22 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • NOVEMBER 2017 22 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 22 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
agency manages.
The agency says the land can
sustain 26,715 wild horses and
burros—a third of what the government
says is out there—although
advocates say the animals aren’t
overpopulated and starving, as
Zinke and BLM claim. The National
Research Council (NRC) questioned
the validity of that number
in a 2013 study examining BLM’s
wild horse management program.
“Horse and burro populations are
seldom limited by density because
they are kept below food-limited
carrying capacity through removals
and to some extent with the
contraceptive porcine zona pellucida
(PZP),” the study found.
It also found that BLM’s cure for
the horses may be worse than what
ails them.
“Removals are likely to keep the
population at a size that maximizes
population growth rate, which
in turn maximizes the number of
animal that must be removed,” the
report found.
Compounding the problem is the
fact that only 2,440 wild horses
were adopted out last year, when
2,899 more were removed. With
removals consistently outpacing
adoptions, the problem and its cost
grows annually.
To Kalimian and others fighting for
the horses, the issue is about more
than animal rights, the environment
or wasting taxpayer money.
Advocates argue that millions of
cattle graze the same land, suggesting
that BLM is only interested in
freeing up the range from competition
for farming and drilling.
“It’s not right,” she says of the
exploitation of the public’s natural
resources for private gain. “The
land belongs to the people, but only
rich profiting off the land.”
MUSTANG SALLY
Kalimian isn’t the only local advocate
sounding the alarm of the
issue. Others are also working to
rescue wild horses—in addition to
unwanted show, racing and other
horses—before they’re destroyed.
Baiting Hollow Farm Horse Rescue
has been urging people to contact
their Congressional representatives
to urge lawmakers to block
passage of the horse slaughtering
legislation. The North Shore Horse
Rescue & Sanctuary in Baiting
Hollow, which has about 30 horses,
rescued their first horse, Phoenix,
a five-year-old mustang mare, in
2003. And The Kaeli Kramer Foundation
in Huntington has rescued
two wild horses.
“All these horses are being held
needlessly at the taxpayers’ expense,”
wrote Brandon Woelkers
of The Kaeli Kramer Foundation.
“The round-ups are both cruel and
unnecessary. There are humane
ways to manage them on the ranges
at half the cost to the American
taxpayers.”
Such rescues are among 600 of
their kind nationwide. Locally,
they’re home to a fraction of the
estimated 38,000 horses on LI.
Kalimian expects to have her first
rescued mustang join her stable of a
dozen other horses she spared from
the slaughterhouse.
Her group, founded in 2006 under
the name Seraphim12 Foundation,
was originally dedicated to rescuing
abused and neglected horses,
but a few years ago changed its
name to the CANA Foundation
and focused attention on the wild
horse issue. Since then, CANA
partnered with Native American
tribes to facilitation their adoption
of 60 wind horses on reservations.
She also launched an organic,
GMO-free skin care line called
Naturally Considerate, with proceeds
benefitting the nonprofit.
She says her mission is “rewilding”
the horses, people and the land.
That is, helping people reconnect
with nature through horses. She
even stopped mowing the lawn on
the farm surrounding her stables
and let it revert back to nature.
“When we talk about rewilding, we
are talking about reconnection,”
Moses Brings Plenty of CANA
Foundation says. “We are talking
about the building of trust...to learn
how to communicate without words
to be able to walk amongst them and
not have them run away in fear.
“I don’t want them to see me as a
predator,” he continues. “I want
them to see me as a relative.”
Kalimian agrees.
“We need to come together as one
people…and remember who we
are,” she says while reflecting on
the therapeutic effect of horseback
riding. “We need to remember what
matters. The horses always show us
what matters.”
NEWS
Mustangs live freely on public
land out West.
Advocates are worried about a federal plan to euthanize wild horses.
Long Island
Horse Rescues
Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue
864 Lumber Ln, Bridgehampton
amaryllisfarm.com
Baiting Hollow Farm Horse
Rescue
2114 Sound Ave., Baiting
Hollow bhfhorserescue.org
CANA Foundation
Locust Valley. Canafoundation.org
The Kaeli Kramer Foundation
160 Sweet Hollow
Rd., Huntington.
kaelikramerfoundation.org
MJZ Horse Rescue Inc.
Manorville mjzhorserescue.com
New York Horse Rescue
PO Box 435, Manorville nyhr.org
North Shore Horse Rescue &
Sanctuary
2330 Sound Ave.,
Baiting Hollow,
northshorehorserescue.org
Spirit’s Promise Equine
Rescue and Rehabilitation
2746 Sound Ave., Riverhead
spiritspromiserescue.org