In response to short-term holding report & tips on visiting holding facilities and going out to the wild:
In response to Lisa Friday’s report, I imagine that the Utah BLM will say that what Lisa witnessed was just a temporary incident based on the time of the year and lots of moisture. And I imagine they got out there already to start the clean up, so there is precious little evidence remaining. Here are the arguments I would use to challenge what I anticipate will be coming from BLM (you know–the “everything is just fine” argument): Lisa points out that the build up of urine soaked manure was an issue–not just mud. Maybe they should use the Bobcat to clean up the mess, rather than to harass the horses! I have visited our Canon City Short (and now Long-Term Holding facility) here in Colorado at all seasons of the year, including awful weather with rain and snow, and have never seen what Lisa filmed and witnessed. The facility, which is a Colorado Correctional Facility in Canon City, is on level ground and can become muddy, but dries out because of proper drainage and has people cleaning up all the time. The emaciated mare is unexplainable and troubling as are the injuries and general malaise. Really inexcusable.
I encourage you to visit a facility in your area if the public is allowed, and do try to get out in the wild to document what is going on. Most herds are in remote places, so make sure you have plenty of food and water, a shovel, rain gear, warm clothes, etc. Make sure your camera has extra batteries and take lots of pictures. If you are shooting live action with a long lens, put the camera on a tripod of anything solid so the image is stable. Never try to approach the horses if they are frightened or watchful. Wait and see if they will go back to ignoring you. What is fun and interesting for me is watching them behaving naturally, not them watching me and then running away. That accomplishes very little if your goal is photography and gaining an understanding of natural behavior.
It is truly a privilege to be out there with them. It goes without saying–always show them the respect that BLM denies them at every step of the capture and incarceration process. If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. Thanks!
Foundation YouTube on conditions at a BLM Short-term holding facility outside of Salt Lake City: http://bit.ly/hWO2fG
Corresponding Foundation press release: http://bit.ly/hNRY6r
Cloud on top in the Pryors
thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com 
April 11, 2011 at 5:46 pm |
I am hoping to get a friend out to look at the facility soon… or someone will get there soon…. mar
April 11, 2011 at 6:01 pm |
I’m just writing out loud here, from prior experience at a boarding ranch:
When our paddocks and pastures got liquid, many of the horses pulled up lame. The vet said it was the horses struggling against the suction, straining muscles and compromising tendons.
I say this because, once removed from the deep muck, lameness abated in just a few days. And was not a reason for euthansia. I hate reading evil in the tea leaves, but experiences over the past 18 months have illustrated – the Bureau will nearly always choose the path of least resistance rather than the right thing. And only vigilance will keep these horses from ‘disappearing’ due to ‘non-recoverable’ injuries.
April 11, 2011 at 6:19 pm |
Too true, Lisa… am hoping that this one lady is right and some officialdom is on the way there now. mar
April 11, 2011 at 8:39 pm |
Mar -There is a man living near here who only a few months ago had his horses seized and is being prosecuted for housing his horses in exactly the same circumstances the Butterfield horses are living in.
What kind of example does it set if Butterfield is not investigated and punished – that BLM is ‘exempt’ from the laws that govern the rest of us?
Another concern: that Butterfield is so comfortable allowing these animals to live like this, it didn’t even occur to them to keep Lisa Friday from recording or reporting what she saw.
I don’t think the Bureau will be able to spin this one.
April 11, 2011 at 10:06 pm |
But where are the babies?? It’s April for gosh sakes.. How can there possibly be only one burro baby and no others?
April 12, 2011 at 1:16 am |
what is the ‘red stuff’ on Cloud?
April 12, 2011 at 6:50 am |
Lisa, If you have any links to this info on the your local bad guy put them up so the comparison can be used to BLM and any humane groups and the law in Utah…. If there is nothing write it up like a who what where when and get it to us? It really would bring it all home to the law…. maybe a district attorney/states attorney? mar
April 20, 2011 at 4:40 am |
Mar – I posted some links here a few days ago but the comment is still awaiting moderation. If you’d like them, I can send them to you. Lisa L.
April 12, 2011 at 7:56 am |
Lisa the lady I spoke to tried to tell me how its spring time and they are at 200% rainoff. Bull manure. She tried to tell me that the pens are on a rotational schedule for cleaning. For Pete’s sakes–that pen hadn’t been cleaned in who knows how long. There was no dry area for the horses too go to–to just get out of that junk. I asked her if she would like to live out in that. She told me No and that’s why she isn’t a horse.
If they have a bulldozer (by the way I didn’t know that a bobcat is just a a SMALL BULLDOZER) clean the place up. The lady there told me NO they didn’t have a bulldozer and NO they don’t move horses by the bulldozer/bobcat.
I don’t know about the 3 year old. I fear the vet will put the horse down as to hide the evidence.
The horse with the gash was gotten to–post 24 hrs so the vet apparently couldn’t or wouldn’t stitch the horse up. In filthy conditions like that–common sense tells me; clean the heck out of it and stitch the thing up. Sure the horse might have a cosmetic scar but geez, a scar is an awful lot better than the filth those horses were subjected too.
I was also told that the video LIED. That it didn’t tell the truth. Is that BLM speak for We Got Caught with our Britches down and now we’ll do whatever we have to Cover Our Backsides???? Those poor horses.
April 19, 2011 at 4:50 am |
i have forwarded this video to every horse group i could think of and even sent it to madeleine pickens and jane velez mitchell but maybe one of your should contact jane velez mitchell directly – maybe she can get a film crew out there – or somebody with a camera and get it on the air – got email frm madeleine that she went and spoke before the house finance committee about no more funding for roundups but dont know if she had copy of your video – that sure would turn some congress people off for voting for more funds for more roundups when the blm cant even properly care for the animals they have already captured
April 22, 2011 at 4:18 pm |
Lisa, thanks to your story, one Filly was rescued
http://terrifarley.blogspot.com/
Friday, April 15, 2011
Silver Lining for a Golden Filly
at left, March photo, Lisa Friday
below, April photo, BLM
Dear Readers,
Did you see the injured buckskin filly in Lisa Ann Friday’s March 15 video of the Utah BLM corrals? The Cloud Foundation made the footage public last week and journalists worldwide recognized a story which had to be shared.
April 23, 2011 at 3:47 pm |
April 23, 2011
R.T. Fitch’s STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S HEART
BLM to Move 200 Captive Wild Horses from Foul Facility
The BLM is just moving these Horses from one prison to another–where the public CANNOT see them. They SHOULD be released back onto one the “zeroed out” Herd Management Areas where they belong.