By Cy Ryan of the Las Vegas Sun
“…building eco-sanctuaries that enable the public to view and photograph wild horses and burros may provide a much-needed boost to the Nevada economy.”
A state senator from Las Vegas believes the wild horses and burros roaming the range in Nevada “are living symbols of freedom and our American Western heritage.”
Democrat Sen. Mark Manendo says limiting their number “may jeopardize their genetic diversity, health and long-term survival in the state of Nevada.”
Manendo says setting up sanctuaries would draw visitors for an up-close look at the free-roaming mustangs.
His joint resolution, made public Thursday, is ready for introduction on the first day of the 2013 Legislature starting Feb. 4.
The resolution was prompted by the controversy surrounding the roundup of wild horses by the Bureau of Land Management and the fear that 41 horses up for auction might end up in slaughter plants.
Manendo said he had asked for the resolution to be drafted earlier but the final version was not ready until this week.
There were 41 “feral” or “estray” horses that were captured on mostly private lands by the Department of Agriculture.
And there have been complaints by wild horse advocates that the BLM mistreats the mustangs taken into custody on public lands and shipped out of state.
Manendo’s resolution says “building eco-sanctuaries that enable the public to view and photograph wild horses and burros may provide a much-needed boost to the Nevada economy.”
Senate Joint Resolution 1, if passed by both houses of the Legislature, would not have the effect of a law but merely encourages advocates, the state and federal agencies to work together to preserve the horses.
The auction Wednesday raised about $10,000, said state Agriculture Director Jim Barbee. The money goes into an estray horse fund.
He said it cost the agency $4,000 to $5,000 to feed the horses after their capture in the Reno-Carson City area. And it will be able to recoup those costs. The horses were purchased by advocates or affiliated groups who now must find homes for them.
In 2011, more than 50 highway accidents were caused by the horses that wandered onto roads; Barbee said no one was killed but there were some close calls.
Most of the horses died or had to be “put down” because of their injuries, he said.
Barbee said the agency at one point sold the horses for $90 to the advocacy group Let ‘Em Run Foundation, but that policy was suspended when it was discovered the animals were being put back on the same land to graze.
He noted a criminal complaint was filed in Virginia City last October against the foundation, Shirley Allen and Willis Lamm charging they abandoned eight horses, allowed them to roam without proper brands and denied them food and water.
The group said they are innocent of the misdemeanor charges. Storey County District Attorney Bill Maddox said no trial date has been set for Justice Court.
Barbee said the BLM declared there were no wild horse herds in this area, which left it up to the state to handle the matter.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I’m glad to see Sen.Mark Manendo trying to do something to help the wild horses and burros. There will come a time when a lot of wild horses and burros will need places of sanctuary. There just are too many people trying to get rid of them for their own greedy interests. If states like Nevada can show some leadership in this area, it would be great.
I can understand that they do not want horses on the roads, being killed and killing people in cars. There is nothing worse than a horse or deer being hit by a car, for the animal and for the people in the car.
There has to be a way to protect the horses, burros and the people who continue to move into areas that were once wild and uninhabited.
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“Reserve Design combines ecological, social, and political considerations in order to achieve desired results. Basically, wild horse/burro Reserve Design involves the setting aside of areas of wild-equid-containing, year-round habitat where human intervention is buffered against and strictly controlled, and where natural processes are allowed to reestablish natural checks and balances. In this way, a significant degree of internal harmony is achieved for all diverse yet interrelated species living in the area’s ecosystem.” For more information on how to support this proposal through a tax-deductible contribution, and the level of support required, please contact Craig Downer. ccdowner@aol.com.
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT PROJECT TO SUPPORT AND MAY TRULY BE THE ONLY HOPE FOR OUR WILD HORSES AND BURROS!!
Craig’s book The Wild Horse Conspiracy may be ordered in hard copy at http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Horse-Conspiracy-Craig-Downer/dp/1461068983 or as an eBook in color or b & w at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009XJ64P4. ** Chapter IV explains how Reserve Design can work to produce naturally self-stabilizing, long-term viable, and ecologically well-adapted populations of wild horses and burros.”
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Yes, Science and independent study as Craig Downer is wanting to do with his proposal for Reserve Design are a bridge from the chaos we have now to a future of preservation with out strife and constant depredation of the wild ones by the BLM.
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Sure beats sending them to slaughter!!!
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Are we forgetting about the wild horses federally protected HMAs? Why compromise or capitulate?
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Holding lands that wild horses and a few burros still occupy is very important. Stopping all removals is a priority if you can then step in with studies to hold the remaining animals in place. There has to be a continual path to follow from the present to the data and the creation of new management criteria based on new independent studies in the field. I say do the planning and organize and put it together.
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The HMAs are suppposed to be the wild horses’ sanctuaries, and they don’t cost tax payer money, and tourists have free access to public lands NOW.
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I agree with Debbie……the HMA’s are supposed to be sanctuaries now and tourists have free access now. Was it mentioned anywhere about whether the senator’s eco-sanctuaries (always get nervous when I hear the term eco-sanctuaries, to me it means places of EXTINCTION) would have reproducing or would they be non-reproducing?
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I agree with Debbie and Barbara that the federal wild horse management areas should be the sanctuaries for the wild, free roaming horses and burros as intended by PL 92-195, USC 16 1331-1340. However, if the Senator is simply working on the langugae of his bill and what he is actually proposing is more of a method to put tours to viewing ranges that separate the wild horses from the people while still allowing observating and photography, that could be done and would help tourism in Nevada as it has in the herds on the barrier islands in the East. However, the horses must be allowed to live as wild, free roaming horses (unfenced)—although there may be some areas around very busy highways that may be necessary.
Just curious. How do the number of wild horse created vehicle accidents compare with deer, cattle, or other animal caused vehicle accidents in Nevada?
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I don’t think anyone wants to see corporate money making eco-sanctuaries (Zoos). We should make it clear to Sen. Manendo that his sanctuaries should be REPRODUCING or we will fight him. And they should be NO CHARGE for visitors, as there is no charge now to view & photograph the wild horses. You can send him your comments, as I did, at: Mark.Manendo@sen.state.nv.us
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Yes, I agree. The HMAs are supposed to be for the wild horses. These HMAs are supposed to be sanctuaries for the thriving existence of our wild horses and burros for now and the future as so many people fought for and won in 1971 with the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act becoming law! Wild horses and burros are a priority over privately owned cattle, sheep and recreational use according to the 1971 Act. HMAs are being mismanaged by BLM for the benefit of cattle ad sheep ranchers who have let it be known time and time again that they want the horses and burros permanently off the grazing lands that they lease for their cattle and sheep! Lets be careful not to support an idea that allows more horses being taken from the HMA that they are originally found in, and then castrated, branded, and separated from their herd members and families all for the sake of sanctuary?! All the actions the 1971 Act forbids.
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………..bravo wildhorse advocates, and bravo Sen. Mark Manendo. It looks like we are finally gaining in power of the people, and we have now an active political representative in our midsts in Sen. Manendo. I hope to live long enough to see the development of wildhorse sanctuaries all over Nevada, and the western states, and anyother places like the coastal islands on the east coast where there are bands of wildhorses, and anyother places in the world. Thank you Great Spirit for guiding us, and delivering our wildhorses, burros, and bison to freedom and safety. Adios……….
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Hold your horses……is this senator talking about actual preserves or is he talking about the dreaded word eco-sanctuaries (Zoos, EXTINCTION ZOOS to be precise)? There’s a big difference. As someone stated previously, the HMA’s are already supposed to be refuges for the wild horses and they don’t charge taxpayers to go visit. Please, let’s find out more about this before we start kissing the senator.
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It appears Nevada wants to make some money on these “Living symbols of freedom” of our American heritage ! Lets work to leave the wild horses and not forget the wild burros(if there is any left) on the protected land by are supposed to be protected on and no managed to extinction on! The cattle and sheep that the ranchers lease the HMA land for are required to be “managed” under the 1971 Act and if these cattle and sheep negatively impact the federally protected Wild horses and burros then, as the Act says, they are legally required to be removed or the horses and burros benefit. Not the other way around as the HMAs are being managed presently!
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Here’s the problem with the Senator’s idea in the story: it’s always about “eco-sanctuaries” with people like him who either understand and are in on the racket of having private business interests take over OUR tax-paying public’s Open Range and we’ll have to continue to pay subsidies to support and pay for them to run their PRIVATE businesses with NO RETURN and we’ll have to PAY to go on OUR public land or maybe we’ll be cited and/or arrested for trespassing on OUR public land, OR, this Senator, just like a lot of other naive, uninformed taxpayers/people, really believe the rhetoric of needing to “protect” the wild horses and burros from starvation (hmm, those wild horses this morning, and also all the other bands of horses I’m seeing during this VERY COLD winter we’re having so far look GOOD, and certainly are not starving or even what I call “winter lean”), dying of thirst (and the only time that seems to happen is when they are fenced-out of the water sources by the private business interest factions), protect the public from the wild horses eating their flowers on their UNFENCED private property instead of fencing the horses out as what is the law in Open Range states like where I live in Northern Nevada, etc…..
Hmm, the tax paying public can see the wild horses for FREE now out on their rightful range (and I just had a band of horses outside at 5 AM this morning passing through and nibbling on dropped hay on the parameter of my property), but instead, these user-losers and people who are like “spoiled rich kids with their dirty little fingers in the cookie jar” want them all eradicated so we can PAY to see them in “eco-sanctuaries” and they can entirely take over OUR state and federal PUBLIC land for their own polluting and destructive uses.
These are the greedy folk who have more money than God, so they hire accountants, tax attornies, lobbyists, etc, to find loopholes and spew mis-information and outright lies, and ALSO force the middle and lower middle class hard working taxpaying public to pay subsidies that number in the multi-billions of dollars annually with NO RETURN to us, not even enjoying seeing wild horses and burros in THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT instead of a fenced off “eco-sanctuary”….let’s just speak plainly here everyone and call them what they are…..ZOO’S!……..we can all see domestic horses in our own backyards, so what the hell do we need with “wild horses and burros” in zoo’s where they will NOT behave anything like what they do in the wild? Horses in the “eco-sanctuaries” (what a joke) will end up behaving just like the bears at Yellowstone Park who are tame from so much human interaction. I have at least 20 formerly wild horses that we have adopted, and also Mustangs we rescued from kill sales, adoptions gone bad, and other places who are tame, and many are well trained too (please visit The Starlight Sanctuary on Facebook to see the Mustangs we rescued from the feedlot in Fallon, Nevada who were going to go to slaughter…….and we see many more Mustangs that need rescuing, however, our rescues do not generate the “crisis donations” that the wild horses going through the Fallon kill sales generates….make no mistake though; Titled Mustangs go through the TWO WEEKLY kill sales in Fallon all the time and they do go to slaughter if we don’t have the funds to rescue them!)).
What we NEED is to primarily manage them on the state and federal public land and tell the private business interest factions to “play nice in the sandbox” otherwise THEY will be kicked off the land (maybe they can pay for their own sanctuaries….oh yeah, I forgot, they expect we taxpayers to pay for everything, but in this case, I’d gladly pay to put their butts in an “eco-santuary” zoo!) because of the damage, pollution, and their greed in them wanting everyone and everything off of it except them and we’d still have to pay, and pay, and pay some more for them to run their businesses……guess what everyone? I’d rather see wild horses and burros on the land then cattle, mining operations, oil well, houses, industrial parks, etc…..what does everyone else think? I’ll be happy to work with like-minded taxpaying citizens in enlisting the majority of people in the general public who truly are NOT AWARE of the real racket that is being run right under their noses, using their tax payer dollars to do it, and that the end goal is, and always has been, the eradication of ALL the wild horses off of state and federal PUBLC land….its not too late to STOP the factions march forward on eradication, but we all need to UNIFY, and this includes anyone who likes to recreate on public land and/or wants to keep OUR public land unfenced and accessible…….I can be reached at thestarlightsanctuary@gmail.com with any ideas…….
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Thanks for the info. Makes you wanna say hmmmmmmm.
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Laura your comments are well taken and I totally agree. The problem that now exists is that there have been years that the rest of the country had no idea about what was going on. The greedy ones to me have been allowed to trample the Western ranges with their livestock at the expense of the American tax payer. Welfare ranchers and others trying to sell off our natural resources is just shameful. I would love to visit Las Vegas and see these living lengends. How wonderful it must be to look out and be able to see Wild Horses and Burros. It is sad to say but the only way we will be able to save them is through legislation. It is clear that the politics out there has put them in harms way. If I lived out there, I would go visit the Senator and find out where he is going with this. He at least is trying which is more than some others have been doing. God bless all of you out there who continue to go to these auctions trying to save them. I would say run some ads in news medias all over the country with your plea to save them. I have owned horses for many years and watched what has happened. However most Americans didn’t have a clue until some of the national news channels ran stories. We need a new humane person to head the Dept. of the Interior. We must all push to try and make that happen. RT has been a God send to the horses because thousands of people are now on this blog. We all must continue to be the “Warriors” and make people aware in our own parts of the country and keep the heat on our Legislators. The inhumane treatment of the Wild Horses and Burros is being noticed by many. I would say the BLM is being watched now. Perhaps those in political positions will see that Americans no longer are willing to see the Wild Horse and Burro herds fade into extinction.
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I don’t know the state senator’s motives, so I can’t comment on his proposal. But I tend to agree with the skeptics here. Laura’s comments make sense to me, and make me suspicious. It’s odd that no one recognizes the senator as someone who has worked with wild horse advocates.
I’m sure others of you noticed the speciesist comment by Barbee, which the Las Vegas Sun journalist didn’t correct: “In 2011, more than 50 highway accidents were caused by the horses that wandered onto roads; Barbee said no one was killed but there were some close calls. Most of the horses died or had to be ‘put down’ because of their injuries, he said.”
So it’s only “some one” when a human does. But if a horse dies, that’s different; “no one” dies. Except, of course, the horse, who doesn’t really matter. What a world.
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There needs to be an intelligent, knowledgeable and caring approach to restoring the historic wild horse herd of the Virginia and Flowery Range in the Comstock area. The legal BLM HA’s must be revived and a cooperative agreement under Section 6 set up. Fences and overpasses must be build where necessary. Reserve Design principles including involving the people who live or visit here must be implemented. As a professional wildlife ecologist I am working on this. So much of this is described, both the Reserve Design, and the Storey County wild horse situation, in my book The Wild Horse Conspiracy.
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We strongly agree on science being the basis to make management decisions. Thank you Craig, for your input all these years. It is time people begin to understand how this crisis can be turned into a successful preservation of our wild ones. It is gratifying to see more people embrace science and understand its importance in striving for and maintaining any kind of future wild horse program.
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