Source: Carl Mrozek, filmmaker: “Saving Ass in America”
BLM‘s population numbers are speculative at best, and fictitious at worst
1.Don’t know what the population of horses or burros currently is, in a given HMA
2. Have no data-driven basis for gauging how many horses or burros a particular HMA can support. In practice BLM treats all habitats as being pretty much the same, and as resource poor, by requiring 1000+ acres/ horse or burro. The NAS report also buys into BLM’s myth that wild horse & burro populations are increasing at a fairly constant rate of 15-20%/ year regardless of some radical differences in range quality between one HMA and another….as well as radical differences in the structure, health and genetic viability of one herd vs. the next.
3 .Fail to address the impacts of cattle and sheep upon rangelands, and upon wild horse reproductive success and recruitment rates
What I most appreciate about the NAS report is that they confirm key criticisms made by advocates, and ignored by the BLM, for a very long time including:
1. BLM’s population numbers are speculative at best, and fictitious at worst!
2. Roundups are a counter-productive and inhumane solution to a problem (overpopulation) which may or may not exist in a given locale, at a given time.
3. The frequent and aggressive regime of roundups actually stimulates increased reproduction, migration and over-population, at -least where enough equines survive the roundups or can migrate from adjacent herd areas. This creates a vicious cycle wherein aggressive roundups create a need for more frequent and aggressive roundups.
Glaring omissions in the NAS report include:
1. The question of what constitutes “fair and balanced” apportionment of forage and water between horses and livestock on a given HMA, -which is critical to ascertaining whether the range is being overgrazed, how much, and by what animals. Without exception, livestock are allocated the lion’s share of available forage, typically upwards of 80%,-where data is even available.
2. What to do with the 37-50,000 horses and burros now languishing in long and short term holding. including what proportion should be returned to their rightful range, on what schedule…. etc. Until this ‘overpopulation problem’ is addressed, there will continue to be a wild horse ‘population crisis’ and a costly one at that.
3. How to induce an agency accustomed to being regarded by the world at large as the default authority on public rangeland capacity and on wild horse and burro population levels residing on them, to begin managing both on the basis of actual, current data rather than on data, or fudged numbers, of varying age and veracity and hence with questionable credibility.
Overall, though, the NAS panel indicted a sadly flawed, broken program in desperate need of a total makeover, starting with a basic need for fresh data and a scientific approach vs. the “Trust us because we’re the authorities on public lands and the wild equines that live there” which has prevailed for 40+ years that BLM has been tasked with managing this priceless heritage for all of US.
Watch for CBS Sunday Morning’s “Moment of Nature” -featuring mustangs that Carl shot in the NV PineNuts, this Sunday at the end of the show!
Related Articles
- Livestock numbers a key issue too: Cloud Foundation (horsetalk.co.nz)
- 2 Million Bucks: BLM is Mismanaging Wild Horses and Burros – ‘DOINK’ (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Bureau of Land Management Ignores the Laws of United States AND Nature (ppjg.me)
- Wild Horse and Burro Advocates Say Enough is Enough to the BLM’s Continued Stampede Tactics (rtfitchauthor.com)
- Citizen Report: Wild Horses Notably Absent from California Herd Area After BLM Roundup and Fire (rtfitchauthor.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
So true…I fear the report will be given to the WH&B Advisory Board who will go over the report item by item and offer their opinions i.e. “We can’t do that” or “We know better than that” or “By law we must do this”. They will slough off the report yet offer no new solutions.
Our hope is Sally Jewell who, so far, seems to have a good head on her shoulders. I’m praying she will read the report and see through the ‘spin’ (lies) offered by the BLM and the advisory board and begin a thorough house cleaning of the WH&B program starting with Joan Guilfoyle.
I offer this petition in hopes of 100,000 signatures telling the President to make sure that happens…
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/clean-house-blms-wild-horse-and-burro-program/PhGRNJlM
I need your help…please sign and share this petition. I’m certain there are more than 100,000 of us who abhor the practices of the current regime. If heads are rolling at the IRS for abusing their powers then heads need to roll at the BLM not just for abusing their power but for animal abuse.
As an American I’m ashamed the number of horses who’s quality of life turned into a living hell…and I helped pay for it!
Please help by signing and sharing
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You know that’s exactly what they’ll do. Their interest is in cattle and sheep and they view horses as vermin.
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With a few exceptions, the WHBAB is filled with people insufficiently educated about the subjects they are supposed to advise on. Imangine Jim Stephenson admitting that he just didn’t get why genetic viability was important. Neither did the first humans in North America which is why horses once went extinct on this continent.
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A very good critique. Yes, what about the report’s glaring omission of the impact of BLM grazing rights cattle/sheep on wild horse rangeland? How come they are not addressed in the report? BLM’s use the standard of 1000 acres per horse or burro to justify removing thousands of horses from their native rangelands every year. Guess that means that each cow requires at least 250 acres (horses do require about 4 times as much rangeland as cows). The simple solution of cutting back only 50,000 of the 400,000 plus cows would gain space (1,250,0000 acres) for 12,500 wild horses. The grazing rights program costs the BLM, (yeah costs like in the hole type of spending) 1.5 million dollars a year to operate. Me thinks that the ranchers are getting one hell of a sweet deal, with this federally subsized (welfare) program. Maybe if the BLM would update this program and start charging 2013 rates ($130.50 per month/cow/calf pair or 5 sheep), not rates from 20 yrs ago ($13.50 per month/cow/calf pair or 5 sheep), ranchers would decide this isn’t such a lucrative (freebie) deal (would cut back on # of cows) and the BLM would actually run a self funded program not needing our hard earned federal tax dollars. Egads, but that would be insane, a federal agency program actually supporting itself????!!!!
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The BLM specifically instructed the NAS not to include cattle in their report, because the BLM doesn’t really know how many cattle are actually out on the range, for one thing.
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There is no data on counts because Salazar wanted all horses captured and gone. Remember he considered them as vermin. Salazar didn’t require any records be kept, as was seen with the 1700 mustangs that disappeared aside from the BLM official that signed them off to Davis. The NAS probably scratched their heads more than once trying to figure out what BLM was doing. I just hope that Sally Jewell is as smart as her credentials say she is.
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How do you know that this began with Salazar? President Clinton issued an executive order known as the Federal Government Paperwork Reduction Act. This eliminated the need for the BLM to keep a record of how much $$$$ they had to pay to plaintiff’s in law suits.
It was the Clinton administration that brought in the IUCN and made them immunie from law suits even though they have less scientific expertise that a good junior high school science program that teaches students how to work as scientisits. This group has been involved in trying to reduce the wild horses at Assateague to genetically non-viable numbers twice. Once in 2006 and currently.
It was the Clinton-Gore climate-gate that came up with the idea that our horses are not “native” but invasive species. As a non-native, invasive species they set about reducing their numbers to ridicules numbers in order to protect “native” plants.
Since we know that the horse and burro evolved here in North America for at least 55 million years and that both the burro and the modern horse evolved here during the 16 ice ages and subsequent warming periods during the Pleistocene Epoch. The horse was one of the last species to evolve during this period and differs from previous horse species morphologically because Equus caballus evolved with a bigger brain needed to help him adapt to climate change that occurred more quickly than in the past.
In addition, the species of Equus caballus found itself adjusting to climates that exists throughout the world today. They found themselves in desert like conditions and then glacial cold. Therefore, the horse had to evolve with greater genetic variability that allowed the horse to survive in whatever climate he was to be born into.
It was the Clinton administration that put into US law the prevent, control, eradicate provisions in an international treaty.
Just as their global warming–climate theory—is devoid of any scientific understanding of geology, paleoanthropology, the climate history held in the snow rings in Greenland and Antarctica, or the atmospheric forces of the moon, sun, North Start, reversese in gravitational field or any of the natural functions that have existed through millennia, clearly they were equally ignorant of the evolution of the horse in the North America. The history of the horse’s evolution in America is, in and of itself, a rebuttal of anthropogenic as a sole or even a major factor in climate change.
Unfortunately, there are too many scientists in charge of research, funding, journal editing whose careers were launched by the Clinton administration. They built their internation and national careers expousing this theoretical science—ignoring all evidence though evidence existed—to the contrary. In fact, at the same time the blessed by Al Gore scientists were advancing the horse as non-native theoretically, real scientists looking at evidence such as Forsten were publishing articles based on evidence that were arguing just the opposite.
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It did not begin with Salazar. And many things that were supposed to be developed never were; independent research being the key avoidance. It has been the BLM who has not wanted this responsibility but their reason for taking the mustangs and burros on was to control their lands. But these lands became pawns to the various cattle, mining and other land use corporate presences. The blame is mostly on BLM as it began as soon as they clumsily and inaccurately began to set up the WH&B Program. It was never set up ‘correctly’ or in a way that would have avoided the pitfalls of BLM management. WH&B management was supposed to be taken from independent research as specified in the ’71 Act precisely to avoid what has happened; BLM dominance, mustanging going underground but still profitable, manipulation of the land and animals on it and a nearly total lack of science.
With 4 and some leftover horses at Piceance, Colorado’s HMAs have no more than 1000 wild horses. NM has less than 700 wild horses. Montana has less than 200 wild horses. The states with herds that BLM is trying to whittle down and finally zero out have been chased and removed down to the lowest numbers ever. And by destroying Herd Areas and replacing them with Herd Management Areas, BLM figured out how to squeeze the land right out from under their hooves.
This has all been accompanied over the years by some very creative legislation that has undermined the status of our wild hordes and burros. It gave BLM more impetus to manipulate their lands and numbers. Then the energy crunch came and what better lands to take for the production of New Green (haha) energy but that which had horses and burros on them. We don’t even realize how many horses vanished before the Long Term Holding game began. They say we adopted over 250,000 wild horses. I bet most of them died in slaughter houses.
I appreciate your dedication to facts, history and revealing all those who have callously betrayed the wild ones, Hoof Hugs. After all, has any president come out and said he was proud of them or recommended seeing them over all these years? None, but Richard Nixon who signed the Act and like Barry Goldwater was a man who loved our beautiful American West.
Thanks Carl. Just for understanding the mess we are in.
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I can’t believe I wrote hordes instead of herds!
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In total agreement with you, Steve. Have signed and shared your petition. We must insist that heads roll in the BLM. Some people definitely need to be fired and some even prosecuted for potential criminal behavior, i.e.-where are all of our mustangs that have not been adopted, rescued, died in the holding facilities, or have been humanely euthanized? All of our tax payer dollars lost, thrown-away, wasted, and yes, stolen from us that could have been spent properly preserving and protecting our precious wild horses. It’s time we demand that these necessary changes be made within the BLM and that they start focusing on the well-being of the wild horses and the environment at large. Move off all the “welfare-ranchers” who are the true perpetrators of the over-grazing and environmental damage issues and of whom have been stealing tax payer dollars to benefit their own greed. Americans are sick and tired of the totally disregarding and pompous behavior of these unethical and corrupt individuals and the under-minded tactics they pull. Here it is in a nut-shell. To the people in this country who believe they are above the ethical and moral code and feel they can impose and control the rest of us with their utterly disrespectful and contemptuous behavior, your time is up and your days are numbered. We have had more than enough and now it’s our time, our voice, and our demands that will be heard and honored, period. Respect for our horses and our country. Ban horse slaughter along with all of those who’s mind-set and actions personify the same.
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) publicly published the statement that they are above the law and the 1971 Congressional Wild Horse and Burro protection LAW DOES NOT PERTAIN TO THEM!
BLM stated: “The … [Congressional] Act … is not pertinent to the overall
management of the wild horse and burro populations by the BLM and USFS. In general, it protects the wild horses and burros from such actions by the general populous.” http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/…
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 is an Act of Congress signed into law. Consider the following un-amended language of the 1971 law and what it means: “It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death.” The law states the intent of Congress and the will of the American people that our wild horses be managed on the range in a humane and minimally intrusive manner that preserves their wild and free-roaming behavior.
The BLM and USFS policies are plans and decisions and statements that have been made by these agencies – nothing more. Any policy or regulation or decision established must be within the outline of the umbrella of the law it is required to follow. A policy is nothing more than a plan and is illegal if it does not follow the law of the United States. Let me explain this point with a simple analogy:
If the owner of a company wrote in the company policy that it was not required of the employees to wear seatbelts while driving on state roads but the state had a mandatory seatbelt requirement then the “no seatbelt” POLICY would not come under the umbrella of the law and thus the policy would become null and void with the law taking absolute precedence. Any policy written by the BLM or USFS that contradicts and does not come under the umbrella of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 is automatically and completely null and void with the Congressional law always taking precedence over the policy.
The BLM agency and the corrupt employees who have facilitated these illegal activities have jumped the boundaries of the law and must be made to pay the consequences. This land and these wild animals do not belong to the government – it all belongs to you and me.
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Grandma Gregg,
Maybe we can piggy-back off one another’s comments. In this case, the BLM is telling the truth.
When President Clinton signed the 1992 UN Convention for Biological Diversity, he enabled all government agencies to adopt the laws of the treaty as if the treaty were U. S. law. He signed the treaty in June 1993. He sent the treaty to the Senate in November. The Senate was nearing the decision to take a vote on this treaty when the American Sheep institute lobbies at the last minute against the treaty. The Senate Speaker decided not to vote on this treaty, so this treaty was never vote; hence, never ratified. However, because it was not voted on, the CBD could still be ratified.
Historic reports state that Vice-President Gore was furious when the Senate failed to ratify the CBD, and he decided that he would not let the failure of the Senate to ratify the treaty to prevent it from being implemented.
On February 3, 1999 President Clinton created the Alien Species Act through E. O. 13112. However, he also created the National Invasive Species Council. This was a cabinet level council. They had 18 months to develop a plan. They also had a 30 member citizen advisory board. I have never seen a pro-wild horse group member represented on any of these environment policy advisory councils. These citizen advisory boards repeatedly use members of Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, the Audobon Society, the Wildlife Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Defencers of Wildlife, corporate representatives like Monsanto.
The IUCN and The Nature Conservancy were the driving forces behind the creation of the 1992 Framework for the Convention of Biological Diversity. The actors against horses were members of the U. S. scientific community, and our wild horses were definitely targeted for elimination in this convention. However, elimination of a popular animal valued by a culture and protected by Congress has proven to be a difficult task. However, it appears that the BLM now believes that the Alien Species Act supersedes the law passed by Congress.
However, if horse herds are managed at or below genetically viable levels after 2 to 3 generations they will genetically collapse if no new herd members are introduced.
So the attempts to reduce horses to non-viable numbers in the West has failed in areas where horses have been able to find other herds or perhaps some ranches have turned horses loose that found a herd.
Horses are hardwired for survival. This is why under normal conditions they will not interbreed. This is why the herds are structured with one male and several females in order to produce enough offspring for the herd to survive. It would be interesting to find out if older mares and younger mares reproduce earlier and later when their herds are held at non-viable numbers.
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Time for an Emergency Injunction to alleviate suffering of coralled Wild Horses. Expand the corrals with a legitimate space allotted per horse , as prerscribed by animal welfare veterinarians Remove as many as possible, as quickly as possible to large landowners like Perkins and return as many as possible to open range. This, before they are forced to endure burning NV sun in over-crowded pens. End the cruelty now.
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https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbWVyaWNhbmhlcmRzNHxneDo1MDE2N2Q4ZWViZDFiZjUz
C.R. MacDonald
America’s Mustangs & Burros: What’s Left, The High Cost of Miscalculating and Will They Survive? Summary Report: Method Overview & Alternative Populations, Revised 2009
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http://ppjg.me/2013/06/08/is-it-safe-to-use-pesticides-on-an-indigenous-species/#more-23700
Is it safe to use pesticides on an indigenous species?
Protect Mustangs.org
No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control
“With the gluttony of roundups and removals, wild horses reproduce at a higher rate to prevent extinction,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We need more studies to establish what the normal reproduction rate is and discover truths about alleged overpopulation on the more than 30 million acres of public wildlands designated for their use. Today there is no scientific proof of overpopulation to merit fertility control.”
Recently fertility control, in the form of immunocontraceptives for wild horses, was erroneously passed by the EPA as “restricted use pesticides”. The EPA inaccurately named indigenous wild horses “pests” in order to pass the drug. Pesticides (PZP, GonaCon®, etc.) should never be used on native species such as E. caballus.
“PZP and other fertility control should not be used on non-viable herds either,” states Debbie Coffey, director of wild horse affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation. “Most of the remaining herds of wild horses are non-viable. The NAS and any advocacy groups that are pushing PZP and other fertility control have not carefully studied all of the caveats in Dr. Gus Cothran’s genetic analysis reports along with the remaining population of each herd of wild horses.”
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There needs to movement at either the federal or state level to protect our horses and burros as native species. These removals began when some scientists decided that they could get rid of America’s wild horses and burros by labeling them (without any evidence) a non-native, invasive species. These scientists were advanced and promoted through the Clinton administration and still stand in the way of the scientific facts being properly published in the scientific literature.
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After all these years of rounding up & rounding up – these numnuts at BLM still have no clue that what they are doing is CREATING the problem of “too many horses”. True bureaucratic thinking(?)
but just keep doing it because they have always done it. Makes sense, huh? And apparently, if anyone at the BLM questions it, they are either fired or retired. Bureaucratic AND corporate thinking.
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They know, Maggie. In the 70s it was discovered in research on coyotes that when pressured they reproduce more. When predator control goes after only the problem animals the population will settle and no longer rise in the attempt to stop themselves from annihilation. Since then it has been found this happens to many types of species, not just predators. It is a natural response. I think BLM has played god with science without respecting the animals or the science.
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There would be even more disparity in the population count now…this was back in 2008. Five years of roundups, removals and “cleansing” have taken a heavy toll on America’s FEDERALLY PROTECTED Wild Horses and Burros.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2008
In Essence
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
The Needles Field Office zeroed out the genetically distinct Clark Mountain burros by claiming, “Removal of a small population of burros from a small herd management area would not significantly affect the larger landscape of the American West or the maintenance and management of populations of wild horses and burros symbolic of the historic American West.”
To see if this was true, a report titled “Wild Burros of the American West: A Critical Analysis of the National Status of Wild Burros on Public Lands” (2006) was compiled based on BLMs own statistics of their management of herds and habitat over the last thirty-seven years; BLMs conclusion was not found to be supported in the slightest.
With an independent review that used BLMs own statistics, which revealed the remaining free-roaming wild horse and burro populations is most likely 16-20k less than BLM is reporting to the public, dominate animal activists groups pushing castration and fertility control drugs as the only “solution” versus researching into what is really going on and initiating legal battles about it (they contend it’s too costly to fight the government anymore and obviously, there’s no money in preserving them in their free-roaming state unless they are subjected to a lifetime of fertility control shots), government officials and special interests continually scheming on how to further reduce populations and habitat and BLMs own straightforward population targets of wild burros now under 3,000, there are few avenues left for communities and a bereft public as both their value as a wildlife species or their historic and cultural significance have been stonewalled, misrepresented and ignored while our herds continue to be “officially” cleansed from the American scene.
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The WH&B Advisory Board is just that. Sally Jewell announced that she would wait for the report to direct policy, so let’s hope she follows through with that. Washington is now making all final determinations on roundups for the remainder FY 2013, not local BLM’s. So much of the control is out of their hands right now, and a new schedule is being created for the remainder of the year. Since there is only room for 1000 horses in holding now, there will be fewer roundups and fewer horses removed. Hopefully the NAS report will have a positive impact in FY 2014.
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Good assessment of the report.
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The NAS in 1982 stated that real increase in herd reproduction averages about 9% to 10%. A paper written by Robert Bauer that has been available through the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign has the paper on its web site. This is a study of a variety of herds in different locations and discusses variables that affect each herd.
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We need to write and call the House Appropriations Committee and our Congressional representations. The House controls the purse strings. The House Judiciary committee may need to look into whether or not the four federal land management agencies have ignored the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act and are following the Alien Species Act instead.
The tricky thing about this is that the horse does not appear on the National Invasive Species List of the United States. The domestic cat (another enemy of birds) does. The horse does appear on an agency listing. In addition, the fact that the EPA labeled PZP and Gonacon as Pesticides is pretty telling. This was not just a poor choice of words on their part.
Invasive, non-native, exotic, feral, non-indigenous, pest, alien are all part of the language.
Most people would look at the Alien Species Act would assume that this Act was designed to rid the country of Kudzu or zebra mussels. It would never occur to most of us that this act was designed to rid the nation of our beloved wild horses and burros.
This insidious back door policy was ushered into law without a single word of debate on either the House or Senate floor. In fact, I would venture to say that most lawmakers believe that the 1971 Act is still being followed. The truth is in the numbers.
One caveat–the Shackleford North Carolina Wild Horses have been managed at 120 to 130 since 1998, but they are managed by scientists following scientific protocol for PZP. Half the mares are untreated with PZP, so there is a control group to study the long term effects. Princeton University is still involved in long term studies with Duke University. In addition, NC State University, East Carolina University, and other academic research institutions are studying these herds.
Also, Dr. Kirkpatrick uses native PZP whereas other produces use non-native PZP. I do not know how the difference in the source would affect the outcome for horses, but there may be some factors since PZP works by triggering an immunological response.
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Thanks Elaine, you do have pertinent information and history. What is needed now is to do everything right. From a census with additional data collection to behavioral studies. Only from all of these can we have management based on Science. I feel only a little vindicated because this is my hue and cry “independent studies”. But do people realize we will have to set them up and pay for them? The biggest challenge has seemed to be to stop BLM removals and hoarding and slaughter sales. I think the biggest challenge will be to save their land and put the captives back and do real studies to straighten out the mess BLM has made.
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Here is a statement from a MAN OF SCIENCE. HIs comment was posted in an article in HORSEBACK after the Cibola-Trigo Wild Burro/ BLM Wild Burro roundup last year:
http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com/
REPRODUCTION, MORTALITY, AND OVERPOPULATION IN WILD EQUIDS by
ROBERT C. BAUER, B.S. in Biology
Comment
Robert C. Bauer on June 14, 2012 at 10:50 am
It is clear from the unwarranted brutality exhibited by the security issued by the Bureau of Land Management at this roundup, that the BLM are fearful and desperately seeking to conceal its activities. This tells me that it knows the illegalities it is carrying out by continuing these roundups, illegalities which come in many forms. In truth, there is no overpopulation of wild horses and burros out on the range lands. Indeed, the numbers are dangerously low to the point that if the roundups continue at the rate that they are, there won’t be any left in the next couple of years. Overpopulation is an illusion that the BLM continually seeks to perpetuate in the eyes of the public and congress in order to justify an unneeded wild horse and burro program, and therefore continued roundups. This illusion is carried out in a variety of ways and the numbers of wild horses and burros that the BLM assures the public are out there, exist only on paper and not in reality. The BLM consistently ignore mortality rates which according to a National Academy of Sciences study can be anywhere between 14% to 50% just in the first year of a wild horses life and between 5% to 25% for those wild horses older than this. It also ignores sex ratios which are roughly 50/50 out on the range, meaning only 50% ,give or take, are females and are able to put a foal on the ground. The illusion continues by ignoring the aggressive use of PZP, meaning those mares that are issued this contraceptive, for the next two years, are unable to produce a foal, a foal that may be male or female, and if female, as a general rule, won’t be able to reproduce for a couple of years. Many other variables are conveniently hidden, whereby, when looking at the population increases of wild horses, increases that the BLM are adamant about, reproductive rates would have to be enormous,far beyond what is conceivably possible, in many cases, over 100%, if all of the above variables were factored in. This illusion of overpopulation, the BLM are aware of, and is something that is becoming more and more apparent to the public. Yet it is not just the concept of overpopulation that the public is aware of, but also the methods by which the BLM are perpetuating this lie. It is by virtue of this, and the BLM’s escalated fear and desperation of being exposed, that such brutality has erupted. Speaking as one who has witnessed first hand, many times, conditions and numbers of wild horses and burros out on the range lands, and has tested the alleged numbers of wild horses that the BLM claim are out there, it is clear that there is no need for a wild horse and burro program and there is no overpopulation. Contrary to these claims there is very much an underpopulation of wild horses, close to point of a complete elimination of these creatures. It can also be adamantly stated that virtually every horse and burro in the holding facilities, now above 50,000 could easily be released back into their legally designated areas, and it would have no negative impact on the land, not to mention, saving the taxpayer millions of dollars every year. In truth, releasing these wild ones back into the original areas from which they were taken, and halting once and for all the roundups, would help bring balance back to the range lands of the west. The wild horses and burros are just this, wild, and in the wild is where they belong, to exist in accordance to nature’s mechanisms, and not according to mankind’s egotistical attempts in seeking to maintain a ” thriving natural ecological balance”. Only as we leave them alone in the wild, according to nature’s mechanisms, will they live on as the beautiful yet vital component of ecological balance that is so desperately needed.
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http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/controlling-wild-horse-populations/, programto air Monday, they are asking for comments from the public, please take the time to leave some..horseeaters are only input so far..I know we are busy getting our comments done for the adobe horses today, but we must stop this onslaught, only BLM and Fitzpatrick are speaking on this program..what an insult
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As to the number of horses that are in holding, the GAO-11-228 stated that ” as of October 2010, that it is managing about 38,400 free-roaming wild
horses and burros on these lands, and it also is holding about 37,000 additional horses and
burros removed from these lands in short- and long-term holding facilities.” So WHERE ARE THE HORSES? They did NOT adopt out 40,000 horses between 2010 and now. As a matter of fact, they don’t have a clue what happens to the horses when they leave the facilities …they just have their friends who come by and pick up the horses by the truck load and leave out the back door to Mexico or Canada. As I write this, I know that Canada is pushing to put in the pipeline from Canada to Texas; and no, the natives will NOT get to have one drop of the oil they plan to take from Texas…but the horses must be in the way of these pipelines? I am not going to say this is the only problem, because it is not. The horses, whether or not they are telling us where they are and how many they are, still have to have a place to go. Unless someone is willing and able to make a plan, a real business plan, and to present it to a senator as to the possibility of returning these wild horses intact with their sexual organs, this is a no go and these horses will mainly suffer in feed lots for a long, long time. Break it down to the last penny; leave no stone unturned; and also help me find places that are able and willing to adopt some of the horses that BLM has up for adoption before they go to auction and then slaughter. These horses at slaughter facilities don’t have time to waste, they have right now…this moment…and now, they are slaughtered.
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