Overpopulation and Protection: Not What You Think They Are

Here are today’s headlines in Bing for wild horses:

The original news release is #4 in the list.

Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not more horses than the land can support.

Your faithful public servants typically assign 80% of the authorized forage to privately owned livestock, so the population targets for wild horses are low relative to the available resources.

Telling the truth—that they’re getting rid of the horses to help the ranchers, who pay almost nothing for the forage they consume and the services rendered on their behalf by the government—might shift public opinion.

Protection is a codeword for wild horse removal, by long-term use of ovary-killing pesticides (preferred by the advocates) or by motorized equipment (preferred by hunters, ranchers and bureaucrats).

The difference is recovery: Helicopters don’t sterilize mares, destroy breeding populations and eliminate genetic mixing.

Are you surprised that the advocates favor the greater of two evils?

RELATED: Sulphur Roundup Announced.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Chincoteague Filly Ends Two-Month Dry Spell

No new foals have been born since the pony swim and auction but the count increased from 88 to 89 at the end of September.

Last year’s record was 103.

You might think that genetic diversity is good but most of the foals are sold after the swim, leaving only a handful to replace the horses that died.

PREVIOUS: Chincoteague Pony Auction Falls Short of Last Year.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Sulphur Roundup Announced

The news release was published on the day the incident was set to begin.

The capture and removal goals are 300 each.

The target is horses.

The pre-gather population is thought to be 560.

A helicopter will push the horses into the traps.

The contractor is Cattoor and the contract amount is $287,650.

The unit cost is $959 per animal captured, at the high end of the pay scale.

The area will be closed to the public except for observers escorted by BLM staff.

Captured animals will be taken to the Sutherland off-range corrals.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control and return them to the range, which would prolong the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

PREVIOUS: Sulphur Roundup Pending, Hola FY27.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Foal-Free Friday, Breaking the Mold Edition

Which option sterilizes the mares, destroys the breeding populations and stops genetic mixing?  Which one do the advocates prefer?  Hint: It’s a dead end for wild horses.

Why aren’t there any buttons for

  • Managing HMAs principally for wild horses
  • Restoring HAs and managing them principally for wild horses
  • Purging the bureaucracies of ranchers and ranching sympathizers
  • Purging the advocacy groups of ranchers and ranching sympathizers
  • Zeroing out allotments and converting them to wild horse preserves
  • Purchasing base properties and flipping the preference to wild horses

Stop listening to the broken record.  The advocates have nothing to offer America’s wild horses.

PREVIOUS: Foal-Free Friday, Indulging Their Obsession Edition.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

NDA Sends 11 Virginia Range Mustangs to California Auction?

That’s the allegation in a complaint filed on behalf of Skydog Sanctuary according to a story by KLAS News.

Two bands of wild horses identified in a kill pen were rescued days before they were set to ship out of state.

  • A stallion and seven mares
  • A stallion and two mares

No foals were reported.

The case was brought by the disgraced former leader of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses and kingpin of the Virginia Range darting program.

That’s why there are no foals.

How were they able to identify the horses?

Through their darting database.

The advocates want you to think they’re the good guys but nobody’s getting rid of more wild horses except for the federal government.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Jackson Mountains Aftermath

The pre-gather population was almost 700 and the roundup removed 500, leaving around 200 to repopulate the area.

Q. Did the helicopter sterilize any mares?

A. No, fertility control programs do that.

Q. Was the breeding population destroyed?

A. No, fertility control programs do that.

Q. Did the roundup stop genetic mixing?

A. No, fertility control programs do that.

Q. Did the incident attract women?

A. No, fertility control programs do that.

Q. Did the contractor create a genetic bottleneck with no possibility of recovery?

A. No, fertility control programs do that.

Q. Why do the advocates strongly support fertility control?

A. They want the ranchers to win.

PREVIOUS: Jackson Mountains Roundup Ends, Adios FY26.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Jackson Mountains Roundup Ends, Adios FY26

The incident concluded on September 28 with 505 horses captured, 497 shipped, one released and seven dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals.

The daily reports yielded 506 captured and 498 shipped.

There is a math error in the final day’s results:

The death rate was 1.4%.  All deaths were intentional.

The capture total included 210 stallions, 197 mares and 99 foals according to the daily reports.

Youngsters represented 19.6% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of 14% to 15% per year.

No mares were treated with fertility control and returned to the HMA.

The roundup liberated 6,060 AUMs per year for other mandated uses of public lands.

The pre-gather population was almost 700 and the roundup removed 500, leaving around 200 to repopulate the area.

The herd should recover from the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

This was the last scheduled roundup of FY26.

RELATED: Jackson Mountains Roundup Announced, No Lead Time.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

RTF Praises Fertility Control ‘Investment’

The Roundtable participant and signatory to the “Path Forward,” a 2019 plan for ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses (sometimes referred to as achieving and maintaining AMLs), said yesterday in a news release that it will keep pressing for greater action to keep herds on public lands—without acknowledging that long-term use of fertility control leads to permanent infertility, loss of genetic diversity and herd collapse.

To date there has been no discussion of what the USDA had in mind when it authorized the $30 million expenditure.

Why would it want the money spent on PZP, favored overwhelmingly by the advocates, when it produces GonaCon?

RELATED: Sustained Fertility Control: Dead End for Wild Horses.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Issues Cedar Mountain Final DNA

Four documents have been added to the project folder.

The DNA Worksheet asserts that a 2022 EA fully covers the Proposed Action, which is to remove up to 500 wild horses from the HMA, and constitutes the agency’s compliance with the requirements of the NEPA.

The Decision Record said the incident would begin on or after November 1.

The news release is silent about permitted grazing and forage allocations in the HMA.

PREVIOUS: Cedar Mountain DNA Out for Review.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Sand Wash Roundup Ends

The incident concluded on September 26 with 301 horses captured, 245 shipped, 55 released and no deaths.

There was one unaccounted-for animal:

301 – 245 – 55 – 0 = 1

The capture total included 132 stallions, 130 mares and 39 foals.

The daily reports yielded 133, 129 and 39.

Youngsters represented 13% of the animals gathered, enough to support a herd growth rate of seven to eight percent per year.

Of the horses released, 60% were stallions and 40% were mares, an attempt to skew the sex ratio in favor of males and prolong the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

Recovery will be further delayed by the advocates and their darting program.

The roundup liberated 2,952 AUMs per year for other mandated uses of public lands.

RELATED: Sand Wash Roundup Announced.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Jackson Mountains Roundup, Day 7

The incident started on September 20.  Results through September 26:

  • FY: 2026
  • Scope: Jackson Mountains HMA
  • Target: Horses
  • AML: 217
  • Pre-gather population: 679
  • Type: Planned
  • Contractor: Warner
  • Contract amount: $303,630
  • Unit cost: $607
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
  • Better way: Stop the transmission of life with PZP (according to advocates)
  • Capture goal: 500
  • Removal goal: 500
  • Captured: 388, up from 304 on Day 5
  • Shipped: 380, up from 296 on Day 5
  • Released: 1, no change from Day 5
  • Deaths: 7, no change from Day 5
  • Average daily take: 55.4
  • Unaccounted-for animals: 0
  • Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
  • Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The death rate is 1.8%.

The capture total includes 154 stallions, 158 mares and 76 foals.

Youngsters represented 19.6% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 49.4% were male and 50.6% were female.

Body condition scores on Days 6 and 7 ranged from 2 to 4.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control and return them to the range, a method that would prolong the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

  • Forage: 4,644 AUMs per year
  • Water: 3,870 gallons per day

Public lands within five miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding facilities are closed to the public for the duration of the roundup, with the exception of observers escorted by BLM staff.

PREVIOUS: Jackson Mountains Roundup, Day 5.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Sustained Fertility Control: Dead End for Wild Horses

Would you be surprised if a manufacturer of antiparasitics sounds the alarm about a threat to the nation’s beef supply when a solution is in the final stages of development?

Consider a September 15 guest column in the Mesa Valleys Progress, submitted in response to a previous column about wild horses in Nevada and written by one of the participants in the secretive Wild Horse and Burro Roundtable.

Addressing Nevada’s wild horse population requires scientifically defensible population objectives, honest examination of livestock forage allocations, sustained fertility control, protection of genetically viable herds, and replacement of routine helicopter roundups with humane, on-range management strategies.

On-range management is a codeword for fertility control, the subject of the roundtable.

The technique interferes with genetic mixing, the source of genetic diversity.

Harder to find than an honest advocate.

Sustained fertility control is continual application of PZP, an ovary-killing pesticide that gradually creates genetic bottlenecks with no possibility of recovery.

The Salt River is one example.  The only way to save the herd is to bring in mares from other areas.

Why didn’t the writer address these issues?

  • Managing HMAs principally for wild horses
  • Restoring HAs and managing them principally for wild horses
  • Purging the bureaucracies of ranchers and ranching sympathizers
  • Zeroing out allotments and converting them to wild horse preserves
  • Purchasing base properties and converting the preference to wild horses

It’s unlikely that he would have taken a different approach if his NGO was not involved in the roundtable.

They are already predisposed to the idea, evident in the mass sterilization program on the Virginia Range, the largest attempted eradication of wild horses in Nevada.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Sand Wash Roundup, Day 7

The incident started on September 19.  Results through September 25:

  • FY: 2026
  • Scope: Sand Wash Basin HMA
  • Target: Horses
  • AML: 362
  • Pre-gather population: 505
  • Type: Planned
  • Contractor: Cattoor
  • Contract amount: $222,590
  • Unit cost: $742
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
  • Better way: Destroy the breeding population with PZP (according to advocates)
  • Capture goal: 300
  • Removal goal: 245
  • Captured: 301, up from 152 on Day 5
  • Shipped: 215, up from 119 on Day 5
  • Released: None
  • Deaths: None
  • Average daily take: 43.0
  • Unaccounted-for animals: 86
  • Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
  • Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The incident can’t be marked complete with 86 unaccounted-for animals, contrary to a statement at the gather page.

The capture total includes 134 stallions, 129 mares and 38 foals.  The gather page says 133, 130 and 38.

Youngsters represented 12.6% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 51.0% were male and 49.0% were female.

Body condition scores on Days 6 and 7 ranged from 4 to 5.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Up to 55 horses will be returned to the area, including 22 mares treated with fertility control.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.  Resources liberated to date:

  • Forage: 3,612 AUMs per year
  • Water: 3,010 gallons per day

Public lands within two miles of active trapping locations and temporary holding facilities are closed to the public for the duration of the roundup.

PREVIOUS: Sand Wash Roundup, Day 5.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.