This commentary was written and posted today on the personal website of Horseback friend and photographer Laura Leigh, a true American Hero cut from the mold of Wild Horse Annie herself.

The Editor

Note: this site is my “blog.” The information site on “Wild Horses” is http://wildhorseeducation.org

Laura

Poster art by Fortunino Matania

“War Horse,” the much anticipated screen adaptation by Steven Spielberg opened in theatres across the country on Christmas Day.

As someone deeply involved in the issues facing both our wild and domestic equines, I actually went to a movie theatre for the first time in ages to view the film. Not only was this film about my favorite subject, horses, but it was done by one of my favorite directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

Speilberg first “rocked my world” with “Empire of the Sun,” (not ET). Released in 1987 this autobiographical tale tells the story of James Graham, a boy “of privilege” that has his life shattered after the invasion of Shanghai in 1941. Spielberg wove his tale so that the audience became “Jim.” You experienced everything through the masterful performance of Christian Bale and through the vision of a great director. “Jim, try not to think so much!” is a line delivered at just the right moment, in just the right way, that it has haunted me for over twenty years.

The subject of war, and it’s cost to the human spirit, was again tackled by this master film maker in “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Both of these films, although executed with very different directorial choices, speak directly to the transformation of the human soul through the horror of human action and the ability of the human spirit to transcend. We all remember Shindler agonizing that he could have saved “Just one more.”

So Christmas Day of 2011 I took my “war weary” self to the theatre to watch “War Horse.”

Now you may not like the analogy of “war weary.” But that is how I feel. Most of you know my work for the wild ones but are unfamiliar with a past that includes a decade of work in the “horse slaughter” issue. Our “front” is taking a massive onslaught this year as our rear scrambles to deal with the issues at the front and behind our own lines. Our beloved equines, both wild and domestic, are under siege.

I plunked down the ticket price, that has gone up significantly since the last time I treated myself to a film, anticipating another “masterpiece.”

Waiting in line to find a seat I watched the movie goers leave the theatre after watching the film. There were mixed reviews. One man said “It was good” as he made the “so-so” motion with his hand. Another said “If you don’t have a tissue, don’t go in.”

A woman in line next to me confided that she had not been to a movie in a long time, but this one was about a horse. “Me, too,” I smiled.

We eagerly took our seats.

After 23 minutes of previews that flickered and had to be reset, the film began.

I began to realize that I was not going to see the Spielberg I had anticipated. I was watching a Director held by constraint.

The first third of the film is too long. It had a “made for TV feel.” Spielberg then focuses his camera lens on a plow during a scene that is to demonstrate the heart of “Joey,” our equine “star,” and “Albert” our human “spirit” focus of the film. That is when I remembered this film was created for Disney.

Don’t get me wrong here. I cried. I cried eight times during the film. The opening scene had me in tears as “Joey” the newborn demonstrates his legs by running side by side with his mom. I have seen so many youngsters that can’t keep up to their mothers during the helicopter chases on public land and moms so tired they are fighting to just keep the pace. I have seen so many babes taken from that protective space and stuck in pens during the most horrific experience of their bands existence… it didn’t take much for me to need a tissue.

Archive photo of WWI (photographer not credited at source)

As we enter into the war, a third of the way through the film, we begin to comprehend the first World War.

In a battle (the first the British engage in the story and the first time you actually are told you are in Britain and not in Scotland, Wales or Ireland) you are taken to what I assume is the battle at Mons. The only true cavalry charge of WWI takes place at Mons. WWI is the transitional point in human warfare into the “mechanization” era. Spielberg does demonstrate very effectively how the cavalry charge does not meet the machine gun successfully, regardless of the belief of British officers of the day.

After that point we learn that horses are utilized for transportation of wounded and the machines we now rely on to win wars. But we see these things in small vignettes.

Each time I feel that Spielberg will take me to that “real” place of experience, that had been relayed to me by my grandfather, we get close to the destination but never truly arrive. It kept making me wonder how Spielberg would have portrayed the story without restraint of a PG-13 rating. Not a thought you want as you wait to be transported from your seat into a film.

Casualty counts are not kept on horses and mules. Yet the estimate is more than 8 million horses and mules died in the conflict on all sides. 8 million died. It is estimated that 2 and one half million were treated for wounds and 2 million of those returned to the war.

A quarter of a million horses were purchased or taken from farmers at the beginning of the war for the British army.

As the conflict raged on more countries joined the efforts and horses were needed.

Yes, the “Yankees” entered in the war. The “Yankees” were not only American Soldiers, but America’s horses. America’s horses carried our soldiers but also those of other Nations. During the conflict two-thirds of the horses used by Britain were supplied by the US.

During World War I ranchers went into business selling horses to the military. All of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and much of the area we now call the “Tri-State Complex” had horses “harvested” and sent into battle in Europe and Africa. It is estimated that a million wild horses went into conflict, none of them returned to American soil.

American horses from the open plains of the west were described by Captain Sydney Galtrey of the British Cavalry ”in a rough and ready shape – they were shoeless, long-haired, tousled-maned and had ragged hips. But they were tough; generations of their kind had become completely at home with roaming out in the open and in all kinds of weather.”

“You put your mask on him first,” said Grandpa “He can carry you out, you can’t carry him.”

Many soldiers were moved deeply and carried stories of the mounts that carried them to safety or that they saw die horrific deaths.

Gas mask for man and horse demonstrated by an American Soldier National Archives and Records Administration cir 1917-18

I sat in the theatre with this knowledge. We would briefly touch the reality of a “War Horse” in the film and then it would vanish.

Then the scene came… (used in the trailers) a scene where “Joey” looses a companion and is faced with the “machine.” The war blazes around him as he flees an early tank. He seemingly can’t escape and vaults over the “beast.” His flight takes him through an horrific battlefield where earlier we had witnessed the casualties to man. He crashes through barbed wire. He begins to collect it as he runs through the destructive path laid by man. (I was crying and teeth clenched as I have seen what barbed wire can do and we lost some of our wild ones this year during roundups to the cruelty of the invention).

He becomes immobilized.

As dawn rises and snow begins to fall we watch as the combatants come together for a brief moment to recognize the spirit of an “amazing horse.” The scene is pure Spielberg. As the tears stream down my face I watch as “enemies” cooperate to free “Joey.” I care about “Joey” and the two men involved. I am finally “in” the film.

Only for a brief moment at the end of the piece do we even peripherally become aware of the possible fate of many of the horses. A “butcher” is present at auction. If you are not informed, you are never told the truth. You are never told how many the “butcher” actually takes.

This film will be on the shelf next to “The Black Stallion” and “My friend Flicka.” It is a “love story” story of a horse and a boy/man.

Does this film have the power of “Black Beauty” to raise the consciousness of a nation? A novel that was responsible for creating a climate to pass the first humane care laws in our country… I don’t know.

Photo by Laura Leigh

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The United States Department of Agriculture has an unusually stout influence over appointments to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board of the federal Bureau of Land Management. The giant cabinet department that serves the needs of farmers and ranchers has veto power to appointments to the panel that oversees equine wildlife management on BLM lands.

“It’s in the board’s charter but is not in a statute,” said Tom Gorey, BLM chief Washington Spokesman. The charter was updated in July, 2010.

While the board’s responsibility is not to set policy, but to advise, the Wild Horse and Burro panel has served as a rubber stamp for BLM “gather” policy that has resulted in the capture, killing, and holding of tens of thousands of wild animals in giant pastures at taxpayer expense. The policy has cost so much in   that the federal agency depletes its entire $60 million wild horse budget each year. Often, as soon as horses are removed they are replaced by cattle.

Last year hundreds of horses died in the “gathers” including one in Nevada during the dead of winter. Typically, the horses are stampeded by helicopter into a trap. One foal ran so hard during a chase it lost its hooves and died. The agency is the subject of several lawsuits in different jurisdictions over alleged inhumane treatment of the animals, and denial of access to press and public access its captures. Recently allegations have surfaced that BLM vets routinely castrate stallions without the benefit of anesthesia.

Asked how the USDA, and by extension the ranching industry, got veto power over a wildlife board in the first place, Gory responded saying, “The charter was renewed (and possibly revised) during the late 1990s when Pat Shea of Utah was BLM Director. The reason USDA is involved is that the Forest Service manages a small number (2,000 or so) of wild horses and burros, in accordance with the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.”

Wild horse advocates claim that more than a million cattle graze on BLM lands, much of which is covered under the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Acto of 1971, the “Wild Horse Annie Law.” Stockmen lease BLM land at the below market price of $1.35 per cow and calf per month. Yet Gorey was unable to provide Horseback the exact number of animals grazing under lease.

“We manage cattle in accordance with the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, and the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978.” He told Horseback Magazine. “We don’t count head of cattle but do keep track of forage used. In Fiscal Year 2010, livestock consumed 8.2 million forage units, known as animal unit months. Since most grazing is seasonal, the way to estimate the number of livestock grazing on BLM land year-round is to divide 8.2 million by 12 (months). For more info, see our grazing page on www.blm.gov in our “What We Do” section.”

Three board members terms expire January 8, 2012. They include Robyn Lohnes, a controversial appointee who operates the Washington based American Horse Protection Association, Dr. Boyd Spratling, a Nevada vet from the extremely rural town of Deeth, and Janet Jankura of Richfield, Ohio.

By Laura Leigh, Horseback Magazine, President, Wild Horse Education

Yesterday, 11/29/2011, at the Calico Complex roundup in Northwestern Nevada a mare broke her neck on the panels.

THE CALICO COMPLEX, Nev (Horseback) – The young grulla mare’s death came after she was captured, separated from her family, processed, corralled, reprocessed and PZP treated. She was the last horse to load for the day to be released back to the range. The mare was agitated. She hit her head on a panel, broke her neck and was euthanized.

Operations in what BLM is referencing as the “Tri-State Calico Complex Gather” plan on the removal of 1,300 wild horses and 140 wild burros. The press release from the agency says that as many as 350 may be released back to the range with as many as 115 mares receiving the 22 month contraceptive, PZP-22.

The title “Tri-State Complex” has created some confusion among the public. The Calico Complex itself is not located in three states, but resides within Washoe and Humbolt counties within the state of Nevada. The label of “Tri-State” was added as an alleged symbol of interagency/inter district  management between Sheldon National Wildlife refuge (USFWS) to the North into Oregon, the High Rock Complex of Western Nevada/Eastern California (BLM), Twin Peaks of Nevada/California (BLM) as well as the Calico Complex of Nevada. However in practice the only “change” has been a dialogue about decreasing population numbers based on alleged populations of adjoining areas.

No operational procedures are “joined” and even basic protocols in field offices during roundup operations remain separate events.

Release procedures during the High Rock roundup included mixed sex group releases and stallions receiving a brand, prior to release, to identify them in the future to gain more information on population movement after the disruption of the roundup. At the “Tri-state” operation 50 stallions were released in a single sex group without any mark back into the range where a trap was still located and in use.

When questioned as to why the same procedure was not being followed at the “Tri-state” Complex Gene Seidlitz, district manager over the operation replied, “They did that?”

Serious questions arise about any designation of this “Tri-state” complex creating any management strategy other than a justification process for increased removals. If this complex system were designed for “management” why is there no infrastructure in place to to gain credible data for true management?

Serious questions arise when the “birth control” options do not take into account the stressors that a wild population would undergo as they enter the most fragile time of year on the range, winter. Family bands are hard wired for survival dependent on the structure of “the band.” Why is there no effort to release groups in even the most limited pretense of band structure, mixed sex release?

As operations continue through the end of the year, in this supposed “Tri-state” complex that proposed a “new” form of cooperation, it has yet to demonstrate anything but an acceleration of the “old” forms of communication and protocol.

Contact: Laura Leigh is founder and president of Wild Hore Education and is an accredited  journalist/photographer  for Horseback Magazine on assignment in the West to cover activities of the federal Bureau of Land Management and other agencies of th U.S. Department of Interior.

WildHorseEducation@gmail.com

By Laura Leigh, Horseback Magazine, President, Wild Horse Education

AWHPC Statement on the White House’s “Canned” Response to Our Wild Horse Petition

Photo by Laura Leigh

If you signed the Wild Horse and Burro petition on the White House’s “We the People” website, you have received the same canned response that we received from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director, Bob Abbey.

We are as frustrated and disappointed as you are with this insulting and dismissive response to the sincere concern of thousands of American citizens who seek reform of the costly and cruel federal Wild Horse and Burro Program.

We wanted to share our letter to President Obama’s chief of staff, William Daley, highlighting the inadequacy of the response and the White House’s utter failure to consider this issue, as promised in the “We the People” initiative.

To the thousands of you who took the time to sign the petition – WE THANK YOU and promise to continue to fight for our wild horses and burros. We hope that you will continue to join us.

18 November 2011

William Daley, Chief of Staff

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. Daley:

I am writing on behalf of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and the thousands of Americans who signed the “We the People” petition titled “Protect Wild Horses and Burros; Reform Inhumane Interior Department Management Program That Wastes Tax Dollars” to register our grave disappointment with the November 17, 2011 response from the White House. The petition calls on the Obama Administration to stop the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from wasting millions of tax dollars to roundup and remove wild horses by the tens of thousands from public lands in the West, and to instead implement a cost-effective policy to manage these national icons on the range using proven and humane cost-effective methods.

The White House’s canned response to this petition, signed by thousands of American citizens, was authored, not by a White House policy official, but rather by BLM Director Bob Abbey - the very individual responsible for the mismanagement of the federal Wild Horse and Burro Program, which is the subject of the petition.

In unveiling the “We the People” initiative, the White House promised “a new way to petition the Obama Administration” and that “White House staff will review” the issue. However, there was nothing new in the response. The White House merely delivered the old familiar BLM rhetoric that has been used for the past several years to rationalize the agency’s mismanagement and waste of tax dollars. Included is the touting of a “new strategy” that is being implemented despite the receipt of tens of thousands of public comments opposing the majority of the strategy’s components.

Had we, the people who signed the petition, wanted a response from the BLM, we would have written to the BLM. Or better yet, since the response is just a cut-and-paste of BLM propaganda, we could have read it on the agency’s website and saved ourselves the considerable time and effort it took to log into the White House’s website and sign the petition!

President Obama has the full authority to reform the federal wild horse and burro program and could do so with one telephone call to his Secretary of the Interior. The fact that the White House didn’t even take the time to review this petition is a slap in the face to the American citizens who believed in the President’s promise that their concerns would be seriously considered. As a result, we are left to conclude that the entire “We the People” website is little more than a re-election campaign gimmick.

We conclude this letter with a final plea for President Obama’s attention to this issue and a request for a meeting with White House staff to discuss badly needed reform.  To such a meeting we would bring wild horse and range experts to discuss the humane, cost-effective solutions, which have already been proposed but continue to be ignored by the BLM and Mr. Abbey.

It’s time that President Obama intervened in this issue to fulfill his promise for hope and change for the future.

We await your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Roy

Campaign Director

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign

HOUSTON, (WHFF) – On October 6th, 2011 the Honorable Judge Howard McKibben ordered that the Motion for Injunctive Relief in the matter Laura Leigh v. Ken Salazar addressing “Humane Treatment” be answered.

The matter addresses alleged inhumane conduct at Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse roundups. Late in August the parties met in a Federal Courtroom in Reno Nevada. There Judge McKibben granted Plaintiff a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to pilot conduct demonstrated at the Triple B roundup in Eastern Nevada.

Included in documentation presented to the Court was video footage taken by Laura Leigh, founder of Wild Horse Education (WHE) and Vice President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF), that showed a BLM contracted helicopter pilot coming into contact with a horse and his aircraft. That footage was considered so intense that it was deemed to be age-restricted based on “inappropriate” content by Youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObXB0Wq3nRE)

At the hearing for the TRO Judge McKibben left the matter for Injunctive Relief open stating that the ruling would stand identical unless new information is presented to the Court. The Complaint itself is left active.

“At the Barren Valley Roundup in Oregon BLM did all they could to restrict the ability to assess pilot conduct,” stated Leigh “ yet every indication was observed that identical conduct continued. There were finally two runs (one day) where I was restricted, yet was able to catch seconds of the push and I saw the pilot, again, come in close proximity to the ground, the trap and the horses.”

Leigh returned to Reno (before heading out to the roundup again) and amended the Complaint to include the documentation she had of pilot conduct, conduct at holding, the lack of an upcoming roundup schedule and still no written humane handling protocol or consequence.

“It is amazing that an agency that will claim to care about the horses has no real standard for accountability for handling of animals,” states Leigh “Instead it is left up to arbitrary whim that has no consequence. That’s not how you handle something you care about.”

Since the Complaint was amended BLM announced an “internal” investigation into “alleged” activity at Triple B. There was an internal investigation into the same type of conduct at the Antelope roundup that cleared the contractor and blamed “telephoto distortion” and “angles” of photographs. The outcome of this “investigation” is expected on October 12.

Since the Complaint was amended BLM has now issued it’s roundup schedule.

“Do we dare hope that the BLM will issue a handling protocol with accountability to avoid scrutiny of the Court?” asks R.T. Fitch, equine author and co-founder/President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF), “After all it would seem to be standard operating procedure.”

According to the briefing schedule set by Judge McKibben the case for Relief could be heard before the Court by the end of next month.

To support the lawsuit call R.T. Fitch, President WHFF, 281-766-7566,Laura Leigh, Vice President WHFF, 800-974-3684

Advocate Challenges BLM Covert Wild Mustang Operations

Reno Attorney Gordon Cowan in Photo

HOUSTON, (WHFF) – On June 30, 2011 the last reply brief was filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the landmark First Amendment case for the public’s “right to know” in matters of government action; these actions do not relate to issues of national security, military secrets or pan-handling on the White House lawn but solely speak to the meaningful access to assess and track wild horses and burros from range through holding and the hands-on management of those herds by a government agency.

Plaintiff Laura Leigh, Founder of Wild Horse Education (WHE) and VP of Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) writes:

“As a journalist and representative of equine welfare agencies I travel to roundups and holding facilities with the express purpose of documenting individual animals from range through the system.

The condition of horses coming off the range at Silver King could not be properly assessed. Wild Horses captured from Silver King ARE STILL in the system.

I was NOT able to track them like I did horses from Calico. I am STILL not able to track them. Horses from upcoming roundups cannot be tracked and their condition reported to the public.

I am extremely frustrated that I cannot fulfill my full obligations to the public and the horses.”

There is an expressed expectation that Leigh will continue to be frustrated in the quest to properly assess condition of horses removed from the range, the protocol of capture, the number of horses captured and the condition of these horses as they move through the system.

“The public has a right to be informed of actions by its government, guaranteed by the Constitution,” states Leigh’s noted attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno, NV “the government cannot be allowed to evade review through cessation of an action where there is every expectation the conduct will continue.”

“This case is bigger than many people understand” explains R.T. Fitch, author and President of WHFF, “The dialogue is reaching an audience much larger than our supportive wild equine advocate community. This case has been joined by the Reporters Committee for a Free Press and the National Press Photographers Association. The American public at large is beginning to understand the broad sweeping outrages of this issue.”

Award winning equine photographer Terry Fitch added, “Working as Chief Photographer for Horseback Magazine I have continually been denied appropriate access at wild horse stampedes.  The government and their contractors go to great lengths to ensure that the free press and American public cannot see what is actually happening to the last of our wild equines.”

WHFF is funding the legal operations of this action while Ms. Leigh’s field work is supported by Wild Horse Education (WHE).

###

Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered, Texas non-profit corporation with 501c3 status pending.  WHFF puts people between America’s wild equids and extinction through targeted litigation against governmental agencies whose documented agendas include the eradication of wild horse and burros from public, federal and state lands.

Recognized Advocates launch Wild Horse Freedom Federation

HOUSTON, (WHFF) – Noted equine author and wild horse advocate R.T. Fitch and his wife, award winning wild horse photographer Terry, have combined their legal forces with journalist/videographer Laura Leigh to form a unified wild horse legal advocate organization whose mission is to “place people between wild horses and extinction”.

Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered non-profit organization, 501c3 pending, that brings together a consortium of major animal welfare organizations, as both plaintiffs and advisors, for the sole purpose of legally challenging the federal, state and local governmental agencies who’s inappropriate agendas include harassing, capturing and removing wild horses and burros from U.S. public lands.

While the Fitch’s legal actions, personally funded with assistance from Front Range Equine Rescue, the ASPCA and private donations, bring forth the issue of bad data utilized to zero out wild horse herds, Ms. Leigh’s filings, supported entirely by public donations and assistance from Wild Horse Education, address the issue of First Amendment rights and appropriate access.  Both can claim incremental victories as all of their cases are ongoing and in the spotlight of the global equine advocacy community.

Yet now these actions sit within one umbrella organization.

“Our mission is simple”, states R.T. Fitch president and co-founder of WHFF, “we are now working together to find the chink in the armor of the government agencies that hold themselves above the law and reproach of the American people and then concentrate on this weakness.  We are not a horse rescue, sanctuary or anything of the sort, but instead a consortium of equine welfare organizations and private citizens who feel that our last recourse in stopping this Wild Horse Harvesting Machine is in the courts of the United States Judicial System.”

“We have always been totally aligned and on parallel paths,” explained Laura Leigh VP of WHFF, “but now we will pull our legal pursuits together. This will unify the advocate community structure with more effective communication toward accountability to law and the American public.”

Equine photographer Terry Fitch adds, “We just need this nonsense to stop.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the government’s facts and numbers are skewed against the wild horses and burros.  There needs to be a moratorium on these useless and costly wild horse stampedes while we take the time to accurately account for how many wild horses and burros are still left free roaming on their designated public lands.”

Wild Horse Freedom Federation’s current list of plaintiffs include the ASPCA, Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition, the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue, Habitat for Horses and private citizens Dr. Don and Toni Moore and journalist Laura Leigh.

Over a period spanning Labor Day, 2009, to the present, the federal agency in charge of the majority of the nation’s wild horses has restricted media access to helicopter driven stampedes it terms “gather.”

Laura Leigh is credentialed as a reporter for Horseback Magazie.

Horseback magazine is offering the brief as a public service to our fellow reporters, editors, and the horse loving public.

To support Laura Leigh’s lawsuit send donations for attorney Gordon Cowan’s services to Wild Horse Education, P.O. Box 4176, Carson City, Nev 89702

No. 11-16088

Plaintiff Laura Leigh pours over documents

Attorney Gordon Cowan makes final check of document inventory

Late last week the battle to view the government’s handling of wild horses and burros went to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

RENO, (Wild Horse Education) – The Brief begins in part: “A journalist published photos and videos of the methods employed by the government when rounding up and warehousing wild horses removed from public lands. The photos sparked public debate and concern. The photos resultantly became became unpopular with the government. The government then crafted protocol that continually changes, which effectively forecloses meaningful public observation of these same activities.”

This battle effectively began last year with a companion case heard for the summer Owyhee roundup. That suit brought two issues to the table: actual foaling season and public land closure. The documentation on foaling season was never heard as an alleged water emergency was declared after the suit was filed. Yet Reno attorney Gordon Cowan won on the land closure issue for Plaintiff Laura Leigh. Blanket closure of public land can no longer occur.

The issue of transparency is one of great concern to Leigh. “If there is nothing to hide,” asks Leigh “Why go through such lengths to keep the trap pens, holding facilities and records of sale secret?”

Instances of discriminatory access continue to occur and a convoluted paper trail has been uncovered since this suit began. 

The paper trail includes documentation gained through a Freedom of Information Act requests by journalist Debbie Coffey that clearly shows that the Indian Lakes facility the Bureau of Land Management claims to be closed to the public is actually contracted to give weekly public tours through 2015.

“Public debate is vital to any Democratic process,” states attorney Cowan “If the information utilized in debate is subjected to content control the debate is moot, not the argument.”

“Mootness” is a common thread in many legal cases dealing with wild horse and burro management. A wild horse roundup lasts just a few days and the judicial process can take years. Yet when you have an issue that revolves around repetitive conduct the concept needs closer scrutiny.

That scrutiny will begin shortly in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

To view the Brief and supporting documentation go to:

http://WildHorseEducation.org

Brief is included in Wild Horse Education’s Newsletter:

http://wildhorseeducation.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/whenewsletterv1.pdf

By Laura Leigh, 

RENO, (WHE) – Wild Horse Education is continuing the legal battle for transparency against the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Because the public is continually denied consistent access to roundups and holding facilities that house the American public’s wild horses, taken from public land with public funds, this action is gaining increasing importance.

On February 14, 2011 Plaintiff Laura Leigh filed for permission to appeal her First Amendment Rights case against the BLM to the Ninth Circuit Court. Her plea was based on the fact that there had been no ruling by the Federal Court in Reno to her request for Emergency Injunctive Relief in a case she had filed five months previous. Her request cited that “no action” in a case requiring emergency relief was an essential denial of her motion.

Judge Larry Hicks of the Federal District Court in Reno has now denied Leigh’s motion as “moot.” However in his ruling he does allow written testimony to stand in the record that had been objected to by the BLM.

“Basically this is good news,” said Leigh “What the Judge has now given me is an opportunity to present this case without first going through the process of gaining the Court’s permission. He has also ruled that the entire record of the case remains intact and that is vital to demonstrate the repetitive behavior that has precedent in higher Courts as not moot.”

Leigh has spent the last year observing more roundups than any government personnel and bringing the public daily reports. The suit she brought earlier in the year, to the same Court over closure of public land and a roundup during the heat of summer for the Owyhee Herd Management Area, bore fruit for public observers. That suit found that closure of public land was a prior restraint to First Amendment Rights, creating the beginning of a daily observation platform for the public.

“The current suit is NOT about observing a single roundup,” Leigh stated “The emergency relief requested extends to the repetitive battle for observation. We have a right to know how our money is spent in the hands-on management of our horses throughout the process. From roundup through holding and their ultimate disposition, wherever that may be, it is our right to see it.”

This winter horses from the Eagle Complex joined those named in Leigh’s suit from the Silver King Herd Management Area behind the locked doors of the BLM Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow) facility in Fallon Nevada. Horses continue to die and suffer disease out of sight of public scrutiny. Horses in that facility continue to die at an alarming rate as indicated in the weekly reports.

Last spring the BLM closed the doors of the facility, which had previously offered weekly public tours, because of the intensity of public outrage. In an email from Dean Bolstad, of the Nevada state office in Reno to his superiors, dated May 25 of last year he writes: “The impact of stopping the tours pales in comparison to the impact to our employees and BLM’s image.”

Is this a reason to deny the public basic rights guaranteed in the Constitution? Or is this a reason to “clean up your act?”

The full Appeal is expected to be filed by Leigh and her attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno soon.

The legal efforts are supported solely by Wild Horse Education, a registered non-profit in the state of Nevada.

Website: http://WildHorseEducation.org

Free Book: http://wildhorseeducation101.wordpress.com/

Video of Eagle Roundup and denial of access to Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw8iX7LO8g0

Article published by Deb Coffey on the Indian Lakes facility contract in PPJ gazette: http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/blm%E2%80%99s-sweet-deal-paid-for-with-your-tax-dollars-of-course/#more-16184