Wild horses gallop in the Rocky Hills HMA, southeast of Battle Mountain, Nevada. PHOTO CREDIT : USAToday

Despite tremendous public opposition and legal actions the Department of Interior is moving forward with the ill-conceived plan to remove more than 6,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands by October 2010. The Obama Administration’s policy has proven to be both deadly and devastating for wild horses. The Calico Complex roundup, which IDA fought in federal court, has to date taken the lives of 186 horses including 30 foals who have died and 40 spontaneous abortions as reported by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
On July 10, 2010 the BLM began this horrific roundup of wild horses in the summer desert heat in northeast Nevada – the Tuscarora Complex roundup. (See USA Today article.) The BLM reports, given the lack of public access to observe there is no way to verify any BLM-provided information, that 22 wild horses have been killed at the trap site and three have died at the holding facilities. After a lawsuit was filed by Nevada horse advocate Laura Leigh, the BLM began to claim the first part of the Tuscarora roundup (in the Owyhee herd management area) was a “rescue” operation – claiming there was not enough water on the range and that horses were dehydrating. Just last week, IDA had a representative on the ground in Owyhee and observed water, cows and plenty of fencing in and around the Owyhee area.

If dry conditions were so severe one would expect wildlife and cows to be suffering from the same dehydration – yet this was not the case. Rather only wild horses were in need of “rescue.” As one local rancher told IDA – antelope and other wildlife can get under and over fencing, but wild horses cannot. If a need to “rescue” horses occurred – it was clearly a BLM-created problem.

Indeed, in mid-May, the BLM conducted an on-the-ground observation at Owyhee; the promotional video resulting from it, actually titled “Extreme Terrain Requires Extreme Diligence,” stated among other things that “There is little water available to sustain more than 800 horses.” (Also see transcript.) Meanwhile, the BLM warned in its own Environmental Assessment that “Given the dry conditions and the expanding wild horse numbers, along with the limited perennial water sources in the Owyhee HMA, the BLM has a very strong concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death in the Owyhee HMA this summer” to justify the disastrous July 10 roundup.

Clearly, the BLM should have taken actions (i.e. fence removal, water delivery, etc.) to mitigate any possible problems. The Tuscarora situation is a classic case whereby the BLM refuses to conduct on-the-range management and reverts to the roundup-removal practice which has already been acknowledged by the Interior Secretary to be an unsustainable practice.  In the case of the horses at Owhyee, just like the horses at Calico, the result is needless suffering and death. Thanks to this broken system, we have more wild horses in government holding facilities (36,000) than free on the range (33,000).

In addition to the BLM-created problem in Tuscarora, the BLM proceeded with using helicopters to roundup these horses in summer-desert temperatures while foals continue to be born. This means newborns and weeks-old foals and still-pregnant mares were run up to eight miles in desert heat. IDA has called for a moratorium on summer roundups and filed an administrative appeal to stop the Tuscarora roundup. We recently received the denial on the appeal and are reviewing our legal options.

We knew fighting the deeply-entrenched BLM would not be easy. We pledge to all the wild horses and burros who have lost their lives, families and freedom that we will continue to fight until these magnificent beings are truly protected and finally given their fair share of our public lands.

Stay tuned for our next action alert – another step in this long fight to bring about the change these animals deserve and need.

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services continue to systematically round up and exterminate entire flocks of resident Canada geese all over the country, IDA is calling on every one of our supporters to get involved to stop this needless killing.  In 2010, thousands of innocent Canada geese across the country have been or will be gassed to death or sent to slaughterhouses if we do not take action to stop it. Since non-lethal population control programs for resident Canada geese have proven successful throughout the country, the USDA must change course and switch to non-lethal, humane, and progressive population control.

Every person I have spoken with, whether they be in New Jersey or New York, has been outraged, horrified or saddened by the eradication of geese in their communities.  Many are sickened that the slaughter occurred despite public protest or without considering the interests of the vast number of residents who enjoy the presence of the geese in the parks. Of course, the lack of consideration of the interests of the geese themselves is even more disturbing.

IDA has produced another video highlighting the negative impacts of the USDA’s lethal course of action against geese. Click here to watch the video.

IDA encourages you to act to protect Canada geese in your community by contacting your city manager’s office to request a copy of their goose management plan.  Also, please click here to send an e-mail to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to immediately end the slaughter of Canada geese.

With the help of each and every one of IDA’s supporters, we can make a positive difference for the Canada geese who call the United States home.

Across the United States, Canada Geese are being exterminated, in horribly cruel ways.  IDA is asking: why? Besides the inhumanity of the slaughter, past experience proves that the killings will not have the desired effect.

Brooklyn, New York residents learned this past Monday that 400 Canada Geese from Prospect Park were killed by gassing, and sent to a landfill. Last summer, 1,237 geese were killed and sent to landfill from 17 sites around Brooklyn.  This year, the USDA estimates they will kill the same number.  These extermination programs do not work, since more geese come to occupy the newly available territory.

The communities call in the USDA to do the dirty work because Canada Geese are migratory birds, thus supposedly protected under the Migratory Bird Act. But we’re seeing that rather than being protected by the USDA, they need to be protected FROM the USDA!

In June, Mount Laurel Township in New Jersey contracted with the USDA to round up and gas 133 Canada Geese. See our news release on this slaughter here. The act angered local residents who were adamantly opposed to lethal control measures. Not surprisingly, the government-approved and conducted slaughter also motivated some sick individuals to begin their own extermination program.  On Sunday July 11, more than 30 geese and ducks near the same neighborhoods were found mutilated and dead or barely breathing. IDA president Scotlund Haisley and actress Elaine Hendrix addressed Mount Laurel officials at the township council meeting to pledge a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for this latest slaughter.

Click here to view a short IDA video about the Mount Laurel Canada Geese slaughter.

Amid a growing number of complaints from residents nationwide outraged over city officials authorizing the USDA to cull entire flocks of Canada geese from community lakes and parks, IDA is stepping up to empower animal advocates with the knowledge they need to stop such grossly inhumane and ultimately ineffectual programs. In addition to the terrible suffering and death each of these wild geese experience, the participating cities will have to continue intervening year after year to keep their parks geese-free.  Instead of killing Canada geese, they can embark on a non-lethal program which would produce long term benefits and is humane.

Please stay tuned for more updates on this important issue. If you have a lake or pond in your community with geese or ducks, please contact your city official to examine their management plans. If you find they are exterminating the birds, contact IDA for advice.

Several of you have shared with us responses from your senators and representatives indicating that our elected officials don’t understand that the USDA orchestrated Queenie’s transfer to the zoo rather than directing her to a facility where her needs could best be met. Likewise, the USDA appears to be successfully sidestepping the outrageous fact that Queenie’s trainer, Will Davenport, financially benefited from the agency’s deal-making, despite the fact he was found in repeated violation of federal animal welfare law.

We look at any response as a useful “foot in the door” toward getting some real help for Queenie in the form of attention from Congress. The key is to capitalize on that response.

If you have received a letter regarding Queenie from one of your senators or representatives, the next step is to follow up with a phone call to his or her office. (You can do this even if you did not receive a response!) Ask to speak with the aide who covers animal issues, and fill them in, using the following information:

• The USDA crafted a deal in which an abusive elephant trainer, who was repeatedly cited for serious violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and faced formal charges, financially benefited , ending up $20,000 richer for it.

• Will Davenport’s violations were so egregious that the USDA seized two elephants, Tina and Jewel, in August 2009 because they were in such dire condition. Davenport also “threatened, abused and harassed” APHIS officials in the course of carrying out their duties.

• The USDA’s formal charges against Davenport resulted in $100,000 in assessed fines. But under the USDA’s settlement deal, he never paid a penny in fines and he sold his remaining elephant, Queenie, to the San Antonio Zoo for $20,000.

• The USDA claims to make decisions based on the best interest of each individual animal, yet it failed to ensure that Queenie was sent to a sanctuary where she would have received the specialized rehabilitative care she needed after decades of abuse in the circus. Instead she was sent to a zoo that lacks the space to properly care for even one elephant.

• This represents just one more example of a federal oversight agency that is far too entwined with the industry it is supposed to be regulating, and the American people are tired of it.

Queenie, imprisoned in that tiny zoo cell, is the embodiment of the USDA’s many failures to hold the welfare of its charges above the interests of the industry. Let’s use this opportunity to focus Congressional attention on her, and on the problem elephants face at the hands of the USDA. Please make your follow-up calls today!

If you need additional help in responding to your elected officials or if your senator or representative wishes to help, please contact Deb Robinson at circuses@idausa.org.

This blog was contributed by Deborah Robinson, IDA’s Captive Elephant Specialist.

We’d like to clarify the outcome of this litigation, further explain why the judge dismissed the lawsuit, and describe why we believe that this groundbreaking case bodes very well for any future litigation.

Judge Friedman’s dismissal of the lawsuit (the ruling can be read here) was based on plaintiffs’ lack of standing – the legal right to issue a lawsuit.  Judge Friedman’s dismissal had nothing whatsoever to do with the merits of the case. In his December 23, 2009 opinion denying plaintiffs’ request for a Preliminary Injunction (decision is here), Judge Friedman did rule, pending further briefing, that BLM’s practice of holding wild horses in long-term holding was likely illegal. He stated that “BLM’s use of long-term holding facilities runs counter to the statute’s mandate that the agency’s management of wild horses occur at ‘the minimal feasible level.’ 16 U.S.C. § 1333(a). Long-term maintenance of thousands of horses in holding pens constitutes intensive management that was not contemplated by Congress when the Wild Horse Act was passed.”  The Judge further wrote, “BLM’s proposed confinement of hundreds or thousands of horses from the Calico Mountains Complex in long-term holding facilities in other states thus appears to contravene the unambiguous intent of Congress as expressed in statutory text and legislative history.” His opinion relied on the statute’s clear, unambiguous prohibition on relocating wild horses and burros to areas of the public lands where they did not exist in 1971 (the year the statute became law).

In light of this Judge Friedman wrote that “the agency’s best option might be to postpone the gather,” although he did go on to elucidate the potential problems with such a postponement. As we know, that postponement did not happen and today over 1,800 Calico wild horses are confined at a BLM facility in Fallon, Nevada. Over 100 horses have died as a result of the roundup and more than 40 heavily pregnant mares had spontaneous abortions – the vast majority died at the Fallon facility.

It’s important to note that Judge Friedman’s May 24, 2010 final ruling “assumes, without deciding, that plaintiffs’ rather conclusory allegations suffice” for legal standing in regards to the roundup and removal of the Calico horses, but that plaintiffs had not established standing with regards to the relocation to long-term holding of the horses. Because the Judge did not issue an injunction stopping the roundup and removal of the horses from Calico and that these actions had already occurred, he determined the roundup and removal issues were moot. The judge determined plaintiffs had not satisfactorily established standing regarding long-term holding, stating that “Their [plaintiffs’] asserted injury results from the removal of wild horses from the Complex, not from the placement of removed horses in long-term holding facilities.”  He further stated that “plaintiffs’ asserted injuries are not sufficiently connected or ‘traceable’ to the agency action in question,” which was the long-term holding issue. These are the reasons for the Judge’s decision to dismiss the case – mootness for a roundup that the Court refused to enjoin, and the Court’s finding that plaintiffs had probably established standing for roundup and removal, but not for relocation to long-term holding.

It is significant that the Court assumed that plaintiffs’ allegations were sufficient for legal standing on the roundup and removal aspects of the litigation. Because the Judge did not address the merits at all in his May 24, 2010 ruling, his preliminary finding in his December 23, 2009 opinion that relocation to long-term holding is likely illegal indicates that the arguments put forth by plaintiffs in this litigation will be successful in any future lawsuit – especially since we fervently believe that the additional briefing requested by the Judge greatly strengthened plaintiffs’ arguments. This case was filed pro bono and we remain extremely grateful for the tremendous generosity of lead attorney William Spriggs, his legal team and law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.

IDA is determined to continue to fight the BLM’s ill-conceived plans to continue removing wild horses from their homes on the range and stockpiling them in long-term holding

Workers using Corexit in the Exxon Valdez Spill. Photo Credit : The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

It’s been over a month since President Obama and the EPA gave BP 24 hours to stop dumping the toxic oil dispersant Corexit into the Gulf of Mexico. The decision was first reported in the Washington Post immediately after Congress heard testimony from BP’s own executives and scientists confirming our worst fears. Not only is this highly toxic chemical relatively ineffective against this type of crude oil, but it was now adding more pollutants to the already poisoned waters.

Numerous independent scientists have come forward to say that Corexit is really only good for public relations. This carcinogenic, mutagenic, and highly toxic chemical does break up the oil into small somewhat transparent ripples and droplets that are more visually acceptable than images of giant black tides drowning wildlife and covering beaches. What the cameras don’t see is the long term damage to delicate ecosystems that are now struggling to escape toxic tides of chemicals. According to environmental engineer Joe Taylor the sulfur and sulfuric acid based dispersant will also deplete oxygen levels under the water, killing plankton and everything above plankton in the food chain. This is not new information. Corexit has been banned for years in the UK because of the long and short-term damage to wildlife and ecosystems. The world was first introduced to Corexit in 1989 when it was used in the Exxon Valdez spill. Images of the workers during that spill spraying the chemical in hazmat suits should have been our first clue something wasn’t quit right with this chemical.

So – why at the time of this decision had BP already sprayed over 600,000 gallons of Corexit on the surface of the Gulf with another 55,000 injected directly into the oil pouring out of the ocean floor? And why, one month later, have they been allowed to dump even more? It is estimated that more than 1.4 million gallons have already been used.

Please act today to remind President Obama that this disaster could have been prevented and that he needs to restore the moratorium on all-offshore drilling in the U.S.

The proposal would have allowed countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland, who never stopped killing whales in the first place, to continue killing them, with the endorsement of the IWC.  Thanks to pressure from IDA and whale supporters worldwide, we stood firmly unified, demanding real protection from hunting for whales. The world listened. And they agreed.

Although we prevailed in maintaining the global ban on commercial whaling, other significant pressures continue to harm whales and threaten their existence.  Starvation, increasing predation by orcas, migration through industrial polluted waters, oil spills, military sonar, and commercial fishing operations are among the many obstacles threatening their survival today.  The central location of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, is home to an endangered sperm whale population. In 2009, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated the population would not be able to withstand a loss of three additional whales due to man.  Last week, the first dead sperm whale was found floating 77 miles south of the sunken rig.

Please enjoy the victory – and take pride in the part you played preserving the moratorium on commercial whaling. Stay tuned for upcoming alerts to further protect marine mammals and their habitats. Next time we ask you to send a letter or fax, remember this – it can work. Every fax and e-mail you sent made this victory possible.

While this proposal awaits a response and approval from the BLM, the agency is sadly moving forward with plans to disperse the Calico horses around the country and sending the remainder to long-term holding – thus permanently separating family members for life.  We urge the BLM to stop these plans and to instead focus their time and energy into making this proposal a reality – a first step to reforming the broken and unsustainable program.

Last Thursday was the last public viewing of the Calico horses being held at the publicly-funded, short-term facility in Fallon, Nevada. IDA is opposed to the ending of public viewing of horses at this facility and urges the BLM to re-institute public access to this BLM-managed facility which holds more than 2,220 wild horses who belong to the American people.  It is ironic that the BLM uses tax dollars to fund this facility and prohibits tax payers from seeing their wild horses at this taxpayer-funded facility.

In the meantime, please be sure to voice your opposition to the unnecessary and inhumane proposed roundups of 2,000 horses and burros in the Reveille roundup of 200 horses (public comments due by June 25).

Last weekend the CBS Sunday Morning news program aired breathtaking video of “Wild Horses of Nevada” at the end of the program. Filmmaker and burro and wild horse advocate Carl Mrozek recently took this video of the beautiful, healthy mustangs in the wild. You can watch the video by clicking here.

Please take a few minutes to post a brief comment to urge CBS News to do a news segment on the wild horse issue.  We hope that if CBS gets a huge response it may trigger broader coverage of the mustang/ burro story. The response over the next several days will be key. This is a prime & rare opportunity for advocates to make their case directly to CBS producers, via the CBS website so please take full advantage of it.

To post a comment after the video:

1) Go to the link, find the mustang video right there, and watch the piece — it’s only about one minute.  It was mostly rough/tough macho mustang stuff, but it definitely shows the healthy, beautiful horses, and Charles Osgood says these are the “… vanishing mustangs…”

2) Directly under the video – click on “[number] Comments” or click on this webpage to add a comment.

3) Next, click on “Add a Comment” and then click on “Log in or Create An Account.”

Below are some ideas to that you may consider when writing your comments. Please write original comments as they will likely be more compelling to producers who read them.

• Great video on wild horses – would be interested why Charles Osgood said the wild horses are vanishing.
• I would like to learn more about these wild horses – could you please do a news story on what is happening to them?
• More information please.

Thank you.