July 29, 2010
Friends, these last few weeks have been an incredibly busy time, both here at Return to Freedom and in Washington DC.
Washington DC
Congressmen Nick Rahall and Raul Grijalva issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to their fellow representatives asking them to call upon Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to issue a moratorium on wild horse roundups pending evaluation of the federal wild horse and burro program. The letter was prompted by the recent Tuscarora roundup and states that “The roundup occurred in extreme temperatures, using deeply flawed methods, and was conducted without allowing any public observation. This comes just months after another round up in the Calico Mountains in Nevada resulted in the deaths of over 100 wild horses.”
Please support our champions in Congress by asking your Representative to sign on to the “Rahall/Grijalva letter to Secretary Salazar”. You can find your reps by visiting www.congress.org and typing in your zip code.
Also this week, the BLM just released an email address where the public can submit comments to their draft “Wild Horse and Burro Development Document”. Your comments are needed by August 3rd and can be sent to wildhorse@blm.gov. Please visit our coalition website for information on the document and talking points. http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/?p=1478. Your comments need to address one or more of the categories in th draft strategy document. The link above provides talking points for each category.
Here at the sanctuary
We are fighting policies that threaten our wild horses while working to establish The Soldier Meadows Preserve as a positive new direction for the wild horse program. In the midst of all of this, we were faced with an emergency colic surgery for one of our horses, one that many of you know. “Two Socks” a sweet, shy gelding that lives here at Return to Freedom, has faced a hard road. He was orphaned when over 500 mustangs were seized from a private rancher. Due to malnutrition he began his young life with host of health issues. A couple of years ago, a major colic nearly claimed his life. Just two weeks ago he coliced again – this time more severely. A genetic defect caused his intestines to slip through a small hole in his stomach, leaving the intestine kinked and twisted like a garden hose. Two Socks was in immediate and life threatening danger, and in agonizing pain. As a nonprofit on a tight budget, many people question our choices to spend thousands of dollars to save one life. But we can’t look at it like that. Each life here has a value, is precious and is worth saving at all cost. Think about it, if it were your life, wouldn’t you want it to be valued enough to put cost and budgets aside? Two Socks is family here and his life means a great deal to us. So, we blew our budget and committed to the $10,000 colic surgery. He is home now, recovering with his best pal “Twinkle” at his side and we are thankful that he is still with us.
But, we also now have to ask our friends for help. That kind of cost is a major financial blow to a small nonprofit and we hope you will join us in honoring the value of his life by making a contribution to his medical bill.
