Join us on Wild Horse Wednesdays®, Aug. 17, 2016
6:00 pm PST … 7:00 pm MST … 8:00 pm CST … 9:00 pm EST
Listen to the archived show (HERE!)
You can also listen to the show on your phone by calling (917) 388-4520.
You can call in with questions during the 2nd half hour, by dialing (917) 388-4520, then pressing 1.
This show will be archived so you can listen to it anytime.
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Wild horses from the Carter Reservoir Herd Management Area on the California/Nevada border. (photo: BLM)
Our guests tonight are Carla Bowers and Bonnie Kohleriter (retired science teacher), who are wild horse and burro advocates and two of the best researchers in the advocacy. They will tell you why 83% of wild horse and burro herds are on the brink of collapse, and explain the real numbers and genetics, not the fuzzy math and inaccurate information that the BLM doles out to the public.
These women each personify the meaning of the phrase “one person can make a difference.” After attending helicopter roundups of wild horses in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) in northeastern California about 6 years ago, and seeing the reality of the actions of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Carla and Bonnie each got involved and started to go to BLM meetings, travel to HMAs around the West, and dig for answers.
This show will be hosted by Debbie Coffey, V.P. & Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation.
To contact us: ppj1@hush.com, or call 320-281-0585
TO LISTEN TO ALL ARCHIVED WILD HORSE & BURRO RADIO SHOWS, CLICK HERE.
1/20/16 – Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, on BLM’s plans to sterilize wild horse and burros. Listen HERE.
1/27/16 – Marjorie Farabee, Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, on threats to shoot wild burros in Arizona. Listen HERE.
2/8/16 – Representatives of 4 major wild horse & burro advocacy groups and advocates speak out against BLM’s plans for barbaric sterilization experiments on wild mares. Listen HERE.
2/10/16 – Jonathan Ratner, Western Watersheds Project’s Director for Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, talks about the environmental toll of privately owned livestock grazing on public lands. Listen HERE.
2/24/16 – Kirsten Stade, Advocacy Director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), on BLM’s skewed data minimizing the effects of livestock grazing on public lands. Listen HERE.
3/2/16 – Marjorie Farabee, Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Equine Mgr. of Todd Mission Ranch (TMR Rescue) & founder of Wild Burro Protection League, joined by local wild burro advocates fighting to save the wild burros of the Black Mountain Herd Management Area in Arizona. Listen HERE.
3/23/16 – Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation interviews Susan W. Watt, Executive Director, Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, located in South Dakota. Listen HERE.
5/4/16 – Gail A. Eisnitz, author of the book “Slaughterhouse” and Chief Investigator for the Humane Farming Association (HFA). Listen HERE.
6/22/16 – Charlotte Roe, Founder of Wild Equid League of Colorado, on BLM’s cruel experiments on wild horses and burros, including sterilization of pregnant wild mares, that are a launching pad for widespread use as “population suppression.” Listen HERE.
8/3/16 – Marjorie Farabee, Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Equine Mgr. of Todd Mission Ranch (TMR Rescue) & founder of Wild Burro Protection League with guests. Listen HERE.
8/10/16 – Gene Baur, Pres. & Co-Founder of Farm Sanctuary, on factory farming and the Farm Sanctuary. Listen HERE.
Categories: Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This should be another very interesting and educational show – thank you.
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Pursuant to 3 C.F.R. 4710.3-2 and 43 C.F.R. 4710.5(a), in order to accommodate the current wild horse population level. BLM’s authority to reduce livestock grazing pursuant to 43 C.F.R. 4710.5 in order “to provide habitat for wild horses or burros.”
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GREAT show. They are never long enough.
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COMMENTS ON MARE STERILIZATION RESEARCH ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
by Bonnie Kohleriter
https://rtfitchauthor.com/2016/02/01/more-comments-on-blms-plan-for-cruel-sterilization-experiments-on-wild-mares/
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PUBLIC COMMENTS TO NATIONAL WHB ADVISORY BOARD, APRIL 13, 2016,
BY CARLA BOWERS
I would like to share some national numbers for perspective that each of you received from me
by separate email on Monday, 4/11/16.
650M total Federal land acres
238M BLM/USFS acres grazed by livestock
29M BLM/USFS acres allowed for WHB use shared with livestock, where WHB are only allocated from 5-17% of the forage (less than 5% of total Federal lands & 11.6% of grazing lands allocated to WHB)
3-5M livestock on BLM/USFS lands
1M elk
780K pronghorns
Millions of deer
70K bighorns compared to
26,600 maximum high number for WHB designated by BLM for 10 Western states
18,000 approx. low number for WHB designated by BLM for 10 Western states
The numbers above clearly show that America’s WHB are not getting their fair share of land, forage or water. Another attachment you received shows that over ¾ of our herds at their max target number on the range will not be genetically viable or diverse long-term according to Dr. Gus Cothran, equine geneticist, who recommends a minimum of 150-200 animals/herd.
The dangers of such low target numbers on the range are being played out on the East Coast with the Corolla Wild Horse Herd. Being managed at a max of 100 animals has caused severe loss of genetic diversity/viability, where inbreeding & deformities are now being observed & documented. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article24784153.html
America’s WHB are nowhere near being managed in balance with other uses. They are not “overpopulated” on the range as Washington BLM would have the public believe. They are merely “over” the extremely low management numbers set for them.
81% of Americans polled recently said they did not trust the government in Washington to do what’s right most of the time. The low AML numbers set for the WHB by Washington BLM are not right. The allowable numbers of 18K-26,600 WHB total for the 10 Western states is arbitrary & is not based on equine science or genetic viability/diversity at all. It is based on giving livestock the majority of the forage on the restricted-size HMAs with the crumbs left over going to WHB, compliments of Washington that’s influenced by big $$ interests. Our national
heritage species deserve better than this subversive treatment.
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Louiee, do you have a link to the information from Carla Bowers referenced? I’d like especially to find the source for the 0.5% number mentioned as being the portion of our national food production (or was it only beef?) produced on public lands.
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IcySpots, is this the information that you need?
References:
Less than 3% of American beef is produced from Federal rangelands – Managing for Extinction, Animal Welfare Institute, pg.15 https://awionline.org/sites/default/files/products/AWI-WL-ManagingforExtinction-2011.pdf
The comment that 0.5% of America’s beef is produced on the 27M BLM acres on which the WHB are allowed to be is figured as being ca. 1/6
of the total BLM land grazed by livestock (157M acres). 1/6 of 3% is 0.5%. Thus, if livestock were completely removed or reduced on the BLM WHB areas, very little impact would occur to the beef industry nationally.
157M BLM acres grazed by livestock as of 9/2011) – http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/grazing.html
650M Federal land acres – http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/fedlands.html (March 2012) WHB are allowed on only 4.5% of all Federal lands
31.6M acres managed for WH&B as of FY2011 (26.9M BLM + 4.7M other, including DOD, USFS, private lands) – http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/herd_management/Data.html (HAs & HMAs Stats 2011)
53.8M acres allocated to WH&B at passage of 1971 Act as of FY2011 (42M BLM + 11.8 other) – http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/herd_management/Data.html (HAs & HMAs Stats 2011)
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Marjorie Farabee
Director of Wild Burro Affairs
Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Wild burros are at the end of the line. Their populations have been reduced to such a great degree they qualify as endangered by IUCN standards. We know that the BLM has vastly inflated their numbers. And, we know that their habitat is severely fractured by fences paid for by you and me to provide fencing for cattle that belong to ranchers who lease our public lands. We pay for all those fences that harm wildlife while rancher refuse to follow the rules of their contracts. Our public lands need stewardship. This means ranchers cannot be allowed to intimidate BLM employees trying to do their jobs. Land health is too important to all of us for so many reasons, including global climate change. The burros should not be darted. Who darts an endangered species?! I am horrified. Instead, the land needs diversity, including predators. The fences need to be removed. Movement patterns need to be observed via tunnels and overpasses for wildlife. And, true land health studies need to be carried out by independent scientists. The sham of wild burro management needs to stop. The BLM needs to look at the burros as endangered and valuable to the local economies and the environment. No more lies about burros. Protect them before we lose them.
https://www.facebook.com/Wild.Burro.Protection.League
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Some of these capture and removal operations have already been completed and some are in progress:
Tentative Wild Horse and Burro Removal and Fertility Control Treatment Schedule
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/herd_management/tentative_gather_schedule.html
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Reblogged this on nk4g2.
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