Thursday, March 19, 2009

from Madeleine Pickens via Terri to YOU

33,000 Wild Horses at Risk: Contact Interior Secretary Salazar Now!

Dear Friends,

Can you help us stop the mass murder and imprisoning of thousands of wild horses & burros?

Just two weeks ago, we received the surprise announcement that the million-acre sanctuary proposed for Madeleine Pickens for the 30,000 wild horses and burros held in captivity by US authorities has hit a snag.

The National Wild Horse Foundation founded by Madeleine Pickens to help drive the proposal has been told by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that federal land being considered for part of the sanctuary cannot be used because the government does not want wild horses in areas where they did not exist when the Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act was enacted.

This is OUR backyard and we CAN stop it. Click here to contact Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) created the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act in 1971. The Act was created with the hope of managing healthy herds of wild horses and burros on healthy Western rangelands. A key responsibility of the BLM is to determine the appropriate management level of these wonderful animals, insuring a balanced existence with other public rangeland resources and uses.

This means, 33,000 symbols of the Western spirit will be harshly reduced or contained.

The BLM's main reason? They believe wild horses and burros consume unfair amounts of forage on BLM land. On March 3, 2009, it was stated by a BLM representative that the forage depletion on public lands leaves cattle with nothing to eat. Contrary to that statement, a Wild Horse Ecologist, Craig C. Downer, of Nevada, stated in his speech (Wild Horse Speech With Tables And Charts, Wild Horse Summit, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2008) that wild horses and burros only consume a mere 5.6% of the forage consumed by livestock on BLM land. In order to restore the 'needed balance,' thousands of these innocent wild horses and burros are 'gathered' from the public rangelands on a yearly basis. They are held in captivity, which is costly, and then offered up for sale and adoption to individuals or groups who are in a position to be 'providing a humanitarian home.' The ones who are not taken are slaughtered.

Can WE just stand still and do nothing?

The use of the word 'gather' is a grossly underestimated term of the word. This isn't a kumbaya moment with ranchers herding wild horses and burros over a period of a few days or weeks, with campfires and sleeping under the stars until they all reach their final destination. It's done violently with helicopters. In James Kleinert's classic DVD "Saving America's Horses," the images of round-ups with helicopters are brutal, horrific, and depict animal deaths occurring from stress and foals getting trampled, while others suffer vicious limb breaks.

A business plan proposed by Madeleine Pickens and the National Wild Horse Foundation has been set forth to save the Government approximately $1 billion over a decade while 'providing a humanitarian home' for these 33,000 horses in captivity. The expected holding costs for the BLM in 2009 are $33 million, and in 2014 it is estimated to be $85 million. Madeleine Pickens' plan to form a single very large wild horse and burro sanctuary would save taxpayers as much as $700 million, which would otherwise be used on holding pens and pastures until 2020. This business plan will help unravel the problem that the BLM has created in gathering horses off the range land at the tax payers expense.

Can YOU just stand still and do nothing? Click here to contact Secretary Ken Salazar.
Stop this trail of carnage and public waste! The National Wild Horse Foundation needs your help before it's too late to save these magnificent animals and a part of our American heritage.

With Gratitude,
Madeleine Pickens
President
National Wild Horse Foundation

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:45 PM

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Comments: That is HORRIBLE! What can we do to help?

p.s. the thing that says "click here" isnt working
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