Travesty: A Symbol of the American West Is Now under Seige

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Time is rapidly running out for America’s last wild horses. The Bureau of Land Management, which is charged with protecting and maintaining the wild horse population in the American West, is engaged in a brutal extermination campaign to eliminate wild horses and burros from public lands. That’s the message of Malibu director and cinematographer James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, “Disappointment Valley: A Modern Day Western,” which is screening on Feb. 8 and 11 at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Kleinert, who has spent the last several years dividing his time between Malibu and various parts of the West, told the Malibu Surfside News that he became interested in the plight of the wild horse while filming his award-winning 2006 documentary film “Spirit Riders,” which followed an American Indian peace movement begun by the Lakota Nation as they made their historical horse-back ride to Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
“‘Spirit Riders’ shows how American Indians have reclaimed their sacred way of life through reconnecting with the horse,” Klienert says, adding that the project also provided him with the opportunity to connect with the horses. Together with wild horse activist and actor Viggo Mortensen, Kleinert made two short films about the wild mustangs. The feature-length “Disappointment Valley” was his next step. The film’s release is timely, coming at what many see as the eleventh hour for the wild horse.
Wild horse advocates have blasted federal land managers this week after 26 mustangs died and 50 more suffered serious injuries last week in a government roundup on the range north of Reno. The roundup is part of an immediate plan to remove 2500 of the wild horses, and a long term plan to eliminate 12,000 wild horses and burros this year.
According to Kleinert, many of the wild horses will be transported to Mexico and brutally slaughtered for meat. Others will be euthanized, or kept at federal holding facilities notorious for overcrowding and inhumane treatment.
The film, shot in high definition, provides an opportunity to observe the magnificent horses in the wild, but also provides an expose on the treatment the animals receive at the hands of the BLM’s so called expert horse handlers, and the appalling conditions at the Mexican slaughter houses that, according to Klienert, are the final destination of many of the horses.
The documentary examines the origins and effects of the 2004 “Burns Bill,” which Kleinert says has gutted the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, clearing the way for removal and slaughter of American wild horses.
“Disappointment Valley,” which includes interviews with Jim Baca, former director of the BLM under the Clinton Administration; Congressmember Raul M. Grijalva; wild horse advocates Michael Blake, Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, and Malibuite Daryl Hannah; as well as a wide range of scientific experts, animal rights activists and environmentalists, also explores the current impacts on western public lands by oil, gas, mining and corporate cattle grazing.
Kleinert points to the proposed $3 billion Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline that, if it is approved this spring, would cut through some of the most remote and pristine areas of Nevada’s wild horse territory, as one of the reasons the BLM is anxious to eliminate the horse population.
“I hope this film will not only educate viewers about the disturbing, massive removal of our horses but inspire change to the future of these precious animals,” Kleinert told the Malibu Surfside News.
Kleinert compares the west to the African Serengeti, and says that mining is a major threat to the area. “An area of publicly owned land equal to 15 Yellowstones has already been leased to oil and gas,” Kleinert says, adding that uranium mining is also a serious concern. “When these industries are finished, they leave a wasteland where nothing can live,” he says, adding that the BLM’s official position that horses are starving to death on the range is a falsehood. “The only horses that have starved in recent years are the ones the BLM rounded up and forgot to remove from the holding pens,” Kleinert says, providing images of the desiccated remains of mares and foals in an abandoned government pen.
“This is a real life “Avatar” story,” Kleinert says, referring to James Cameron’s record-breaking film that deals with a mining company prepared to commit genocide for financial gain. “It’s happening right here, in our country. The public is not being told. 30,000 horses will be killed and that includes healthy animals. The BLM is managing the wild horse to extinction.”
According to Kleinert, the future looks bleak for the last wild horses. “Obama has to issue an executive order to stop the roundups. That’s the only way of stopping this,” he says, although he adds that a Senate Bill, S 1579, called the Roam Act, may hold some hope.
Kleinert encourages interested individuals to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to support the Roam Act, stop the sale of wild horses for slaughter, and call for a congressional investigation of the BLM.
Kleinert can be contacted at jameskleinert@mac .com, Footage from “Disappointment Valley” can be viewed at www.americanwildhorse.com.
Information on the Santa Barbara Film Festival is available at www.sbfilmfestival.org