January 27, 2010
** Horrific Roundups & Horse Protection Hearing Scheduled
** Maryland Votes For Animals Reports on New Assembly
** Maryland Dog Fighting Ring Busted
** Animal Planet Investigates Dog Fighting
** Help Stop Last Live Dog Lab in Oklahoma
** Haitian Animal Relief Workers Hit The Ground
** 2009 Humane Scorecard Now Online
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-- Comment Period on Nevada Round Ups ends January 27 --
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to leave only 100 wild horses on 670,000 acres of public land in Nevada that Congress set aside mainly for wild horses. The BLM proposal to remove 550 “excess” wild horses is scheduled to begin on February 14. These cruel roundups using helicopters run horses for miles over rough ground leaving them lame and even dead. Just last Friday, IDA reported that 2 wild horses were killed and up to 25 were being treated for injuries as a result of a helicopter stampede and roundup underway in the Calico Mountains of Nevada.
A small colt was run so hard and long that he was killed due to “multiple hoof sloughs from the capture.” A mare went down in the trailer transport truck after being stampeded by helicopter for miles. No help was available for the downed mare on the 4-5 hour drive between Calico and the holding facility. She died shortly after arrival. IDA is calling for a full investigation and ongoing access for public observers. According to IDA, BLM is tightly controlling public access to the roundup and the holding facility, thus no independent verification is available to document the conditions surrounding continuing fatalities and injured horses.
The wild horse population today is smaller than in 1974 when the first census was taken and Congress voted to protect horses because of their dwindling numbers. But since 1971, when Congress honored wild horses as “living symbols of freedom,” the BLM has removed over 200,000 from the range and taken away 20 million acres of habitat. The BLM frequently increases livestock grazing allotments after removing the mustangs and burros.
The Obama administration is continuing the Bush policy of targeting wild horses to serve special cattle and other industry interests. In fact, over the last year, the BLM is actually accelerating the pace of wild horse removals, with 12,000 horses targeted for capture from our public lands in 2010 alone. The majority of these horses will be sent to government holding facilities, where they will join the 35,000 wild horses already stockpiled at taxpayer expense. Many of these holding facilities actually lack windbreaks or any type of refuge from the weather.
Heard on the Hill is that the Obama Administration proposes to spend up to 500 million tax dollars to purchase private lands in the Midwest and East to warehouse these horses removed from lands that American taxpayers already own. Having spent hundreds of years acclimating to the western terrain, mustangs are not suited to the wet, lush Midwestern climate. In the Midwest and East these animals would not have access to their natural diet or to the rocky landscape that naturally controls the growth of their hooves. In addition to the unsuitability of the “sanctuary” locations proposed by BLM, District Court Judge Paul Friedman ruled that these holding facilities are likely illegal in his ruling on a relevant lawsuit filed by IDA.
Please help America’s wild horses and mustangs. Take time to comment now. The deadline is January 27 at 4:30 pm. In Defense of Animals (IDA) has set up a simple and quick on-line comment form at:
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1367&JServSessionIdr004=2lkv44icu1.app44b
The contents of the IDA letter are below. A personalized message has more impact as you know.
* The EA (environmental assessment) does not provide evidence to support the BLM's contention that this vast public lands complex (almost as big as the entire state of Rhode Island) can only support 100 horses.
* The EA fails to evaluate the impacts of livestock grazing on the range condition in this HMA (herd management area), nor does it discuss how impacts to the range from horses are distinguished from impacts caused by the thousands of livestock that graze there.
* The EA fails to provide evidence to justify the BLM's arbitrary rejection of its legal authority to "remove livestock from HMAs 'if necessary to provide habitat for wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury' under CFR 4710.5."
* The EA fails to address the long-term impacts to horses who are permanently removed from the range and placed in government holding facilities, where stallions are gelded and horses are held in sex-segregated pastures under highly unnatural conditions.
Livestock grazing in this HMA is extensive, and the number of cattle and sheep allowed across the 675,000 acres dwarfs the number of wild horses., yet the BLM ignores its legal authority to reduce livestock grazing in order to increase the number of horses allowed to live in this public lands complex.
The BLM's entire management plan for the wild horses in the Eagle HMA and nationwide rests upon a program of massive roundup and removal of hundreds of horses every 4-5 years. This program is fiscally irresponsible and waste of millions of tax dollars. It violates Congress' intent that America's wild horses be managed in the wild, and it is costly in terms of wild horse lives. The helicopter stampedes terrorize and traumatize wild horses, injuring and killing some in every roundup. Wild horse social structures are routinely shattered and family bands torn apart.
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-- Update on H.R. 503 --
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on H.R. 503, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act on Tuesday, February 2, at 4:00 pm. The same committee overwhelmingly approved similar legislation during the last Congress. The public can call their Representatives to ask them to support H.R. 503, which would make sure that no American horse is slaughtered in the US nor shipped to be slaughtered abroad. For more information about this legislation, visit http://www.habitatforhorses.org/joincampaigns/ahspa.html.
To identify your House Representative, go to www.compassionindex.org. The bill currently has 178 cosponsors. Be sure to thank your lawmaker if he or she is one of them. There are four Representatives from Virginia on the Judiciary Committee: Rich Boucher, Randy Forbes, Bob Goodlatte, and Bobby Scott. It is especially important to let these people know of your support.
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-- Maryland Animal Welfare Legislation –
The 2010 session of the Maryland General Assembly began last week. Two animal protection bills were introduced and more will be coming. Here is the list provided by Maryland Votes for Animals:
H.B. 15 (Spay/Neuter of Dangerous Dogs): Del. Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, R-Talbot, told members of the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday that her proposal would reduce the number of dogs in shelters and alleviate aggressiveness. The bill would require the spaying or neutering of any dog who has been classified by a local government as “dangerous,” and impose fines of $2,500 for those who failed to take the action.
S.B. 21 (Animal Cruelty): Sen. James Robey and Sen. Jamie Raskin introduced this bill to increase the fines and jail time for misdemeanor animal cruelty, and allow courts to prohibit people convicted of animal cruelty from owning an animal in the future. A similar bill to be introduced in the House by Del. Jeff Waldstreicher is planned.
Also, Sen. Lisa Gladden will introduce legislation to prohibit the sale of puppies at pet stores as a way to address the issue of puppy mill cruelty.
If one of your legislators is a supporter of these bills, call to say thanks. Go to http://mlis.state.md.us/ for links to locate or contact a Maryland lawmaker.
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-- Maryland Dog-Fighting Ring Busted –
On January 15, Anne Arundel County police arrested several men implicated in a dog-fighting ring. Police officers responded to a disorderly conduct call in Lothian and found a dog fight in progress in a nearby wooded area. Four suspects were apprehended and charged with animal cruelty, dog fighting, mutilating animals, dog fighting spectator, and trespassing. The two dogs involved were handed over to Animal Control. According to Wendy Cozzone of the Animal Welfare Council, “The one poor dog was almost starved to death. Their hipbones are sticking out. When the one dog got here, his head was the size of a basketball.”
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-- Dog Fighting in the Media --
Last night Animal Planet premiered “Animal Planet Investigates: Dog Fighting Exposed.”
"By bringing viewers the true and uncensored reality behind dog fighting, we intend to raise public awareness about this cruel and inhumane practice," says Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. "The brave men and women working tirelessly to expose and dismantle these fighting rings are using daring tactics and thanks in large part to their efforts we were able to share this powerful story with our viewers in an in-depth and unprecedented way. Some of the images might be tough to take, but it's vitally important that these stories are told."
Animal Planet Investigates is a new quarterly series that will examine a variety of animal welfare issues. The next one, scheduled to air this spring, will focus on puppy mills.
You can find a on-line stream video on the dog-fighting special at http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:d26c759cd77219e3568c678f924ca562:82c0f387964adc76d701fa3def982053/Watch-Animal-Planet-Investigates-Dog-Fighting-Exposed-ANIMAL-PLANET-Special-Online-Stream-Video.
To thank Animal Planet for this new series, fill out a view comment form at http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations. When you get to program show, select “other” from the list. Once you fill out the form you will be able to leave a comment.
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-- Protest Deadly Live Animal Lab --
A campaign started a few days ago to help end the live dog lab at Oklahoma State University (OSU) vet school. This University at Stillwater currently purchases dogs from class B random source animal dealers who obtain those dogs from shelters and other sources and then sell them to labs and schools for use in testing and training procedures. Once at OSU, the vet students practice various procedures on the dogs. Afterwards the animals are killed. Better more humane teaching methods are the new standard in veterinary education. Among the three vet schools in Oklahoma, only OSU still conducts terminal dog labs to train students. A Care2 Campaign's goal is 1000 people sending a message to OSU to stop this unnecessarily cruel practice. So far 400 have signed on. Take a moment to send at quick on-line message to the Dean of the OSU Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. Just go to http://www.change.org/actions/view/help_end_the_live_dog_lab_at_oklahoma_state_university_vet_school
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-- Haitian Animal Relief --
On January 21, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the world’s largest alliance of animal welfare organizations, received an official request from the Haitian Government to deploy WSPA staff as soon as possible to help with emergency relief. Animal welfare groups had been dealing with tremendous obstacles and logistical problems while trying to prepare an assessment of the conditions for animals before animal relief efforts could actually begin. But they were ready, and the first deployment occurred quickly after the government gave the official go ahead.
WSPA and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) formed the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) and are coordinating efforts so that all animal welfare groups can work together efficiently in Haiti. A veterinary response team from Humane Society International (HIS) consisting of a vet, two vet techs, an expert animal handler and paramedic, and a military escort for security was one deployed. The team’s goal is to treat any animals they can, gather information, coordinate with relief agencies, and lay a foundation for putting more assets on the ground.
IFAW will operate a mobile clinic with vaccines, antibiotics, bandages, food and other supplies for direct aid to animals and will provide ongoing assessment of how best to help. ARCH animal emergency response experts chose IFAW because it is partnering with several other nonprofits and will open a veterinary clinic as soon as possible. So far eighteen groups were ARCH members, including Best Friends, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Kinship Circle, and PETA.
According to the ASPCA, the fate of Haiti’s zoo, endangered species and other animals is still uncertain. Around 5 million head of livestock are in Haiti, which is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Livestock provide Haitian families with milk and cheese as well as goods to sell. A single goat can pay for medical expenses and in some cases a year of tuition. Perhaps 40 to 50 percent of the country’s farm animals are goats, but there are also cows, chickens, pigs and horses.
Some cows and goats may have stopped producing milk due to the stress of the quake. ARCH plans to distribute food to farmers to help sustain them. If families are fed, the animals that live off their food scraps will also be fed. Dr. Dick Green of IFAW said: “By restoring the livestock, we really restore the economy and help the government get back on its feet.” The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) have also joined ARCH and will provide monetary donations to care for Haiti’s livestock.