written by Steven Long, Editor and Publisher of “Horseback Magazine”
Major BLM Cover-up is Exposed
Calico Wild Horses - Photo by Laura Leigh
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A government veterinarian working for the Bureau of Land Management in its Nevada office has treated horses there without a state license.
At least 113 captured horses have either died or been miscarried after a grueling chase by helicopter over rocky mountain land in the dead of winter.
Horseback Magazine confirmed late Monday in a check with the Nevada Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners that there is no record of a veterinary license for Dr. Albert Kane. Last month the magazine sought the vitae of the veterinarian but the BLM refused to supply it.
Kane is a Veterinary Medical Officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Policy and Programs staff. In this position he serves as a staff veterinarian and advisor for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, according to spokeswoman JoLynn Worley.
“Dr. Kane doesn’t have a current bio or CV available at this time and has declined to prepare one specifically at your request,” Worley said at the time.
After the refusal to respond to the magazine’s request for Kane’s credentials, a request for that information under the Freedom of Information Act was filed. Thus far there has been no BLM compliance on the FOIA.
The 113 dead horses came from BLM’s Calico Wild Horse Management Area in Northern Nevada. The “gather” was a tightly controlled operation in which press and public was held in a viewing area far from the actual roundup and helicopter driven stampede.
Horses captured in the operation are now held in the BLM’s Fallon processing facility.
Horseback Magazine has now asked the BLM if Kane is licensed elsewhere other than in Nevada.
The Fallon facility is under tight control with press and public barred from observing horse processing in other than rare and brief media days and observation opportunities.
Opponents of the gathers have charged that the government agency is rendering America’s wild horse herds genetically bankrupt on its 260 million acres of mostly vacant land.
Last year, in a 68 page document titled “Alternative Management Options” the BLM discussed killing thousands of wild horses. It also addressed the issue of neutering horses in enormous numbers.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former rancher, has proposed that thousands of horses be sent to seven holding areas in the Midwest and East as tourist attractions. The proposal has been ridiculed by equine welfare activists as “Salazoos.”
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
While you’re at it, I would like to know the credentials of vets that practice at other BLM short and long-term holding facilities as well.
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And I would like to know how many vets IN TOTAL are caring for 35,000 formerly wild horses. Is it one per facility? What is the ratio of licensed vet care per horse?
I know if my local animal hospital had one vet for 2000 horses, no one would think it was adequate care.
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Are there requirements in the 1971 Act (which they are ignoring anyway) for licensed vet(s) to be present? At what ratio to the # of horses? If at all? And if not, why not?
Perhaps he has taken no direct action — because he isn’t licensed? This lack of action may have contributed to the deaths of the horses. But if by law he isn’t expected to take action (or allowed to, because of his lack of State License) it would seem he may be “in the clear.”
Anyway you look at it, it is a dismal scene of incompetency, cruelty and callousness.
“Something’s rotten in the State of Denmark”
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Even if they are no requirements, there should be an obligation to treat injured animals held in captivity.
The entire episode of the foal laying down for days without proper care comes under a new light because of this unlicensed vet.
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Janet, I almost wrote the exact thing except there’s something rotten in the state of Nevada!
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It keeps getting worse doesnt it. Damned if we do and damned if we dont. It is like listening to someone speak with a forked tongue, makes my head spin trying to figure it all out, maybe that is the intention to talk in circles so no one knows what the hell is right!! Sorry had a loooong night, up til 3am with an injured horse belonging to a friend.
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Sorry to be redundant and nit-picking, but:
(1) The contracts call out the medical and reimbursement (if it even exists).
(2) The vet may not be required to be licensed in the state of NV, depending on it’s and the USDA requirements (could be confusing since these horses were removed off of private, state and fed management locations.
(3) The fed and state horse haters are playing a very fuzzy game and they love it that way.
(4) I was told no one really knows (a) how many equines are in holding, (b) where they are, (c) how to view to confirm, (d) any care or disposal contract info for ALL the sites, and (e) the daily holding population numbers.
And frankly, that would explain why the BLM is so fubarred regarding roaming, holding, death numbers….even their numbers don’t add up because they don’t even know. Wonder how the population numbers adjusted after the Meduna/3 Strikes holocaust? They came and removed some…remember?
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No one really knows? How hard is it to count horses at a holding pen?
Does it mean the number changes on a daily basis or weekly basis? Are horses disappearing?
Public observers should have access to the count.
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I’ll let someone else answer that as I’ve been posting too much….you’ll be surprised at the answers, starting with the shifting numbers that BLM regularly posts, changes and/or don’t add up in the long run.
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I am aware of the “number” game.
I have followed the blogs for a while now.
It’s just too unbelievable to not write about again and again.
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We have a list of holding facilities. Cindy MacDonald has been doing the figures. Over 1000 Wild horses are not accounted for. But sales horses are just ‘sold’ and what frequency they are sold and to whom? Yes, figures change, horses are moved, sold, adopted. Much goes on and we do not know the figures until afterwards. The list of facilities is missing addresses. We need to get them We need to have people asking to see horses in BLM holding. This needs to be an issue on the local level.
If you want the list it is at BLM Quick Facts. Anyone who works on finding the locations and addresses of these places would be appreciated. mar
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Forgot to add, the number of vets, their qualifications and placements should be based on the contract which is required to follow the FAR and DOI/BLM regulations for same.
If a vet was not stipulated in the round-up/Cattoor contract, the BLM was required to provide them…if the regs state that at all. That may be more ammo for the lawsuit for April.
Did someone say they found a link to the Calico-Cattoor Contract?
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D. Here is the link to the Cattoor contract for 2009. You can adjust the level of detail in the upper right corner. Please note Cook Livestock was paid just about at much as Cattoor last year. You can pull up their contracts too.
http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?fiscal_year=2008&company_name=Dave+Cattoor&sortp=r&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&detail=1&submit=GO
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Dr. Kane does seem to have reasonable credentials. If you “google” him, of which I’m sure Mr. Long and others have done, he has an association with UC Davis and did some work on toe-grabs with racers. Whether or not he has remained licensed in any state is another matter. But I saw a reference to APHIS/USDA as of late.
My concern is that it appears that there are not enough vets out there, or in the meat system or the expanded food system OR monitoring the equines in the concentration camps. What I’m saying is that not having a license in Nevada isn’t the critical point; that there are possibly not enough vets and we can’t get Dr. Kane’s qualifications (if he is a Fed-USDA employee in medical service) freely and reasonably available is troubling.
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Nothing surprises me anymore other than my own previous ignorance. I actually believed these were just people doing thier jobs and blogged as such. But I think D. Masters has raised an important question – is the vet required to be licensed in Nevada, or does Nevada even require a license? I hope Horseback asks USDA for the guys qualifications as well. Why would the supposed vet refuse to provide anything? That is like running away from a crime in my opinion. I hope IDA sues for the FOIA, and soon.
Another debacle – anyone seen the latest Cattoor Livestock update on Calico? Sue Cattoor is now blaming the spontaneous abortions on the delay in getting started due to the lawsuite – ee gads. And she has a stupid (I mean really Sue, what are you trying to prove?) break down of the deaths and percentages. And OK we may have made a math mistake, but her jumble of breaking down the percentages by horse is supposed to do what? No matter how you try to fuzzy up the math, or confuse people by writing in circles yourself its still not .05%, or .5% – its whole numbers – I predict it will be double the entire years expected in the wild death toll by the time its all done. She also attempts to fuzzy up the issue of the babies hooves falling off, by somehow blaming the photogratphers for missrepresenting the fouls shown in the helicopter chase – does the term “shell game”/con artist come to anyones mind? Sue – no one cares which babies – fact is your company ran the hooves off of 2 babies (that we know of). Does not matter which shell the pea is under – that will not change that facts. Really pathetic attempt.
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Horseback/S. Long asked for the “ad vitae” (sp?), IOW…qualifications and they still haven’t provided.
Nevada requires their vets to be licensed, but that has nothing to do with an operation like this and that’s why I asked all those “other” questions” re: contracts, etc.
Essentially USDA, NV are playing a jurisdiction confusion plus contracts game on the equine supporters. Only point to be made that I see is that this is entirely a Fed funded and MANDATED round-up and they are responsible for the equines in the end (how true) for this Calico Complex. The state may play a role such as additional oversight and cooperation, but FEDs have final authority….somebody, please get a copy of all those contracts because I guarantee you there is more than one.
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D. Masters, thanks for clearing up what Horseback asked for. However, I went back and checked the vet reports on Calico and they are provided by a doctor Sanford, not Kane. So this confuses me. I’ll admit I cannot keep up with all the blog information, so perhaps there is more about Kanes involvment in the Calico gather.
What does CV mean? Is this an admission that Dr. Kane is not a certified vet?:
“Dr. Kane doesn’t have a current bio or CV available at this time and has declined to prepare one specifically at your request,” Worley said at the time. –
Dr. Kane did not have to provide a work history and credentials when he applied for the job? Wow. I’ve never gotten a job with filling out at least a job application.
I did go back to Cattoors site, it is back up on the internet. I found a couple of other intersting statements there – Sue Cattoor says, if I am reading her statement correctly that only 30 horses came in poor condition, but she does not say how many of those were the pregnant mares. Also, I recall BLM stating that the poor condition horses were mainly from just one of the 5 (or 6?) HMAs. Then she goes on to send the reader to one of the “You be the Judge” articles, I don’t know why she did this as it does not prove her point at all. Especially when you read Dr. Sanfords vet report at BLM that the abortions were most likely due to the stress of the roundup, not body condition. Plus, the information given at “You be the Judge” seems to conclude that horses in poor body condition don’t even cycle in the first place – self regulation. Most of the info given is about domestic horses anyway. When will they ever figure out that these wild horses cannot be compared across the board to AG standards?
Sue further claims that wild horses are livestock like cattle. That they do not go looking for food or water, so must be managed in times of drought just like cattle. Similar statement from BLM spokesman about the incorrect count of BLM that BLM did not know that wild horses roamed around. I give my same reponse – Huh? These are the people in charge of the Free ROAMING Wild Horse and Burro Act for over 40 years now and they don’t know wild horses roam around?
The “court delay causes abortions in equines???? Good Lord, save us! I wonder what church or university this rocket scientist for equines went to?????” is from Sue Cattoor, the supposed self proclaimed wild horse expert. She would be hilarious if it weren’t so tragic.
Anyway, the current GPS device wild horse tracking being done in Austrialia will tell the true story of how the wild horses roam looking for food and water as compared to cattle and I predict will blow ole Sue and BLM out of the water.
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True…the BLM themselves admit: “most of the mustangs were in good body condtion; except for a few;
the BLM doesn’t know “Hay to save a horses life…
the Hay they feed is not right; imo a.
(Horses have to have Hay 24/7; in some pens NO HAY IS SEEN FOR MILES !
this bothers me to no end; truly; a.us
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Last time I checked “legislative or judicial delay” was not a medically supported diagnosis/epidemiologic condition….run a horse into the ground, in the winter, feeding it alfalfa or drastic food change, removing herd partners/offspring most certainly is.
Another piece of ammo for the legal case to show how bad Cattoor and henchmen are at “managing” mustangs….court delay causes abortions in equines???? Good Lord, save us! I wonder what church or university this rocket scientist for equines went to?????
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Sue Cattoor is just worried her gov’t gravy train payments may be delayed by lawsuits. That’s all she cares about.
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I Googled Dr. Kane; he has had prior experience at UC Davis in their Equine Department, and he’s published several papers on various ailments and treatments in racehorses.
Dr. Sanford, the Vet at Broken Arrow has worked at the Palomino Valley facility more than anywhere else. One commentator on a previous story says he’s a ‘damn fine vet’.
Apparently in the realm of medical treatment for Captives, you don’t gotta follow the rules so much as those rules the BLM says are applicable. Don’t blame the vets; without adequate proof we can’t really say they’re doing wrong (only that they’re not doing ‘good’), and that we don’t approve of their methods. Blame the BLM, ’cause that’s what we do when faced with an opponent we’re havin’ a helluva time defeating.
Chalk it up on the ‘Con’ side.
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I wonder what rules do apply here. . . re: burden of care.
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That’s like saying a doctor isn’t responsible for the care he gives if he works at a crappy hospital. These are vets, whose first responsibility, akin to a hippocratic oath, is to care for the well being and optimal health of animals.
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hi have you seen the video “Great Star scrambles through Chute; from 2009?
“anyone can see Dr. Sanford “pulling a mustang out a window by his mane !
I do blame the Vet. Sanford the Sandpit Vet.;(he leaves Foals in sandpits to perish
(Dr. Sanford; yanks; pulls and literally “slaps the great star upside the face !
sandford?: u ugly ! (Sanford is the one who “shoots lateterm gestation Mustang mare
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Anne, I tried to find that video unsuccessfully – is that the exact title?
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a Vet is supposted to report abuse! where is even one report about moldy food, lack of water, no free feed proper quality hay? The BLM needs a Vet who is not a ‘buddie’ to them, so they will start to really care for those horses. Its the only way the Cartoors or the BLM will care properly for the horses,,, if they think someone is watching them.
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Here’s the issue (s):
(1) What are the number of certifiable, licensed vets in the state of Nevada (either NV or other states)?
(2) What is Dr. Kane’s role (I suspect supervisory consultant) and why aren’t his credentials available if he is a USDA employee or consultant regardless?…shouldn’t be as mystery as he was hired under an OPM requirement (NPN or otherwise) and filled therein by Dr. Kane.
(3) Just who in the hell is ordering the controlled substances (if they are even doing that) to treat?
(3) That Dr. Kane doesn’t have a license in NV isn’t that critical; that there is only one, maybe two vets and controlled substances are required for meds is/are.
IDA…hope you are following this and collecting info (as I’m sure you are).
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Excuse me, (1) …..should have been regarding those vet professionals involved anything Calico round-up horse.
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Here is the link to Dr. Richard Sanford’s contract the the BLM. Level of detail can be adjusted in top right corner. I do not know if the number after his name refers to a vet license # or a contract #. IMO, he is not paid that much for the number of horses he takes care of.
http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?fiscal_year=2009&parent_id=292387&sortp=a&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&detail=1&submit=GO
No info on Dr. Kane.
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Thank you for the link….just as I suspected, the DOI has found a way (although it may be legitimate) to not use “full and open competition”. I guess I need to see how the RFP was written.
Funny (ironic) the category “live animals, not for food” categorization because mustangs and burros do wind up in kill situations (as we all know). Wonder if that violates provisions of RFP, award and continued funding legally speaking?
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ps don’t forget to include the “free lodging; free meals; and the money pocketed for the 70 mustangs trucked over to the rendering plant; and ps $50,000 is a hell of a lot of money; esp. these days; I am done with Sanford; he is history imo; anna
“in Sanfords own writing he admits; he shot 5 late term gestation mares point blank
(wonder how long it took for the little unborn foals to die in their mothers wombs?
do not defend sanford;he is a snake ! he killed 2 foals with a weapon; he gotta go!
Sanford himself has “shot atleast 50 mustangs for being too thin; too old or bad teeth; uh oh; i have a bad tooth; don’t let Sanford find out; geeze ! ! luv ya; a.
(think about this; when Sanford “shoots a preg. mare; he is killing an unborn foal!
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Those links are very informative. I think they are from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Something came to me that I hope Ms. Pickens might consider: she ought to start her own mustang burro round-up company and demand bid competition….woman owned business brownie points, etc. It would blow the whole Cattoor and other contractor lock on awards wide-open.
Ms. Pickens, are you reading? Beat the DOI at their own game. It will buy the mustangs/burros time until this so called science and population mess gets transparency and unraveled. If anyone has the business smarts, contacts and resources to do this, you do. Take the cow factor out of mustang round-ups! Who knows, maybe it will help hubby get access to natural resources that is harmonious with free-range mustang and burros.
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hi; why don’t you send this idea to Madeline Pickens herself? she has got the $ $ $
(god knows must of us do not!; but that is the point; Life is way above money! a.
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Madeline Pickens has a big heart and she does love the wild horses as many people do.
I just wish she had already set-up 100k acres somewhere and has a small herd of wild horses safe!! It would be very good PR for her to have a small group of SAFE mustangs to point to.
She needs to hurry please…the “natural selection” FREE to roam horse is almost extinct. a human bred animal is not the same as a natural selected, free roaming horse.
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What I don’t understand from some information is still out there. There have been reports, I don’t kow how valid, that ranchers have allowed wild horses on their land and want them there but BLM rounds them up anyway. Also alluded to, but I have not confirmation, that one rancher told BLM that he did not want cows on his allotment anymore and wanted to replace the allotment with wild horses and was told NO.
Anyone have more info these?
Ms. Pickens has tried to work majic within the good ole boys network. That has not worked – so far. But we need to waite for the court case now. And need to understand how Pickens got rich, and that was not by “giving” money away. If I understand correctly Ms. Pcikens was just asking for the same amount that any holding facility would get and in exchange would give the land to the horses for free – but was told NO. I’m sure she was hoping that then the public support would bring in some money to off set the cost of the land, and in the long run, eventually possibly pay for the land – a huge gamble, but if that panned out a good deal for her and the wild horses – nothing wrong with that. But I’m supposing, don’t know for sure.
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PS – how would Ms. Pickens compete with roundup cntrators that did not even have to bid for the contract? If there is no bid process there is no way for her to get in. Great idea though and maybe can be worked around. I bet she could afford cameras on those helicopters too, or perhaps not use helicopters, at least not as much. And trailers built for the special circumstances of wild horses, safer, more comfortable, and a few windbreaks and covers to protect from the elements? Just what any of us, not to mention existing animal curelty laws, would expect to be minimal.
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Roxy,
It would sure be a good thing if someone could run down this info so we could find out if it’s true. “Rounding them up anyway” was what nearly happened to the Placitas, NM, horses due to a couple of complaints from individuals and pressure from developers. The people of Placitas were up in arms to save their horses. They’re beloved as individuals, and as a tourist attraction. A number of businesses are named after the herd. Fortunately, they’ve succeeded in keeping them so far.
The Placitas horses are on USFS or private land, so they’re not protected. Gov. Richardson is promoting a NM Wild Horse Preserve in the area, but there’s no state money to fund it. I believe he brought the idea up at a recent meeting with the feds, but, since they don’t have any money except for pet projects and disaster relief, I think we can all guess how much help they’ll be.
As to the rancher who wanted to replace his cattle with horses, perhaps it had to do with the 10-year permit.. Maybe he wanted AUMs or a stipend for wild horses. Since they’re ultimately catagorized as “livestock”, I don’t see how that would be an insurmountable problem. Are ranchers allowed to graze their domestic horses with thir cattle? Maybe some other folks have wanted to do the same thing and been turned down.
I’ve often wondered if struggling family ranchers wouldn’t be better of as “wild horse managers” for the BLM. That might give them an opportunity to make some extra money and keep the ranch in the family. They could remove a few from their herd at the right time, train, them. and then the BLM could put them up for adoption.
It’s AMAZING how much more folks bid on horses at the Mustang Makeovers! Sometimes they go for $800 and higher, especially for a reining horse, and that’s with only 60-90 days of professional training. So far I’ve found that only ONE horse was not adopted in ALL the events on the BLM website. Of course, they wouldn’t publicize any failures.
Even if the wild horses were gentled to lead, load, and stand for the farrier, I think the BLM would get a good deal more than $125 a head. They certainly needs to restructure their failed program, and this might be a way to do it.
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Now the rounded up Calico horses are dying from some type of disease that is spreading among the corrals. It is heartbreaking to follow this story. I think that Ms. Pickens should form a round-up company and get involved in the issue; this is the only way to have some control over this terrible process. Heartlessness and callousnous must be a prerequisite for being a politician or public official. How can anyone in their right mind not care about these animals?
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plenty of fake Vets, the usda had one working 16 years..google Fake Vet or heres a link to a recent one.
http://tweetmeme.com/story/558557056/fake-veterinarian-confronted-by-channel-2-video-wsb-atlanta
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