After BLM Oregon posted this youtube video showing Dr. Leon Pielstick performing an ovariectomy via colpotomy on a “previously wild” mare,
Rob Sharp, a Supervisory Wild Horse & Burro Specialist for the BLM’s Burns District in Oregon, sent the following email to 6 government employees (5 work for the BLM and one works for the Dept. of the Interior’s US Fish & Wildlife Service), to thank “whoever is responding” to comments under this youtube video (as “BLMOREGON”). Rob wrote “Whoever is responding to the comments on the video is doing a great job! Keep up the good work and Thank You!!!” The email below was obtained by Wild Horse Freedom Federation in FOIA records:
THE PEOPLE ROB INCLUDED IN THIS EMAIL ARE:
Michael Campbell, Acting Deputy State Director for Communications, Oregon
Toshio Suzuki, Content Director at Bureau of Land Management, Portland, Oregon, Public Relations and Communications
Jason Lutterman, Public Affairs WH&B Program, 775-861-6614
Tara Thissell, BLM public affairs specialist in Hines, OR, tthissell@blm.gov or (541) 573-4519
Greg Shine, Communications Specialist, Oregon & Washington State Office, BLM
Miel Corbett, Deputy Assistant Regional Director- External Affairs, Pacific Region, US Fish & Wildlife Services
(Although it seems that the person answering as BLMOREGON below that wrote “We take very seriously the findings of the July 7, 2015, Department of the Interior Inspector General Report involving Mr. Davis and the events that occurred in 2012. In response to these events, the Bureau of Land Management immediately implemented a policy to ensure that horses were sold only to good homes, including limits of four horses over a six-month period to a single buyer. This policy has helped the Bureau of Land Management avoid situations similar to those involving Mr. Davis by ensuring that purchasers provide appropriate care and facilities for the animals.” didn’t get the memo (IM 2018-066) that BLM is now selling large numbers of horses per day again. Whoops…we’ll have to see how they’re going to backtrack on this comment.
SEE THE BLMOREGON COMMENTS (IN BOLD BELOW) THAT ARE UNDER THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO AND THAT ROB SHARP DESCRIBED AS “GOOD WORK”:
Why is this method even being considered when PZP birth control has been proven to be safe and effective? This is so dangerous and time consuming. Animals are not science experiments and this is not what the public wants!
Lacey: Thanks for the question. Two versions of the PZP vaccine are currently in use. One version, known as Zonastat-H, is implemented through ground-darting programs and is only effective for approximately one year. The second version, known as PZP-22, is effective for 1-2 years but must be hand-injected into a captured wild horse. A majority of HMA’s across the west are extremely large (500,000+ acres), have limited access during late winter or early spring (when the vaccine should be applied to be effective), and do not have horses that are approachable by humans within 50 yards for darting of fertility control vaccine – this makes remote delivery (darting) of individual mares technically infeasible. Longer lasting formulations of PZP (PZP-22) have not proven effective at population growth suppression on a majority of HMAs where it has been applied. Annual gathering of the entire herd for application of fertility control vaccine is economically infeasible due to associated gather costs. In addition, repeated captures could increase the risk of injury or death to individual animals.
Georgie Fong1 month ago (edited)
The procedure is to be APPLY because they actually WANT MARES STERILIZED SO THE WHOLE POPULATION WILL GO EXTINCT !!!!!!!!!!ALSO THIS WILL GIVE JOBS !!!! to vets that support STEWART bill. too many horses, ???/ 82,000 but NOT ENOUGH CATTLE at 2 MILLIONS + and will be more CATTLE, cattle fee done down to 97 CENTS for one cow and calf and Millions of SHEEPS !!!!!!!!!!!. ALL LIES !!!!! to PROMOTE THEIR KILLING AGENDAS TO REMOVE WILD HORSE OFF OUR PUBLIC LAND….so don’t WASTE your TIME thinking at all.
BLM can dart via helicopter and has admitted it can be done.
Debra Lindsay McIntosh1 month ago
Why are you ADVOCATING the torture and eventual slaughter of these sentient beings ? Please do not bother spewing platitudes about how much BLM cares about the wild horses. We all know that is a lie. You all had better starting to think of a better story to explain your actions to your maker when you eventually stand before him. If you can’t even fool humans with your lies you sure aren’t going to fool the one who created those wonderful creatures in the first place.
Debra: It has been and remains the policy of the BLM not to sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter. You can learn more about the adoption and sales program here: https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/adoption-and-sales/sales-program
Debra Lindsay McIntosh1 month ago
I do not need to read your propaganda. It is obvious to anyone with a brain that the real interests the BLM protects are those of the big cattle owners. Less horses and burros equal more revenue from cattle growers. I resent the fact that cattle owners are allowed to graze their animals on government land. This should not be permitted.
Debra: The Code of Federal Regulations (43 CFR, Subpart 4700.0-6) states that “Wild horses and burros shall be considered comparably with other resource values in the formulation of land use plans.” This regulation means that in its development of land-use plans, the BLM will consider wild horses and burros in a manner similar to the way it treats other resource values (e.g., cultural, historic, wildlife, and scenic, as distinguished from authorized commercial land uses, such as livestock grazing or timber harvesting). That said, Livestock grazing on BLM-managed land has declined by 32 percent since 1971 (when Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act) — from 12.8 million Animal Unit Months (AUMs or forage units) to 8.7 million AUMs in 2016.
Debra Lindsay McIntosh1 month ago
Thank you for proving my point. If livestock grazing has declined by 32 % there is obviously also a parallel loss of revenue from cattle growers. Less mustangs, which do little for the BLM other than bleed resources means more as you put it authorized commercial land uses. Looks to me as though it’s a win/win for the BLM and a total loss for those mustangs which are considered expendable.
If this is indeed a safe procedure, you should have the surgery documented on television programs, to ease people’s minds and show them it is safe and effective.
onemanarmy36: Thanks for the note. We developed this video to specifically show everyone that this is a safe procedure. We want everyone to be able to see the full unedited procedure. The proposed procedure will follow an animal care and use protocol approved by Colorado State University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Licensed and experienced veterinarians will conduct the procedures. Mares will be sedated (standing) and receive local anesthesia and pain relief medication. The BLM will follow veterinarian guidance to ensure that the areas near surgeries are clean. To minimize the risk of infection, no external incisions will be made. Animals will be monitored after the procedure for signs of discomfort. Any mare showing signs of post-operative complications will receive treatment as recommended by a veterinarian.
This video shows HOW, but not WHY! It references range numbers that are pure fiction. The numbers are not even consistent with their own claims of fertility and removal year over year. The numbers are whatever the BLM and their rancher overseers want them to be. The BLM has no idea how many wild horses are on the range and refuses to commission an accurate population census. And cheaper than PZP? I would like to see that accounting.
John: Thanks for the question. In a June 2013 report, the National Academy of Sciences found that no highly effective, easily delivered and affordable fertility-control methods were currently available to manage wild horse and burro populations; the NAS urged the BLM to use better research tools. On March 6, 2014, BLM issued a public request for applications for research proposals “aimed at developing new or refining existing techniques and establishing protocols for the contraception or permanent sterilization of either male or female wild horses and/or burros in the field.” This project is one of those proposals. With regard to PZP, two versions of the PZP vaccine are currently in use. One version, known as Zonastat-H, is implemented through ground-darting programs and is only effective for approximately one year. The second version, known as PZP-22, is effective for 1-2 years but must be hand-injected into a captured wild horse. A majority of HMA’s across the west are extremely large (500,000+ acres), have limited access during late winter or early spring (when the vaccine should be applied to be effective), and do not have horses that are approachable by humans within 50 yards for darting of fertility control vaccine – this makes remote delivery (darting) of individual mares technically infeasible. Longer lasting formulations of PZP (PZP-22) have not proven effective at population growth suppression on a majority of HMAs where it has been applied. Annual gathering of the entire herd for application of fertility control vaccine is economically infeasible due to associated gather costs. In addition, repeated captures could increase the risk of injury or death to individual animals.
echoblack41 month ago (edited)
“Annual gathering of the entire herd for application of fertility control vaccine is economically infeasible due to associated gather costs. In addition, repeated captures could increase the risk of injury or death to individual animals.”
I am absolutely DISGUSTED by this! I cannot for the life of me understand how they believe this is at all acceptable with the public. Spaying is RARELY done to domestic mares AND when it is performed, it is not performed by an unguided ovariectomy via colpotomy NOR is it performed outside! As APHIS vet, Al Kane, has explained to the BLM’s Advisory Board a few years back on this procedure, there are many problems with spaying wild horses and it is not like spaying a cow. How in the hell does Leon Pielstick (BLM vet in the video, shown) think he has even somewhat of a sterile environment? What about the dust, wind, etc.? Done to a domestic mare, it is performed in a surgical suite at a vet hospital with a guided laparoscope. I think this video is a crock and the accompanied playing of guitar music to the Pielstick’s performance is ludicrous! This is a WASTE of taxpayer money and it should make ALL Americans question the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management’s policies, procedures, accounting, and use of tax payer money with regards to our country’s protected wild horses!
The BLM doesn’t give a rat’s A about what we the Public think and all they care about is reducing the herds w as little effort as possible. This is PROPAGANDA B.S. and needs to be stopped! TODAY!
Donna: Thanks for your comment. The proposed procedure will follow an animal care and use protocol approved by CSU’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Licensed and experienced veterinarians will conduct the procedures. Mares will be sedated (standing) and receive local anesthesia and pain relief medication. The BLM will follow veterinarian guidance to ensure that the areas near surgeries are clean. To minimize the risk of infection, no external incisions will be made. Animals will be monitored after the procedure for signs of discomfort. Any mare showing signs of post-operative complications will receive treatment as recommended by a veterinarian.
Barbara: Thanks for the note. Let’s tone down the language. The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management care deeply about the well-being of wild horses, both on and off the range, and it has been and remains the policy of the BLM not to sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter. Consequently, as noted in a report issued in October 2008, the Government Accountability Office found the BLM not in compliance with a December 2004 amendment (the so-called Burns Amendment to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act) that directs the Bureau to sell excess (unadopted or unsold) horses or burros “without limitation” to any willing buyer. Further information about the BLM’s sales program. View a sample bill of sale. The bill of sale, among other things, states that the buyer agrees not to process any of the sold horses or burros into commercial products, or to knowingly sell or transfer ownership to any person or organization whose intent is to commercially process the animals. On January 4, 2013, the BLM announced a policy stipulating that no more than four wild horses or burros may be bought by an individual or group within a six-month period without prior approval of the agency’s Assistant Director for Renewable Resources and Planning.
BLMORGON – you should admit that almost 2000 wild horses WERE sold to one rancher, who sold them to a kill buyer. That was just one rancher who was caught. Not that many people have the time and money to rescue a wild mustang. Let’s be honest and say that a lot, in the thousands, go to kill buyers. These wild horses are a symbol of American heritage. From the Spaniards, the pioneers, the Native American to the US Calvary, these ancestors of those horses deserve the protection of ALL Americans. They do not deserve to be loaded up and sent to Canada/Mexico to be slaughtered. They deserve more, they earned the right to be free on American lands.
Barry: Thanks for the note. The Bureau of Land Management did acknowledge this and take immediate action. We take very seriously the findings of the July 7, 2015, Department of the Interior Inspector General Report involving Mr. Davis and the events that occurred in 2012. In response to these events, the Bureau of Land Management immediately implemented a policy to ensure that horses were sold only to good homes, including limits of four horses over a six-month period to a single buyer. This policy has helped the Bureau of Land Management avoid situations similar to those involving Mr. Davis by ensuring that purchasers provide appropriate care and facilities for the animals. The Bureau of Land Management is continuing to improve the Wild Horse and Burro program and has recently initiated 21 research projects aimed at developing new tools for managing healthy horses and burros on healthy rangelands. The total lifetime cost for caring for an unadopted animal is $48,000. The Bureau of Land Management is committed to improving the health and management of wild horses and burros on federal lands in the West.
HERE! THAT’s ALL THE EDITING I’M DOING! THE SENTIMENT IS STILL THE SAME!
that’s a lie, you sold 12 fillies to Dave Duquette and 2 other members of Protect the Harvest. Dave Duquette works for the organization and the organization and their members are well known pro-slaughter people. When BLM stops prioritizing livestock we might believe that the agency cares about doing their job to protect the wild horses. The genetics are already on a downhill slide and this plan to sterilize mares will only hurry that path to extinction. And by the way, where is the research that has made these experiments “an established” procedure for wild horse mares?
Debra Lindsay McIntosh1 month ago
Barbara should tone down the language when YOU stop advocating for the torture and eventual slaughter of innocent, sentient beings you are supposed to exercise responsible stewardship over.
Debra: It has been and remains the policy of the BLM not to sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter.
I’m sure you have absolutely no problem with horse gelding. That is a barbaric procedure as well.
Was this the surgery you managed to do with Protect the Harvest Mr. Pielstick? After we stopped you from doing these illegal experiments on wild mares? YOU circumvented the law along with BLM and PTH to do the experiments on ‘property’ after the wild mares were sold to 3 members of PTH and lost their federal status as wildlife. This was because we pointed out that it was illegal to do these experiments on wildlife in an environment that is not sterile. This was wrong on every level and we’ll see you all in court, again. This is not management “at the minimum feasible level”. And it is NOT safe for pregnant mares you told me that yourself, as did the panel report given to BLM by USGS. We are not okay with you providing abortions by ripping the ovaries out of mares in blind surgical procedures, nevermind the post-surgical care that many will not have once released to the range. Many are likely to die, and based on our discussion about Sheldon you KNOW that. This video is pure propaganda…all to nice soothing music. Watch that mare wince and try to kick, and don’t expect anyone who knows a lick about horses to believe this is just a calm, pain-free surgery…that was discussed in the panel report as well. If anyone wants to follow the fight against this find us, Citizens Against Equine Slaughter on FB, or our website, we’re not letting BLM butcher our wild mares and kill their foals!
echoblack41 month ago (edited)
BLMOREGON: This is totally disgraceful and disgusting. You are trying to portrait an arcane, brutal procedure that is not used at all in domestic equines since it involves an inadmissible risk of death due to internal infection, evisceration or internal hemorrhage as if it were literally happy trails. This is apology of animal cruelty and barbarism plus a total disservice to the tax payers that pay your salaries. No mention at all is made that the immediate death rate of Leon Pielstick’s (the guy in the video) ovariectomy experiments is of 33%, that on domestic horses, and that that will surely climb to 80% or more on wild horses that are not going to receive any follow up post-operative care at all, including antibiotics, pain management drugs and a sling to prevent them from lyingforce them to abort because “you don’t want those babies anyways”, citing Pielstick textually. No mention at all is made to the fact that all the range numbers provided are totally false since you don’t have any census and don’t do counts. You simply limit yourself to assume that wild horse population doubles up each for years, magically, without any accounting of mortality rates. No mention at all is made that PZP works but BLM is steamrolling advocates that are currently using it to manage wild horses humanely in the range, like the Fish Springs herd in Nevada, where you colleagues are making false assertions, to force a round up and terminate the PZP program on in the Sand Wash Basin herd in Oregon (pst… it is your office). No mention is made that this video actually OMITS the worse parts of the procedure, including the mare reaction to pain and intense bleeding, and that it was shot in a way to obscure the procedure as much as possible. No mention at all is made to the fact this is all a sham so Pielstick can rake in at least $300 from our tax dollars, other expenses not included, per mare subjected to this monstrosity. Again, from a sworn witness of the workshop: «https://www.dropbox.com/s/28zqemjfzflbipz/Netherlands-Declaration-Spay-Workshop-Final.pdf?dl=0 «Dr. Pielstick stated that he was working on a BLM deal and that he would make a lot of money as he could do many surgeries in one day and he would charge 300 per horse.» So basically thousands of wild horses are going to die so Pielstick can make his “deal” for “a lot of money”. Frankly, Americans are tired of these self-styled “deal makers” who only know to plunder our resources and heritage so they can pad their pockets. And, to add insult to injury, you are now using tax dollars to do the PR dirty job of Pielstick and Brian Klippenstein, the infamous horse slaughter lobbyist from Protect the Harvest that was tapped as “animal welfare advisor” by the administration. If Pielstick, Klippenstein, Forrest Lucas and all the other horsemeat worshippers and anti-equine lobbyists want to publish propaganda on Youtube, that’s fine, as long as they pay for it from their own pockets and do it in their own channels correctly labeled so. But using US government funds, US government staff and US logos to peddle their sickening propaganda is the last straw. The US government should not be a K-Street PR firm for anti-animal zealots and ranching big-wigs.down and opening the rather large wound in the vagina… they will literally bleed to death. No mention at all is made that during 2015 Arizona workshop (which I think is where this video was taken) the mare that was subjected to the procedure (the one in the video) DIED shortly after the operation. Nor that the other three jennies (female burros) that were also subjected only survived after intensive veterinary care by animal advocates. Nor that the same experiments in the Sheldon Wild Horse Herd in Oregon were also totally disastrous with mares dying after the procedure and a total lack of follow up (eventually the few survivors were shipped to Mexico for slaughter…. ironic, as you and rep. Chris Stewart try to sell by duping people into believing this is the solution to “keep horses in the range”). No mention at all is made to the callous behavior of Pielstick during the workshop, with him making clear he knew the mare was going to die (by asking if it were of “value” to the owner, which wasn’t even present). Or that they are going to do this on pregnant mares to
Echoblack4: Thanks for the note. We would encourage you to send in these comments during the current comment period. A 30-day public comment period on the draft Environmental Assessment is open June 29 through July 30, 2018. All of the documents are available for your review here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage¤tPageId=158496
echoblack41 month ago (edited)
Nice canned response. I already commented on the scoping notice (see https://www.dropbox.com/s/qmnk84zplae310t/DOI-BLM-ORWA-B050-2018-0016-EA_comments_redacted.pdf?dl=0) and you basically ignored it. I am not surprised though. I know that you are probably just an intern or an external contractor hired to manage the social media accounts. Do yourself a favor and get a real job instead of making apology of animal abuse.
The BLM wants healthy wild horses and burros on healthy range lands. To achieve this condition, the BLM says it has to have only 27,000 wild horses and burros on the range, but it now it has 82,000. The 27,000 number has no precedence or validity and it is not based on scientific rangeland evaluation. The BLM now has 160 herd areas where horses or burros only are, or where horses and burros together are located. The geneticist for the BLM says a “minimum” of 150 to 200 horses or burros with 50 effective breeding animals are needed in a herd to have sufficient genetic diversity with a slow rate of loss. Less than this number will result in a loss of fecundity, inbreeding, and eventual herd collapse. If allowable numbers within herds are achieved totaling 27,000 animals, then 120 of the 151 horse herds and 30 of the 33 burro herds will have less than, most far less than 150 animals. Adding gelding and spaying to these herds will only weaken the genetic diversity and will further impede having healthy horses on healthy range lands. Gelding and spaying is not the answer. Decreasing the number of livestock as well as increasing the number of horses or burros allowed within the 27 million acres where they only can be, is the solution. Livestock are on 150 million of 245 million acres of BLM public land as well on some 90 million acres of 193 million acres of FS land. Within the 27 million acres where livestock as well as wild horses and burros are found, livestock produce a mere ½ of 1% of US meat though they consume 83% of the forge in these areas.
Bonnie: Thanks for the note. The removal of wild horses and burros from public rangelands is carried out to ensure rangeland health, in accordance with land-use plans that are developed in an open, public process. These land-use plans are the means by which the BLM carries out its core mission, which is to manage the land for multiple uses while protecting the land’s resources. Livestock grazing on BLM-managed land has declined by 32 percent since 1971 (when Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act) — from 12.8 million Animal Unit Months (AUMs or forage units) to 8.7 million AUMs in 2016. The Code of Federal Regulations (43 CFR, Subpart 4700.0-6) states that “Wild horses and burros shall be considered comparably with other resource values in the formulation of land use plans.” This regulation means that in its development of land-use plans, the BLM will consider wild horses and burros in a manner similar to the way it treats other resource values (e.g., cultural, historic, wildlife, and scenic, as distinguished from authorized commercial land uses, such as livestock grazing or timber harvesting).
And at the turn of the century, there were 2 million wild horses. A decline of what nearly 400%.
Debra Lindsay McIntosh1 month ago
Perhaps you can explain why there are any livestock whatsoever grazing on BLM managed land ? If you CHOOSE to go into an industry YOU should be responsible for where your industry operates. If I choose to become an accountant should I demand that the government allow me to use one of their office buildings ?
Val: Thanks for the comment, but this figure has no scientific basis. In a book titled The Mustangs (1952) by J. Frank Dobie, the historian noted that no scientific estimate of wild horse numbers was made in the 19th century or early 20th century. He went on to write: “All guessed numbers are mournful to history. My own guess is that at no time were there more than a million mustangs in Texas and no more than a million others scattered over the remainder of the West.” (Emphasis added.) Mr. Dobie’s admitted “guess” of no more than two million mustangs has over the years been transformed into an asserted or assumed “fact” that two million mustangs actually roamed America in the late 1800s/early 1900s. When Congress assigned the BLM (and the U.S. Forest Service) to manage wild horses and burros in 1971 — through passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act — the BLM’s population survey methods indicated a population of 17,300 wild horses and 8,045 burros (=25,345 total), as compared to the 2016 estimated population of 55,311 horses and 11,716 burros (=67,027 total).
Debra: During the era of homesteading, Western public rangelands were often overgrazed because of policies designed to promote the settlement of the West and a lack of understanding of how to care for these lands. In response to requests from Western ranchers, Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 (named after Rep. Edward Taylor of Colorado), which led to the creation of grazing districts. In these districts, grazing use was apportioned and regulated.At first, livestock management improved, which also slowed the degradation of public rangelands and improvement of watersheds. But during the 1960s and 1970s, the appreciation for public lands and expectations for their management changed. This shift in the approach to land management was made clear by such laws as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. As a result, the BLM also shifted from managing grazing in general. The agency began to improve the management or protection of specific rangeland resources such as riparian areas; threatened and endangered species; sensitive plant species; and cultural or historical objects. Consistent with this enhanced role, the BLM developed or modified the terms and conditions of grazing permits and leases. The agency also implemented new range improvement projects to address specific resource issues.
Debra Lindsay McIntosh1 month ago
Well done BLM. You have managed to cut and paste your way around my question. You have done a great job of patting yourselves on the back and pontificating on what a great job you have done. It looks like the losers here are and will continue to be animals such as that little filly in the video which DIED after being tortured by a BLM endorsed vet who brags how much money he will be making by charging $300/surgery and how many surgeries he can do in a day. Sleep well knowing full well what torture ( such as ripping out ovaries without any form of guidance )your sadistic vets with their years and years of experience are inflicting on sentient beings. As long as they and you are making money, why should you care ?
Barbara Turner1 month ago (edited)
I HOPE HE BREAKS HIS FRKING HANDS AND ONE OF THEM KICKS THE LIVING S OUT OF HIM!
The castration of male horse’s is less intrusive, and surgically easier, and with less complications than sterilization of mares. It has nothing to do with double standards….
REPLY
Onemanarmy….Lighten up, Francis!! Testicles are more easily accessible than ovaries!! It’s nothing personal. Just a anatomical reality. They’re not your Ball’s!! Relax!!
I feel castration of males would be an easier, and more time efficient manner to the same ends…
Terrie: Thanks for the comment. BLM has mainly relied on a female-based contraception and sterilization approach because there is a direct relationship between the number of fertile females and the number of foals. Each adult mare typically has a foal every year or every other year. Every year that a mare is successfully contracepted translates to approximately one less foal being born. Permanently sterilized mares would be prevented from giving birth to many foals over their lifetime.BLM has operated on the assumption that relying on gelding or vasectomy would be a risky strategy for controlling population growth. Because horses can be promiscuous, with harems, single stallions can impregnate many mares. Also, it can happen that many stallions breed any one mare. Mares that do not become pregnant will continue to cycle every 3 weeks for several months in the breeding season. Fertile mares may mate with bachelor or other stallions, and may leave their social group in search of mating opportunities. With vasectomy or gelding, there is little to no expected reduction in growth rates until a critical threshold in the percentage of stallions treated has been reached – although this exact number is unknown, according to one peer-reviewed research paper, 80% or more of stallions may need to be treated in order to stabilize wild horse populations. Logistically and financially, this is not practical. In one well-studied herd, about 14% of stallions with a harem were 4 years old or less when they first held their harem. Therefore, to reliably prevent males from impregnating mares, BLM would need to conduct gathers every 3 years just to geld or vasectomize nearly all the young males.
Why are you ok with that? You females are disgusting. Total double standard. Why is it ok to mutilate the males but not the females?
onemanarmy36: Thanks for the note. Again, the reason is that BLM has mainly relied on a female-based contraception and sterilization approach because there is a direct relationship between the number of fertile females and the number of foals. Each adult mare typically has a foal every year or every other year. Every year that a mare is successfully contracepted translates to approximately one less foal being born. Permanently sterilized mares would be prevented from giving birth to many foals over their lifetime.BLM has operated on the assumption that relying on gelding or vasectomy would be a risky strategy for controlling population growth. Because horses can be promiscuous, with harems, single stallions can impregnate many mares. Also, it can happen that many stallions breed any one mare. Mares that do not become pregnant will continue to cycle every 3 weeks for several months in the breeding season. Fertile mares may mate with bachelor or other stallions, and may leave their social group in search of mating opportunities. With vasectomy or gelding, there is little to no expected reduction in growth rates until a critical threshold in the percentage of stallions treated has been reached – although this exact number is unknown, according to one peer-reviewed research paper, 80% or more of stallions may need to be treated in order to stabilize wild horse populations. Logistically and financially, this is not practical. In one well-studied herd, about 14% of stallions with a harem were 4 years old or less when they first held their harem. Therefore, to reliably prevent males from impregnating mares, BLM would need to conduct gathers every 3 years just to geld or vasectomize nearly all the young males.
All the soft music and gentle narrative tones in the world cannot make this horrendous procedure acceptable by any means. It is not considered safe, even for domestic horses under the utmost care, as documented in both the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report and from previous lethal “experiments.” For wild horses and burros, who are unused to human handling, the stress alone will cause complications. The video talks about anesthesia, antibiotics, pre and post op care, etc., NONE of which are included in the plans for the sterilization of wild horse mares on the range in the future. PZP fertility control is inexpensive, and effective in the herds where it has been allowed. The cost of sterilization is monumental compared to the humane fertility control, PZP. ASK the National BLM (local BLM office is cooperative and working with volunteer advocates) WHY they are planning a roundup in a few weeks of the much beloved Fish Springs herd, documented by the Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates on their Facebook page and website. This herd has their population controlled by a PZP partnership that costs the government and taxpayers NOTHING! The BLM will give you some bogus answer instead of the real answer –> that they want to get rid of the successful PZP programs and their herds so we cannot point to them to show it works.
This poor excuse of a Veterinarian should lose his license. There is a reason this antiquated process is not an acceptable modern Veterinary procedure. It is archaic. That 2 year old filly reacted to his forceful thrusting, BLM can deny it all they want. I notice they stress the filly was “sold.” No doubt to the Right Wing Protect The Harvest who is now entering these victims in Spayed Futurity Races. This is abhorrent BLM, you’ve lost your way. Shame on Pielstick, shame on Forest Lucas and shame on BLM. Boycott Beef! This is nothing more than Corporate Cattlemen abuse.
The federal government owns millions of acreage there is plenty of land to allow these horses to roam free. There is no reason to sell these horses to rodeos or kill buyers. We should have an agency that protects these horses, not herd them up using helicopters. It was reported that the BLM has more horse in captivity than running wild.
Barry Smith these feral horses destroy habitat that is needed for native wild animals and is also used for useful animals such as cattle. Horses belong in captivity or in their native range. Letting these horses continue to roam free and destroy sage grouse and mule deer habitat is equivalent to wild hogs in california wine country or Asian carp in southern rivers. There is really no good reason to keep them other than horse lovers think they are pretty. Native plants and wildlife are much more valuable.
Barry: Thanks for the comment. No specific amount of acreage was “set aside” for the exclusive or principal use by wild horses and burros under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The Act directed the BLM to determine the areas where horses and burros were found roaming and to manage them “in a manner that is designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands.” The law also stipulated in Section 1339 that “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the [Interior] Secretary to relocate wild free-roaming horses or burros to areas of the public lands where they do not presently exist.” Of the 22.2 million acres no longer managed for wild horse and burro use:6.7 million acres were never under BLM management. Of the 15.5 million other acres of land under BLM management: 48.6 percent (7,522,100 acres) were intermingled (“checkerboard”) land ownerships or areas where water was not owned or controlled by the BLM, which made management infeasible; 13.5 percent (2,091,709 acres) were lands transferred out of the BLM’s ownership to other agencies, both Federal and state through legislation or exchange; 10.6 percent (1,645,758 acres) were lands where there were substantial conflicts with other resource values (such as the need to protect habitat for desert tortoise); 9.7 percent (1,512,179 acres) were lands removed from wild horse and burro use through court decisions; urban expansion; highway fencing (causing habitat fragmentation); and land withdrawals; 9.6 percent (1,485,068 acres) were lands where no BLM animals were present at the time of the passage of the 1971 Act or places where all animals were claimed as private property. These lands in future land-use plans will be subtracted from the BLM totals as they should never have been designated as lands where herds were found roaming; and 8.0 percent (1,240,894 acres) were lands where a critical habitat component (such as winter range) was missing, making the land unsuitable for wild horse and burro use, or areas that had too few animals to allow for effective management.
Our horses are native wildlife. Cows belong in Asia, and horses do not destroy sage grouse habitat or the sage grouse would have gone extinct at the turn of the century when we had 2 million horses roaming the lands.
Excuse me the WFRHBA DOES say that those lands where the horses were found in 1971 were to be managed principally for wild horses. Not exclusively but principally, so why are almost everyone one of them managed principally for livestock? We all know that the overpopulation of livestock is the real issue, the real culprit of land and critical habitat degradation so give up the propaganda speeches. When you speak of the 15.5 other acres I would like to know: the legal premise that allowed the removal of those lands from the wild horse and burro program, why if it was due to checkerboard land swaps were not made or fences on private lands leaving enough room for a horse to go from public area to public area, why winter range was not added to an HA where it was mistakenly left off, what the legal basis was allowing you to sell or exchange land designated for wild horses or burros, how an area that had a herd became a herd so small there were too few animals for effective management, especially when you look at the Riddle HMA which is only 33 horses, and many others like it where you supplement genetics by adding horses from other herds and please explain how wild horses are a problem for the desert tortoise or sage grouse when there was not a problem before all the special interest industries started taking over and wreaking havoc on our lands and waters? Please provide answers to these questions if you expect anyone to take you seriously because right now all I see is twisting of facts, excuses to get rid of horses, serious mismanagement and illegal activities.
Val: Thanks for the comment, but this claim is false. The disappearance of the horse from the Western Hemisphere for 10,000 years supports the position that today’s American wild horses should not be considered “native.” American wild horses are descended from domestic horses, some of which were brought over by European explorers in the late 15th and 16th centuries, plus others that were released or escaped captivity in modern times. Over this 500-year period, these horses (and burros) have adapted successfully to the Western range. Regardless of the debate over whether these animals are native or non-native, the BLM manages horses and burros on public lands according to the provisions of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which describes the animals as “wild” rather than feral.
Val: The law’s language stating that public ranges where wild horses and burros were found roaming in 1971 may be managed “principally but not necessarily exclusively” for the welfare of these animals refers to the Interior Secretary’s power to “designate and maintain specific ranges on public lands as sanctuaries for their protection and preservation” — which are, thus far, the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range (in Montana and Wyoming), the Nevada Wild Horse Range (located within the northcentral portion of Nellis Air Force Range), the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range (in Colorado), and the Marietta Wild Burro Range (in Nevada). The “principally but not necessarily exclusively” language applies to specific Wild Horse Ranges, not to Herd Management Areas in general. The Code of Federal Regulations (43 CFR, Subpart 4710.3-2) states: “Herd management areas may also be designated as wild horse or burro ranges to be managed principally, but not necessarily exclusively, for wild horse or burro herds.”
Again, the target is females. Since the animals have to be captured to do this, why not castrate instead. Seems to me it’s less invasive – Anyway, this method seems dangerous to be for each mare that is later turned out. But I will say it’s much kinder than the alternative considered SLAUGHTER. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD SLAUGHTER EVER BE CONSIDERED FOR OUR WILD HORSES. But then, will this sterilization be so overdone that the wild horses will eventually be “fixed” out of existence????
Heidi: Thanks for the question. BLM has mainly relied on a female-based contraception and sterilization approach because there is a direct relationship between the number of fertile females and the number of foals. Each adult mare typically has a foal every year or every other year. Every year that a mare is successfully contracepted translates to approximately one less foal being born. Permanently sterilized mares would be prevented from giving birth to many foals over their lifetime.BLM has operated on the assumption that relying on gelding or vasectomy would be a risky strategy for controlling population growth. Because horses can be promiscuous, with harems, single stallions can impregnate many mares. Also, it can happen that many stallions breed any one mare. Mares that do not become pregnant will continue to cycle every 3 weeks for several months in the breeding season. Fertile mares may mate with bachelor or other stallions, and may leave their social group in search of mating opportunities. With vasectomy or gelding, there is little to no expected reduction in growth rates until a critical threshold in the percentage of stallions treated has been reached – although this exact number is unknown, according to one peer-reviewed research paper, 80% or more of stallions may need to be treated in order to stabilize wild horse populations. Logistically and financially, this is not practical. In one well-studied herd, about 14% of stallions with a harem were 4 years old or less when they first held their harem. Therefore, to reliably prevent males from impregnating mares, BLM would need to conduct gathers every 3 years just to geld or vasectomize nearly all the young males.
I understand much of the breeding cycles of male/female horses and am still not clear about intrusive, clearly dangerous sterilization of mares versus the easier gelding methods. I understand the young colts, etc. Where I remain unclear is that mares take years to reproduce some foals over their lifetimes. But males can spread to many, many mares and, in fact, do just that. Then the colts grow up and seek bands of their own. To me, gelding as many males (or using good breeding judgment rules), geld as many males as possible. Then treat mares of the larger bands with birth control meds and repeat. The same holds true here, I think, than if you have repeat gathers of young foal mares. Just whatever happens, our horses under NO CONDITIOn should be slaughtered. That is the thing of Annie’s years ago. We’ve won the protection for our horses and I just don’t see it happening. It’s like the “Connecticut Horse Park yuck yuck) – protection for our horses is forever talked about, but the reality is nothing of the sort. We should not have to keep playing the same record over and over again. For that matter, and the ecology of the lands, it is being kept by the government for the public. I want the horses there! I don’t want to keep so many cattle. These ranchers don’t own it and are getting pretty much a free ride at the expense of the horses, lets face reality. It is now 2018 and how far has this come??? Broken record and insane expenses and pain, terror and more terror to the horses.
Heidi: Thanks for the comment. The 2016 on-range population of wild horses and burros (approximately 67,000) is two-and-a-half times greater than the number found roaming in 1971 (about 25,300). The BLM is seeking to achieve the Appropriate Management Level of 26,715 wild horses and burros on Western public rangelands, or about 40,000 fewer than the current West-wide on-range population. The BLM monitors the genetic diversity of each herd through collection of hair samples during gather operations. Under an assistance agreement, Dr. Gus Cothran of Texas A&M University analyzes the samples and reports to the BLM his recommendations for specific herds.Beyond that, it is important to note that it has been and remains the policy of the BLM not to sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter.
I thank you so much for your response and that means quite a lot in itself. One thing I simply have to say about BLM — does the name Davis mean anything? That entire history of this slaughter proponent with BLM is a total disgrace and one massive black eye on BLM. There are other cases. It is widely known that certain individuals in BLM looked the other way many times and they were caught and never fired or disciplined. While I understand the difficulty of some BLM’s maintenance of the wild horses not to mention costs, there have been cases of wealthy individuals wishing to maintain sanctuaries etc. for horses. No consideration given. I do believe that government succeeds ever so sloooowwly if at all in most issues – one needs only to consider a safety situation of our ridiculous immigration situation which should have been stopped years and years ago. Now that the flood is occurring, there are those that benefit financially from them and it’s a major battle. But that’s beside the point — fact is, the grazing lands are given to the ranchers and the horses have to fight on poorer grazing and erosion and destruction are blamed on them when, in fact, cattle are super destructive in the numbers concerned. Frankly, we should not be as free and easy about ranging cattle as we are – those ranchers are better off financially that most any of us. Thanks for your detailed responses and I do wish there were easier solutions for all concerned.
Heidi: Yes. The Bureau of Land Management did acknowledge the issues with Mr. David and take immediate action. We take very seriously the findings of the July 7, 2015, Department of the Interior Inspector General Report involving Mr. Davis and the events that occurred in 2012. In response to these events, the Bureau of Land Management immediately implemented a policy to ensure that horses were sold only to good homes, including limits of four horses over a six-month period to a single buyer. This policy has helped the Bureau of Land Management avoid situations similar to those involving Mr. Davis by ensuring that purchasers provide appropriate care and facilities for the animals. The Bureau of Land Management is continuing to improve the Wild Horse and Burro program and has recently initiated 21 research projects aimed at developing new tools for managing healthy horses and burros on healthy rangelands. The total lifetime cost for caring for an unadopted animal is $48,000. The Bureau of Land Management is committed to improving the health and management of wild horses and burros on federal lands in the West.
Thank you – I know much about the Davis thing and wrote frequently about the matter in the Examiner.com and other papers, including the “misdeeds” of the then-Secretary — I will keep aware of all that BLM may and hopes to accomplish.
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
What “comments” is the BLM referring to(certainly not the ones from wild horse advocates). I cannot look at that video (watched one a while ago) & see the abuse done by that so-called veterinarian! It makes me so furious to think that the BLM believes itself to be so righteous (?) that it was put on U-tube! How could anyone of any mindset think that is anything other than abuse of a wild animal? Right up there with the coyote derbies & shooting of wolves from aircraft & killing of bears & cubs in their den! It seems there is some contest to see which brutal, inhumane action goes the farthest! Really – is this what our government wants our country to be known for? That appears to be the road we are going down currently.
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Burns, Oregon, Rob Sharp, BLM facility manager.
In January [2012], the manager of the BLM agency’s corral in Burns, Oregon, Rob Sharp emailed his superiors in Washington, D.C., to ask what to do with 29 mares, almost all of which were pregnant. [Sally] Spencer replied that [Tom] “Davis would take them.”
I think we all know where those wild horses and about 1700 others went…
In addition, Rob Sharp was the COR for the wild horse trapping in Oregon where it is documented that about 50 of our wild Murderer’s Creek wild horses “disappeared” after being trapped, i.e. they were trapped but never made it to the BLM holding facility.
THIS SAME BLM EMPLOYEE IS STILL IN CHARGE OF OUR OREGON WILD HORSES AND BURROS TODAY!
https://prophoto7journal.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/199-dead-wild-horses-29-mysteriously-disappear-blm-and-welfare-ranchers-criminal-activity-requires-scrutiny-by-government-legal-agencies/
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I commented as soon as I got word of the video. I don’t see my comment there now.
All DOCUMENTED/FACTUAL data has been removed
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Pure and simple BS! Do they really think we are ALL idiots! This procedure is very very dangerous., but just like Donald Trump they live in their own World.removed from reality! When I told my vet that this what they were doing he was speechless.and appaulled! Any way to file an injunction against this? A bunch of liers! While we pay their.salaries to perform Frankenstein experiments!.Just.disgusting!.
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https://rtfitchauthor.com/2018/08/08/breaking-news-csu-withdraws-from-blms-gruesome-sterilization-study-of-wild-mares/
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How sad to read how responsible the BLM has been in responding “immediately” the to Salazar/Davis felonies, when no prosecutions have happened even to today. And this: the BLM’s recent winding back of those vaunted responses, so that captured wild horses can be bought in lots of 24 — no questions asked, it seems — and as many times as a buyer wishes. This was changed internally, at a whim, so they cannot and should not be allowed to weasel out of their former (and better) response to public outrage.
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What Is The Value Of An American Wild Horse?
What is a wild horse worth? I would respond to those with love in their hearts; the sum is beyond quantification.
To those who render meat? An 800-pound horse is worth ~$160.00 (20-cents per pound wholesale).
To those who have vision; each wild horse is worth at least $72,000.00.
http://www.myoutdoorbuddy.com/articles/133925/what-is-the-value-of-an-american-wild-horse?.php
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Watching the video, I felt like I was in Nazi Germany watching a death camp doctor do experimental surgery on a young female captive, knowing that she died under their care soon after.
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