Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
Body slamming is not mentioned in this column dated July 8 by a public affairs specialist in the Lassen County Times.
All can be forgiven when you’re liberating resources for the public-lands ranchers.
RELATED: Advocates Condemn Foal Abuse at Buffalo Hills Roundup.
Maybe they just created it.
Traps were built and put in service last month.
Horses were caught on June 28 and 29 but none since.
All were shipped on June 30.
The total includes eight stallions, seven mares and three foals.
Youngsters represented 16.7% of the horses captured. Of the adults, 53.3% were males and 46.7% were females.
Body condition scores were not given.
No deaths were reported.
The number of unaccounted-for animals is zero.
RELATED: Piceance Bait Traps Fall Short.
On June 30 Western Horse Watchers sent an email to a public information officer at the Nevada Department of Agriculture asking for a copy of the latest report on the Virginia Range darting program by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.
As of today, no response has been received.
RELATED: NDA Extends Virginia Range Darting Program.
Refer to this brief dated July 7 by Law Street Media.
The complaint alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and Administrative Procedures Act by the Forest Service regarding horses in the Apache National Forest.
Exhibits referenced in the complaint were not provided.
Plaintiff demands trial by jury.
Defendants include Tom Vilsack, acting United States Secretary of Agriculture, and Judy Palmer, acting U.S. Forest Supervisor.
RELATED: ISPMB Claims Forest Service Removing Wild Horses Illegally.
The advocates will tell you that the Montana Solution is safe and reversible but experience indicates otherwise.
Trailcam images from the Virginia Range show injuries.
The herd on Assateague Island (Maryland side) is struggling to recover from the darting program, which was shut off in 2016. Last year it grew just 7.8% and this year the Park Service refused to publish the census results, breaking a long tradition of transparency.
Wherever it’s applied, we see
Death rates are probably increasing, as explained previously.
A compilation of the effects of PZP on wild horses, assembled in 2015, appears in a report prepared by ISPMB, beginning on page 30. The research was carried out and documented by others. The findings predate and outrun the 2016 incident at ISPMB.
The protocols call for selected mares (selected by advocates) to be taken off the treatments until they produce live foals. Why would the procedures say “live foals?”
The advocates care far more about their standing with the bureaucrats and ranchers than they do about wild horses.
The following video shows their handiwork at the Salt River. Support for the program comes from the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a common denominator in many fertility control programs.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Exposing the Lies of the Advocates.
The incident began on July 1. Gather stats through July 7:
The death rate declined from 3.4% to 2.4%.
The total, based on the daily reports, includes 118 stallions, 167 mares and 43 foals.
The total at the gather page is 318.
Youngsters represented 13.1% of the animals captured. Of the adults, 41.4% were male and 58.6% were female.
Body condition scores were not given.
The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 13% per year.
Abnormal sex ratios are often found in herds subject to the Montana Solution.
The location of the trap site within the HMA was not disclosed.
Day 7 ended with 75 unaccounted-for animals.
Mares treated with fertility control will be returned to the area at a later date.
Operations will likely conclude by Day 9.
Other statistics:
RELATED: Buffalo Hills Roundup Day 5.
The Decision Record, signed on July 6, authorizes the Proposed Action, which features removal of younger animals, sex ratio skewing, sterilization of stallions and IUDs and Gonacon for mares over a ten-year period. Refer to page 9 in the Final EA.
The DR and EA were posted with other project documents.
Four HMAs are affected.
The management plan assigns 7.6 times more forage to livestock than the horses and the Proposed Action will assure that the ranchers get their due.
Henceforth you may refer to it as a resource enforcement plan, pest control plan or livestock protection plan.
The BLM news release said a roundup is not on the national schedule, but one could be authorized later this year.
RELATED: Preliminary EA for North Lander Complex Out for Public Review?
A report by the Steamboat Pilot & Today said 18 horses have been captured since the incident began on June 16.
The goal was 99 according to the latest schedule.
The number of animals shipped, deceased and returned was not provided.
Helicopters are set to fly starting on July 15.
RELATED: Piceance Blackout Continues.
It’s set to begin on July 8 according to the latest schedule.
The incident may or may not be announced at the BLM news site and progress reports may or may not be posted in the usual location.
It’s toast. The optics are horrible, thanks to its supporters.
Those protesting the treatment of that foal would be first in line to get rid of it with the Montana Solution.
RELATED: New Tagline for Helicopter Ban.
It’s not “Save a Horse, Hire a Cowboy,” it’s “Abuse a Foal, Pardon a Cowboy.”
The advocates think this footage will convince the American people that removals by wrangler are better than removals by helicopter.
RELATED: So Long, Helicopter Ban?
They’re outraged, according to a news release on EIN by Animal Wellness Action.
What do they prefer? The Montana Solution. No foals at all.
Stalking the bands with clipboards and darting rifles, injecting the mares with pesticides and shifting their food and water to the public-lands ranchers is their raison d’être.
RELATED: So Long, Helicopter Ban?
The incident began on July 1. Gather stats through July 5:
Two horses were put down on Day 4 because of physical defects. Two more were put down on Day 5 for similar reasons and one died from a fractured neck, probably from crashing into a pipe panel.
They’d be alive today if there was no roundup.
The death rate is 3.4%.
A mare was released on Day 4 but no details were given.
The cumulative total includes 87 stallions, 122 mares and 26 foals. The cumulative total at the gather page is 225.
Youngsters represented 11.1% of the animals captured. Of the adults, 41.6% were male and 58.4% were female.
The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 11% per year.
Abnormal sex ratios are often found in herds subject to the Montana Solution.
The location of the trap site within the HMA was not disclosed.
Day 5 ended with 49 unaccounted-for animals.
The removal goal is 66% complete. Mares treated with fertility control will be returned to the area at a later date.
Other statistics:
RELATED: Buffalo Hills Roundup Day 3.
The bill was was prompted by film from the Pancake roundup showing a foal running on a broken leg and now film from the Buffalo Hills roundup showing a foal being thrown to the ground may kill it.
It was a stupid idea anyway.
The video owner said today in an interview with KLAS News of Las Vegas that imagery of a wrangler body slamming a foal will hopefully boost public support for the ban, after which the removals would be carried out by wranglers!
Are these people nuts or what?
Hmmm, the Day 2 report for the Buffalo Hills roundup didn’t say anything about body slamming wild horses.
Wranglers will be the preferred method of capture if the politicians and advocates have their way. Save a horse, hire a cowboy indeed.
RELATED: Titus Admits Helicopter Ban Won’t Help Wild Horses.
Consider these two scenarios for helicopter roundups of wild horses.
A. A foal was found dead on Day 1, cause unknown. A mare was found dead on Day 2 because of a rattlesnake bite. A stallion was put down on Day 3 due to a physical defect.
B. A foal was found dead on Day 1, cause unknown. A mare was found dead on Day 2 because of a rattlesnake bite. A stallion was put down on Day 3 due to a physical defect.
Which one is acceptable?
Both cases are based on the Buffalo Hills roundup.
The first one corresponds to a cruel and costly helicopter roundup that puts more horses in off-range holding.
The second one corresponds to a safe and efficient helicopter roundup that puts more horses into a catch-treat-release program.
Scenario B is better because it leads to greater use of the Montana Solution.
Next time there will be fewer horses to gather.
The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses voiced support for catch-treat-release during the scoping period for the new Cedar Mountain pest control plan, which ran from February 4 to March 5, yet the solicitation for those services was not announced until May 10.
Refer to comment #500236786 in Appendix G of the Draft EA.
How did they know about that? Perhaps they were working with the bureaucrats behind the scenes to steer more business in their direction? Equivalent to insider trading?
They seem to be more concerned about the welfare of livestock than horses.
Hard to believe, isn’t it?
RELATED: Helicopter Roundups Were Bad Before They Were Good.
The incident began on July 1. Gather stats through July 3:
A foal was found dead on Day 1, cause unknown. A mare was found dead on Day 2, rattlesnake bite. A stallion was put down on Day 3, physical deformity.
The death rate is now 1.9%.
The cumulative total includes 51 stallions, 88 mares and 17 foals.
Youngsters represented 10.9% of the animals captured. Of the adults, 36.7% were male and 63.3% were female.
The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 11% per year.
The abnormal sex ratio is often found in herds subject to the Montana Solution.
The location of the trap site within the HMA was not disclosed.
Day 3 ended with 81 unaccounted-for animals.
The removal goal is 44% complete. Mares treated with fertility control will be returned to the area at a later date.
Other statistics:
RELATED: Buffalo Hills Roundup Begins.
The project, situated in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, would renew grazing permits for another ten years on the Link Spring and Last Chance allotments of northwestern Arizona.
There are no wild horses and burros on those pastures.
The Western Watersheds map shows the arrangement.
Table 2.1 in the Draft EA, currently out for public review, provides active AUMs and Table 3.3 provides acreage. The Allotment Master Report provides management status.
Link Spring
Last Chance
Both allotments are making progress toward meeting the Arizona BLM Standards for Rangeland Health, according to Section 1.1 of the EA, suggesting that substandard conditions exist, so how did Last Chance qualify for Maintain status?
The average forage production across both allotments is 46.4 AUMs per year per thousand acres, enough to support 3.9 wild horses per thousand acres.
The BLM has stated repeatedly, with the concurrence of the advocates, that public lands in the American west can only sustain one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
The latter figure corresponds to a shifting of resources from wild horses to privately owned livestock.
That’s what the bureaucrats, ranchers and advocates are trying to protect.
As suspected, the voices in favor of the removal are those of the ranchers and advocates, as explained in a June 30 letter to the editor of the Rio Blanco Herald Times.
“The Makeover [chaired by the author, a public-lands rancher], along with the Piceance Mustangs volunteer work [the advocates], have shown the high level of community support our local White River office of the BLM have for their long awaited and much needed mustang gather.”
The writer went on camera a few weeks ago complaining about the horses and her grazing frustrations on two allotments near the HMA, identified in this map.
The advocates went on record in favor of the roundup a few days later.
The letter was signed by Deirdre Macnab, Meeker Mustang Makeover, not Deirdre Macnab, 4M Ranch.
The BLM has not posted any information about the incident in the usual location, a nice example of the bureaucrats, ranchers and advocates working together for a horse-free future.
On Cumberland Island with Happy Apathy.
Western Horse Watchers Association 