only re-introduced them to their ancestral lands when they came here.

The species is as native to this land as mammoths are.

Guys, it's perfectly normal to have fatalities and injuries when capturing wild animals. It's actually expected and not surprising in the least.

Last fall I took part in a small mammal survey. Out of about 6 animals we trapped, we had 1 death.

Even though death and injury are things you want to avoid, it's going to happen when capturing live animals.

Thank you very much for the update, bedankt.

Pretty depressing.

It reminds me of the situation in Valles Caldera, New Mexico.

The government are running the 'park' under contract to keep the land as a 'park' that must be financially self-sufficient.

So, in order to do this, they charge people to come in and hike/fish/have tours... but that is not enough to pay for it.

The land has been traditionally range for cattle ranchers(after cows came to america of course...), and so to make money they ranch cattle up there.

Valles Caldera is at 11,000 feet, where, incidentally, many bulls get something called:
Brisket Disease

So they are spending loads to breed bulls and a better strain of cattle that don't die up there. Subsequently, I doubt they are doing well on breaking even.

Elk are native and can handle the elevation. Why not maintain the elk population, doesn't elk meat sell for more anyways?

Why do they have to be self-sufficient in the first place?

The Caldera is absolutely beautiful, BTW...

Valles Caldera Wiki


Although, the Mustangs definitely take the cake for being the most ridiculous attempt at management and preservation by the government.

What a joke.


But thanks for informing.

Originally posted by David_Reale
reply to post by Patriotgal

 

You need any help with thinning out government thugs, let me know, and I'll be on the first flight to Nevada.

I agree. When the Gov is corrupt the people are mandated by the constitution to take matters into their own hands to stop the tyranny.

I say we get some Militia boys out there and stop these people.