Additional laboratory investigations to understand the high mortality rate in the West Douglas horses are ongoing and could take several weeks or months to complete, according to a BLM news release dated May 27.
RELATED: Cañon City Incident, Day 35.
Author: Western Horse Watchers
Still Not Convinced That the Advocates Are Frauds?
The mask is off. The article titled “Wild Horse Tales” in the May edition of Horse Tales reveals their glorious plan, starting on page six.
No sensible person can look at what they’re doing to the horses and call it protection.
- Promotion of overpopulation narrative
- Silence about permitted grazing
- Acceptance of rangeland mismanagement
- Collaboration with bureaucrats and ranchers
- Silence about resource availability and apportionment
- Obsession with Montana Solution
- Dismissal of principles in original statute
If you think these people are protecting wild horses then you probably think the Uvalde shooter was protecting kids.
Don’t forget your “Stay Wild” cap.
RELATED: Older Horses Should Be Allowed to Die Where Born.
SHOCKER: Rancher Proposes Changes That Benefit Ranchers
The idea is to move wild horses into remote wilderness areas not particularly suited to livestock grazing so ranchers can have all—not just some—of the food and water in their congressionally designated habitats.
Rock Springs RMP Protests Still Trickling In
Two were filed in the past two weeks, bringing the total to eleven.
Protests submitted by mail may not be included in the count.
Only persons or groups that participated in the planning process are eligible and new issues may not be introduced.
The Final EIS was posted with other project documents.
The protest period runs through June 6.
Cañon City Incident, Day 35
A foal was lost on May 26, according to the sitrep for the week ending May 27.
The count for Day 1 was changed from ten to nine, dropping a foal that was originally thought to be part of the outbreak.
That leaves the total at 145.
All fatalities have occurred in pens occupied by the West Douglas horses, displaced from their home range by privately owned livestock.
Approximately 17% were foals.
Previous reports were posted to the Colorado HMA page.
Findings from an internal audit have been released to the public.
RELATED: Cañon City Incident, Day 31.
Cañon City Audit in the News
Older Horses Should Be Allowed to Die Where Born
As for the youngsters, they shouldn’t be allowed at all.
The real estate agent and PZP darter in Minden/Gardnerville area is back with another column about the Montana Solution in this month’s edition of Horse Tales.
A perfect topic for Foal-Free Friday, starting on page six.
This charlatan praises the work of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses and Wild Horse Eradication, who spend your hard-earned donations on useless endeavors.
She points to the 60,000 animals in off-range holding, and the associated costs, but does not say a word about the cattle and sheep occupying their home range.
A few miles to the north, the advocate identifies four others who have fired over one thousand doses each of PZP into the Virginia Range herd.
She’s proud of their accomplishments.
The article concludes with some remarks about roundups—that don’t work according to the monster-in-charge at CAAWH.
They are very effective, you idiot, at shifting resources from wild horses to privately owned livestock, the same thing you and your foot soldiers are trying to achieve with the Montana Solution.
The herds will never bounce back if they have their way, assuring ranching superiority in areas set aside for the horses.
These people are lowbrows, stooges for the public-lands ranchers.
Cañon City Audit Yields Ten Major Findings
On May 20, a BLM team compared current practices at the facility, where 145 wild horses from the West Douglas Herd Area have died, to applicable standards in the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program, noting 13 deficiencies.
Ten were classified as major.
Overall compliance was 83%.
The findings, presented in a report dated May 24, include:
- Inadequate staff
- Poor maintenance
- Safety hazards
- Substandard fencing
- Stallions mixed with mares
- Lack of vaccinations
The team, which cannot be described as independent, offered several recommendations to improve compliance.
RELATED: Cañon City Incident, Day 31.
Foal-Free Friday, Fighting Crime One Mare at a Time
On the Virginia Range, documenting the war on procreation by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses and its army of volunteers.
Their goal is to take a larger share of the wild horse removal business by convincing the bureaucrats, ranchers and politicians that the Montana Solution is a viable alternative to helicopter roundups.
And they need more of your hard-earned donations to make the plan a success.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Barren Before It Was Cool Edition.
Western Horse Watchers Q&A
Q. Why are you always cracking on the advocates?
A. Because they’re wrong.
Q. Isn’t that a bit divisive?
A. I don’t care what they think, I am a voice for the horses.
Q. What don’t they like about Western Horse Watchers?
A. The numbers—the truth is in the numbers and they are innumerate.
Q. What’s missing from the wild horse world?
A. The technical side—the data, the calculations, the comparisons.
Q. Why is that important?
A. The American people don’t realize how far we’ve strayed from the original statute.
Q. Why aren’t you on socialist media?
A. You can say whatever you want as long as it conforms to leftist ideology.
Q. What’s wrong with that?
A. Seriously?
Black Mountain Roundup Over
The incident concluded on May 25, according to information at the gather page, with 1,109 burros captured, 1,090 shipped, none released and no deaths.
Figures for Days 8 and 21 were revised.
The numbers don’t balance. The 19 unaccounted-for animals may correspond to jennies in the HSUS darting experiment that will be returned to the HMA.
The total consisted of 447 jacks, 550 jennies and 112 foals.
Youngsters represented 10.1% of the animals captured. Of the adults, 44.8% were male and 55.2% were female.
The percentage of foals went down as the number of animals caught went up.
The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 10%.
The percentages of males and females were outside the expected range of variation for a simple random process centered at 50% males / 50% females with 997 adults.
Abnormal sex ratios are not uncommon in herds subject to the Montana Solution.
The capture and removal goals were 1,080 each.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.
RELATED: Another Black Mountain Roundup Announced.
Currituck Foal Died of Septicemia
The death was attributed to an infection that entered his body through the umbilicus, according to a story in OBX Today.
The column, written by the herd manager, acknowledges the miraculous arrival of foals who grow into healthy adults despite such challenges [including repeated application of the Montana Solution by her and her supporters].
Much to Dispute in Pancake Opinion Piece
Refer to the commentary dated May 24 in the Reno Gazette Journal, written by a volunteer who filmed the colt with the broken leg on Day 1 of the roundup.
The incident prompted the introduction of HR 6635, the helicopter ban, that would not affect the driver of wild horse removals, only the way they are carried out.
The road to improvement starts with Herd Management Area Plans, according to the writer.
“The effect of not having these plans is these outrageous and large helicopter roundups.”
Wrong.
The Draft EA for resource enforcement actions in the Bible Springs Complex indicates in Section 1.1 that HMAPs are not prerequisites to the BLM taking horses off the range.
On-site observation of wild horse roundups, discussed in the column, documents the problem but does not point to solutions.
Injuries, deaths and subsequent mistreatment of these animals, including the incident at Cañon City and the fallout from the adoption incentive program, are too late, too far downstream in the management process, yet they receive most of the attention.
Areas identified for wild horses are managed primarily—if not principally—for privately owned cattle and sheep.
The off-the-range philosophy of the wild horse and burro program follows naturally.
This explains why roundups, fertility control, sterilization, sex-ratio skewing, adoptions, training and warehousing of captured animals devour most of its budget.
It’s a pest control program, designed to minimize its impact on the grazing program.
Would HMAPs change any of that?
Of course not.
The EA suggests that HMAPs establish AMLs and objectives for managing the HMAs, consistent with pre-existing management plans and other decision documents, monitor conditions and evaluate whether management objectives are being met, and provide corrective actions if the goals are not being achieved.
Put simply, they ratify and reinforce the status quo!
What are the results where they’ve been applied?
- Paisley Desert HMA – Livestock receive 85% of authorized forage
- Frisco HMA – Livestock receive 80% of authorized forage
- Sulphur HMA – Livestock receive 77% of authorized forage
Livestock receive 88% of the authorized forage at the North Lander Complex, to be affirmed by an HMAP.
Livestock receive 89% of the authorized forage at the Warm Springs HMA in Oregon, to be locked in by an HMAP.
At Little Colorado HMA in Wyoming, livestock receive 97% of the authorized forage, awaiting ratification by an HMAP.
The writer’s thesis is off the mark. The folks at Wild Horse Education, widely regarded as experts in the field, should know that.
RELATED: HMAPs Are Not the Answer.
Black Mountain Roundup Day 21
The incident began on May 2. Gather stats through May 22:
- Target: Burros
- Type: Planned
- Method: Helicopter
- Captured: 1,008, up from 844 on Day 18
- Average daily take: 48.0
- Capture goal: 1,080
- Removal goal: 1,080
- Returned: None
- Deaths: None
- Shipped: 796, no change from Day 18
Helicopters were grounded on Day 19 due to high winds.
The cumulative total includes 391 jacks, 508 jennies and 109 foals, based on figures in the daily reports. The breakdown at the gather page is 392, 506 and 110.
Youngsters represented 10.8% of the animals captured. Of the adults, 43.5% were male and 56.5% were female.
The percentage of foals has been going down as the number of animals caught goes up.
The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 11% per year.
The percentages of males and females are still outside the range of expected variation for a simple random process centered at p-bar = .5 (50% males / 50% females) with a sample size of n = 899 adults.
Abnormal sex ratios are not unusual in herds subject to the Montana Solution.
The report for Day 19 said that burros in the HSUS darting experiment were treated at the holding facility.
The location of the trap site within the HMA was not given.
Day 21 ended with 212 unaccounted-for animals.
With 1,008 burros taken off the range, the removal goal is 93% complete.
Other statistics:
- AML: 478
- Forage assigned to burros: 2,868 AUMs per year
- Pre-gather population: 3,000
- Forage liberated to date: 6,048 AUMs per year
- Water liberated to date: 5,040 gallons per day
- Forage assigned to livestock: 7,333 AUMs per year (estimated)
- Burros displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: 1,222
- True AML: 1,700
- Stocking rate at new AML: 1.7 burros per thousand acres
- Burros displaced from HMA by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates
RELATED: Black Mountain Roundup Day 18.
Wild Horse Freedom Rallies Set for Next Month
Most will occur on June 11 according to the latest schedule. Check the list for dates and times in your area.
An announcement on EIN says they were initiated in response to the loss of almost 250 mustangs in Colorado and Wyoming off-range corrals.
To date, 145 horses have died at Cañon City and 11 at Wheatland.
If wild horses and burros have been subjugated to ranching interests, as the organizers state, why aren’t they working on a overhaul of the statutes, regulations and RMPs that determine how public-lands are managed?
- Livestock confined to base properties (private lands associated with allotments)
- Most resources assigned to horses and burros
- Small amount reserved for wildlife
AMLs, which are usually small relative to the available food and water, were not part of the original statute.
RELATED: More Wild Horse Rallies?
What Makes Colorado’s HMAs So Special?
All of them are subject to the Montana Solution, or similar facsimile, according to the latest roundup and fertility control schedule.
An article posted yesterday by The Gazette of Colorado Springs, site of this week’s international conference on wildlife fertility control, refers to volunteers that have partnered with the BLM at the state’s HMAs as “Friends,” which is probably another euphemism like “Advocates.”
These crime stoppers provide a valuable service for the bureaucrats and ranchers, not just in Colorado, but across the American west: Get rid of the horses with PZP, make sure livestock receive most of their food and water.
RELATED: Crime Prevention in the Wild Horse World.
Cañon City Incident, Day 31
No deaths were reported in the May 23 update, leaving the total at 145.
All fatalities have occurred in pens occupied by the West Douglas horses.
Approximately 16% were foals.
The May 23 sitrep provides no new details.
The sitreps will be updated weekly, starting this Friday, instead of daily.
RELATED: Cañon City Incident, Day 30.
International Conference on Fertility Control Starts Today
Those who are so concerned about saving wild horses from slaughter would be first in line to get rid of them with the Montana Solution.
Ever notice that?
Don’t forget your “Stay Wild” cap.
RELATED: International Fertility Control Conference Next Week.
Mustang Monday
In Breathitt County with Reginald Bareham. The horses roam freely in eastern Kentucky, as explained in this account by the Appalachian Horse Project.
Virginia Range Foal Spotted on Mother’s Day!
Posting these photos to piss off the advocates. They are as wicked as the day is long.
RELATED: PZP Zealots Missed One.
Western Horse Watchers Association 