The March 6 hearing has been scrubbed from the bill actions.
R.I.P.
RELATED: SB 2331 Lives?
Author: Western Horse Watchers
Ashes and Advocacy
Today marks the beginning of 40 days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving ahead of Easter.
It’s also Velma’s birthday.
Beware of the charlatans and their false promises.
They are phonies, leaders of the blind, irrelevant.
BLM Releases Pancake Final Planning Documents
The Decision Record, copied to the project folder today, authorizes Alternatives A and D of the Final EA, minus the use of IUDs. Refer to Sections 2.4 and 2.7.
The new plan supports three tenets of rangeland management.
The new HMAP is discussed in Appendix XIII.
The news release did not mention that the EA still refers to outdated registrations for GonaCon Equine, despite public comments.
RELATED: EA for Pancake HMAP Out for Public Review.
BLM to Renew Agreement with Wyoming Honor Farm
The final planning documents have been copied to the project folder.
The Decision Record authorizes the solicitation of a five-year contract to pay for space, feeding, training and care for up to 200 wild horses and burros at the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton.
Most of the training is accomplished by inmates, which helps them transition back into society according to the news release.
RELATED: Wyoming Honor Farm EA Out for Review.
AIP Fallout
What will happen now that the incentive has been abolished?
- Roundups will continue
- Wild horses and burros will still be offered for adoption
- Adoptions will decrease
- Off-range holding will increase
The government will need new ideas to keep the populations in check.
Who will be waiting in the wings to provide those services?
Those who brought the lawsuit.
Totally self-serving.
RELATED: Court Halts AIP.
Author of HB25-1283 Receives Wild Horse Annie Award?
Should this be construed as an endorsement of the bill?
The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a leader in nonmotorized removal and fierce opponent of principal use, wants to replace helicopter roundups with mass sterilization, abnormal sex ratios and faulty immune systems.
Velma would be horrified.
RELATED: Colorado Wild Horse Working Group Calls Special Meeting.
NOTE: If you’re trying to pass yourself off as a voice for wild horses, an endorsement from CAAWH is like an endorsement from Elko County. It is an albatross, the kiss of death, as is the case for Wild Horse Fire Brigade.
Court Halts AIP
In his March 3 opinion, District Judge William Martinez agreed with petitioners that Instruction Memorandum 2022-014, which outline policies and procedures for administering the Adoption Incentive Program, violated the procedural and substantive requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act and that the respondents violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to evaluate the environmental impacts of the IM before putting it into effect.
The court vacated the IM and remanded it back to the BLM for further proceedings consistent with the ruling.
RELATED: AIP Lawsuit Moved to Colorado.
NOTE: If you can’t access the decision, click here.
Not Again! Child Kicked by Horse on Mount Charleston
Story by Fox News in Las Vegas.
RELATED: Kicking Incident Puts Spotlight on Mount Charleston Horses.
Shultz to Head Forest Service
He will replace Randy Moore according to a USDA news release.
RELATED: Leadership Positions Open at BLM and Forest Service.
Canyonlands Roundup Ends
The incident concluded on February 28 with 85 burros captured, 82 shipped, none released and three dead.
There were no unaccounted-for animals.
The capture and removal goals were 100 each.
The death rate was 3.5%.
The average daily take was 17.0.
The capture total included 49 jacks, 32 jennies and four foals.
Youngsters represented 4.7% of the animals gathered, which may indicate a low—if not negative—herd growth rate.
Of the adults, 60.5% were male and 39.5% were female.
There were no plans to return any of the animals to the HMA, so the number removed fell short of the goal by 15.
Removed = Captured – Returned = 85 – 0 = 85
The operation supported three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Canyonlands Wild Burro Roundup Announced.
Mustang Monday
On the Virginia Range with Jeff Martinez.
Colorado Wild Horse Working Group Calls Special Meeting
The group will convene on March 10 to discuss HB25-1283 according to an undated announcement.
BLM Puts NDV Off Limits?
The resource now requires a login.
Seems like the agency has become more secretive since the inauguration.
Every Day Is Horse Protection Day in the Wild Horse World
In the image below, an advocate protects wild horses on the Virginia Range.
Similar observances are held throughout the year at the Salt River, Spring Creek Basin, Pine Nut Mountains, Sand Wash Basin, Little Book Cliffs, McCullough Peaks, Cedar Mountain and Onaqui Mountain, just to name a few.
RELATED: National Horse Protection Day: Not What You Think It Is.
National Horse Protection Day: Not What You Think It Is
Refer to the AdvocateSpeak decoder. Words have different meanings in the wild horse world, so NHPD could be rebranded as:
- Interfering with the transmission of life day
- Nonmotorized removal day
- Help the advocates buy more pesticides day
- Managing principally for livestock day
- Protecting the ranchers day
- Off the range day
The governor of Colorado made it effective for an entire month.
Then he went back to scandalizing the faithful.
Nothing to Discuss at Currituck Wild Horse Advisory Board?
The February 20 meeting was cancelled but no reason was given.
The previous meeting was also cancelled.
The status of the darting program, composition of the herd and the size of the breeding population are not known.
Court Disputes Claim Regarding Alpine Wild Horse Removal
In his February 26 opinion, District Court Judge John Tuchi agreed that removal of wild horses from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest without the proper notice frustrated the mission of the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group but did not result in diversion of its resources as originally claimed.
The advocates have 14 days to amend their complaint, showing how actions by the Forest Service, or lack thereof, resulted in diversion of their resources, otherwise the case will be dismissed.
The Court did not question the group’s mission, which, according to the ruling, is to protect wild horses, manage them humanely and rescue them for placement in good homes, even though there is abundant evidence to the contrary.
They, in association with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, are destroying the Salt River herd with PZP, a restricted-use pesticide that sterilizes females after five years of treatment.
The program is now moving into its seventh year.
RELATED: Advocates to ASNF: Let Us Fix Your Wild Horse Problem.
Foal-Free Friday, Backstopping the Advocates Edition
Predators are an essential part of PZP darting programs, as they take out any foals born to immunocompromised mares or those missed by the field workers.
The latest example occurred at the Salt River in Arizona.
The safety net is not as effective in areas subject to permitted grazing, where predators have been depopulated, mostly at the state level, to protect livestock.
A workaround is to create state-sponsored groups that recruit more volunteers and help them buy more pesticides.
Do not be deceived by the advocates and their celebrity spokesmen.
They are wiping out entire herds with mass sterilization and peddling the effort as wild horse conservation.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Making Their Heads Explode Edition.
Canyonlands Roundup, Day 3
The incident started on February 24. Results through February 26:
- Scope: Canyonlands HMA
- Target: Burros
- AML: 100
- Pre-gather population: 208
- Type: Planned
- Method: Helicopter
- Goals: Capture 100, remove 100
- Captured: 52, up from 23 on Day 1
- Shipped: 49, up from zero on Day 1
- Released: None
- Deaths: 3, up from zero on Day 1
- Average daily take: 17.3
- Unaccounted-for animals: None
- Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
- Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
Two jacks were dispatched on Day 2 because of tumors, followed by another on Day 3 for a missing eye, lifting the death rate to 5.8%.
The capture total includes 30 jacks, 21 jennies and 1 foal.
Youngsters represented 1.9% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 58.8% were male and 41.2% were female.
The location of the trap site is not known.
The name of the contractor was not provided.
There are no plans to treat any of the jennies with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.
RELATED: Canyonlands Roundup Begins.
Leadership Positions Open at BLM and Forest Service
The BLM org chart shows a vacancy in the director’s slot.
A note from the Forest Service chief indicates he’s retiring effective March 3.
We don’t know what these agencies will look like in the future.
Cost cutting is often accompanied by restructuring.
Western Horse Watchers Association 