Anatomy of a Roundup, Swasey 2013, Cloud Foundation Video

BY GINGER KATHRENS
The Cloud Foundation

Introduction

Despite 16 inches of snow 48 hours before the roundup began, the BLM was committed to starting on schedule. As snowplows opened dirt roads closed by deep drifts, I spoke with the BLM’s Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) who cited “contractor availability” as the reason for scheduling the first ever winter roundup of the Swasey.

It was also the stated reason for proceeding with the operation as scheduled despite unfavorable conditions. What about the wild horses, I thought? Why isn’t their welfare the most important consideration?

The Cloud Foundation Video Report

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Kathrens reports on February 14, 2013, a bay colt was unnecessarily separated from his mother. She states:

I was distracted watching the wranglers separate a cremello foal from the grey mare’s family. I didn’t notice that the bay colt’s family had been loaded into the front compartment of a trailer. Then they loaded more adult horses into the second compartment.

Instead of putting the bay colt in the back compartment so he could ride safely with his parents, they loaded three adults from another band in back. The colt called and called, and his mother answered, but the trailer pulled away without him. The colt kept calling and circled the pen, looking for a way out. He charged the fence, launched his body in the air, but fell backwards, failing to clear the six-foot barrier.

He called again and I could hear his mother answer as the trailer drove away. I agonized with the foal as he continued to whinny for his family. What incredible cruelty, I thought. In an instant his life changed forever.

Salazar regrets threatening to hit reporter

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Photo Brendan Hoffman/Bloomberg.

We will highlight the salient points of this report by the Associated Press via Seattlepi.com:

• U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s office said he regrets threatening to hit a Colorado reporter who asked about problems in the government’s wild horse program.
• In audio posted by The Gazette newspaper of Colorado Springs, reporter Dave Philipps is heard asking for an on-camera interview with Salazar, a Colorado native who previously served as a U.S. senator from the state.
• After a few general questions, Philipps asked Salazar what he knew about Tom Davis, a Colorado horse slaughter proponent who has purchased hundreds of wild horses gathered from public lands by the Bureau of Land Management and about the agency’s wild horse management program, which Salazar’s office oversees.
• Salazar answered briefly but after the interview accused Philipps of setting him up, then posed the threat. “If you do that to me again, I’ll punch you out,” said Salazar.
• The Gazette (http://tinyurl.com/c7wduc3) reports it held the audio in hopes of getting an interview with Salazar. But a Colorado Springs-based wild horse advocacy group, The Cloud Foundation, publicized the exchange on Monday.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Interior-sect-regrets-threatening-to-hit-reporter-4036458.php#ixzz2CDcY9NSC

In the meantime, Ginger Kathrens was set to appear with Sean Hannity on Fox News to discuss the incident and issues surrounding it, but Fox cancelled.

RELATED READING

– Salazar threatens to “punch out” reporter (includes Action Alert)

– Ginger Kathrens on Hannity segment at Fox re Salazar and BLM

Salazar threatens to “punch out” reporter

PHOTO CREDIT: MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES NA via Zimbio.com
U. S. President Barack Obama (L), is introduced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (R), before speaking during the White House Conference on Conservation , at the Department of the Interior, on March 2, 2012 in Washington, DC.

THE CLOUD FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE

Interior Secretary threatens to “punch out” Colorado Springs reporter

Cloud Foundation Director snubbed by Salazar

Colorado Springs, Colo. (November 12, 2012) –- On Election Day, at an enthusiastic gathering of Obama supporters in Fountain, Colorado; Dave Philipps, a reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, had just finished an interview with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar about his controversial policies for managing America’s wild horse populations. Just after Secretary Salazar answered final questions about the future safety of wild horses and he turned to leave the interview, he unexpectedly approached Philipps and told him, “If you set me up like this again, I’ll punch you out.” Standing nearby was Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, a Colorado-based wild horse advocacy organization. “I was stunned by the Secretary’s rude and clearly hostile comment toward Dave,” said Kathrens.

Kathrens, who had had been granted permission by an Interior law enforcement official to take pictures at the rally added, “ Salazar walked past me, refused to shake my hand, and told me, ‘You know, you should never do that.” It was unclear to Kathrens what he meant. “These threats would have been inappropriate coming from anyone, but the fact that it came out of the mouth of the Secretary of the Interior is alarming,” stated Kathrens. “I can’t believe that a top official in Obama’s cabinet could be so defensive.”

Philipps’ interview with Salazar was a follow-up to a story he had written in September about the sale of wild horses to Tom Davis, a Colorado killer buyer who purchased over 1,700 wild horses from government holding facilities. The horses ended up in south Texas and it is believed they were trucked over the border to Mexican slaughterhouses. Secretary Salazar acknowledged that an investigation of Davis’ activities is currently underway.

Salazar’s anti-wild horse stance came to light in 2004 during his successful run for the U.S. Senate. After a town hall meeting in Greeley, Colorado, wild horse advocate Barbara Flores asked him what he thought about our wild horses. Candidate Salazar responded, “They don’t belong on public lands.” Salazar vacated his Senate seat in 2008 to take his current position as Secretary of the Interior.

The BLM removes far more horses from their legally designated home ranges than can be adopted out to the public. The massive roundups have resulted in the stockpiling of animals in government facilities and privately contracted ranches. Nearly twice as many wild horses are housed in these costly holding operations than currently roam free, leaving most wild herds under populated and vulnerable to inbreeding and die-off due to a lack of genetic diversity.

“You know, this isn’t just about wild horses,” explains Kathrens. “America needs leaders in Washington, and the President needs cabinet members who respect citizens, respect the laws, value discussion and working toward mutual solutions. Ken Salazar displayed none of this on Tuesday.”

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Links of Interest

:: Wild horse buyer under investigation for breaking state law

:: BLM’s wild horse management at a crossroad

:: BLM Advisory Board recommends sterilization of wild horse mares

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

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FROM THE EDITOR: If you are outraged as we are, please telephone and/or email the White House (see contact details in sidebar) and, if you agree, respectfully:

1. State your objections to Interior Secretary Salazar holding his office a day longer and call for Salazar’s instant removal. Being rude to a member of the public is one thing; threatening to punch out a reporter is quite another.

2. Ask the President — until a new Interior Secretary is nominated and confirmed — to call an immediate halt to all wild horse and burro roundups.

3. Ask the President — until a new Interior Secretary is nominated and confirmed — to order an investigation into Salazar and the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse and burro program, including selling federally protected wild horses and burros to slaughter and sterilizing remaining herds (particularly spaying wild mares in the field), virtually wiping them out.

4. Ask the President — until a new Interior Secretary is nominated and confirmed — to call an immediate halt to all wild horse and burro sales and adoptions to block America’s wild equines from going to slaughter.

Please feel free to add your own. We know the list of objectionable activities is long.

Please note that this call to action is made by the Int’l Fund for Horses and not part of The Cloud Foundation press release.