We will NOT give up! We were there… we saw it… we took action! We do not “just take pictures”
While many people are focused on the memorandums issued by the BLM this week to (cough) humane care and access, we are trying to continue to address these issues in court. THREE active cases (all carried by Wild Horse Education and no other group or organization) are heading to hearings that address inhumane conduct and the highly controlled access to information on the handling of wild horses and burros. Coincidence that BLM releases the memos as we go back to court in a string of three TRO wins and an Injunction?
Working with a lawyer TODAY, that we can not pay so we have very limited time with him, on a response to Owyhee (that is still very much alive regardless of what the blow hard egoists say that who knows what their agenda is… but it is NOT wild horses).
WHE wants you to see what we are reading. This is how the DOJ (lawyers for BLM) responds to our assertion (and BLM’s admission) of NO DATA. (YES this case addresses BLM’s authority to remove horses over a ten year period in Owyhee as well as inhumane treatment):
“horses “shall” be removed “immediately” once the Secretary determines, on the basis of whatever information he has at the time of his decision, that an overpopulation exists.”
Are you angry yet?
BLM continues to assert that they are humane. We provided expert testimony (and have more to present) that BLM is not humane to ANY standard of equine veterinary practice. BLM states “when specialists express conflicting views, an agency must have discretion…” that even if the court were to listen to us BLM claims all discretion to determine what is right.
Are you angry yet?
In a footnote on page 11 BLM has the sheer audacity to claim that my video is “selective.” Below is my video on the barbed wire and then BLM’s. Can you decide who is selective when BLM omits the entire event?
Help keep us in the field and the courtroom!
In the SYSTEM WE ARE GIVEN we must present an argument cited in case law. Screaming “aw give me a break!” will get us the credibility of mud wrestling in a local tavern on a Saturday night. BLM repeats propaganda and the “because we say so” lines so often we want YOU to see what the legal line actually looks like. Trust us we want to just fall on the ground and cry “Judge if you have seen what we have” and then just sob that BLM LIES, but we can’t. Click photo below to read JUST the reply brief, we will spare you the litany of declarations from pro-slaughter vets and BLM’s Al Shepard, that was NOT even present.
(Doc17-0)OpposMotPrelimInj(Def)
click picture for pdf of BLM reply (NOTE this is a BLM reply in an ACTIVE legal case. BLM reply briefs are always infuriating as basically the agency claims it can do what it wants, how it wants, and you as a human being suffer no real harm. This is a “classic” )
Most likely our answer will be filed just before midnight as we ALWAYS have a time crunch as our funding is so low our attorney works in only the time he can spare and WE assist in all research documents. WE have three active cases and roundups. We are doing our very, very best…. with what we have under an extraordinary extra burden of those trying to subvert the work and call themselves advocates.
Are you angry yet? We are.
Just so you all are aware BLM is very cognizant of the rift in the advocate community. It was once said by a BLM official that the advocate community was nothing to worry about, they defeat themselves.
WHE Blog 
Page 17:
“Wild horses spend their entire lives in the areas where gathers occur. Because the
Owyhee gather did not take place in abnormal or extreme conditions, the wild horses at issue
were accustomed to living and exercising under the prevailing conditions. The horses were not,
for example, run in inhumanely cold temperatures.”
“As animals that live through periods of extreme cold, snow, and ice, above-freezing temperatures were normal and relatively comfortable for the Owyhee wild horses.”
Snivel: If these animals had been left to their own devices in the extreme cold, snow and ice, would they not, like so many animals living in Northern Nevada in the winter, have severely curtailed their normal activities in the effort to conserve physical resources? Unless running from a perceived threat – and even then, only a short burst – running in Winter would be counter-intuitive for range animals.
Also, even under ideal temperatures present in Spring and early Fall, isn’t it unlikely these animals would take off at a dead gallop for an extended distance or period of time? I submit the attorneys, the testifying wild horse and burro ‘experts’ and the veterinarians cited as employed by the Ag Department are as unqualified to define ‘inhumane’ as it regards wild equines as they are to define the natural behaviors of these animals. They are NOT domesticated; as such, they live by an entirely different set of survival skills that the authors of this writ – and their experts – are unacquainted with.
Also…
The attorneys make a point of decrying Ms. Leigh’s video and photography as being ‘selectively edited’ or shown out of context, however, the point here is Ms. Leigh HAS presented visual documentation of many and varied occurences, whereas the BLM has not. There is no refuting video; there is only the good word of the Bureau agents and contractors as recorded and interpreted by the attorneys.
yes Lisa… working on the reply
Lisa, Laura went back and addressed the charge of selective editing by doing the slow motion of the horses hitting the barbed wire. That put that allegation to rest and BLM , as you say, could not refute the video. So instead last week right before the reply brief is due from Wild Horse Education,BLM issued a memo and called it a policy and made a big noise about it like this is some sea change in BLM. Nope …its just the same old same old. Memos are not enforceable. there have been other memos requiring humane treatment and then BLM leaves it up to the individual contractor reps to enforce the directive,Some manageres might, most will not. So it is . business as usual and no enforceable humane care standard. What is unfortuate is that the advocate community seems to have bought this and treated the memo like it was something significant. … but really its just a memo, no consequences, no legal weight. It means nothing except that BLM is trying to look like they are being responsible for the court. So they are doing this in response to the legal action brought by Wild Horse Education over the Owyhee rounup . In reality nothing has been done that will change the abuse that is happening for the wild horses and burros.
I bat about 250 when it comes to deciphering memorandums. I remember one issued by Director Abbey in December, 2009, during the first Calico about the hoops BLM heads were supposed to jump through before closing Public lands to the Public (ostensibly during roundups, but also as an all-purpose ass coverage). Fast forward to the first Owyhee and, clever little buggers, go and set up the traps sites on private land, where the owner is free to tell the Public to piss off. So I learned that ‘memorandum’ is synonymous with ‘lubricant’, and just about as binding.
Now this document, written by some well-paid gubmint asshats, is proposing to not only define ‘humane’ or ‘inhumane’, but create their own definitions. ‘Inhumane’, in nearly every dictionary or definition web site I’ve looked up is simple and rock solid: “Without compassion for misery or suffering. Inhuman. Brutal. Cruel.” There are no varying degrees, particularly when it comes to wild equines. It is the utter absence of compassion. So ‘humane’ would be the exact opposite, right? Even a neutral position would mean not causing misery or suffering.
They use terms so freely and by rote that those terms start to lose meaning – they’re just words. But memorandums are so pretty and officious ( and worth about as much as the ethernet they’re printed on).
(This is me, smilin’ atchoo, LL!!)
OH… Lisa… I am working on the reply. I sooooo wish I could share ALL of the exchanges with BLM on these cases. I would LOVE to be able to talk about all the “dance moves, smoke and mirrors.” MAN! You’d think we were in a casino down town! OHHHHHH…… I wish I could tell you!