"These animals should be returned to their native lands and be free," argues Leo Grillo, founder of Horse Rescue of America, a not-for-profit organization located northeast of Los Angeles.
The actor/animal welfare activist is one of a growing number of celebrities and corporations turning up the heat on President Barack Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and members of Congress to put an immediate stop to wild horse roundups.
Salazar's new federal plan to relocate thousands of desert mustangs to preserves in sharply opposing Eco factions continues to attract the ire of horse protectors who call Salazar's pricey proposal a "travesty of justice and humaneness."
Some entertainers in opposition to Salazar's plan include Sheryl Crow, Ed Harris, Randy Jackson and Bill Maher.
"With one voice we are insisting that our government stop managing these beautiful and important animals to extinction," said Sheryl Crow in a passionate statement released by The Cloud Foundation, a Colorado-based horse advocacy group.
"There's too much rain, fungi and diseases associated with wetter climates that desert horses are not going to be able to cope with," said Grillo. "If the eastern quadrant of the U.S. were a suitable environment, these horses would have migrated there on their own. They're in the American West where they should be."
Grillo says for only 3% of beef cattle raised in this country, it is the wild horse that is being rounded up. Competing wildlife, like dear and elk, are being killed off by the federal government, he says, because they infringe on the cattle's grazing areas.
"The mustang is being used as a scapegoat," said Grillo. "It was the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that made this animal a manufactured problem. It keeps changing policy depending on who's in office."
"It's time for all of us to speak up for our wild horses and burros so we do not lose these living legends and inspiring symbols of our freedom in America," Crow said.
Comments
No more roundups! Leave the wild horses in the west. The west is their home. Moreover, given the HUGE Federal Government deficit, it is fiscally irresponsible to spend over one million dollars to move the wild horses and burros. It is morally corrupt for the BLM to round up and move the wild horses and burros east. The BLM is a rogue agency within the Federal Government. The American people do not want their hard-earned tax dollars being spent on paying BLM employees salaries and this includes Secretary Salazar who is catering to the cattle ranchers rather than the majority of Americans who want our wild horses and burros to be allowed to roam free and with their families. The cruel and barbaric roundups using helicopters at taxpayer expense is reprehensible. Stampeding wild horses down a mountain in over 90 degree heat resulting in foal/horse deaths must be stopped. The BLM must be stopped. Congress needs to pass a moratorium on any additional roundups.
Thanks for helping to get the word out. Another part of the Salazar plan for our nations wild horses is the creation of non-reproducing herds. These animals are being managed for eventul extinction.
LA Equine Policy Examiner
No more roundups! Leave them free in their land by right. It is theirs.
No more roundups, leave the horse alone and where they belong!
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