PRYOR MOUNTAIN RANGE, Montana – In the aftermath of an Honoring Ceremony for wild horses led by Douglas Spotted Eagle of the Northern Cheyenne and Mel Lonehill of the Lakota Nation on Saturday, Aug. 29, and a plea from U.S. Congressman Raul M. Grijalva (Ariz.), chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands to “suspend all roundups until the agency has adequately demonstrated to the American people and to Congress that it has addressed the outstanding problems and updated its program to reflect 21st century values,” a temporary hold has been placed on Bureau of Land Management plans to destroy 75 animals in the Pryor Mountain wild horse herd this month.
Grijalva, in his letter, cited the BLM’s “use of outdated methodology;” its “aggressive, poorly managed removals” of wild horses in Montana and elsewhere (including the western reaches of San Miguel and Montrose counties); and charged that “the BLM has not formally considered other possible solutions, such as contraception, sanctuaries, or aggressive adoptions programs to deal with the current number of wild horses in long-term holding other than one pilot project in Wyoming.”
Telluride filmmaker James Kleinert, a participant in the Honoring Ceremony, is working on a film about the systematic removal of entire horses from public lands where, as Grijalva charged in his letter, “they belong by law in order to benefit private livestock interests at a cost to taxpayers of more than $21 million in 2007. “Making matter worse, over 19 million acres, on which wild horses and burros roamed at the time of the passage of the 1971 Act” protecting wild free-roaming horses and burros. Wild Horse Removal From Pryor Mountains
The Cloud Foundation
Grijalva, in his letter, cited the BLM’s “use of outdated methodology;” its “aggressive, poorly managed removals” of wild horses in Montana and elsewhere (including the western reaches of San Miguel and Montrose counties); and charged that “the BLM has not formally considered other possible solutions, such as contraception, sanctuaries, or aggressive adoptions programs to deal with the current number of wild horses in long-term holding other than one pilot project in Wyoming.”
Telluride filmmaker James Kleinert, a participant in the Honoring Ceremony, is working on a film about the systematic removal of entire horses from public lands where, as Grijalva charged in his letter, “they belong by law in order to benefit private livestock interests at a cost to taxpayers of more than $21 million in 2007. “Making matter worse, over 19 million acres, on which wild horses and burros roamed at the time of the passage of the 1971 Act” protecting wild free-roaming horses and burros. Wild Horse Removal From Pryor Mountains
The Cloud Foundation
