Newly discovered evidence in the form of the Ruby Pipeline project contract ties BP (formerly known as British Petroleum) to another environmental catastrophe under way in the western states of the US, the systematic removal and eventual destruction of federally protected wild mustang horses from public land, with the aid of the US Department of The Interior, in violation of federal Law.
ATS News, the investigative journalism arm of number-one “alternative topics” web site, AboveTopSecret.com, has discovered that BP Energy’s habitual destruction of vital habitats is not limited to the Gulf of Mexico, but extends to the desert and western states as well. In a hard hitting collaboration with 17 time Emmy Award Winner George Knapp, of KLAS TV in Las Vegas, ATS News’ Mark Allin presents the “smoking gun” contract that absolutely ties BP to the Ruby Pipeline (a natural gas pipeline) which will be built through federally protected lands. George Knapp, who has been covering and exposing the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for decades brings us up to date on the latest round ups of these magnificent animals, at the behest of major multinational corporations in a conspiracy of collusion with the US Department of Interior. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/More
The ‘Erin Brockovich of America’s Mustangs’ fights to return Nevada Wild Horses to Freedom
Reno, NV (June 21, 2010)—Cindy MacDonald, research expert and American Herds blogger has filed a request for investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this afternoon to prevent the transport, adoption, and/or sale of non-excess Calico wild horses currently being held in BLM processing facilities. MacDonald is requesting an investigation into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for attempting to dispose of the Calico wild horses prior to confirming that the recent removal operations left approximately 600-900 wild horses on the range as required by law. More
Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit said this of U.S. Interior Secretary Salazar today, and we’ve found it to be true. The first official response to Food & Water Watch’s request for a federal court order to shut down BP’s Atlantis oil rig has shown little has changed under Salazar’s leadership. Tell President Obama that Salazar should either close Atlantis today, or get out of the way.
We notified the Minerals Management Service over a year ago that BP Atlantis was missing 89 percent of its necessary safety documents. Even though missing documents are at the heart of many BP disasters, including the current one, MMS still refuses to close Atlantis until it can be proven safe. In an official response last week, the agency even admitted that they have done no meaningful investigation and even though we’re facing the worst oil spill in U.S. history, MMS continues to issue permits to BP for deepwater oil drilling.
The inability to close a rig that is operating without any evidence of safety, especially in light of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, makes us think that Secretary Salazar is serving oil interests, not the public interest. It seems to be business as usual under his leadership, despite heavy-handed rhetoric to the contrary.
President Obama should demand his resignation and find someone who will regulate the oil industry-starting with shutting down BP Atlantis until it is proven safe.
Sarah Alexander
Outreach Director
Food & Water Watch
fish(at)fwwatch(dot)org
Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.
“The BLM itself admits that there are now probably more mustangs in captivity then there are left in the wild. But the roundups are still going on and BLM pledges to keep reducing the herd numbers, while continuing to hand out more livestock grazing permits.”
Adding further to Dan Haley’s editorial on Ken Salazar: The energy interests are not the only ones receiving handouts from the “candy shop” that our public lands have become under the Department of Interior (DOI), currently headed by Ken Salazar.
Mr. Salazar, himself a rancher, has perpetuated the handouts of millions of acres to the recipients of “welfare ranching”, i.e. government subsidized grazing rights.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which reports ultimately to Mr. Salazar, issues grazing rights at the current cost of $1.35 per month per “animal unit,” that is, one cow and calf (really two mouths eating grass). A rancher leasing private land to graze would probably pay upwards of $16.00 per month for the same livestock count. More
Marti Oakley (c)Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
___________________
“As with USDA and FDA, this presumption will target farms, small businesses and independents and drive them out of business while blithely ignoring the real cause of any threat of greenhouse gasses by multi-national corporate contractors who openly engage these corporate federal agencies and buy their way through the system.”
________________________
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now using the same propaganda protocol as the USDA and FDA along with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and claiming a “presumption of authority”. The idea here is to put the presumption claim into the public consciousness as “fact”. That which is not rebutted, even if it is a fiction, stands as (fact) in the eyes of the law.
When dealing with any presumptions of authority by any state or federal agency, look to the law that was the catalyst for either creating the agency, or directing its actions. Neither state nor federal agency is allowed to act outside of the legislative intent. And, even if they are acting within legislative intent, that intent cannot abrogate or violate your rights. To do so makes the creating law itself void on its inception. More
Marti Oakley (c) coyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
_________
Photo by Laura Leigh
The Bureau of Land Management has just announced that it will close the Indian Lake Roads holding pens to public visits beginning in June. Apparently the documentation of the horrendous conditions at the facility and the deteriorating condition of the horses including multiple deaths, poor food, lack of shelter and the climbing death rate of foals (which the BLM does not count in its inventory) is just too much of a hassle for them. More
This is part 1 of a series of how ideas from a “team” of 10 BLM employees go from conference calls and an Alternate Management Options plan (the background in this article), to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, to becoming Ken Salazar’s “new plan” for our wild horses.
Debbie Coffey(c) copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BLM “team” conference calls and Alternate Management Options were obtained by the Freedom of Information Act by The Conquistador Program, a non-profit equine welfare organization in Phoenix, AZ (link below). This article consists of direct quotes of BLM team conference call notes and quotes from the Alternate Management Options (italicized). My comments are (in red).
PART 1: THE BLM IS COLLUDING AND CONSPIRING AGAINST WILD HORSES, AND YOU
By Debbie Coffey
The Bureau of Land Management is deceiving the American public with their plan to eliminate all of our publicly owned wild horses off of our publicly owned lands. And, they want your taxpayer dollars to pay for “counseling for employees and contractors that have to euthanize healthy horses because it is very stressful”! (boohoo) More
RENO, Nev. – A Nevada district attorney is considering whether to file criminal charges against federal land managers who are accused by animal rights activists of mistreating wild horses in a roundup.
Churchill County Sheriff Richard Ingram said his department began an investigation May 20 after an activist filed a complaint alleging that mustangs were abused and neglected at a holding facility.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials confirmed that 83 of some 1,900 horses brought there in a government roundup have died. More
Calico Wild Horse Lawsuit Dismissed on Technicality, not Merits;
Government Evades Ruling on Illegality of Warehousing Wild Horses in the Midwest
Plaintiffs Promise To Continue Fight to Halt BLM Illegal Practices
Washington, D.C. (May 24, 2010) — Today, the Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court in Washington DC, dismissed on standing and mootness the lawsuit brought against U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) by animal protection organization In Defense of Animals (IDA), wildlife ecologist Craig Downer and children’s author Terri Farley. The Calico wild horse lawsuit has drawn intense public scrutiny to the government’s wild horse program and its routine policy of removing wild horses from their native western range on public lands and stockpiling them in long-term holding facilities in the Midwest, costing taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars annually.
The Calico lawsuit, filed pro bono by the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney (BIR), sought to stop the roundup of a proposed 2,500 wild horses from the half-million (500,000) acre herd management area complex, which is comprised primarily of publicly-owned lands. In a preliminary ruling, the Court agreed that the the government’s practice of sending wild horses to the Midwest and warehousing them in long-term holding facilities as likely illegal.More
Result of BLM’s lack of care – Photo by Laura Leigh
Fallon, NV (May 21, 2010)—On Sunday, May 16th, visitors and humane observers to the government holding pens in Fallon, Nevada found injured wild horses and photographed a starving, emaciated colt among the 2,100 mustangs. The young colt had clearly been struggling for multiple days and was not placed in a hospital pen with his mother. Advocates alerted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) staff to the colt’s poor condition. After the facility closed the only veterinarian, responsible for the care of over 3,000 horses at two BLM facilities, was called in and euthanized the colt. The Washoe County Sheriff is currently investigating multiple incidences of animal abuse at the Fallon Facility.
R.T. Fitch Author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart”
“Salazar then comes along and suggests a hair brained idea of buying/leasing land in the mid-west to ship all the horses to so that Americans can watch them die after being sterilized.”
Salazar Takes His Reign of Ineptitude to the High Seas
The Wild Horse advocates and Environmentalists have been screaming it for the past year and no one has listened, nothing has changed except that conditions have worsened. The Obama Administration’s selection of Ken Salazar to the position of Secretary of the Department of Interior has been in question since the day of his appointment. Muddled in rumors of collusion and ineptitude Salazar, a rancher by trade, has made it his hallmark to bumble and stumble his way through mismanaging his federal agency while ignoring congressional inquiries and public opinion.
The Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has accelerated their attack on native, American wild horses to the point that over 35,000 are now held in long term pens to which the taxpayer pays a hefty price to maintain. (they cost nothing left alone on their native, congressionally protected soil). Salazar then comes along and suggests a hair brained idea of buying/leasing land in the mid-west to ship all the horses to so that Americans can watch them die after being sterilized. (Great plan; why not save a billion or two and allow them to stay on the land that congress designated to them {ROAM Act} where they have been doing just fine for hundreds of years?) More
“approximately one-third of all castrations develop some form of post-surgical complication, and these complications constitute the number one reason of malpractice claims against North American veterinarians.” The 1800-plus mustangs in Fallon are under the watch of only one veterinarian and castrated males, in obvious pain with swollen scrotums, receive no pain medication or post-surgical care.
Stop the roundups and respect our wild mothers
WASHINGTON D.C. (May 4, 2010) ―The American wild horse crisis is filled with issues of animal cruelty and the world looks on and asks, “Why?”. Currently the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding over 1800 captured Calico mustangs at a privately owned, feedlot-style facility in Fallon, Nevada. The manure-strewn pens have become a makeshift nursery for captured mares now giving birth without cover or protection from the elements. In honor of America’s wild horse mares and their foals, International Fund for Horses and The Cloud Foundation launch a letter writing campaign First Lady Michelle Obama this Mother’s Day, requesting a moratorium on roundups in the American West.
“The American public is no longer buying the false claims by the BLM that wild horses are starving and must be removed from the range,” states Vivian Grant, President of the Int’l Fund for Horses. “Time after time we see healthy wild horses being rounded up by the BLM and tragically it is the mares and their newborn or unborn foals who pay the highest price.” More than 40 late term abortions and 87 adult horse deaths have occurred as a result of the stressful helicopter roundup in northwestern Nevada in the dead of winter.
While the Calico mustang mothers and their newborns continue to be held in the dusty corrals, their sons are being castrated without proper pain medication or medical oversight. More
The Cloud Foundation Takes Action with Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses 47% of wild horse and burro herds have been zeroed out by BLM since 1971
Colorado Springs, CO (April 29, 2010)—Today the Cloud Foundation launches Herd-Watch, an innovative volunteer program to monitor wild horse and burro herds as well as roundups across the West. The iconic horses and burros are currently being managed to virtual extinction, contrary to the. From this day on, Herd-Watch will: watchdog America’s wild horses and burros, provide increased public visibility, monitor the range conditions and the mustang, burro and livestock numbers as well as keep tabs on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plans for “management” of each treasured American Herd.
“The more the public knows about our wild herds, the more deeply they will care about their preservation. Through Herd-Watch we will educate and inform the public while protecting an American treasure,” explains Project Manager Laura Leigh of Nevada. “Herd-Watch is an exciting and interactive new development facilitating improved protections for our wild herds and, we hope, an improved dialogue with both the BLM and Forest Service.”
A central database will keep tabs on each of America’s remaining 180 herds on public lands in ten Western States and their ranges. According to BLM, in 1971 339 wild herds were designated for protection. Since then the BLM and Forest Service have zeroed out 159 herds, including 12 in Nevada just last year. Volunteer teams will log and catalog data, photos and information following their visits to the range. The Cloud Foundation hopes that BLM and Forest Service officials will welcome the increased interest and monitoring of wild herds at no cost to taxpayers.
Interested members of the public are encouraged to visit www.thecloudfoundation.org to volunteer, donate and learn more.
“Herd-Watch will remove our wild herds from the ranks of the anonymous. Through the work of dedicated volunteers, the public will learn about each amazing herd of wild horses and burros and what can be done to preserve them for all time, as the Wild Horse and Burro Act intended,” states Ginger Kathrens, Cloud Foundation Executive Director and Emmy award-winning producer whose Cloud documentaries have educated a world public about the rich lives of wild horses.
The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
New report on equine stress released as Foundation denied access to view the captured Calico wild horses in Nevada
Reno, NV (April 23, 2010)—Unexpected castrating of captured male mustangs, four years old and younger, by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) started behind closed doors on Friday, April 16th in the Fallon holding pens of Nevada. Many depressed horses with swollen scrotums have been observed. The public understood that the castration of the Calico wild horses would not occur until the In Defense of Animals court case was heard in May as there is a possibility of returning the wild horses to their protected public rangelands. For months, requests for daily monitoring by humane observers have been repetitively denied at the new private facility contracted by the BLM. Now a request to visit the feedlot-style facility by Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens, has been denied as well. Outraged members of the public will hold protests in multiple cities because of the BLM’s lack of transparency and cruel roundups. The first rally is planned for Sunday, April 25th near Las Vegas at Red Rocks Park from 12:00- 2:00 p.m.
“BLM seems determined to create a missing generation of mustangs” states Terri Farley, an award-winning children’s author and a plaintiff in the Calico case. “In their care, 86 horses have died, more than 40 mares have aborted their late term foals and now they’ve castrated an undisclosed number of young stallions.” More
by: Debbie Coffey (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
____________________________________
The Indian Lakes Road/Broken Arrow BLM holding facility where the BLM is holding our wild horses in Nevada has a sign hanging at the entrance:
Troy Adams Broken Arrow USA.
The link to the website for Broken Arrow USA is no longer active. The Broken Arrow Ranch of Lincoln, CA was featured on animal cloning company Bovance’s website .
The sale of Broken Arrow Ranch’s cattle clone was listed at the Denim and Diamonds Sale and the last address in the middle column is: Broken Arrow Angus Ranch, Troy Adams, 345 Karchner Rd,, Lincoln, CA. 95648, phone (916) 645-1924 Pharmaceutical company Geron (www.geron.com) (TX. ViaGen and Trans Ova Genetics (of Sioux Center, Iowa) own Bovance, the animal cloning company (which featured Broken Arrow).
Captured Nevada Mustangs Suffer Pigeon Fever and Degrading Conditions under BLM’s Veil of Secrecy
Newborn horses unaccounted for as BLM denies public observation of Calico wild horses and keeps up closed-door, business-as-usual protocol
Fallon, NV (April 1, 2010)—The public questions the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) ability to care for the more than 1800 captured wild horses in Nevada noting a Pigeon Fever outbreak as well as a growing number of newborn horses not accounted for. It appears that only one licensed veterinarian is caring for thousands of horses in both the Palomino and Fallon feedlot style holding facilities. The BLM denies daily access to the facility by experienced humane observers and chooses to work behind closed doors on private land.
Large chest abscesses due to the highly contagious Pigeon Fever bacterium have been observed by the public and reported at the Fallon Holding Facility in Nevada where the Bureau of Land Management is holding, continuing to brand, process and sort over 1800 captured wild horses on private property at taxpayer expense. More than 81 equine deaths and 40 late term abortions have been recorded to date as the over stressed Calico wild horses wait an uncertain fate in feedlot-style holding pens. More
They came in the bellies of wooden ships back to their place of origin. They came with little water, good food, or ventilation and those too week were discarded overboard into the “Horse Latitudes.” Only the most fit survived.
They conquered those that originally ate them, plowed fields, and helped create a mighty country. One million were sent to fight a World War, 200 came back. Some found their way into the abyss, into a desert land, little water or food. After 500 years they evolved into the American Wild Mustang. The most enduring animal ever.
Their social behavior has made them the very living symbol of American freedom and perseverance. They fought our wars, were made into dog food, farmed, moved people and goods, rodioed, stared in movies. Now the BLM is rounding them up to put them into zoos. Will we see a reflection of our own freedom as we witness them in cages? Once they’re gone, they will be gone forever.
Is our own freedom so fragile that some of us can’t be free to witness them as they are? That some who would profit have rights more important? Do corporations greed over rule even our American symbols? They are more American then any of us or any corporation. I would rather give up my soul then see their demise.
Shocking images of extreme suffering released by USDA
The Humane Society of the United States
USDA
Documents recently released by the United States Department Agriculture (USDA) contain shocking images of the extreme suffering of horses transported to U.S.-based slaughter plants.
Animals’ Angels, a Maryland-based animal protection organization, obtained the photos as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request related to 2005 violations of the Commercial Transport of Equines to Slaughter Act at the former Bel-Tex horse slaughter plant in Kaufman, TX.
Graphic Injuries and Mistreatment
The photos were taken by USDA officials charged with monitoring the horses upon arrival at the slaughter plant. While some of the photos depict graphic injuries obviously suffered in transport to slaughter (eyeballs hanging off, bruised and bloodied faces, severely injured and missing legs), others show horses who were clearly mistreated by their owners prior to being purchased for and transported to slaughter.
“For far too long, the availability of horse slaughter has allowed unscrupulous horse owners and breeders to use slaughter auctions as a dumping ground for their “excess” horses. It is time for the horse industry to take responsibility for its horses—for their entire lives—instead of hiding behind a foreign owned industry that preys on our companion animals,” said Keith Dane, director of equine protection for The Humane Society of the United States.
In its 1996 Farm Bill, Congress gave the USDA authority to regulate the transport of horses to U.S. based, foreign-owned slaughter plants. The final rule, which was not published until 2001, included a phase out of the use of double-decker trailers to transport horses directly to slaughter.
However, a loophole in the law allows horses to be transported to any other destination, such as auctions, feed lots or intermediary points, on these cramped, dangerous trailers, meant for shorter neck species like cattle and pigs. When forced to travel on these trailers, horses cannot balance properly, causing them to suffer serious injuries, and sometimes death, before arriving at the slaughter plant. Many of the USDA photos depict injuries typical of horses forced to travel on double-decker trailers—severe head injuries, gaping hindquarter wounds, and leg injuries.
The Bureau of Land Management…..another for-profit federal corporation. Personally, I think we should round them up and hunt them down on horseback, drive them into holding pens and leave them exposed to the elements, starve them, make them thirst for water or just eliminate them altogether. All of this is being done to our wild horses to benefit corporate ranchers and the Ruby Pipeline. Any thing for the almighty dollar and corporate profits. … Marti
America’s wild horses are in jeopardy! Disappointment Valley exposes mismanagement and corruption within the Bureau of Land Management.
Here’s how you can help:
1) Call President Obama (202-456-1111) and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (202-208-3100). Demand a Congressional investigation into the Bureau of Land Management. Ask for independent studies on statistics of the wild horses and do NOT rely on the BLM statistics. They are flawed and misrepresent the truth.
3) Share this video and information with friends and family. Most people don’t know wild horses still roam the west, let alone they are being rounded up and slaughtered. The public has fought to support these horses in the past. We can do it again! The more people who become aware of the issue, the better chance they have for survival.
“The BLM mismanages our public lands for one reason: to benefit commercial interests, such as cattle ranchers and other industries that exploit our lands and profit from the removal of the horses,” Katz continued.
_________________________________________________
Sacramento Horse Advocates Hold Rally Against Wild Horse Roundups
Sacramento, Calif (January 19)— Wild horse advocates from In Defense of Animals (IDA), The Cloud Foundation, and other members of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign Coalition, will hold a rally Thursday, January 21, at 11 a.m. in front of the State Capitol Building, to call attention to the Obama Administration’s massive roundup and removal of wild horses from public lands in the West. The largest of such roundups is currently underway in the Calico Mountains Complex, known as the National System of Public Lands, in northwestern Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is removing over 2,500 horses, or 80 to 90 percent of the horses living in the Calico Complex. To date, four horses have died in the Calico roundup, which began on December 28 and continues through February.
What: Rally for America’s Wild Horses
Where: State Capitol, 10th Street between L and N
When: Thursday, January 21, 2010, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Press Conference at 12 noon
“The environmental assessment, which led the BLM to conclude that the horses should be removed, was wholly inadequate,” explains Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the Cloud Foundation. “BLM did not analyze the impacts of cattle grazing in the Calico Complex. When asked why, the agency said ‘this issue is outside of the scope of this environmental analysis.’ How convenient then, that wild horses can be blamed for range damage, and then removed at a cost of millions to the American taxpayer.” More
BLM’s double-standards leave nearly 1000 captured mustangs in the cold
Fallon, NV (January 19, 2010)— 956 wild American mustangs rounded up off public land by helicopters in the past two weeks now stand in a feedlot-style Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracted holding facility outside of Fallon, Nevada on private land. The new Fallon facility is not equipped with shelter, windbreaks or protection of any kind for the horses. High winds, rain and snow are expected to continue through the end of the week. In Calico, herds can move to sheltered canyons for protection from the harsh winter weather. Yet, in Fallon, they are deprived of adequate protection despite recommendations from wild horse advocates. This is in direct opposition to BLM’s own standards.
“I’m confused by the double standard. Before members of the public are allowed to adopt a wild horse from BLM we must prove we have adequate shelter. Why doesn’t BLM have to meet the same standards?” asks Ann Evans, adopter of three mustangs.
Yesterday, members of the public reported an inhumane lack of windbreaks. No apparent effort has been made to tie canvas tarps on fences to block the howling wind and the anticipated driving snow. On Friday January 15, advocates asked local Nevada BLM staff, Directors and top-level Department of Interior (DOI) under-secretaries to intervene on behalf of the horses by creating wind blocks. More
“If BLM cares so much about the ecological balance, it would not be enabling the Ruby gas pipeline to rip the public wild lands and watersheds here apart,” says Fite adding, “The horses, sage-grouse, antelope and everything else are caught in the crosshairs of BLM selling out the public lands that belong to all Americans—to ranchers and big energy interests.”
Wild Horse Protests Follow the Money to New York City
New York City, NY (January 14, 2010)—Wild horse and burro advocates demand immediate investigations of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program as well as a moratorium on roundups, until sustainable management practices are implemented to protect the American wild horses in the West. Protesters will gather on Sunday, January 17 from 1 P.M. to 3 P.M. at Columbus Circle (59th St at Central Park S). The press conference will be held at 2 P.M. The public objects to BLM’s removal of wild horses for fast tracked energy deals on public land in the West, such as the Ruby Pipeline, and objects to schemes to subsidize corporate welfare ranchers.
“The Roundups must stop. The destruction of public land must stop. Government agencies and private corporations must be held accountable and must safeguard wildlife—not eliminate it,” says Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation (named for the famous wild horse Kathrens has documented for the PBS/Nature series)
Members of the public are furious that the BLM continues roundups despite Federal D.C. District Court Judge Paul Friedman’s recommendation that BLM postpone Calico until the issue of out of state transport and long term holding can be decided. More
All rights reserved. No reproduction or distributing in part or in whole without permission of the author. ppj2@hush.com
“What the BLM DOESN’T TELL YOU, is that it fences off the wild horses from access to the sources of natural water and good forage. The BLM has been inappropriately favoring cattle by allowing the use of our public land for grazing for over 4 million head of privately owned livestock (while at the same time reducing land and sources of water and forage for wild horses). Isn’t this “stacking the deck?”___________________________________________________
I read an article in the New York Times a few months ago about the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) removing thousands of wild mustangs from our public lands. Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior, said this was done because of “out-of-control populations of wild horses” and to protect public lands. Shelly Sawhook, President of the American Horse Defense Fund, was skeptical. The BLM has taken over 20 million acres of federal habitat away from the wild horses and burros.
This made me wonder about a couple of things, too. There are 2-6 million feral pigs, each weighing 500-750 lbs., running loose in rural and urban areas in 44 states. The feral pigs have caused $800 million in damages. They cause 27,000 auto collisions annually, have been digging up cemeteries and landscaping, and have attacked people. Why isn’t the BLM rounding up the “out-of-control populations” of wild pigs?
We have less than 25,000 wild horses left on public lands and they aren’t bothering anyone. But the BLM has helicopters chasing them down in the dead of winter.
The PPJ Gazette 
