Person of the Week: Madeleine Pickens

Pickens to Create Wild Horse Sanctuary

Faced with the prospect of losing these animals, Pickens took action, announcing that she would adopt the 33,000 wild horses that are in captivity.

"If all these cattlemen have access to all this BLM land, what if I bought a ranch and I can get access to the BLM land and then we shared it," Pickens said of her plan. "They can have their land and we'll have ours for our horses. This way, I can create a sanctuary and we can take in all the horses that are homeless so that no one will ever be turned away."

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Pickens said she is in negotiations to buy about 1 million acres for her wild mustang sanctuary in the West, a land mass slightly larger than Rhode Island. And it will be a place where anyone can go and see these wild horses running wild. She would not say where exactly.

"I think a lot of people would love the opportunity to go and see what America's really like, to see our true heritage, which is the wild horses," she said. "Once the horses are installed, families will be able to pull up in the RVs. We'll have hopefully log cabins, little hotels. Children will sit outside and have bonfires."

Pickens plans to have the sanctuary open within the next year.

"I can't wait for the day that the first horse is turned loose and you'll just see him kick his heals up and gallop away with this herd together," she said. "It's going to be so beautiful."

For more information on Madeleine Picken's project, visit her Web site: www.madeleinepickens.com