So says the writer of a letter to The State Journal of Frankfort, KY.
RELATED: Letter Seeks Delay of Roundups But Not Darting Programs?
Month: August 2021
Emergency Gathers in the News
Refer to this story by AP News. The FY 2021 removal goal is now 18,000, consisting mostly of wild horses.
Western Horse Watchers estimates that at least 200,000 horses have been displaced from their home range by privately owned livestock, on top of the 86,000 currently out there.
There is no overpopulation, only gross mismanagement by government bureaucrats.
RELATED: More Emergency Roundups in the Works.
CORRECTION: Over 200,000 on top of the 27,000 currently allowed by plan.
Antelope Roundup in Progress
Day 1 ended with 12 horses captured, according to the gather page, including seven studs, three mares and two foals. No deaths were reported.
RELATED: Antelope Complex Emergency Roundup Starts This Weekend.
UPDATE: Added video.
Price of Hay Going Up?
Report by KTVZ News of Bend, OR.
Dead Mare Was ‘Harem Hopper’
The Currituck mare found dead over the weekend, Hazel, was was known for sneaking off to visit other bands where youngsters were present.
If she was past her prime, was she still being darted by the advocates?
Chincoteague Pony Auction Sets Another Record
Bidders paid $420,150 this year, breaking last year’s record of $388,000, according to a report posted today by AP News.
A buyback pony—to be returned to the herd—fetched $25,500.
RELATED: Chincoteague Pony Auction Next Week.
More Emergency Roundups in the Works
BLM announced today the removal of at least 6,000 more wild horses and burros from public lands by the end of September, due to drought and other conditions.
Look for HMAs marked ‘E’ in the latest schedule.
Western Horse Watchers was unable to find a news release detailing AUM curtailments for ranchers in those areas.
More Problems at RAS
The Allotment Information report may be running but it yields bad data.
For example, run the report for the allotments in the Three Rivers Field Office, home of the Stinkingwater HMA:
- State: Oregon
- District: Burns
- Field Office: Three Rivers
The first allotment that comes up in the default sort order is Malheur Lake. How many public acres does it contain? The report gives you a variety of choices, up to 297,375 twenty pages later. The Allotment Master report says 757.
RELATED: Problems Fixed at RAS.
Mustang Monday
On the Salt River with THE TRACK ENTHUSIAST.
West Douglas Roundup Day 7
The incident began on July 26. Gather stats through August 1:
- Horses captured: 244, up from 186 on Day 5
- Capture goal: 450
- Removal goal: 450
- Returned: 0
- Deaths: 4, up from 3 on Day 5
- Shipped: 135, no change from Day 5
A foal was put down on Day 6 due to pre-existing conditions, keeping the death rate at 1.6%.
Foals accounted for 19.3% of the horses gathered. Of the adults, 42.6% were male and 57.4% were female.
Day 7 ended with 105 unaccounted-for horses.
Other statistics:
- AML: 0
- Forage assigned to horses: 0
- Pre-gather population: 450
- Forage liberated to date: 2,928 AUMs per year
- Water liberated to date: 2,440 gallons per day
- Forage assigned to livestock: Unknown
- Horses displaced from HA by livestock: Unknown
RELATED: West Douglas Roundup Day 5.
Currituck Herd Loses Grandma
One of the elder mares died this weekend, according to a report by OBX Today.
She lived and died as every wild horse should – free and on her own terms.
Except she wasn’t free to conceive and bear fruit as nature intended because she was shot full of PZP by the advocates.
Candidate for Virginia Range Darting Program Coordinator?
In describing her treatment of a “non-responder,” the author of a column in the July edition of Horse Tales said “I darted this mare aggressively with birth control. I re-primed her and darted her with a new booster.”
Ruthlessness. Highly desirable. Especially in a woman.
This person may be an excellent match for the position described last week.
The Virginia Range is only a few miles north of the Fish Springs area (Pine Nut Mountains HA), where the story takes place.
RELATED: Advocates Tout Nevada Darting Achievements.
Stinkingwater Allotment Status
Table 3-4 in the 2017 Final EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA provides acreage, grazing seasons and forage allocations for three allotments inside the HMA.
The Allotment Master report shows management status, public acres and active AUMs.
If managed grazing is better for the land than free-roaming horses, as the BLM and its retirees claim, why don’t any of the allotments meet standards for rangeland health?
Approximately 62% of the BLM grazing land in Oregon does not meet standards for rangeland health.
There is no category for blaming these conditions on wild horses. Not yet, anyway.
If livestock are confined to certain pastures, which they don’t re-graze according to the retirees, is there anything left for the horses when the animals are rotated to the next area? Is the previous pasture now off limits, “providing opportunity for undisturbed regrowth, reproduction and recovery of desirable forage plants?” How are the horses supposed to survive in this mess?
They can’t. That’s why they’re being removed. Meanwhile, the advocates are screaming “Get rid of them with PZP not helicopters!”
The horses allowed by plan receive 960 AUMs per year, while the plan assigns almost nine times as much to privately owned livestock. Would you say that the HMA is managed principally for wild horses?
The government must be following the law, otherwise you wouldn’t see such a lopsided forage distribution.
The HMA contains about 72,000 acres of public lands according to the EA. Curiously, it can only produce 13 AUMs per thousand acres for wild horses, but if you’re talking about livestock, it can produce 117 AUMs per thousand acres. How is that possible?
Remove Cattle Not Horses
The writer of a letter appearing in today’s edition of The Salt Lake Tribune comments on the BLM’s obsession with permitted grazing in areas set aside for wild horses.
Western Horse Watchers Association 