Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman

Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak

Tel: 415.531.8454

Reno, NV (February 10, 2010)—When government helicopters stampeded the last wild horses out of the snowy Calico Mountains into traps outside of the public’s view, Terri Farley, author of HarperCollins’ best-selling PHANTOM STALLION series based on the Calico mustangs, decided to take action.

“The true privilege of any wild horse is to live a life of freedom, surrounded by their family in the land of their birth. Fewer and fewer have that privilege,” says Cloud Foundation founder, Ginger Kathrens, whose films and books about Cloud and his wild herd are real-life adventures. “Terri’s books may be fiction, but they capture so realistically the drama of living wild and free. And, like her wild horse characters, she too has grit and determination. She is not afraid to stand up and speak for our mustangs who seem to have no voice or place in the Obama Administration.”

In response to her readers, Farley partners with The Cloud Foundation to launch the Hearts for Horses campaign which answers the question: What can I do to help the mustangs?

Visitors to PhantomStallion.com, TerriFarley.com and TheCloudFoundation.org will find the Hearts for Horses campaign—a list of ways they can work to protect wild herds. Launched today, the campaign will continue until a moratorium on all roundups is in effect. A moratorium is necessary to provide time for hearings regarding the BLM’s mismanagement of wild herds on the public’s land and to create a sustainable plan for wild horse and burro management in the West.

Supporters are encouraged to cut out paper hearts; decorate them with glitter and messages before sending them to First Lady Michelle Obama. They can make short YouTube videos showing the plight of the horses, print out petitions, find reading lists, articles and more ways to get involved.

Farley devoted much of 2009 to bringing the world of wild horses into classrooms, libraries and conferences. Most recently, she’s been interviewed by the national media and addressed rallies to save America’s wild horses and burros.

The writer isn’t sure she’s cut out for activism, but says PHANTOM STALLION fans leave her little choice.

“When my stories show readers that they should speak up for what they believe, even if their voices shake, I can’t very well sit home at my computer with a cup of tea and a cat on my lap, can I?” comments Farley.

Already Farley hears from hundreds of readers daily. “I max out my email limit constantly,” she says. Understandable as the PHANTOM STALLION series has sold over a million copies internationally.

“These kids are readers and they love wild horses,” she says. “They’re giving themselves a crash course in democracy so they can be sure Congress knows what they’re thinking. Their letters speak of the balance of nature, compensatory reproduction and viable herd genetics. I guess they’re learning some biology, too. So, really, they shouldn’t be dismissed as teary-eyed kids. They’re writing from their heads as well as their hearts.”

The most recent BLM roundup ended weeks ahead of schedule and 600 mustangs short of their 2,500 horse goal with BLM saying they “were satisfied” and stating that 600 mustangs now remained on the half million acres, formerly the last stronghold of the American wild horse. Before the hasty ending, at least 39 horses had died including two foals (under a year old) who literally had their hooves run off as a result of the roundup. Many of the horses shot or euthanized were old mares (females). Some were in their twenties.  More than 30 mares have spontaneously aborted their foals in the corrals resulting from the stressful winter roundup. Advocates expect that number to increase.

The public cannot be sure how many horses will die as the BLM begins “processing”—gelding (sterilizing) the stallions and freeze-branding all 1922 captured mustangs. BLM is denying humane observers and the public the right to visit the facility after Saturday February 13th. With the pending lawsuit, advocates state the BLM must not castrate the stallions  since there is a possibility of returning them to the wild. If the lawsuit does not protect the Calico horses then their eventual fate is to be warehoused at taxpayer expense, joining 34,000 mustangs already in holding. There are now far more wild horses in holding than in the wild.

The assault on some of the horses closest to Farley’s heart—the Calico herds—convinced her to join a federal lawsuit to stop the roundup. Farley became a plaintiff in the case In Defense of Animals v. Secretary Salazar in December 2009. The preliminary injunction to stop the roundup in December was denied but the animal cruelty case will be heard April 30, 2010 in Washington.

“These round-ups aren’t being done to save the range or protect the horses,” says Farley, “and you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect they are being conducted in response to special interests with deep pockets.”

She devoted 2009 to talking about wild horses instead of writing about them, readers approve, but are impatient. Farley is eager to get back to her computer, to the West she can control with a keystroke, but she refuses to let the mustangs disappear without a fight.

“I don’t want to grow old in a world where kids believe wild horses only lived in fairy tales—like unicorns.”

The American public has protested in nearly 20 cities from coast to coast and rallies for the wild horses will continue in Missoula, MT (February 12), Estes Park (February 13),  Las Vegas Nevada (Febuary 18) and Carson City, NV (February 20).

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Links of interest:

Court Case: In Defense of Animals and Craig Downer v. Secretary Salazar  http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press)

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. 
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
- A History

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            @ right- Farley delivers childrens' letters to Senator Reid, 2005

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010

The Cloud Foundation