update from Grandma Gregg
Please start preparing yourself for this Black Mt. Arizona BLM EA re: PZPing all the burros (plus apparently removing most of them also?). This article and (radio show) is FULL of misinformation that the BLM spews.
Article and radio show and link to EA are below and below that is the independent analysis of the BLM’s nine days aerial flight that only documented 72 burros and below that are some herd stats and information. You may recall that these are the same burros that the local board of supervisors said should be hunted.
In addition, per available data of 161 burros captured from Twin Peaks in 2010, 16% foaling rate was found but less than half lived to be yearling age (7%) and then after you factor in adult mortality that 7% increase would be even lower.
Below: Black Mt. Herd BLM Herd Stats show very high annual population increases and nowhere near the actual average burro annual increase as shown in Twin Peaks. You will especially notice the gigantic 45% increase which is a standard method BLM uses to exaggerate populations in order to acquire funding and justification for capture and removals (and now PZP also).
PS Video cameras (Go-Pro) have been around for many years and if the BLM wanted to prove the large populations they would use it … but they don’t because their population numbers are false.
| Black Mt Per Herd Stats | ||||||
| Burros Population Per BLM Herd Stats | ||||||
| Year (March 1st) | Black Mt Population | Increase /Decrease | % Change | Known Removals | Subtotal | Last Capture/Removal |
| 3/1/2016 | 1551 | 101 | 7% | 125 | Sep-15 | |
| 3/1/2015 | 1450 | 450 | 45% | Apr-14 | ||
| 2014 | 1000 | 200 | 25% | Apr-12 | ||
| 2013 | 800 | 0 | 0% | 12 | Oct-11 | |
| 2012 | 800 | 70 | 10% | 57 | Oct-11 | |
| 2011 | 730 | 95 | 15% | 105 | Mar-11 | |
| 2010 | 635 | 50 | 9% | 92 | Jan-10 | |
| 2009 | 585 | 81 | 16% | Nov-07 | ||
| 2008 | 504 | 70 | 16% | Nov-07 | ||
| 2007 | 434 | -44 | -9% | Dec-03 | ||
| 2006 | 478 | 0 | 0% | Dec-03 | ||
| 2005 | 478 | Dec-03 |
Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This criminal. Let’s not call it by a nice nice weird…. Fact is..THE BLM LIES.
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Where is the Interior Secretary on all of this? We never hear anything from her about wildlife. Worst environmental regime for Democrats ever! I do appreciate the last minute scramble though. Better late than never. Probably putting together her resignation?
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Omg! Please quit the round-ups and holding of all these beautiful wild burros and horse’s. We know you’re wiping them out. Please I beg of you all involved to cess the round-ups and holding pens and sterilization of any of OUR wild horses and burros. What a sad Barron land it will become if they’re wiped out. I don’t understand why you can’t give them what’s rightfully their land. In 1970 laws were made to protect them. I’m very disappointed by what the Blm has been doing to these beautiful wild horses and burros. This has to stop. Please give them back their land and freedom? Thank you. Lori Kyle
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BLM does nothing but LIE, and taxpayers are footing and supporting their lies because we apparently cannot do anything about their deceit. What kind of democracy do we really live in. Our government can kill off a huge percentage if not all of OUR WILDLIFE, and nothing can be done????????? I don’t get it.
BLM ARE MURDERERS, RIP OFFS, and LIARS,
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😦 I’m not clear how you comment where it counts. I’m also not clear…do we have a big list of people to bombard with this stuff? Because commenting to the BLM obviously doesn’t do anything. We need them out of office and that means someone over their head. A few lawsuits about misuse of tax payer money would be nice too.
Maybe we should force them to pay for these things out of their own personal pocket when the data doesn’t add up. Bet they’d change their minds in a BIG hurry.
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I live in Mohave County Arizona and in more than 8 years, I have never seen a wild Burro in my area.if you go to the small town of Oatman they roam the streets there and the town cares for their welfare. It draws in tourists.
Earlier this year the Government removed part of the herd and gave the townspeople first choice on adoptions.
Let them tell you they are overpopulated! Lies.
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Mary, as a resident of Mohave County, I think you have a right to demand that your County Supervisor Steve Moss investigate these claims of BLM inflation of herd counts. He is advocating public policy based on questionable data. This issue is no different than any other political issue.
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The Board of Supervisors don’t care, they wanted to issue licenses for shooting the burros. (They later claimed that it was to get the BLMs attention).
One of the Supervisors told how while she was a child her family would go to a Burro Roast! That is how much help the Board of Supervisors would be.
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I’m still just not understanding why tea-bag (R) politicians like Mohave County Supervisor Steve Moss refuse to even look at the possibility that the BLM is inflating herd counts. They seem to want to dismantle the BLM and take-over those lands in their States, you would think that a scandal of this magnitude, involving this much money, would be a siren-call to them. 😦
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Every single Federal employee at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse division and the contractors they hire to stampede and terrorize our wild horses and burros need to be FIRED. I don’t want our hard earned tax dollars spent on a rogue agency that is complicit with ranchers and hunters desires which is to confiscate land for THEM. It is OUTRAGEOUS that cattle ranchers are allowed to graze their cattle on public land leading to the destruction of rangeland. Riparian waterways are polluted and destroyed by cattle. Cattle are NOT NATIVE to North America. Peer-review SCIENCE tells us that horses are NATIVE to North America. Who needs to be FIRED? Edwin Roberson who is now the director of the BLM National Operations Center in Denver, Joan Guilfoyle, Sally Jewell, Dean Bolstad and all of the rest of those so-called Federal employees who don’t give a damn about our wild horses and burros. FIRE ALL OF THEM and start over by hiring Americans who really care about managing our wild horses and burros on the range where they can live out their lives with their families in peace and be FREE from the dastardly deeds and LIES that spew from the BLM. These people have FAILED our wild horses and burros. They are all DISGUSTING HUMAN BEINGS that need to be FIRED.
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11th Hour for Arizona’s Wild Burros
OpEd by Marjorie Farabee -Director of Wild Burro Affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The burros have never had it easy with our government agencies. The fox is guarding the hen house when it comes to protections for this nation’s icons of our pioneering past. They are symbols of our culture and living natural icons of our pioneering history. Yet, our own governmental agency which is tasked with protecting our wild burros and horses, because of this important connection to our past, is cavalierly managing them to extinction without remorse.
The Black Mountain HMA is presently 1.1 million acres, but if developers of wind, gas, and agriculture have their way this HMA will soon be reduced and all the wildlife living on it will suffer. In the BLM count of 2013 the burro population came to just over 700 animals, yet they would have us believe that the population has grown to a whopping 1600-1800 burros in one short year and a half. This means even the jacks are having twins and they are all immortal.
Recently, Simone Netherlands, representing Respect4Horses (R4H), and myself, representing Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF), joined up to attend both scoping meetings being held by the BLM in Kingman and Bullhead City, AZ. The BLM’s presentation of damage caused by wild burros was lacking in scientific data or actual observation from reputable studies. They simply showed a photo zeroed in on a small area that would have some plants which were grazed or damaged. This was their “proof” that wild burros were damaging the desert. When the HMA was set up in 1974 there were over 2000 burros living easily on this land. Now, the number allowed has been reduced to a mere 478 burros for this vast HMA. Meanwhile cattle are grazed with well over 5000 acknowledged as grazing on the land. At the scoping meetings held by the BLM at both Bullhead City and Kingman the public was told the entire HMA was degraded by burros. Of course, no cattle were mentioned as being detrimental. In fact, I had to pry an acknowledgement that cattle were even present on the HMA out of the BLM representative. Roger Oyler then answered questions I had about the mapping. He confirmed that the ruling in WY concerning wild horses on checkerboard land gave them the right to remove the checker boarded areas from the Black Mountain HMA. He further explained the yellow area west of Kingman, called Golden Valley, will also be taken from the HMA. Neither he nor Chad Benson would give us the targeted number of burros in their sites for removal from the Black Mountain HMA.
At these meetings the public was not allowed to ask questions in an open forum. We were asked to walk up to individual representatives of the BLM and ask our questions privately thus denying the attending public access to the concerns raised by the question, or the answers provided. The public would have been saddened to learn that the BLM is planning to not only reduce the number of wild burros by an unspecified amount, they are planning to reduce the size of the HMA as well. Another issue brought up was the burros crossing 95 in Bullhead City. The area where they are crossing is still legally a part of the Black Mountain HA and provides direct access to the Colorado River which is an important water source for the burros and all other wildlife in the area. (That 10-mile strip is STILL legally designated (by 1971 Congress) for wild horses and burro. It is still HA (Herd Area) land. “Wild horses and burros are supposed to be treated as “components of the public lands”. 16 U.S.C. § 1333(a) The law is clear that “wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death” and entitled to roam free on public lands where they were living at the time the Act was passed in 1971. 16 U.S.C. § 1331 These legally protected areas are known as “herd areas,” and are defined as “the geographic area identified as having been used by a herd as its habitat in 1971.” 43 C.F.R. § 4700.0-5(d).” – Animal Law Coalition (available online) Rather than provide passage over or under the HWY they have decided to zero out the burros in the area. These provisions could have been made when the roadways were under construction. Now, resulting collisions with burros are providing an excuse for their removal from the area. Moreover, “There is no authority for BLM’s “herd management areas” under WFRHBA. The BLM has authorized itself to divide herd areas into “herd management areas“, something not authorized by WFRHBA. 43 CFR 4710.3-1. In this way, with no statutory authority at all, BLM has limited wild horses and burros’ access to thousands of acres that were historically their herd areas. This is done without thought about the horses’ seasonal migration patterns or available resources. The BLM then removes wild horses and burros from the artificially created “herd management areas” on the basis there is insufficient forage, water or habitat! BLM also targets them for removal if they cross the artificial boundaries into their original herd areas.”- Animal Law Coalition (available online)
As we delve deeper into the reasons for the inflated new burro numbers and safety accusations toward the burros we are finding reports about wind development with several projects in the works and others moving through the approval process. Other contributors are proposed agricultural development which along with wind development will further deplete already depleted water resources. It is important to note, that the Black Mountain HMA boasts the largest population of bighorn sheep in the nation. In fact, it is well documented that the hunting clubs have long wanted burros removed from habitat where bighorn sheep reside, citing resource conflicts as their reason for wanting them removed. http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/wildlife/feral-animals
As we traveled hundreds of miles through the Black Mountain HMA exploring, what we saw was a beautiful desert full of life and forage. Burros were scarce, but friends in the area will continue to dig into the fitness of the range for me while WHFF continues its investigation into the real reason large sections of the HMA are about to be stripped away from these mountain canaries. What a lovely song I heard as I stayed during the night listening to the burros call each other through the mountains. Each voice was different and ethereal as the sound echoed through the mountain. It was magical. It saddens me to know that their song may soon be quiet and never heard again if special interests get their way. My history and culture are worth fighting for, and these burros deserve to be considered as a part of these lands now and forever more. They earned it.
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Dr. Lori Eggert, University of Missouri – Genetic Diversity
BLM Advisory Board meeting Sept 9-11, 2013
Genetic diversity of burro populations well below what you would see in healthy populations.
12 burro HMAs with populations between 2 and 49 animals.
Burro populations do need priority for genetic management.
Maintenance of genetic diversity over time is going to require higher population size than even the largest HMA now has.
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Arizona’s Wild Burros
Jun 9, 2016
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Burros Plead Innocent
Jan 26, 2016
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The Peace Trail
It looks as though it is going to cross through Public Land and might have a significant impact on the fragile desert land and the wildlife. No NEPA documents (EIS/EA) have been found, even though they have been requested. It appears that NO mitigation to protect the wildlife and the soils and water sources is being discussed. It also appears that this project crosses through FIVE Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Areas.
Arizona OHV Clubs Developing 750-Mile Peace Trail
http://www.utvdriver.com/arizona-ohv-clubs-developing-750-mile-peace-trail
Arizona is already one of the most OHV friendly states. The 750-mile Peace Trail will hopefully serve as an example to other states.
To date, La Paz County has applied for and received two grants for the project. One is a YAMAHA OHV Access Initiative Grant, just under $5,000, for signage.
A second grant for $74,414 was provided by the Arizona State Parks OHV Advisory Group (OHVAG), to develop a staging area in Cibola.
The Arizona Peace Trail Committee is working with the BLM Field Offices as they develop their Travel Management Plans and designate which roads and trails are open to OHVs. “There’s a Travel Management Plan that has been completed by Lake Havasu BLM, but the rest of them still have to be completed between Yuma and Bullhead City
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THREE BURROS INTENTIONALLY SHOT near Lake Pleasant Wild Burro Herd Area in Arizona.
http://www.abc15.com/news/region-west-valley/peoria/three-female-burros-shot-to-death-reward-offered
Lake Pleasant Wild Burro Herd Area is about an hour drive south/east of where Mohave County District Supervisor Steve Moss recently proposed hunting licenses to offset the over-abundant burro population in the area. If I was the investigator for these burro killings, I would start my investigation with Supervisor Moss and his buddies.
http://www.havasunews.com/news/mohave-county-supervisor-proposes-burro-hunting/article_20fe5f78-bbf7-11e5-b2cb-9b58cf12c8dd.html
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That would add up to a $300,000 fine
Is there a Secret Witness Program?
In partnership with the BLM and through the Sentencing Reform Act of 1988, ISPMB helped to enact higher fines for inhumane treatment and violations of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse And Burro Act in the Federal District of Arizona.
Penalties of up to $100,000 per animal, per offense and/or up to one year in jail
are unsurpassed as compared with other federal districts or state humane laws.
http://www.ispmb.org/Achievements.html
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When will it stop? When their are none left? They have already wiped out the burros in Lake Pleasant, Az. Now Black Mountain? I had to watch while they removed hundreds from Lake Pleasant under the pretense of being hit on highway. Well when they fence off their underpasses they have no where to go except up on highway. They were set up! The herd at Lake Pleasant isn’t even there anymore just a few token sick looking ones left. Way to go Arizona BLM.
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They have already hit Lake Pleasant burros their just about gone. Hear their rounding up 50 more. Current number count I believe was 474. I beg to differ. I watched as they took out atleast 100 under the pretense of being nuisance burros on the highway. Well they wouldn’t of been on the highway if they hadn’t fenced their underpasses off. They were set up and forced onto highways to be hit so they had emergency gather. These inflated numbers are crazy. I saw herds of wild burros yrs ago at Lake Pleasant. Maybe then the count was higher but now nothing! There’s a few sick looking ones. I live in that area I ride my quad and horse all over the area. The Lake Pleasant burros are no longer and Black Mountain is next! Way to go Az BLM! Not! Managing them to extinction!
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Where are your SHERIFFS!! They can stop this. The powers granted to our SHERIFFS are wide and powerful. They need to step up and stop this travesty!!
Put a call in to Sheriff Joe!! http://www.nationallibertyalliance.org/countysheriff. http://www.usatwentyfour.com/utah-sheriff-warns-blm-will-deputize-everyone-arrest-federal-agents/
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