From The Cloud Foundation Web site (will take you to the full site with clickable links):
- Title:
- March for Mustangs in DC
- When:
- March 25, 2010 – March 25, 2010 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
- Category:
- Protest/Rally
Description
March for Mustangs
A rally and protest co-sponsored by The Cloud Foundation, The Equine Welfare Alliance , Friends of Animals and many more!
When: Thursday, March 25th
Time: 1:00-3:00pm, Press conference and speakers at 1:30pm (Hope Ryden, author “America’s Last Wild Horses,” Filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, Author RT FItch, Friends of Animals Director Priscilla Feral, In Defense of Animals President Dr. Elliot Katz, Filmmaker James Kleinert and many more- including special guests to be announced)
Where: Lafayette Park located directly across from White House at 16 Street and H Street, NW). Around 3:00pm protesters will march with sign to the BLM office at 1849 ‘C’ Street.
Plus Mustangs on the Hill II: On Friday morning we’ll meet and brief people on meeting with their Represenatives in meetings to save the mustangs. Please schedule an appointment with your Representatives for Thursday morning or Friday. The first Mustangs on the Hill last September made a lot of important impacts for wild horses– please schedule meetings now and make the most of your time in DC.
Plus: Special Screening of the new documentary on our wild horses and burros in the west: Disappointment Valley… A Modern Day Western by James Kleinert on Wednesday evening, March 24th from 6:00-8:00pm at BusBoys and Poets, location 14th & V street
Driving? Check out the Ride Share to connect with other advocates in your area to get to DC –
Why: BLM’s cruel and poor mismanagement is destroying a vital piece of the American west. The American public is sanding up for our horses and burros- please join us in a March for Mustangs, rally and protest.
Roundups increased significantly in 2000 in the Bush years and they haven’t let up under the Obama administration. 12,000 wild horses and burros are scheduled for removal from our public lands this fiscal year alone. These helicopter roundups come at enormous expense to our wild herds and to the American taxpayer.
Recently the roundup of 1900 mustangs took place in the Calico mountains of Northwestern Nevada during the dead of winter, ending early in February when BLM realized the herds were far smaller than estimated. To date 60 horses have died due to this roundup and the death toll continues to climb daily. This does not include the 30 plus mares that have aborted their late-term foals in the feedlot style corrals in Fallon, Nevada where the horses are being held. Two foals had their hooves literally separate from the bone after the helicopters ran their families for miles over rocky and sharp volcanic ground.
Secretary Ken Salazar, who oversees the BLM, has decided there is no room left for our mustangs on their designated lands in the west. The Secretary and has proposed purchasing private land in the East for our Western wild horses. This only adds to the financial and humane train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro Program has become.
So rather than spending over thirty million dollars this fiscal year to remove our wild horses and burros from the range, let’s protect them on their western lands. The intent of Congress’ 1971 Free-roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act was not to warehouse our allowed to live in freedom in self-sustaining numbers on western rangelands designated primarily for their survival. Drastic change is needed in the management of wild horses and burros if they are to survive, as wild animals, into the future. Wild horses benefit the land as they evolved in North America and they represent our living history in the west.
Annually we lose $123 million running a taxpayer subsidized grazing program is often referred to as “welfare ranching” due to the small fees charged to livestock permittees. The rate is currently the lowest allowed by law—$1.35 per cow/calf pair per month. This rate needs to be raised to over $9.00 in order for the program to break even. If cows were removed and horses allowed to stay, we’d save even more—including our valued mustangs. Holding the 1900 Calico horses alone in a feedlot style facility amounts to a staggering cost of over $10,000 per day!
But change is on the way for our wild horses and burros! Some 25 protests have been mounted from coast-to-coast including Chicago, LA, NYC, Denver, Las Vegas, Reno, and Sacramento since late December. Thousands of people have braved the cold and come out with their families to hold banners and signs demanding that President Obama react to the hideous mistreatment of our spectacular wild horses and respond to the incredible waste of taxpayer dollars on a broken program that only lines the pockets of powerbrokers and cattle barons. Now is the time to say enough is enough. Open the gates and return our wild horses to their rightful ranges.
Please take action for our wild herds. An immediate moratorium on all roundups is needed! This must be followed by hearings and investigations on BLM mismanagement; accurate and independent assessments of just hwo many wild horses we have left and the real range conditions. Then we need to develop a sustainable plan for our wild herds on our Western public lands and restore their protections set forth in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Moving our wild horses in non-reproducing, broken families to the East is not the answer.
Join us on Thursday, March 25th for a Mustangs March on Washington and take action today to save these incredible animals who are currently being managed to extinction.
Take Action
– Call President Obama 202-456-1111
– Call your Senators 202-224-3121
Also in London (will take you to the full site with clickable links):
Outrage Over Wild Horse and Burro Removals Crosses the Pond
CHICAGO, (EWA) – The outrage over the round-up of America’s wild horses and burros has spread internationally. Groups in the United Kingdom will be holding a rally in front of the American Embassy in London on March 25. On the same day, Americans will be holding a rally across from the White House in Lafayette Park that will conclude in front of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices.
The London Protest was organized by Jane Bravery, Mary Alice Pollard of Cornwall’s Voice for Animals (CVFA), Maria Daines, singer/songwriter and board member of Saving America’s Horses and international actress, Melita Morgan. The rally is cosponsored by the Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) and The Cloud Foundation (TCF).
Maria Daines commented, “If we do not stand as one on issues that affect all species whose purpose is to live wild and free, we cannot expect our own species to evolve in a compassionate and considerate way towards each other. Wild horses deserve their time and place, they deserve our protection and we must exist peacefully with these glorious creatures or risk losing them forever.”
Mary Alice Pollard adds, “Cornwalls Voice for Animals represents seven thousand supporters worldwide and stands united in ending wild horse round-ups and seeing the wild horses being born free and living wild and free.”
The Washington DC rally and press conference is hosted by Friends of Animals and is cosponsored by EWA, TCF, and In Defense of Animals. A screening of James Kleinert’s documentary, Disappointment Valley will be held the night prior to the protest. Celebrities, advocates and organization members from across the country are expected to attend the two day event.
“There is a groundswell of support for the preservation of America’s Mustangs. The BLM would like the public to believe this is just a minor uprising but this is a major international movement.” ~Ginger Kathrens, volunteer executive director, TCF.
The recent deadly round-up at the Calico Complex in Nevada has added to the tremendous support for a moratorium on round-ups. To date, 113 wild horses have lost their lives as a result of the round-up. At least two foals literally had their hooves run off.
“Our wild horses don’t have the luxury of time to waste while we grapple with bad policy. We must not allow special interests to methodically eliminate these horses from public land or our future generations will be robbed of their natural heritage.” ~Mariana Tosca, Actor and Social Activist/Animal Activist
CVFA, EWA and TCF urge the public to attend these rallies and ask that President Obama issue an immediate moratorium on round-ups and reject BLM plans to relocate wild horses to the East and Midwest until current range studies and independent population counts are available.
EWA’s John Holland notes, “The United Call for a Moratorium originally sent to President Obama and the Department of Interior in November, remains unanswered.”
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.
