Report by Carol Walker (Advisory Board Member of WHFF) as published on Wild Hoofbeats
BLM Hardware Puts Cloud’s Herd at Risk of Injury or Death
Photo by Carol Walker
Last month, I was on top of the mountain spending an idyllic few days with Cloud’s herd in Montana. I have been making the trip twice a year up the mountain in the summertime every year since 2004, and it is one of the highlights of my year.
On this beautiful summer day, I was sitting at the waterhole near Penn’s cabin, waiting for horses to come down to drink. This is usually one of the best opportunities to observe and photograph wild horse behavior, because I can watch the families interact and the bands interact with each other. More senior stallions get priority, bringing their families down to the water first, and staying as long as they wish, before they move out and another band comes down. Some foals fun and play as they run to the water, and many horses roll in it to cool off.
I was not alone this day – Ginger Kathrens and her intern Briana Foisa were there, and so was Tony Wengert. After at least 12 bands came down to drink, we started to wonder where Cloud and his family were. I joked that Cloud might be waiting to make an entrance, something is good at doing. Finally we could see Cloud up on the hill, running over to a bachelor stallion, but he and his family did not come to drink. We had been waiting about 1 1/2 hours for him to come down at this point.
Suddenly Jan Liverance came running down the hill to us. She told us that she had spoken to a family from Lovell, who had come up for the day, and they said they had seen a colt, running up and down behind a fence, unable to get to his mother, who was running up and down on the other side of the fence calling to him. The family asked Jan if she knew anyone who could help the colt. We all jumped up and stowed our gear quickly, and headed for our vehicles.
We were not sure where this colt might be, so our first thought was the FENCE , the hated fence erected by the Forest Service, that cuts the wild horses in the Pryor Mountains off from their historic summer and fall range. We arrived there, and there were no horses in sight. Luckily, the family drove up to us just then and explained where they had see the colt. We headed back down the road, and stopped just above a barbed wire fence “exclosure,” and sure enough, there was a foal trapped inside, and it was Cloud and Feldspar’s baby.
He trotted up and down the fence, calling to his mother. As we approached, I saw Cloud chasing bachelor stallions away from his band, and finally moving his band away to keep them together.
This fence was falling down in places, old rusted barbed wire, and it became clear how a foal could take a nap near it and possibly roll under it, and find himself trapped when he got up.
The priority at that point was to get the foal out and back to his family. It was a holiday weekend, the BLM office was closed, and there was no cell service in the area anyway, so it was up to us to help him. With no access to water or to his mother, the foal would most likely die. We moved very quietly and slowly, not wanting to panic him and cause him to run into the barbed wire, and injure himself. At this point he was bright eyed and active, and watched us as we worked.
Finally Ginger and Tony and Bree got the bottom strands of the barbed wire pulled on top of the T- posts in a long enough area so that the foal might go underneath it and out of the trap. We watched and waited for him to move out of the exclosure. Finally he saw the opening, and ran out. But his adventure was not over at this point.
Cloud’s family was nowhere in sight, as he had had to move his family away from the bachelor stallions harassing him. The colt ran to the first family he saw, who happened to be Garcia’s band. Garcia began chasing him, and we were terrified that Garcia might hurt or even kill him, and helpless to do anything about it. Finally he stopped, and the colt saw Morningstar’s band. This family was a familiar sight, as Cloud and Morningstar’s families had been spending quite a bit of time near each other this last year.
He ran up, realized it was not his family, and then moved on, determined to find Feldspar. As he disappeared down the hill, I headed to my vehicle, and Ginger, Bree and Jan followed the colt, and Tony headed to find Cloud’s band. By the time I drove down the road, they had watched him come out on the hill above the waterhole, spot his mother, and carefully pick his way down the rocks to her, and then immediately begin nursing. He was finally reunited safely with his family.
We were all incredibly relieved. But this was not the first time a foal had become trapped in this “exclosure” and will not be the last unless it is removed. When I was up there last week, I was disgusted to see it still there, despite letters to Jared Bybee and Jim Sparks.
What is an “exclosure?” According to the BLM it is a historical reference for monitoring range conditions – in other words, they fence off a portion of the range, keep the horses off it, and then can compare to the range that the horses are using to see how the horses impact the range. But they are not using this exclosure any more. They use small, portable “utilization cages” to do studies and monitor range conditions. They said they have no plans to dismantle and remove this dangerous range hazard, despite the fact that it is just above one of the two main waterholes on the mountain, directly in the path of horses traveling to water, and also despite the fact that if foals get caught in there, they can die. Older horses and foals could become entangled in the downed barbed wire, or could impale themselves on the t-posts. If the BLM is not using this exclosure, then they need to remove it, barbed wire, posts and all. Why not remove it NOW before any other horses are harmed, and while they have trucks and equipment up on top of the mountain anyway for the bait trapping?
Please write or call Jim Sparks, Montana Field Manager, jsparks@blm.gov
Phone: 406-896-5013, fax 406-896-5281
and Jared Bybee, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, jbybee@blm.gov
Phone: 406-896-5223
Ask them to tear down and remove this dangerous wild horse hazard. If enough people speak up, perhaps they will listen.
Click (HERE) to view this story through Carol’s Pictures at Wild Hoofbeats
- BLM Succeeds in Decimating Cloud the Wild Stallion’s Herd, AGAIN! (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Off Duty Deputy Saves Wild Horse Foal From Drowning (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Breaking News: Roundup of Wild Horses to Begin Despite Risks to Tiny Foals and Pregnant Mares (rtfitchauthor.com)
- BLM to Remove Up to 50 Wild Horses Due to Alleged Drought (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Ginger Kathrens: Happy Birthday Cloud! (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Noted Wild Horse Photographer and Author Seeks Help in Saving Wild Horse Herd (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Mother Nature Gives West Douglas Herd a 30 Day Reprieve (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Wild Horses: BLM Wild Horse Long Term Holding Tour in Kansas (rtfitchauthor.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Happy ending to this story. If humans would not have been there, the foal might have perished!! This “dangerous, rusty fence,” makes no sense!~! Jim Sparks and many of the BLM, make no sense!! They have no compassion for the animals. make the most dangerous portions of the fence,GONE……
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Carol, RT, Ginger, everyone, why don’t we go up there in the next two weeks and just remove the darn thing? We could tell BLM we are doing it as a public service, free. That means a service to all the public, two footed and four, brains and brainless.
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I agree. People work on other HMAs all the time. At the least, this could be opened on every side so horses are trapped… but removing it is the best thing!
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are NOT trapped… obviouslt!
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This is one of those days; can’t spell and can’t edit!
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Great save for this baby – more moronic lazy behavior on the part of the BLM.
Sounds like a good idea to make this thing disappear! Is it possible?
Everything the BLM does or doesnt do – just shows how much they want the horses gone
one way or another. Shameful. And stupid, on their part.
Publicity about this kind of attitude or lack of reaction needs to be brought to the public’s attention.
Someone mentioned (a few days ago) she wished Ginger would do another video showing whats going on at this time with Cloud’s band (and others) in that area at the present time. If that should happen, this story would be a good addition.
Makes you wonder how many times this happens – or since theres barb wire laying there – any adult horse could conceivably get caught & torn up. Have seen the scars from domestic horses getting hurt – its nasty.
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WHERE was BLM? That fence should NOT have been there. THIS is one of the BIG problems on Herd Management Areas. Fencing, cross fencing, WH&B fenced OUT of water sources, WH&B fenced out of grazing areas. How are they supposed to follow their natural migration patterns?
How is the gene pool supposed to stay strong and viable if the Herds can inter-mingle.
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I have witnessed and have pics of the many fences criss-crossing our HMAs – lots and lots of them and many in disrepair and very dangerous for ALL animals in the area. And Louie, just so you know, if you think the BLM employees are going to get out of their big 4WD vehicles and air conditioned offices to clean up these fences you are kidding yourself – I am eyewitness to THAT too!s
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Yes, HMAs do have lots of old fencing, even unattached barbed wire which we know has killed horses. Because the public was never openly invited to visit wild horses’ range over the decades, this sort of hazard is all over. If we had always been welcome out there we might have done a great deal towards cleaning up such deadly trash! It takes community involvement and awareness to build caring responses needed out there!!
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Then, what does the BLM Wild Horse and Burro specialist do?
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What does the BLM Rangeland Management Specialist do?
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This if the employee directory for the Billings Field Office. I counted 48 employees. What do they do? It seems that a few of them could be sent out in to the Herd Management Area and check on the conditions. I thought that was their job.
http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/info/offices/bifo.html
Billings Field Office
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And it isn’t just the horses this fencing is hazardous to: On a recent excursion in a fairly remote portion of an HMA, we came across the remains of a prong horn that had gotten tangled in a barb-wire fence. It’s passing was neither quick nor painless.
Yet, we’re continually assured that these fences don’t exist, that wild equines are allowed to roam freely. We’ve seen rolls of rusted barb-wire laying around in random piles or lines of fencing lying on the ground, semi-hidden by ground cover – easy enough to snag an inexperienced hoof and trip an animal or cut a leg.
It would seem these hazards are rather widely distributed; the above-mentioned HMA is in California.
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The wild horse advocates just need to remove it. They won’t know “who” removed it, and what would they do, build another one? Once it’s down, it’s down. The BLM doesn’t want to do anything that would help the horses. If they know it’s dangerous to the horses, they love that idea!
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I have to agree with you Tami, if enough of us could get together, the job of removing that fencing could be done quickly enough I doubt any of the blm fools would even have time on their hands to stop the action. One of the problems thou is that I am aware of about three of these supposed testing areas that are fenced. It doesn’t really matter which, but I’m not sure which one that is being talked about in the above story. They all are in poor repair.
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This sh*t really, abSOlutely INFURIATES me!! N0 reason/n0ne at All/n0t~even~being~Used anymore (certainly n0t “m0niTORed”)! & there’s Certainly N0 eXcuse lazy-BLM can “use” 2 prohibit the Horse~Respecters from reMOVing their *discarded needless hazards; so I Hope(@ least) these *rusty wires* have been CUT by now?? To think: “Yesss, blm was notified” “Yesss, a minimum of 1-2 blm-staff just SAT *there* & Waited* ~2 month$ for Horses to wander inTO *baittrap$!”–yet would n0t *take *TIME n0r energy -2 DO this teeny piece of their Mandated JoB?
WHY was “an eXclosure” fenced w/ wire-BARBS (instead of reg fence) 2
Begin with?! (2 “PROTECT” UNeaten gra$$)? -from *what? Grrrr.
My 1st tweet, “@oloriondolinde. #WildHorses #needless human_Hazards on Pryor_Mtn_range #blm DO ur Job! wp.me/pyapj-49J via @rtfitch
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Given Jim Sparks behavior and comments to date, it is not reasonable to expect him to act in a horse friendly or even generally humane, compassionate way. He sounds more like a criminal character in Longmire than someone who should occupy a position with a federal government. Are there really 48 members of the Billings Field Office? We know that the BLM does not do EA’s or EIS’s or any sort of actual monitoring. How realistic is it to fence off a caged area to compare that area to areas occupied by wild horses when there is other wildlife in the same area that also relies on the forage and water? Were all of these people animal abusers as children???
Is one of the qualifications to work for the BLM that one must be able to cause the unnecessary suffering of sentient beings including their deaths without losing sleep? How in the heck does he still have a job? What do these people do? Sit around and think of ways to outrage the American public with their Be Cruel to Animals Because You Can campaign? I
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The dangerous, rusty fences..Those who truly care about the welfare of our horses.. “do what you have to do!!”It isn’t just the horses, but other animals who become entangled in these dangerous messes. If I lived in “your area,” I would be there to asisst with the task..
Document with photos of what is removed… When all is said and done, place Jim Sparks inside of the “rusty messes…”
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If the BLM is serious about developing, and more importantly implementing, a protocol for the Humane Treatment of Wild Horses and Burros, removing barbed wire from any area where it is reasonably possible that wild horses, burros could get caught in it. The rescue I work with does not adopt horses to homes with barbed wire fences. Sometimes a string of it somewhere in a very large pasture will not pose a threat unless you have a curious, or very tactile horse, but historically barbed wire and horses have been a bad mix.
If the BLM is serious about improving its practices, and there is some evidence that they may be at least trying to make it look like they are, they need to get rid of this barbed wire.
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Sent emails to both parties. Don’t know if it will help, but it’s all I can do from Michigan.
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Exactly Carrol. This shows the gross indifference of our public officials to the actual well being off the individual horses and is typical of what goes on throughout the west in the herd areas and territories, e.g. no longer putting rebars in cattle guards, i.e. making them into Wild Horse Annie Cattle Guards. I will pray for this innocent little colt and am so glad to see you caring ladies actually doing something for him and for all the wild horses by your presence there. Craig
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I am grateful for everyone who rescued this sweet little wild foal, thank you, &, God bless you!! I don’t know too much, but I do agree with other posted comments regarding us removing the fence. It would be a free service provided by us, meaning anyone in the nearby vicinity. If the BLM is not using it, or has no future plans to use it, why can’t we, the public, do it for them? You’d think they’d appreciate the help, lol! Forget the rules, I say let’s just go out there & tear it down, I’m guessing the BLM wouldn’t miss it.
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I just received very good news – the Billings BLM will begin removing the dangerous barbed wire exclosure fence that Cloud’s colt was trapped inside starting this Thursday – thank you so very much everyone who wrote and called – your voices DO make a difference!
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Thanks for the update, Carol, and double thanks for the heads-up. See, our voices DO make a difference.
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