Wild Mustangs' Trail of Tears

"Are they still real?" a young girl asked. She wasn't talking about Santa Claus, she was asking about the wild mustangs of the west. And the answer is "Yes!" for now they are real. But maybe not for long.

Currently there are thousands of wild mustangs being rounded up by the BLM with the intention of sending them to slaughter, or sterilizing them. The most famous wild stallion alive, Cloud, is part of this plan.

Cloud is a pale palomino stallion living in the Pryor Mountains of Montana, a range the Crow Indians call the Arrowheads. Cloud has been documented from the day of his birth by Emmy-winning filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens. Her films about Cloud, “Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies” and “Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns” air on PBS’s Nature series and represent the only on-going documentation of a wild animal in our hemisphere. Ginger’s Cloud chronicles have been compared to Jane Goodall’s work with chimpanzees in Africa. Ginger has written two books about Cloud.

Here is a copy of a letter written by Ginger Kathrens, who witnessed the capture and release of Cloud. This letter and more information can be found on The Cloud Foundation web site: www.thecloudfoundation.org.

"Dear Friends of Cloud and his herd;

On September 9th six of us stood atop a low hill near the corrals where the Pryor wild horses would be set free. The first band to be released was Cloud’s. But, the family was missing the young members of the band and Cloud knew it. Instead of racing to freedom as he has done twice before, he dashed in a circle around his mares and lone foal, Jasmine. Again and again he tried to snake them back toward the corrals where part of his family was held captive.

It is the stallion father’s job to keep the family together and we saw a display unlike anything I have ever seen as Cloud swept past his band trying to keep them from returning to the mountain top. The whole time wranglers on horse back drove the band and yelled at the horses, trying to get them to leave. Cloud paid no attention to the riders on their tall horses. Instead he tried in vain to reunite his splintered family. In the end the mares won, racing away with Cloud grudgingly following. With tears in our eyes, we watched him disappear into the desert.

Two days earlier we had stood on high hill over looking the corrals watching as bands were driven in from the mountain top through the desert. My heart dropped as I spotted the pale horse in the distance with his band. It was Cloud. The helicopter pilot dipped and swerved, doing its best to bring his family in through the desert foothills. With the Black in the lead, the band broke back time and again, as if knowing what lay before them. Finally, the helicopter was able to press them into the wings of the trap and Cloud took the lead.

The Judas horse was released and raced past him. What happened next was a first for me. Cloud completely ignored the lure of the Judas horse! When the corral came into view he slowed and the band pushed in around him, trying to run away from the helicopter. Dust swirled around them as Cloud stopped and turned to face the chopper and stood still for a few seconds. Then, he turned following his family into the corral. I have never seen this kind of defiant courage . . . ever.

And so, I ask that we take his lead. Courage is what we need now. Courage and tenacity.

We must keep up the fight."