Help Save America's Endangered Wild Horses

Once again, the Nevada Bureau of Land Management is beginning its siege of the wild horse population in Nevada. The BLM is staunchly on the side of the cattle ranchers in this battle, saying the horse herds have to be "managed." The ranchers say the horses are destroying the forage for the wildlife, but it's the herds, herds and more herds of cattle who are doing just that. A cow pulls up tufts of forage by the roots, effectively killing the plant, while a horse nips them off and leaves the roots to regrow. Horses also range over a wide territory, while herds of cattle tend to stay in one spot, eventually denuding the ground, and then they move on to the next patch, repeating the procedure. The ranchers want the horses all gone, not just kept "manageable," but totally OFF the land. This is being accomplished with the helicopter roundups in which many horses are killed or maimed and then must be shot. The burros can't run fast enough and the helicopter pilots have been known, just for fun, to use the helicopter runners to flip the burros over in mid-flight. This breaks legs and necks of these helpless animals. The wild horses who have their own "families" (herds) are run nearly to death from exhaustion, and funneled into an ever-narrowing chute straight into a pen. (See accompanying BLM photo) Meanwhile, they're separated from family, are penned up with horses they must fight to survive, and are fed and watered on a sporadic basis. There is no justice in this atrocity! My question to the world is, WHY, WHY don't we care and at least TRY to do something about this terrible torture these animals are going through? We have all the organizations in the world for preventing cruelty to other animals, especially those kept as pets, but because these horses are wild we choose to ignore their plight!

It's way past time to talk or write to your congressman, state senator, or other representative. Ask them NOT to allow this killing of one of our national symbols to be continued. Ask them to VOTE against rounding these animals up with helicopters. Ask them to DO their job and protect what the American people want protected.

Early news of the July 2011 roundup: Activists have filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the federal government's plans to remove 1,700 wild horse from the eastern Nevada range in July 2011. The lawsuit names Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the Bureau of Land Management, BLM Director Bob Abbey and two BLM field managers.

The 1971 federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act allows such roundups only if it is determined the horses are a threat to the "thriving natural ecological balance" of an area, Attorney Rachel Fazio, who represents the Colorado-based horse advocacy group stated, "They have not done it in this case." She continued, "The range is currently in a state of natural balance, and there's no indication these horses are causing any type of damage. The BLM doesn't have the legal authority to remove these animals."

The July roundup was supposed to have begun on the 7th, but the roundup has now been delayed to July 16th in order for United States District Court Judge Howard McKibben to consider the case. The hearing is scheduled for July 14th, 2011. Past lawsuits to stop the roundups have been unsuccessful. Please send a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben at: The Honorable District Court Judge Howard McKibben, United States District Court of Nevada, 333 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89101. Tell Judge McKibben you support halting the roundups because they constitute cruel and inhumane treatment of animals. You may also leave a message at 702-464-5400, if you so choose.

Here's the news as of Saturday, July 16, 2011: U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied a motion to stop the federal Bureau of Land Management's roundup of wild horses on the Nevada range. Immediately afterward, Attorney Rachel Fazio who represents the wild horse activists Colorado-based Cloud Foundation, said "This is pretty amazing. At some point I hope the judiciary will step in and enforce the law." The law she is referring to is the 1971 Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which guarantees these animals the territory from which they are now being forcibly removed. Judge Richard Paez then issued an order to temporarily halt the roundups, which were scheduled to have begun this morning. Judge Paez ordered the roundups to stop..."until further order of the court." So here we are with another block that the BLM will find a way to knock down. I ask you to do your duty and call on or write to whomever you believe can help you in this struggle to save the wild horses.

We're now up to July 20, 2011, and once again, the roundups have been court-approved. A three-judge panel decided that the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation failed to show it could prove that the roundups are illegal and that removal of the horses from federally protected land would cause irreparable harm. Obviously, the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 isn't enforceable, or is being intentionally ignored, Would passing another law for the protection of these beautiful animals make any difference? I truly doubt that it would, because powerful forces moving behind the scenes demand that these horses be removed and eliminated, and that seems to be where this is headed.

BLM says the horses are starving on the range. Whenever there is television coverage of the helicopter chase of these gorgeous animals, there's not one in the group that looks emaciated. The emaciation comes later, after they've been caged for a time. If you were hunted down, run nearly to death from exhaustion, and put in a pen with people you don't know, would you have an appetite?

The ranchers in Nevada on United States government owned lands, have been known to fence off water sources so the horses cannot get to them, and then open them for their cattle to drink and then close them again. Horses have been shot down and nobody gets punished because there's "no evidence" as to who did it.

After the horses are kept for some time in these pens, they are auctioned off. The people who "adopt" them may, or may not, be people who care about them. They are supposed to keep them for at least two years, but does anyone check up on these "adopted" horses? Of course not, so some of them are sold for slaughter because it makes the seller a nice piece of change. Horse meat is a very popular food in other countries. What an ignominious end for a magnificent, courageous animal.

Nevada's state quarter, issued in 2006, features wild horses, which the State is currently eliminating.

In a few more years, they will be as extinct as the dinosaurs, and the only way anyone will see them is on this quarter, in books, on videos.

Is this really what America wants...no more wild horses or burros? I don't believe it is. Write to your congressman, your senator, or even the President himself if you believe we have a right to keep our wild horses. I've given links below that list Congress members and senators by state. Please, if you have a care for these brave animals, write today, while there is still time.

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Help Save America's Wild Horses logo, courtesy of Cloud Foundation.