Press Release from The Cloud Foundation
Public Alarmed at BLM’s Surprise Start to Castrate Mustangs as Death Toll Rises in Nevada Facility
Reno, NV (April 23, 2010)—Unexpected castrating of captured male mustangs, four years old and younger, by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) started behind closed doors on Friday, April 16th in the Fallon holding pens of Nevada. Many depressed horses with swollen scrotums have been observed. The public understood that the castration of the Calico wild horses would not occur until the In Defense of Animals court case was heard in May as there is a possibility of returning the wild horses to their protected public rangelands. For months, requests for daily monitoring by humane observers have been repetitively denied at the new private facility contracted by the BLM. Now a request to visit the feedlot-style facility by Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens, has been denied as well. Outraged members of the public will hold protests in multiple cities because of the BLM’s lack of transparency and cruel roundups. The first rally is planned for Sunday, April 25th near Las Vegas at Red Rocks Park from 12:00- 2:00 p.m.
“BLM seems determined to create a missing generation of mustangs” states Terri Farley, an award-winning children’s author and a plaintiff in the Calico case. “In their care, 86 horses have died, more than 40 mares have aborted their late term foals and now they’ve castrated an undisclosed number of young stallions.”
On April 19th Ginger Kathrens, was denied access to visit the private wild horse holding facility in Fallon, Nevada. BLM holds fast to its policy of restricting viewing to Sundays for a few hours— a time when the horses are not being handled by the BLM. An email to Kathrens from BLM Deputy Division Chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program, Dean Bolstad, he stated in part “The facility (Fallon) is not staffed adequately to host visitation on a daily basis or upon demand. Each time we conduct a tour, staff have to travel from Reno or Palomino Valley.”
Kathrens responded that, “Since visitation is denied except for a brief two hours on Sundays, it causes your ‘management’ practices to appear less transparent. Consequently, this restriction/limitation ends-up being counter productive to your educational and public relations efforts. I hope that this practice will change in the near future so people such as myself can fully view the facility and the horses — and feel like we’re invited and informed partners in the care of our national wild horse treasures.”
According to a newly released report by Bruce Nock, PhD entitled “Wild Horses, The Stress of Captivity” the deaths and abortions can be attributed in part to the sheer stress of the roundup. This report was released in conjunction with “BLM Calico Complex Roundup: A Case Study of a Broken System for Horses and Taxpayers” a report by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC).
Dr. Bruce Nock, Associate Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine and expert on the physiological effects of stress on animals, wrote: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, as gathers [roundups] are routinely done in the USA, if a wild horse doesn’t die straight off from the immediate devastation and commotion, it compromises him/her physically and mentally, putting him on a path of accelerated deterioration.”
Even during the limited once a week visits, members of the public have observed the horses being fed moldy hay, which can cause serious illness and death to horses of all ages. The feeding of the moldy hay was noted and photographed on the automatic feeding trucks most recently on Sunday, April 18. Other photographs underscore the lack of cover for the horses, the extreme dust during frequent windy periods, and the presence of sand and even small rocks in the hay being fed to the once wild and free roaming Calico horses. A serious illness known as sand colic results from ingesting sand and has been known to be fatal in many cases.
“The reports we get from citizens able to get in to see and document the captive wild horses during the once a week staged tours are awful. This shameful taxpayer funded nightmare behind closed doors must stop!” states Kathrens.
The Calico Mountain Complex wild horse roundup has drawn intense public attention worldwide. BLM went forward despite historic public opposition and a recommendation from US District Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman to postpone the roundup. Despite the increased scrutiny, the roundup has been a disaster for the nearly 2000 federally protected mustangs. In late December government contracted helicopters took to the air, rounding up every horse they could find on the vast 500,000 acre Calico range—an area designated principally for wild horse use since 1971 but grazed by thousands of privately-owned, government-subsidized cattle. The roundup and short-term holding of the Calico mustangs has cost at least $1.3 million to American taxpayers while causing injury and death to hundreds of wild horses.
“At the same time the BLM strips federal land of wild horses and burros it is supposed to be protecting, it props up a public lands grazing program that costs American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year” states Rob Pliskin, a BLM volunteer and wild horse supporter.
36,000 wild horses are currently in holding facilities instead of roaming in the lands designated for their use. Over 24 million acres have been withdrawn from wild horse and burro use. The BLM “welfare ranching” practices continue—allowing the land to be leased primarily to corporations at minimum fees of $1.35 per cow/calf pair or per five head of sheep per month along with land leases to extractive and energy industries on Western public lands.
In Defense of Animals, et al v. Salazar case http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ
Las Vegas Rally, April 25th http://bit.ly/dhockW
Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act of 1971 http://bit.ly/a7hOeS
Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV
CNN Report on Nevada Roundup with Jane Valez-Mitchell http://bit.ly/dvl7NE
Americans Want to Stop the Roundups in Der Spiegle http://bit.ly/cqZvKr
News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb
BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc
American Herds – “What’s Left?” http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/
Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/
Straight from the Horse’s Heart blog https://rtfitch.wordpress.com
In BLM “Speak” One plus One Wild Horse equals Zero Horses
Photos of moldy hay: http://bit.ly/9PLM9tst-castration: http://bit.ly/9SylSI
After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his Administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO
Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses – A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html
Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)
Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225)
Unified Moratorium letter and signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L
Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010 http://bit.ly/bOhwdk
Photos, video and interviews available from:
719-633-3842 ~ www.thecloudfoundation.org
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
The explanation provided by Dean Bolstadt as to why citizens are restricted to one visit per week is nothing but bull****. The former Fallon facility apparently had enough personnel because it was always open to viewing. What concerns me is why are taking this lying down? Why haven’t a great number of us gotten together and stormed the AG’s office, the BLM office, and anywhere else we can think of, demanding our rights to see OUR horses any day of the week, just as we have the right to do at Palomino Valley? Although Indian Lakes is privately owned, it is under federal contract handling PUBLICLY OWNED property– BLM has no legal right to keep us out. They are testing us, folks, to see if we mean what we say–so far, they are winning.
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“The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act expands the definition of terrorism to include those who engage in sit-ins, civil disobedience, trespass or any other crime in the name of animal rights.” Is BLM pushing the envelope because our rights are weakened, in the hopes of stirring such action (since they have failed so miserably to discredit the opposition) or because they can get away with it?
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Most protesters will get arrested for staging sit ins etc. The question is why are wild horse advocates not willing to get arrested?
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Why hasn’t anyone sued over the fact that visitors are not freely allowed to visit the holding pens?
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Actually, they are scared to death of us.
They are well aware of our size, reach and dedication and for those who lack conviction and a morale compass they are terrified of those with direction and those who represent the truth.
That is what makes “Herd Watch” the deal breaker…stay tuned, more to follow.
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This is the “legal” definition of “colt”, courtesy of Bovier’s Law Dictionary, 1856, the same screwed up source that defines a “corporation” as an “artificial person”, and isn’t that a mess!
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Colt
Webster’s more modern definitions include one that refers to a colt as specific to thoroughbreds under 4 and standardbreds under 3, and another (I believe the most recent) that calls 4 an “arbitrarly designated age”.
Bovier’s is the reference for U.S. Constitutional Law, so I guess we’re stuck in 1856. WHAT A COUNTRY!
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The BLM always treats the mustangs as if they were non-native, invasive species like weeds or rats.
Any way the experts can present the proof that horses evolved only on North America. I read the article that showed horse DNA in the ice from only 7,000 years ago.
Can we prove horses as Native Wildlife and thus make the BLM take a different direction?
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My nut-driver? The (please pardon the term) bastardization of the term ‘principally’ when decribing ‘range’ as it applies to Wild Horses & Burros: ‘…[land] devoted principally but not necessarily exclusively to their welfare …’.
This intimates, to me, at least, that the Wild Ones should get first dibs on their proscribed management areas, then wildlife, then whatever else. The law seems designed to keep them within their traditional ranges. Those ranges must be managed with the Wild One’s interests first, according to the Law. Wildlife can roam wherever the grub is; they are not constrained by management areas. Cattle shouldn’t be allowed on HMA’s; there is plenty of BLM land that is NOT Herd Management Areas.
It isn’t semantics. Follow the Law. Problem solved.
And the head banging continues.
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stop the head banging and look at the plans for the land. Horses are secondary. (for them)
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I don’t know why they aren’t sued over the small individual issues. such as horses down and no vet care, false and changed reports, missing horses, why each horse is not properly id ed at capture with number and microchip, unreported things like mustangs run over cattleguards and through fences that the BLM knows are there.
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I respect your comments and I’m not trying to be a smart-ass but…
If the mustangs and burros aren’t feral by definition on BLM land, how do they become feral on non-BLM land? Or is that the basic problem with the original Act and as some are currently saying that is what’s wrong with the pending Act too?
Just a question as I don’t understand how a protected animal becomes unprotected based on geographic location, especially a migratory species. It doesn’t make any sense.
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I think the term feral was an “ah-HA!” moment from some schmuck looking for an excuse to cast doubts on the original Act as it was written.
The same type of schmuck who infers that, once rounded up, they are no longer wild and so aren’t under the protections of the Act.
A graduate of the Schmuck Academy who spouts the winning line, “We are the Bureau of LAND Mangement; not the management of horses, not the management of wildlife. It’s the LAND.”
And all the little “ah-HA!” moments that have been used to chip away and amend the Act, opening it to ‘interpretation’, semi-legally screwing the Public and the Wild Ones.
The basic problem with the original Act is that it seems to annoy the current DOI & the Bureau; I’ll bet there may have been a whole staff of folks looking for ways of cicumventing the Act but now it’s become standard practice to violate the Act – with impunity.
The next step has been to villify those who Advocate for the Wild Ones. No one I know, nor any article I’ve read has a group of Advocates engaged in ‘terrorism’. Yet, the groundwork is being laid. Armed ‘security’ stand next to Observers during round-ups. Sue Cattoor was allowed free-rein with her MOUTH during one excercise; Mr. McNabb verbally assaulted another. In an effort to draw the ire of people who, through sheer force of will, observe quietly, masking their grief and rage. But there must be some fear of Advocates if this is the path the Bureau is choosing.
Since the Act apparently can’t be withdrawn, the only other recourse is to reinterpret it, violate it and make up some lame-ass excuse as to why. And it’s done with no fear of recrimination.
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The BLM are nothing more than a coniving, dispicable, COWARDLY group of “B–tards”, &, horse-HATERS!! They are doing this illegally, behind everyone’s backs, when they KNOW they were to WAIT until the court decision!!They are under a lawsuit & should pay for their actions, like anyone else, they are NOT above the law. If this continues, with NO interest or actions on behalf of the horses, by our President, he DOESN’T DESERVE to be in office!! It’s time we Americans FIGHT BACK, & take back what is RIGHTFULLY OURS. The BLM MUST GO !!!!
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The grunting sounds of the mustangs in squeeze box is harming them??
Read this how those squeeze boxes can kill!- The pressure relief valve on a hydraulic chute must be set correctly. An animal restrained in a squeeze chute should be able to breath normally without straining”
from TG website http://www.grandin.com/restrain/intro.rest.html
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I don’t want to look back ten years from now and say ” How did this happen?, why didn’t someone stop them from eradicating our horses?” American citizens… we must stop them.
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I think people railing against the owners/operators at the Indian Lakes road facility near Fallon Nevada are misplacing their efforts and anger. I know the man that owns this facility and he is truly concerned with the welfare and well-being of ALL animals under his control.
While I may not agree with most on the roundups and capture of these horses, I know that once they arrive at the above facility, they are treated with the utmost care and consideration.
As far as the access (or lack thereof) to the facility, I place it as akin to a person caring for a small group of rescued animals in someones home and having people wanting to visit and observe them at their convenience and giving no regard for the convenience of the rescuer. Put this on the scale we are talking about with the horse facility and unfettered access (read unlimited non-restricted any time) is not only overwhelming but totally unrealistic.
Were there to be a unified public front that would accept the opinions and reports from a qualified observer there is a great chance that something could be worked out. The way I see it progressing currently is there is “Group A” that says “We want an observer present at our convenience.” and we have “group B” saying the same thing add group c, d, e, f etc etc and it becomes implausible. Add to this the fact that their are truly self centered people that would create their own group (I will call them group ZZ) and demand unfettered access to satisfy themselves and the only person(s) in group zz is themselves or their immediate friends and/or family.
Lastly the owners/operators at the Indian Lakes Facility are the wrong target for the anger and outrage.
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Frank – I admire your speaking for the Broken Arrow owners, but at the same time, I hope you can understand: with the little information Advocates are given, the doubts about the veracity of that information, the current climate of treating Advocates as would-be extremists & intimations of eco-terrorism, and the fact that so little sympathy, empathy or responsibilty in regards to the Captives is voiced Publicly, we shoot at the targets presented.
It may not be right, but nothing about the Calico roundup is. The consequences of behavior on private property constrains us, but the absence of information compells us, and assumptions are made.
The Bureau hold us responsible for allowing the herds to proliferate, being unreasonable in our objections, for our unwillingness to allow them to make unilateral decisions in regards to the Wild Equines, then hold us too irresponsible to observe how those animals are cared for and treated after. These animals are NOT private stock, born & bred for the sole purpose of sale at a later date. But that IS how they are being treated.
So we shoot at the targets we’re presented.
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The problem I see is that there have become 2 sides and they are at odds with each other. The picture claiming the feeding of moldy hay, when it appears to me that it is simply the bottom of the bottom bail of a stack that does get dirty puts the owners in a defensive position. They feel (and rightfully so IMHO) as though they are being attacked. I really wish there was a place for discussion (a forum if you will) of the treatment of these magnificent animals and another for the battle over their capture and relocation. They are 2 separate issues and by combining them together it starts the us versus them attitude on both sides.
I do not know whether the capture and relocation of the horses is right, legal or ethical. I do know that after they are placed (even temporarily) at the Indian Lakes facility that they are treated humanely with the respect they and all animals deserve. You cannot shoot at the targets you are presented and then ask those targets to hand you more ammo.
Pow Pow Bang bang bang, pardon me but could I go get in your bunker to get more ammo? Not to be comical, but that just defies reason.
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Really.
How ’bout “We admit the stress of the round-up has caused the deaths or fatal injuries to some of the animals gathered” rather than “The losses are what we expected and fall within acceptable parameters.”
Or “We regret the stress of the roundup on so many late term pregnancies has resulted in a storm of miscarriages” instead of “Their poor condition would have resulted in miscarriages on the range anyway.”
Or “It didn’t occur to us, because of a late-winter gather, that the soil in the newly constructed facility could contain infectious bacteria” rather than “Oh, we noticed a few months back that many of the animals gathered were showing signs of Pigeon Fever, probably contracted on the range.”
I’d be less rancorous toward any entity that admitted mistakes were made rather than the mad scramble to whitewash & lay the blame on the animals themselves.
The only humane respectful treatment Advocates are allowed to witness is two hours on Sunday. You seem to be asking for faith – belief without proof. That’s a rare commodity under the circumstances, don’t you think?
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I typed up and submitted a reply, it does not seem to have gone through, I will look for it to pop up later and if it does not show up I will try and repost it.
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Frank…I found your message hung up in the Spam filter, I freed it.
Outside of cussing, two other things will cause the filter to hold up a message, links and length. If you sent a long message with links in it there is no way that it will get through unless I manually check on it, which I do often.
You are good to go….
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Okay I cannot advise as to why the BLM does what it does and why it says what it says. Again let me reiterate that you are piling questions and what-ifs on both the owner/operator of the facility and the BLM and lumping them together.
As far as the soil containing the Pigeon Fever bacteria, that is simply not a valid contention. The Indian Lakes facility is a new facility, it was placed on property that did not contain animals (specificly horses)for the previous year. If Pigeon Fever is present in the horses at Indian Lakes, it came there with them. Whether or not adequate quarentine of all the horses was done properly is beyond my scope of knowledge.
I am not here to argue for or against anyone, I simply feel that people are shooting at the targets presented (as you so eloquently put it), instead of looking for allies and assistance wherever and whenever it might be found.
As for the faith concern and it being a rare commodity, that goes both ways, the owner/operator asks for faith that the animals are being treated as humanely and compassionately as is proper and reasonable and the advocates are asking for faith from the Owner that they will respect the safety and privacy of the owners. There are extremists that carry out eco-terrorism and although you (Lisa) may not be an eco-terrorist, you have to admit that they do exist and passionate people sometimes do things that are not rational.
Faith is a rare commodity, but faith is a two way street. I have faith in a lot of things and a lot of people but I refuse to throw a blanket of faith over my head and that of my family and trust that nothing bad will happen.
I admire people who stand up for what they beleive, right up and until it infringes upon the rights of others.
Footnote on Pigeon Fever:
Reservoirs and mode of transmission: Can live in the soil and enter the horse’s body through wounds or broken skin and through mucous membranes.
May possibly be transmitted by flies, including the common housefly and horn flies.
Disease is usually highly contagious and can easily infect multiple horses on the premises.
Bacterium in the pus draining from abscesses on infected horses can survive from one to 55 days in the environment. It has also been shown to survive from one to eight days on surface contaminants and from seven to 55 days within feces, hay, straw or wood shavings.
Lower temperatures prolong the survival time.
http://www.completerider.com/ucolorado/PIGEONFEVERINEQUINES.html
Same info different source.
http://www.news.colostate.edu/Release/2692
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Other than a google search of the owner of the facility, and POSSIBLY calling in to question his intentions, the Owner’s only blip on my radar is his ‘alliance’ (for lack of a better term) as a BLM contractor.
Most of us vent our displeasure in Comment sections, Letters to the Editor and letters to a particular BLM office prior to a scheduled roundup; I don’t know anyone personally or on the perpiphery who has ‘terrorized’, other than verbally, the BLM or it’s contractors. Most of us (Lisa) know breaking the law will do nothing to further the Pro-Wild Equine stance. Hence, no midnight raids on private property or a government holding facility; that would be very bad juju, indeed.
I have two horses of my own, and worked for several years at a horse ranch. I’ve had experience with Pigeon Fever. It’s a virulent, opportunistic survivor that crosses species. And can live on poorly-cleaned equipment such as transport vehicles and boot soles. One of the biggest benefits to being a wild, roaming species (equines) is few incidences of infection, not being limited to a single area. And in the dead of winter, flies just ain’t a problem. Unless the animals become closely sequestered in an alien environment.
I personally would give my undivided attention to an agent of the BLM, to have a real honest non-party line conversation with the back and forth that civilized people use to communicate if that agent could take the time and view me as something other than My Little Pony Girl or an Equi-Nazi.
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And there you have it in a nutshell, the inability or unwillingness to separate the actions/motivations of the owner/operator of the Indian lakes facility and the BLM makes any further diatribe between us pointless and destined to failure.
In this group of comments alone you have people posting “I don’t know why they aren’t sued over the small individual issues” and “Why haven’t a great number of us gotten together and stormed the AG’s office, the BLM office, and anywhere else we can think of, demanding our rights to see OUR horses any day of the week” along with people advocating breaking the law and getting arrested.
As far as an honest non-party line conversation with a BLM agent, that is beyond my ability, I am perfectly willing and able to try and help build a bridge between the advocates and the owner of the indian lake facility.
I know several people who have visited the site at the owners convenience with unfettered access. These visitors are allowed because of the previously mentioned faith, the owner has faith that these people are truly interested in seeing and visiting the horses and facilities and not interested in finding a poster child for a cause to show to the world to bring wrath and disdain.
One of the things that irks me is the fact that in my web travels the pictures I see always try and show the horses at the ILRF in a depressing light. There have been none of the young/newborn colts standing running and frollicking together, nor have I seen pictures of the malnourished horses from the range after 4 to 6 weeks having gained a couple hundred pounds.
Yes, I understand that most people here feel they should be running and frollicking in the wild, the facts are they are not, you cannot change those facts for the horses kept at this facility.
I welcome all reasonable and civilized debate/conversation on the matter and can be emailed at frankwinger@yahoo.com . Please be advised that any and all email sent to me at that address may be posted in whole or in part at any site I see fit.
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Why not just place cameras up Frank and then let the pictures speak for themselves.
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Dearest, Special Frank:
These people that get “owner consented” access….why are they so special? Hmmm…let’s see. Maybe because they support the enterprise of senseless science, cruel round-ups and poor management to onclude slaughter of these animals for special interests?
I’ll tell you first off that the game DOI is playing to round-up, process and warehouse these animals on “private” land is a BIG FAT LIE!!!!
It’s leased. If the contract allows the Private Owner final oversight than there is a BIG problem with the wording of the contract (and it was done for this specific reason). Disingenuous is a polite term for the DOI/States and private land owners that a party to this abortion of law, legal terms and true intent.
BS! This was done to prevent horse advocates access.
BTW….if everything the round-up, horse whacking trolls is so perfect, why are they so controlling or fearing media.
Mr. Frank: I welcome intelligent, scientific debate that allows for a moratorium until a satisfactory resolution can be found. And please stuff the “frolicking” comments. You are disrespecting true advocates intentions while playing the emotion card. Living in the wild is harsh and brutal, but real and where they should be with reasonable management. And maybe the “web travels” you take are true.
As to your appraisal of the weight gained on improper feedstuffs, your expertise is what? The numbers dead is what. Take your sanctimonious self and join Wallis’s group. You don’t need science, conscientous OR ethics to be a member there. You do here. But of course, you are always entitled to your opinion.
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Yep that must be it, everyone who is not try to demonize and defame anyone who has a differing opinion than your own must be a horse hating, slaughter happy animal abuser.
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And I told you why they were allowed there.
I cannot even remember why I tried to have an open exchange here.
Good luck with your crusade.
As far as the motivations of the Owner of the Indian Lakes Road Facility, it is my belief that it stems from his love of and desire to work with animals and provide for his family.
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http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/slaughterhouse-sue-wallace-conrad-burnsviagen-and-the-blm-the-people-behind-the-slaughter-of-nevadas-mustangs/
Interesting article about horse “cloning”—
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The other thing that PEEEE’S me off is how BLM is killing our horses right under our noses with MOLDY HAY & SAND & getting away with it!
If BLM can’t get rid of them one way they do it by out right killing them with feed, sand or castration which I’m more than sure ISN’T DONE IN A CLEAN AREA!
BLM doesn’t show where the horses are castrated do they?
BLM will STRESS our horses to the max to kill any of them they can.
I’ve thought on this a long time, the true facts here are clear as day what’s going on & why!
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