More on Aussie Brumby Kill & Broken Promices

As if the 2000 mass execution of our heritage horse, The Brumby at Guy Fawkes National Park was an international disgrace, the then NSW Minister For Environment, Bob (Devious) Debus, with egg on his face, stated – “there will be no more shooting of the Brumby”. Read our coverage of the Guy Fawkes Brumby Killing Field – HERE.

With horses being shot mutable times, left to die by so-called sharp shooters from the Feral Animal Aerial Shooting Team (FAAST) in helicopters, all sanctioned by the RSPCA, who under a barrage of irrefutable evidence only managed to prosecute the NSW National Parks for the death of ONE HORSE, according to the then senior inspector and now CEO, Steve Coleman.

Now we have this FAAST mob, known and proven as incapable of humane shooting from helicopters, are to be joined by the NSW Police snipers, who have zero experience with helicopter shooting at moving targets, last month with government and National Parks at a covert meeting drafted a plan for a joint execution of brumbies, pigs, COWS and goats in NSW National Parks.

The predominant missing feral animal, which needs to be exterminated, is the packs of wild dogs, who roam unchecked in these parks by their multiple hundreds, who have not only ripped to pieces our native animals, but venture from this government dog pound on to farmers properties to mutilate and kill his livestock, a multi-million dollar loss annually to this nations exports.

The ratbag Rambo we exposed in the Snowy, randomly shooting horses and cattle, may now be joined by the cops and bunglers in gunships.

Read the story published in the Sunday Telegraph July 5th 2009 to sample the unbelievable lengths that the greenie backed extermination of the Brumby will go to.

Do not be swayed by the denial and spin from the DSE of nothing happening, with our Snowy Mountain Parks closed for the winter to we the people and rightful owners of these lands by government public servants. We most likely “will not see” these snipers, grappling with the weight of their announced use of the .50 caliber super high powered rifle, as they bounce around inside the gunship on a mission of humane target practice.




Pictured above is this Brumby shot, from a helicopter by government sanctioned expert shooters, in the back, and twice in the stomach. Its intestine you can see oozing out on the ground, it died in agony. Where were the RSPCA Inspectors when this was going on, the incident published all around the world?

THE TELEGRAPH STORY 5TH JUNE 2009

POLICE snipers could be granted a license to kill feral animals in national parks for target practice.

The elite shooters, trained for high-risk operations, would take part in airborne runs, shooting horses, pigs, cows and goats form a helicopter.

Senior police and government officials, including National Parks and Wild Life Service staff, met last month to discuss the top secret move.

The talks, held at Surry Hills police station, involved a government panel comprising members of the Feral Animal Aerial Shooting Team (FAAST) Committee.

FAAST committee executive officer Ben Russell said asked to take part in the training exercise at the next available opportunity.

“It’s all about training and how we help each other compare our crack shooters against their crack shooters,” he said.

“They were interested to see what we do and they wanted to come along to compare what we do, against their own sniper training.”

“Mr Russell said the department hoped to have several officers to take part in the next mission.

“We are going to organise for a couple of their guys to come along, but nothing has been arranged yet”, he said.

“An email has gone out to see if any shooting expeditions were available”>

The training deal would challenge to aim for moving targets from the air, rather than motionless dummies or paper targets.

Despite the talks, a police spokesman said no formal decision on the exercise had yet been made.

Once marksmen are airborne, under the plan, it is understood that they would aim to kill the animal in the most humane way possible.

The culls are normally supervised by police and co-ordinated to minimise environmental damage.

High-powered rifles, including the mammoth .50 caliber stealth rifle used in sniper training, would be used.

Aside from the shooters, the helicopter would also carry the sniper’s partner and spotter.

The spotter would help find the animals and record locations, along with a number of shootings.

Police confirmed that a memorandum of understanding had been signed by senior officials, but a spokesman denied that the arial shooting exercise would go ahead.

A Department of Environment and Climate Change spokesman denied that police would take part in culling.




Click on title above to go to original article;
http://www.sosnews.org/newsfront/?p=383

Aussies New Wild Horse Killing Squads

Thousands of brumbies killed in western Queensland to save Carnavon National Park

By Des Houghton
From: The Courier-Mail
March 15, 2010 10:41AM


THOUSANDS of wild horses will be killed in western Queensland by a new government squad trained to shoot the animals in the heart and head.

The Courier-Mail reports the cull in Carnarvon National Park, 450km west of Bundaberg, follows expert advice that Queensland's most fragile ecosystems are under siege from animal pests including horses, camels, pigs, dingoes, deer, rabbits, foxes, cats and even feral cattle.

Many thousands have been shot, trapped and baited.

Fears of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease prompted a war on feral pigs, which are also destroying the habitats of endangered birds and marsupials.

State Environment Minister Kate Jones said six park rangers using high-powered rifles had been trained to shoot the wild horses - known as brumbies - in the heart and head for a swift kill.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

Related Coverage
Call for cull of wild brumbies Daily Telegraph, 2 hours ago
Harden up on the refugee issue Daily Telegraph, 2 hours ago
Camels to rescue in ecosystem The Australian, 9 Feb 2010
Feral camels clear in Wong's carbon count The Australian, 7 Feb 2010
Killer feral pigs are taking over NEWS.com.au, 6 Feb 2010
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Similar culls in 2007 and 2008 sparked international outrage from animal rights groups and the Save the Brumby organisation.

Ms Jones said she could understand animal lovers' concerns, however, the wild horses were causing major damage to the park's fragile ecosystem and shooting them was the most humane way of reducing numbers.

The park could be overrun by up to 45,000 brumbies if action was not taken quickly.

Ms Jones said there would be two three-day culls.

RSPCA officers would monitor the shoot and a back-up helicopter would be used to dispatch any animal not properly killed by marksmen in the lead helicopter.

More than 6300 horses have been shot in the area since 2007 in one of the world's biggest brumby culls.

An attempt to muster the horses and sell the meat to pet food companies failed.

Ms Jones said there were at least 4450 brumbies in the park. There was no maximum number of horses targeted.

Read more about the thousands of horses to be culled at The Courier-Mail.



For complete article click on title above;

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/wild-horses-targeted-in-western-queensland/story-e6frfku0-1225840795922

Jaguars Win Protection on Public Lands

Of Course, Protecting the Preditors AFTER the Wild Horses and Burros are gone is a bit idiotic and .....ironic. One of the excuses the BLM likes to use for the so-called "overpopulation" of wild equines, is that there are no preditors to keep their numbers down.....that is because the BLM and the USDA have been killing them vigilantly over the years to keep the welfare ranchers cows safe.......get ready for more taxpayer monie to get spent reimbursing the ranchers for the dead animals they will claim were killed by the jags. Another way for the welfare ranchers to make money from the taxpayers and for the govt to make monie also thru sales of BIG CAT HUNTING PERMITS. So you see, the ranchers are happy, the gov is happy, .....while our nations wild horses and burros are going going going and will soon be gone.
I say PROTECT the wild equines as the WFHBA of 1971 intended, as principal users of their historic lands.

---------------------Back to the Cats (I am glad they got their protection but fear they will still be shot as preditors as well as for sport.)

After a decade-long fight for the survival of jaguars in the United States, the Center for Biological Diversity won a court ruling last year to protect North America's largest native big cat. Now, in response to the Center's extensive litigation, the Fish and Wildlife Service has announced it will designate critical habitat for the jaguar. This is excellent news for the endangered big cat -- but the question of where the jaguar's critical habitat will be located remains unanswered.

The Center is proposing the Sky Islands and Gila headwaters/Mogollon Rim regions of Arizona and New Mexico be designated as jaguar critical habitat vital to the recovery of the species. Parts of southeastern New Mexico, West Texas, and Southern California should also be included in the designation.

Please submit comments in support of the Center's proposal to designate critical habitat for the endangered jaguar by Monday, March 15. Your email, with personal touches added to reflect specific places you want to highlight, will help convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a "can-do" attitude toward conserving the lands necessary for jaguar recovery in the United States.




Click on title above to find out more and take action.



http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2568.




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Sample letter:

Subject: Jaguar Critical Habitat

Please designate critical habitat for jaguars throughout the entirety of the Sky Islands and the Gila/Mogollon Rim regions of Arizona and New Mexico.

I also support critical habitat for jaguars in portions of other regions such as southeastern New Mexico, West Texas, and Southern California.

The Sky Islands ecosystem consists of isolated mountain ranges that have long been inhabited by jaguars. As recently as last March, jaguar "Macho B" was known to live and roam in the Pajarito, Atascosa, Tumacacori, and Baboquivari Mountains. Other jaguars have been confirmed in the Chiricahua, Peloncillo, and Animas Mountains. These and other sky islands, along with the desert lands between them, have been identified by the Jaguar Conservation Team as potential jaguar habitat, providing habitat for jaguar prey such as deer and javelina.

Please also designate the Gila National Forest in New Mexico and the Mogollon Rim in Arizona, along with adjoining lands, as critical habitat. These uplands with vast coniferous forests supporting deer, elk, and javelina were home to the last known female jaguar and possible jaguar reproduction up till the 1960s. The Gila and Mogollon Rim were also identified as potential jaguar habitat by the Jaguar Conservation Team.

Other undeveloped areas in southeastern New Mexico, West Texas, and Southern California should also be designated as critical habitat for jaguars.

Thank you for your consideration.



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Please take action by March 15, 2010.

Donate now to support our work.


Jaguar photo (c) Robin Silver.


This message was sent to qarr@nycap.rr.com.


The Center for Biological Diversity sends newsletters and action alerts through DemocracyinAction.org. Let us know if you'd like to change your email list preferences or stop receiving action alerts and newsletters from us. Change your address or review your profile here.


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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
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A Bogus Choice Between Creating Jobs and Protecting Federal Lands

Following the recent leak of a Department of Interior memo about preserving America's public lands, some members of Congress have aggressively declared their support for a corporate takeover of federally-owned lands. You'd think they would be better informed about the tremendous benefits of protected lands that belong to the American people. Sadly, some short-sighted politicians have presented a bogus choice between creating jobs and better protecting areas that the federal government -- and therefore the American people -- already own.

With the news this week, some politicians have many people believing that ideas being considered by the Obama Administration constitute a "land grab" by the federal government. Let's be clear -- the land in question is already existing federal property. The question is: should that land be used to preserve America's national treasures, or should we allow its future to be put at risk by special interests that make large campaign contributions to Washington politicians?

Ironically, a forward thinking Republican President, Teddy Roosevelt, with the support of a Republican led Congress, passed the Antiquities Act in 1906. The result of that landmark legislation was the protection of much of America's National Park System that we have come to know and cherish. They knew then what is still true today -- that we need to appropriately preserve and protect American lands for Americans.

Since that time, Presidents -- Republican and Democrat alike -- have used the Antiquities Act to create and preserve some of America's most treasured places. Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover blocked greedy developers from destroying the Grand Canyon. President Calvin Coolidge set aside land for the Statue of Liberty. President Eisenhower protected the C&O Canal and in 2009, President George W. Bush created three new marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean.

The use of the Antiquities Act has enjoyed broad bipartisan support until now, as some in Washington seek to divide our country for political gain this November. A few extremists in Congress want to return to the days of the 19th century, when greedy exploitation of our public lands was used to benefit a few moneyed interests that ruled the day.

Use of the Antiquities Act to protect treasured lands is good for Americans and good for our economy. The economic benefit of our National Park System, which comprises much less land than national forests or the Bureau of Land Management, is well documented. National parks support $13.3 billion of local private-sector economic activity and 267,000 private-sector jobs. Business leaders across America agree that regional economies benefit greatly from park tourism, which increased by nearly 5 percent last year during the recession. A recent economic study of the nation's national parks found that every federal dollar invested generates at least four dollars in economic value to the public.

On top of the obvious economic impact of our national monuments and parks, the benefit for American families who spend time together in these wonderful places is a benefit you simply cannot put a price tag on.

Cynical attempts to portray preservation of some already public lands as a battle between jobs and protecting wildlife are divisive and misguided. Our National Park System faces great challenges and is in need of preservation in order to survive its 2016 centennial and beyond.

A recent commission, led by the bipartisan team of former Senators Howard Baker (R-TN) and J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA), presented a vision and plan to Congress for our National Park System to thrive in its second century. The report includes a thoughtful, innovative and workable plan for preserving and expanding America's best idea -- our national parks.

As we continue to advocate for the protection of our treasured lands, partisans in Washington ought to remember that Americans across the country are the ones who have identified places in their local communities that they cherish and want preserved and protected for future generations. Elected officials who forget that fact and instead side with corporate special interests do so at their own peril.


Click on title above for original article and place to comment;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill%20wade/a-bogus-choice-between-cr_b_497264.html

Government Contractor Paid Almost $700 K - 113 Horses Dead and no Investigation of Calico Capture

By Steven Long

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A Nephi, Utah, government contractor was paid $697,359 for a Nevada roundup of wild horses in the Calico Mountains. The roundup was held against the advice of federal judge Paul Friedman of Washington D.C. who wrote that holding wild horses in large privately owned facilities is likely against federal law.

At least 113 horses have died thus far, including two foals that shed their hooves after a helicopter stampede over rocky ground in the dead of winter. A BLM vet has acknowledged that the roundup was the likely cause for the foals to lose their hooves in an excruciatingly painful end of their lives.

Information on fees paid by the federal Bureau of Land Management to Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc. was released late Friday to Horseback Magazine by Deputy Division Chief Dean Bolsted of the agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.


The large number of deaths in the roundup is unusual.

In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on one in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals that year.


Alternatives to the helicopter stampedes approved by the agency include baiting and trapping, however, BLM directs the type of capture when a “gather” is scheduled.


According to Bolsted, government horse capture contractors are paid for the number of horses captured, feeding and watering for animals kept at the gather site overnight, and transport of animals from the capture site to designated short term holding facilities such as Fallon.


Private landowners in a capture area do not reimburse the government for removing wild horses from their property. The animals are often considered a nuisance to western ranchers and have been sometimes referred to as “the cockroaches of the west” by some.


The percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups in 2009 was slightly worse than the previous year at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. A mid-summer Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses – tiny by comparison to this year’s Calico roundup.


As of late 2009, a total of 205 horses over a two year period died at the agency’s hands during roundups to thin the herds despite the vastness of the lands managed by BLM. The agency controls almost 260 million acres, much of it is vacant, and over a million cattle graze unmolested on the land, some of which was once reserved for wild horses. The number of 205 dead horses does not reflect the number of foals lost due to miscarriages.


Asked by Horseback Magazine if BLM plans to launch an internal investigation, Bolsted said, “No internal investigation of deaths is planned.”


The roundups by BLM have drawn protests from coast to coast. The next is planned for Washington D.C. on March 24, when activists will set up shop across from the North Front of the White House in Lafayette Park.


The BLM response to the burgeoning scandal has been a proposal to set aside seven wild horse refuges, dubbed “Salazoos” by activists after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former Colorado rancher.


Sen. Mary Landrieu and others have called for a Congressional investigation of the Bureau’s Wild Horse and Burro Program which administers the animals under the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act, or “Wild Horse Annie Law,” named for the late Velma Johnston of Reno.


Horseback Magazine has repeatedly sought an interview with BLM director Bob Abbey, who has thus far turned a deaf ear to repeated requests.


The captured Calico horses are currently held at the BLM’s Fallon, Nevada, holding facility. Neither press nor public are allowed to observe the agency’s treatment of the animals, conduct a census, or to spend prolonged periods in their presence. The gates are opened to infrequent and tightly controlled viewing by small screened groups for one and one half hours. Only one reporter or photographer will be permitted from each media outlet during the next scheduled viewing.


Press and public were also not allowed unfettered access to observe the Cattoor roundups of horses in the wild. Horseback Magazine offered to have only experienced mounted journalists and wildlife experts in the field with company and BLM wranglers to observe the helicopter roundups.

Armed guards were on site to prevent observation of the "gather," as was the case in late 2009 at Montana's Pryor Mountain when the iconic wild horse, "Cloud" was captured. The horse was the star of three PBS specials by Emmy award winning documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens.

Kathrens will speak at the Washington D.C. rally

Wind Turbine Co to Be Built in Las Vegas: China Gets Contract

Click on title above for original article;

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12122546

Winner of "Silver Pen" Award Stands Up for Nevadas Wild Horses

Daniel Dugan of Reno is this week's winner of the Silver Pen award for the best letter published in the Gazette-Journal during the previous week.

Taking a stand FOR Americas Wild Horses and Burros, click on title above for the article and be sure to leave a comment thanking Mr Dugan for speaking up for the wild ones

Gillibrand to Support ROAM Act

This message came across to me this morning as if good news. WE MUST convince supporters of the ROAM ACt to INSIST that the statutory entitlement for the wild ones to remain FOREVER FREE on their historic rangelands and be their principal users be written back in to the Act before passed. If NOTHING else, it is important to preserve the wild ones statutory entitlement to their historic rangelands and to the principality of it for their use. This is the HEART of the 1971 Act that MUST NOT be gutted from ROAM. I say the ROAM Act is a Judas-horse, any way yo look at it! Ditch ROAM and FIX and ENFORCE the Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971!!! Bring Back WILD HORSE ANNIES ACT!!! It is the ONLY right thing to do.
_____________________

Wild Horse and Burro Supporters and Advocates;

We are thrilled to hear Sen Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is THE FIRST US Senator to co-sponsor The R.O.A.M. Act - Restore Our Wild Mustangs Act.

The bill passed the House last summer.

If you have time next week, please call or email Sen Gillibrand & thank her for taking a leadership role - saving the horses, saving the budget.
Use the bill number when you call - S.1579
Contact her by clicking on to the title above, then scroll to bottom of page.
We're hearing they've been getting a lot of calls on this- it's tracked as an issue of national importance.

Folks like you - who care and reach out - are creating the tipping point. Thank you!

Susan



Cloud

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Member of: www.equinewelfarealliance.org

For more info on the issue: Alex Brown Racing Wiki Page

BLMs "Water Wars" in Colorado

Click on title above for full article;

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14512397

"Team Pickins" Live on CNBC Today

(Tune in and have your say on "The Other" Pickins Plan)

Forwarded message from "Team Pickins"
-----------------------------------------

Army,

TODAY, Boone will be LIVE on CNBC at 11:15 am ET and Fox Business News at 2 pm ET. Tune in!

-Team Pickens