Opposition Grows for California Roundup of 2,500 Wild Mustangs and Burros

Contacts:                

Makendra Silverman 

Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org 

Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak

Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org

Tel: 415-531-8454

“Despite growing public outrage over BLM’s continuing massive roundups, which condemn wild horses to a life of confinement at taxpayer expense, BLM is expected to select alternative A (removing the maximum number of wild horses and burros) while allowing thousands of head of livestock to dominant the range. “

For Immediate Release:

Opposition Grows for California Roundup of 2,500 Wild Mustangs and Burros

Northern CA Twin Peaks herd is targeted for a destructive multi-million dollar summer roundup

San Francisco, CA (July 7, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation opposes and is calling for a stop to the proposed roundup of over 2,500 mustangs and burros from one of the last viable herds in California. To avoid conflicting with deer hunting season, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to unleash contracted helicopters in the August heat to round up 2,500 mustangs and burros, including their young foals, from the Twin Peaks Range near Susanville. Vastly outnumbered by thousands of corporate-owned destructive livestock, the public’s wild horses and burros are the BLM’s scapegoats for damage on the range. Over 2,000 are now slated for removal despite healthy range conditions and an outdated census. 

BLM manipulating wild herd counts and resource data

Debbie Coffey (c) 2010 All Rights Reserved

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June 18, 2010

Dayne Barron, Field Manager

Eagle Lake Field Office

Bureau of Land Management

2950 Riverside Drive

Susanville, CA 96130

twinpeaks@ca.blm.gov

RE: Twin Peaks Environmental Assessment

DOI-BLM-CA-N050-2010-05-EA

Dear Mr. Barron:

After attending the Eagle Lake field Office public tour of the Twin Peaks area on June 14, 2010, and also reviewing the Twin Peaks Environmental Assessment, I am submitting this public comment (my comments are in bold type):

Foremost, I want to say that YOU ARE REMOVING THE LAST BIG HERD OF WILD HORSES FROM CALIFORNIA. I DON’T THINK ONE WORD IN YOUR 158 PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT CAN JUSTIFY THIS.

The Twin Peaks EA states the reason for the gathers is to remove excess wild horses.

On our 5 hour public tour June 14, 2010, we (the public) observed less than 20 horses and only 1 foal in at least 3 hours on back dirt roads in which thousands of acres were clearly visible from the road. I think at your prior public tour, the number of horses sighted were 30 something. Where are all the “excess wild horses”?