Tonight's EcoAdvocates edition includes posts by soothsayer99 on Mustangs and Burros Remain at Risk,and rb137 on Alaskan Wolves: Preditors or Prey.
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MUSTANGS AND BURROS REMAIN AT RISK
by soothsayer99
The brutal scenes from Callico Mountain January 2010 were repeated again just last week. The Bureau of Land Management recently completed Phase 1 of its' Northern Nevada wild horse round-up. The Tuscarora Gather captured 636 horses and killed at least 21, who subcumbed to dehydration, exhaustion and injuries.
Despite a legal injunction brought by wild horse advocates and thusands of protest letters from citizens, BLM proceeded with the round-up, which occurred in 100+ degree heat just shortly after foaling season. BLM claimed the round-up was "an emergency" due to water shortages, and carried out the helicopter-led "gather" (as they so gently like to describe the mayhem), while denying media and the public access to observe.
Congress has declared:
"wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.
It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands."
But, like the bison, mustangs and burros are deemed misfits on their own land; they are fighting a losing battle against cattle ranchers and oil barons, and yes the very agencies designated to protect them, the US Forest Service and primarily, the BLM.
Once numbering more than 2 million, the wild horse and burro populatrion had been decimated by the time they recceived federal protection in 1971, with only 17.000 remaining. (Currently, the BLM maintains that the mustang and burro population exceeds 26,000, but these numbers are disputed by both activists and scientists)
More than 1 million had been conscripted for World War I combat; the rest had been hunted for their flesh, for the chicken feed and dog food companies, and for the sport of it. They were chased by helicopters and sprayed with buckshot; they were run down with motorized vehicles and, deathly exhausted, weighted with tires so they could be easily picked up by rendering trucks. They were run off cliffs, gunned down at full gallop, shot in corralled bloodbaths, and buried in mass graves.
Were it not for the efforts of Velma B. Johnston, aka "Wild Horse Annie" and her letter-writing legions of school children, these herds might well already be lost. Her grassroots campaign against wild horse abuse and slaughter led to the passage of Wild Horse Annie Act - Nevada Public Law 86-234 in 1959. This legislation becane the model for THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT OF 1971 (PUBLIC LAW 92-195).
In the nearly four decades that follow, the BLM has done little to protect and preserve free-roaming herds, but instead has focused policy almost exclusively on "managing" popluation and removing "excess" wild horses and burros from the range. When the 1971 Act was passed, wild horses and burros were assigned 303 herd areas representing some 47 million acres of public land. Over the years, agency regulations have stripped the horses of their range; they are now managed in 201 Herd Management Areas (HMAs) on less than 35 million acres. Horses and burros are placed in the BLM Adoption Program and more than 35.000 languish in one of several BLM holding facilities. This warehousing of wild horses costs taxpayers more than $29 million per year. And, due to an amendment atached by former Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) during the 108th Congressional seesion, mustangs and burros over the age of ten can be sold without restriction -- meaning directly to slaughter.
The impetus for this policy is of course private demand for the use of public lands. Cattle grazing represents the largest threat, as ranchers are eager to profit from public subsidies for beef production. "The Federal grazing fee for 2009 will be $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM) for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and $1.35 per head month (HM) for lands managed by the Forest Service." That rate remaons unchanged. In addition to the ecological damage by over-grazing, the federal livestock grazing program runs at a loss of a minimum of $128 million each year. The full cost is likely to lie in the range of one half to one billion dollars each year. In addition to cattle interests, the BLM also allows oil, gas and minng interests to avail themselves of publc lands. Recently,investigative reporter George Knapp revealed that plans to build the Ruby oil and natural gas pipeline likely facilitated the mass removals of wild horses. The pipeline will extend across northern Nevada. It will be operated by -- guess who?? -- BP.
The current BLM policy is a costly failure -- costly for the environment, for taxpayers and most of all, costly to the wild horses and burros it is supposed to protect. Only public outrage - akin to that generated by Wild Horse Annie and those impassioned school children - will force federal agencies to actually enforce - rather than thwart - the legal mandate of protection.
Please support our remaining wild horses and burros by taking the following actions -
Contact President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar calling for a moratorium on all roundups until the wild horse program has been evaluated from top to bottom.
Call on your U.S. Senators to cosponsor the Restore our American Mustang Act (S. 1579) to help clean up the BLM’s wild horse program and immediately repeal the Burns Amendment that allows for slaughter. This bill was passed by the House in July 2009.
Urge your Representatives an Senators to pass The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009. This bill would ban export of all equines for slaughter.
Support plans to restore unadopted horses to the wild. This may include the Animal Welfare Institute's demand that the BLM should return all wild horses and burros to their original herd management areas or Madeline Pickens' plan for an eco-sanctuary
Adopt a wildhorse or burro.
Support organizations that advocate on behalf of wild horses and burros -
International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros
The Cloud Foundation
American Mustang Foundation
Return to Freedom
Saving America's Mustangs
Equine Advocates
International Fund for Horses
THE ALASKAN WOLF: PREDATOR OR PREY??
by rb137
Wolves are social, highly intelligent animals that are listed under the Endangered Species Act everywhere in the United States except Alaska, where their populations are extensively managed. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game insist that wolf populations are in no danger, and that killing these animals is necessary to protect the moose and caribou populations for sport:
The food habits of the wolf often bring it into conflict with humans who in many parts of the world are also hunters of big game animals. Although the wolf has coexisted with big game animals for thousands of years, under some conditions the impact of predation contributes to local scarcities of game which arouse some people's concern.
...In some areas wolf numbers may need to be controlled in order to avoid relatively long periods of prey scarcity which could result in little or no harvest for people and also low numbers of wolves and other furbearers.
Wolves are often seen and heard in most parts of Alaska by those willing to spend time in remote areas. The long term future of the wolf in Alaska is secure, and Alaska will probably continue to deal with the challenges related to the effects of wolf predation on big game populations for a long time.
And aerial hunting has become a sport in its own right.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game base their understanding of moose and caribou population vs. predators on a study done in 1975-1976, where killing wolves in a particular region resulted on an increase in the large game populations. These findings were specific to a local ecosystem, however, and didn't take into account other factors that affect game populations generally.
Wolf Song of Alaska reports (see item 12):
Clearly, wolf control in GMA-20A during 1975-79 resulted in an increase of moose on Tanana flats. This is probably the best known example of a wolf control program in Alaska. However, wolf control in other areas where wolf:moose ratios were higher or where bears were the problem had less success. As discussed above, deep snow, reduced food, hunting or bear predation may be more important than wolf predation in controlling moose numbers. If so, wolf control is not likely to yield benefits.
There are two bills that seek to amend the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and prohibit aerial hunting. These bills, S.1535 and HR 3381, are referred to committee.
Protect America's Wildlife Act of 2009 - Amends the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 to impose criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly violates any regulation prohibiting the shooting or harassing of birds, fish, or other animals from aircraft (airborne hunting). Increases the monetary penalty for airborne hunting from $5,000 to $50,000. Expands the exceptions to the prohibition against airborne hunting to include enhancing the propagation and survival of wildlife or preventing the extinction of a species threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Call and ask your Congresspeople to support S.1535 and HR 3381. Defenders of Wildlife has a nice tool to help you here.
And please urge Congress to VOTE NO on any further action on this bill --
Introduced: H.R. 6028: To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit treatment of the Gray wolf as an endangered species or threatened species..
EcoAdvocates is a new series initiated by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, who are the founders-creators. This series focuses on providing more effective political pressure and taking action on environmental issues.
Contributing writers provide a diversity of perspectives including wind/energy/climate change; water; agriculture/food; mountaintop removal mining/coal; wildlife; environmental justice; and indigenous/human rights/civil rights.
Contributing writers include: Bill McKibben, Jerome a Paris, mogmaar, boatsie, Aji, rb137, Ellinorianne. faithfull, Oke, Jill Richardson Patric Juillet, Josh Nelson, beach babe in fl, Ojibwa, Muskegon Critic, Desmogblog, A Siegel, gmoke, DWG, citisven, mahakali overdrive, soothsayer99, and FishOutofWater