WILD HORSE, BRAVEHEART, BREAKS NECK DEFENDING HIS FAMILY FROM B.L.M.

Dedicated to the Horses who spilled their blood, lost their lives,

and gave up their Freedom For BLM.

Braveheart standing guard over his mare moments before he broke his neck by charging the fence.

From The Persian Horse Blog
By Jude Love

Tragedy at Silver King: Braveheart’s Last Stand, as Reported by Eye Witness,  Suzanne Roy, American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/?p=2264

In the early morning of Wednesday, October 6, 2010, amid the vast landscape of the Silver King Herd Management Area in southeastern Nevada, a mustang family lost everything in a BLM helicopter roundup.

I looked down from a hill above the entrance to the capture site to see a striking white mare, running at full speed, with her young foal at her heels. Galloping just ahead of the helicopter was a beautiful sorrel stallion, forehead lined with a wide white blaze. He lagged behind his family, torn between making a run for freedom and protecting his mare and foal, even if that meant following them into the jaws of the trap. The stallion, who we have named Braveheart, chose family over freedom, and it cost him his life.

Not long after his decision, Braveheart charged the bars of the trap pen, defending his mare and foal against an enemy he recognized: another horse. Though the BLM contractor clearly observed that his saddle horse was causing Braveheart’s agitation, he tied his mount just outside the stallion’s pen. To Braveheart, the saddle horse appeared to be within striking range. Braveheart didn’t know know men and their metal fences wouldn’t give way to his charge. And, slamming himself against the metal fences, he went down.

BLM often claims that horses with broken necks die instantly. They don’t.

Braveheart fell down after sustaining a mortal injury, but then he struggled to his feet. Head hanging down, he searched for his family. Could he see them nearby? Could he hear or smell them as he lifted his great red-gold head one final time?

As Braveheart lay dying or dead, the BLM wranglers loaded his white mare into a trailer. Dazed by defeat, she no longer struggled. Her stallion was dead, her foal forcibly taken from her.

Next the wranglers dragged the stallion’s body, covered by a tarp, onto the same trailer, forcing the pale mare to stand over her dead mate.

An endless 40 minutes later, the truck drove off, leaving the small foal, who looked just like his father, alone in the trap pen, never to see his mother or sire again.

At the holding site, dirt was piled atop the stallion next to mounds containing the bodies of numerous other victims of this roundup. Our requests to film the body were denied; when we filmed the backhoe and the stallion’s body awaiting burial from the distance, the government-contracted wrangler drove the truck and trailer around to block our view.

Ben Noyes, the BLM wild horse and burro specialist, refused our request to speak to him to get information about Braveheart’s death. Throughout the two days that we attended the roundup, Mr. Noyes refused to speak with the public and answer questions. The PR person charged with being the spokesperson often was unable to answer basic questions about the Silver King capture operation

My colleague Deniz Bolbol and I captured the whole scene on video, despite the best efforts of the BLM to prevent us from doing so. We participated in two days of “public observation” at Silver King, during which the BLM’s main objective was to prevent us from capturing and exposing the images that convey the anguish, the trauma and the suffering wild horses endure in the BLM roundups.

BLM observation rules prevented us from observing and videotaping all aspects of the roundup including when the horses enter the trap. That is the moment they realize there is no escape, and the full impact of their capture is visible as they struggle mightily to kick down or climb fences. BLM also prevented us from filming the actual sorting of horses, when foals are wrenched from their mothers, and mares are taken from their stallions.

In previous roundups advocates have been allowed to get close enough to the trap and holding facility so that wounds could be seen – now the BLM keeps the public at such a distance that makes observation nearly impossible. It was only because we stood firm on our rights to travel the public roads in this public lands complex that we captured Braveheart’s final moments.

In Braveheart’s memory, we will continue the fight. Meanwhile, we have told BLM that we would like to adopt Braveheart’s mare and foal. After this ordeal, this pair must be reunited. It’s the least we and the BLM can do for these brave survivors

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/?p=2264

Please Call, Fax and Email the Nevada District Office of B.L.M.  to Protest this Atrocity which was caused by the B.L.M. Contracted Employee to Round Up the Wild Horses belonging to the American People.

Ely District Office
Rosemary Thomas, District Manager
Phone: 775-289-1800
Fax: 775-289-1910
Email: eyfoweb@blm.gov
Office hours: 7:30 am-4:30 pm, M-F
702 North Industrial Way
HC 33 Box 33500
Ely, NV 89301

Ask for Total & Complete MORATORIUM on Wild Horse Roundups.  Ask for the Dissolution of B.L.M.  Ask for the Termination of Ken Salazar, Department of Interior  and Bob Abbey, Director of  BLM.  Ask that the Employee of Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc. be Terminated and Prosecuted for Animal Cruelty.

Contact information for the Washington D.C. Office of BLM. Please ask for a Total & Complete MORATORIUM on Wild Horse Roundups; the Dissolution of B.L.M;  the Termination of Ken Salazar, Department of Interior; the Termination of Bob Abbey, Director of BLM; and finally ask that the Employee of Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc. be terminated and prosecuted for animal cruelty.

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/directory.html
Director: Bob Abbey
E-mail: Director@blm.gov
Deputy Director (Operations): Mike Pool
E-mail: Mike_Pool@blm.gov

Deputy Director (Programs and Policy): Marcilynn Burke
E-mail: Marcilynn_Burke@blm.gov
Chief of Staff: Janet Lin
E-mail: janet_lin@blm.gov

For all of the above, please use:

BLM’s  CONTRACTED KILLERS ARE CATTOOR LIVESTOCK ROUNDUP, INC. Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc. is responsible for their Employee’s Cruel, Callous, Evil, and Indifferent Actions and Attitude, which resulted in the unnecessary Death of a Beautiful Stallion named BraveHeart, who will never again be seen by his Mare and Foal.

Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc.
Dave and Sue Cattoor, Troy and Sandy Cattoor
PO Box 289
Nephi, Utah 84648
PHONE NUMBER: 801-361-3100
FAX NUMBER: 435-623-2415
Email: clr@wildhorseroundups.com

http://www.wildhorseroundups.com/

PLEASE CONTACT CATTOOR LIVESTOCK ROUNDUP NOW TO PROTEST THEIR CRUEL, INHUMANE, EVIL, CALLOUS INDIFFERENCE TO THE NEEDS OF AMERICA’S WILD HORSES, AT THE EXPENSE OF AMERICAN TAX PAYERS.

President Obama must also Take Responsibility for this Cruel Treatment of America’s Horses and Blatant Misuse of  Citizens’ Taxes.

CALL AND EMAIL  THE WHITE HOUSE NOW, ASK FOR A TOTAL, COMPLETE, AND IMMEDIATE MORATORIIUM ON WILD HORSE ROUNDUPS.

202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414,  www.whitehouse.gov

PH