Hearings set re: Pickens’ plan for wild horse eco-sanctuary

Madeleine Pickens and wild horses. Google image.

ELKO, Nev. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans a series of open houses in northern Nevada in the coming weeks to field public comment about proposals to create a wild horse eco-sanctuary in Elko County.

Madeleine Pickens, the wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and founder of the group Saving America’s Mustangs, wants to operate a sanctuary about 25 miles southeast of Wells to help protect wild horses.

All three BLM meetings will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. They will be at the Wells City Hall on Aug. 29; Hyatt Place near Reno-Tahoe International Airport on Aug. 30; and at the Elko Convention Center on Sept. 4.

Source: http://www.elkodaily.com/

Elko commissioner opposes Pickens’ wild horse sanctuary

If destructive thinking continues like the sort by the Elko Commissioner, the only wild horses in Nevada will be the ones on the back of this Quarter.

This type of thinking makes me shake my head in wonderment.

How does it hurt the U.S. economy for range destroying cattle to push range restoring wild horses off public lands? Thousands of federally protected wild horses and burros have lost their homes, family bands and freedom to benefit thousands of head of cattle that are an insignificant part of the beef industry. Now all one woman wants to do is establish a sanctuary for them to redress this error.

The Associated Press reports:

ELKO, Nev. (AP) — An Elko County commissioner says a proposed eco-sanctuary for hundreds of wild horses in northeast Nevada will damage the range and could put some ranchers out of business.

Demar Dahl says backers of the project “have a big hurdle to cross” to prove the concentration of as many as 900 horses won’t cause harm to public rangeland in violation of U.S. environmental regulations.

He told the Elko Daily Free Press it makes no sense to him to take viable cattle ranches important to the economy and turn them into taxpayer-supported horse reserves.

Madeleine Pickens and her non-profit group Saving America’s Mustangs want to establish the eco-sanctuary across nearly 100 square miles east of Elko and south of U.S. Interstate 80 — from the Ruby Valley to near the Utah line.

Boo, hiss!

Source: http://www.kivitv.com/news/local/148540095.html

White Pine Co DA does not have enough information to investigate shooting of wild mare

Cross-posted from NBC’s My News 4 Reno

WRITTEN BY BROOKE BOONE

The debate is far from over if the Bureau of Land Management’s roundup of wild horses is abuse.

Friday’s BLM internal review found no violations, but that could just be the first of many reviews.

White Pine County District Attorney Kelly Brown says, he “wasn’t able to determine looking at the video where it was shot, when it was shot or what the context really was.” He says he has seen the video, reportedly from the Antelope Complex roundup that’s taking place in White Pine and Elko counties… But, the video alone is not enough for him to take action.

Brown says, “We only have jurisdiction over matters that happen in White Pine County, and I have nothing to show this was in White Pine County.”

Deniz Bolbol, a spokesperson for the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is the woman behind the camera. Bolbol is the one who captured the images that has led to numerous questions and investigations. She was not happy with the BLM’s internal investigation clearing the agency and their contractor of any wrong… But, was not surprised.

“What do you expect? You have to look at who’s on the panel and some folks on the panel are in charge of the roundup.” Bolbol said she would be sending an affidavit to both the DA and Sheriff’s offices in White Pine County, stating the “action took place in White Pine County just below the Elko County line.”

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