Then the “Cavalry” rode in…

I have spent the day attempting to construct a way to convey to you all that happened in DC.

There is so much to share. The meetings, James Kleinert’s film Desperation Valley, more meetings, the rally, more meetings… and so many wonderful people.

So many wonderful moments.

Hope Ryden and Ginger Kathrens (photo Laura Leigh)

Like when Hope Ryden took to the podium with a small box in her hands. I wondered if they were letters she had saved from children during the fight years ago that helped inspire our legislators to action in 1971? Then Hope passionately removed the contents from the box, held it up and pounded it on the podium. It was a mustang hoof! “You could pound nails with this!” she exclaimed as she extolled the virtues of our mustangs. (I have to admit I did not see that one coming). It was something I wont forget.

So many wonderful people, some I have known for years but never met. I often refer to Vicki Tobin as “the best friend I never met,” I can’t say that anymore.

But there is a single event that best sums up the “feeling” I have after DC. There is a real sense that our voices are beginning to be heard. A real sense that if we continue to raise our voices and unify as a group… we will see change.

I had meetings to attend the morning of the rally. The day was hectic and there was not even time to change clothes. Un-tucked my shirt, grabbed my cowboy hat and headed down the street, 10 minutes late, to meet the others already walking to Lafayette park.

We listened to amazing speaker after speaker as the crowd continued to grow.

Then we marched to the Department of Interior to hand deliver a letter to Secretary Salazar. The crowd stretched for blocks as we made our way through the streets of our capitol. When we reached our destination we chanted, held up our signs and delivered that letter.

And then it happened….

Coming down the street toward our group were four members of the mounted patrol. Aboard mighty steeds the officers moved in and took their position across the street.

The "cavalry" arrives! (photo by Vicki Tobin)

What a beautiful sight they were. This symbol of what the horse means to our country and to the history of the entire world of man. Those horses represented every horse that stood in battle with us, plowed our fields, carried our burdens and inspired us.

Our group cheered and gathered around the horses.

(photo Vicki Tobin)

In an excerpt taken from an article by John Holland from Horseback Online:

I told him that if they were looking to intimidate us, they picked the wrong crowd! I said I face three times that many horses every morning for their feed. He said “We are not here to intimidate you.”

Perhaps they were there to support us? Because that is what they did.

Our “cavalry,” our symbol, our horses stood there as we raised our voices with words they can’t speak. But their presence is something we can never truly express, only allude to.

So they came and stood with us. They spoke as only they can.

Louder than words (photo by Mom and Tom)

I have a renewed sense of Hope.

I was also able to use the example the next day in my meetings at the Capitol. Horses have always been an integral part of our history… and they still play an essential role in our present. This is an important issue for us as a country. At a time of restructuring our economy, health care… our country, the symbols of what it means to be “American” can aide and inspire us to become a greater nation.

March for Mustangs (photo Vicki Tobin)

Video by RT and Terry Fitch to the amazing voice of Maria Danes.

March for Mustangs 2010

DC Rally (post 1)

So much happened in DC. meetings with Representatives, the protest, great media coverage.

But the piece that stands out the most in my mind are the advocates themselves. I have several stories I want to share with you. I will post them this afternoon.

But for now I am going to share stories written by others and a link to the wonderful coverage by CNN.

Jane Velez-Mitchell report on CNN here.

RT’s great story about the DC rally

Cloud Foundation Update

I spoke with Vicki Tobin just a minute ago and she is working on an update for Equine Welfare Alliance.

EWA photo Elyse Gardner

Here is a picture from the rally of some of the EWA folks Elyse Gardner sent to me last night. Left to right… RT Fitch, Craig Downer, John Holland, Vicki Tobin and myself… and the “support” troops standing behind us.

It says so much that when we as a nation need to make a “statement,” we send in the mounted patrol.

Need to add this release from Sen. Landrieu:

WASHINGTON. (Laudrieu) – U.S. Senator Mary , D-La., today joined the call for a better federal plan for the treatment of wild horses and an end to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) unnecessary wild horse roundups.

The international March for Mustangs, a public protest against the inhumane treatment of wild horses, took place today in four cities across the globe: London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Led by celebrity activist, Wendie Malick, in Washington, D.C., the protest comes in reaction to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s attempts to persuade Congress to provide more than $42 million to move animals from the West to the East.

“I have repeatedly called for an end to these inhumane roundups until a more sufficient plan is set in place by the BLM,”said Sen. Landrieu. “There is a civilized way that we can handle these horses, by providing for their adoption or their relocation to a sanctuary. But the cruel and horrific roundups, such as the recent Calico roundup that resulted in painful injury and even death for some horses, cannot continue.”

Last year, Sen. Landrieu fought to protect wild horses by championing language in the Interior Appropriations Bill to prohibit the BLM from using taxpayer dollars for the destruction of healthy, unadopted horses and burros. At Sen. Landrieu’s urging, the Senate directed BLM to develop a new comprehensive long-term plan for wild horse populations by September 30, 2010.

Sen. Landrieu also supported language that encouraged all federal agencies that use horses to acquire a wild horse from the BLM prior to seeking another supplier. In addition, Sen. Landrieu supports the BLM developing an expedited process for providing wild horses to local and state police forces.

As a result of the recent 40-day BLM Calico Roundup, at least 79 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup.

Currently, the wild horse and burro population in the United States is about 69,000, and there are 36,000 horses in short-term and long-term BLM holding facilities.

More Wild Horse “Talk”

Wild Horse Processing at Palomino Valley Center

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is holding hearings that include Secretary of the Department of Interior, Ken Salazar’s budget requests for the 2011 Wild Horse and Burro program.  You can listen here to Senator Landrieu (D-LA) say in part, “we are on the verge of a disaster policy.”

On Tuesday Ken Salazar will ad his testimony. You can listen to it here streamed live. He will ask for $42.5 million to purchase the first “Salazoo,” and request an additional increase of $12 million. The last request he made for additional funds to address this program was granted. The funds were not used to change policy but to ramp up the same protocol that has created the current crisis.

In Defense of Animals (IDA) has set up an action page. The page will send letters in your name quickly and easily, but action must be taken prior to Tuesday.

On April 30th a federal court will hear the arguments from IDA that the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management is violating the 1971 Wild and Free Roaming Horse and Burro act by currently mass warehousing wild horses on land where they did not exist in 1971. They will argue that the Act never gave authority to create the current system. A final decision is expected by May 26.

I have read several articles recently in various mainstream publications.

I find it interesting that so many of these “discussions” begin with an assumption that a protocol that was never based on fact ever functioned accurately. “Guesstimates” were used to come up with herd counts. Best “guesstimates” were used to determine where “horses were in ’71″ that never took in to account the “roaming” behavior of a “free-roaming” horse or burro. Yet we begin discussions with statements such as “Since the population count in 1971…”

In 1974 an actual ground count was done. Yet the numbers found in the ground count were never used. An “adjustment” was made to the ’71 number that employed what many of us have come to call “BLM math.” It doesn’t add up.

When asked about horses in long term warehousing we get inconsistent numbers. When asked about gather expenses we get inconsistent numbers. When we look at gather schedules that have the BLM numbers on them and apply the “BLM” mathematical equation of a 20% increase, we often see increases that would imply that even the stallions must have given birth to twins that year!

There are other areas where the information provided by the BLM is “sketchy” at best. For example requests made for vet reports have no specified intake dates nor identification marks of any kind. Treatment dates are even omitted.

When you enter into a phase of dialogue and expect improvement shouldn’t that dialogue be based on facts? If the actual agency that supplies those facts is the agency that can benefit from those “facts,” then shouldn’t the information be independently verified? In simplistic terms if I gave a 5 year old with a history of lying a bag of cookies to share… I’d look to see how many he had already eaten. I wouldn’t take his word for it.

The other part of current discussion that I find troubling is the “wild v. feral” debate. It doesn’t pertain to the current discussion. The law has BLM/USFS horses designated as “wild” under their jurisdiction. The term “feral” applies to horses under other jurisdictions. Often this makes little sense as the same horse standing on one side of the Carson River in Nevada is covered under one set of protections, yet if this same horse happens to be found on the north side of the river, those protections don’t exist and a different set of rules apply. But that debate is for another day.

The current issue is should Secretary Salazar’s request for funding of his proposal be granted? Or is it time to call for an investigation into the current practices that created this situation in the first place?

Urgent Action Needed For Wild Horses

Congress is involved in the appropriations process.

Stop the funding of the current protocol of the Bureau of Land Management.

Stop the funding for Salazar’s proposal to throw more of your tax-payer dollars into an ill conceived, knee-jerk proposal, born out of fear that the ROAM act will pass and he will have to get his program under control!

You must act by March 2!

IDA, In Defense of Animals, has a web page set-up for quick action.

Click Here to go to ACTION page.

(Long Essay I wrote explaining the issues surrounding wild horses and burros. Good for basic info on ROAM.)

STOP PAYING FOR THIS!

(At about three and a half minutes into this YouTube is the video footage  of the foal chased by helicopter and the ultimate consequence of such actions. This is a long video… it attempts to show the endless feeling of despair.)

NOTE: If you receive e-mail notification that your letter to those on the Committee will not be responded to because you do not live in their state, here are the phone numbers. You can remind them that the funding for this program is a National crisis, not one confined to their state.

Energy and Natural Resources Committee

Chairman Jeff Bingaman (NM) – Chair – Phone (202) 224-5521
Byron L. Dorgan (ND) – Phone (202) 224-2551
Ron Wyden (OR) – Phone (202) 224-5244
Tim Johnson (SD) – Phone (202) 224-5842
Mary L. Landrieu (LA) – Phone (202) 224-5824
Maria Cantwell (WA) – Phone (202) 224-3441
Robert Menendez (NJ) – Phone (202) 224-4744
Blanche Lincoln (AR) – Phone (202) 224-4843
Bernard Sanders (I) (VT) – Phone (202) 224-5141
Evan Bayh (IN) – Phone (202) 224-5623
Debbie Stabenow (MI) – Phone (202) 224-4822
Mark Udall (CO) – Phone (202) 224-5941
Jeanne Shaheen (NH) – Phone (202) 224-2841

REPUBLICANS

Lisa Murkowski (AK) – Phone (202) 224-6665
Richard Burr (NC) – Phone (202) 224-3154
John Barrasso (WY) – Phone 202-224-6441
Sam Brownback (KS) – Phone (202) 224-6521
James E. Risch (ID) – Phone 202-224-2752
John McCain (AZ) – Phone (202) 224-2235
Robert Bennett (UT) – Phone (202) 224-5444
Jim Bunning (KY) – Phone (202) 224-4343
Jeff Sessions (AL) – Phone (202) 224-4124
Bob Corker (TN) – Phone (202) 224-3344

No More Money until Salazar Answers

Actions of Salazar's BLM

Equine Welfare Alliance has just issued a press release asking that “Salazoos,” the proposed solution to the wild horse crisis by Secretary of the Department of Interior Ken Salazar, be “defunded.”

This release comes on the heels of Senator Boxer’s letter to Ken Salazar asking for answers to some hard questions.

Before Congress gives this program more of the tax-payers money to throw into the black hole that is the Wild Horse and Burro program, Salazar needs to step up to the plate and answer those questions. Then he will need to address the scrutiny that his response will deserve.

And as a side note to all of you following the United Call for Moratorium that has been sent to Congress, Salazar and Obama… there still has been no reply to the letter.

Say No to Federal Funding for Wild Horse Salazoos!

CHICAGO, (EWA) – The funding testimony for the planned sanctuaries dubbed by wild horse supporters as “Salazoos” outlined last October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Energy and Natural resources on March 3, at 10am.
The outcome of the testimony will decide if our wild horses belong on their western public lands or in “zoos” in the East and Midwest and whether the BLM will commit millions upon millions of future dollars to warehouse wild horses and burros that would otherwise live without cost to the taxpayers in their natural habitat where they have lived for centuries.
The requested funding would increase the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) budget by $42M to purchase one of the seven planned “Salazoos.” The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and its over 100 member organizations, Animal Law Coalition, The Cloud Foundation and numerous Mustang advocate and welfare organizations are vehemently opposed to increased funding for the BLM for this incredible financial sinkhole.
America already has a management program in place for our wild equines. It’s called the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. It was inspired by a heroic Nevada woman, Velma Johnston, who as “Wild Horse Annie” gave these horses a sanctuary BLM has been trying to destroy ever since it was passed.
A management program for wild horses and burros on public land has yet to be proposed by the BLM or DOI that is compatible with current law. Their answer is to remove wild horses from the land, permit grazing by millions of cattle at below market rates and move our horses to a zoo like setting far from their home. In fact, the BLM was given appropriations to care for the wild horses in holding pens but has appeared to use the funding to round-up more horses. When citizens complained, they were denied access as armed guards prevented them from even viewing horses in captivity.
With no viable management plan in place, it is a disgrace and waste of critical tax payer dollars to increase funding to yet another mismanaged program. The 1971 law calls for wild horses and burros to be managed on their public lands – not in holding pens and not in zoos.
The BLM spent approximately $2M gathering a mere 2,000 animals at its Calico wildlife management area, a cost of $1,000 per horse. Once in holding, the animals will each cost the government approximately $500 per year to warehouse. Worse, the government charges ranchers only about 20 cents of every dollar that program costs taxpayers. “The Salazoo plan is yet another raid on the public funds by special interests”, says EWA’s John Holland.
BLM has spent more than $2 million in 2009 on a firm that stampedes wild horses with a roaring helicopter. At the Calico Nevada round-up, more than 98 have died as a result, including unborn foals and two babies who lost their hooves after a multi-mile run of terror.
The wild horses and burros represent a mere .05% of animals grazing on public lands. When the 1971 law was passed, wild horses were present on 54 million acres. Since then, over 200,000 horses have been removed along with 22 million acres of public land. Many herds have been zeroed out leaving public land available to return wild horses to their land. Congress should replace the lost acres with good grazing land for the animals BLM wants to place in its Salazoos.
The livestock grazing on public lands alone outnumber the wild horses and burros by over 200 to 1 and are subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Neither the BLM nor DOI has yet to explain how millions of privately owned livestock are sustainable or how neither agency can find room on the 262 million acres of public land it manages for less than 50,000 wild horses and burros. Neither has explained why the wild horses and burros are being blamed and removed for range degradation when the government GAO studies reflect the livestock are ruining the ranges.
The EWA and ALC call on Congress to deny additional funding and specifically defund wild horse and burro round-ups until the DOI and BLM can provide independent current range population counts, current range assessments and a viable management plan that upholds the 1971 law.
Both Sen. Mary Landrieu and Sen. Barbara Boxer have posed serious questions to the BLM on its management practices. Those questions should be answered immediately with facts, not spin.
Additional details on defunding the BLM for “Salazoos” can be found at Animal Law Coalition, article number 1188.

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.
http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org

http://www.animallawcoalition.com

Senator asks… will he answer?

Below is an article from Horseback Online. More Breaking News from Horseback.

My post will appear beneath it.

This letter from Senator Boxer is important.

California Senator Asks Salazar Tough Questions – Expects Answers

By Steven Long

WASHINGTON, DC, (Horseback) – California’s Sen. Barbara Boxer released a letter demanding answers from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding the embattled Bureau of Land Management. It’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is under fire after the deaths of scores of horses in a mid-winter “gather” in Nevada’s Calico Mountains.

The horses were stampeded into holding pens after a grueling chase by a roaring helicopter over rocky ground in freezing weather. Two foals died after losing their hooves in an excruciating lingering death.

Dear Secretary Salazar:

I am writing to thank you for your recent attention to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program and to seek information that would help me evaluate your proposed refoms to this program.

Wild horses and burros are majestic symbols of the American west and are beloved by many people for their remarkable intelligence, grace, beauty, and power. Unfortunately, these charismatic animals have also been at the center of great controversy for many decades.

Commercial harvesting once threatened wild horses and burros until public outrage led to their protection under the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. After working to recover these species for many years, the BLM has recently begun trying to reduce populations once more due to concerns that the animals are now overpopulated. The BLM contends that unchecked population growth has led to decimation of forage, starvation, competition with native animals, and land use conflicts. However, many animal rights advocates contend that the animals are healthy when left alone in the wild and that the BLM’s efforts to control populations are jeopardizing the survival of these iconic species.

To better understand your recent proposal for reforming the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program and evaluate these different arguments, I would appreciate it if you could answer the following questions:

What techniques are used to estimate wild horse and burro populations, assess the genetic viability of herds, and determine appropriate management levels? Has there been any independent verification of the BLM’s techniques or data to ensure that they are based in sound science?

What are the disadvantages of allowing wild horses and burros to remain unchecked in the wild? Has there been any independent documentation of the BLM’s claims about the health of these animals, their impact on environmental conditions, and the need to remove them?

How does BLM ensure the humane treatment of wild horses and burros during roundups and retention in holding facilities? Has there been any independent confirmation of the humaneness of the BLM’s treatment of these animals? Are there any alternative methods for rounding up the horses that might be less disruptive to these animals and possibly make them more suitable for adoption?

Do you have any specific sites in mind for the National Wild Horse Preserves that would be established under your new proposal? How many acres would be needed for these preserves? How many preserves would be federal and how many private?

How much would it cost to establish and manage these National Wild Horse Preserves? Can you provide me with a cost-benefit analysis comparing this proposal with the status quo and with leaving the horses where they are currently found?

This is a complex and emotional issue with important long-term ramifications for the future of our wild horse and burros. I appreciate your attention to this matter and your look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer

United States Senator

Art and Horses……

Another question she needs to add:

Why when asked by advocates for an overlay map of grazing leases and permits over herd management areas are we directed to a geocities website where we would have to build our own map lease by lease? How can the BLM possibly manage the area in any way, shape, or form without such a map?

I approached the BLM with a conceptual proposal. I was asked “where would we put it.” I said “give me a map and I’ll show you.” I was sent to geocities. I turned it over to John Holland to look at. Creating the map would be a full-time job for months! It would most likely require trips to each BLM field office. It’s absurd that a simple map of where leases overlap the shrinking HMA’s contained in the 262 million acres of BLM managed land does not exist as public record.

I hope she gets the answers soon.

I can’t wait.

This has to stop.

Just a note:

I’ve just finished General’s Saga Part 2 and will post by tomorrow night.

Editing the video and “just life” have me a bit tired tonight. Elyse called me to let me know she was posting on her blog that “Lightning,” the magnificent palomino stallion in the Equine Welfare Alliance slideshow I made, is at Fallon. She will send me a link when she gets the full story up and I will add it here.

KEEP CALLING.

White House Hotline: 202-456-1111

What is “Viewer Discretion?”

Struggling Foal pushed by chopper

*Feel the need to put this at the top.

Please do not bombard YouTube. This article is just “food for thought” on the real care we need to use when choosing our words that will define our reality. And a reminder to be “extra” aware right now how we respond to the words we are given.

Many of us post things on YouTube. Kids share their adolescent angst, parents their kids achievements, you can find just about anything on YouTube. I’ve seen flowers grow in slow motion and I have heard from my teens there is a guy that boasts about peeing in mailboxes.

I’ve never had any issues with posting on YouTube until now.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a brief video illustrating some of the actions sanctioned by the Obama administration and carried out by the Bureau of Land Management.

Here is a YouTube of Ken Salazar talking about a trip to Yellowstone he made with Obama.

Salazar was Obama’s choice for head of the Department of Interior. Here is a Youtube of Salazar reading to school children.

The clip I posted simply shows footage and documents location and notes that the foal died and the reason.

Within a couple of hours people had trouble viewing it. They were getting this message:

You must be logged in to view this video.

The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as being potentially offensive or inappropriate. Viewer discretion is advised. Please confirm that you wish to view this video.

This video or group may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube’s user community. Please confirm that you wish to view this video.

This video is unavailable.

A few hours later it was running smoothly and people could see it. Then I was notified that error messages began to appear on the link again, and then in a few hours was back up. Last night I tried to view the clip and received the error for over an hour. (I have uploaded content before from the same program and not had this kind of  difficulty).

The next video was put up to show how horses are processed at Palomino Valley. The intent of that video was to show that observing the process is not as dangerous as BLM is stating as they bar the public from witnessing the horses processed at the new Fallon Facility where the equipment is identical to that in my video.

This video was up for over 24 hours without any issue. Equine Welfare  Alliance put out a press release and within one hour it was flagged. Same code:

You must be logged in to view this video.

The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as being potentially offensive or inappropriate. Viewer discretion is advised. Please confirm that you wish to view this video.

This video or group may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube’s user community. Please confirm that you wish to view this video.

This video is unavailable.

It’s up now and running fine. Again all it shows it processing horses. An action sanctioned by the Obama administration and carried out by BLM.

Flagging the posts in itself really means nothing. It changes nothing.

But what it does do is illustrate language and it’s effect on us. At  first I was confused and upset that the video would not get out to people. Then I received email from others that were really upset that the video was down. People that really care.

So I thought for a minute.

A few definitions courtesy of the internet dictionary:

of·fen·sive

Pronunciation: &-’fen-siv

Function: adjective

1 : of, relating to, or designed for attack <offensive weapons>

2 : causing displeasure or resentment; especially : contrary to a particular or prevailing sense of what is decent, proper, or moral offensive way> —see also OBSCENE —of·fen·sive·ly adverb —of·fen·sive·ness noun

in·ap·pro·pri·ate

Pronunciation: \ˌi-nə-ˈprō-prē-ət\

Function: adjective: not appropriate : unsuitable

— in·ap·pro·pri·ate·ly adverb

— in·ap·pro·pri·ate·ness noun

not appropriate; not proper or suitable: an inappropriate dress for the occasion.

Now let me ask you this:

Was the subject matter contained in the videos offensive?

Was it inappropriate?

(OK,  this creates  another interesting question if the actions in the video are condoned and funded by our government, doesn’t it?).

YouTube warns:  Viewer discretion is advised

dis·cre·tion

/dɪˈskrɛʃən/ Show Spelled[dih-skresh-uhn] Show IPA

–noun

1.the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice: It is entirely within my discretion whether I will go or stay.

2.the quality of being discreet, esp. with reference to one’s own actions or speech; prudence or decorum: Throwing all discretion to the winds, he blurted out the truth.

I believe they can bank on it.