ELDER MARE PUSHED TO FAR-Jan-2011
The public has been shocked by the cruelty on display in the photos and video coming out of the Antelope, Nevada wild horse roundup. Particularly appalling is the treatment of this older mare, who was stampeded by a BLM helicopter to the point of exhaustion and beyond. Her plight was captured on video by AWHPC's Deniz Bolbol:
The public has been shocked by the cruelty on display in the photos and video coming out of the Antelope, Nevada wild horse roundup. Particularly appalling is the treatment of this older mare, who was stampeded by a BLM helicopter to the point of exhaustion and beyond. Her plight was captured on video by AWHPC's Deniz Bolbol:
Video of incident by Ginger Kathrens, director of The Cloud Foundation
Where Does the Buck Stop for this Cruel Treatment of a Federally-Protected Wild Hores? One thing is clear: the buck for this inhumane and inept treatment of our wild horses must stop somewhere. In the case of the Antelope Complex roundup, that buck stops with Alan Shepherd, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Nevada state lead for Wild Horses and Burros. Mr. Shepherd is in charge of the Antelope capture operation, and it is on his watch that the mishandling of Nevada mustangs is occurring.
In an interview with Channel 4 News Reno, Shepherd defended the treatment of the old mare, blaming her collapse, not on her obvious exhaustion, but on the snow. “[S]he easily got up and walked away," he claimed.But Tom Gorey, public relations officer at the BLM's Washington, DC headquarters disagreed with Shepherd’s assessment, telling Channel 4:
"Our view is this is unacceptable and our hope is that this isn't repeated . . .”
Photo above: Alan Shepherd, Nevada lead for Wild Horses and Burros (Image from HD, Ginger Kathrens, The Cloud Foundation)
Yet on the same day BLM claimed that the helicopter pilot had been warned against "unacceptable" capture methods, the helicopter was again caught terrorizing a wild horse. In this series of photos taken unbeknownst to BLM and its roundup contractor Sun J Livestock, Laura Leigh documented the BLM helicopter chasing a lone horse, the chopper’s skids just feet over the mustang’s head (see photo below).
As the wild horse lead for the state of Nevada -- where over half of our remaining wild horses reside – Mr. Shepherd is the perfect example of what is wrong with the BLM wild horse and burro program.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and BLM Director Bob Abbey have pledged to reform this broken federal program, but actions speak louder than words. BLM must replace Mr. Shepherd with someone who is capable of implementing real change for Nevada's wild horses. What's needed is new leadership toward a cost-effective AND humane program that manages wild horses and burros on the Western range where they belong. The mass mustang roundups and removals are breaking the taxpayers' bank and destroying our wild horses. The time for change is now!
Bravehearts story-FILMED!-2010
Video captures full horror of death of Nevada mustang in BLM roundup
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by Suzanne Roy, with Terri Farley
In the early morning of Wednesday, October 6, 2010, amid the vast landscape of the Silver King Herd Management Area in southeastern Nevada, a mustang family lost everything in a BLM helicopter roundup.
I looked down from a hill above the entrance to the capture site to see a striking white mare, running at full speed, with her young foal at her heels. Galloping just ahead of the helicopter was a beautiful sorrel stallion, forehead lined with a wide white blaze. He lagged behind his family, torn between making a run for freedom and protecting his mare and foal, even if that meant following them into the jaws of the trap. The stallion, who we have named Braveheart, chose family over freedom, and it cost him his life.
Not long after his decision, Braveheart charged the bars of the trap pen, defending his mare and foal against an enemy he recognized: another horse. Though the BLM contractor clearly observed that his saddle horse was causing Braveheart’s agitation, he tied his mount just outside the stallion’s pen. To Braveheart, the saddle horse appeared to be within striking range. Braveheart didn’t know know men and their metal fences wouldn’t give way to his charge. And, slamming himself against the metal fences, he went down.
BLM often claims that horses with broken necks die instantly. They don’t.
Braveheart fell down after sustaining a mortal injury, but then he struggled to his feet. Head hanging down, he searched for his family. Could he see them nearby? Could he hear or smell them as he lifted his great red-gold head one final time?
As Braveheart lay dying or dead, the BLM wranglers loaded his white mare into a trailer. Dazed by defeat, she no longer struggled. Her stallion was dead, her foal forcibly taken from her.
Next the wranglers dragged the stallion’s body, covered by a tarp, onto the same trailer, forcing the pale mare to stand over her dead mate.
An endless 40 minutes later, the truck drove off, leaving the small foal, who looked just like his father, alone in the trap pen, never to see his mother or sire again.
At the holding site, dirt was piled atop the stallion next to mounds containing the bodies of numerous other victims of this roundup. Our requests to film the body were denied; when we filmed the backhoe and the stallion’s body awaiting burial from the distance, the government-contracted wrangler drove the truck and trailer around to block our view.
Ben Noyes, the BLM wild horse and burro specialist, refused our request to speak to him to get information about Braveheart’s death. Throughout the two days that we attended the roundup, Mr. Noyes refused to speak with the public and answer questions. The PR person charged with being the spokesperson often was unable to answer basic questions about the Silver King capture operation.
My colleague Deniz Bolbol and I captured the whole scene on video, despite the best efforts of the BLM to prevent us from doing so. We participated in two days of “public observation” at Silver King, during which the BLM’s main objective was to prevent us from capturing and exposing the images that convey the anguish, the trauma and the suffering wild horses endure in the BLM roundups.
BLM observation rules prevented us from observing and videotaping all aspects of the roundup including when the horses enter the trap. That is the moment they realize there is no escape, and the full impact of their capture is visible as they struggle mightily to kick down or climb fences. BLM also prevented us from filming the actual sorting of horses, when foals are wrenched from their mothers, and mares are taken from their stallions.
In previous roundups advocates have been allowed to get close enough to the trap and holding facility so that wounds could be seen – now the BLM keeps the public at such a distance that makes observation nearly impossible. It was only because we stood firm on our rights to travel the public roads in this public lands complex that we captured Braveheart’s final moments.
Sadly, this rainbow, which greeted us as we arrived at the trap site on Tuesday morning, brought no luck to the Silver King mustangs. Our wild horses aren’t looking for a pot of gold; they just want their freedom. It’s up to us to be their rainbow.
Braveheart standing guard over his mare moments before he broke his neck by charging the fence.
