THURSDAY: Final Court Hearing on Federal Lawsuit Over Controversial Wild Horse Roundup
- Thursday, May 6, 2010, 8:11
- Breaking News, Horses
- 777 views
Plaintiffs Seek Return of 1,900 Captured Horses to Range
Washington, DC – The landmark Calico wild horse lawsuit which has triggered enormous controversy over the government’s program will be in Federal Court for final oral arguments on Thursday, May 6.
The Calico lawsuit, filed pro bono by the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney (BIR) against the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has resulted in the Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman to preliminarily determine as illegal the government’s practice of sending wild horses to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest.
WHAT: Final Oral Arguments in Federal Lawsuit Regarding Calico Wild Horses of Nevada
WHEN: Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: Courtroom 29A, U.S. District Court, 333 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, DC
“To date, 87 horses have died during or as a result of the roundup, some under extremely cruel circumstances,” said William J. Spriggs, lead counsel on the pending wild horse lawsuit against DOI and BLM filed pro bono by the international law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. “Those deaths, and the suffering of the survivors, need never have occurred if the BLM had followed Judge Friedman’s suggestion to postpone this roundup.”
“A viable plan, unrelated to our lawsuit, to place the surviving horses within Calico while making range improvements to increase the Appropriate Management Levels in the Calico Complex has recently been submitted to the Secretary of Interior,” concluded Spriggs. “We strongly believe that this option represents the best way to redress the BLM’s violations of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act uncovered in this case.”
Plaintiffs include international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals, renowned ecologist Craig Downer and popular children’s author Terri Farley. A final ruling in the case is expected in late May.
The Calico Mountain Complex roundup of 1,922 wild horses is one of the largest roundups in recent years. The BLM removed at least 80-90 percent of the Calico wild horse population, leaving behind an “estimated” 600 horses on the 550,000 acre (or 859 square mile) Complex in northwest Nevada. The roundup ended on February 4, 2010 — 500 horses short of its target for removal. The roundup proceeded despite a ruling by Judge Friedman — in the lawsuit brought by Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney — questioning the legality of the BLM’s long-term holding facilities and suggesting that the BLM postpone the Calico roundup.
Wild horses comprise a small fraction of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by livestock nearly 50 to 1. The BLM has recently increased cattle grazing allotments in areas where wild horses are being removed. Currently the BLM manages more than 256 million acres of public lands of which cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres; wild horses are only allowed on 26.6 million acres this land, which must be shared with cattle. The Obama Administration plans to remove nearly 12,000 wild horses and burros from public lands by October 2010. There are currently more than 36,000 wild horses warehoused in government holding facilities and only 33,000 wild horses free on the range.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2010
Contact: William Spriggs, Esq., (202) 452-6051
Eric Kleiman, (717) 939-3231
IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048
2 Comments on “THURSDAY: Final Court Hearing on Federal Lawsuit Over Controversial Wild Horse Roundup”
Write a Comment
Gravatars are small images that can show your personality. You can get your gravatar for free today!
Through history the wild horses gave the native and other cultures a future and life at its present time. The elders have taught us only take from life what you need then one day give back to the life that gave you life. To help the wild horses is to give back because one day the creator will take from those who have not listened to the pass elders. The circle of life will return when we learn to heal that has broken the circle of life whether it is animals or human life. As an elder I speak only the truth I am with the Little River Band of the Ottawa nation (mary Spoerl)” Moni Stillwater ” Watcher over the Children” (from Wisconsin)
Autumn TwoBulls May 7 at 1:22pm Reply
The Sacred Horses from the Pine Ridge Reservation
that have been confiscated by the Tribal government will be sold at the slaughter house on Mothers Day
Following is the slaughter house info:
Statement by David Swallow, Jr., (Wowitan Yuha Mani)
Teton Lakota Spiritual Leader, Sun dance Chief of the
Medicine Wheel Sun dance, and a Headman of the
Lakota Nation Band of Wana Way Gu (Broken Bow)
Statement Date; May 3rd 2010
Transcribed To and edited by Keith Rabin and Allison
Gutirrez-Bundy
Hau, Mitakuyepi na Mita Kola. [ Hello. Greetings my
relatives and my friends. ]
My name is Dave Swallow Jr. My Lakota name is Wowitan
Uha Mani, Walks With Pride. I’m a Lakota. I live on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation [South Dakota]. I was born
and raised there. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is The
United States Prisoner of War Camp Number 344. That’s
where I was born and raised.
We are the People of the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota
People. We have adopted the Sacred Horse, [ Sunka
Wakan ] into our nation and into our families. It is part of
who we are. It is hard in our ways to remember our lives
with out our Horses. They are part of our family. We give
them names and honor them. They take part in our
ceremonies. They are part of our lives, not only for
transportation but also the Sunka Wakan help heal our
minds, bodies and spirits.
Sunka is the Lakota word for “dog”. Before the horse,
Sunka helped us with our transportation. They also are
our family members. When Sunka Wakan, the “Sacred
Horse” came, it became a blessing a gift from our
Creator to be forever in our lives.
Today, our grandchildren and children still need the
Sunka Wakan for our healings of body, mind and spirit.
Some of the grandparents and parents save their money
for months just to buy a colt, a Sunka Wakan for their
children and grandchildren. This keeps our children and
grandchildren away from alcohol, drugs and gang
activities. This why we need our Sunka Wanka is part of
our families.
But today, in 2010, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council at the
Pine Ridge Agency created their own laws against the
People of the Reservations and one of these new laws is
against our Sacred Horse [ Sunka Wakan ]. Two
Councilmen from the Porcupine District of the Pine Ridge
have spear headed this law. The whole Tribal Council
supports it. Without asking the People on the Pine Ridge
Reservation to whom they are to represent, they created
new Park Ranger positions on the Reservation to
confiscate the People’s horses, impound the Sacred
Horses of the People and then charge the owners an
outrageous amount of money to get their horses back.
It seems they have no intent to return the Horses to the
People.
Every other foreign nation conquered by the United
States has received huge efforts towards rehabilitation
and rebuilding. Yet, while the U.S. cries about 20%
unemployment, we have 80% unemployment. We
remain isolated and have living conditions which are as
bad as or worse than any third world country. Our life
expectancy is only 48 years old for men and 52 years
old for women.
On March 2, 1889, the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America
established the Reservations. They said we are to live
here on the Reservations, hunt and fish without any
permits and the Reservations were established as “Open
Range” without any fences. It seems to the ” The
People” [ The Lakota Oyate ] that the Oglala Sioux Tribal
Council has forgotten these rules set by the Senate of
the United States of America and has taken upon itself
some goal of not only hurting the Horse itself but the
People and the families of the Lakota People .
This is a Reservation. We are NOT living in a park or a
National park. It is the land of the People. We already
have the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Police, the Oglala
Sioux Tribal (OST) Public Safety Law Enforcement, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S.
Marshals watching over us. I believe we Lakota Oyate
have enough jurisdiction watching over us . Now come
the Oglala Sioux Park Rangers, confiscating our Sacred
Horses and arresting us if we don’t cooperate. The
Oglala Sioux Park Rangers are selling our horses to local
ranchers (who then sell them to slaughter houses for
slaughter) or the OST Rangers sell our horses directly to
slaughter houses. THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED AND
RETURN OUR Sacred Horses returned back to the
People.
We are the People of the Sacred Horse. It is as much to
our lives as your cars and trucks are to yours.
We have a treaty council, a council of elders, all kinds of
councils but none of them are effective. The government
and state have kept us hungry and distracted with their
projects which accomplish very little. But they need to
know. If we are to survive, people need to understand.
When were talking about the Black Hills, its not just the
land that was lost but our way of life. Its not just money.
Money is the least important thing. We have lost our
way of life.
When we talk about the Sacred Horses, It is not about
only Horses it is about everything.
Ho hecetu yelo, I have spoken these words.
David Swallow, Wowitan Yuha Mani
Porcupine, South Dakota – Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
WAYS THAT YOU MIGHT HELP:
Forward to others on your email list(s)
Post on social networking sites
If you have National Media contacts please contact them
If you know prominent people please contact them.
Your help is urgently needed to get the word out. If you
like horses (or any animals) people all over Turtle Island
need to know what is happening and the tribal council
needs to know that the world is watching. To date 2800
horses have been confiscated and 1,000 sold off to
slaughter.
If you are able to help please contact me via email at:
info@thebuffaloheartproject.org
Contact Governor Rounds
Office of the Governor
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501
(605)-773-3212 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (605)-773-3212 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Now that the horses are off the Reservation we can ask
the Governor to intervene.
to email you must go to this url and click contact.
http://www.state.sd.us/governor/