OpEd by R.T. Fitch ~ Co-Founder/President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Wyoming’s Governor Matt Mead just went from dumber to dumbest.
Boy oh boy, Wyoming’s Governor Mead sure has been a busy little horse-hater as of late. Golly, just last week he crawled into bed with Wyoming’s Welfare Ranchers and bad mouthed the horses; over the weekend he strong armed the Western Governors Association and wrangled an anti-horse resolution out of them and first thing Monday he filed a suit against the BLM using trumped up numbers and statistics’ stating that they are failing to manage the wild horses on public land in the state while he totally omits the fact that private cattle outnumber the horses hundreds to one and the BLM JUST ripped virtually the largest herds off from their rightful range this very year. Wow, when it comes to the manipulation of facts the Gov is a great big wiener, er…I mean winner.
“The lawsuit asks the court to force the BLM to manage wild horses in Wyoming as required by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act,” Governor Mead said. “It is my belief, and the belief of other western governors, that the BLM does not have the resources to manage wild horses effectively. By filing suit it sends a message that wild horse management is a priority and the BLM must be provided the funding necessary to manage them.”
“Excess wild horses in Wyoming can harm the habitats used by other wildlife species, including sage-grouse, antelope, deer and elk,” Governor Mead said. “Overgrazing caused by overpopulation threatens all animals including horses.”
Mead: “I can clearly see 58% from here!!!”
Cranial Rectal Entanglement Syndrome
The state government of Wyoming further discredited itself by releasing statistics and information that crosses the line into Science Fiction and Fantasy in an effort to confuse and prejudice the public on the issue of wild horses.
“The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act requires the BLM to manage wild horses below previously set appropriate levels and to remove excess horses when populations exceed those levels. Herds will continue to exponentially grow beyond what the BLM determined is ecologically appropriate for each herd management area (HMA). These herds have population growth rates that range from as low as 25% to as high as 58% each year.”
58% a year, heck, the BLM likes to hang its hat on the fictional 25% every year but 58% is insane, where did they pull that one from. (We all know but this is a ‘G’ rated blog and we can’t go there)
Wyoming is actually taking a cue from the BLM on how to lie to the public, about the horses,and it is for the same reasons as highlighted in Vickery Eckhoff’s expose’ published on AlterNet entitled “Ranchers Want Our Public Lands for their Livestock, and Want the Govt. to Stick It to Wild Horses and Taxpayers“. The article references a similar cattle situation in neighboring Utah and the graph below is not anything either Utah or Wyoming would want the public to see.
Likewise, Craig Downer shares some other honest, scientific data that places the value of horses and burros on the range far over any cows or sheep:
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They have great mobility and they disperse their grazing pressure over very large areas and do not tend to camp around riparian habitats. (like cattle do)
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Likewise, their different dentition with upper incisors, which allows them to more carefully prune the vegetation as opposed to the lack of uipper incisors in bovids (cattle and sheep) and cervids (members of the deer family) which have only lower incisors and hard upper gums that often results in their ripping vegetation up by their roots.
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Additionally it should be considered that the equids (wild horses and burros) have a different digestive system, called pre-gastric or caecal, as opposed to the multi-stomach, pre-gastric, ruminant digestive system of the bovids and cervids. This is a major consideration since the horses’s digestive system has may benefitical, balancing effects in an ecosystem which can be major, including a greater building of soils, addition of humus, bolstering of the food chain from tiny soil microorganisms to beetles to birds, reptiiles, rodents, and on up to the higher trophic levels. The equids also pass a greater variety and abundance of seeds intact and capable of germination.
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They “contribute to the diversity of life forms” in our nation, as the Wild Horse and Burro act states in its preamble.
And last, but by no means least, over half of the few herds left are no longer viable thanks to the BLM’s propensity to manage the horses and burros into extinction and this is still, I repeat STILL not good enough for the Welfare Ranchers and Special Interests who vote for and fund the campaign of good ole boy Gov Mead.
Hands awash with blood money the few lie to the many and wild equines, the canaries in the mine, pay the price through their loss of life, freedom and family.
May God have mercy upon their wretched souls.
Click (HERE) to Download Mead’s Anti-Horse Resolution
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
He’s running scared after the EU announcement. Cowardly males are an embarrassment to REAL MEN and should be rounded up & shipped to slaughter Immediately!
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It won’t be the first time that things have reached a boiling point in Wyoming.
History does tend to repeat itself.
Once center of scandal, ‘Teapot Dome’ oil field prepped for sale
http://trib.com/business/energy/once-center-of-scandal-teapot-dome-oil-field-prepped-for/article_5d3f7c75-bbc1-5de5-8762-6971630b0213.html
federally-owned petroleum reserve in Wyoming at the center of the 1920s Teapot Dome scandal could soon be sold or leased to a private producer — nearly 100 years after its misuse sent a cabinet secretary to prison.
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Picking nits here but horses are post-gastric, not pre-gastric, digesters y’all
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thanks, Icy.
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Not everyone in Wyoming is pleased with the governor.
Gov. Mead’s AG is AGAINST Parental Rights
http://wyomingfreedomineducation.org/gov-meads-ag-is-against-parental-rights/
Governor Mead does not think parents have the inalienable right to make ALL decisions pertaining to their children.
This all ties back to federal money… The state “needs” the data from those assessments to continue to get funding such as Title 1 and IDEA as wells the numerous grants that Mead keeps chasing after like a puppy chasing a ball.
You are the parent and you know what is best for each of your precious children, and no bureaucrat or the Governor who appointed them should be permitted by WE THE PEOPLE to dictate to parents what they can and cannot do regarding their children
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For anyone who cares Wyoming Governor Mead 307-777-7434 I’ll be calling in the morning & it won’t be pretty! I am an advocate of being civil to any officials you call, always mention that on my posts to people when we SLAM someone. This one? Let him have it! I also think we should ask the secretary or operator to get him on the phone so HE takes our wrath, not his employees
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Thank you for posting the phone number for Mead’s office.
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No reflection on the people of Wyoming , but why do they keep electing these idiots??????scientific confirmations make him look SUPER DUMB , he shames the Intelligence of the people of Wyoming, he also shames Americas people and the very worst he Shames Americas Legendary Iconic Treasures,The Wild Mustangs, get a darn Clue Govenor Matt Mead !!!!!!!
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Boycott WY and beef.
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“b.1.The Secretary shall maintain a current inventory of wild free-roaming horses and burros on given areas of the public lands. The purpose of such inventory shall be to: make determinations as to whether and where an overpopulation exists and whether action should be taken to remove excess animals” …..Words taken from the 1971 Wild Horse and Burros Act…..”Primary Use” of lands given and “Protection” from harassment has been granted to the wild horses…. The Law needs to be enforced. The Law states horses need to be removed only if their numbers exceed the land granted them for primary use…..Give the horses back their given land, and remove only if they exceed the numbers that given land can support (with horses granted primary use)….Simply make the BLM obey the law….Used correctly, the 1971 Act of Congress will protect our wild horses and our public lands.
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YES simple as THAT !!!!!
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This is criminal. How is this jackass getting away with it?
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http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/12/07/will-2015-be-the-year-of-the-great-land-grab
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http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/12/09/western-watersheds-project-urges-no-on-national-defense-bill-full-of-riders
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http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/where_nothing_is_sacred_house_votes_to_transfer_native_sites_to_mining_corp
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http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/we_need_to_talk_about_meat_consumption_and_climate_change
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“…the state [Wyoming] got an overall F rating from the Center of Public Integrity. Wyoming ranked 48th of the 50 states.” “The state gets low ratings because it has only light reform measures. That makes the risk of corruption high, according to the Center for Public Integrity.”
“Mead’s financial disclosure form listed him as owner and a 50 percent partner in Mead Land and Livestock LLC and Diamond Development LLC, … in Cheyenne.”
http://trib.com/opinion/columns/state-gets-the-gold-bird/article_e72408eb-5f3c-5d1f-801f-20a5ee7443b6.html
“Mead’s contributions included nearly $90,000 from PACs [Political Action Committees]. Much of these contributions were from coal companies and other energy interests. Mead has fought the federal government over its proposals to enact air quality standards that industry says will hurt the coal industry in Wyoming …”
Click to access 20140814.pdf
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(Excuse me for repeating myself)
Quick math to give us some perspective about our wild horses in Wyoming:
Per the BLM HA/HMA WH&B stats, as of March 1, 2014:
The wild horse estimated population was 3,771 BEFORE the recent Checkerboard capture of 1,263 wild horses.
The “Appropriate Management Level” (AML) is stated as 3,725 wild horses for the entire state of Wyoming.
The wild horse legal Herd Area (HA) land is 10,344,424 acres.
The wild horse legal Herd Management Areas (HMA) land is 4,768,682 acres.
The HA acreage could support about 43,102 wild horses.
The HMA acreage could support about 19,870 horses.
Click to access HMAs%20and%20HAs%20March%202014.pdf
The once beautiful and wild state of Wyoming clearly appears to be lost to corruption and greed and a fat wallet without any concern for the Congressional law or concern of the American citizens who own millions of acres in Wyoming or concern for the land and wildlife – and especially no concern for our wild horses.
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RT, no one says it better than you.
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smh…
Sometimes people are so flipping dumb that dumb doesn’t even do them justice. Lord he has definitely defined himself as a horse hater. And we thought the Walrus was bad?????
I wonder if he’ll try to keep DD Doink under wraps?????
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Federal law about such matters stems from Roman law that such things as air and water belong to all people. Our country has deemed the American Wild Mustang belongs to all the people. If some areas think they can trump the will of all the people we become fragmented like Russia.
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Wild horse advocacy condemn lawsuit http://www.sweetwaternow.com/wyoming-vs-blm-wild-horse-advocacy-group-condemns-lawsuit
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I am in agreement that we need to be more visible as the proactive participants to get our organization in the forefront. We should be seen as leaders.
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