18 March 2010
Media Contacts:
Makendra Silverman, Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Anne Novak, Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
For Immediate Release
Stars and Public March for Mustangs in Washington D.C.
Advocates Want Change and Transparency for Wild Horse Program
Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2010)—Escalating the call to change a system gone wrong, citizens are coming from around the nation to join the March for Mustangs in Lafayette Park on March 25th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. with a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Advocates and members of the public are calling for full protection of America’s wild horses and are protesting Salazar's expensive plan for the removal and destruction of America’s wild herds. A supporting rally will be held in London, outside the U.S. Embassy from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. with renowned singer/songwriter Maria Daines. Out West advocates will carry banners up and down the Las Vegas strip to support the international March for Mustangs. The D.C. rally will feature speakers from across the nation including Award-winning actress and advocate, Wendie Malick; Hope Ryden, contributor to the original Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and author of the classic bestseller “America’s wild horses”; Ginger Kathrens, Emmy Award winning filmmaker and Director of the Cloud Foundation and a host of other speakers. At 3:00 p.m. the group will march to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office at 1849 ‘C’ Street to conclude the rally for America’s mustangs and burros.
“We're coming to Washington to save America's last remaining herds of wild horses and burros from being managed to extinction in the West,” explains Wendie Malick, continuing “please join us at Lafayette Park, Thursday, March 25 from 1:00-3:00 p.m.”
The American public fears wild horse and burro herds are on a path to extinction as the BLM continues removing them by the thousands off their designated public lands. In the past three months more than 25 protests have been held from San Francisco to New York City calling for a moratorium on roundups, independent and accurate censusing, full scale investigations into the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program as well as added protections for the iconic animals of the West. Despite the ever-growing public outcry towards the fiscally irresponsible and inhumane mismanagement, the only response from the White House has been “no comment.”
“It’s amazing to me that the BLM falls back on the same old misinformation, that the horses could starve and the range is in poor condition. Evidence to the contrary shows healthy wild horses on healthy rangelands. We have photographs, videos, even testimony from BLM employees to this effect," explains Ginger Kathrens.
March for Mustangs comes to Washington just as Secretary Salazar attempts to persuade Congress to provide at least 42 million dollars to fund moving the first group of 26,600 wild horses to the Midwest and East. The horses would be placed on private lands purchased at taxpayer expense. The Secretary proposes leaving only about 27,000 wild horses and burros on their remaining 30 million acres of public rangeland in the West. Herds occupied at least 54 million acres at the passage of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and the public wants captured wild horses returned to those or equivalent public lands. Highlighting the disconnect between the American public and the Department of Interior/BLM, the Salazar Plan would only further the fiscal train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro program has become.
As a result of the recent million dollar-plus, 40-day Calico Roundup, more than 77 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup. BLM stopped the roundup early when they admitted they had significantly over-counted the wild horses left on the range and were “satisfied” with the roundup. Despite widespread international interest in these horses and their welfare, the BLM continues to “process” the remaining 1800-plus wild horses under a veil of secrecy, allowing the public and humane observers to enter the private holding facility for only two hours each Sunday—by reservation.
“Many of the dead include mares and stallions in their twenties who deserved to die with dignity on the land of their birth,” states Ginger Kathrens, producer of the acclaimed Cloud documentaries and Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “Instead, these old horses were forced to run miles over back-breaking, volcanic ground, chased by a helicopter in the dead of winter when all their energies should have been focused on surviving until spring. For them, spring never came.”
Meanwhile, thousands of privately-owned cattle graze on the Calico wild horse herd areas, bringing in revenues to the BLM of around $40,000 per year—less than the cost to hold the captive horses at Fallon for four days. Annually American taxpayers lose $123 million running the taxpayer subsidized grazing program, referred to as “welfare ranching”. The grazing fee is currently the lowest allowed by law—$1.35 per cow/calf pair per month. A grazing fee hike of 600% would be required to cover the administrative costs of the program alone. Outnumbered 100:1 by cattle on public lands, wild horses and burros represent less than 0.5% of hooved animals on America’s public lands.
The March for Mustangs kicks off with a sneak preview of James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, Disappointment Valley ... A Modern Day Western. Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Darryl Hanna, Michael Blake, Ginger Kathrens and others are featured in the star-studded documentary that examines the politics behind the BLM’s controversial policies for public lands and mismanagement of America's wild horses and burros. The screening is Wednesday, March 24th, 6:00 p.m. at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V, in Washington, D.C. Following the screening a Q&A with Kleinert and Kathrens is scheduled. The sneak preview is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated, please contact bslagsvol@mac.com or makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-351-8187.
“Wild horses are living things who have a right to coexist in what is a vast landscape, which is the American West," states Viggo Mortensen in Kleinert’s film adding, “Let’s do something about this.”
# # #
The March for Mustangs DC rally is a public protest for those who are concerned with the taxpayer funded cruelty and fiscal irresponsibility of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.
Thanks to the following organizations: Friends of Animals, The Cloud Foundation, The Equine Welfare Alliance, In Defense of Animals, Int’l Fund for Horses and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. The London protest organized by UK-based Cornwall’s Voice for Animals and Maria Daines, co–sponsored by The Equine Welfare Alliance and The Cloud Foundation. The Las Vegas protest is organized by a group of fed up citizens in the West.
Please contact the Cloud Foundation for more information on these events.
Links of interest:
March for Mustangs—March 25th, D.C. Rally: http://bit.ly/d8GqEY
Disappointment Valley Trailer & Information www.theamericanwildhorse.com
James Kleinert, Disappointment Valley filmmaker Moving Cloud Productions http://www.movingcloud.com/bio.html
PSA by Moving Cloud Productions on mustang situation http://bit.ly/af74jm
Secretary Salazar at Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing http://bit.ly/dixny4
London Protest http://bit.ly/bw8bHL
Maria Daines http://www.maria-daines.com/music.html
Cornwall’s Voice for Animals http://www.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org
Las Vegas Protest http://bit.ly/cWjqmG
BLM Employee Testimony on lack of wild horse degradation in Nevada (from American Herds) http://bit.ly/cPHx6b
News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb
BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc
American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html
Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/
San Francisco Chronicle Oped by Barbara Clark’s “ Wild horses - symbol of the West moving east?” http://bit.ly/aRcEfX
Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ
The Cloud Foundation position paper on Salazar plan: http://bit.ly/cpKnum
After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO
Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html
Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html
Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225)
Unified Moratorium letter and signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L
Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010 http://bit.ly/5AmMLm
Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
719-633-3842
The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905
