Author: Western Horse Watchers

Wild Horse Propaganda

Here’s a presentation about wild horses for a professional communications course at Colorado State University.  Purpose of this post is not to criticize the speaker but to question the content of the speech.  Maybe the student did what he had to do to get a passing grade from his Marxist professor.

Where did he get his information?  From the ranching industry?  Presentation seems to be very one-sided.  Includes the infamous photos from the Cold Creek herd in 2015 and contains several elements of the wild horse narrative.

  • Habitat damage
  • Competition for scarce resources with other native species
  • No natural predators
  • Overpopulation

The talk even mentions climate change, a sure sign the speech was produced by liberals for consumption by liberals.  The discussion beginning at 3:01 blames wild horses for damaging riparian habitats, when it was the fence that caused it, by interfering with the free-roaming nature of these animals and their search for food and water.

Wild Horse Awareness

Posting this video as a guest commentary.  More people are learning about these icons of the American West, and that’s a good thing.  Additional remarks:

  • BLM allows oil and gas exploration and production on public lands, along with timber harvesting and mining, but the greatest threat to WHB comes from the ranching industry
  • The conflict goes back many years
  • Horses and burros removed from public lands are also placed in off-range pastures
  • BLM spends about $50 million annually to care for animals removed from western rangelands
  • BLM tries to place these animals into private hands through adoption and sale
  • PZP is a contraceptive, extended use may lead to sterilization
  • BLM is moving ahead with sterilization research as a potential long-term ‘solution’ to the wild horse ‘problem’

H/T to Laura, a new voice for our wild ones at Gone to the Horses.

BLM Plans Roundup at Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range

This has been in the news for a few days but was not formally acknowledged by the BLM until yesterday.  Bait trapping will be used beginning in late August, to remove up to 60 horses from the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range near Grand Junction, CO.

Overpopulation was cited as the reason for the gather.  Horses younger than five years of age will be the focus of the operation.

Little_Bookcliffs_HMA_Map-1

Captured animals will be taken to a BLM facility in Cañon City, CO, where they will be checked by a veterinarian and prepared for adoption.

Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range is one of just three areas in the western U.S. managed primarily for wild horses.  Livestock grazing does not occur there.

The post-gather population density, based on 130 horses remaining and 36,113 acres of land available for grazing, is 3.6 animals per thousand acres, considerably higher than the national average of one animal per thousand acres on BLM-managed lands.  But it’s one of the smaller HMAs managed by the agency.

A page for viewing day-by-day gather statistics has not been created as of today.

See also this report in The Daily Sentinel posted 07/27/18.

Fish Springs Gather On Hold

A spokesperson for the Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates said the planned roundup of wild horses on the Pine Nut Mountain Herd Area won’t happen, according to a report published yesterday in Nevada Appeal.

BLM argued there is not enough food and water to support the 78 horses that currently roam there and was preparing to remove all but 26.  The Herd Area covers more than 100,000 acres, which means the post-gather population density would be less than 0.26 animals per thousand acres, almost nothing.

See also this story in Carson Now, posted 07/27/18.

RELATED: One if by Helicopter, Two if by Trap.

Cash and Carry

Refer to this opinion piece posted 07/25/18 in the Elko Daily Free Press about new rules for selling wild horses.

These letters often give the serious reader an opportunity to ferret out elements of the wild horse narrative, like one of those word puzzles.  Not so in this case.  There’s only one, namely, that horses are non-native species.

The government serfs, who fatten their cattle on public lands at fire-sale prices, are delighted that individuals can now purchase up to 25 animals at one time.  It was smart move by the BLM.  The waiting list is long and people have been hanging on the fence for years to just to adopt one or two horses.  There are many WHB enthusiasts that have large ranches and deep pockets, and can easily care for 25, 50, 75 or more horses.

These cattlemen are an entitled bunch.  They see these changes as a step toward ranching utopia, where wild horses and burros have been removed from public rangelands, no longer consuming forage that belongs to them.

In other parts of the country, hard-working farmers and ranchers use their own land to put food on our tables.  We need more of that.

Raise the grazing fee on public rangelands to $25 per AUM.  Or $50 or $75 or more.

Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Tour

It’s a 24-mile long gravel road that runs along the southern border of White Mountain HMA, beginning at Green River, WY.  Refer to this page for directions.  The area is marked by numerous Herd Areas (red borders), where wild horses were found in 1971 (when the WHB Act became law), but today have no AMLs and are not managed for horses.  Were they zeroed out to make room for livestock grazing?

White_Mountain_HMA_Map-1

Pilot Butte, seen in the following video, was a landmark used by pioneers in their westward migration.  Horses roaming the hills are remnants of that era.

Bible Springs Next on BLM Hit List

BLM announced today that gather operations would commence next week on the Bible Springs Complex and Sulphur HMA in southwestern Utah.  The complex includes the Four Mile, Bible Springs and Tilly Creek HMAs.  The news release included the Blawn Wash region in the complex, but it is a herd area north of Four Mile.

The gather will be open to public observation.

Bible_Springs_Complex_Map-1

Captured animals will be taken to an off-range facility in Axtell, Utah, where they will be checked by a veterinarian and prepared for adoption.  Gather stats can be found on this page.

The four HMAs cover 427, 349 acres and have a combined AML of 420, for a target population density of one animal per thousand acres.

The news release did not indicate if dry conditions were a factor in the decision to remove horses and if livestock were present on the HMAs and surrounding lands.

Humanae Vitae at 50

Today, the Encyclical Letter written by Paul VI turns 50.  The Church has always taught that contraception is evil.  Until the middle of the last century most people accepted it.

WTWT.  Pay attention to the four predictions (section 17 in the original document).

  • Marital infidelity
  • Lowering of moral standards
  • Loss of reverence due to a woman
  • Government involvement in the details of married life

H/T Michael Voris and the folks at Church Militant.

BLM Concludes Bullfrog Gather

BLM announced today that it had ended bait-trapping operations at the Bullfrog HMA, with 404 wild burros removed from public and private lands near Beatty, NV.

Gather stats indicated two deaths, but details were not provided.  The number of burros remaining was not given.

Animals were shipped to an off-range facility in Axtell, UT, where they will be seen by a veterinarian and prepared for adoption.

RELATED: BLM to Gather Burros from Bullfrog HMA Starting Next Week.