Source: wildhoofbeats.com
The black family
Wild Horses and Barbed Wire Fences Do Not Mix – Checkerboard Roundup Day 8
by Carol J. Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation
This morning we headed to the Bar X Road in Great Divide Basin for another day of watching helicopters chase wild horses into traps, then force them into trailers, then separating each horse from his or her family.
Far away from the trap
Driving horses into the trap in a cloud of dust
Yes, it is a very grim process. And the BLM has made it harder and harder for members of the public to observe this process. So placing members of the public who wish to observe this process as far away from the trap that the horses run into as possible is the logical solution for them. In this location, we were told to go on public land which was behind a barbed wire fence that separated us from the area the horses were being driven into. Even using the longest lens Canon makes, the horses looked like ants. The helicopter took the horses around a ridge so that we could not see them at all then just before the trap wings, drove the horses into the trap with a lot of dust. We had pretty much given up on being able to get usable images let alone be able to identify any horses. I was especially curious to see if any of the wild horses I had seen at the end of the day yesterday who were still free.
Coming down the hill toward us
They look at us but were not concerned about us
Turning away because of the helicopter
Suddenly a group a black horses with markings similar enough on their faces to mark them as family came trotting down the two track toward us, but behind the barbed wire fence. I asked the BLM staff with us to stand quiet so they would not frighten the horses away and we watched them get closer and closer. The horses were not particularly concerned about us, but really wanted to get away from the helicopter. Suddenly, a grulla stallion, mare and foal come running by, helicopter in persuit overhead. They finally run up the hill, while the black horses kept coming down the hill, getting closer to us. As the helicopter flies overhead they turn away from the fence.
Grulla mare with her foal
They turn away
But then two black horses come down the hill and the first one jumps the fence and the one behind tries to clear the fence as well but hits it hard and breaks the top barbed wire. It happens so suddenly that I am shocked, stop shooting as I normally do when there is a wreck – I am stunned and horrified.
Read the rest of this article HERE.
“Slice and Dice” seems to be the favored management strategy, either on the range or the hell most of these horses will disappear into. It also seems those killed for living free with “preexisting conditions” only suffered from the condition of being supposedly protected free-born American wildlife.
I am outraged any of this is being done with public monies while we are simultaneously being bled to pay for subsidized livestock grazing, predator controls, and the costs of these horrific “management” tools. Ethical arguments hold no sway against such a culture of cruelty, cronyism and death. Worst of all is we are being forced to pay for this yet public opinion is neither welcome or valued.
Just sickening.
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Big winter storm hitting NW CO and S Wyoming today, super stressful to run horses so hard (see the sweating in the photos above), immediately yank foals off mares, then park them in a pen without shelters. Forecast is well below freezing the next two nights in Rock Springs.
As a reminder, if any other U.S. citizen acted in this way to harass and hoard horses they would go directly to jail.
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Thanks for keeping an eye on the weather and letting us know, Icy.
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