Advocates Demand Government Accountability in Torture and Death of Foal During Wild Horse Roundup
The Cloud Foundation Calls on House Natural Resources Committee to Hold Hearing over Animal Abuse by Bureau of Land Management
Washington, D.C. (January 25, 2022) Today, The Cloud Foundation is calling on the House Natural Resources Committee to conduct a hearing on blatant government-sanctioned animal abuse at recent wild horse roundups. Last week, a shocking video from the government’s Pancake Complex (Nevada) roundup showed the gruesome torture of a young wild foal. The foal, driven relentlessly by a government-contracted helicopter, breaks his leg during the helicopter chase and is forced to continue running on the obviously broken limb. He was later killed by the Bureau of Land Management (Bureau).
Citizens all over the country are outraged by this video (captured by an observer from Wild Horse Education) which aired on news stations throughout the country. The House Committee on Natural Resources oversees the Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for this incident of horrifying animal cruelty.
“The United States Government, through their paid contractors, tortured and killed this young foal. It is sickening.” states Lisa Friday, Communications Director for The Cloud Foundation. “What they did to this foal is an example of the pervasive cruelty in this program. We should be outraged that our tax dollars fund this animal abuse. The Bureau must be held accountable.”
“Our American wild horses don’t belong to the government -- they belong to each of us, the American public,” said Ginger Kathrens, founder and President of The Cloud Foundation Board. “They are marginalized on their own dedicated lands to make room for millions of privately owned livestock. Polls consistently show that Americans don’t want their wild horses captured and imprisoned. Citizens want their wild horses and burros managed on the range, wild and free, which was the intent of the 1971 Act.”
The Cloud Foundation is urging Congressional Leadership to schedule a hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee to address the rampant abuse of wild horses and to address the current push to double the number of wild horses in government holding facilities which is scheduled to top 100,000 animals within the next few years.
The Cloud Foundation (TCF), a 501(c)3 non-profit, has been at the forefront of wild horse advocacy since its inception in 2005. TCF was founded by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, creator of three acclaimed PBS Nature series documentaries following the wild stallion Cloud throughout his life. Dedicated to the protection and preservation of wild horses and burros on our public lands, The Cloud Foundation advocates for protecting natural wild equid behaviors, repatriation of wild horses to zeroed-out Herd Areas, and for equal allocation of forage within Congressionally-designated Herd Areas.
###
Visit Wild Horse Education’s website for more information about this tragic incident.