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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Two documents have been copied to the project folder.
The DNA asserts that a 2023 EA covers the Proposed Action, which is to capture and remove an unspecified number of wild horses to reach the low AML of 612.
The project area includes 604,380 acres of public lands outside the HMA.
Comments are due by October 25 according to the news release.
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 2.3%.
The capture total includes 119 stallions, 127 mares and 58 foals.
Youngsters represented 19.1% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 48.4% were male and 51.6% were female.
Body condition scores on Days 4 and 5 ranged from 2 to 3.
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 technique that prolongs genetic bottlenecks created by roundups.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:
Forage: 3,636 AUMs per year
Water: 3,030 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.
Dangling $30 million for fertility control in front of wild horse advocates, as was done earlier this week at the Wild Horse and Burro Roundtable, is like parading cases of whiskey in front of alcoholics.
Don’t be surprised if they come out in favor of helicopter roundups, the cornerstone of catch-treat-release.
Fertility control is a dead end for wild horses, resulting in permanent infertility, loss of genetic diversity and herd collapse.
The agency is taking urgent actions to protect wild horses and burros from extreme overpopulation and widespread drought according to the news release.
The current population exceeds 3X AML.
That means more horses and burros than allowed by plan, not necessarily more animals than the land can support.
If the photo in the news release showing degraded rangeland was taken in Riddle Mountain, it was also taken in the Burnt Flat Allotment, which contains the HMA.
Your faithful public servants decide how the available resources will be apportioned: Some for wild horses, more for livestock and little for wildlife.
As for the list of roundups in the announcement, there is a small problem.
The BLM doesn’t have a budget for FY27, which starts on October 1.
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 capture total includes 70 stallions, 60 mares and 22 foals. The gather page says 69, 61 and 22.
Youngsters represented 14.5% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 53.8% were male and 46.2% were female.
Body condition scores on Days 4 and 5 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: 1,824 AUMs per year
Water: 1,520 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.
A BLM representative told Western Horse Watchers in an email message that the roundtable was a one-time, closed listening session to gather diverse perspectives on humane, sustainable wild horse management.
It’s not clear if the big tent included any opponents to fertility control or permitted grazing.
Recall the comments by Celeste Carlisle of Return to Freedom, one of the nonprofits participating in the roundtable, about who to invite to such meetings:
“You definitely have fringe groups that do have valid concerns and bring a lot to the table but by them being at the table there’s no advancement in the discussion.”
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.
A stallion was euthanized on Day 2 for poor body condition.
Two mares were dispatched on Day 3 for the same reason and a third for blindness.
To date, all deaths are intentional.
The death rate is already high, 3.2%.
The capture total includes 80 stallions, 93 mares and 45 foals.
Youngsters represented 20.6% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 46.2% were male and 53.8% were female.
Body condition scores on Days 2 and 3 ranged from 1 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 move that would prolong the genetic bottleneck created by the roundup.
Recovery is expected.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:
Forage: 2,616 AUMs per year
Water: 2,180 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.
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.
No animals were taken on Day 2.
The capture total includes 44 stallions, 37 mares and 12 foals.
Youngsters represented 12.9% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 54.3% were male and 45.7% were female.
Body condition scores on Day 3 ranged from 4 to 5.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
Up to 55 hand-picked 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: 1,116 AUMs per year
Water: 930 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.
