The news release solicits public input but does not indicate for what.
Alternative A, the Proposed Action, features forcible removal to low AML, sex ratio skewing and application of fertility control pesticides. Refer to section 2.4.
Why would Larry Don Suckla, a Colorado Republican, be so interested in a bill crafted by liberals, signing on as a cosponsor?
Because he runs cattle in Gypsum Valleys, a short distance from the Spring Creek Basin HMA.
The bill, if signed into law, would help the state buy pesticides to beat the horse populations down in favor of livestock.
The allotment master report puts Gypsum Valleys in the Improve category, suggesting that your stewards of the public lands are not taking their responsibilities seriously.
The allotment offers 1,777 active AUMs on 41,187 public acres, equivalent to 3.6 wild horses per thousand public acres.
The target stocking rate across all HMAs is one wild horse per thousand acres.
Above that, rangeland health will suffer according to your faithful public servants.
Yet they allow almost four times as many animals per public acre in Gypsum Valleys, another example of management duplicity.
We have one standard for wild horses and another standard for livestock.
As for Suckla, he’s probably sending Christmas cards and birthday greetings to TJ Holmes, the rangeland eugenicist at Spring Creek Basin.
The population climbed to 83 in March, up from 79 a year earlier, according to an undated report by NPS.
The number of births and deaths were not given.
Females outnumbered males by a margin of 1.4:1.
A population with that sex ratio should produce many more foals but it can’t because the mares have been ruined with PZP.
Contrary to a statement in the report, the herd cannot maintain genetic diversity because the breeding population is too small. Refer to 4.4.6.3 in H-4700-1.
Genetic diversity and long-term viability correlate with birth rates, not herd sizes as the advocates would have you believe.
This column has always been dedicated to the wild horse advocates, who are wrong about everything, especially the importance of reproduction to herd survival.
How can you start a nonprofit and attract a large following yet be so out of touch?
As a gentle reminder of their errors, add comments to their socialist media pages about the consequences of their darting programs, such as abnormal sex ratios, injuries and infections, increasing death rates and loss of genetic diversity.
Links to anything on Western Horse Watchers would be most unwelcome.
It won’t change their minds but it might dissuade others from joining their movement.
Breeding, not mass sterilization, assures long-term viability.
In the latest incident, the Decision Record, which may have been issued after the fact, says “The stallion was recently corralled on private property after commingling with, and exhibiting aggressive behavior toward, domestic horses and the individual attempting to corral the stallion. With landowner permission, the BLM retrieved the horse and transported it to the BLM corrals at Britton Springs within the Pryor Mountain HMA.”
The project description says the Proposed Action is to remove one wild horse from private lands but the news release says the agency retrieved him and took him to the corrals at Britton Springs, as if it’s a done deal.
He strayed from the HMA twice within a 12-day period, resulting in complaints from private landowners.
The incident follows the removal of three wayward horses in December.
The product may break the cycle of mother bears teaching their cubs to break into houses according to a report by the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
In keeping with established practice, the article refers to it as a vaccine, not a pesticide.
It’s not clear if the writer consulted with the wild horse advocates, who use it to stop mares from teaching their foals to survive in the desert.
The story pointed to MOUs with departments of agriculture in Arizona and Nevada, a reference to the mass sterilization programs at the Salt River and Virginia Range, showing that partnerships with state agencies are possible.
Curiously, a representative of the Billings School of PZP Darting and Public Deception said the advocates weren’t trying to decrease the population of black bears, just prevent them from teaching their cubs to break in.
There is a problem with their plan, however: PZP is not approved for use on bears.
So not only will the advocates at Lake Tahoe need to get certified at Billings, but they’ll also need to convince the EPA that the pesticide is suitable for bears.
Grazing receipts = 18,075 × $1.69 = $30,546.75 per year
Cost of caring for wild horses = 1,506 × $6 × 365 = $3,298,140 per year
Cash flow = $30,546.75 – $3,298,140 = -$3,267,593.25 per year
B. Convert to Wild Horse Preserve
Grazing receipts = $0 per year
Cost of caring for wild horses = $0 per year
Cash flow = $0 per year
Option B saves taxpayers over $3 million per year.
At an average stocking rate of five wild horses per thousand public acres, which is the case for the Uintah allotments, the 21,000 animals in short-term holding could be put back on the range by cancelling the permits on 4.2 million acres—less than 3% of the BLM land identified for livestock grazing.
The case revolves around the BLM’s new understanding of the meaning of livestock, discussed in a January 16 proposed decision that would cancel American Prairie’s grazing permits.
The agency says it can only issue permits for production herds, not conservation herds.
The decision would also frustrate those who would purchase base properties to establish wild horse preserves on public lands.
Western Horse Watchers Association 