Sacramento Rally on Thursday, Jan. 21

Hi Fans!

If you live out West, there will be a chance to stand up for America's disappearing wild herds at the Sacramento Protest Against Wild Horse & Burro Roundups

Date: Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 (Rain or Shine)
Time: 11 AM - 1 PM, Press Conference at Noon
Place: State Capitol, 10th Street between L and N

This peaceful protest on behalf of America's wild horses and burros is part of a grassroots campaign that includes The Cloud Foundation and In Defense Of Animals who are sponsoring this event. It is one of several protests that are taking place across the country and world to protest the U.S. government's destructive wild horse and burro policy.

Sponsors of the event are asking President Obama, Dept. of Interior Sec. Salazar, and Congress to order the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to stop the treacherous winter roundup of over 2,500 wild horses in the Calico Mountain Complex in NW Nevada. Also, this is a call to stop further roundups planned by the BLM in 2010 until a viable plan is put into place to protect my wild friends on their native Western lands. (BLM started the Calico Roundup on 12/28/09 even though U.S. District Court Judge Friedman recommended they hold off pending further findings and decisions regarding the legality of housing herds in short and long-term facilities off of their legal public lands.)

This is what happens in a typical BLM round-up. The hell-copter cowboys stampede wild horses across miles of rocky and steep terrain to temporary trap sites. My momma and I went through this back in 2007. Some of the mares in my herd were pregnant, or had young foals that could not keep up. These roundups are held no matter how cold or hot the weather, and some of my wild horse friends die from the stress, or suffer needless injuries.

The worst injury of all is that my wild friends are no longer free to roam on their legal Western lands. Eventually, a lucky few will be adopted out (like me), but most will go to long-term holding pens at huge taxpayer expense. Some will go to auction and can end up with the worst fate of all: inhumane slaughter in Mexico or Canada for consumption abroad. Is this what the American people want for their National Treasure, the Mustang Horse?

Under orders from the Department of the Interior, the BLM plans to gather another 12,000 wild horses and burros in 2010 to add to the already 33,000 in short and long-term holding facilities at a cost of over fifty million a year of your taxpayer dollars. BLM claims that over 30,000 horses remain in the wild, but independent sources say only 15-18,000 remain. BLM has already zeroed out over 100 herds. Numbers are so low in the Mustang herds that remain, their long-term survival is doubtful.

I know my fans do not want to lose their living legends of the American West. Please stand up and fight for what you know is right and save the wild horses and burros before it is too late. We are your symbols of freedom, family, independence, strength, and spirit! We are your National Treasure.

Call President Obama at 202-456-1111 (or Fax to 202-456-2461) to issue a moratorium on all roundups.

Please continue to call or fax your Senators to improve and pass the ROAM Act.

And come out to Sacramento on Thursday, January 21, even if it is raining.

Thank you!

Love, Winnie