Unedited Press Release from the Bureau of Land Management
“For Your Information, Commentary to Follow“
BLM violence which occurred today, 1/9/2011 with steaming, traumatized horses chased for miles by renegade helicopter pilot in the dead of winter ~ Photo by Laura Leigh
The Bureau of Land Management announced today that the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will hold a two-day meeting in Phoenix on March 10-11. The two-day event will take place at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, 340 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85004. (The hotel phone number for reservations is 1-800-325-3535.) The Thursday, March 10, meeting is set for 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time; the hours of the Friday, March 11, meeting are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time. The business agendas for the two days appear on page 7231 of today’s Federal Register (Wednesday, Feb. 9).
On Friday, March 11, the public will be able to offer comments to the Advisory Board on the BLM’s proposed new wild horse and burro management strategy, which the BLM will be posting on its national Website (www.blm.gov) in the near future. If the public wants to make comments directly to the BLM, it should follow the instructions on page 2 of the forthcoming proposed strategy.
The public may address the Advisory Board from 9 a.m. to noon local time on Friday, March 11. Individuals who want to make a statement should register with the BLM by 8:30 a.m. that Friday at the meeting site. Depending on the number of speakers, the Board may limit the length of presentations, set at three minutes for previous meetings; however, this time limit may vary. Speakers, who should address the specific wild horse and burro-related topics listed on the agenda, must provide a written statement of their comments, which may be brought to the meeting.
Those unable to attend the meeting may mail their comments to the National Wild Horse and Burro Program, WO-260, Attention: Ramona DeLorme, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, Nevada, 89502-7147. Alternatively, electronic comments may be sent to the BLM through the Wild Horse and Burro Website at: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/wh_b_contact_us/enhanced_feedback_form.html . Mailed or e-mailed comments should be submitted no later than close of business March 3, 2011. For additional information about the meeting, please contact Ramona DeLorme, Wild Horse and Burro Administrative Assistant, at 775-861-6583. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may reach Ms. DeLorme at any time by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board provides input and advice to the BLM as it carries out its responsibilities under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. This law mandates the protection, management, and control of these free-roaming animals in a manner that ensures healthy herds at levels consistent with the land’s capacity to support them. The BLM manages more than 38,000 wild horses and burros that roam BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states; the agency also feeds and cares for more than 40,000 horses and burros that are maintained in short-term corrals and long-term Midwestern pastures.
The Advisory Board meets at least twice a year and the BLM Director may call additional meetings when necessary. Members serve without salary, but are reimbursed for travel and per diem expenses according to government travel regulations.
Link to Federal Register notice of the Advisory Committee meeting.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Well, that will be one somber party.
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I guess the board is already warming up their rubber stamps and putting on their thinking caps to find ways to obstruct comments and limit speaker access.
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I need to qualify the “thinking caps” comment…..they are molding the aluminum foil as we speak so as to block out the aliens and voices too.
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I can’t recall if the board has a Q & A period set aside…anyone know?
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As I recall from the DC Advisory meeting we had to submit our comments before the meeting started and then wait until the end of the meeting to be called to present our comments. Based on the number of comments we were limited until 2 or 3 minutes of time. They actually timed us and held up a 1 minute sign. So much for “free speech”.
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Agreed and if Q&A is conducted that way, it certainly isn’t forthcoming or transparent.
One can only “cherry pick” aspects of life for so long…eventually the problems and issues that one has been ignoring or denying catch up with you. Problem is, will it be soon enough for the equines?
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i hope a protest against the roundups & slaughter are going to happen at the same time as this meeting. there is plenty of time to plan.good way for more news coverage…hopefully nationally.
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Hopefully by March 10, the BLM will have lost its budget..between now and then the most important work will be done by those heading to DC and to the offices of congressmen..People..donot rely on HOPE, this takes hard work dedication and preperation, using the knowledge and research gained over this last year, and the videos and photos and eyewitness testimony gotten by hardworking volunteers, DC is going to get an earful and eyeful, we need to ride HSUS and demand they get independent qualified vets into Indian Lakes facility to assess the very same situation they assessed last year..and ask hard questions about why there have been no changes…last year during the Calico deaths i contacted every federal and state organization starting at the Center for Disease Control -asking for intervention and investigation…no one authority..I was directed to the BLM and Dr. Al Kane as the head of the medical side of the program..and it was in his opinion, no problem for the WH to be chased for miles in freezing cold weather..We need independant veternarys to assess the situation, we get nothing but government speak and denials from BLM officials and a pathetic once a year perusal from HSUS, who has a huge conflict of interest with the BLM-being their drug dealer and pimp for PZP-22
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Maybe we should call this the “Handbag Rebellion”..ladies…load your handbags and prepare for war!..Can you imagine the BLM security gaurds opening fire on a bunch of senior women carring handbags..or arresting someones grandma and dragging her off to jail..Hey your grandkids will have a whole new respect for grandma!..Hey that was one fancy grandma that singlehandedly used her handbag to break up a robbery..1 grandma against 6 thugs…I think we underestimate ourselves and the BLM definately underestimates us..you want publicity and media attention, there it is..you couldn’t plaster our faces all over the evening news and have anyone believe for a minute we are radicals, the only thing more attractive to the media would be a video of Abbey having sex with a wild horse.
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I tend to think of these “advisory board” meetings as a bad joke. Sure, they like to give advice — but, historically, this hasn’t been a group of people willing to take any.
In relation to these meeting, I can’t say how many times I’ve heard the line “Advocates never offer solutions; only complaints.” This is selective hearing on the part of the board members, and that seems to be the biggest obstacle to meaningful change.
Time and time again, advocates have voiced their concerns AND offered potential problem solving/money saving suggestions. And they’ve been ignored.
I’ll send in my comments. I don’t have high hopes that they’ll listen, but I do believe that they can’t ignore us forever…
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We have all come through a tough year and just having a moment to say what you feel or believe to this kangaroo court is worth it. We need to get together… For Us. I certainly hope we will have meetings before and during these BLM meets. That is why we need to go to Phoenix. For the advocacy and the wild ones. mar
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Just remember that in the past BLM historically limits the time in which advocates are allowed comment time. They say 3 minutes and many times we see them readjust time to 1 or 1 1/2 minutes.
They don’t want to hear from us because they know we know what they we know what they are up to. And they want to answer for there misdeeds.
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Question #1. WHY?? are they removing all the horses from herd areas
Question #2. WHY?? can’t the public have access horses at the “boarding” farms
Question #3. WHY?? are they killing the horses they are paid to protect
OK on a more serious note I agree with mar — this is a great opportunity to try to get information–(not necessarily truth)– from BLM. The only place I see positive news about their agency is on their BLM facebook page with stories about adoptions. I’m happy for those relatively few animals and their humans. I’m sure the run-til-you-drop horses,the dead ones, and the disappeared forever ones have just one question they’d like to ask: WHY?? The latest pictures from Laura also ask about the tremendous expense of rounding up one horse at a time. Tell me again WHY BLM is removing them from their designated lands?
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I agree with the above comment by Nora …..having been to an advisory board meeting (Arlington, VA 2009)…after traveling all the way from Idaho…and sitting thru hours of their lies, I have to tell you, I think those meetings are a SHAM. It is an appearance of an attempt to show they, the BLM, care. It is all a bunch of BS. After hours of valid comments from advocates (everyone from Ginger Katherns and Hope Ryden), Don Glenn got up an said “he hadn’t heard any thing worth anything”…….then while another Advisory Board meeting was going on(Reno), where ol Don touted “transparency”..the BLM was secretly rounding up wild horses down the road. I wouldn’t give the advisory board the time of day……they do absolutely nothing but waste our time. Advocates could spend their time and money in a better way…What, I don’t know. Look at all the $$ spent on lawsuits..we never win….going to DC…they never listen….Even eyewitness accounts of the horrors of these round ups are being ignored. Have we won anything?….Advocates of the West, who represent Western Watersheds wins…..seems to me, that’s where the $$ should go.?????……Tell me if I am wrong…….
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Hey Golde…there may be some golden news, soon, on the issue of our law suits againest the BLM. There has been a lot going on in the background and I have kept my mouth shut until something concrete happens but I am here to tell you, we are making a difference.
Stay tuned!!
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my kudos to you, RT…for keeping the faith…and giving all of us advocates something to cling to…your tenacity and faith in a power higher than the BLM is something…..hard to find words to show my thanks…..
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You are not wrong… they use us for their own PR and think they will prevail. We do have to offer alternatives for the management. Without that we look unrealistic. Have we won anything?? We are fighting to win it all. I know you realize this. We have more information than we did before. Documentation makes the suits tougher to decide and
harder to ignore. There is everything to win and since we have not lost and will not accept a no win situation, we will keep on fighting.
I do not want to see the BLM in Phoenix so much as I want to see advocates and have meetings and create strategy so we can keep this fight going, clean and strong. I am going to meet my fellow wild horse warriors and bolster our efforts. Seeing the BLM is my excuse for seeing advocates. mar
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I believe that this is the place where we show massive numbers and meet, as Mar has said, to counter the Advisory board full of nothing but horse haters.
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Congress will not stop the roundups to save the horses but there are plenty who will get on board for budgetary reasons, at this point in time..it has never looked better to get that done.
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Agreed, Sandra…the political planets are coming into alignment. NOW is the time for the big push.
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Yes! omg, i wish i could be there. i’m in vermont w/ 3 horses to care for myself, so as all horse-lovers/owners know, kinda hard to break away, especially in the winter. RT, i always wonder about the lawsuits & what’s happening. please keep us informed, as any progress is motivation for all of us to keep up the fight!
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