Sheryl Crow Asks President Obama & Secretary Salazar
to Stop the Assault on America's Wild Horses and Burros
Actors Ed Harris,
Wendie Malick, and Over 100 Organizations Demand Roundup Moratorium, Protesting
Nevada's Calico Complex Roundup to begin December 1
COLORADO SPRINGS, Co.
(November 20, 2009)--Sheryl Crow speaks out for the wild horses and burros on America's public lands in the west. The multi-GRAMMY--winning singer-songwriter
and mustang owner joins The Cloud Foundation, over 130 organizations,
scientists, authors and celebrity supporters calling on President Obama, Members
of Congress and the Department of Interior to place an immediate moratorium on
all wild horse and burro roundups until a long-term and humane policy to manage
the animals is developed.
'With one voice we are insisting that our
government stop managing these beautiful and important animals to extinction'
'Sheryl Crow
The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) removal plan for Nevada's
Calico Complex wild mustangs is fueling outrage across the country and
internationally. In a unified sign-on letter (full text below), wild horse
supporters outline their opposition to the Obama Administration's October 7,
2009 announcement http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/100709.html
regarding the management of wild horses and burros. Groups oppose moving 26,000
wild horses to purchased lands in the east and the current government practice
of removing entire wild horse and burros herds from public lands specifically
designated for the animals by Congress in 1971.
'We ask that President Obama
or Secretary Salazar cease all BLM roundups as of this date to prevent further
suffering. We request that the government and BLM begin to work in good faith
with wild horse advocates for a sustainable solution. The Calico Roundup,
scheduled to begin in December and continue through the dead of winter, is
inhumane and must be stopped!' 'Sheryl Crow
Upon hearing about the BLM's plans
for the large-scale removal of 2,500 horses in northwest Nevada near the Black
Rock Desert, more than seven thousand citizens submitted public comments to the
BLM opposing the Calico Mountain Complex Round Up, scheduled to begin on
December 1, 2009. Public comment has been extended through November 22, 2009
according to the BLM.
Currently more than 33,000 wild horses are stockpiled
in government holding facilities at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000 a day. The
scheduled removal of 2,500 from Nevada will bring that total to more than
35,000.
'We already have enough wild horses in pens. Adding more horses to
those already held in confinement, when they are much safer on the range is
shortsighted, inhumane and fiscally irresponsible.''Ginger Kathrens, Emmy Award
Filmmaker & Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation.
The BLM
will pay the private contractor $610 per horse rounded up for an estimated total
of nearly $2 million for the Calico roundup alone according to BLM spokesperson,
Tom Gorey. Branding, vaccinating, sterilizing and processing of horses to be
placed in government holding will cost several million more. The BLM hired the
same contractor for the controversial roundup of the famous stallion, Cloud, and
his Pryor Mountain herd in September, 2009. Bands including two-month-old foals
were chased down off the mountaintop by helicopter for 10-15 miles in more than
90 degree heat resulting in trauma and lameness.
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/youtube-videos/146-lamefoal
"The government is acting in defiance of the spirit and intent of the 1971
Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act which Congress passed unanimously
'Julianne French, wild horse advocate.
http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm
The 1971 Act preserves wild horses and burros in over 300 areas of publicly
owned rangeland in the west, forbidding their exploitation, harassment and
removal. Regardless, only 30 million acres remain of the 54 million acres
designated primarily for wild horse use in 1971. Over 100 herds have been
completely removed by the BLM and most remaining herds are too small to insure
their long-term survival. The BLM's current policy of eradicating these herds is
a betrayal of the wishes of the American public.
Sheryl Crow, with wild
mustang and burro supporters, calls the public to action urging all to write,
e-mail, fax and phone Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, their
congressional representatives and President Obama. The list of contact phones,
e-mails, faxes and mailing addresses is online here.
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/action-alerts/198-government-contacts
'Its
time for all of us to speak up for our Wild Horses and Burros so we do not lose
these living legends and inspiring symbols of our freedom in America.'
--Sheryl Crow
Photos and video available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org
719-633-3842 or 719-351-8187
Spokesperson:
The Cloud Foundation: Ginger Kathrens 719-633-3842
ginger@thecloudfoundation.org
For Dates, Directions & Information on Attending a Roundup please contact:
The Cloud Foundation
or
Don Glenn
Chief, BLM Wild Horse and Burro
Program
don_glenn@blm.gov
202-452- 5082
Supporting Documents/links
Sheryl Crow Joins in Wild Horse Fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-nLYNPACd0&NR=1
Stampede to Oblivion: An
Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225
Craig Downer,
wildlife ecologist: interview on upcoming Nevada roundup
http://vimeo.com/7135462
Public lands grazing fiscal costs report from Wild
Earth Guardians
http://www.sagebrushsea.org/pdf/factsheet_Grazing_Fiscal_Costs.pdf
Managing
Wild Equids On Public Lands: A response to the DOI Plan (TCF)
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-release
Environmental Assessment on proposed Calico Complex Gather
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/ nepa0/wild_horse_and_burro/Calico.html
American Herds report 'Crunching Calico'
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html
The BLM's
Wild Horse Numbers
http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id43.html
2009-2010 Roundup Schedule
http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/roundup-schedule-2009-2010/
Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html # # #
November 18, 2009
A
Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Wild Horse & Burro Roundups
And a
humane, fiscally responsible plan for preserving and protecting the iconic,
free-roaming wild horses and burros of the American West
President Obama, Members
of Congress and the Department of the Interior: We, the undersigned, request
major changes to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro
program. This must begin with an immediate moratorium on all roundups. While we
agree that the program is in dire need of reform, and we applaud your
Administration's commitment to avoid BLM's suggested mass-killing of horses, the
plan outlined in October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar raises numerous
concerns. These include:
-- Perpetuating the flawed assumption that wild
horses and burros are overpopulating their Western ranges.
In reality, the
BLM has no accurate current inventory of the 37,000 wild horses and burros it
claims remain on public lands. Independent analysis of BLM's own numbers reveal
there may be only 15,000 wild horses remaining on public lands.
-- Continuing
the mass removal of wild horses and burros from their rightful Western ranges:
The BLM intends to spend over $30 million in Fiscal Year 2010 to capture more
than 12,000 wild horses and burros. This stockpiling of horses continues even as
an astounding 32,000 are already being held in government holding facilities at
enormous taxpayer expense.
-- Scapegoating wild horses and burros for range
deterioration even though they comprise only a tiny fraction of animals and
wildlife grazing our public lands. Far greater damage is caused by
privately-owned livestock, which outnumber the horses more than 100 to 1.
--
Moving wild horses and burros east off their Western homelands to 'sanctuaries'
in the east and Midwest at an initial cost of $96 million creates significant
health concerns if animals adapted to western landscapes are managed on wet
ground and rich grasses.
Removing tens of thousands of horses and burros
from their legally-designated Western ranges and moving them into government-run
facilities subverts the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro
Act, which mandated that horses be preserved 'where presently found.' A 2009 DC
district court case held that 'Congress did not authorize BLM to 'manage' the
wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long-term
care as non-wild free-roaming animals off the public lands.'
We appreciate
your Administration's recognition of the horses' value as an ecotourism
resource. However, the display of captive, non-reproducing herds in eastern
pastures renders them little more than zoo exhibits, further discounting the
contribution to our history and the future of the American West.
We
believe that workable solutions to create a healthy 'multiple use' of public
rangelands, protect the ecological balance of all wildlife, and preserve
America's wild horses and burros in their rightful, legally protected home can
be achieved. We are calling on the Obama Administration to reform the BLM's Wild
Horse and Burro Management Program.
We ask that you reverse the current
course and immediately take the following actions:
1) Place a moratorium on
all roundups until accurate and independent assessments of population numbers
and range conditions are made available and a final, long-term solution is
formalized.
2) Restore protections included in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming
Horse and Burro Act. Update existing laws that protect wild horses by reopening
certain public lands to the mustangs and burros, thus decreasing the number in
captivity. Return healthy wild horses and burros in holding to all available
acres of public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. If these lands
are not available, equivalent and appropriate western public lands should be
added in their place.
3) Support federal grazing permit buybacks. Reduce
livestock grazing and reanalyze appropriate management levels for herd
management areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically viable herds to exist
in the west.
4) Conduct Congressional hearings regarding the mismanagement of
our wild herds and further investigate the inability of BLM to correct the
shortcomings of the program as audited by the Government Accountability Office's
1990, 1991 and 2008 reports.
Supported by the undersigned on November 18,
2009.
http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Supporter-List.doc
