Countdown to 50 | 10 Days to Go

The current statute bears little resemblance to the original and no longer affords the protections sought by Velma.

Today we recognize the important work of the advocates.

Next to the federal government, nobody’s getting rid of more wild horses than they are.

Like the helicopter pilots and wranglers, the advocates stop the horses from reclaiming their food, ensuring that ranchers receive most of the resources in areas set aside for wild horses, as specified by the bureaucrats in the land-use plans.

Advocates are the Predators 11-30-21

Tammy Pearson Said We Have a Problem

Learn all about it in this lecture by Eric Thacker of Utah State University.

Rock Springs Roundup Day 58

The incident began on October 7. Gather stats through December 3:

Type: Planned
Method: Helicopter
Horses captured: 2,940, up from 2,727 on Day 56
Average daily take: 50.7
Capture goal: 4,400
Removal goal: 3,500
Returned: 46, no change from Day 56
Deaths: 15, no change from Day 56
Shipped: 2,708, up from 2,495 on Day 56

The death rate is 0.5%.

The cumulative total includes 1,149 stallions, 1,193 mares and 598 foals. The gather page shows 1,319 stallions.

1,319 + 1,193 + 598 = 3,110

Foals represented 20.3% of the horses captured. Of the adults, 49.1% were male and 50.9% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

Gather activity continued at Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town. Five HMAs are involved in the roundup.

Day 58 ended with 171 unaccounted-for animals. The total number of horses removed is 2,940 – 46 = 2,894, which includes these animals.

Other statistics:

AML: 2,165 (across five HMAs)
Forage assigned to horses: 25,980 AUMs per year
Pre-gather population: 5,105
Forage liberated to date: 34,728 AUMs per year
Water liberated to date: 28,940 gallons per day
Forage assigned to livestock: 191,791 AUMs per year (estimated)
Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 15,982 (32% of off-range holding)
True AML: 18,147

RELATED: Rock Springs Roundup Day 56.

Not Much to Cheer About as WHB Act Turns 50

A report by Nevada Current notes that the anniversary will occur as the BLM carries out the largest taxpayer-funded roundup in its history, aided by a year-long PR campaign promoting roundups as beneficial to wild horses, wildlife and public lands.

Pancake Gather Plan

Irby Transforming AWA Into Ranching Advocacy Group?

Sure looks like it. If a darting program prevents 600 births per year, it’s equivalent to a roundup of 600 horses every year, with benefits accruing to the public-lands ranchers.

AWA Pushes PZP 12-03-21

The advocates are of no use to America’s wild horses and burros.

‘Giving Tuesday’ Comes and Goes

The official date was November 30 but more time is needed in the wild horse world, as it’s almost impossible to find an advocacy group that’s not trying to get rid of them.

Mesa Verde Roundup in Progress

The first group of horses have been “saved,” according to a column in the Pagosa Daily Post, and are now in the hands of a trainer who can’t accomplish anything without a bag of alfalfa cubes over her shoulder.

RELATED: Mesa Verde Roundup Rebooted?

Rock Springs Roundup Day 56

The incident began on October 7. Gather stats through December 1:

Type: Planned
Method: Helicopter
Horses captured: 2,727, up from 2,478 on Day 54
Average daily take: 48.7
Capture goal: 4,400
Removal goal: 3,500
Returned: 46, no change from Day 54
Deaths: 15, up from 12 on Day 54
Shipped: 2,495, up from 2,270 on Day 54

A stallion suffered a broken leg and a mare suffered a ruptured uterus on Day 55 as a result of the roundup. A stallion was euthanized on Day 56 due to a pre-existing leg injury. The death rate is now 0.6%.

The cumulative total includes 1,066 stallions, 1,106 mares and 555 foals. The gather page shows 1,236 stallions.

1,236 + 1,106 + 555 = 2,897

Foals represented 20.4% of the horses captured. Of the adults, 49.1% were male and 50.9% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

Gather activity continued at Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town. Five HMAs are involved in the roundup.

Day 56 ended with 171 unaccounted-for animals. The total number of horses removed is 2,727 – 46 = 2,681, which includes these animals.

Other statistics:

AML: 2,165 (across five HMAs)
Forage assigned to horses: 25,980 AUMs per year
Pre-gather population: 5,105
Forage liberated to date: 32,172 AUMs per year
Water liberated to date: 26,810 gallons per day
Forage assigned to livestock: 191,791 AUMs per year (estimated)
Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 15,982 (32% of off-range holding)
True AML: 18,147

RELATED: Rock Springs Roundup Day 54.

Flanigan Roundup Over

The operation concluded on November 22, according to a statement at the gather page, with 12 horses captured, 12 shipped and none dead.

The removal goal was 73.

The incident began on September 16 and was billed as an emergency.

Fundraiser for Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group?

Their program is equivalent to a roundup of about 100 wild horses every year.

EXTRA CREDIT: Estimate the growth rate based on the number of foals in the video.

Rock Springs Gather Deaths in the News

The loss of two mares on Day 53 is discussed in this article by Cowboy State Daily but that’s not the story.

The writer sourced some of the information from the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, architects of the industrial-scale darting program on the Virginia Range that’s equivalent to a roundup of 500 to 1,000 wild horses every year.

The way to avoid gather-related injuries and deaths is to end wild horse reproduction, not public-lands ranching, which is the cause of the removals.

Many of the advocates concur with that approach. Some send mixed messages.

Note that the author repeated the government’s figures without checking the math: “As of Sunday, BLM officials have gathered 2,478 horses (1,044 stallions, 1,001 mares and 503 foals), with the goal of rounding up 3,500 by the end of the year, if not sooner.”