For those who love the wild mustangs,

[susiestar]

I just saw a small video spotlight on Madeline Pickens, wife of T Boone Pickens (a hero in my town as he has given so very generously to our University).

I did not know she was such an animal lover. After Katrina she hired a jetliner and took about 800,000 animals to other places by plane so that they could be adopted.

Now she is setting up a 1 million acre ranch for the wild mustangs. they have been rounded up in larger numbers off of the public land. It was suggested that these 30,000 horses be EUTHANIZED just because they use resourced cattle use.

the ranch will be a place families can go to see the horses roam free, camp or stay in cabins, learn about the West, etc...

She figures if a person can have a cattle ranch and access the federal land to help support them, she should be able to access some of the same land to support the horses. And, being a Pickens, I doubt anyone will tell her no.

her ranch should be open in about a year. Bush is petitioning congress to support the animals until the ranch is open.

I didn't know much about her until now. But this is seriously cool.

Here is a link to the video:http://spotlight.news.yahoo.com/v/10744894

 

[Lothlorien]

I heard about the euthanization of them about a year or so ago, on this site. I'm glad someone is stepping up that can provide the land.

 

[totoro]

There are still a bunch of wild Mustangs in Idaho. They have to capture them at certain times and sell them at auction. I am sure not all go to loving homes.
This is a nice story!

Here is clip from Viggo Mortenson's promo to protect the Mustangs and Burro's. He lives lives part time up in Sandpoint where I just moved from and he is a huge advocate of supporting the horses.
Watching these clips brought tears to my eyes. I watched some of the Mustang Roundups and cried watching the Horses try to get away.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc_lxpVuc1c"]YouTube - Viggo Mortensen Wild Horse PSA[/ame]

 

[susiestar]

Toto, from hwat I understand madeline Pickens is trying to get all of them moved to this ranch, thousands of htem. She will have over 1,000,000 acres owned by her ranch AND access the Bureau of Land Management acreage also. Cattlemen use the BLM land for their privately owned cattle, and she should be able to access the land for these horses.

I LOVE ehr idea about families being able to come and visit, learn about horses and the West and history of our country all there. IF aNYONE can make this happen it is Mrs. Pickens.

And I didn't know she had hired a jetliner and picked up all those dogs and cats from the area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and moved the animals to areas where they could be adopted. I am sure some families were looking for some of the animals, but most simply didn't ahve the resources to find/care for their pets.

 

[mrscatinthehat]

Wow, I guess I thought they were already protected. It boggles the mind that anyone would want to see these beautiful creatures disappear.

beth

 

[Star*]

What about the burros?

 

[susiestar]

Sorry Star, the burros were not mentioned. BUT chances are she will move on to them next. I know some relatives of theirs and we were just talking about this. She is the real deal when it comes to putting $$ where her heart is with-the animals. At least according to family.

 

[GoingNorth]

I think we have to remember that neither the mustangs nor the burros are native to the US.

The mustangs descend from horses turned loose by the Spanish explorers early on with an admixture of stallions turned loose to improve the quality of the horses.

The burros are a more recent addition, descending primarily from animals used by the prospectors in CA and similar environs where gold was mined.

Both are feral animals not native fauna.

Personally, while they are beautiful animals; I think that Pritzkers money could be better spent helping out humans.

And this is speaking as a former horse owner who still loves the animals.