On the morning of Wednesday, October 6th, a valiant wild stallion tragically lost his life because of the callousness of a BLM contractor who ignored the frantic horse's distress at having been separated from his mare and foal. It was a needless, heartless, and gut-wrenching death, as the sorrel stallion now known as Braveheart furiously rammed his body against the metal barriers that kept him from his family, and in doing so, killed himself.
The BLM dryly reported the stallion's demise at the trap site of the Silver King roundup in Nevada as a "gather-related" death, caused by a "broken neck." But this time, in spite of BLM's efforts to hide the gruesome cruelty of the roundup, people were watching. This time, people were there to bear witness to the ways in which horses are stampeded, and trapped, and cavalierly torn from their families, without regard to what that does to them. And this time, people not only watched in horror, they took pictures.
Now, the truth of what happened to Braveheart, his mare, and his foal, has been poignantly told by Suzanne Roy of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, who, with Deniz Bolbol, managed to videotape the sickening events at the trap site, in spite of the BLM's all-out efforts to prevent them from doing so. What they captured on film is terrible to watch, and Ms. Roy's graphic written account is equally disturbing. She writes:
"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 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."
The BLM's war on wild horses like Braveheart is impossible to explain, let along justify. What happened to Braveheart is happening to countless horses who are being relentlessly victimized by the BLM and its contractors throughout the western states. And we have to ask: would Braveheart's death even have been noted by the BLM if independent observers hadn't been present? I don't think so.
With plans to seize 12,000 wild horses this year, and perhaps as many as 15,000 more next year, the BLM is an agency that has spiralled out of control. Its PR honchos seem to believe that if only they can keep the grotesque details of the roundups out of the public eye, they can get away with the physical, mental, and emotional atrocities they're perpetrating on our wild horses, at the trap sites and beyond.
They'd better think again, because the citizen advocates whom the BLM is trying to intimidate are not going away. Far from it. We will be here until this agency's unabated cruelty is stopped, once and for all.
Comments
This is hideous! I had watched this video, and read of the insensitive carelessness, inhumane actions and non action, of this man, holding the Judas horse I believe. It sickened me. But only now did I read that his lifeless body was also loaded into the same trailer with the mare! Oh my GOD! What kind of sick humans are allowed to be around our horses! NO Lily, its not pretty at all. Just coining your phrase.
We, as Americans, must be sure this ends, now. There was no more humanity in this man, than the shooter at the Quebec slaughterhouse.
Finally, after all of it for so long, I cried.
I recently wrote my Congressman about the horiffic treatment of the wild horses by BLM including articles of inhumane treatment. When I received his reply, enclosed with his letter was an attached printout from the BLM titled "Myths and Facts" about the treatment of wild horses by BLM. In my opinion it's full of lies. How do we get the message across to Washington that this is really happening? Government agencies are not doing the jobs that we expect them to do. MMS, BLM, FDA...the time is past due to clean government agencies up. I wish everyone who reads this will contact BLM..Tom Gorey, BLM Public Affairs, phone 202 912-7420.
I dare not even watch the video.
This is the shot that Dave Cattoor was so concerned that the horse advocates might get--it is an amazing ugly video of cold callous stupidity. Have those that are charged to "handle" the "lost" and stressed horses become so devoid of caring that they can look at a stallion beating his body into the rails and then just calmly tie up the horse that is the cause to the same rails. Wonder if he had to wipe any blood?
There's a great injustice being done to these animals. One day it will stop and the horses will have their day..they will have a great name speak for them.
never give up.
Oh please, while this is indeed horrible and should be stopped immediately, do any of you seriously think it will be. We kill human beings with reckless abandon, in numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Invading Soverign Nations to do so. Despite protest this does not stop. I doubt the killing of animals will either. What a lovely species we humans are!
Well its quite gruesome. I cried. What kind of crulety is the blm. To hear more about this crulety read The Phantom Stallion. Theres nothing i can say except that these people are quite evil!
Simply awful. There is not a trained "horse handler" on earth that would bait a wild stallion like that! This idiot was maliciously attempting yo cause a situation that would result in this stallion being declared dangerous, or sustaining Life-threatening injury. Where is the duty to put-down this injured horse? Where is the walkie or phone signaling an issue? THIS IS AN ISSUE! They are paid to CARE for MY HORSES...the horses OWNED BY AMERICANS! Boy oh boy...Mn Lawmakers, look out....the letters are coming again!
Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!! This is becoming more of a nightmare every day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This falls nothing short of murder of a majestic animal. For Gods sake America, put an end to this senseless slaughter of innocents...I BEG YOU PLEASE. RIP Braveheart, my tears fall for your pain, anguish and finally death at the hands of merciless humans!!!!!!!!!
The way some people treat animals makes me sick.
I think the federal court should see the video as well send a copy to the white press secretary for the president to view . He would be horrified by the abuse of the horse and the abuse of tax dollars going into this horrific act. Public relations cover up should be exposed . Ken Salazar has some important questions to answer for. Contracts with BLM should be cancled and the horses let go. The amount of damage BLM has done will take years to recover. I don't trust the information this agency releases to the public. They are full of miss information concerning the actual number horses left. Where's the government watch dog when BLM is misusing tax dollars.
This is SOP (standard operating procedure) for the BLM. Continue to watch the reports of the people who've been on the ground, and let's wipe our tears and pick up our phones and pens and storm D.C. until they can't ignore us any more. We who are on the ground are doing everything we can to shine the light on these dark, callous practices. Vote people out who don't care, and vote people in who do. The horses are the canaries of the environment, the litmus test for what people are really about. Please: make good use of our footage. Tell your friends and neighbors, give them our web sites. Mine is http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com. I will have more evidence of the callous disregard with which wild horses and burros are treated. BLM either needs to change or leave; business as usual is unacceptable. Send to your lawmakers. Our democratic system is about pressure politics, and it works. Keep it up. It is better than it was years ago for the wild horses, but we still have a very very long way to go. A lot of the same people are still doing the same things. The sad thing is many don' think they're doing anything wrong. Doesn't matter. We know it's wrong, and we will keep pushing until things are right.
I CRIED SO HARD WATCHING THE INHUMANE TREATMENT OF OUR NATIONAL INHABITANTS OUR AMERICAN HERITAGE'THE WILD MUSTANGS' WHEN WILL THIS STOP?THIS IS HEARTWRENCHING AND ETHICALLY IMMORAL AND SO WRONG TO TORTURE AND GATHER,MURDER,SHOOT AND SLAUGHTER OUR REGAL MAJESTIC BEAUTIFUL INNOCENT WILD MUSTANGS.KATHLEEN HOFFERTY IPSWICH EQUINE RESCUE CORP A FEDERAL 501C3 NON PROFIT EQUINE RESCE DEDICATED TO SAVING ALL HORSES FROM SLAUGHTER,NEGLECT AND ABUSE.
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