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Congress has begun reviewing the President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 which includes the budget for the Wild Horse and Burro program under the Department of Interior.

Congress’ appropriations (budgeting) process is long and complex. Numerous committees and subcommittees review and modify the President’s proposed budgets for the various departments before they are ultimately approved. We want to make sure all committees and subcommittees that hold hearings on the Interior Department’s budget hear from Americans who want the broken Wild Horse and Burro program completely reformed. As the appropriations process proceeds we will continue to keep you informed of actions you can take to be sure Congress knows what you think.

Three Congressional hearings took place over the past week.

This Monday IDA initiated a 1-Day Action Blitz for Wild Horses & Burros. IDA members and wild horse advocate made their voices heard – over 6,000 faxes were sent to members of the House and Senate Subcommittees. Thanks to you, the Subcommittee members know of the intense national concern about our magnificent wild horses and burros.

On Monday, March 9, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey testified before the House Appropriations Committee to justify BLM’s FY 2011 budget, which includes an additional $12 million for the controversial BLM Wild Horse and Burro program, as well as $42.5 million to purchase private land in the Midwest or East for long-term holding “preserves” for wild horses taken from Western public lands.

We are working to provide a recap of that meeting. Earlier on Monday, Secretary Salazar testified in the Senate Appropriations subcommittee – this meeting focused on renewable energy and other issues were not discussed.

Last Wednesday, March 3, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing (available online here) on the U.S. Department of Interior’s budget proposal. Thanks to all of you who took action last week opposing Salazar’s proposal for wild horses and burros, the senators heard you and both Senators Murkowski (R-AK) and Landrieu (D-LA) addressed the wild horse issue at the hearing. In opening comments Vice Chair Murkoski voiced her “concern” about the direction the agency and about moving more horses to the Midwest and East and not managing on them on their Western range.

Senator Landrieu highlighted her concerns of the program and specifically asked the Secretary what was being done to restore the millions of acres the wild horses have lost over the years. The Senator went on to express her deep concerns over the inhumane roundups during winter weather of ice and snow, and she pointed out that the “horses only have a measly 31 million acres” out of 500 million acres overseen by the Department of Interior. Salazar responded (looking at Landrieu and gesturing to other senators) that he’s aware of their concerns and that he is “not wedded” to his proposal , is open to better ideas and looks forward to working together.

This is a good first step, but we have a lot of work ahead. We’ll continue to provide updates and action alerts – so please stay tuned. The horses and burros need you to keep fighting for them … and please tell a friend about their plight. We need to grow this grassroots movement and that will happen one person at a time.

IDA congratulates The Cove filmmaking crew including Director Louis Psihoyos, Executive Producer Jim Clark, Producer Fisher Stevens, and the Oceanic Preservation Society for creating a winning documentary about the cruel capture, slaughter and consumption of dolphins in Japan.

This is an incredible opportunity to maximize the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition’s (SJDC) efforts to stop the slaughter and urge Ms. Mizuho Fukushima, Japan’s new Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety to make public the health risks associated with eating dolphin meat and institute a ban on it’s sale without delay.

With The Cove set to be released in Japan this year, the primary goal of the SJDC will be to use the film as a medium to convince the Japanese public to oppose the cruel hunt and sale of dolphin meat throughout their country. So far, only 600 out of 126,000 million people in Japan have seen the film and those who did were completely outraged.

Our aim is to prevent the Japanese government from issuing 23,000 permits this fall and with the likelihood that dolphins will continue to be tainted with mercury and other harmful chemicals in the future, an end to the dolphin hunt once and for all.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has reported the first sea lion trap and kill of the season on the Columbia River. Named “Lionel” by students from Redland Elementary School in Portland, but known to wildlife agencies by the brand “C653,” the sea lion was trapped and killed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Sixty-four California sea lions are listed on the government’s kill authority letter and are at risk of being trapped or shot by wildlife officials. IDA is skeptical about the Oregon and Washington state wildlife agencies’ ability to correctly identify and humanely handle targeted sea lions.

Yesterday protesters from IDA and the Sea Lion Defense Brigade confronted wildlife officials responsible for the lethal removal of the protected sea lions, to voice concerns and ask questions about a plan that is misguided, has not met the criteria set forth in Section 120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, fails to accurately identify specific sea lions as required by law, and will do nothing to resolve issues that endanger salmon populations.

Fishing quotas for salmon on the Columbia River this year were raised to 16 percent from last year’s 13 percent, while sea lions at the Bonneville Dam are being killed for eating what will likely be only about one percent of the 2010 spring run. These wildlife agencies are not making sound, biology-based decisions regarding salmon recovery. And the agencies’ track record has been abysmal, with multiple incidents of malfunctioning traps and seven sea lions who have died unintentionally in state custody.

Please join marine mammal supporters, IDA, and the rest of the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition to see whether The Cove wins Best Documentary. You can check TV listings for your local channel or watch the Oscars live online at www.livestream.com/academyawards . The presentations will begin Sunday, March 7th, at 8 P.M/EST.

We couldn’t buy better exposure for our campaign to stop the slaughter, consumption, and live capture of dolphins in Japan. A billion people, including media outlets around the world, are slated to tune into the event that will undoubtedly create a surge of pressure directed at the Japan Fisheries Agency to stop allowing dolphins to be slaughtered, and their mercury-laden meat to be eaten by Japanese citizens.

We are so thrilled that The Cove will be released this year in Japan, because combined with the exposure through the Oscars, the Japanese government will no longer be able hide the issues behind media blackouts.

Whether The Cove wins Best Documentary or not, this is a critical victory for getting the information to the Japanese public!

Thanks to your letters to the European Parliament concerning  the seal hunt in Canada last year, the European Union (EU) responded with a  landslide vote to prohibit the sale of seal based products.  The great  news is it goes into effective this year!  With that measure in place, we  must now continue our focus on flooding Canadian Ambassadors or High  Commissioners with letters supporting the Harb Bill, which would end the  seal hunt in Canada.  The Canadian government must continue to hear  how much we still want the seal hunt to end.  In order to help push this  bill along, we need to make a concerted effort to educate others to take  similar action as well.

We have the unique opportunity to maximize our  efforts this year as there are other significant factors helping to reduce  overall incentives for sealers to kill.  The price for pelts last year  was terrible ($14/ each) and proved to be reason enough for many sealers to  stay home.  Ice conditions were also poor and provided less than optimal  conditions necessary for sealers to run around beating seals.  Under  similar circumstances this year, if sealers are really interested in the hunt,  they will have to spend more money on fuel to travel further north in order to  find more seals and suitable conditions to slaughtering them.  On top of  those factors to consider, they also now have to contend with an EU ban on  seal products, so there aren’t going to be too many buyers for seal skins.

This year, ice conditions are reportedly lower than they  have been in decades.  While this will deter many sealers from going out  to kill animals, poor ice conditions also have a negative impact on seal  populations.  Harp seals require compacted ice in order to give birth and  nurse their young.  Without ice in their normal birthing range, seals  have to travel farther north to find suitable habitat or give birth on beaches  that can be easily accessible by man.  Others may not have time or the  physical capacity to make an extended journey and will be forced to give birth  underwater where the pups will die.

The majority of Canadians are in  favor of the seal hunt ending, as are so many others compassionate  people around the world. The Canadian government must continue to  receive pressure both from within Canada as well as the international  community if the hunt in Canada is ever to end permanently.

For  more information on how you can help, please go to:  http://www.idausa.org/marine_mammals.html

Michael Vick has been named the Eagles’ recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award, a distinction he received in a vote by his teammates.

We are shocked. Courage? Michael Vick? Does it take courage to force a dog to fight for his life in a gambling ring? I would say that is about as cowardice as it gets.

Michael Vick dispose of the dogs who were too gentle for fighting by such ghastly means as electrocution, hanging, and drowning. He served less than two years for actively participating in and bankrolling an interstate dogfighting ring. While Vick does have a right to seek employment, a position in the NFL potentially earning $7 million over the next two years is more than he deserves. We feel that this honor is far from earned for a violent convicted felon, who confessed to killing dogs who refused to fight because of their kind nature.

By employing Michael Vick, the NFL and the Eagles send the message that torturing animals is not a serious matter, and this award emphasizes that message. Impressionable young people see that the public admonishment of his crimes was followed by a multi-million dollar job and now a badge of courage. It will be interpreted as acceptance of his character and actions.

In fact, lets have a look at how Vick is influencing kids. Recently, an 18 year old boy said that he wanted to be the “next Michael Vick”. Did this young man play football? No, but he does have one thing in common with the Eagles quarterback, he is serving time in jail for operating a dog fighting ring!

IDA has asked the NFL to communicate a powerful message of disapproval for animal cruelty by prohibiting the Eagles and any other team from employing convicted animal abusers. We also ask the NFL to include animal fighting among the prohibited conduct listed in the league’s Personal Conduct Policy. The league must put principles before profit and help prevent players from getting involved in this cruel activity.

In Defense of Animals would like to award Michael Vick our distinguished

IDA Cowardice Award!

For spinelessly torturing animals and being the most terrible role model possible for youngsters. We have invited Mr. Vick to our award ceremony, but haven’t heard back yet if he will be joining us for the press conference.

Nearly six weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, IDA continues our work to help animals in Haiti. IDA supports the animal disaster relief efforts though a coalition of NGOs. ARCH, as the coalition is called, has assembled a team of veterinarians, vet techs and animal disaster relief responders, and is engaging with the Haitian veterinary community as well to help animals every day. So far, over 2,300 animals including 500 dogs and cats and hundreds of other animals – mainly cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chicken, horses and donkeys – have been treated for their injuries and ailments. More resources have also been sent into Haiti to help the team on the ground every day. This includes a fully fitted mobile veterinary clinic that has just been brought into Port-au-Prince after much hard work and negotiations. Further reinforcements such as medical supplies and animal care personnel has enhanced the already existing international relief team.

With the mobile clinic reaching into the affected areas, people are lining up with their animals. The team from the ground reports: “Now that we’ve got the mobile clinic, we can have two lines of people waiting: one outside for dogs, aggressive animals and animals from farms, and another one inside for cats and wounded animals.”

Ten year old Kenny brought his dog Vito, who had an infection. “It has been sick for a long time, but I don’t know any vets and don’t have any money to take it to one”, said Kenny. We gave the dog antibiotics and vitamins, and we’ll come back next week to check its progress.

At IDA, we are here for the animals and to make a difference for those who are often forgotten in natural disasters.

Support IDA’s Animal Disaster Relief Fund.

Learn more about IDA’s work in Haiti. For more information about how you can help IDA help animals affected by disasters, please contact us at disasterrelief@idausa.org.

This past weekend, hundreds of Nevadans and horse advocates took to the streets to voice their opposition to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s gross mismanagement of the wild horse and burro program. At Nevada’s state capital in Carson City nearly 150 people joined together for a hugely successful “Truth Rally” demanding that the BLM stop rationalizing its unsustainable and cruel roundup and removal policy. Click here for just one of the pieces of media coverage. IDA sent alerts to our Nevada members, inviting them to the Carson City rally and another in Las Vegas.

Some of the facts:

- Cattle given five times more public land than wild horses & burros: Currently the BLM manages more than 256 million acres of public lands of which cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres; wild horses are only allowed on 26.6 million acres of this – our public land – which must be shared with cattle.

- Cattle given precedence in wild horse and burro areas: In the horse and burro Herd Management Areas (HMA), the BLM allocates more grazing and resources for cattle than for wild horse and burros – often two or more times as much grazing is designed for cattle than wild horses and burros on the publicly-owned HMA. These designations are known as “Animal Unit Months,” or AUMs.

- The number of wild horses in government holding facilities (35,000) now exceeds those left in the wild (33,000 by BLM estimates). The Calico Mountain Complex roundup of nearly 2,000 horses is the turning point for the number of horses now confined in government holding facilities as opposed to those wild and free on the range as Congress originally intended. If things do not change, President Obama will go down in history as the president who allowed the stockpiling of wild horses to overwhelm the numbers of those left on their natural, historic ranges.

- The wild horse population today is smaller than in 1974 when the BLM conducted its first census after Congress protected the horses in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Members of Congress mentioned “extinction” multiple times during the floor debate of the Act, which passed unanimously due to grave concerns about these magnificent icons.

- Wild horses comprise a minuscule fraction (0.5 percent) of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by cattle at least 200 to 1.

Yesterday and today, President Obama was greeted in Las Vegas by wild horse advocates calling for a halt to the roundups and reform of the Wild Horse & Burro program. With much hard work and determination, the wild horse advocates were able to get four up close encounters with President Obama in his motorcade. Each time, they were holding different versions of the awesome banners that organizer Arlene Gawne produced and they are certain that Obama and his aides saw them and registered the message.

Yesterday, Gina Griesen of Nevada Voters for Animals and her daughter held banners as the Obama motorcade entered a housing development where the President was attending a $35,000 a plate fundraising dinner. Gina and her daughter stayed late and also caught the motorcade on its way out.

Today a number of advocates tracked Obama around Las Vegas catching up with the motorcade twice. On at least one of these occasions, they were in close proximity to the President’s limo, which was traveling very slowly and they could see him look straight at them holding their mustang freedom banners.

Advocates have also done numerous media interviews over these past few days.

These folks have worked really hard this week to bring the plight of wild horses to the President’s attention – and their hard work has paid off. Special thanks and kudos to Arlene for organizing this spectacular effort and to everyone who took to the streets to help the horses!