Wild Horses

LAS VEGAS  - A national animal advocacy group excoriated the federal government, saying it misled the public about last week's removal of 11 wild mustangs that had coexisted for years with residents of a populated area outside Carson City, Nev. The Humane Society of the United States has called for the Bureau of Land Management to return the animals to the wild, rather than following through on plans to put them up for adoption. “The Humane Society of the United States denounces the Bureau of Land Management's decision to remove a small band of wild horses located just east of Carson City, Nev., in the Pine Nut Herd Management Area,” according to a statement released by the group Tuesday.

Wild horses are a powerful symbol of the Old West, but you won't see them unless you know where to go. Thirty-five years ago Dianne Nelson started the Wild Horse Sanctuary on 5,000 acres in Shingletown, Calif., east of Redding. At the time, she had rescued 80 horses that had been rounded up and were about to be destroyed. Today, about 300 wild horses and burros call the sanctuary home. How wild are they? Some are descendants of the original herd; others have been rescued from Bureau of Land Management property and other areas, according to a spokesman.

"Shine bright like a diamond," Rihanna sings, filmed in black and white, her hand bathed in the precious stones during the new video for her song "Diamonds. " Taken from her forthcoming album, "Unapologetic," due to come out Nov. 19, the aspirational pop song reaches for profundity in the new clip through a series of beautiful, elemental non-sequiturs. (Watch it below.) There are diamonds, of course, so many that they look like mercury flowing over the singer's hand -- and there are wild horses.

For the last seven years, Culver City-based artist Jennifer MaHarry has been photographing wild horses in the West. "Their free spirit and majestic beauty is what initially captivated me," said MaHarry, founder of Eden Creative, where she designs print ad campaigns for film. It was after visiting Wild Horses in Need, a rescue center in Ojai, that she learned of their at times inhumane treatment in captivity and decided to use her craft to shed light on their plight. Photographed in the wilderness, at roundups, government holding facilities and horse rescue sanctuaries in Utah and California, several of her images can be seen at the G2 Gallery in Venice, with a full-scale show planned there in June.

Wild horses are a powerful symbol of the Old West, but you won't see them unless you know where to go. Thirty-five years ago Dianne Nelson started the Wild Horse Sanctuary on 5,000 acres in Shingletown, Calif., east of Redding. At the time, she had rescued 80 horses that had been rounded up and were about to be destroyed. Today, about 300 wild horses and burros call the sanctuary home. How wild are they? Some are descendants of the original herd; others have been rescued from Bureau of Land Management property and other areas, according to a spokesman.

An investigative journalist who has reported on the federal government's alleged sale of hundreds of wild horses to a known kill-buyer has released a video of a face-off in which Interior Secretary Ken Salazar threatens to punch him during an impromptu interview. Dave Philipps, now a reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette, conducted a two-minute interview with the cowboy-hat-wearing Salazar, a Democrat, at an event taking place at an Obama campaign office in Fountain, Colo., on Election Day. In September, Philipps' article for the online ProPublica investigative group claimed the Bureau of Land Management, which manages hundreds of millions of acres of public land in 11 states, was knowingly selling wild horses to a middleman who is thought to have taken them to Mexico for eventual slaughter.

A controversial roundup of 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in Nevada began on Monday amid protests from activists who call it needless and inhumane. Contractors in helicopters and on horseback herded some of the mustangs into corrals in the Black Rock Range, a chain of mountains 100 miles north of Reno, according to a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management. Heather Emmons said she did not know how many horses were captured on the first day of the roundup, which will take two months and stretch across 1,750 square miles in the Calico Mountains Complex.

We, the taxpayers, are paying $9.3 million a year to feed and maintain wild horses in California. Yet we must pay $125 for these horses if we are to adopt one. The horses that aren't purchased are "euthanized." There are probably hundreds of organizations that these horses can be donated to such as summer camps for children. Also, the camps for handicapped children would certainly appreciate these animals. There are also many farmers, Indian reservations, I could go on. Many people would love to have these wild horses but cannot afford to pay for something that they are already paying for. Horses are beautiful animals that should not be sentenced to death!

LAS VEGAS - A grass-roots community group in northern Nevada watched helplessly Wednesday as federal officials removed most of what remained of a band of wild mustangs with which residents say they have peacefully coexisted for years. About two dozen residents of a subdivision called Deer Run outside Carson City say they have tried unsuccessfully to negotiate the fate of 11 mustangs with the Bureau of Land Management, which governs public lands in Nevada and elsewhere and has purview over the wild horses.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's ode to the "majestic" wild horse, and his description of how the federal government must manage its population in his Jan. 14 Times Op-Ed article, comes across to the average reader as a reasonable and sympathetic approach to the problems faced by the American mustang. What Salazar doesn't mention is that the bureaucracies now under his control -- and the business interests they service -- have created the problems the Interior secretary says he wants to solve.

LAS VEGAS  - A national animal advocacy group excoriated the federal government, saying it misled the public about last week's removal of 11 wild mustangs that had coexisted for years with residents of a populated area outside Carson City, Nev. The Humane Society of the United States has called for the Bureau of Land Management to return the animals to the wild, rather than following through on plans to put them up for adoption. “The Humane Society of the United States denounces the Bureau of Land Management's decision to remove a small band of wild horses located just east of Carson City, Nev., in the Pine Nut Herd Management Area,” according to a statement released by the group Tuesday.

LAS VEGAS -- Federal officials say they have finished rounding up 11 “problem” wild mustangs in northern Nevada and that the horses will now be offered for adoption. The last of a band that once numbered 50 mustangs were enticed into a trap last week, as concerned residents of the Carson City neighborhood watched in dismay, questioning why the Bureau of Land Management insisted on removing animals that had peacefully coexisted with surrounding homeowners for years. In a news release Friday, the day the last horse was lured into a trap with offerings of alfalfa and barley, the BLM repeated past claims that people had complained about the animals crossing busy roadways and damaging property to graze in a small public park.

LAS VEGAS - A grass-roots community group in northern Nevada watched helplessly Wednesday as federal officials removed most of what remained of a band of wild mustangs with which residents say they have peacefully coexisted for years. About two dozen residents of a subdivision called Deer Run outside Carson City say they have tried unsuccessfully to negotiate the fate of 11 mustangs with the Bureau of Land Management, which governs public lands in Nevada and elsewhere and has purview over the wild horses.

The Wild Horse Sanctuary , in Northern California near Lassen Volcanic National Park, is introducing three special trail rides for next year. On April 27 and 28, Laird R. Blackwell will join riders and discuss wildflowers seen along the trails through the sanctuary's oak woodland and chaparral. The cost is $455 per person; participants will receive a signed copy of Blackwell's book, “Wildflowers of California: A Month-by Month Guide.”  Those looking for a more rough-and-ready vacation can join a work ride May 31-June 3 and help clear brush and prepare new trail routes.

Rick de los Santos wants to reopen an animal slaughter business that's been banned in the U.S. for years. Along the way, he's also opened a can of worms. The Roswell, N.M., meat company owner sued the federal government last week, alleging that officials ignored his application to resume domestic horse slaughter for food because the practice had become an emotional political issue throughout the West. After waiting a year for permits, De los Santos, 52, says he's using the courts to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to resume inspections necessary to open what would be the nation's first new horse slaughterhouse since 2007.

An investigative journalist who has reported on the federal government's alleged sale of hundreds of wild horses to a known kill-buyer has released a video of a face-off in which Interior Secretary Ken Salazar threatens to punch him during an impromptu interview. Dave Philipps, now a reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette, conducted a two-minute interview with the cowboy-hat-wearing Salazar, a Democrat, at an event taking place at an Obama campaign office in Fountain, Colo., on Election Day. In September, Philipps' article for the online ProPublica investigative group claimed the Bureau of Land Management, which manages hundreds of millions of acres of public land in 11 states, was knowingly selling wild horses to a middleman who is thought to have taken them to Mexico for eventual slaughter.

For the last seven years, Culver City-based artist Jennifer MaHarry has been photographing wild horses in the West. "Their free spirit and majestic beauty is what initially captivated me," said MaHarry, founder of Eden Creative, where she designs print ad campaigns for film. It was after visiting Wild Horses in Need, a rescue center in Ojai, that she learned of their at times inhumane treatment in captivity and decided to use her craft to shed light on their plight. Photographed in the wilderness, at roundups, government holding facilities and horse rescue sanctuaries in Utah and California, several of her images can be seen at the G2 Gallery in Venice, with a full-scale show planned there in June.

"Shine bright like a diamond," Rihanna sings, filmed in black and white, her hand bathed in the precious stones during the new video for her song "Diamonds. " Taken from her forthcoming album, "Unapologetic," due to come out Nov. 19, the aspirational pop song reaches for profundity in the new clip through a series of beautiful, elemental non-sequiturs. (Watch it below.) There are diamonds, of course, so many that they look like mercury flowing over the singer's hand -- and there are wild horses.

The affecting documentary "Wild Horse, Wild Ride," directed by husband-and-wife team Greg Gricus and Alex Dawson, follows a diverse group of equine enthusiasts as they prepare to participate in the 2009 Extreme Mustang Makeover. This annual event is a contest of sorts in which 100 professional and amateur trainers present the results of their 100 days of work taming wild mustangs. The animals are then put up for auction and adoption - thus avoiding federal corrals. The committed and patient entrants here include an intrepid Arizona cowgirl and single mom, a Mexican émigré working as a Wisconsin roofer, a Navajo ex-rodeo champ and his son, a bearish Texan and his seventh wife, a PhD in biomedical engineering, and a pair of soulful New Hampshire brothers.