Source: George Knapp as published on Las Vegas City Lights
The BLM’s virtually unstoppable plan to round up the few wild horses that remain in Southern Nevada comes less than two weeks after the wild horse program was described as abysmal failure in a study conducted for the National Academy of Sciences.
Maybe you are one of those hard-bark, Western cowpoke types who doesn’t exactly get misty-eyed by the vision of a herd of wild mustangs majestically galloping across the sage-dotted open ranges of Nevada. You think of the mustangs as pests or varmints, an invasive species that needs to be eliminated from public lands so there will be more than enough water and forage for the rightful end-users of the public range — cows.
You remember as a kid when you read all those history books about the vast herds of wild cows that roamed North America in prehistoric times? No? Well, maybe you learned from Western movies about how cows are native to these parts, you know, and about how saber-toothed cows terrorized early settlers and thus had to be domesticated. Clearly, in the eyes of some, millions of cows on the public ranges are not a problem and are not an invasive species, but a few thousand wild horses — which are native to this continent — are destructive, invasive pests that need to go.
No matter what your point of view might be, you have a chance this week to let the government know what you think about its wild horse program. Public meetings are being held to gauge public opinion about horse roundups that almost certainly are planned for a few places in the nearby Spring Mountains, including the idyllic mountain community of Cold Creek, home to a small, beloved herd of mustangs.
Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Just because these are public meetings at which the public will be asked for its opinion, you should not assume you will be allowed to actually say anything to the government PR folks who run the get-togethers. They have no intention of standing there and allowing the public to tee off. Typically, the feds and their PR handlers will not allow anyone to stand up and speak. Rather, members of the public are allowed to submit written comments that are carefully and meticulously gathered up, and then — presumably — are promptly shredded for use in recycled toilet paper. They surely play zero role in government decision-making.
Even if you somehow pull off a miracle and manage to tell the BLM that you hate the idea of yet another horse roundup, as hundreds of Nevadans have done over the past several years, it will make not one bit of difference. The decision on when and where and how many horses to capture has already been made, and no amount of opposition to the roundups will matter one tiny bit to BLM or the Forest Service. Their disdain for the public, and especially for wild horse advocates, is palpable.
The other day at a BLM corral near Reno, three BLM wranglers put on a little show of defiance and contempt when they tried to capture a single painted mustang from one of the holding pens. Instead of saddling up their horses to enter the pens where the skittish, recently captured mustangs were baking in the hot sun, these three burly yokels crammed themselves into the front seat of a flatbed truck and then tore into the corral like they were imitating Bo Duke trying to get away from Boss Hogg. Video recorded by a horse advocate shows the rootin’-tootin’ cowpokes repeatedly fishtailing their truck and spinning around to take another run at the paint, while scattering every other horse in the pen. They even made a point of coming over to the women with the camera to taunt her, knowing that the video would make not a whit of difference to their bosses, even if it went viral.
The BLM’s virtually unstoppable plan to round up the few wild horses that remain in Southern Nevada comes less than two weeks after the wild horse program was described as abysmal failure in a study conducted for the National Academy of Sciences. The blistering report ripped the BLM a new one, and, in particular, declared the continued program of roundups and long-term storage as counterproductive — for the horses, the range and especially the taxpayers. One likely effect of the constant roundups is that the horses go into survival mode, meaning, they reproduce far in excess of what they might naturally do.
So how did BLM react to such a thorough and embarrassing rebuke of its ongoing policies? A spokesman thanked the NAS for its report, saying the bureau “welcomed it.” (Translation: Go fuck yourself.) And, said an official, the BLM will take the recommendations under advisement. (Translation: You can stick this report far up your scientific ass.) One needs look no further than the plans being evaluated at this week’s meetings — plans that call for more roundups of more horses — to understand what the BLM thinks of the NAS scientists and the taxpayers.
BLM will never stop the roundups on its own. Never. The only time it has been thwarted is when citizens have gone to federal court to fight it, and those victories are few and far between. Despite overwhelming public support for the mustang herds, the horses have fared no better in Congress in recent years. Horse advocates don’t quite match the political muscle of the cattle industry. Now, more than ever, money talks…(CONTINUED)
Please, click (HERE) to read the story in it’s entirety AND to Comment at CL
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
BRAVO, Mr Knapp!
People should still show up at those “public” hearings and behave just like the outraged citizens of Texas recently did at the Austin statehouse!
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George Knapp, You tell it like its is , Bravo To You Mr Knapp, if all journalists would write as you do , Maybe their would be justice for Our Magnificent Living Legends The Great American wild Mustangs !!!! What the HECK is wrong with these people, i believe they think they are Indestructible , and they may just be right !!!! Unless we can find a way to stop them the Mustangs are doomed………………………………..I cannot speak for everyone but KI have HAD with this Agency !!!!! They cannot be allowed to do this to OUR AMERICAN WILD MUSTANGS, ,we GOTTA do What we GOTTA do and that is SAVE THEM , at this point I dont care how we do it , We MUST just do it, over the years 20 of them, I have cried so many times I could fill Lake MICHIGAN , I have begged for their lifes , Pleaded for the Mustangs , we all have given Scientific evaluations of the Worth of the Mustangs , I have Puked my Guts out hundreds of times viewing the Unnecessary absolutely round ups !!!!! i have seen Mares dropping and losing their premature foals , demented helicopter pilots hitting and chasing Mustangs till they are totally exhausted, and WHAT for ????? What part of WE dont want Our Mustangs GONE !!!! WE PAY FOR PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION NOT DESTRUCTION>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I call the Mustangs OUR ROYAL AMERICAN AMBASSADORS of FREEDOM !!!!! IF the BLM cannot do what they are paid to do , then they gotta go !!!!!!!!
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George your AWESOME tell it like it really is!!!!…….Your speaking in a manner we all feel!!!
It’s getting desperate for our Mustangs and if things don’t change soon they will all die from mismanagement of the “MISFITS” employed as the BLM…
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This should go viral, it should be in every press in the US, Someone needs to point to it for NBC news! WE need to get the exposure the pro-slaughter people didn’t want on this issue. These men ARE The faces of PRo-slaughter and like Tim Sappington, they shouldn’t be able to hide under a freaking rock! In fact, the sight of these men should invoke outrage just for ordinary horse people-who wants their animals treated like this? Where are PETA, ASPCA, and HSUS on this one? Guys we need to get the ball rolling, this also helps with stopping the pro-slaughter agenda of horses need slaughtered as it shows the callous uncaring nature of the pro-slaughter people and the BLM combined. We need this to get to the WHITE HOUSE folks! WE are an information nation with a highway to use to get anywhere we want to be! This needs MORE exposure! This is really an outrage and should be EXPOSED! So lets not be satisfied a few caring people know-I think pro-slaughter and the BLM needs this rubbed under their noses! They talk about animal welfare and being caring and compassionate, this tape blows that line of Bull out of the water~! Please do whatever it takes to gain the media this really needs. We cant allow this to go unnoticed. This horse was lucky, what happens when these men DONT like the horses they are chasing? This is the most horrific thing, we are in an age of NATURAL horsemanship, we are in the dawn of animals becoming the thinking, loving creatures that they always were, and to allow this to happen no matter whether it was to a wild animal or a trained pet this is a blatant cruelty! There is a point where we have to call it what it is, they look at these animals as meat only-and I am tired of it and the mentality of the cruel cattlemen is to push the animals to the brink of disaster. WE need this exposed so that the farm subsidies and welfare ranching gets reduced instead of the horses. I have thought this through all night long-I have hardened by position on this situation-this is the time when we need to push this mainstream so all the city folks, pro-slaughter, and the real country folks and true horse owners can ALL see at one time the hidden agenda, abuse, and lies that promote the destruction of the mustangs. Pro-slaughter has screamed we are all about animal welfare and stopping abuse, funny enough-that doesn’t look like it to us! Bang on doors, toss rocks at windows, ring phones, but get the word out, these men should NOT walk 2 feet without knowing they are EXPOSED! Hatred and deception can only continue if WE allow it. ITs like domestic violence it only happens when we say nothing! So tell all! This article is really well written and we need to get a conversation going on this type of animal cruelty especially within our own Government agency.
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This is a wonderfully written and presented article. Thanks George Knapp for your insight and wit. We definitely need to take this program away from the BLM or get the idiots out now. I agree totally with Denise. Perhaps we need to act as strongly as those in Texas recently when they continued to shout out and demand their rights. The BLM and these terribly inhumane and insane round-ups of our wild horses must stop!
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Thank you George Knapp for your excellent reporting. The Bureau of Land Management is such an abuse of power that it needs to be brought to their knees. More Americans need to know what is going on with the Bureau of Land Management abuse to the wild horses and do something about it. Before there are no more wild horses.
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It is a true honest written article thank you, now you need to send this to the NEWS, I am going to pick up the phone today and start calling who ever I know it will mean BULL SH_T but I have to do something…. Even after this study that cost millions they continue with NOT A WORD from Miss Jewel, yup I had my doubts about her…… Then some congressmen sent a letter not listening, wow they certainly have some B_LLS don’t they!?!? WHO is in charge I want to know because SOMEONE is pushing this they take orders from someone??? Oh my goodness what can we do, I wish I lived by some of these magnificent horses cause I would be there as much as I could video taping them and sending it to news stations over and over I would….. Till someone listened… NBC needs to do another article on the Mustangs and it needs to be done on the NIGHTLY NEWS for ALL TO SEE, right???/
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Per the 1971 Congressional Act, the land was to be devoted PRINCIPALLY but not
exclusively to the wild horses and wild burros welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept of public lands.
Definition of “principally”: First, highest, foremost in importance, rank, worth or degree, chief, mainly, largely, chiefly, especially, particularly, mostly, primarily, above all, predominantly, in the main, for the most part, first and foremost.
It is the LAW of the United States of America and any policy or regulation or memorandum of understanding that BLM / USFS writes or proposes that does not come under the umbrella of the law is illegal.
Thank you, George Knapp.
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Thank you George. Making people think and understand this monstrous situation is not easy
What NAS did recommend, without the science to back it (just like BLM), was contraception of all sorts. Well, you have to do studies to do the PZP and this needs to be the moment the advocacy rebels all together and stops this careless continuation of BLM failure to manage wild horses. We have divisions in the advocacy based upon those who think BLM should continue running the Wild Horse and Burros Program, even have roundups every few years but be more humane and improve adoption. This is a BLM positive view. So are those who still think there are too many wild horses and they have to artificially keep the herds small so PZP is totally justified and no science has been an influence here either. Remember these are all advocate factions I am describing.
Then you have some of us stubborn purists who know BLM is poison and must be removed from the management of the wild horses and burros, a 5 to 10 year moratorium needs to be put into place and independent research contracted for and paid for by the advocacy (and I realize the advocates are not all on this page yet) to do the research that will give us the data and the information needed to be making decisions about how to manage Wild horses and Burros in the wild. Along with returning captives, assessing the land our wild horses and burros were removed from and reclaiming Herd Areas and dropping BLM ‘policies’ which are contrary to the care and success of wild horses and burros living in the wild. Science will give us alternatives that are healthy, humane and address all the so called problems that we have had predominantly with the people, not the animals, who have been interpreting our wild horse and burro behavior inaccurately for decades. In other words let’s stop selling the wild horses and burros short.
Those of us who are not working toward a goal with BLM are working toward a goal with the wild horses and burros that will protect them from all the above afore mentioned unscientific decisions being thrown in the air by the ignorant and the agenda ridden advocates and wild horse groups. Who are they to decide without research what becomes of the wild ones, Huh? Science can fix the mess BLM made and it is the wild ones who need to benefit and not the contractors of PZP and their labs. Our wild horses need a break from the aggressive harvesting machine and our people need to see that these last and few wild horses are vindicated and given A Program That Befits Them. Any wild horse group that suggests a management plan should be applied without the research being done officially by independent scientists is behaving the same way BLM is now; decisions made on the expediency and the needs of others and not the wild horses and burros and the reality they live on their lands which is what we all need to be pushing for.
It is time to mature this experience we are all in and to gain control of the law and the land and the wild ones both free and captive. We need change that is intelligent and based on hard work in the field and not on the continual use of misinformation and propaganda which still has not been rejected by the public and press. What have we got to tell folks that scientifically counters what BLM will continue to spew despite the NAS report? It won’t produce itself. It cannot be put together by the government just because so many still think that research is the responsibility of the government. It is not. The independent research and the answers to the problems and the way to the future is through publicly funded independent research just as the 1971 Act lays out. This is there to avoid the conflict of interest that has been so destructive of this program from the beginning and has made the entire program go in the wrong direction that those conflicted interests have wanted it to. This has led us to this mess BLM created. Science can sort it out, not personal opinion or personal experience, but independent research, given the time and support that it needs from All of You. Are you willing and able to come to this challenge and meet it? Please think about this. Let’s all get this right.
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BRAVO< MAR WARGO, I have been ready for years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I know, Arlene. Many of us have been… making the right steps forward is now a huge challenge. We have different, well meaning groups who are ready to go forward with ‘ideas’ that are not researched and have no proof of their outcome or safety and too many agendas spoil the chances for real research to be tolerated, supported and carried out fully to the proper end to create new effective management for the wild ones.
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Dear Mar, I want to really do something extremely positive for our Magnificent Mustangs , It must be something for their good and preservation and protection from all Harm, just like it says in The Roam Act of 1971……………………… i am tired of the pain and suffering of the Mustangs , sick of the Brutality, they are peaceful and adore their Freedom , this is want I want for them !!!!!! FREEDOM !!!!!!! this is all about the Mustangs !!!!!!!!
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… and burros …
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Sorry Yes the BURROS
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Off topic a little, may i add that a press release today stated that the NewMexico wildfire has destroyed land for grazing cattle and they r wanting the BLM to supply grazing on the BLM expense account and land for this. Need to watch the sneaks on ALL fronts. I know they dont want the cattle to starve, but again government agency handouts for cattle? Why cant they give the horsez their bought and paid for grazing? I paid taxes on all my businesses i demand they explain this.
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Thank you George for your honest reporting and providing the “truth” to the real tragedy that’s been brought upon our wild horses and burros. .The arrogance and disrespect shown from the BLM and those associated with them is unconscionable and is sadly a reflection of our times. It’s truly disgraceful and very unfortunate this has been allowed to continue, in spite of the huge cost and concern for the protection of these iconic animals. I sincerely hope that somehow justice will prevail for the many who want nothing more than the respect and freedom our wild horses deserve.
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AMEN Jean !!!!!
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Again, Thank you so much George, you are a real Journalist, and you definately understand the full picture here, I have your awareness video’s of this subject combined with the Ruby Pipeline on my blog, you are the best! http://redemptionforanimals.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/the-mustang-conspiracy-british-petroleum-and-the-ruby-pipeline/ Click the “Click Here” on the 1st line to see George’s videos.
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