Source: By Brett French of the Billings Gazette
“Good Info from Dr. Kirkpatrick, Skewed view given by reporter!”
Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick speaking at the 2011 International Equine Conference ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
“The management of wild horse herds and flourishing urban deer populations is so politically charged that science often gets pushed aside, said Jay Kirkpatrick, of the Billings-based Science and Conservation Center.
Kirkpatrick, one of the founders of SCS, spoke to the Conservation Roundtable on Tuesday at the First Interstate Operations Center. His company, a nonprofit, creates a vaccine called PZP that acts as a contraceptive in wild animals.
Burgeoning wild horse populations on Western federal lands — including the Pryor Mountain and McCullough Peaks wild horse ranges — have led to controversial roundups and trapping of the horses to keep herds from growing unchecked…”
HUH?
“What could have been a great educational piece about the work of Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick is immediately hijacked and murdered by Mr. French, again, with his skewed view and opinion of free roaming wild horses and burros.
I would add that the only thing that is “BURGEONING” on our western public lands is private cattle who outnumber the legal horses by hundreds to one.
Federally subsidized welfare ranching is what takes the toll on our public lands, not the eco-friendly wild horses.
How can wild horse herds be BURGEONING while the BLM actively, aggressively and cruelly “zeros-out” (totally removes/destroys) the bulk of the few wild herds that remain.
I am so very tired of the press giving inaccurate numbers and twisting the truth in an effort to cause public confusion over the plight of our wild horses and burros…it is all akin to a conspiracy of epic proportions.
Please click the link below to read Dr. Jay’s comments and to leave YOUR comment for Mr. French.” ~ R.T.
Click (HERE) to read the story in it’s entirety and to comment
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
If they are wanting to give PZP to the wild horses and burros, which they should not do, would that mean that the BLM would leave the remaining wild horses and burros alone…I THINK NOT !!! The BLM need to look at all the cattle that are destroying the lands that rightly belong to the wild horses and burros ! We need to get someone in the BLM that would be there for the wild horses and burros and nothing else… They elect someone in office thinking that the person will help the wild horses and burros when that person has other duties to do first ! The wild horses and burros should be their main concern. Very soon we will have no more wild horses or burros left in the wild. When they are captured, all the males are gelded ( no more foals ), then all the wild horses and burros are put on allotted lands that are not like when they are in the wild ! There are no more foals coming from the mares because there are no more stallions to get them pregnant !!! The wild horses and burros need to be left alone !!!!
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R.T., you wrote: ” . . . it is all akin to a conspiracy of epic proportions.”
Gentle correction, if I may: “It is a conspiracy of epic proportions.”
Nothing “akin” about it. It’s the real deal: C-O-N-S-P-I-R-A-C-Y.
Definition of conspire: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspire
Definition of conspiracy: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspiracy
I ditto Shirley A. Rogers: “The wild horses and burros need to be left alone !!!!”
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Question??? Why PZP Beauty Grace and The Balance , why???? When Cattle run amuck , eating and devastating the Land ????? Again no thought before the act !!!!!!! They are PZP the wrong species !!!!!!!!
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The God’s creation must be protected!
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If there weren’t a conspiracy to zero out the herds, if there were no helicopter and bait-trap round-ups, if there were no short-term or long-term pens, if there were no cattle grazing on public lands, and if mountain lion populations were allowed to be naturally restored (instead of being hunted), then perhaps PZP might be considered the proper course to take.
I say this based on a video of elephants in South Africa I just watched (it mentions US white-tailed deer and wild horse populations) http://beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/Article.aspx?Id=4623&Showid=1
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When a herd is below viability and getting new blood from another herd area is pretty much impossible with BLM in control, PZP can be used to prevent inbreeding which begins after a herd is brought too low in numbers. How long will some of our small herds remain nonviable? Think about PZP as a tool that all private herds of mustangs need as well and is used not only to keep the population down but to avoid inbreeding.
We are trying to gain some input and be heard. It would be grand to solve problems with real science. It just is not being done by anyone much these days (except on private wild horse preserves). At least we see the lack of it and the results are what we now have.
There need be NO MORE Roundups and Removals of wild horses and BURROS from their lands and making them cattle allotments as they UNDER populated now. ‘Overpopulation’ is a myth and BLM can create it just by making more allotments where horses have just been. RT and Terry saw that first hand when cattle were driven onto an HMA during a roundup! Our wild horses need their designated lands, not just a small portion of them. They need more of their own lands to deal with the natural state of droughts and bad years than they are allowed to be on these days. So, roll back the cows, BLM. Give room to those whom the lands were given and stop the encroachment and the illegal removals. Our wild horses can co exist with just about anything and so they have been in the past decades.
New meetings with BLM and the Forest Service are being set up to discuss wild horses and sage grouse in CA. We need to be there and be sure that conservation of sage grouse is not going to point a finger at the wild horses! Remember, there is a project to restore endangered wild life including game birds in England using wild horses to groom the land and bring it back to a natural balance. Yes, wild horses can do this. BLM basically knows it, too. Take the horses off their lands and they will be destroyed by cattle. At least the horses have held their own through out all of this. We just need to save them all… still. We can, too. Believe and never stop!
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Is anyone documenting the destruction from the cattle? Once the horses are removed.its obvious who’s doing the destruction. More so impossible to mistake hoof prints from a horse with a cow. There has to be a way to force the removal of the cattle,some way to get the horses land back?
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Great Question Nancy Thompson !!!!! Been wondering also !!!!! The Land must by now be showing devastation !!!!!!! Cows unlike Horses rip the foliage out by the roots !!!!!!! Does anyone know if this is being monitored??????????????????
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Studies of the condition of the public lands have been commissioned by the BLM…BUT…they instructed (demanded) that damage done by livestock was not to be mentioned…only wild horses and wildlife.
The report was released by PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)…You can see it here (2011)…
http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2011/11/30/-grazing-punted-from-federal-study-of-land-changes-in-west-/
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Steve-
I can verify what you say – BLM Susanville representative got “upset” when politely asked how the livestock usage and the WH&B usage was to be differentiated during HMA study. He responded that ALL usage was to be documented as WH&B – period.
Not kidding ……………. it’s true.
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Thank You Steve !!!!!!!!!
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Steve, & Grandmagregg, This news release is very disturbing but shows the true intent
since 2011.( of course goes way back earlier than 2011, but a true cover up in this article).
It’s 2013 nothing has changed from the BLM, with more removal and destruction of our wild horses.
I just want to know when is the process of justice is going to begin?
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Our advocacy has been looking at other activities for the most part and not seeing the forest for the trees; the land where wild horses and burros live and lived most recently vs the land the cattle have been given on the HMAs. Documentation is always needed on the lands year round. One day we ought to be able to get this done when folks see that our arguments need the data from the lands to support the wild ones legal claims. The more we know the better we can make a stand with them.
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There are so many books on the destruction of public lands by the cattle that I have to say Yes, it is being documented. And some of those doing it have been fighting this overgrazing issue for many decades. The deck has been stacked in the past against the preservation of public lands. Maybe if we are the ones to stay the course for the wild ones we will finally see a difference in the use of allotments in the future.
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This is no doubt a Conspiracy against the Wild Horses…The BLM has been presented with science and facts…..”THEY DON’T CARE”.
Wild Life Ecologist Craig Downer who’s had numerous speeches in front of the BLM with scientific facts of how our Wild Horses fit in to the necessary ecology. It’s not working….The BLM is using
a strategy of lies and deceit to keep things more confused to everyone.
We need justice againt the BLM for their attempt to zero out our Wild Horse Herds.
This is pure corruption and conspiracy that continues, from fracking interest ( Should we say T Boone Pickens could be among them??) and cattlemen who demand more land they are not entitled to.
Our Wild Horses are entitled to the land not cattle………..the CONSPIRACY is very obvious.
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Brett French has a long standing bias against wild horses and I speak from experience trying to explain the wild horse situation in the Pryors to him for over a decade as he is an important press link regarding the Pryor Wild Horse Herd. Unfortunately, it appears that Mr. French has little interest in the facts.
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Thank you Ginger for your support to our Wild Horses….We know so many of you have done
alot for them with science and facts.
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Yes, for the most part media functions as an arm of propaganda or through arrogant ignorance.
I hope all in Texas are being comforted. I think of all, but when I listen to animals in the background of the audio and see them wandering in video.
I care most deeply for the humans, but I hope someone is trying to help the animals.
So much wrong with this probable industrial “accident”.
Let’s send out thoughts and prayers to the community of West, Texas.
I know it’s between Dallas and Waco, but hope all are well….RT and family and friends….prayers for those suffering and those helping all living creatures.
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Speaking of the McCullough Peaks HMA … the trapping/removal/PZP done in January of this year was done after a NEPA (public announcement) and Cattoor was paid $15,750 but does anyone find it interesting that Cattoor was paid $19,595 last September for trapping in the McCullough Peaks BEFORE the NEPA … BEHIND OUR BACKS!
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http://www.usaspending.gov/
Use the advanced search to see where Cattoor was paid in September 2012 and February 2013 for the McCullough trapping. LOTS more interesting information can be seen on this website too.
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Great info as ever, Grandma G!! Thanks much.
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Hi;
It’s true that Cattoor Livestock guys did the bait trapping and removal on the McCullough Peaks in lieu of having Tricia Hatle, the BLM WHB specialist do it. In future I think that Tricia will be doing it, however, and what is hoped is that removals will not take place again in this herd area just east of Cody because of the use of the remotely delivered native one-year vaccine, PZP.
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Oh man I gotta go get pictures up here where I live. There are no wild horses or burros. But the deep cow prints–looks a bit like a sink hole in laces would astound you.
Yes, people allowed up there. It’s open space. But it would make you think about a rancher who has thousands of cattle. This guy moves his stock. Sometimes they are out front closer to the freeway. Others they just move them all over open space so no one area just the most trampled. Seems like this guy is one of the good guys but what do I know?
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While all wild horses are in need of our support, I’ve been very concerned about the wild horses in Sheldon Wildlife Refuge. After what the FWS did to the mares that caused 30 to be found dead a few years ago, they have no one supporting them against the FWS who openly post the most hateful and false information about them on their page. They also show before/after pictures of trampled/habilitated riparian areas they say were caused by wild equines. They will remove all equines by 2017. How can they be stopped?
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What Mr. French wrote is so distorted! He must have gotten drunk on the poison Kool Aide that wild horses enemies including in the BLM deceitfully offer the public and the media…. Way of the tempting lie!!!
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Mr French has an agenda that is probably connected to some sort of compensation.
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Many media reporters do not do the careful research or truth and confirmation by more than one source that were used by ethical, trusted reporters of the past. (An example is the 60 Minutes piece on the NM slaughter facility that told of the poor owner getting the facility ready and the federal people not being responsive to this marvel of a facility. Now they have their attorney threatening advocates.) Some reporters have producers that review suggestions and points given by outside sources wanting their point of view to be reported-whether or not it is verified-whether or not it is thoroughly researched and found to be true. Yet it is difficult to get a short, true, information verified piece to get on a TV show to inform the public what is really happening. (Even the article about MREs for the military personnel containing horse meat was inaccessible by many. I have to wonder why it was inaccessible to the public.)
Wild Earth Guardians has proposed that cattle leases be bought and phased out so that the land has a change to heal and be productive again. I think this idea has merit but the BLM and Department of Interior do not since the wild horses and burros graze but do not pay any leases. They forget about the tourist industry and the many who want to see the wild horses and burros. But I guess that even if the cattle were removed, the BLM would not be interested in tourist since the cattlemen, mineral, forestry, oil pipelines interests, sheep leases and only God knows who else that all have strong lobbyists with lots of money to spread their propaganda.
I want to thank everyone for their comments and for being able to have a civil discussion, no matter the position taken.
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Another reason that the livestock remain on our public lands and the WH&B are captured … “individual grazing permittees, with the aid of lending institutions and the tacit complicity of the BLM, collateralize their federal grazing permits to finance their public lands grazing operations. Both the Forest Service and the BLM sanction the use of publicly owned federal grazing permits and leases as collateral for PRIVATE BANK LOANS.”
Do we hear the general media telling the public about this? Of course not but they should!
Would I be committing fraud if I used my house that I rent as collateral for a private bank loan?
More information:
http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/DocServer/Report_Mortgaging_Our_Natural_Heritage.pdf?docID=962
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We knew they did this and we talked about it a lot. Not everyone understood the meaning of this but we knew. And we should not forget. It would still be a good bill to shoot down as this is not right or legal. Just the way politicians help the ranchers. No matter what.
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Nothing much left to say. Yes it is so frustrating and thank you RT and Ginger and all the great people who don’t give up the battle against stupidity, ignorance, greed, and outright lies. May we all see a brighter day at some point.
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Slip any news agent a few bucks and he’ll spin anyone til they get nausea. As for the cattle, why doesn’t someone asked what my grandfather always asked the BLM and cattle ranchers-his question was never answered, I think it’s high time it was asked again. “If the D@mn horses do so much friggin’ damage to the refuge then why in the H@## would you people want to graze cattle on it? Why put YOUR precious, costly cows on the dust bowl the horse’s have made? And furthermore, why would YOU pay Your precious cow money to lease land that horse’s already destroyed? And beyond that why would you say that after all these years of the horse’s being on the range that you would move your cattle to it to graze the minute you leased it? When it’s all said and done, the horse’s are keeping the land in check, they take just enough, leave most behind, and they don’t stay in one place and stamp anything down. They wander and they take the sweet grass tips that provide the moisture they need to cross lots of land in the hot sun without needing to stop and suck up all the water. The cattle what they don’t eat, they stomp, lay on and damage, they herd and graze close together and they eat until they are full then move on, they have 4 stomachs and needs more nutrients and they don’t leave enough of the blades to allow the tops to have appropriate growth, unlike horses they have to have plenty of water and they don’t move until the grazing is stomped, manured on, pissed on, and layed down so much they can’t eat the rest. Cattle also graze during the height of the sun when grazing damages the grasses and kills them off faster, horses graze early and late during the day they pick. Cattle don’t pick ever, they pull, they have been made into eating machines. Without forced rotation cattle ruin land, and horse’s have always done rotating patterns and that is why the grasses grow more, that is why we as horse owners rotate pastures and paddocks, we follow the patterns of wild horses in order to keep better natural horse management on our own lands. If that has not failed horsemen (ladies) then why have cattle people not learned it. Yet again, I ask, Why do You (cattlemen) want a land that horses have destroyed the grazing on? Why if they have destroyed it do you battle to win it all? And if you get it all then what? Where do you go from there? When your cattle have destroyed all of it? I may be an old man, but I give a good God-Damn and I for certain have a God-given Right to Know!” I took this entirely from a letter my grandfather penned for the Cattlemen’s Association, and the BLM in 1994. I think it’s high time his questions and points ARE presented again! I think we have a God damn right to know too! Gotta love that man! He truly loved horses! He once told me there is NO bad horse, only bad men, and some horses are truly their own, and that does not make them bad it just makes them vulnerable to bad men. I respected him-I think this shows why…. RT can you help me ask for my grandfather’s memory…. they just stuttered when he asked the BLM in 1994, when he wrote them that letter, their faces turned red. I want to ask it again. Why do they want something the horses they say have already destroyed? Side note-a cow weighs 1200-2000 pounds and a horse 800–1100 so lets multiply their weights by a 1000 animals and we have some serious poundage on the cattle side actually punching holes in the ground, especially in the rain. And four stomachs require some water now!
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Cynthia, your grandfather’s words of wisdom should be posted on every billboard, posed in every newspaper’s op-ed section, asked of every TV network reporter and anchor, queried in every blog, and tacked on every truck stop menu and motel door from California to Connecticut, from Montana to Mississippi.
Liars can’t stand logic, can they? Nor can they bear the light of truth.
R.T., there MUST be a way for the Wild Horse Freedom Federation to honor this wonderfully sane man by taking up his persistent granddaughter’s request to present these questions over and over to the BLM and the cattlemen in front of an awakened, outraged public. Present them until the anti-equine “bad men” to whom she refers are forced to retreat from their illegal, illogical policies and practices and ACT FOR THE GOOD OF ALL — FOR ONCE IN THEIR LIVES.
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I agree a wise man even before the lies and maiming !!!!!! A wonderful Man and i agree this letter needs exposure !!!!!!!Cynthia how lucky you were to have this wonderful Grandfather , who loved the mustangs for who and what they are , he realized the importance of saving everyone of them !!!!!!!!
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I agree, BlessUsAll, Cynthia’s granddad sure was on the ball. And that letter SHOULD be shown to all of the current involved parties! Actually a question that I’ve never stopped to ask. Why DO the corporate ranchers want the land the horses have “ruined” – if its ruined – cant be good for cattle, right???
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Great story told…. and comment of a wonderful man like the rest of us Loves our Wild Horses……….
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This is a link to an article on MSN today “Supermarket meat suprises” and some comments are very interesting http://now.msn.com/supermarket-meat-samples-contained-superbugs-found-report
I would think that it is about time for ranchers, USDA, FDA, and slaughter houses to clean up the meat products they have on the market before they want to add another butchered animal to the mix.
“Supermarket meat juicy with super bugs, new report finds.”
Sinister tidings from the supermarket meat isle: more than half the samples of ground turkey, pork chops, chicken and ground beef tested in 2011 contained antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A new report ” Superbugs invade American supermarkets” draws upon government data, which also found 87 percent of the meat tested was contaminated with fecal bacteria. The increase of super bugs like salmonilla, E. coli, campylobacter reflected in the data should be cause for concern, say the Environmental Work Group who issued the report, “it really raises a question about the antibiotics we are using in raising animals for meat.
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Fecal material, did the meat come from you-know-who’s slaughterhouse, cause there was a lotta “fecal” material there!!!!! Sorry, someone had to say it! (all names are withheld to keep frothy mouthed rabid attorney’s from sending “threatening email” with hostile punctuation in it! )
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Oh hey check Capital Press for the most recent, opposite of the truth perspective of the pro-slaughter leader. He’s done a stella performance of a person who doesn’t know a damn thing!
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WHEN YOU WANT TO DEAL WITH OVER-BREEDING ! There is only one place to start and that is with AQHA…………….. They and they alone are responsible for over 1/3 of over-breeding and disposal by SLAUGHTER of perfectly healthy beautiful Horses !!!!!!
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Once again, Arlene speaks the truth to (pretend) power. 🙂
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