by Laura Allen of the Animal Law Coalition

Here’s the first thing you can do:

Find your U.S. representative here.

Find your Senators here.

Call them right now today. You can reach your Representative and Senators through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Tomorrow, July 30, is the deadline – there is no time to write and they might not see email in time. Ask them to join Reps. Nick Rahall, Chairman, of the Committee on Natural
Resources, and Raul Grijalva, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, in signing a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar:

Dear Secretary Salazar:

Recent media accounts have documented still more deaths of wild horses during Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundups. Just this month, 12 horses, including three foals, died during the Tuscarora Complex roundup in northeastern Nevada as a result of deeply flawed methods. This tragedy was only the most recent in a string of reports of wild horses dying during BLM roundups this year.

We are concerned by the inability of your agency to acknowledge these disturbing outcomes, change what seems to be deeply flawed policy, and better manage the gathers so as to prevent the unnecessary suffering and death of these federally protected animals.

Specifically, on Saturday, July 10, with temperatures hovering near 100 degrees, the BLM, in a time-span of two and half hours, captured and corralled more than 228 wild horses after running them more than 8 miles. During this time, public observation of BLM activities was prohibited. This ill-advised plan resulted in the deaths of 12 protected American Mustangs, most due to water intoxication; three of the dead were foals less than six months old.  By the time the roundup was halted, 17 horses had died.

While we applaud the speed with which you temporarily halted the Tuscarora roundup after these deaths, the roundup has now resumed. Apparently, BLM continues to bar public observers, despite a court order affirming the right to “reasonable access.” So far, 410 more horses have been gathered and,according to BLM’s own account, the death toll has risen to 21.

The BLM is repeating the mistakes made during the deadly round up in the Calico Mountain Complex last winter. That roundup resulted in the deaths of over 105 horses, along with the stress-induced late term abortions of at least 40 mares.

Given this pattern, and the continued threat of death and suffering to these animals, we request that the Tuscarora Complex roundup be suspended, along with any pending gathers, until the agency demonstrates that it has addressed the failings of the current program and can ensure the safety and well-being of the animals you are charged with protecting.

Specifically, the BLM must account for temperature extremes and the impacts of stampeding young, elderly or injured animals across long distances when planning roundups. The BLM needs to ensure transparency by allowing members of the public to observe agency activities.

Further, we remain concerned that roundups are conducted at great expense to the taxpayer.  As we have pointed out in the past, BLM’s aggressive use of roundups has resulted in unsustainable increases in the number of horses in holding facilities (now at 38,000) and continues to undermine the BLM’s overall budget. Unfortunately, the frequency of roundups has only increased under this administration.

To address these and other flaws, we recommend an independent analysis of the National Wild Horse and Burro program, conducted by the National Academy of Sciences. This analysis will provide a clear determination of the most accurate, science-based methodologies to estimate wild horse and burro populations, provide an assessment of Appropriate Management Levels based on the goal of maintaining sustainable herds and provide an assessment of practical, effective, non-lethal and publicly acceptable management alternatives to current BLM policies.

We strongly urge you to refrain from any further action until a clear plan is in place to sustainably manage and protect our wild herds.  Only then can we move forward with a more informed, open and deliberate process, based on input from all who are concerned with the health, well being, and conservation of this animal which embodies the spirit of our American West.

cc: Mr. Bob Abbey, Director, Bureau of Land Management

Tell your representative and senators to sign on by contacting Laurel Angell in Chairman Rahall’s office (laurel.angell@mail.house.gov), or Marcos Huerta (marcos.huerta@mail.house.gov) with Chairman Grijalva. (Please don’t contact Laurel Angell or Reps. Rahall or Grijalva, have your representative and senators do that.)

The second thing:

Remember the BLM Strategy Plan Document issued earlier this summer? Don’t forget that your comments are due by August 3. Go here to submit comments (then click on Click here to submit comments at the top or go  here:   ePlanning Front Office https://www.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/comments/commentSubmission.do?commentPeriodId=10904

And if that doesn’t work, mail your comments, return receipt requested to:

Wild Horse & Burro Strategy Document

BLM Washington Office

1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665

Washington DC 20240

Your comments must be received by Aug. 3!

Here are some ideas for your comments:

1. Put a moratorium on further roundups until a plan for future management of wild horses and burros is in place.

2. Find an agency other than BLM to manage the wild horses and burros.

3. Amend land use plans and identify herd areas and herd management areas where wild horses and burros can be returned to live free-roaming in bands or families to be managed at the “minimal feasible level“.

4. Designate ranges, reserves or refuges that are managed principally to conserve wild horses and burros and return or move wild horses and burros to these areas as a preferred alternative to sanctuaries, preserves or adoption.  There are also ideas for places somewhere between living in the wild and a Salazar “pasture” or feedlot. Madeleine Pickens’ plan and Soldier Meadows are 2 ideas that should be considered and developed.

5. Amend the WFRHBA and BLM regulations to mandate herds of wild horses and burros remain genetically viable and self-sustaining.

6. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to make sure land use plans provide that wild horses and burros are considered as an integral part of the system of the public lands and have been provided for comparably with other uses of the public lands.

7. Facilitate keeping wild horses and burros on public lands by changing boundaries, adding contiguous lands, using corridors or fencing to facilitate migration, providing forage, developing water resources and preserving predators.

8. Amend the WFRHBA and BLM regulations to require use of the best science available and state of the art technology for census counts and range assessments including AML determinations.

9. Amend WFRHBA to eliminate use of sterilization for wild horses or burros that are not held in private sanctuaries or for adoption.

10. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to require reporting and environmental assessments concerning roundups to include analysis of livestock grazing in herd areas and herd management areas and consider as a serious alternative the reduction of livestock grazing.

11. Increase reporting and public participation and access to information about census counts, range assessments including AML determinations, roundups, holding, injuries, deaths, care and treatment, including designating independent humane observers that would be present for all roundups and during holding and transport.

12. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to specify requirements for humane treatment and care, and specifically ban use of helicopters and other aerial devices for roundups except in the event of an emergency, and the killing of healthy horses, and increase criminal penalties for violations of the WFRHBA.

13. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to repeal the Burns-Reid Amendment that has meant the sale of thousands of wild horses for slaughter and prohibit the transfer of wild horses and burros if there is a risk they will be sent to slaughter.

You may have other ideas such as promoting eco-tourism in wild horse and burros areas and increasing education about these animals. Let BLM know your ideas! If we don’t speak up, there is a danger these animals will be lost forever in the fierce competition for the natural resources of our public lands. As the Equine Welfare Alliance warned, “The clock is ticking against America’s wild horses….A plan that preserves the herds at manageable levels must be developed and implemented before the last of our wild horses and burros are rounded-up and become a closed chapter in our American heritage.”

Okay, there’s a third thing: Call on Pres. Obama to order a moratorium on wild horse roundups. Here’s his number:

202.456.1111

Pass this link onto everyone you know who will help save the wild horses and burros!

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