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"Be the change you wish to see in the world" ~Mohandas Gandhi
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Originally Posted: July 9, 2013
FROM American Wild Horse Preservation
ACTION
Comments due by July 15!
The agencies are accepting public comments on a plan that would reduce the number of wild horses and burros allowed in this public land area and remove as many as 900 wild horses and burros from their homes on the range there!
Tell them to take this opportunity to implement an experimental volunteer/agency plan that truly protects these national icons on the range so that they may live their lives as nature intended while being enjoyed and appreciated by visitors from all over the world.
Sign an online petition (copy/paste URL into your browser):
http://act.wildhorsepreservation.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14681
And/or better yet, make direct contact:
Randy Swick, Area Manager
Spring Mountain National Recreation Area
4701 North Torrey Pines Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89130-2301
fax (702) 515-5447
[email protected]
INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS
I endorse the comments of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
(AWHPC) on the scoping for the Spring Mountain Wild Horse and Burro Complex
Scoping. With AWHPC, I urge the FS incorporate alternatives for this Herd
Management Area Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA) that would:
A. Establish a more genetically viable Allowable Management Levels (AMLs)
for wild horses and burros living in this complex. The proposed AMLs are too
low to ensure genetically viable and thriving populations. The low
population numbers will also destroy the great ecotourism potential of these
herds, which live near Las Vegas, an international tourist destination.
B. Work in partnership with the Spring Mountain Alliance (SMA) and other
community members on a plan to manage these horses on the range at
appropriate levels utilizing proven PZP fertility control. SMA volunteer PZP
darting teams are already trained and certified to dart as early as
September 2013.
C. Keep wild horses and burros within the Complex by repairing and expanding
water sources and implementing other range improvements to help the animals
utilize all suitable habitat areas.
D. Prohibit helicopter roundups for any wild horses or burros removed from
this complex. If any wild horses or burros are to be removed, utilize less
traumatic bait trapping methods on these well identified and easily captured
animals. Work with the Spring Mountain Alliance to identify and remove only
the most adoptable horses and burros and conducting vigorous local adoption
drives. Due to the current stockpiling of 50,000 wild horses and burros in
government holding facilities, removals must be kept to an absolute minimum.
The National Academy of Sciences' June 2013 report clearly stated that the
BLM's business as usual for managing wild horses and burros is expensive and
unproductive and must immediately change. This proposal ignores these
important and independent scientific findings that removal increases the
birth rate in the remaining bands. If PZP treatment of most mares had been
continued after the 2007 roundup, the Spring Mountain Complex wild horse
population could have been sustained close to AML without need for another
costly roundup in 2014.
There is still time to change course to a more sustainable, humane and less
taxpayer costly management approach for the Spring Mountains Complex. Due to
their proximity to Las Vegas, an international tourist destination, these
herds hold great ecotourism potential. Please take this opportunity to
implement an experimental volunteer/agency plan that truly protects these
national icons on the range so that they may live their lives as nature
intended while being enjoyed and appreciated by visitors from all over the
world.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely...
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
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