Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
A public notice dated August 8 does not say why.
The next meeting is set for November 16.
Your host believes the greatest threat to the herd is not tourism, not vehicles, not global warming, but the advocates and their ovary-killing pesticides.
RELATED: Currituck Wild Horse Advisory Board Meets August 17.
A U.S. district judge will hear testimony from both sides as he considers WHE’s request for a temporary restraining order, according to a story dated August 8 by AP News.
RELATED: BLM Responds to Antelope Legal Complaint.
The agency believes it’s complying with the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program, citing “sensational allegations” in the lawsuit, according to a story dated August 8 by KLAS News.
The North roundup is approximately 80% complete, although it was suspended yesterday for a “resource flight.”
The South roundup concluded on July 26.
The report indicated that a similar complaint had been filed in Oregon by The Cloud Foundation, seeking real-time monitoring of gather operations.
Attention will shift to that area next week when three roundups are scheduled to begin.
The group’s founder stated that “The public has the right to see how our federal government is using our tax dollars and how the agency is treating America’s wild horses and burros.”
Your host believes the American people need to know how the advocates, including TCF, are treating wild horses and burros.
They think the agency should be controlling their numbers with pesticide-laced darts, not motorized equipment, so ranchers can access most of the food and water in their lawful homes.
The incident began on July 9. Results through August 8:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
The number of horses captured is 1,613 and the number shipped is 1,565 according to the figures in the sidebar.
Gather operations were suspended in favor of a “resource flight” on Day 31.
The death rate is 1.3%.
The capture total includes 629 stallions, 735 mares and 243 foals.
Youngsters represented 15.1% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 46.1% were male and 53.9% were female.
A 15% birth rate corresponds to a growth rate of 10% per year, a bit less than the 20% growth rate used by land managers to predict herd sizes and management actions.
Body condition scores on Day 30 ranged from 3 to 5.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 31 ended with 18 unaccounted-for animals.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Antelope Roundup North, Day 29.
The HMA is a subset of Allotment #4, which offers 5,502 active AUMs on 58,369 public acres, according to the Allotment Master Report.
The HMA covers 22,381 total acres, including 21,819 public acres, according to the 2023 HA/HMA Report, and the AML ranges from 30 to 50.
The forage assigned to livestock inside the HMA would be 21,819 ÷ 58,369 × 5,502 = 2,057 AUMs per year, assuming the resource is distributed evenly across the parcel.
The number of horses displaced from the HMA by permitted grazing is 2,057 ÷ 12 = 171.
The True AML would be 50 + 171 = 221, to be achieved by confining the ranchers to their base properties and expecting them to pay the going rate to feed their animals.
The stocking rate at the new AML would be 221 ÷ 21,819 × 1,000 = 10.1 wild horses per thousand public acres, ten times higher than the target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 anmials on 27 million acres).
The BLM collects 2,057 × 1.35 = $2,777 per year from ranching activity inside the HMA, while it spends 171 × 5 × 365 = $312,075 per year to care for horses displaced thereby.
Would you say that’s a wise use of public lands?
RELATED: Hog Creek Roundup Announced.
The roundup will take all horses off the range.
Thirty will be released.
The July 13 schedule indicates that 15 will be treated with fertility control.
The balance will probably be stallions.
The post-gather population will consist of 15 stallions and 15 barren mares.
The growth rate may go negative.
The breeding population will be zero.
If the pesticide-of-choice is GonaCon Equine, will it be applied unlawfully as at Reveille HMA?
RELATED: Hog Creek Roundup Announced.
Could it be the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a leader in nonmotorized removal?
The WHB Handbook calls for a minimum herd size of 150 to 200 wild horses to ensure a breeding population of at least 50.
Who’s driving breeding populations into the ground with an ovary-killing pesticide known as PZP?
The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.
“Less bait, more poison.”
RELATED: McCullough Peaks Bait Trap Removal Tops Most Active List.
The incident will begin on or around August 21, according to a BLM news release, but the capture and removal goals were not given.
The July 13 schedule shows 66 and 36.
The current population is thought to be 66, suggesting it’s a purge—all horses will be taken off the range, followed by selective return.
A helicopter will push them into the trap and the two-day operation will be open to public observation.
The announcement did not indicate if any of the retained mares would be treated with fertility control pesticides.
The HMA covers 22,381 total acres in eastern Oregon, including 21,819 public acres, according to the 2023 HA/HMA Report, and the AML ranges from 30 to 50.
At the upper end, the AML corresponds to a forage demand of 27.5 AUMs per year per thousand public acres.
The stocking rate allowed by plan is 2.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.
The HMA lies within Allotment #4.
The National Data Viewer shows the arrangement. Click on image to open in new tab.
The parcel offers 5,502 active AUMs on 58,369 public acres, according to the Allotment Master Report, or 94.3 AUMs per year per thousand public acres of forage supply.
That resource would support 94.3 × 21,819 ÷ 1,000 ÷ 12 = 171 wild horses, on top of the 50 allowed by plan, for a True AML of 221.
The stocking rate would be 10.1 wild horses per thousand public acres, on par with the Virginia Range before the advocates got involved.
The HMA is not overpopulated.
You don’t have a wild horse problem, you have a resource management problem.
Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals in Hines.
A link to the gather stats and daily reports was not provided but should be added to the Oregon gather and removal page before the start date.
The new filly and her aunt will grow up together as playmates, according to a report dated August 7 by The News & Observer of Raleigh, NC.
Five foals have been born this year, for a birth rate of four percent, given a starting population of 124.
The breeding population must be very small, typical of herds subject to fertility control.
Don’t worry though, it’s safe, proven and reversible because the advocates said so.
As for the grandma, the pesticide patrol may decide she’s produced enough and will redouble their efforts to take her out of service.
Another possibility is that the herd has already been ruined, like Currituck and Assateague, and now they’re watching it implode.
RELATED: Shackleford Herd Grew Slightly in 2022.
The price of a bale of alfalfa-grass mix on August 5 was $34, twenty bales minimum, compared to $36 in July.
But it’s still up 79% since July 2021, before Bidenomics, when the price was $19.
The single-bale price was $35.
The average horse would need five bales per month, putting the cost at $170 per AUM.
The poor ranchers, with their multi-million-dollar base properties, are forced to pay $1.35 per AUM.
RELATED: How to Double the Value of Your Truck.
The incidents began on July 9. The North roundup continues. The South roundup ended on July 26.
Combined results through August 6:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
The death rate is 1.2%.
The capture total includes 980 stallions, 1,224 mares and 471 foals.
Youngsters represented 17.6% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 44.5% were male and 55.5% were female, still outside the expected range of variation from a simple random process centered at 50% males / 50% females with a sample of 2,204 adults.
A birth rate of 18% per year corresponds to a herd growth rate of 13% per year.
Day 29 ended with 52 unaccounted-for animals.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing, with livestock receiving over seven times more forage than horses inside the Complex.
That resource would support an additional 6,079 wild horses, putting the True AML at 6,868.
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can sustain.
*According to advocates.
RELATED: Antelope Roundup North, Day 29, Antelope Roundup South Over.
The incident began on July 9. Results through August 6:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
The number of horses captured is 1,574 and the number shipped is 1,492 according to the figures in the sidebar.
The death rate is 1.3%.
The capture total includes 612 stallions, 717 mares and 239 foals.
Youngsters represented 15.2% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 46.0% were male and 54.0% were female.
A 15% birth rate corresponds to a growth rate of 10% per year, a bit less than the 20% growth rate used by land managers to predict herd sizes and management actions.
Body condition scores on Days 28 and 29 ranged from 3 to 5.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 29 ended with 52 unaccounted-for animals.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Antelope Roundup North, Day 27.
The gather page now says 27 mares treated with GonaCon Equine have been released.
RELATED: Reveille HMA to Become Crime Scene?
On the Virginia Range with Slang 4201.
The incident concluded on August 5 with 16 horses captured, 16 shipped and none dead, and 115 burros captured, 114 shipped and one dead.
There were no unaccounted-for animals.
The capture goals were 25 horses and 100 burros. The removal goals were identical.
The capture total for horses included four stallions, eight mares and four foals.
For burros, the total included 47 jacks, 58 jennies and 10 foals.
The gather received little if any news coverage.
UPDATE: BLM issued news release on August 7.
RELATED: Johnnie Roundup Announced.
The complaint seeks a temporary restraining order, but a hearing will not occur before August 10, according to a story dated August 4 by KLAS News.
The BLM is scheduled to file a response tomorrow.
The south roundup concluded on July 26.
The average daily take in the north roundup since July 27, when a second helicopter was put into service (probably from the south unit), is 105.
With 1,530 horses captured as of August 4, and a goal of 2,000, operations will probably conclude by the hearing date.
RELATED: Antelope Roundup North, Day 27.
She was a top producing mare, according to a report by the Outer Bank Voice, but apparently this year she was without foal.
Could it be that Meg Puckett, herd manager and PZP darter, decided she had produced enough and took her out of service with safe, proven and reversible fertility control?
The roundup ended July 3. Up to 27 mares were to be treated with GonaCon Equine and be returned to the range, along with 26 stallions.
As of today, 30 stallions have been released but no mares, suggesting they’re awaiting a second dose.
The booster can only be given 90 or more days after the primer, according to a 2017 EPA labeling amendment.
If the gather page shows the return of mares before October 1, the booster dose was dropped or it was given illegally.
Sadly, the advocates have already designated most wild horse areas as crime scenes.
But they’ve joined forces with the bureaucrats and ranchers to fix the problem once and for all.
RELATED: BLM Using Outdated Information to Apply GonaCon Equine?
“Words have to match actions,” Laura Leigh told a reporter in a story posted yesterday by the Las Vegas Sun.
Agree. But you’ll find as many counterexamples from the advocates as you will from the bureaucrats.
They tell their supporters that they’re protecting wild horses as they poison the mares with ovary-killing pesticides.
The topic of fertility control was not discussed in the interview, but Leigh is on record in BLM planning documents as a PZP adherent.
She cited habitat loss and fragmentation as the driver of challenges faced by all wildlife, including wild horses, but did not explain how those conditions evolved.
She lamented an increase in mining claims over the last two years but did not acknowledge that the trend is driven in part by the search for lithium and vanadium, two essential constituents of “clean energy,” which she votes for! (Yes, she’s a liberal and climate alarmist.)
Again, words don’t match deeds.
As for the so-called conservatives who back the public-lands ranchers, they won’t admit that it’s government dependency and redistribution of wealth, hallmarks of a political ideology they despise, supposedly.
Her remark about management planning is probably a reference to HMAPs, reflecting a erroneous belief that they help wild horses. Sadly, they can only ratify and reinforce the lopsided resource allocations that drive the roundups and benefit the ranchers.
She should know that. But telling the truth might upset her financial supporters.
RELATED: Confusing Cause and Effect at Antelope Complex.
The incident started on July 20. Results through August 3:
No horses were captured on Days 14 and 15, leaving the total at 16.
The goal was 25.
All have been shipped.
Eleven burros were caught on Day 14 followed by 18 on Day 13, bringing the total 115.
The goal was 100.
Sixty-six have been shipped, no change from Day 13.
No deaths were reported and no animals have been returned to the range.
Youngsters represented 8.7% of the burros gathered.
Of the adults, 44.8% were male and 55.2% were female.
At the end of Day 15, there were 49 unaccounted-for burros.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
With a score of -9 for the horses and +15 for the burros, the incident will likely conclude this weekend.
RELATED: Johnnie Roundup, Day 13.
