by Leigh Scheps of Inside Edition
The first thing Amber Austwick ever said out loud was “I love you” to a donkey. The 6-year-old is a twin who was born prematurely at 26 weeks. She suffered from complications at birth that forced doctors to perform a tracheotomy. Amber never said a word until she met her four-legged friend at this donkey sanctuary. Her time there is therapeutic, and since her introduction to the donkey, Amber’s become a lot more confident.
WILD HORSES NEVADA (Warning: Graphic Image) — On May 10, 2017, Tuesday’s Horse received an email from the Professor and Chair of the Geological and Environmental Sciences Department of a California University stating he was leading a student field trip in Northumberland Canyon south of Austin, Nevada the previous weekend and they discovered the following:
We came across six horse carcasses, all missing their heads. This was very disturbing to the students and I am trying to figure out what happened. Was there planned culling of wild horses? Why would the heads be removed?
The Professor had not been able to reach the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) so reached out to us for assistance.
At long last I tracked down the right BLM office thanks to the coordinates the Professor provided.
After several email exchanges and a few phone calls with a BLM agent in that office, we made little progress figuring out what had happened to these Mustangs or why.
Here is a summary of those exchanges:
• It is highly likely these Mustangs were shot and killed. Although rare in the area, other wild horses have been shot and killed and left on the side of the road in much the same manner.
• The heads were either removed by trophy hunters or for use in local rituals. It is also possible someone discovered the carcasses and removed the skulls much later and cleaned them to use as relics. The heads are not missing because of scavengers.
• Due to the vastness and remoteness of the area it is close to impossible to find any witnesses. Investigators often have to rely on hearsay such as “someone bragging” about the kill.
My BLM contact agreed to talk with other field agents plus get in touch with the U.S. Forestry Service for their input.
A few days later my BLM contact reconnected to tell me that wild horses killed in suspicious circumstances do fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forestry Service and they would determine whether or not to investigate.
An agent of the U.S. Forestry Service contacted me with the following:
• They had discovered carcasses like these the previous year, perhaps even as early as Spring 2016, and they were “probably the same ones”.
• Due to the condition of the carcasses and the amount of time elapsed they have little to nothing to go on and did not feel it warranted the time and expense of an investigation. No one offered an explanation why they took no action at the time they first found the dead horses other than “it’s too hard”.
• They have come across dead Mustangs before where they suspected foul play and occasionally seen heads removed like this.
• The missing heads were not the result of scavenging.
It was never quite clear to me when coming across something like this, how they determine when it is worth investigating and when it is not.
The BLM and USFS were not the only ones. I also contacted a noted investigative reporter who also declined.
So Now What?
The agents I dealt with were responsive. Perhaps it ended the way it did with me at the direction of higher ups.
Yet wait a minute. Any way you look at it, murdering a Mustang is a federal crime. Murdering six. Leaving the six dead horses at the side of the same road. Removing their heads. Surely that warrants at least some looking into.
Something must be done or these murders, even if only committed sporadically, will continue.
I offered a reward for the arrest and conviction of these Mustang Murderers. The response?
I appreciate knowing about the reward and I will see how that might be promoted.
End of story? I thought so until a few minutes ago. We’ll let you know. Stay tuned.
Source: A Mustang murder mystery in northern Nevada – Tuesday’s Horse
story by Magdala Louissaint as broadcast/published on KPVI.com
It’s almost been two months since a Pocatello family lost their dog and almost their son to a cyanide trap set 300 yards behind their house. Since then the USDA says they’ve taken all the traps out of the Gem state. But that hasn’t changed anything to investigators who say they were never notified of the deadly chemical, meant to kill predators, planted around Bannock County.
The incident began in the Buckskin area back in March. Canyon Mansfield says, “I panicked and sprinted down to get my mom.” The 14-year-old and his dog Kasey were 300 yards away from their house. He describes, “Suddenly there’s like a pop and then orange gas spews out.” The Mansfield family dog died and they almost lost their son as well. Theresa Mansfield, Canyon’s mother says, “We didn’t want to believe it was from Cyanide poisoning, but deep down it scared the crap out of us.”
The Cyanide trap was placed on BLM land with no warnings in sight. Investigators found a second trap not far from the first. Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen says, “We’re not Alaska. There are wilderness places where people go. I don’t care what the purpose is. If it’s endangering public it shouldn’t be there.”
Since the death of Kasey there’s been a worldwide outcry. The Bannock County’s Sheriff’s office has launched their investigation. The city has also stepped in. In March Pocatello’s Mayor Brian Blad wrote a letter to the USDA asking them to stop manufacturing Cyanide Traps, or M-44’s, in the city. Since then the agency reached out to the mayor. He says he toured the facility, learned about their safety precautions and products “They’re going to continue to do their practice until congress acts,” said Blad.
This is not the first time the USDA had a run in with the Gate City. Seven years ago the agency was responsible for illegally setting “Quick Kill” traps, meant for Rock chucks within city limits. Obtained by KPVI in an incident report by Pocatello’s animal control, an elderly woman called them after finding a cat trapped alive in a “quick kill” trap or Conibear trap in her backyard. She admitted to the city she requested the traps from the USDA. She says at least three cats had been killed before and they were removed by the local USDA representative Todd Sullivan. Sullivan is the same man involved in the Mansfield investigation. In 2010 the charges against Sullivan were dismissed by a federal judge.
The city and USDA came to an agreement that they would not place Conibear traps in Pocatello without notifying the city first. The USDA declined to speak to KPVI on camera, but gave us a written statement answering our questions. They told us, the incident involving the Mansfield Dog is still under investigation and can’t comment. But claimed they had “107 M-44’s set on 16 properties in the state and all have been removed.” Our request to tour the Pocatello manufacturing facility was denied, they say because of security concerns.
The agency tells us the Pocatello location has been manufacturing M-44 deceives since 1969. And also handles, “Gas cartridges for fumigating rodent burrows, rodent grain baits…, predator lures, and repackages other products such as order control products and animal immobilization drugs.”
The sheriff’s investigation is now left in the hands of county prosecutors to find if any state laws were violated. In the meantime, the sheriff says this to residents, “We now have to be aware of our surroundings. If there is something that is out there that is not part of… leave it alone, leave it alone,” Nielsen said.
Source: Special Report: KPVI Investigates Cyanide traps and the USDA | Straight from the Horse’s Heart
Source: Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary Alliance
It has been a long and difficult journey for the 907 horses that the State Attorneys in South Dakota found to be suffering from serious neglect last October. From freezing temperatures and soupy mud, all of the unadopted horses healthy enough to make the journey have been relocated to a safe staging area in Colorado. (or to a new adoptive home.) We’ve come so far and we couldn’t have done it without you!
Source: Update: Status on Massive Former Wild Horse and Burro SD Rescue | Straight from the Horse’s Heart
Reach Out WorldWide has sent a team to assist homeowners and residents with clean up efforts after record flooding has inundated the mid-south. After a flood overwhelms a home, residents are often left with nothing. All of their belongings are contaminated, mold begins growing everywhere, and the bones of the home begin rotting. For most, the scene is impossible; it’s too intimidating to even know where to start. That’s where ROWW comes in. We help remove the home’s ruined contents, help sort what is salvageable, remove flooring, drywall, and all flood-damaged contents so that the drying process begins as quickly as possible and mold is abated. Typically, because of the severe damage and risk of mold, homes are required to be taken down all the way to the studs. Once the “muck and gut” is complete, the rebuilding process can begin. Your donation will help equip our team of qualified volunteers with the tools and resources we need to muck and gut flood damaged homes and get residents started on their path to recovery. Even $1 makes a difference.
Donate to Support the Flood Victims in Arkansas
“We were all told it was a 100-year flood and it won’t happen again,” says Nelda Cooper, another flood victim. Inside her house the floodwaters reached 4 1/2 feet.
“It’s devastating,” she says, adding that there are a lot of elderly people in the neighborhood. “When their insurance tripled, they had no other option but to drop it,” she says.
Now, many people are left wondering how to move forward.
Donate today to help victims like Mrs. Cooper get back in their homes.
By Jon Rappoport
“I have a great idea. We’re the Sherman County government. We have power. Let’s claim Azure Farms can’t control their weeds. Let’s come in and invade them with Roundup and other toxic chemicals. Let’s destroy their organic farm. We know the spraying won’t wipe out the weeds—it’ll make the situation worse. But who cares? Let’s open up ourselves to massive lawsuits. I’m sure Monsanto will give us some legal help. We can set a fantastic precedent. No organic farm is safe. No organic farmer has the right to protect his land from the government. Isn’t that a terrific idea?”
Government trespass, invasion?
So far, I have seen no coverage of this issue in Oregon newspapers. Why not? Also, I find nothing on the Sherman County, Oregon, government website about a massive spraying program.
A local government is going to decimate a huge organic farm with herbicide?
Azure Farms, a 2000-acre organic farm in Oregon, states it is under threat from the local Sherman County government. Why? Because Sherman County officials are re-interpreting a law concerning the “control of noxious weeds,” so it means “eradication.”
These weeds can be controlled on an organic farm, but the only way they can be eliminated (according to conventional “science”) is by spraying. And that means Roundup and other toxic chemicals. That would decimate the organic nature of the farm. That would decertify it as an organic farm.
Further, according to Azure, Sherman County plans to put a lien on the farm, forcing it to pay for the spraying.
The deadline for expressing opposition is May 22. A better deadline is May 17.
Here is the complete press release from Azure Farms and the ways to register your concern:
Azure Farms is a working, certified organic farm located in Moro, central Oregon, in Sherman County. It has been certified organic for about 18 years. The farm produces almost all the organic wheat, field peas, barley, Einkorn, and beef for Azure Standard.
Sherman County is changing the interpretation of its statutory code from controlling noxious weeds to eradicating noxious weeds. These weeds include Morning Glory, Canada Thistle, and Whitetop, all of which have been on the farm for many years, but that only toxic chemicals will eradicate.
Organic farming methods – at least as far as we know today – can only control noxious weeds—it is very difficult to eradicate them.
Sherman County may be issuing a Court Order on May 22, 2017 to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the whole farm with poisonous herbicides, contaminating them with Milestone, Escort and Roundup herbicides.
This will destroy all the efforts Azure Farms has made for years to produce the very cleanest and healthiest food humanly possible. About 2,000 organic acres would be impacted; that is about 1.5 times the size of the city center of Philadelphia that is about to be sprayed with noxious, toxic, polluting herbicides.
The county would then put a lien on the farm to pay for the expense of the labor and chemicals used.
Contact Sherman County Court before May 17 when the next court discussion will be held.
Contact info:
1. Via email at lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us or
2. Call Lauren at 541-565-3416.
Show Sherman County that people care about their food NOT containing toxic chemicals.
Overwhelm the Sherman County representatives with your voices!
—end of Azure Farms statement—
By John Cox
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.” ― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
Why do we take issue at the lack of good science data with what is called today, Pesticide PZP? Because subjectivity and science remain two separate situations. The dynamics of each very different. Many of us find Pesticide PZP nothing more than subjective rhetoric – the results on our Public Lands of this endeavor remains quite negative, with no good potential results foreseen in the future. Wild Horses are going extinct! False science, misinformation, ignoring of Ecological demands, and corruption the reasons why . . .
The wild horses on America’s Public Lands is falling victim to what many of us simply refer to as bad, and incompetent white-paper gibberish. As history shows us time and again, government agencies seem to attract this type of research, calls it science, and as history shows us, time after time, until we see the outstanding negative results, in this case a species going extinct, do we finally realize the mistake.
But only over time is the burden of responsibility taken to task, the fingers point to those who cannot defend themselves, and these elements of destruction, these non-profits and BLM who promote this Pesticide PZP scam, simply move-on to other schemes and scams to obtain taxpayer money differently, is all . . .
Well, as taxpayers and American’s it is time for all of us to Stand Up and say no to any further Pesticide PZP use —
Spotted Owls in the Cascades
For explanation reasons, I am using the Spotted Owl within the Nooksack River watershed, as well as the Skagit River Valley, both in the Cascade Mountains. It shows us, overtime, the dynamic also involved within the wild horses, even though separate ecological zones, separate species for sure, yet similar in population encounter and census.
The biology, when all the variables considered, show situations that remain overlooked, or even ignored, by Pesticide PZP research. Many define, categorically, Pesticide PZP as questionable subjective reasoning of combined-information only, merely passed-off as science –
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” ― Albert Einstein
Many of us accept this fact of facts, as there simply exists too many variables left unexplored from the Pesticide PZP data gathering, to be any type of acceptable science what so ever. Way too many significant data situations ignored or even not thought about what so ever, which would show beyond a doubt Pesticide PZP, a questionable situation at best, and non-useful. The reasoning why significant variables left unexplored? Well, let’s take a look at some of the more obvious, and viability of our wildlife in general.
A census of the Spotted Owl may show twenty-five owls exist, but perhaps only seven are of a reproductive age, and only five sexually active. The outcome of this, within a good biology context, would likely be five-owls, not twenty-five. To assimilate across the board a 20% to 38% increase, as they do with wild horses, is simply bad management, untruthful, and no good-science or biology would back up such claims what so ever – as variables do exist on this planet, always.
When we refuse to consider significant variables, that do exist and apparent should not be ignored, then we have to question the 
supposed science involved. On the same scale of research, if we ignore the habitats, or Ecological Zones that exist, deduction through subjectivity only, and as if Pesticide PZP unharmful within any circumstance – but never explored, through due diligence and good data gathering, we never find out if harmful or not in Ecological Zones of any type. . . Used on something like Wild Horses, we become very concerned at this monumental error in judgement, that certainly lacks scientific responsibility, and one can also attest, irresponsible within an ethical or humane context as well . . . – John Cox, The Cascades
Source: Wild Horses Misinformation and Bad Science: Corrupt Government Agency and Non-Profits
by Scott Streater, as published on E&E News
“The provision in the latest omnibus bill was requested last year as part of President Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal (Greenwire, Feb. 10, 2016).”
photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The omnibus spending package the Senate approved today contains a provision that would make it easier for the Bureau of Land Management to adopt out or transfer wild horses and burros, reducing the growing number of animals under the agency’s care.
But the provision has angered animal rights advocates, who say it contains too many loopholes to protect thousands of wild horses and burros from being slaughtered.
At issue is a section in the omnibus package to fund the federal government through September — originally requested by the Obama administration last year — that would allow the Interior secretary to “transfer excess wild horses or burros” BLM has removed from federal rangelands “to other Federal, State, and local government agencies for use as work animals.”
The provision would authorize the secretary to “make any such transfer immediately upon request” of a government agency, such as the U.S. Border Patrol. The provision includes language stating that the animals cannot be killed or sold or transferred to any entity that would slaughter them “for processing into commercial products.”
But it allows transferred horses and burros to be euthanized “upon the recommendation of a licensed veterinarian, in cases of severe injury, illness, or advanced age.”
It’s that language that has wild horse advocates outraged.
Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation, said BLM “has a history of misinforming the public” about issues related to wild horses.
“Couple this with the vague ‘illness’ and ‘advanced age’ language” in the omnibus provision, “and the potential exists for the killing of thousands of horses,” said Kathrens, a member of the BLM National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board…(CONTINUED)
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/05/04/stories/1060054082
Source: BLM Transfer Provision in Omnibus Outrages Advocates | Straight from the Horse’s Heart
Once wild horses at Indian Lakes Rd. facility in Fallon, NV (photo: Debbie Coffey)
Get ready to jump on the wagon for a BLM PR blitz…
Edited Press Release Source: BLM
RENO, Nev. —The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will host two free public tours of the Indian Lakes Off-Range Wild Horse and Burro Corral in Fallon, Nevada, on Friday, May 12. Tour attendees will be taken as a group by wagon around the facility to learn about it, the animals, and BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
About a 90-minute drive east of Reno, the corral is located at 5676 Indian Lakes Road, Fallon, and is privately owned and operated. The public tours will begin at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and each will last about one hour and accommodate up to 20 people. Attendees should wear comfortable shoes and clothes; hats and sunscreen are recommended, and photography is welcome. On-site portable toilets will be available.
Horses at the Indian Lakes facility are made available to the public for adoption or purchase throughout the year at off-site adoption events and through BLM’s Internet Adoption program. For more information on adoption opportunities, visit https://on.doi.gov/2iByqXD.
To register for the tour or to get driving directions to the facility, please contact the BLM at (775) 475-2222.
Open Letter by Author Terry Farley
As a journalist, I first interviewed BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program staffers in 1976, shortly after I moved to Nevada. Since then, I’ve followed the program’s death spiral.
Those who say wild horses and burros ruin the range claim there are too many of them, and yet there’s little agreement about how many wild equines remain on America’s public lands.
BLM’s wild horse and burro math is statistically bizarre. Even the National Academy of Sciences, charged by BLM to analyze the program (2013) concluded: “The Wild Horse and Burro Program has not used scientifically rigorous methods to estimate the population sizes of horses and burros …”
NAS warned “continuation of business-as-usual practices will be expensive and unproductive for BLM and the public it serves.” Worse, NAS pointed out that BLM’s lack of science has actually backfired on its stated goal of protecting the range.
BLM’s reaction? Keep paying independent contractors to chase, trap and corral the West’s remaining wild horses and offer $10 million to anyone who found a new means of mustang birth control.
BLM asked for a new method because PZP “didn’t work,” ignoring recent science and BLM personnel who admitted that — counter to instructions – contraceptives are not always kept frozen or even cold in the field.
Band dynamics: During round-ups, family bands are shattered, routinely divided into stallions, mares and contractor-determined weanlings. Horses are prey animals. They know safety is with the band and the resulting cacophony and blood of these separations is haunting. Fewer than 2 percent are ever reunited.
Injury: Compare injection site abscess to BLM documentation of a single round-up in which 113 mustangs died. Death from shattered pelvises, broken necks, skulls and spine were sometime attributed to natural causes or pre-existing conditions. Those diagnoses would strain my credulity even if I hadn’t been there.
If you still oppose contraception, please consider this: Proponents of selling wild horses without limitation have made in-roads at BLM and those who’d destroy mustang captives as they stand in government pens have visited the White House.
The extermination of a Western icon is near, and your choice can hasten or slow its approach.
PZP is reversible. Death is final.
Source: BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program in a Death Spiral | Straight from the Horse’s Heart
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