http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/calicomustangs.jpg?w=600&h=330

#

Calico Mountain Mustangs...

Wild horses rounded up by the BLM

http://rtfitch.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/calicomustangs.jpg?w=600&h=330

Wild Burro Family...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/139/363145212_88cd5fc77e.jpg?v=0

http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/asset/902/983/08/o14525_400x300.jpg

"Look back at our struggle for freedom,
Trace our present day's strength to its source,
And you'll find that man's pathway to glory,
Is strewn with the bones of the horse."
--- Anonymous

In 1971, an unprecedented public outcry moved Congress to unanimously pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, granting federal protection to America's wild horses and burros as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West […] that […] contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.”

2 million wild horses once roamed the West; fewer than 25,000 remain.

Cattle outnumber wild horses at least 200 to 1 on public lands.

The removal policy is costing over 39 million tax-dollars a year.

Now thousands of wild horses are threatened with slaughter.

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots efforts are supported by a coalition of over forty organizations.

The AWHPC Coalition is calling for a Congressional inquiry into the government’s wild horse management policies, and coordinating a grassroots campaign in support of:

* the review of scientific findings that contradict BLM's claims of wild horse overpopulation and negative impact on the range;

* a moratorium on round-ups until actual numbers of wild horses and burros on public lands have been independently assessed;

* Higher Appropriate Management Levels (AML) for wild horses on those rangelands designated for them;

* implementation of in-the-wild management, which would save millions of tax-dollars.

YOU CAN HELP! What you can do: http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/action.html

http://www.best-horse-photos.com/images/Horse_pictures.jpg

Wild horses...

http://current.com/items/91962575_how-the-west-is-being-lost-more-wild-horses-to...

How the West is being lost; more wild horses to be rounded up by BLM

.

http://https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=...

The Eagle Hill Management Area located in eastern Nevada and consisting of 670,000 acres of public land just isn't big enough for 595 wild horses and burros according to the latest proposal presented by the Bureau of Land Management in their preliminary environmental assessment. (EA) The intent of the BLM is to reduce the size of the wild horse herd down to 100 horses and burros which wild horse advocates argue are a dangerously low level to assure genetic viability for the future of the herd.

In addition another 50 horses will be gathered outside of the Herd Management Area.

The BLM claims "deterioration of the range," however the cattle and other livestock population will remain the same.According to the EA, no cattle or sheep would be removed. Statistically cattle population outnumber horse population on public land 200 to 1.

"Removal of wild horses would result in an increase in forage availability and quality, reducing competition between livestock and wild horses for available forage and water resources." ( BLM EA)

Wild horse adovcates claim the BLM is systematically reducing wild horse populations with the ultimate plan to completely eradicate all of the American legends of the growing West. There are currently 35,000 wild horses being held in captivity and being managed by the BLM using taxpayer dollars, yet the BLM are planning to remove another 12,000 wild horses from their natural habitats again this year.

The Calico roundup has been proceeding and the BLM plans to remove 2500 horses from northwest Nevada, Calico Complex. According to In Defense of Animals, 547 horses have been rounded up, 518 wild horses have been shipped to Fallon, 24 horses are at the gather corrals, 4 horse deaths and 1 escaped wild horse named Freedom. At the writing of this article, Freedom has been reported to have been recaptured by the BLM although no official word has yet to be announced.

"Demonstrations and rallies to stop the helicopter roundups have been prevalent from coast to coast, yet the Obama Administration has ignored the public outcry to preserve the symbols of the past. It's just deja-vu of the Bush Administration; everything Obama said we were done with," stated Margaret Ruiz-Cooper, Palm City wild horse advocate. " Talk about agendas with cattle, sheep, pipelines, minerals; the wild horses don't have a chance," Ruiz-Cooper continued. " I promise I will keep at it until someone frees these horses."

For additional information and how you can help to save the wild horses click here:

In Defense of Animals https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&...

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID25445/images/helicopter_round_up.png

http://current.com/items/91972267_sight-of-wild-horses-leaving-gut-wrenching.htm

Sight of Wild Horses Leaving Gut-Wrenching

http://www.saveourwildhorses.org/
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

http://current.com/items/91789190_activists-decry-wild-horse-roundups.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm
Federal officials have begun rounding up at least 2,500 wild horses from Nevada rangeland, triggering protests from animal advocates who say the trapping endangers these symbols of the American West and condemns them to lives in captivity.

The protesters are organizing demonstrations around the country Wednesday to pressure the Obama administration to impose a moratorium on roundups by the Bureau of Land Management. They want to halt the practice of sending captured horses to Midwestern pastures and holding pens, where some are adopted but most remain for the rest of their lives.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm