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Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Yes They Can: Bureau of Land Management Is Authorized to Kill Healthy Wild Horses
It's tempting to think the headlines are just Internet hoopla.Is the West's Wild Horse Crisis So Bad Only Euthanasia Can Fix It?US govt will slaughter 45,000 wild horses, making room for cattleBLM Wild Horse Advisory Board Proposes Euthanasia of MustangsIsn't it lucky you're smart enough to just roll your eyes and feel a twinge of pity (or superiority) because animal nuts are allowing their bleeding hearts to be broken by yet another hoax?Fact: The Bureau of Land Management's advisory board voted 7-1 to dispose of thousands of wild horses and burros which have been rounded up, then warehoused in pens around the U.S.Not this time. But they can't do that, can they? Don't they need Congressional approval? Fact: They already have it.
"The
Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
(Public Law 92-195) Amendments in Bold
Section 3
2c The Secretary [of the Interior] shall
cause additional excess* wild free roaming horses and burros for which an
adoption demand by qualified individuals does not exist to be destroyed in the
most humane and cost efficient manner possible."
I added the asterisk because of the creative writing used in defining "excess." Part (1) of Section 2 is a true Catch 22. If a wild horse is rounded up, she becomes "excess." Section 2 f "excess animals" means wild free-roaming horses or burros (1) which have been removed from an area by the Secretary pursuant to application law or, (2) which must be removed from an area in order to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship in that area." http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm Another section says wild horses can be sold "without limitation." That's a shortcut to slaughter. The wild mare Ghost Dancer came to me that way, so I've read her BLM paperwork. It says I'm discouraged from reselling her for commercial (meat) purposes, but I am not forbidden to do so. And neither is BLM. If you disagree with the advisory board which speaks for you, as a member of the public, email these BLM administrators: Neil Kornze nkornze@blm.gov, Dean Bolstad dbolstad@blm.gov
Labels: 000, 44, 45, Amendments, BLM, BLM Advisory Board, Dean Bolstad, euthanasia, foal, mustang, Neil Kornze, slaughter, vote, Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 1:20 PM 0 comments  
Monday, June 27, 2016 Where's Mama? : What Happens to Foals After a Wild Horse Roundup  WASHINGTON, DC (June 23, 2016 ) Republicans on the Federal Lands Sub-Committee launched a plan for the extinction of America's wild horses. Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming purred that euthanasia is "such a lovely way to die." An alternate strategy? Round up 100% of America's wild horses so they won't suffer on the range. Here's what happens to wild foals if they survive roundups. I was at Palomino Valley Wild Horse corrals with photographer Karen Hopple a few years ago when these foals arrived. The first filly out of the contractor's truck tumbled out backward, but kept her balance. Most horses were sorrels, but there were also bays, duns and paler horses, including a palomino.
She and a few others tried to nurse from other foals. This method of self-soothing indicates these babies are too young to be separated from their mothers, even though they met BLM's guidelines for weaning. This is a perversion of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and if you're an American tax-payer, you're paying for it.
Labels: BLM, BLM roundup, contractors, euthanasia, filly, foal, mares, mustang, Palomino Valley, Rep. Cynthia Lummis, weaning, wild horses, Wyoming Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:00 AM 10 comments
Friday, February 13, 2015 Born to Be Wild
MEET THE PHANTOM
STALLION’S SON: RAIN CLOUD
The real Phantom Stallion wasn't alone when he was rounded
up from the Virginia Range of Nevada. His mare Shy and a dark gray colt came with him. All three were saved from slaughter by people with hearts for horses.
A girl named Amber fell in love with the colt and named him Rain Cloud and adopted him.
Rain Cloud stayed in his native Nevada, but his mother and father, the Phantom and Shy were freed into the Wild Horse Sanctuary in California. If you want to see their day of freedom, click here for video
Rain Cloud lived in Nevada even after Amber left for an out-of-state school Amber's mother Margaret took care of the gray colt, who was slowly turning the silvery moon color of his sire. Rain Cloud. He got good food and water, and a domestic mare took over as his substitute
mother.
After a few years, Margaret invited me to meet grown-up Rain Cloud.
By now he was pure white with black mane and tail. He had kind eyes, a proud
stride, and a wild stallion attitude. He reminded me so much of his sire.
In the picture at right, you can see he's turned one ear to catch my voice, but he had no real intention of doing what I asked.
A few months later,Rain
Cloud's substitute-mother mare had died of old age. Rain Cloud was not a happy guy. He needed a wild horse adventure, but he couldn't be set free He needed training to live among humans and he was so lucky
that Palomino Armstrong happened to be in town on the weekend Margaret
decided it would
be best for the grown up colt to go to California with Palomino.
COMING SOON....
Rain Cloud in California or What Do You Mean I'm Not the Boss?
Labels: Chilly Pepper Miracle Mustang, mustang, Palomino Armstrong, phantom stallion, Rain Cloud, Shy, Valentine's Day, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:52 AM 0 comments
Sunday, October 12, 2014 Despite Abuse, Mustang Filly Can Trust
Today I touched Diamond. When I saw the mustang filly in the slaughter ring, neighing for her mother, I didn't think she'd survive the repeated trauma of capture, separation from her family, being dragged by her neck by two men, and being sent to a slaughter auction. Today I touched Diamond at her wild horse home, Wynema Ranch and if I hadn't noticed her flattening ears, she might've taken a nip. I didn't blame her. Diamond was rescued with her family, but her mother didn't survive for long. She has a wonderful home and you can visit her if you like. Read Diamond's story and you'll know why she touched me as I watched this hurt and hounded filly relax, and sling her glossy head over the shoulder of Margie, a volunteer she'd never met before. Our species could learn so much from horses. Terri p.s. Wynema Ranch and Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund needs volunteers to help rescued wild horses Labels: Diamond, foal abuse, Hidden Valley horses, Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund, mustang, Wild horse, Wynema Ranch Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 9:28 PM 8 comments
Monday, September 02, 2013 Ransoming wild horses: The Ft. McDermitt rescue
Ft. McDermitt rescue
Labels: Cat Kindsfather, Cloud Foundation, Ellie Phipps Price, Fort McDermitt, Laura Leigh, Liberty for Horses, Madeline Pickens, mustang, Neda de Mayo, Return to Freedom, Wild horse, Willis Lamm Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 12:12 PM 1 comments
Friday, March 29, 2013 MUSTANG STALLION
Labels: Bo Rodriguez photo, mustang, Rowdy, Virginia Range wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:41 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, January 08, 2013 Who's Going to Kill Your Wild Horses?  "Some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," said Tom Davis, purchaser of 1700 BLM-processed mustangs.
"A livestock auction sale yard does not differentiate
whether a person is a horse lover or a kill buyer that's the unfortunate part
of this," stated Ed Foster, Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA)
spokesman, on a News 4 broadcast in Reno, Nevada.
YES, America's wild horses are going to slaughter. Tomorrow I will attend a slaughter auction and hope to see 41 Nevada mustangs rescued.
But when mustangs lose their lives along with their freedom, who kills your wild horses?
The Poor
> people of color living in low-income
communities
The Stressed
> “at-will” employees
who must under-report accidents, endure unpaid overtime, chronic physical
pain and prolonged psychological detachment to keep their jobs.
> “Employees are very aware of the dangerous nature of their
work. When you combine sharp tools and automated machinery in a high-paced,
crowded environment, injuries are inevitable.”
Food Empowerment Project The Criminal> California Livestock Identification Bureau, reported horse thefts down 30% after passage of a ballot-initiative banning horse slaughter
> When the Belgian-owned Dallas Crown horse slaughter corporation was forced
to close in Kauffman, Texas, crime dropped dramatically: Robberies down 65%
Assaults down 61.7%
Car thefts down
83.3%
Murders and rapes dropped to 0
Labels: Food Empowerment Project, horse slaughter, Kauffman, mustang, Nevada, Nevada Department of Agriculture, Reno, slaughter works, Texas, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:41 PM 1 comments
Thursday, December 13, 2012 FOR THE LOVE OF WILD HORSES For the love of wild horses...
By Susan Skorupa, Reno Gazette JournalIt seems like poetic justice -- or at least good karma -- that novelist and wild-horse advocate Terri Farley ended up living in Nevada.As a girl in Southern California, the future author of the 24-book Phantom Stallion young-adult book series learned to ride despite a severe allergy to horses. By the time she was 8 years old, she was writing about horses, pecking out her first story -- about a wild pinto named Pagan -- on her grandmother's Selectric typewriter.As an adult, she moved to Reno with her husband, journalist Cory Farley, where one of the first people she met was Wildhorse Annie -- real name Velma Johnston -- a fellow horse advocate who died in 1977.
Today, Farley continues to write and to champion wild horses. Her efforts include being a party in a lawsuit filed last year, but later dismissed, aimed at stopping a U.S. Bureau of Land Management practice of rounding up wild horses and moving them to long-term holding facilities. Where did your love of horses come from? Part of it was, I lived in suburban Los Angeles. I did not get around horses often. I was practically terminally allergic to things with hair. Once a month, my parents took me to a stable. Between the hay, dust and the horses, I would end up in the emergency room. They (my parents) would suffer with me. I outgrew that, and began to hang around horses more. What came first, the advocacy for wild horses or the book series? I'd always cared for wild horses "» so one grew out of the other. When we moved here, I realized this was the wild horse capital of the world. They were not that far away; I could actually go out and see them. When writing romance stories, there were threads of the horse subplots. My agent said, "That's what you should write about. You can go see them, then you can write about them as something symbolic."
I understand the your fans keep in contact with you on wild horse issues through mail, email and other electronic media. I love it. I guess if I had a legacy in books and horses, it would not be a bad one. They (young readers) are ready to take action. I have a blog, a newsletter, 3,000 are on it. "» Kids can see they don't have to just stand and complain. They can do something. If that becomes a habit (for them), that will make me very happy. PhantomStallion.com Select, Sample, Purchase books: PHANTOM STALLION : http://amzn.to/Z3GJQt Labels: BLM, love of horses, Melissa Farlow, mustang, phantom stallion, round-ups, terri farley, Velma Johnston, wild horse Annie, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:29 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 BLM: TELL THE TRUTH & YOU WON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER THE LIES  photo by SacBee photographer LEZLIE STERLING A white stallion looks over his wild mustang mares on Bureau of Land Management land near Susanville. Dear Readers, Despite the hot weather deaths of this weekend, BLM still plans to round up 6,000 wild horses by summer's end. The BLM said it plans to conduct the summertime "gather" of 2,300 horses and 280 burros from the Twin Peaks area in northern California (home to the small herd in the photo above) to avoid doing it later in the fall, when it would conflict with deer hunting season. Readers, I guess I'm getting suspicious and skeptical because I just bet the reason for this round-up will change before long. BLM will say they're "gathering" for the horses' own good, or range protection, just as the Tuscarora horses were dying of thirst this week. Last week the Tuscarora mustangs were being gathered for knocking down fences. BLM, here's a tip: TELL THE TRUTH AND YOU WON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER THE LIES. Hugs to you with humane hearts, Terri Labels: BLM death statistics, deer hunting, knocking down fences, mustang, Twin Peaks, wild horse deaths Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 7:03 PM 3 comments
Monday, April 05, 2010 Ghost Dancer: still there Dear Readers, The Medicine Hat mare with the magnetic mood is still at the Indian Lakes BLM holding facility in Fallon. She's shown here, photographed by Mark Terrell, just a few weeks after capture.  In these two photos -- one by Craig Downer and the other by Tara Kain -- she's been put in a pneumatic cage,vaccinated, hung with a red rope and numbered tag, then neck branded. You can see the freeze brand on her neck if you look closely. It will be there forever. She looks thinner, even though food is delivered at the fence.  I'm calling this mustang Ghost Dancer because she once roamed Native American lands and the Ghost Dance ceremony was one of rebirth. That's what I wish for these horses, a return to the range where their spirits can run free again.  Best to you all, Terri Labels: Craig Downer, Fallon, Indian Lakes, Medicine Hat, mustang, terri farley, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:52 AM 4 comments
Friday, March 26, 2010 Fallon Foal Death  Mare stands guard over new foal, photo by Tara Kain There's a new set of hooves in Heaven. BLM's death tally for the week doesn't show what happened. However, visitors are allowed to tour the tax payer funded Indian Lakes wild horse facility. It's land-locked inside a private ranch in Fallon, Nevada, but opened once each week by reservation only for two hours. Three observers from the CalNeva Cloud Foundation and photographer Cat, visited Sunday, March 21 and took photos, video and notes. Saturday, March 20 a pale dun foal is born to a buckskin mare Sunday, March 21 11:00 Members of the public arrive to tour the Fallon facility. Director John Neill is their guide and he waits for a late arrival 11:37 tour begins 11:45 visitors observe buckskin mare and newborn foal in a pen with other adult horses. Foal looks like "he had melted into the contours of the ground" according to one observer and Mr. Neill said the foal was a weak newborn from the night before. 12:30? Sometime during the tour, members of the public notice a nursery pen with just six mare and foal pairs inside and wonder why the buckskin and her foal aren't with them*  (RIGHT: As adult horses move, mare makes a protective barricade of her body, photo by Tara Kain) 1:45 Tour ends, passing by the buckskin mare and her foal. Mr. Neill agreed with visitors that foal might be sick and indicated he would check on it. If necessary, a vet would be called. He added that volunteers from WHOA might be asked to bottle feed the foal if it couldn't rise to nurse. 2:00 as observers depart, foal is still down. Monday, March 22 no deaths are listed on the BLM's facility update, so CalNeva Cloud observers hope for the best Tuesday, March 23 9:55 am Still no deaths listed for the weekend**, but one observer calls and talks to John Neill who says "the colt was euthanized." She understands Neill to say the vet had determined the colt had a broken femur and must have been kicked. The caller commented, "Oh, that's why he never got up." Neill replied, "No, he was up that morning nursing." Sometime after that, he speculated, the colt must've been kicked." Neill said the foal was destroyed via chemical injection.  (with freedom tantalizingly close, mare urges foal to rise and nurse, photo by Tara Kain) Friday, March 26 I reached John Neill at Palomino Valley wild horse corrals and he answered my questions about the Medicine Hat stallion I've told you about before and this foal. He clarified two points from the timeline above: * "Once we know the colt's strong, we put them in the nursery pen" along with their mothers ** Live births are not entered into BLM's system until horses have been freeze-branded, which takes place after four or more months. Since foals delivered "in facility" are not listed as born, they are not listed as dead. So, they are not posted on BLM's online Calico Round-up updates. John Neill described the last hour of the little dun's life. "He was down during the tour. Afterward I went out to check on him and he was packing a right hind leg and he had to be put down." "When did the vet come?" I asked. "He didn't." "Was it a compound fracture so that you could see it was broken?" John answered, "I could just tell, so I took care of it." After our call ended, my English teacher brain flashed to "I am cruel only to be kind." Hamlet, I remembered, and knew that if I were watching over a newborn foal with a fatally fractured femur, I would not want it to suffer. But "Hamlet" ends with a stage strewn with corpses. I tried to get confirmation that such a leg injury is easily diagnosed, but the two vets I consulted disagreed on both diagnosis and prognosis. John Neill told me "We have births daily and if something happens like this or there's a bad mother, we can't track them all accurately." Is it fair to the public that our mustang foals are born and die without notice? This is not Neill's decision; it is BLM policy. As with so many other BLM policies, the numbering of lives and deaths are rough estimates. That's wrong. There are no disposable mustangs. Taxpayers have no disposable income, especially for a system they hate. There must be a moratorium on the capture of our wild horses, before a ruined system erases an entire species. Labels: BLM, Fallon, helicopter roundups, Indian Lakes, mustang, wild horse deaths, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 1:17 PM 5 comments
Saturday, February 20, 2010 Saving a Stallion  photo by Mark Terrell Wild Horses of Nevada Dear Readers, I'm in love with this horse, a Medicine Hat stallion, captive at BLM's Fallon corrals. Although I have very mixed feelings about naming wild horses, in my imagination he has a name. And a story. During the last two days I've been writing it. I can't seem to stop. I hope to keep track of him and see that he's set free in the spring. Do you know any stories about Medicine Hat horses? Please respond to this blog post if you do, and we can share what you know with other readers. Best to you, Terri Labels: BLM, Eagle Lakes, Fallon, Medicine Hat, mustang, phantom stallion, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 10:25 AM 8 comments
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Press Release on Nevada Wild Horse Killings  For Immediate Release Naturalist Filmmaker Ginger Kathrens along with Authors Deanne Stillman and Terri Farley Release Statements about the Nevada Wild Horse Killings and BLM’s Reward 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act Must Be Upheld Reno, NV (December 22, 2009)—The Cloud Foundation along with authors Deanne Stillman and Terri Farley release statements to the press about the killing of six American wild horses in Washoe County, NV discovered during the recent unannounced Buckhorn roundup during the first week in December. These concerned citizens comment on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) responsibilities to protect American wild horses as well as their recent $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers. "I am heartened that Director Abbey is offering this large reward. Wild horses and burros are valuable members of our western ecosystems and whoever committed these crimes should be brought to justice." —Ginger Kathrens, Naturalist and Emmy-award winning filmmaker- creator of the popular PBS Cloud Wild Horse Documentaries "I'm saddened by the mustangs' deaths and hope BLM stands up for our remaining mustangs in the wild" —Terri Farley, author of the "Phantom Stallion" wild horse series "These killings have been going on for decades and are all about our ongoing war against the mustang. The question we must ask ourselves as Americans is this: why are we, a cowboy nation, destroying the horse we rode in on? Now, in this holiday season, the question is more urgent than ever, as we recall the 34 wild horses that were gunned down outside Reno at Christmas of 1998 and once again, mourn the martyrdom of yet more mustangs in their homeland—the West." —Deanne Stillman, author of "Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West"
Labels: BLM reward, Cloud, Deanne Stillman, Ginger Kathrens, mustang, Nevada, phantom stallion, terri farley, Wild horse killings Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 8:43 AM 1 comments
Saturday, December 12, 2009 Stealth Round-Up during BLM Meeting  Huddled horses in BLM corrals were rounded-up while I was in the Monday meeting; now they have no shelter, no windbreaks Dear Readers, On Monday, >BLM said the ratio of livestock to horses is: 8,000,000,000 / 30 000 but still blamed wild horses for range damage >BLM brushed aside communications from Americans who want mustangs to run free. Saying people are ill-informed, BLM insists entrapment,capture and confinement best serve the wild horses >BLM wild horse advisory board would not agree to read even a few of your letters >While a snowstorm raged outside, during the hours BLM insisted the public and humane observers were always welcome to watch gathers, BLM had helicopters in the air, making a stealth round up of horses slated for capture in August 2010. At least one mare was killed and other horses, including a number of foals, were injured. Right this minute, those horses stand in corrals -- as shown above -- without shelter or even windbreaks. Brynna, one of my favorite PHANTOM STALLION characters, was a BLM staffer, and I've dedicated books to real BLM staffers, but the Bureau is running amok and using my money to do it. Even if their actions are technically legal, they are sneaky and shady. So, I'm now a plaintiff in a lawsuit to stop the BLM's roundup of the Calico horses. On Wednesday, I'll be sitting in a Washington, D.C. court room listening as BLM and Safari Club International fight for the capture and transport of wild horses to "preserves" where they]ll live in "non-reproducing herds." That means there will be no foals. Soon enough, they'll be "preserving" nothing; they will be empty. Yes, life is tough for America's wild horses, but you're standing up for them and I'm standing up for them and you. More later, Terri Labels: BLM, mustang, phantom stallion, Safari Club, terri farley, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 7:58 PM 5 comments
Tuesday, December 08, 2009 A guest blogger???  Hi everybody, This is Matt, Terri's son. My mom's busy battling the BLM right now, but I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to read the article The Associated Press did about the government's plan to round up 25,000 wild horses and ship them off to uncertain fates in the East and Midwest. I'm not nearly as much of a horse person as my mom is, but earlier this year, she and I took a bunch of writers and publishing people to check out a herd of wild horses in the desert near Dayton, Nevada. I was a lot more excited about going off-roading and hanging out with some of the young female writers than I was about actually seeing the animals (because, let's be honest, when Terri Farley's your mom, you see a lot of horses (-: ), but either way, it seemed like a good way to spend a Sunday morning. If you haven't seen wild horses before, it's tough to explain why it was so cool to walk among them. As I mentioned, I've been around plenty of livestock and am not much impressed by most of it, but wild horses are about as close to the ponies at the fair as a red fox is to your wiener dog. Up close, they seem to be about 80 percent horse and 20 percent woolly mammoth. Their caveman dreadlocks alone are worth the trip. We all walked right up near them (they'll let you know if you get too close, believe me) and just watched for a while. The New York publishing folks' minds were blown, and I wasn't far from joining them. You think of creatures like as being pretend, or so foreign that they might as well be, like Bengal tigers or monitor lizards. But no, they just hang out in the West's deserts, and unlike tigers, they don't bother anybody. At worst, they run away if you're bugging them. You can (and should) go see them sometime, assuming they're still around. That sounds overly dramatic, but it isn't, really. If the BLM's plan goes through as written, the wild horses will be precious few and far between. I can't get into the facts and figures the way my mom does, but I was a reporter for five years, and I can share a couple of things that might help you make your mind up about the BLM's plan: 1. It will be a difficult and expensive project that will result in the deaths of at least some of the horses. That's all par for the course when forcing wild animals to do things. 2. It is not clear how the horses will adapt to their new homes, nor that they won't have to be moved again at some point. 3. There is little if any actual, independent evidence that the wild horses need to be relocated at all, at least for the reasons the BLM has put forth (overpopulation and starvation). The BLM hasn't kept proper track of the horses for years due to budget concerns, and yet they claim to know exactly how much the horses are eating and how fast they're breeding? As a reporter, I'm going to have to say: Citation needed. A full study would, one assumes, cost a lot less than hunting and trapping 25,000 animals and shipping them across the country. Maybe we ought to give that a try first. Anyway, here's the link if you missed it the first time: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/08/us/AP-US-Wild-Horses.html?pagewanted=all . Please link to this page and encourage your local reporter or blogger to investigate this story and how it applies to you. And most of all, if you oppose the BLM's plan, act NOW in real life. Don't know how? Just ask Terri. Thanks for reading, Matt Labels: mustang, Nevada, phantom stallion, terri farley, wild horses, young adult Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 8:41 PM 7 comments
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