How to Decipher Articles about Wild Horses

A story about Sand Wash Basin by the Craig Press reads like it’s based on a BLM press release, blog post or news conference, but the source was not disclosed.

Here are some tips for interpreting the article, starting at the top.

Majestic wild horses – Pests, an indication that you’re about to be deceived.

Landscape is out-of-balance – The horses are robbing forage from the public-lands ranchers.

Investing the funding necessary – Pissing away your hard-earned tax dollars on useless endeavors.

Public land users – Livestock operators.

That’s just the first paragraph.

Sage-grouse numbers are lower in areas with wild horses than in adjacent areas – Areas with horses are also grazed by livestock but you’re not supposed to know that.

Gather of horses – Roundup.

Horse populations have climbed above this carrying capacity – There are more horses than allowed by plan, not more horses than the land can support. AMLs are small relative to the available resources because most of them have been assigned to ranchers.

End of second paragraph.

Gather enough wild horses this year to get us back on track – Ensure that ranchers receive most of the authorized forage.

Beautiful horses – Pests.

World-renowned herd – Pests.

Landscape under stress due to drought exacerbated by climate change – A temporary change in the weather unrelated to human activity.

End of third paragraph.

Thriving and sustainable wild horse herds – Livestock receive most of the authorized forage.

Healthy herds on healthy public lands – Livestock receive most of the authorized forage.

This investment will help the BLM restore Sand Wash Basin for the public, for wild horses, and for greater sage-grouse and other wildlife species – Livestock receive most of the authorized forage in an area set aside for wild horses.

You can have your wild horse and burro program as long as it doesn’t interfere with the grazing program.

Thriving Ecological Balance-3

TRNP Comment Period Closes, Discussions Continue

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Senator John Hoeven shared their concerns with park officials in a phone call yesterday, according to a story by The Bismarck Tribune, with an emphasis on collaboration between state and federal agencies.

Comments on the scoping newsletter were accepted through January 31.

The next step in the project is to draft an environmental assessment for public review.

SOWH Call to Action Promotes McCullough Darting Program

A “How To” provided by Save Our Wild Horses begins with some information about livestock grazing and forage allocations, including an unsubstantiated remark about the number of horses the HMA can actually sustain (wonder where they got that from), then goes off the rails by defending the safe, proven and reversible fertility control program, claiming that PZP is not a pesticide, does not sterilize and has no effect on sex ratios!

Did you know that some advocates are vegans, not necessarily at SOWH, as they don’t agree with the slaughter of animals for human consumption, yet they have no problem with the killing of pigs to support their PZP habit?

The group sponsored a conference in Washington last year, where attendees had smoke blown up their butts for several days about HMAPs, which must conform to RMPs and are therefore of no use to America’s wild horses.

PZP Dangers 10-21-22

Foal-Free Friday, Throwing in with Your Adversaries Edition

One of the most astonishing developments in the wild horse world is the enthusiasm among the advocates for the Montana Solution, not for population control but for population reduction, evident in the outpouring of support for the darting program at McCullough Peaks.

That they would beat down population in the lawful home of wild horses, so livestock can access most of their food, speaks volumes about their intentions and loyalties.

Working Together for a Horse-Free Future 12-21-22

Groundhog Predicts Another 500 McCullough Comments

He saw his shadow this morning, according to a report by AP News, meaning six more days of babble from the advocates, including today.

You have to give them credit though, they really fired up their base for this one.

The total passed 2,500 today and continues to climb.

Go to ePlanning for the latest results.

Advocates Have New Playbook for Wild Horse Management?

Since 2019 they’ve been stalking the mares across 300,000 acres in western Nevada and destroying their ovaries with a restricted-use pesticide.

Next year they’ll refer the animals as self-boosting, a code word for sterile.

Their goal is to win the approval of the bureaucrats and ranchers and spread the destruction over a much larger area, moving them into the upper echelon of the wild horse removal industry.

That’s how they protect wild horses.

But you won’t see any of that in this article about the Virginia Range darting program.

The story said that advocates with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses announced yesterday that their four-year long fertility control effort is reducing births and could set a new model for managing wild herds but did not say where or how the announcement was made.

Standing Up for Wild Horses on Virginia Range 06-18-22

Veterans Against Mustangs Act Reintroduced in House

The advocates never stop.

Now they’re praising HR 726, legislation that would protect wild horses and burros on federal lands, reduce or eliminate the need for inhumane helicopter roundups, and provide jobs and avenues for healing American veterans with Post Traumatic Stress and other disorders resulting from combat, according to a news release on EIN by Animal Wellness Action.

This would be accomplished by stalking the mares and jennies in their lawful homes and destroying their ovaries with a restricted-use pesticide.

Protect Wild Horses from Advocates 08-29-21

The advocates refer to the product as a vaccine, available from the Billings School of PZP Darting and Public Deception.

Other benefits:

Barren mares
Confused stallions
Increasing death rates
Shrinking herds
Injuries and infections
Abnormal sex ratios
Massive human involvement
Disruption of natural order
Loss of genetic diversity
Sterility
Subordination to livestock

As for the full range of wild behaviors in a natural setting, forget it.

Western Horse Watchers proposes that Cameron Ring and his mercenaries be officially designated as the Dartmoor Brigade.

Advocates Fuming After BLM Nabs Pine Nut Horses

Getting rid of wild horses is their job, not the government’s.

The possibility of a nuisance gather was mentioned in the January edition of Horse Tales, in a column starting at the top of page four.

The author, a real estate agent, PZP darter and pleader for the public-lands ranchers, was interviewed for a story about the removal by The Record-Courier of Minden, NV.

Five horses were captured and taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.

Note the absence of youngsters in the photo. This is the handiwork of the advocates.

The horses don’t have to compete with cattle according to the article, although the National Data Viewer suggests otherwise.

In this map, the Pine Nut HA is shown in black, the HMA is orange and the allotments are green. Click on image to open in new tab.

Cloud Foundation Behind Surge in McCullough Comments?

A blog post by Horses in the South dated January 31 has all the markings of a useless, perhaps harmful, call to action by the wild horse advocates.

TCF Behind McCullough Comment Surge 02-01-23

Readers are directed to the project site in ePlanning, where they are supposed to tell the BLM that they

Support the (ruinous) darting program, a model for other HMAs
Disagree with the removal of any wild horses (unless done with PZP)
Oppose the use of GonaCon and other methods that destroy ovaries (PZP excepted)

The action alert was attributed to The Cloud Foundation.

Western Horse Watchers does not know if it originated with TCF or is simply a reprint of an exhortation written by other PZP fanatics and pleaders for the public-lands ranchers and forwarded by TCF to drive the comment total even higher.

For Your Beloved Ants and Roaches 10-08-22

McCullough Comments Pass Two Thousand

Changes that actually help the horses, such as managing the HMA principally for them, as specified in the original statute, cannot be made through a gather decision.

The advocates and their drones apparently don’t understand that.

Comments on the project, which consists of a scoping letter and nothing else, will be accepted through February 7.

A sigh of relief will go up when that day arrives.

Governor Joins Supporters of TRNP Wild Horses

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum sent a letter to the Park Service today expressing confidence that the agency can find a solution that supports genetic diversity and protects the environmental integrity and capacity of the park for current and future generations of visitors, according to a report by The Bismarck Tribune.

No Reason to Oppose SB 1057?

A news release dated January 28 by the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group says the only reason to disagree with the bill, which calls for humane management of the beloved Alpine herd, a euphemism for inhibiting the mares with their favorite pesticide, would be if you enjoy seeing wild horses go to slaughter.

Sorry, but here are ten reasons why we oppose your stupid ideas:

Barren mares
Confused stallions
Increasing death rates
Shrinking herds
Injuries and infections
Abnormal sex ratios
Massive human involvement
Disruption of natural order
Sterility
Subordination to livestock

All of these are attributable to the Montana Solution.

As for the full range of wild behaviors in a natural setting, forget it.

The advocates care far more about their standing with the bureaucrats and ranchers than they do about the horses.

Their long-term goal is to be leaders in the wild horse removal industry.

For Your Beloved Ants and Roaches 10-08-22

Mustang Monday

Horses have the day off. In the Little Picacho Wilderness, part of the Chocolate Mule Mountains HMA in southern California, with Lonnie Huffman.

Barren on the Virginia Range

No youngsters in this band. The mares should be heavily pregnant by now, at least some of them, but the advocates have blocked this essential part of their existence.

With the darting program moving into its fifth year, many of the mares are at risk of sterility and the herd is dying off. That’s how the advocates save wild horses.

Before they got involved, the Virginia Range was carrying at least ten wild horses per thousand acres, ten times higher than the target rate of the bureaucrats and ranchers, who want this outlier erased.

The advocates are eager to comply.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture and the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, to whom you provide financial support, are responsible for the destruction.

Photo taken January 28.

Barren on Virginia Range 01-28-23

BLM Releases Necropsy Results from Cañon City Incident

Six reports, partially redacted, have been posted to the Colorado HMA page.

The illness claimed the lives of 146 wild horses at the facility.

RELATED: Cañon City Aftermath.

Buried on the Virginia Range

This was the scene today, water tanks barely visible.

Compare to these photos from last year.

Water Tanks Buried 01-28-23

Salt River Advocates Mobilize in Favor of Alpine Ranchers

Although 43 wild horses were shot dead in October, as indicated in this story by the CBS affiliate in Phoenix, the losses will be much greater if the advocates have their way.

The bureaucrats want the horses gone.

The ranchers, whom they serve, want them gone.

The hunters and biologists want them gone.

So, the advocates, working in concert with state legislators, have drafted SB 1057, which would spread their ruinous darting program into the Apache National Forest.

Their ringleader, interviewed for the story, has already admitted that she’s getting rid of the Salt River herd with the Montana Solution.

Alternative C in the scoping newsletter for the livestock plan at TRNP may provide a solution that satisfies all of the stakeholders: Now that the herd has been thinned by shooting and trapping, a fully contracepted (sterilized) herd could be achieved and the horses could stay in the forest to live out their lives, a task for which the advocates are eminently qualified.

Too Many Wild Horses and Not Enough Land?

If you have too many bills and not enough money, should you ignore the bills or detach your ass from the chair and take it to a job?

The image above, from the home page of the new wild horse sanctuary in Colorado, shows a symptom of the problem, not the problem.

Rio Ro Mo Ranch to Become Wild Horse Sanctuary

The Wild Animal Sanctuary, a Colorado non-profit corporation, acquired the property for a wild horse refuge, according to a news release on PRN.

The refuge will house up to 500 wild horses taken from HMAs in Colorado.

The announcement did not indicate of the horses would be darted, sterilized and/or kept in segregated pastures.

The transaction represents a victory for the bureaucrats and ranchers. Get the horses off the public lands and into private care, giving livestock unfettered access to their food.

The facility covers 18,650 deeded acres west of Craig, with an additional 3,500 acres in BLM leases and one 300-acre private lease, according to the agent’s listing.

The operator information report in RAS links the ranch to grazing authorizations 0504787 and 0504788.

The allotment information report ties the authorizations to three allotments.

The allotment master report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.

The authorization use report shows livestock types and grazing seasons.

The news release did not say if the new owners would petition the BLM for changes in livestock types and seasons of use, as American Prairie did in Montana. Such changes would likely have the ranching community crying foul, as it did with American Prairie.

Foal-Free Friday, Embracing New Technologies Edition

With catch-treat-release promising to alleviate the feud between the advocates and roundup contractors, new adjuvants working their way through the research pipeline, and IUDs gaining traction among the uninformed and misinformed, the future looks bright for the public-lands ranchers.

The concept of a self-assembling IUD was discussed at the same conference attended by your chair of the WHBAB, but the video doesn’t show the actual device.

That gap has been closed with the demonstration below. More information at iUPOD.

Although helicopter roundups are the fastest and most efficient way of shifting food and water to livestock operators in areas identified for wild horses, population growth suppression ensures the herds don’t bounce back, keeping the resource scales tipped in favor of the ranchers for many years to come.