It's important to remember that Ford's uses the Wild Mustang as a symbol of Freedom in its Marketing Program. Yet today as we speak the very symbol we've grown to respect is being challenge to the DEATH forever. Ford collect donations, save the mustang, and claims its Protecting the Wild Horses. I challenge us all to do a better job and really donate to those of us who REALLY care about the wild horses and burros, those of us who touch, feel and care in hand everyday. Wild Horses and Burros are NOT a corporate symbol. If the BLM uses the 3rd Chapter in the Wild Horse and Burro Act they can follow through with the slaughter of 30,000 wild horses if they can find a Veterinarian to do this. They do not need congressional approval because it is already there. If the BLM fails in their job, as they have, the Wild Horse suffers, so PLEASE help today. DONATE!

(Read what Ford's Group Vice presidents states in this letter in the 3rd paragraph. If your a non-profit organization Ford will pay you via Take Pride In America, where they send all of its Save the Mustang Funds, $100.00 per wild horse and or burro, unlimited for your taking)

The Bureau of Land Management, Take Pride in America^®, and Ford Motor Company announced today that more than $200,000 raised for the “Save the Mustangs” fund is ready for distribution to eligible wild horse and equine rescue groups to help place thousands of mustangs into private, long-term care.

The Save the Mustangs fund, established in May 2005 by Ford Motor Company in collaboration with the BLM and Take Pride in America, builds public awareness and support for wild horses. In less than a year, the fund has generated more than $200,000 in contributions, including Ford’s financial support for 2,000 horses, and has educated more than one million visitors through an informational Website, www.savethemustangs.org. The BLM, which manages more than 32,000 free-roaming horses and burros on public lands, places thousands of these animals into good private care each year. Take Pride in America, which administers the Save the Mustangs fund, will distribute money to qualified wild horse and equine rescue groups that purchase horses.

“As we promised last spring, the goal of the Save the Mustangs program was to provide wild horses with a sustainable future, and we're delivering on that promise as we assist those who are offering loving homes for the mustangs,” said Ziad Ojakli, Ford Group Vice President of Corporate Affairs. “I am very proud of the contributions that Ford and other mustang lovers have been able to make in preserving such a marvelous icon of American freedom.”

BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said, “The growth of the Save the Mustangs fund, and the upcoming distribution of the money raised, is good news for all who care about America’s wild horses and burros. I want to thank all of the donors, especially Ford Motor Company, for supporting our agency’s efforts to ensure good homes for America’s mustangs, which are a living symbol of our nation’s Western spirit.”

Charged with maintaining public lands and protecting America’s historic and cultural resources, Take Pride in America is committed to supporting wild horses as living legacies of Western history and is encouraged by the initiatives of private corporations, such as Ford, that contribute to natural resource stewardship. “Save the Mustangs is a program that not only protects the legacy of our wild horses and burros, but also exemplifies a creative solution between the American public and a private organization, a true representation of a cooperative effort,” said Michelle L. Cangelosi, Executive Director of Take Pride in America.

In letters being sent this week to more than 300 non-profit wild horse and equine rescue organizations, the BLM is urging the groups to buy saleable wild horses and to apply for financial assistance from the Save the Mustangs fund to help them in providing for the horses’ long-term care. To qualify for the funds, groups must verify their non-profit status by documenting their 501(c)3 standing; must show that they have the capability to care for purchased horses; and must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the BLM and Take Pride in America that they will provide for the long-term care of the animals.

The BLM manages wild horses and burros under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Congress amended this law in December 2004, when it directed the Bureau to sell wild horses and burros that are either more than 10 years old or have been passed over for adoption at least three times. Since that time, the Bureau has sold more than 1,700 wild horses and burros; currently, more than 8,000 are eligible for sale. The BLM’s sales program is separate from its wild horse and burro adoption program, under which the agency has placed more than 208,000 wild horses and burros into private care since 1973. (For further information about the sales program, see www.blm.gov; for adoption information, see www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov.)

The Bureau, which is authorized by the 1971 law to make necessary removals of wild horses and burros from the public lands, seeks to keep herd populations at a level that allows them to thrive in balance with other rangeland resources and uses. In managing the public lands for multiple uses, the BLM has determined that the public rangelands under its jurisdiction can support a free-roaming population of 28,000 wild horses and burros.

Take Pride in America^® is a national partnership program that enables individuals, civic groups, corporations, and others to volunteer in caring for the lands shared by all Americans. Take Pride's goal is to instill an active sense of ownership and responsibility in every citizen for the nation's natural, cultural, and historic resources. For more information, visit www.TakePride.gov.

Feds consider euthanizing wild horses in West

Population in holding pens jumps in Nevada, elsewhere as adoptions dip

	There are an estimated 33,000 wild horses on federal lands in 10 Western states, about 6,000 more than the government's "appropriate management level." View related photos
Michael Smith / AP file

updated 7:25 p.m. CT, Mon., June. 30, 2008

RENO, Nev. - Federal officials are considering euthanizing wild horses to deal with the growing population on the range and in holding facilities, authorities said Monday.

Wild horses have overpopulated public lands and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management can't afford to care for the number of mustangs that have been rounded up, said Henri Bisson, the agency's deputy director. Also, fewer people are adopting the horses, he said.

Monday's announcement marks the first time the agency publicly has discussed the possibility of putting surplus animals to death.

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The agency is also considering whether to stop roundups of wild horses to save money, a move that would be criticized by and from sheep and cattle ranchers who see the mustangs as competition for feed on the open range.

"Our goal is supposed to be about healthy horses on healthy ranges. But we are at the point we need to have a conversation with people about pragmatically what can we do given the financial constraints of our program to meet the goals we have," Bisson said.

There are an estimated 33,000 wild horses on the range in 10 Western states, Bisson told the organization's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. About half of those are in Nevada.

The agency has set a target "appropriate management level" of horses at 27,000.

Thousands penned in
About another 30,000 horses are in holding facilities, where most are made available for adoption. But those deemed too old or otherwise unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities to live out their lives — some for 15 to 20 years.

The board will consider the alternatives at its next meeting in September.

Last year about $22 million of the entire horse program's $39 million budget was spent on holding horses in agency pens. Next year the costs are projected to grow to $26 million with an overall budget that is being trimmed to $37 million, Bisson said.

"We have a responsibility to balance the budget, so we are going to have to make some tough choices," Bisson said.

Bonnie Matton, president of the Wild Horse Preservation League, said she wasn't surprised by the agency's predicament.

Now, The Wild Horse Foundation has been for many years placing and adopting wild horse into qualified homes for years. The BLM has been notorious for not wanting to work with large groups or organization thats can place wild horse in larger numbers. Its been proven many times private organizations can and have done a better job than the government in placing wild horses into homes. For example the newly formed Mustang Heritage Foundation the formally defunked National Wild Horse and Burro Foundation under the leadership Frank Cassas of Reno, Nevada who passed it to Patti Colbert here in Texas, while they were unsuccessful in Nevada they are trying to be successful here in Texas with the help of literally hundreds of thousands of dollars from the BLM simple to increase the adoption by only a 1,000 horses a year. The Mustang Heritage Foundation has an excellent marketing director with Ms. Colbert but these Wild Horses need more than a market director and thats what this whole pictures is about and thats why it keeps failing in the eyes of the Public.

In order to Protect these Wild Horses from both the misperception that they "need" to be removed from the lands they own is wrong, simply get the cattle off and let the non-profits get in and help this is a good start making good sense over stupidity but when does that matter, Protecting our heritage should come first for our history. Learning to work together and working for a common goal maybe to idealistic for most but for the wild horses it needs to be real.