by Maureen Harmonay – Equine Advocacy Examiner
BLM Vets without credentials continue to put-down Calico Wild Horses
With the euthanasia of two more elders from the wild horse bands that formerly inhabited Nevada’s Calico Mountain Complex, it is becoming increasingly difficult not to conclude that the BLM has a calculated plan to break down the hierarchy of familial groups by eliminating their most senior members.
Within the last 48 hours, a 20-year-old “poor conditioned” mare was euthanized because of purported hyperlipemia and metabolic failure, the diagnosis du jour for most of the horses who have been put down. We don’t know if she was in foal, or whether she had a foal by her side. We never do.
And just today, a 25-year-old stallion was euthanized due to “poor condition” as a result of “tooth loss.” What? Are we to believe that this horse came in from the range with no teeth? It seems more likely that he may have lost some teeth from being knocked around during the roundup, or from being put in too close proximity to other stallions, all of whom are jockeying for position in carmped quarters.
Since February 3rd, around the time that the Calico roundup ended, a total of nine older mares (20 years old or older) and four senior stallions have been euthanized because the BLM vets have deemed them unable to thrive. These horses were all doing fine on their own, but they became expendable when they failed to adapt to the radical changes that captivity imposed on them. At least 75 Calico horses, and untold numbers of their unborn foals, have died at the hands of the BLM since late December.
It’s not only the loss of the horses themselves that deserves to be mourned and remembered. The intangible casualty of the BLM’s crash and burn wild horse management strategy is what International Society of Mustangs and Burros President Karen Sussman calls, “herd wisdom–the knowledge passed from older to younger animals.”
Ms. Sussman’s perceptions, based on her years of living with wild horse herds on the Cheyenne River Reservation near Eagle Butte, South Dakota, are pertinent now, as we watch the dissolution of the Calico bands and wait with dread for more roundups:
“The captures continue unabated; today, more wild horses are stuck in holding facilities–theoretically awaiting adoption–than are running free. Not able to run as fast or as far, the young and old are the most likely to be caught. When an older stallion or dominant mare is taken from its bankd, chaos ensues; raised without elders, the younger ones grow up dysfunctional.”
In her article entitled, “Saving Sacred Species,” Tracy Basile notes that “the most important lesson Sussman has learned about saving wild horses is the way in which we save them–keep intact bands together and respect the herd wisdom of the elders.”
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I believe the deaths will continue until this herd is completely gone.
Marge
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This is so infuriating! I am appalled at the callous way these animals are being treated! There was as study done in Africa on Elephants, a while back. Several mature elephants were killed by poachers and this left many young animals reeking havoc on the range. They ‘imported’ older wise bulls who then took control of these ‘juvenile delinquents’ and they restored order to the herds. We may never know what chaos will come out of the removal of the elders horses, if there are any horses left.
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Keep up the pressure, these horses can’t die in vain, something good has to come from this travesty!!! I cant believe they are getting away with it, payback has to come at some stage! These people WILL be held accountable, we cant lose hope or sight of that!
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Lori:
Absolutely, positively never give up! Good words and thoughts about the dead and keeping up the good fight.
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This assault on the wild horses will not stop as long as BLM has any credibility. We need to take their lies and failures and killer attitude and hang it all out to dry all across this nation for all to see and learn from. And to stop them and change their runaway train tactics if we have to wrest the wild ones’ management out of their bloody hands.
BLM, Just tell us where we can keep the herds save and free, NOW, and let go of our wild horses and burros. Forever. mar
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I don’t understand why the BLM still has any credibility NOW. It’s crazy. I feel sick. I’ll keep on doing what I can, but it seems to go SO slowly, and horses are being killed at such a rate I keep wondering if we can get any real changes before it’s too late.
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I’m gong to re-blog this, R.T. and hope a few more see it.
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This is a great article. Keep the wisdom of the elders before us in all we do — we know where we need to go with this.
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This is both ultimate ignorance and ultimate callousness. The BLM power people have no care for any part of the wild ones’ lives or their band structures. Why should they? Obviously, their goal is to discredit wild horses as feral pests in the eyes of most of the country, destroy the herds, focus the public’s attention on the tax burden of holding the captured horses, and promote taking back the HMAs for supposedly lucrative natural resource development.
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Maureen; while I really appricate all your efforts and your fine writting skills, one thing really bothers me and makes me cringe everytime; you use the word “euthanasia” to decribe another horrible murderous “shooting” death. Please, Please, call this attrocity what it is…do not use the word euthanasia unless that horse was given a ‘peaceful injuction’. The horrors of what you write about must be brought to light in the same frame that they are happening. Death of our horss by bullet is a SHOOTING. Keep up the good work.
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basically speaking; Dr. Sanford goes out and “eliminates about one Mustang per day!
imo anna usa
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I just did a search and found Richard Sanford, DVM’s Fed. Contract. He received $50,000+ from BLM-WHB in the last quarter of 2009–I can hardly wait to see how much he made 1st Qtr. 2010–with all that work he’s done with the Calico horses. (He’s received almost $1 million for the BLM-WHB contracts since 2010.)
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:5aIY_-NqWAcJ:www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php%3Fparent_id%3D292387%26detail%3D-1+richard+sanford+dvm&cd=1&hl=en&c
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Holy cow
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I forgot to add–Sanford is a vet for the Dept. of Ag, APHIS. Cane, the vet who is not licensed in Nevada, is a local vet in Ault, CO, east of Ft. Collins. I hear conflicting stories about him.
CORRECTION: Sanford’s made nearly $1 million since 2001, not 2010! At any rate, he does all right off the gov’t.
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