Since November 2nd, the Bureau of Land Management has been conducting a costly helicopter roundup to capture and remove 1,100 wild horses from the Owyhee Complex in eastern Nevada. So far, 737 wild horses have been captured and, of those, 7 have died. The BLM has returned 193 horses to the range after treating mares with the PZP birth control vaccine. Hundreds of captured Owyhee horses have been shipped to the BLM’s Palomino Valley holding facility, where they languish in feedlot pens awaiting an uncertain fate.
AWHPC is currently pressuring the BLM to provide public observation during each day of the roundup. Currently the agency plans to restrict access to the final portion of the capture operation to just two days per week.
Zimbabweans need to change their attitudes towards donkeys and embrace the protection and care of the working animals, which have been at the centre of rural economic growth and development for decades, veterinary experts say.Animal and Wildlife Area Research and Rehabilitation (AWARE) director, Dr Keith Dutlow told Zimpapers Syndication at an event to open an education centre for children at the Lions Park in the capital that even though donkey usage is wide spread and extensively adopted in many communities across the country, their use has been masked in negative perceptions and attitudes.
“Donkeys play a significant role in the livelihoods of local communities especially in arid regions, where conditions are harsher. But our perceptions towards donkeys are still negative,” he said. “Those who use donkeys are seen by their peers in society as primitive, backward and people of low status. Even among the donkey owners and users, the donkey image is not to be held highly and as a result they abuse and mistreat them in the process of working the animals. We need to change our perceptions and appreciate the economic value of the working animals. Donkeys are a big asset to combat poverty and hardship in poor communities, and if you were to transfer the benefits — transport, draught power, hiring and all, this can run into thousands of dollars.”
It was 3 a.m., as I lay awake listening to the howling winds and blowing snow. So many little ones we had not been allowed to pull were out there with their families. There are no wind breaks or shelter, except the warmth of the families hunched together. Such frigid temperatures and icy slippery conditions weighed heavily on my heart. Were the babies ok?
It has been so intense here. So many victories with each and every horse we load into a trailer headed for safety and a new life. So much heartache when the stallions simply fly over the 6 foot panels while we are setting up to load them. At this point we have 4 stallions in one of the “stallion pens” and they are scheduled to come back to Chilly Pepper with Matt and I.
So far we have had the Paint Stallion penned up several times, but he stood straight up, and then simply launched himself over the panel. As he proudly ran away the tears filled my eyes. They have no idea what they are running into.
I wanted to thank everyone for the love and support. Matt and I will never be the same again. The heart break and agony we have experienced here, knowing we cannot save all of these horses is gut wrenching. It makes sleep nearly impossible and it is just too hard. But every time my phone dings and there is a donation or a message of support, (and God seems to know exactly when to send them lol), we receive more hope. No matter if it is a $2, $5 or $25 dollar donation, it shows us how many folks really love and care about these horses., and you have made it possible for us to save the ones we can.
The messages of love and support are incredible too. Although I had a lady tell me that folks are “tired of reading about all the sadness and emergencies”. At first I was a bit angry and I wanted to tell her “then don’t read them”. We do not create these “emergencies”, but when God puts them in front of us, we do our best to do what needs to be done.
We “accidentally” moved to Golconda, because if we went back to the 2 acres in CA, 13 adult horses would have gone to slaughter when y’all saved the Yakama 24. So moving to the trailer was the right thing to do, even though we didn’t have water in the trailer for 6 months (except a garden hose PTL), and it was a “tear down” dump.
Most of our stuff is still in CA and we haven’t even been able to move all the horses to NV. So you can be sure we are not enjoying all the emergencies. HOWEVER, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU who have stepped up with your love and support, we have saved an amazing number of God’s critters this year. So I am sorry if some folks are frustrated with all the “new emergencies”, but please understand that we are too.
There are two days left, and panic starts to set in. But you have to take a deep breath because you cannot sort a couple of hundred wild horses on ice if you are not calm and collected. There are many blind horses in the group we are working with these last two days and it makes it horrifically dangerous not only for them (as we have set up pens where they had open area before), but they will run right over you in a panic. The freezing, blowing ice cold winds do not help this situation. At times the snow is blowing so hard you cannot even see. It is icy and all of us are slipping and falling, but there is no time left to wait for good weather. So this is not something we ever want to experience again.
But I wanted to share at least a few pictures and videos of some of the horses you have saved. GOD BLESS YOU for each and every one we have gotten to safety.
We will keep fighting until the bitter end. When you look into their eyes when they are in the “safe pen”, the joy is immense. It is an amazing gift of life to each and every horse we pull for adoption. Please keep praying and know that we so appreciate the support that makes this possible.
We have had to hire a local “crew”, as Matt and I simply cannot move all these panels in the ice and snow and we have to have adequate folks to help us sort and load. The horses know something is up and their energy is high. So we always want to make sure everyone is safe first and foremost.
Matt and I need to make several trips back and forth to bring home the horses. We are saving 10 older horses which we will take back to Chilly Pepper, get them vetted, gelded if needed and get their little hoofers done. We want to thank Dianne Nelson for stepping up and taking these horses in to live the rest of their lives in peace. After they are feeling better, we will take them to the sanctuary.
Please keep praying for safety, strength, warmer weather and a miracle. I know miracles can happen, and we truly need one.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives and to give Shadow the life she deserves.
Just last week, to the nation’s surprise, Donald Trump won the presidential election with a promise to cut through political bureaucracy and give government back to the people. Now let’s ask President-Elect Trump to listen to the will of the American public, which overwhelmingly opposes horse slaughter and wants our wild horses and burros protected on our public lands.
Mr. Trump is asking for the citizens’ ideas on how to make America great again. Just click the link below to tell him. The stakes could not be higher — tens of thousands of wild horses are at risk of brutal slaughter — so please act today!
Craft your own message, or cut and paste this one: “Please save our American mustangs – living symbols of America’s greatness. It’s time to fix federal government mismanagement of wild horses and burros. These national icons deserve to be protected and humanely managed, not rounded up and brutally slaughtered.”
Today, the Senate passed the National Forest Service Trail Stewardship Act of 2015 (H.R.845 S.1110). This follows House passage of the bill earlier this fall. The bill, introduced by Representatives Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tim Walz (D-MN) and Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), would direct the Forest Service to take several actions to help address the current trail maintenance backlog that is adversely impacting all trail users on many National Forests, including equestrians.
The American Horse Council, Backcountry Horsemen of America, and the Wilderness Society were significantly involved in the creation and passage of this bill.
The AHC is pleased Congress has approved this important legislation. The AHC would like to thank Representatives Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tim Walz (D-MN) and Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) for their leadership and work to pass this bill.
The bill directs the Forest Service to develop a strategy to more effectively utilize volunteers and partners to assist in maintaining national forest trails. It will also provide outfitters and guides the ability to perform trail maintenance activities in lieu of permit fees. Additionally, the bill will address a liability issue that has discouraged some national forests from utilizing volunteers and partner organizations to help perform trail maintenance and will direct the Forest Service to identify and prioritize specific areas with the greatest need for trail maintenance in the national forest system.
In the current fiscal environment it is unlikely Congress will appropriate additional funds to directly address the trail maintenance backlog. This bill will help improve trail maintenance without the need for additional funding.
The President is expected to sign the bill into law in the near future.
Your comments are needed today to stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from conducting an expensive and traumatic helicopter roundup of wild horses in the Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA) for the sole purpose of putting radio collars on 30 mares. The study is designed to lay the groundwork for zeroing out the HMA by showing that Adobe Town wild horses migrate into the Checkerboard sections of the HMA following removal of horses from that area. The entire premise of the study is now invalid, because the BLM has cancelled the 2016 Checkerboard roundup in response to our recet legal victory at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tell BLM NO to wasting our tax dollars on another unnecessary and traumatic wild horse helicopter roundup and study by clicking here.
Your comments are needed today to tell the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to drop plans to conduct an unnecessary and dangerous radio collar tracking study of wild mares in Wyoming.
The agency wants to conduct an expensive and traumatic helicopter roundup for the sole purpose of placing radio tracking collars on 30 mares living in the Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA). The collars are part of a proposed 5-year study conducted in conjunction with the University of Wyoming to study the movement and habitat selection of the horses.
It is clear from the documents that the study is intended to lay the groundwork for the “zeroing out” of the Adobe Town wild horses, because it aims to prove that wild horses from the non-checkerboard portions of the HMA migrate into the checkerboard sections. The BLM is in the process of eliminating wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard to appease the Rock Springs Grazing Association, and wants to prove that wild horses must be eradicated from the entire area in order to keep the checkerboard clear of wild horses.
Ironically, the whole premise for the study is now void since the BLM has cancelled the 2016 Checkerboard roundup, thanks to our legal victory at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only is this study unnecessary, but also it presents a danger to wild horses, both from the helicopter roundup that will injure and kill horses and shatter their families, and from the radio collars that are not breakaway, but rather must be released via “remote detonation” if a horse get in trouble.
Finally, the underlying bias of the study is revealed by the University of Wyoming’s research proposal, which “predicts” that the study will show that horses can’t be kept off checkerboard lands, “disproportionately” use riparian resources, “displace” ungulate species and complicate management of other wildlife species and livestock.
I met a beautiful little princess yesterday. She has the face of an angel. She lit up my world with the most beautiful smile, all the while I was choking back the tears. (The minute the trailer pulled in the tears started, as I knew Big Girl was leaving. After that, the tears were simply from the joy she was bringing this little girl and the difference she will make in her life.)
Lee is one of the most courageous, wonderful, amazing little girls I have ever met, and her family is just as amazing. She suffered severe burns over her body in a devastating accident, but this little girl is kicking butt, and I absolutely love her. It was an honor and a gift to meet her.
Big Girl came in with no feet, in so much pain she would not even move to her feed, and with the info that if we hit her with a crop when we rode her we might be able to make her trot.
Today she has solid wonderful hoofers. They need a little trim and some shaping, but are good hard supportive feet. She is off her pain meds completely and moves around with ease. Thank You so much for all the love, support and prayers y’all sent. YOU made this happen :)
She now will be Lee’s Therapy Horse. Both of them are loving this and the future looks bright. Lee has to do extremely painful exercises and doing them with and on Big Girl will lessen that pain and it gives her a distraction while healing.
That was our day yesterday, and one of the reasons all this work is worth it…
Today, we spent just shy of $1000 ($970.00) just to get the last 5 horses we brought in laid down by the vet to get their poor lil hoofers done and health certs etc. Happily, all went well and they look like different horses.
Matt and I will be taking 7 horses to their new homes tomorrow and we are so grateful for the wonderful folks we are working with and that these equine are on their way to wonderful lives.
Unfortunately, (or maybe I should say fortunately) tomorrow is also the day we leave to drive back to South Dakota. It is wonderful that we will be able to pick up some more horses, but it is an extremely costly endeavor, especially with the vetting and the hoof work that will no doubt follow. But with colder weather coming we need to get as many as we can while we can. I know it doesn’t seem like we are saving many considering the large numbers, but last year we found homes for 100, a few at a time. So it does help in the long run.
All this is possible because of wonderful people working and networking together. No one could do this alone.
As of now, Karen still has control of the horses and the final verdict will come November 11. If the State takes control (if Karen cannot get the funding she needs to meet the court’s requirements) there could be over 800 horses that need placed before November 30th. This is a serious situation and anyone who might be interested in adopting or helping, please contact Karen at ISPMB to adopt.
We appreciate your love, prayers and any help you can give us. It takes about 20 hours each way and this one will be about 6 or 7 hours longer as we are delivering horses on the way. But while we have the opportunity to get horses safely home before the bad weather sets in, we need to do so immediately. If the weather hits it could mean many horses at risk of “auction” and we all know what that means.
As always, we appreciate the love and support and Thank You for being part of Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, Equine Rescue & More!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives and to give Shadow the life she deserves.
You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, 34694 Sidebottom Rd., Shingletown, CA 96088 or mail a check to Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
We have been fighting for five long years to stop the BLM’s wipeout of Wyoming’s wild horses. Today, for the second time this week, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has handed wild horses a major legal victory! The court ruled that the BLM broke two federal laws when it rounded up 1,262 wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard in 2014.
This is huge! It means that the BLM’s proposed 2016 Checkerboard roundup is also illegal! The BLM just notified the court that it was pulling the plug on this latest roundup of 500 wild horses, which was scheduled to start on October 18! Not only that, the decision permanently prevents BLM from treating the public lands as private and allowing ranchers to dictate whether or not wild horses will be allowed to live on our public lands.
This is our third major victory for wild horses in just over a month! On Monday, the Tenth Circuit ruled that BLM is not required to remove horses from public lands just because the population exceeds arbitrarily-established population limits. And on September 9, the BLM dropped plans to conduct dangerous surgical sterilization experiments on wild horses in Oregon, citing the lawsuit filed by AWHPC and The Cloud Foundation as the reason for its decision.
Read more about the Tenth Circuit’s precedent-setting decision and savor this latest victory for wild horses and burros.
We are proud to tell you that we succeeded in stopping anti-mustang ranchers and their political allies once again!
Yesterday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a lawsuit filed by the State of Wyoming against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) demanding the removal of hundreds of wild horses from public lands in that state.
This is our second major victory for wild horses in just over a month! On September 9, the BLM announced that it was dropping its plan to conduct cruel and risky surgical sterilization experiments on wild mares, citing the lawsuit we filed with our coalition partner The Cloud Foundation as the reason for its decision.
Unfortunately, there is no time to pause for celebration. We’re actively defending wild horses in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and California and we need your help to score more legal victories for wild horses and burros!
It’s hard to overstate the importance of yesterday’s decision. This precedent-setting ruling should put a stop to several frivolous lawsuits that have been filed by pro-ranching interests across the West. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has now soundly rejected the ranchers’ spurious claim that the BLM is required to remove wild horses from the range once their populations exceed the arbitrarily-established “appropriate” management levels (AMLs).
AWHPC is pleased to have funded and led this legal fight, in which we were joined by The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom and photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl.