\The Center for a Humane Economy, Animal Wellness Action, and The Cloud Foundation today announced their collaboration with TMR Rescue, Inc., a donkey rescue and sanctuary in Plantersville, Texas, to save 14 formerly wild burros, all titled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Two burros nuzzling each other in greeting
The burros were all placed by the Bureau of Land Management's adoption programs, which put federally protected equines at risk.
© 2016 by Khartova New window.
The animals were originally adopted by private individuals through the BLM’s adoption program that requires holding the animals for at least a year before title is transferred. They were ultimately dumped in a kill pen.
“The Center for a Humane Economy has long maintained that the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program puts wild horses and burros in the slaughter pipeline,” said Scott Beckstead, director of campaigns for Animal Wellness Action, and the Center for a Humane Economy. “The BLM promised reforms, but the agency hasn’t done anything substantive to address the problem. The result is mustangs and burros with the tell-tale neck freeze brands showing up in kill pens across the country.”
“Our effort today brings security for these burros, but they really are just ambassadors for what’s wrong with the BLM and its mismanagement of the wild horse and burros program,” added Beckstead.
“It breaks my heart that these iconic representatives of our pioneering past have lost their freedom,” said Marjorie Farrabee, equine manager at TMR Rescue, Inc. “To add insult to injury, they were apparently betrayed by their adopters who pocketed the $1,000 adoption incentive and then placed them in harm’s way.”
The Cloud Foundation also assisted in this rescue by providing funds to assist with initial care and materials needed to ensure the animals are safe and healthy long term. “We are very grateful to support the Center for a Humane Economy and Texas Miracle Ranch in rescuing these victims of the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP),” stated Dana Zarrello, Director of the Cloud Foundation.
The 14 burros will join about 400 other burros, donkeys, and horses on TMR Rescue’s 207-acre sanctuary in Plantersville, Texas, about an hour outside Houston.
TMR Rescue is home to over 400 rescued donkeys, mules, and horses, both wild and domestic. Our Texas Miracle Ranch is on a mission to change long held misconceptions about longears, and give them back their rightful place in the history books. We provide our equines with their veterinary needs, nutrition, and rehabilitation, as well as providing them with the love and compassion that some of them have never known. We love what we do, and are happy to share our world and our mission with you.
Animal Wellness Action (Action) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.
The Center for a Humane Economy (“the Center”) is a non-profit organization that focuses on influencing the conduct of corporations to forge a humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both.
The Cloud Foundation (TCF), a 501(c)3 non-profit, has been at the forefront of wild horse advocacy since its inception in 2005. TCF was founded by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, creator of three acclaimed PBS Nature series documentaries that followed the wild stallion Cloud throughout the seasons of his life. Dedicated to the protection and preservation of wild horses and burros on our public lands, The Cloud Foundation advocates for protecting natural wild equid behaviors, repatriation of wild horses to zeroed-out Herd Areas, and equal allocation of forage within Congressionally-designated Herd Areas.
Press release by Scott Beckstead - The Center for a Humane Economy