Media
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Below is a collection of media, articles and press interviews about Return to Freedom
If you are a member of the media and would like to arrange an interview or visit to one of our locations, Please email Contact@original.returntofreedom.org or call (805) 737-9246.
- For immediate response to urgent news contact: Neda Demayo @ neda@original.returntofreedom.org
- For magazine or media: Wendy Wilkinson, Wilkinson PR- wilkinsonpr@comcast.net or call: (719) 685-1723
Click here to read OUR press releases, but below is news ABOUT us.
Bidding tops $6,500 for 15-year-old wild horse Sarge. Bidding has reached unprecedented heights for a battered old horse at the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley, just north of Reno. As of this writing, bidding for the 15-year-old stud stallion stands at $6,530, based on 467 bids. The online auction ends Tuesday morning. READ ARTICLE-PDF: Reno Gazette Journal -SARGE-11-2-15
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Santa Barbara News-Press (February 9, 2014) — Actor Robert Redford helping horse sanctuary in Lompoc: For some 16 years, Neda DeMayo has worked tirelessly in her quest to preserve the last of America’s wild horses and the open lands on which they run. She has lobbied politicians, been a relentless fundraiser, and has given her life to a heartfelt advocacy that led to the creation of the 300-acre Return to Freedom Wild Horse Preservation and Sanctuary in Lompoc.
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Nevada Dept. of Agriculture Issues Statement About Horse Gathers in South Reno, 10/28/14
Yahoo Travel, October 23, 2014- Get Up Close and Personal With Wild Horses at This Sanctuary in Santa Barbara. Read ARTICLE: PDFGet Up Close and Personal With Wild Horses at This Sanctuary in Santa Barbara
T.V.
The View-Wendie Malick and Hot In Cleveland Cast shout out to Return to Freedom, sponsor stallions for Betty White’s 92nd Birthday!
ON YOU TUBE
Queen Latifa Show-April 22,2014Wendie Malick plays “What’s That? Old MacDonald Edition” for her favorite cause the Return to Freedom: American Wild Horse Preservation and Sanctuary.
Santa Barbara Independent (September 3, 2013) — Founder of local Wild Horse Sanctuary joins actress Wendie Malick, Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Wild Horse Advocates at a Press Conference September 4 in Reno, NV, to demand that the Bureau of Land Management change its costly and traumatic wild horse roundup program. Read More
The Examiner (July 23, 2013) — Robert Redford’s foundation joins federal lawsuit to block horse slaughter: In Albuquerque, N.M. on Monday, the New Mexico Environmental Department refused to renew the discharge permit for waste to Valley Meat Company of Roswell. The company, once a cattle slaughter plant, has now been converted to a horse slaughter facility and plans to open on August 5 despite huge opposition. Read More
The Examiner (July 23, 2013) — Robert Redford’s foundation joins federal lawsuit to block horse slaughter: In Albuquerque, N.M. on Monday, the New Mexico Environmental Department refused to renew the discharge permit for waste to Valley Meat Company of Roswell. The company, once a cattle slaughter plant, has now been converted to a horse slaughter facility and plans to open on August 5 despite huge opposition. Read More
HorseTalk (July 23, 2013) — Mustang roundups reduced but advocates still angry: The Bureau of Land Management intends to nearly halve its pace of removals for the 2013 financial year, but warns that the situation may change as drought conditions bite. Read More
The Republic (July 22, 2013) — Nevada agency requests information from advocacy groups to manage Virginia Range horses: The Nevada Department of Agriculture wants to hear from nonprofit groups on developing a wild horse management plan for the Virginia Range southeast of Reno. The agency said Monday its goal is a cooperative agreement with an organization to manage and sustain the horses at healthy levels while preserving public safety. Read More
The Santa Barbara Independent (June 28, 2013) — Return to Freedom Leads Fight to Save Nation’s Mustangs: A national grassroots sign-on campaign to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, to stop federal wild horse roundups and secure lasting protection for these iconic animals, is being spearheaded by Santa Barbara County’s Return to Freedom (RTF) and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), a national coalition RTF launched in 2004 to create a strong grassroots base and a unified platform for the wild horse issue. Read More
Global Animal (July 19, 2013) — U.S. Saddles Up For Horse Slaughter, Activists Say ‘Neigh’: On August 2, a judge will decide whether to issue a temporary restraining order preventing horse processing plants from opening in the U.S. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) along with other animal protection groups are currently suing the USDA, claiming the agency failed to conduct the necessary environmental review before authorizing horse slaughterhouses. Not only do 80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter, but activists also maintain the U.S. government could spend millions of taxpayer dollars to operate horse slaughter facilities, only to have Congress eventually terminate the process. Read More
Santa Barbara Independent (June 26, 2013) — Return to Freedom Leads Fight to Save Nation’s Mustangs: A national grassroots sign-on campaign to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, to stop federal wild horse roundups and secure lasting protection for these iconic animals, is being spearheaded by Santa Barbara County’s Return to Freedom (RTF) and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), a national coalition RTF launched in 2004 to create a strong grassroots base and a unified platform for the wild horse issue. Read More
Baroque Horse Magazine (June 2013) — Spanish Influence in the American Wild Horse: The Spanish Barb was once the most prevalent horse in the Americas. Today the bloodlines that remain are considered critically endangered. In much the way that the buffalo was spared extinction when a handfull of ranchers kept small herds on private land, individuals and small groups throughout the country have sought to preserve the horse that carried the missionary, the cowboy, the rancher, the Indian and the homesteader across the Americas. Read More
SFGate (April 25, 2013) — Wild horse encounters on California sanctuaries: California’s wide-open spaces harbor several sanctuaries that care for wild horses and burros who would otherwise be slaughtered to reduce populations on public lands. The sanctuaries’ missions generally are to find good homes for some of the equines — descendants of the animals that helped build the country — while providing a haven where the rest can continue to live in the wild. Read More
The Horse (March 20, 2013) — State of Nevada, Wild Horse Advocates Reach Agreement: Wild horse advocates will get the first option to purchase horses collected from Nevada’s Virginia Range by that state’s Department of Agriculture under an agreement struck between the agency and Return to Freedom, Inc. (RTF), a California-based wild horse advocacy group and sponsor of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. Read More
The Examiner (March 4, 2013) — Feds love wolves, hate wild horses: Horse meat has been showing up all over Europe, from Ikea’s Swedish meatballs to British lasagna. Meanwhile in Oklahoma, the state legislature is poised to legalize horse slaughter, and the Bureau of Land Management is meeting there today to discuss the management of wild horses under its care. Read More
Elko Daily Free Press (February 25, 2013) — Saving America’s Mustangs hopes proposed eco-sanctuary alleviates horse holding problem: Facing a horse holding predicament, the Bureau of Land Management will soon find itself with an abundance of animals running on allotted rangeland and long-term holding facilities crammed to capacity. Read More
Santa Ynez Valley News (February 21, 2013) — Places to go; Things to do: Fri., March 22: 5:30 p.m. “Words to Live By” speaker series at Babi’s Tasting Room, 448 Bell St., Suite B, Los Alamos. Read More
Examiner (March 23, 2010): It might seem unbelievable, but there are wild horses just a scenic drive north of LA. Return to Freedom American Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, California offers unique tours and educational experiences, as well as the opportunity to be a part of the movement to save the American Wild Horse. Read More
EquiTrekking (May 11, 2011): Being an equine intern at Return to Freedom in Lompoc, California, or “the ranch”, as it affectionately became known to me and fellow office/event planning intern, Jordan, made me realize early on that if an equine career was something that I wanted, I was going to have to put everything I had into making it a success. Read More
The Week (April 22, 2011): Return to Freedom is a wild horse sanctuary that provides a haven for nearly 200 wild horses and burros on 300 acres in Lompoc, CA. Because wild horses live in tightly bonded family social groups and can die if separated from them, Return to Freedom has a policy of keeping intact the herds it rescues. Read More
Coco Eco Magazine (May-June 2010): “I admit that it wasn’t until I was approached by our Fashion Editor to do this issue on the Wild Mustang that I had an awareness of what is happening to the American wild horse.” Read More
The Lompoc Record (April 13, 2010): Actor W.C. Fields once defined horse sense as the thing that keeps horses from betting on people. But in the hills near Lompoc, there is a group of people who have been a sure bet for horses across the West… Read More
Santa Barbara News-Press (August 10, 2007): Neda DeMayo walks up to Taj Radda, a gray Arabian horse now in her teens. Without ropes or a harness, Ms. DeMayo clicks her tongue softly and gently coaxes the mare to trot and follow her around in a wide circle and stop when she signals. Read More
People Magazine (2006): Listen well and you will hear it — a low, distant rumble like thunder. It is the sound of a herd of wild horses, but what it really is, Neda DeMayo will tell you, is the sound of America. Read More
California Riding Magazine (May 2005): After looking a wild horse in the eye, it’s pretty hard to turn a deaf ear to threats to its existence. That premise was one of the main catalysts for Return to Freedom, where today 220 wild horses enjoy the closest possible approximation to a free-roaming life on the range. Read More
Living History (April 2005): With its Baroque ancestry reflected in every flash of the hoof and arch of the neck, the Sulphur Horse is Spanish grace and wild grit thrown together. Read More
Grit (March 2005): I was surrounded by horses. There were Caballine horses, Cerbat mustangs, Sulphurs, Curlies, and Kigers feeding on rolling green pastures. Some paid no attention to my presence; others followed close by, occasionally nudging me. Read More
Teen Newsweek (February 14, 2005): Corralled in a federal holding pen at Palomino Valley, NV, a buckskin mare suddenly faces an uncertain future. The 12-year-old horse was rounded up in November as part of a federal program to humanely control the West’s mustang population. Read More
Lifetime (September 2004): Loving horses is easy, Neda DeMayo believes; most people do. Of course, in the nature of love, people usually want something in return — they ride them, show them, keep them as pets. Read More