Story by Steven Long ~ Editor/Publisher of Horseback Magazine
Another Season of Injury, Death and Imprisonment to Commence in July
Obama's BLM torturing the last of our wild mustangs ~ photo by Terry Fitch
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – After spending most of the last two years under attack for its wild horse “gathers” in the west, the federal Bureau of Land Management will soon resume the capture and possible extinction of the North American Mustang. The confirmation came early Monday from BLM Chief Washington Spokesman Tom Gorey.
The agency had canceled all of its roundups for the remainder of the year citing a lack of funds to continue. Since Labor Day weekend 2009 when the BLM launched an accelerated schedule of capture on Montana’s Pryor Mountain, hundreds of wild horses have died during and in the aftermath of helicopter driven stampedes.
Gorey says the capture of horses will now resume for the remainder of the year.
“The Federal government had been operating under several stopgap spending measures (so-called Continuing Resolutions) earlier this year until this month, when Congress passed a longer-term Continuing Resolution that will take us through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011, which ends Sept. 30,” Gorey said.
“The current Continuing Resolution provides a $12 million increase to the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program (putting the FY 2011 WH&B budget at $75.8 million), thus making it possible for the agency to conduct gathers this summer, starting in July. With the funding issue now resolved, the BLM will be able to carry out this facet of its management responsibilities. The tentative schedule for this summer’s gathers will be issued soon,” he said.
The Pryor Mountain capture of an iconic Palomino named Cloud who had been the subject of three PBS “Nature” documentaries sparked outrage nationwide and even abroad.
Conservative wild horse advocate and author R.T. Fitch blasted the Congress for wasteful spending by funding the capture of wild horses.
“The U.S. Congress broke it’s promise to reduce unnecessary spending when they not only fully funded the BLM’s 2011 budget but granted them an additional $12 million so that they can now harass, maim, injure, capture and warehouse our last remaining wild horses,” he said.
Earlier BLM Director Bob Abbey said the agency was going in a new direction after appointment of a new interim director of the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Fitch says the director has gone back on his word.
“Bob Abbey, who has admitted that the system does not work, appears to consider a ‘new direction’ to be simply more of the same cruelty and waste. Taxpaying Americans have lost control of their government,” the author said.
Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance President John Holland echoed Fitch.
“The BLM faces an inevitable budget crisis over the cost of keeping the horses in long term holding, and yet they never miss an opportunity to make the situation worse,” he said. “Clearly, we are watching the engineering of a disaster. Within a year they will be wringing their hands about what they can possible do with all the horses.”
Related articles
- Obama’s BLM Flips Off Wild Horse Advocates with New Board Appointees (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Wild Horse & Burro Advocates Win One in Nevada (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM Briefly Opening Doors to Barricaded Wild Horse and Burro Concentration Camp (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Call to Action: Let’s Go Viral for the Wild Horses and Burros (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Noooooo !!!! Whhhhyy?!?!?! Liars !!!!!! Thieves !!!!! Traitors !!!!! Have they all LOST THEIR MINDS !!!! How can this possibly be reasonably be even remotely justifiable !!!!! I don’t understand this twist on democracy – I’ll wager there are far more Americans who are voting to leave our wild horses and burros free, than there are
“renting ranchers” want to hog our public lands – on an economic level alone, this just doesn’t make sense !!! The BLM is branding itself and economically wasteful, morally corrupt and cruel in their roundups and handling of these animals, and a total democratic failure for not listening to the voice of the people, ignoring the will of the American majority !!!
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We are not living in a democracy but a corporatism. We have spoken as a people and passed laws to protect our American Mustangs on our land but are insignificant against the will of corporate big money and its grease that sustains the destruction of our Mustangs, air, land and oceans.
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AMEN!!!!! It ain’t socialism, communism or capitalism….IT IS CORPORATISM!!!!!
That word is now in my lexicon and sadly, our reality.
Excellent post!
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There are so many other ways this money can be spent. What about the poor hungry children? So many people out of work and this is where they put the money. Tax the middle class for drinking soda or driving their cars to work and then give the money to the BLM to capture more horses. I fear that the bottom line here is that they will have full pens and won’t have the money to feed them so off to slaughter they good. Yes they have said they don’t send horses to slaughter. But they sure do make sure they get to others who do. The BLM needs to be stopped. Maybe a mass protest at the gathers will work. We should make their security guards work for their money and not pick on a few ladies who want to pee out of their sight.
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Words cannot even begin to express the rage in me!
Makes me real proud to be an American!
Our country has gone to hell and our asshat President is vacationing (yes call it what you want) drinking beer in an Irish pub while looking for his Irish roots. WTF!
Where is the leadership???
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Mad as Hell right now I am so sick and tired of the horses getting the Sham , from a agency , that does not know its ass from a hole in the ground, they have all not only lost their minds but they have also lost aLLLLLLL OF MY RESPECT……………. This has been nothing but a greedy display of shear ignorance there is not one Brain amongst them all………………..If we dont make a stand all is lost !!!!!!!
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Yea….so are you gonna vote for Obummer again?……
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Never did vote for him. Ronald Reagen was the last president and horseman that I voted for the had my respect. The rest can go to hell.
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heheh,,, Obummer I’m out here shaking my head and or pulling my hair out over the stupidity of this administration. Last week the president says “We” are going to be providing 50000 metric tons of wheat to Jordan. Plus a BILLION dollars in aid. I like Jordan as a country but why do they need OUR aid? Why are WE borrowing money from China to give to Jordan? Has Obama not not noticed the drought and fires in Texas, the floods and tornadoes in the Midwest? The breadbasket of America is under siege by Mother Nature, we can not afford to give anything away! With the global natural disasters happening on an almost eerily basis, we need to hold something back for emergencies! Sheez!
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When you get into the habit of just printing money,it becomes easy,Obama learnt the trick from his brother Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
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When you get into the habit of just printing money,it becomes easy,Obama learnt the trick from his brother Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
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SSDD – and no surprise. Not like the BLM cares what the American people want.
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Please comment against this roundup in WY. See EA here:
http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/NEPA/documents/rsfo/divide_basin.html
Comment period is may18-june20
Email comments to DivideBasin_HMA_WY@BLM.gov with subject “Divide Basin Scoping Comments”.
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SOB. That is the truth about the BLM. They are all SOBs and they lie, give excuses for what they do, give aways to the ranchers, aid corporate giants and disregard the American citizen and its desire to leave the iconic wild horse and burros on public ranges where they belong. I’m of the feeling that nothing short of a mass protest United States wide for each day there’s a new roundup will bring this whole corrupt government entity to its knees and everyone that aligns itself with it. Let’s roll and do it. It seems that nothing else will stop these SOBs from bringing an end to our wild horses. As mentioned above, at some point the BLM will see that all in the pens will head for the borders. THESE SOBs have to be STOPPED NOW.
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I’ m sickened by BLM-Lying/Murdering/Corrupt thugs wiping out wild horses, burros, wildlife and wrecking our public lands/water/ native plants/ soil- it’s disgrace to America.
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The comment from Horsedrag hits this squarely on the head! It is simply and unequivocally put, corporatism. It is no longer about what is right or wrong any more. It isn’t about democrats or republicans. It is our government operating in their own little world influenced only by special interest groups who are wholly supported by corporate America who steam roll everything in the name of the almighty dollar. Everything that is wrong with our country now comes down to corporate influences on our state and federal government!
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Due to the recent outbreak of Equine Herpes, the summer round-ups should be CANCELED.
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It does appear the Human Scumbag Politicos do beleive that G=D gave them Exclusive Use to this Planet disgraceful..
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I called 866 4Mustangs to get some info re hosting an adoption in Maryland. During the conversation I was told “we don’t bring as many horses to adoptions as we use to”. My assumption is that they are spending more of the budget on roundups and less on adoptions.
Here’s my take on Bob Abbey’s “new direction”. Once they take all the horses/burros off the range, then they won’t have to conduct any more roundups. That’s when the roundups will stop!
JMO,
Donna
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What can we do? Comments periods are a waste of time. All they do is send back a Robo response. No one reads them, nor do they care. So how do we get in their way and make it hard for them. Tax revolt? Any ideas?
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Debbie:
Good questions and without giving away any advocate game plan…..what can we do?
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Dear Debbie, I cannot begin to count how many auto responses i have recieved over the last 7 years , it a very sad state of affairs , when the Gov doesnt want to stop what they are doing , they just plain ole dont respond………………………
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Why anyone here is outraged at the “schedule” is beyond my understanding.
When DOI (and essentially USDA too (helped by DOI)) got that unrestricted wild equine/discretionary budget AND the additional 12 million months ago, the die was cast and advocates shouldn’t be surprised. Sorry folks, this was pre-blessed, sanctioned and facilitated by this administration. The White House probably bartered health care, education funds continuation in exchange for energy/extraction run amok with the meat corporatism of big Ag.
That “Hope/Change” isn’t really happening…is it folks? It all has trade-offs. I still have hope as long as I have a brain and breath, but I see NO change from our President in many areas.
Anybody have contacts within the leadership of the tea-party? Let’s see how serious they are about wasteful spending…wanna’ bet they decide wipin’ out the wild equines is a good thing? Hope to be proven wrong.
Time to overwhelm Washington politicos with outrage and faxes, emails, letters, visits (home AND DC offices), etc especially if you vote in Western States.
Crud!!!! There just aren’t that many wild, free roaming equines to justify this GARBAGE!!!!!!
Excuse me, but EVERY President since Nixon has been subtrafugeing(sp?) the 1971 Act; some just more grossly than others.
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My post is awaiting moderation. No dirty words and not sure what the filter picked up, but I’m just trying to be realistic…not negative. These people have been running unchecked and fully funded for decades.
We will NEVER surrender!
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Bob Abbey’s new approach is to do more harm and injury than before. I can hardly believe that any horsemen would run horses miles in the desert heat for what? To be brutally rounded up, separated, foals ripped from mom and sent to prison. I still haven’t figured out how they broke the law.
The only good thing is the NV lawmakers who dropped the water rights bill last week. Just imagine that bill had somehow passed. Honestly do you really think BLM would have stood up for the horses????
Time to get the maps out and figure out if I can get to WY via Idaho with not a whole lot of extra hassle. NV tends to not like me much–I buy one tank of gas and pay for one night in a hotel. I try to bring munchies along to get me through to Idaho. So financially NV doesn’t gain too much from me traveling through.
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There is Nothing more American in the United States as the living Breathing Wild Mustangs, Where is the Alligance IN OUR GOVERNMENT?????? They are LIVING LEGENDS where are thier Brains??? Do they sit on them?????? To view Our Mustangs in any other way is a disgrace to American and its People………………… and must of all to our Great American HEROS the WILD MUSTANGS……………
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There’s a Care2 petition: “Stop the Roundup of Days-Old Wild Horses”
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/753/146/988/
As of a few minutes ago, there were 15,000+ signatures, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, there’s a problem.
Of the latest 100 signatures, 30 were from folks in the U.S. and 70 (70!!!!!) were from outside the U.S. (check out the countries!) – by extension, approximately a 4,500/10,500 split. While that does say the whole world is watching (and I thank them for their support), it doesn’t make as much impact on the BLM or the administration as signatures from U.S. voters and taxpayers.
I KNOW there are more than 4,500 of my fellow citizens who oppose the roundups in general, and roundups of such young horses in the heat of Summer in particular. So, please, if you haven’t signed it, SIGN IT … and sign every single one that comes your way. Then pass them on to your friends in our country and around the world. Some say it will do no good, but I ask, “What good comes out of NOT doing?”
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Does anyone know how we can find out who exactly voted for it? I’d like to know who to contact and vote out.
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T.A. The only way you beat Unscrupulous Politicos,Kick them off the Gravy/Train.Vote them out.
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T.A. The only way you beat Unscrupulous Politicos,Kick them off the Gravy/Train.Vote them out.
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Vote them out and replace them with what? The vast majority of elected officials are self-serving politicians first, and pseudo-statesmen second, third … or never! Their appointees are cloying “yes, sir” or “yes, ma’am” lackeys. I’m for one-shot terms … 6 years and out! No running again for the same office, and EVERYBODY in their cadre has to leave with them. Publically-financed, level playing field campaigns lasting no longer than 6 months, and no loopholed, special interest “Paid for by the committee to …” advertising.
Our presidents are elected every four years. They spend the first 6 months (the “honeymoon”) getting used to their position and sorting out the power brokers. The next 6 months to a year they might actually get something done. The remainder of their term is spent running for the next election, with the opposition playing the blame game and blocking every effort to do anything … good or bad.
If they’re re-elected, they may get a few more things done, because they don’t have to worry about running again. But then they waste a lot of time (and OUR money!) trying to get someone else from their party elected. Repeat … and repeat … ad infinitum!
Our citizens could do a better job than any politico … the first however many from ANY phone book. “Ordinary” people are anything but. They/we have a lot more common sense, scruples, courtesy, and compassion than 95% of professional politicians.
It’s been said Democracy (or our Democratic Republic) is too important to be left in the hands of the people. Is that true, or is it too important to be left in the hands of anyone BUT the people?
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In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (the book) Aragorn said “There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse even though the end may be dark.”
I think that’s true of the wild horses and our government too. We may fail to boot out all corruption, but we don’t have to go down without a fight.
But we really need to shine a spotlight on it and get the attention of people who don’t know. Even the most apathetic usually care when they realize it’s their money being wasted.
We aren’t just fighting the politicians but those corporations and companies backing them. It’s hard to refuse their services and products if we don’t know who they are or to vote them out if we don’t know who is voting against the horses.
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It is the politicians,if you are not sure which one then target the bossman Obama,start voting against the Democrats,the Scum will be exposed.It is the only way of saving the horses and probably many other living creatures that are being slaughtered in the US for the almighty $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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It is the politicians,if you are not sure which one then target the bossman Obama,start voting against the Democrats,the Scum will be exposed.It is the only way of saving the horses and probably many other living creatures that are being slaughtered in the US for the almighty $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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It is the politicians,if you are not sure which one then target the bossman Obama,start voting against the Democrats,the Scum will be exposed.It is the only way of saving the horses and probably many other living creatures that are being slaughtered in the US for the almighty $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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