Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
He was found in the HMA on November 10 according to a report by KSL News, killed by gunfire.
Your host was unable to find a statement from the BLM at their news site.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.
Advocates with the Wild Horses of America Foundation are poisoning the Onaqui mares with PZP and Gonacon Equine.
They should be investigated for unlawful use of pesticides.
Refer to §136j(a)(2)(G) in FIFRA.
If the Gonacon label says a second dose can be given 90 days after the first and you give it after 30 days, you violated federal law.
If the Zonastat label tells you what PPE to wear when applying the product and you don’t, you violated federal law.
If persons using these products don’t have the labels in their possession when applying them to equines, they’re violating federal law.
These requirements are easy to check during field audits.
RELATED: There’s a Cancer on the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The incident started on November 2. Results through November 10:
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
The Day 3 report still shows 122 horses shipped but the breakdown yields 120.
Eighteen horses were released on Day 9. No details were given.
A stallion died suddenly on Day 9 after breaking his leg and a mare died suddenly after breaking her neck. Two mares were dispatched because of leg injuries, boosting the death rate to 1.1%.
The capture total includes 270 stallions, 295 mares and 158 foals.
Youngsters represented 21.9% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of 17% per year.
Of the adults, 47.8% were male and 52.2% were female, no indication of an abnormal sex ratio.
Body condition scores were not given.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
The name of the contractor was not provided.
Three HMAs are affected.
Up to 50 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine and returned to the range with up to 50 stallions.
The number of doses and the interval between treatments were not specified, leaving open the possibility that the Complex becomes the next GonaCon crime scene.
The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Triple B Roundup, Day 7.
In the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest with AZplaces.
ALLEGATION: The federal agencies responsible for wild horses and burros knew about the 2017 labeling amendment for GonaCon Equine but ignored the parts they didn’t like, referring instead to specifications of the 2013 and 2015 registrations which better served their anti-horse agenda.
In the 2017 edition, persons injecting the pesticide need not be certified applicators, which they liked, but the minimum interval between treatments was 90 days, which they didn’t like.
In the previous editions, persons injecting the pesticide had to be certified applicators, which they didn’t like, but the interval between treatments was 30 days, which they could tolerate.
So they invented a hybrid registration, without the consent of the EPA, consisting of certification-free application with 30 days between treatments and fed it to the public through the planning process.
Let the denials and coverups begin.
RELATED: Gonacongate: What Did They Know and When Did They Know It?
The case centers around the unlawful use of pesticides and falsification of government documents.
If BLM staff knew about the 2017 registration amendment, and recent EAs for wild horse roundups suggest they did, but referred to the 2013 and 2015 registrations because they better served their anti-horse agenda, that would constitute falsification of official government records.
The Kiger-Riddle management plan, published in July, is one example.
Initiated in early 2020, the project took over four years to complete.
The EA refers to the 2013 registration, according to which the product was a restricted-use pesticide requiring applicator certification, and the minimum interval between doses was 30 days.
But, unlike the discussion of PZP, the EA is silent about the certification requirement, which is consistent with the 2017 update.
The Pancake EA provides the same evidence.
In addition to dropping the RUP designation, the 2017 update increased the minimum interval between doses from 30 days to 90 days.
Yet the agency typically waits only 30 days to administer the booster, which constitutes unlawful use of the pesticide.
The driver may be cost avoidance—the goal is to spend more of your budget on wild horse removals, not temporary holding of mares that will go back on the range and rob the poor ranchers of their birthright.
How many of the GonaCon darters at Piceance Mustangs and High Desert Strategies are certified applicators? More evidence that our faithful public servants knew about the 2017 amendment but ignored the parts they didn’t like.
This is a matter for law enforcement.
The response to a comment in the Buffalo Hills DNA indicates they’re aware of the 2017 update but want to shrink the treatment window to 7 days.
Unfortunately for them, asking the EPA to change the registration does not absolve prior wrongdoing.
RELATED: Another Amendment to Gonacon Registration in the Works?
The incident started on November 2. Results through November 8:
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
The Day 3 report still shows 122 horses shipped but the breakdown yields 120.
A stallion was dispatched on Day 6 due to severe swayback.
The death rate is 0.7%.
The capture total includes 240 stallions, 250 mares and 124 foals.
Youngsters represented 20.2% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of 15% per year.
Of the adults, 49.0% were male and 51.0% were female, within the expected range of variation from a random process centered at 50% males / 50% females.
Body condition scores were not given.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
The name of the contractor was not provided.
Three HMAs are affected.
Up to 50 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine and returned to the range with up to 50 stallions.
The number of doses and the interval between treatments were not specified, leaving open the possibility that the Complex becomes the next GonaCon crime scene.
The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Triple B Roundup, Day 5.
The project is now in the protest stage.
Only those who participated in the planning process are eligible to comment according to the news release.
The planning area includes the Paisley Desert and Beatys Butte HMAs, according to the HMA-1 map.
Of interest in Section 3.10.1.1 of Appendix 12 (page 201 in the pdf) are these figures:
The Lakeview allotments support livestock equivalent to 13,706 wild horses, or 4.6 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Our faithful public servants tell us that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
The advocates bolster the narrative with their darting programs.
Thay want the ranchers to win.
The incident, billed as catch-treat-release in the October 31 schedule, will begin on or about November 15 according to today’s news release.
The capture goals are 235 wild horses and 33 wild burros.
The removal goals are 32 wild horses and 33 wild burros.
Up to 100 mares with be treated with GonaCon Equine before being returned to the HMA with up to 103 stallions.
The announcement did not indicate if they would receive two doses and if they’d be given 90 days apart as specified on the label.
The BLM typically gives two doses 30 days apart, which constitutes unlawful use of the pesticide.
A helicopter will push the animals into the trap and operations will be open to public observation.
The pre-gather population is thought to be 314 wild horses and 33 wild burros.
The management plan allows 314 horses and no burros.
Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.
The HMA, on the east side of Twin Peaks, lies within the Buffalo Hills Allotment.
RELATED: Buffalo Hills Decision Issued.
The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses tries to market itself as a leader in wild horse conservation, evident in Google search results.
In reality, its leaders are obsessed with PZP, a restricted-use pesticide that tricks the immune system into attacking the ovaries.
They protect ranchers, not wild horses.
They oppose principal use and management at the minimum feasible level.
They want to replace motorized removal with mass sterilization.
None of this would be possible without a cadre of nefarious leaders and an army of ill-informed donors and volunteers.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Strange But True Edition.
A new project has been opened in ePlanning and the Draft DNA was copied to the documents folder for public review.
Comments will be accepted through December 7 according to today’s news release.
A 2015 Decision Record authorized the Proposed Action discussed in Section 2.2.1 of a 2015 Final EA.
A roundup at the Fish Creek HMA appears on the October 31 schedule with a start date of January 6. The incident was billed as catch-treat-release and the pesticide of choice is GonaCon Equine.
The DNA asserts that the 2015 analysis fully covers the 2025 roundup and satisfies the requirements of NEPA.
A search of the 2015 EA for “gona” yielded no results, while searches for “zona” and “pzp” yielded numerous results.
Thus, the plan to apply GonaCon in January was not addressed in the original analysis and the assertion in the DNA is not correct.
The HMA, a few miles west of Eureka, NV, is subject to permitted grazing.
The emergency/nuisance section has expanded from one incident in the October 7 schedule to five incidents in the October 31 schedule.
RELATED: FY25 Roundup Schedule Issued.
Some headlines said he died, such as this one by WITN News, but he was killed by the advocates.
Seems like there’s a steady stream of negative results coming from areas where the advocates are involved.
The winner for 2024 will likely be the loss of 24 Virginia Range mustangs in a botched attempt to rescue them from a construction area in south Reno.
How do you know an idea is bad for wild horses? The advocates support it.
Two examples in the legislative arena are the Wild Horse and Burro Sterilization Act and the Veterans for Pesticides Act, which should expire when the 118th Congress terms out at the end of the year.
RELATED: HR 3656: Windfall for Advocates, Bad for Wild Horses.
The incident started on October 28. Results through November 6:
The death rate cannot be determined.
There is no breakdown of capture total.
The percentage of foals cannot be determined.
The ratio of males to females is unknown.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
More information may be available on socialist media.
Body conditions scores have been averaging 4 to 5, an indication that the horses are not starving and the herd has not exceeded the ability of the land to sustain it.
The roundup will achieve a thriving ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, codewords for ranching superiority in the lawful home of wild horses.
RELATED: Devil’s Garden Roundup, Day 7.
The incident started on November 2. Results through November 6:
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
The Day 3 report still shows 122 horses shipped but the breakdown yields 120.
A stallion and mare were put down on Day 5 due to blindness in one eye, lifting the death rate to 0.9%.
The capture total includes 113 stallions, 137 mares and 69 foals.
Youngsters represented 21.6% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 45.2% were male and 54.8% were female.
Body condition scores were not given.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
Three HMAs are affected.
Up to 50 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine and released back to the range with up to 50 stallions.
The number of doses and the interval between treatments were not specified, leaving open the possibility that the Complex becomes another GonaCon crime scene.
The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Triple B Roundup, Day 3.
Two new projects have been opened in ePlanning:
Comments will be accepted through November 15.
The agency sends mares to both ORPs according to the September 2024 Facility Report.
RELATED: BLM Weighs Four New ORPs.
The Buffalo Hills DNA indicates the BLM has asked the EPA to revise the label, changing the interval between treatments from 90 days to 7 days.
This means that they know about, and probably knew about, the 2017 update, which increased the interval of the 2013 and 2015 registrations, which they usually cite in their planning documents, from 30 days to 90 days.
Moreover, mares captured in roundups typically receive two doses 30 days apart, which constitutes unlawful use of the pesticide.
When will law enforcement get involved?
And what about the ranching sympathizers at Piceance Mustangs and High Desert Strategies who apply the product with the agency’s blessing?
Western Horse Watchers searched the EPA web site for “Gonacon” and did not find any recent updates for the equine version.
RELATED: An Incomplete History of GonaCon Equine.
The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a leader in nonmotorized removal and fierce opponent of principal use, reported today that 107 mares received 108 doses of PZP during the month, 19 given as primers and 89 as boosters.
Over the life of the program, which began in 2019, 2,068 mares have received 9,967 doses of the pesticide, for an average of 4.8 doses per mare.
The results fell 33 doses short of the 10,000-dose milestone predicted for October.
The epicenter of the program is in and around the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, listed as USA Parkway in the page 3 chart.
Since the beginning of the year, 165 foals have been born and 66 died.
The current population is thought to be 3,465 with 294 horses listed as missing, compared to 3,501 with 299 horses listed as missing in September.
The population was 3,515 with 302 horses listed as missing in August and 3,548 with 311 listed as missing in July.
The Year 6 agreement with NDA has not been posted to the darting resources page.
The Year 5 summary has not been posted to the monthly reports page.
A goal for November is to maximize booster treatments so the herd will continue to shrink and to complete the training of newly certified darters.
Not discussed in the October update:
The report will be submitted to the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Update for September 2024.
The BLM has determined that existing NEPA documentation adequately covers the proposed removal of wild horses and burros from rangelands in and around the HMA, according to a November 5 news release.
Operations could begin as early as November 15.
The DNA was copied to the project folder with the DR and comment summary.
Of interest is the last comment at the bottom of page one in the summary regarding the 2017 labeling amendment and increased interval between doses of GonaCon Equine.
The response indicates that the USDA is working with the EPA to change the label to allow a booster as soon as seven days after the initial injection!
If the label is not changed in time for the roundup the agency will follow the current label which means holding the mares for 90 days before applying the booster.
What about all the cases, including EAs currently out for public review, where they refer to the outdated 2013 and 2015 registrations and their 30-day intervals?
They need to be walked back, all of them.
The Buffalo Hills HMA lies within the Buffalo Hills Allotment.
The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Buffalo Hills Comment Period in Progress.
Western Horse Watchers Association 