(In My Infuriated Opinion) by R.T. Fitch ~ Author/Director of HfH Advisory Council
1.5 Miles from Trap Site Doesn’t Cut It
Photographer Terry Fitch and Reporter Laura Leigh documenting horses at Litchfield during Twin Peaks stampede ~ photo by R.T. Fitch
For weeks taxpaying United States citizens have been attending the often brutal wild horse stampede being conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in north east Nevada. These citizens have come of their own violation and funded by their own labor to stand as witnesses, in protest, for the wild horses while the very federal agency that they fund with their hard earned dollars, against their will, continues to push them further and further away from the dastardly deeds that are continuing to be committed.
Today, additional equine advocate journalists will join the team as Terry and I travel as credentialed journalists and photographers for Horseback Magazine. The Nevada state office of the BLM subscribes to the Straight from the Horse’s Heart blog and will be fully aware of our arrival and attendance. Likewise, the editorial staff of HB magazine have forwarded our credentials to both Washington D.C. and to the Nevada BLM offices. We are curious if the added camera lenses and pens result in observation areas being pushed even further back from the current ridicules and insulting 1.5 miles away. Time will tell if the BLM will step up to the plate and behave in a manner conducive of an agency of the United States or if they will continue to attempt to cover up their constitutional transgressions by denying the free press their first amendment rights of access and covertly brutalize the very horses that they are charged to protect.
Again, time will tell but either way the hay bale falls the readers of SFTHH and Horseback Magazine will be the first to know.
“We are Watching!”
May the Force of the Horse© be with us all.
Related Articles
- Action Alert: Wild Horse Advocates to Rally at BLM Meeting (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Famed Journalist Files Emergency Appeal Over Wild Horse Issue (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- The BLM’s Internal “Investigation”: The Fox Guarding the Henhouse (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Wild Horse Groups Win Another Round and Vow to Preserve Targeted West Douglas Herd (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Progress! House Votes to Reduce Agency Budget for Wild Horse Roundups (news.change.org)
- BLM Called Upon To Halt Wild Horse Roundups Until “New Normal ” Policies Enacted To Ensure Humane Treatment of Mustangs (yubanet.com)
- BLM Denies Wild Horses are “Stampeded” (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- What does America stand for? (artandhorseslauraleigh.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
May the Force be with you all.
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The behavior of the BLM has become ingrained and habitual.
To many years have gone by where no one questoned or asked why.
Now they have been exposed for who they truly are, people without any morals or values.
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Good luck RT. Hope you get to see and film something.
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Thank you Terry and RT for going, Your right Marge way too many years has passed by, they have been runnamuck too long. Now we are watching and I thank God for our people that can.
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Thank you so much, The horse and burro spirits are with you.
May the gulag open.
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Stay safe AND WARM!
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thank you for keeping up the pressure . . . when so many of us can not be there!
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It was 6. 5 degrees in my part of northern Nevada this morning. You’ll need your snuggies to stand for the horses. Good travels. Looking forward to your observations and updates.
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How could BLM deny you all access when they had what looked like a young child hanging on the trap site fence? BLM better not say it’s due to safety, if that were the case that child would of been no where near the trap site. BLM doesn’t want activist there because they have something to hide. The BLM can’t be civil because they don’t act civil.
Anyways you all are amazing! People like you make people in the BLM nervous because your not out there for the money like they are!
May the force be with you and may it guide you on your journey to uncovering the truth behind these wild horse round ups.
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I was wondering that too. Perhaps the horses were already penned at that point and not near the child. But seeing how the contractors themselves lurk on or near the fence with or without their riding horses – they probably just do not care.
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Keep up the good work and I hope you get something on film to hang them..They are liars and the horses need to stay where they are and be “free”….We are all behind you…good luck..
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Gods speed to RT and Laura, I also have been infuriated about the Wild Mustang round ups for years, I wish I could be there helping all of you ,I am in Ohio, and please believe me I am also doing what ever i can , to help these beautiful Wild Mustangs from here I am relentless in my persuit to help them….I support all help given to them…………….
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Sometimes, as a taxpayer supporting DOI/USDA I feel like a parent that is “enabling” a crackhead or alcoholic teen/adult child….they won’t listen, do destructive things, won’t change and I let them live off of my dime in my own house while they spit in my face.
Sick situation.
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great analogy.
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Exactly… and that has been our source of frustration; enabling BLM!? when fighting hard to cut off the energy/money from the source; us/congress!! It has placed us within the hell they have created for the horses. We are locked in the cycle with the horses and BLM and trying to break out and we will do so and take the WH&B program with us! mar
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Oh, I forgot lying and stealing…to boot!
Hang in there Laura…and thank you.
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I can see that you would not the public milling around right at the trap site just as you would not want people milling around a construction site. But I would think 100 yards at the most would be more than enough space to create a “safety zone” along with asking observers to sign a release. I sign a release when I go out to the stables that houses the rescue I volunteer with. Anything more than that is just a bullying agency that is in collusion with contractors that both have too much to hide. Dave Cattoor said it best when he stated he did not want the advocates to get the shot that they want, to get the horse on the truck right away–in other words pull down the veil of secrecy against the taxpaying and reporting public. This house of cards should fall jostled by their own mayhem. Looking forward to tales from the stampede.
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Fire the LYING,CRUEL, CORRUPT, COWARDLY and inept BLM. Our public lands, wildlife, water, soil, native plants need to be protected from these LYING, CRUEL, CORRUPT, COWARDLY and INEPT THUGS.
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To RT, Terry, and Laura: A lot of us can’t be there with you on this one, but we hold you in our thoughts and hearts 24/7s! And a LOT of us are preparing to head for Phoenix, AZ on March 10th and 11th to show a united front for EVERYONE who finds this government agency to be a fraud and insult to our intelligence, as well as a slap in the face of what “a democratic government” is suppose to be! As my Dad use to say, “Until you are better paid, THANK YOU SO MUCH!” See you all in Phoenix in 19 days! May the Force of the Horse be with you at all times! Blessed Be!
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Jade, See you there Wild Horse Warrior! mar
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Don’t forget to take a bucket of old Easy Boots folks, to wave at the Board! Tell them, you want to see democracy? We’ll show you democracy!
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Thank you R.T, Terry, and Laura for being our eyes and ears, our witnesses, to this atrocity. I hope you come back with information that will put the BLM out to dry for good! Our prayers are with you, and the wild ones.
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R.T. et al, your fury does not exceed my own. Their ludicrous 1.5 mile safety zone for observers, or however they are attempting to justify it, goes beyond a mere insulting slap in the face. It is not only an open challenge to our right to observe and report on how they are doing what they are doing, it is a threatening provocation that tells us they are going to continue unabated and there is nothing we can do about it. In addition though it is a tacit admission by the BLM honchos and contractors that they know what they are doing is just flat wrong or they would not, could not, object to being closely monitored by the public. Their spokespersons get in front of cameras, look the viewers straight in the eye, and smoothly spew out lies and half truths to pacify the ignorant masses. They are able to accomplish this because they have been practicing for years and it has worked up unitl now. That is the equivalent of telling us to just sit down and shut up because we are too stupid to understand that they are only interested in preserving the wild eqine herds and the land they live on. After all, haven’t they hired highly qualified Equine Specialists that know so much more than we ever could, to serve as guiding lights ensuring the protection and safe keeping of their four-legged charges?
The BLM is out of control and must be shut down but the only way that will happen is if enough people become informed of the truth to raise the level of protest far above what it has been thus far.
Travel safely and stay warm.
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If AAEP has been invited and given close access, what is the point of 1.5 miles for the public/journalists for so called safety purposes. Our warriors are knowledgeable horsemen/women with a thirst for the truth, not the status quo…..maybe that is the equine substance abusers problem?
Just an observation…which is more than our warriors for truth (some journalists) are being given.
But that’s the point, isn’t it DOI/USDA!
Budget cutting time horse/burro killers! And the ax will fall with the point of stopping the murder of wildlife AND the raping of our resources from public lands.
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Yep, they were there, they saw the empty water trough and all the crap that went on that day… they were called “BLM Journalists”!! Will they report the same things seen by advocate observers?? It will all be in the record…. mar
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The BLM has been a degenerate and self-serving (profiteering) agency of the United States for many years. The severe actions of pushing back the media, camera’s, public observers attest to the BLMs need to cover up their atrocities and constitutional irregularities while they attempt to zero out the herds as quick as possible. This is the BLM response to the public exposure of the brutal methods used on the defenseless horses and burros along with getting slight defunding by the gov’t. This is the Revenge of the BLM, everytime they are called out, Salazar hides and his goons get worse. Remember, on 30 July 2010, twenty six (26) members of Congress signed and sent a letter to Salazar which addressed these same issues. They have ignored the congress members. There should have been a moratorium NOW!
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The Bureau of Land Management thinks it is a sovereign power, I swear. They have so much land and so very much entrenched power that they do behave as if we have nothing to do with their activities at all. They have held themselves apart for decades and been an unwilling party in the management of the equids. Power is abused and misdirected against us and the wild ones. There needs to be a crack in this wall and a place where we can see and hear and where they will have toacknowledge our rights to call for change. mar
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Were here!!! Let us know what you need us to do. Congress needs to know this. Congress has been put them on notice and are aware of what the BLM has been doing and I bet it won’t take much more to get Congress to move on this.
Good luck guys!!
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I just sent the outstanding article from Ecology Law Quarterly (see yesterday” SFTHH) to my Congressman. Anyone wishing to use it as an example is welcome to do so. WO
Congressman XXXXXXXX, Subject: Wild Horse and Burro Preservation.
Please review this recent article from the Ecology Law Quarterly and view the short included videos of BLM contractor operations or have a staff member go through it and provide a briefing to you on its contents.
It is written by Bruce Wagman, Partner in San Francisco office of Schiff Hardin LLP, specializing in animal law litigation, in concert with Lisa McCurdy, Los Angeles office of Greenberg LLP, focusing on animal protection laws. The article is extremely well written and documented to provide an overview from a legal perspective of BLM and Congressional actions.
It is nearly too late to preserve any genetically viable herds from the decades long systematic destruction being carried out by the BLM. The only hope left for the wild horse herds is for firm Congressional action to completely stop their equine operations now and initiate an independent investigation and assessment of the entire program.
My main point as I have expressed to your previously is that it is imperative to stop the roundups now.
http://elq.typepad.com/currents/2011/02/currents38-02-wagmanmccurdy-2011-0215.html
Sincerely,
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Dear Wambli Okiye, just the Article and it was really awesome , sent it to every rep in Ohio……………………………….
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Thank you for continuing the fight! and for not backing down from the BLM’s henchmen!
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The BLM and Interior (NOT including BOIA) started out as a noble government programs, especially Parks and crawling out of the Depression. But just like USDA, subsidies and earmarks have turned into free passes with payout for grazing rapists, wildlife murderers, water hogs and mining/forestry/energy extraction special interest sucking machines.
What corporate America and now the international conglomerates have done to these departments AND CONGRESS is not only a disgrace…it’s a crime against mankind.
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They are keeping us out of the loop in our nation and consuming that which we may not want consumed in the fashion they are doing it…. This Is Not Democracy… it is public lands piracy. mar
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The Great Spirit will be with you, all who are there with our wild mustangs & burros. I can’t be there (in Ontario right now) but with you, mind and soul. Thank you W.O., I will be using your info & forwarding it on to my congressman.
Again, BE STRONG, BE SAFE, BE OUR CHAMPIONS!
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Christine:
Thank you for your thoughts…we need a symbol of the truth that is the Great Spirit in Phoenix (no pun intended…”rising from the ashes”). Are there any Native Peoples that can attend? The land and this country needs prayers in the original-connect-to-land way.
Any thoughts? If so, private email RT…don’t make it public now. I cannot believe the Native Peoples (and no, I don’t count that National Council group) will not join all those that are angry about the rape of the land and her gifts.
I understand that they too have concerns, but there are powers in numbers across singular issues and yet, the basis of singular issues frequently have moral injustice threading the woof/warp of the fabric of cruelty that is shared by the oppressed.
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God Bless you all for doing this. More public exposure and pressure to reveal the atrocities by the BLM is paramount. It needs to be stopped now.
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Wambli, EXCELLENT idea!
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R. T., Larry, and Laura, thank you for being there for us. Please take care of yourselves and please keep us informed to the atrocies of this disgusting agency. I only wish we could dent the exterior of this agency and start it crumbing from within. May God help us all to achieve that and give all back to those remaining wild horses and burros so they can live as God intended. God Bless, stay warm with your snuggies, and may our wild horses know you’re there for them.
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Be safe, be warm and be watching your backs.
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Outstanding article Laura, I hope it will be widely read and passed on. And just for the record, although the Second Amendment comes second, it is the one that in the final analysis, guarantees all the others, including the First. Just ask Thomas Jefferson.
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Hey All,
Look what I found on the BLM’s gather report for today:
Gather operations are at Indian Creek in the Spruce-Pequop HMA today. The temperature at the start of gathering was 17 degrees. High temperature today is forecast in the 30s. There are three visitors today: Laura Leigh, RT Fitch and Terri Fitch.
Animals shipped: 43 to PVC
I don’t think I’ve ever seen them name the observers before. I guess they are taking note.
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Why are they listing the names? Did they get permission to do this? Shouldn’t they be listing the BLM officials at the site instead?
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There are none there!!!!! You dont really think they would get there feet wet do you ??? They are busy thinking up more Lies and deceptions…………………..
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Thank you all.
I believe that we just need to educate our Congressional representatives. Most of them, unless they live in an affected state, are very busy trying to take care of their constituent concerns and doing the work they need to do for the committees they serve on. There are a large number of them who will do the right thing if they can only figure out what the right thing is. When I met with my representative, I learned that he had voted for ROAM and the other horse transportation bill that we would wanted, but he knew very little about the specifics of what the BLM was doing as it relates to the law.
That is why the article in the Ecology Law Journal is so helpful to our cause. It contains a good bit of the information that my Congressman told me would be helpful to him to understand the issue more clearly. They are all so busy, and they rely on staffers to sort things out for them.
This is an important moment for us, though. We have an opportunity to influence budgetary decisions. I suggest we campaign against having our tax dollars spent on illegal, but nonetheless, government sponsored animal cruelty. This is so not land management.
I think it would be good to send both Gordon’s article on the wild horses, and Laura’s article on freedom of the press to as many senators and representatives as we possible can. If everyone could take a state or two. Even small little papers in rural areas would be worth a shot. You never know when we will reach the tipping point, and you never know what that tipping point might be.
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I agree with Christie…there needs to be more people in powerful positions/situations aware of the misdeeds. Passing these articles and journals to those people are the only hope we have to change things, since public outcry doesn’t seem to be enough.
I’m sorry I haven’t been here for a while…I’ve worked for a long long time on these issues, I know whats going on out in the field and the slimy deals these bastards make behind the tax payers backs. Some times it gets to much for me and I have to bow out for a while and re balance. The blood and guts never seems to end…
Guys, please take photos of those trailer floors. BLM is supposed to provide appropriate footing in those trailers, i.e. wood shavings, chips, sand, rubber mats etc, not bare metal or wood flooring. It’s paramount you get them on ALL technicalities and have evidence.
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