Sight of wild horses leaving "gut-wrenching"

Wild horse campaigner Madeleine Pickens has described her tour of the Calico muster in northern Nevada, describing as gut-wrenching the sight of horses leaving the home they had known all their lives.

The Bureau of Land Management is undertaking an eight-week operation to remove up to 2700 horses from five herd management areas - some 80% of the horses known to inhabit the area.

The muster has sparked anger among horse advocates, who have labelled it unnecessary and cruel. The BLM says the muster is "necessary to maintain the health of the delicate rangeland.

Pickens, who has been promoting her own plan to manage the estimated 27,000 mustangs remaining in the wild, joined the crew of ABC's Good Morning America for a tour of the Calico Complex on January 14.

She said she observed her first wild horse roundup.

"On a spectacular day in an area so picturesque it took our breath away, I watched as 51 wild horses were herded by helicopter into corrals and loaded on trucks, taken away from the only life and land they have ever known.
...
"The previous day I had a guided tour of the newly constructed wild horse holding facility in Fallon, Nevada.

"This is where all the wild horses being gathered in the Calico Complex will be held for an undetermined number of months or years.

"This facility stands by itself on the outskirts of Fallon with no windbreaks, overhead protection or other means for the wild horses to avoid the harshness of the winter months or the brutal heat of summer, and many of them will certainly be there during both the winter and summer.

"While traveling out to the gather, we observed two trucks that passed us on the rough access road and witnessed one horse in the trailer down on its side. When we advised the bureau that we were pretty certain that a horse had fallen and could potentially be trampled, the response was, yes, it happens once in awhile.

"Perhaps by not loading the trucks with so many horses such incidents could be avoided. But, of course, these gathers are all about expediency."

HELP END AMERICA'S HORSES FROM BEING AUCTIONED OFF FOR SLAUGHTER!

More info and how you can help:

http://www.saveourwildhorses.org/

http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/


BLM HORSE ROUND-UP CONTINUES AMID FIERCE OPPOSITION -
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11735639

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2010/01/100.shtml