Friends of Animals on HLN's Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell: Legal Action for Wild Horses and Burros
Nevada wants to declare wild horses and burros aren’t “wildlife” — which would deny them precious public water. After an outcry, the ugly proposal’s been delayed. What next?
Lee Hall, Friends of Animals’ Legal Affairs VP, appeared on HLN with Jane Velez-Mitchell, to challenge the assault on free-roaming horses and burros. See the video coverage.
Did you know? The Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 directs the Secretary of Interior to designate and maintain public range-lands as a sanctuary for the protection and preservation of these animals in a manner designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on public lands.
So why have hundreds of thousands of wild horses and burros have been removed since 1973?
Ranchers are now leasing most of the land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest service. For this, and other special benefits for ranchers, taxpayers pay some $128 million a year.
When the BLM rounded up horses by the hundreds in the Calico Mountains of Nevada, 70 died. Foals and pregnant mares were stampeded in extreme heat. Roundups through rough terrain are torture: they drive some horses to their deaths.
Some survivors have met their ends in slaughterhouses; but most wait in limbo to be adopted.
Friends of Animals is filing a legal challenge to these affronts to the freedom of the mustangs of North America.
This year, Friends of Animals will be working with the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver to end roundups of free-roaming horses and burros forever. This effort will be highlighted on Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN (formerly known as CNN Headline News channel) on Friday, May 27, 7pm ET/ 4pm PT.
After you watch the interview on Jane’s show about the wild horses, please send your comments to HLN/CNN about what you thought of the piece, that you are interested to see more animal-related stories from Jane’s show in the future. These comments allow Jane to keep doing these pieces; Jane is an animal activist and vegan journalist, she is one of the very few voices on national mainstream television that covers these types of issues regularly, and she is a strong champion for animals.
To send your comments after viewing the show, either fill out the comment form or email your comments to Jane Velez-Mitchell.
Make a donation to save our wild horses
Post your comment
Comment Guidelines: We welcome your expressions of opinion on this subject. Please avoid false commentary about individuals or groups. Facts must be verified by the person posting. Off-topic comments, and comments inappropriate for a readership of all ages, may be deleted. E-mail addresses will never be published. Only comments with valid e-mail address will be published.
18 Comments
On May 26, 2011, ana morris wrote:
Thanks Jane for speaking up for our wild horses and burros. You were the first to show the helicopter roundups on TV and we think you are awesome.
The bill AB329 is dead in the water, and if it resurfaces its ugly head, we will drown it again in the tide of public opinion.
YOU ARE INVITED TO FREEDOM FESTIVAL FOR WILD HORSES AND BURROS. See our (community) FB page for details. <3
On May 26, 2011, Craig Downer wrote:
So glad Friends of Animals is taking on injustice to wild horses and burros. There should be a revised ROAM bill put back in the H of R now. I used to work for F of A.
On May 27, 2011, KImberly P chastain wrote:
I have been disgusted that the current ” unacceptable Management of Horses and All Wilds” by the BLM.
Still the Next roundup is planned for July! All Wilds were protected till a unscrupulous legislator pass some bogus law to weaken the Federal Protection of Our Lands and Wilds..now this abuse on the Wilds. Helicopter round ups in terrible heat, animals run to death or till hooves fall off! The horrible conditions, pens with no shade , or protection. Families separated, nursing foals left to die! The scheming been going on for years to kill the Wilds and steal their/our land! Stop them!!
On May 27, 2011, Cat Kindsfather wrote:
I am still suffering post traumatic stress & depression from the Calico roundups. I visited the Calico horses at BLM’s facility in Fallon, Nevada, on 12 consecutive tours documenting them with photography. The images on my SD cards, are also etched into my heart.
Many thanks to Jane for speaking out for the horses many times, and now to “Friends of Animals” on-board for them in a big way. The wild horses & burros need all the help they can get.
Also, it was not the entire state that wanted to declassify wild horses & burros as wildlife, but mostly the powerful Nevadan ranchers & hunters, who got this bill introduced by an assemblyman & passed in assembly. Thank God it crashed in the Senate Natural resources Committee. Thanks so much to every single advocate that spoke or acted in their behalf.
On May 27, 2011, Mara LeGrand wrote:
While making the film Wild Horses In Winds of Change, I became depressed because it seemed like there was a flip side to every solution for the wild horses and burros. If they are declared officially “wild” many in the DOW are positioned to sell hunting licenses. Water rights prevail in the west and as the water table and aquifers are drained, I do worry there won’t be enough left for wildlife, including horses and burros. I chose to make a statement against cattle grazing on public lands because it’s an impact we can change. For hundreds of years cattleman have been able to welfare ranch and receive lucrative government subsidies for doing so. Although many things impact resources, cattle can be grazed on private land. I’ve recently had conversation with a number of Europeans traveling in the states who are grossed out at the gigantic portions of beef they are served. One said, “it was like they were serving me half a cow.” This over-consumption of beef, is a direct result of keeping the prices down due to Gov’t - subsidies and cheap grazing permits. It’s bad for human health and horrid for our planet. If people want to eat and raise cows, it needs to be on a much smaller scale. The era for public range grazing needs to end.
On May 27, 2011, Gil wrote:
They did the same thing with Indians.
On May 27, 2011, Maryann Reilly wrote:
Thank you so much for helping to raise awareness on this horrible, shameful issue !!!! we have signed so many petitions, made phone calls, wrote letters, faxed. we keep getting brushed off
On May 27, 2011, Christie wrote:
Unfortunately, the horses that belong to all Americans are caught in the cross hairs of Nevada’s land use grab. Nothing will change as long as Harry Reid is Senate Majority Leader. Getting rid of Nevada’s wild horses is his deal, and it began when he asked Conrad Burns to help him with his Nevada problem. It turns out that the Nevada problem was the wild horses that graze Nevada’s public lands.The solution was the Burns amendment which gave the BLM the ability to sell wild horses and burros without limitation and also to sell them for slaughter. Reid’s from a family of miners and Salazar is from a family of ranchers. The horses do not have a chance without intervention by the President or the judiciary. The President needs Reid’s help to block the Republican agenda, so It is unlikely that he will cross Senator Reid. If America decides to elect enough Republicans to the Senate, Harry Reid will be replaced, or if some perceptive Democrats in the Senate realize how much damage his leadership is costing our country both fiscally and environmentally, they could elect another leader at any time.
On May 28, 2011, Carol Otter wrote:
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taken a stand to protect America’s wild horses and burros. These majestic creatures deserve to roam free.
On May 28, 2011, Gale Bishop wrote:
Thank you Jane for all you are doing to help the burro and mustang. We need people, such as yourself, to get the word out. So many people still do not have a clue as to what is going on with the BLM.
On May 28, 2011, shari welsh wrote:
Corrupt Gov. agency/ BLM kills and abuses wild horses after illegally removing thousands of wild horses from public lands to replace the horses/burros with millions of privately owned subsidized welfare cattle on our public lands ! BILLIONS given to welfare ranchers & 60 million spent murdering wildlife & millions more BLM uses to illegally wipe out & abuse wild horses.
Our gov. is corrupt and breaking the law, we have a law protecting wild horses, The 1971 FREE ROAMING WILD HORSE & BURRO ACT - PASSED AFTER A LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN BY AMERICANS & AMERICAN SCHOOL CHILDREN. Horses evolved in North America, we have recently found an 1.4 million year old horse bone fossil in California.WILD HORSES NATIVE TO AMERICA .
President Obama appointed a corrupt cattle rancher to the head of a corrupt gov. agency, The Dept. of the Interior, another corrupt agency in that agency is the Bureau of Land Management. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is supposed to care for Americas public lands, water, wildlife, native plants, soil for the American people. However the BLM is corrupt and lies and cruelly kills and removes all wildlife from our public lands and replaces them with millions of privately owned welfare cattle. These cattle destroy our land, water, wildlife & cost TAXPAYERS a BILLION per year.
On May 29, 2011, Susan Winhoven wrote:
I became aware of this shocking abuse over the weekend in a short video on the HLN channel-the man kicking the burro (?) & trying to pull him up by his ear should be fined and jailed. It is so disgusting to realize that this happens in the USA, of all places.
What’s happening to the home of the free and the brave? These animals are a natural part of it and nature.
Where do we send letters of outrage and anger?
On May 30, 2011, MA Moore wrote:
According to the Wild Free-Roaming Horse & Burro Act of 1971 “It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where they are presently found as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands”. BLM = Criminal Abuse at the hands of Ken Salazar! Put Salazar on the chopping block! Love to you dear Jane =)
On May 30, 2011, sally abel wrote:
Jane-
Please continue to help these animals in any way that you can by posting information on who to contact to stop this atrocity!!!!!!!!!!
On June 3, 2011, Linda wrote:
I was part of the school-child letter-writing campaign of the 70’s. How awful to realize that our hard work has been overturned for pure greed. Perhaps the country’s current elementary educators could resurrect the letter writing. Obama did not like answering his childrens questions about polluting the Gulf of Mexico…maybe he should try explaining why welfare cows are more important than wild horses and burros to his girls?
On June 4, 2011, Jay B. Delman wrote:
I’m a horse lover to I think that’s a shame that they would stop the water to a horse I would like to put one of them out there in the middle of the afternoon and witch them beg for a cup of water. That Lady that bought 20,000 acres of land to take care of her wild horses. How could they tell her what she can do on her land…Jay B. Delman
On August 31, 2011, jacqueline brake wrote:
I am shocked at what the government is doing with the Wild Horse round ups. why not let these horses go free, and live a peaceful life. this is definitely animal abuse. there is a lady willing to take these horses, she has a huge ranch and wants the horses. so why doesn’t the government just GIVE them to her. I don’t understand this. The government wants the land, the lady wants the horses. easy fix. why is that so hard to figure out. we, as Americans, need to vote next November and vote these people OUT OF OFFICE. If they won’t stop the abuse…we can stop THEM with our vote.
On August 31, 2011, jacqueline brake wrote:
Jane…could you let us know on your tv program who we can contact about this abuse that is happening to our Wild Horses. also, is there any way we can contact Harry Reid, to let him know how we feel about this animal abuse. can you give out a phone number or address for him? we need to know their contact information. thank you. keep talking about this horrible abuse, we can’t STOP, and we can’t GIVE UP. Those horses lives depend on us.