In a 2020 management plan summary, the Arizona Department of Agriculture noted that the Salt River herd consisted of approximately 450 horses, with a recommendation to reduce it to 100 to 200 horses by the use of birth control and natural attrition.

A third party with a no-cost contract would work to achieve the goal within ten years.

The Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, an affiliate of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, was recruited for the job.

The weapon of choice was PZP.

The effectiveness of the effort would be assessed in five years and that process has been started.

What the advocates did not tell the bureaucrats, apparently, is that most of the mares would be ruined after five years of treatment and that the herd would not reach the target range but pass through it in irreversible decline.

It’s hard to believe that they would lie about anything, especially EPA-registered pesticides, which they refer to as vaccines.

With few exceptions, their nonprofits revolve around the use of these products, and they’re now trying to position themselves as a humane alternative to motorized removal.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Synonyms for Sterilization Edition.

Dr. Laura’s proprietary formula, peddled at last year’s conference in Reno, made a lot of people sick.

Their strategy is to market an idea that appears to address the issues while leaving the real problem untouched.

Can you say moooo?

RELATED: Save Our Wild Horses Conference Moves to Colorado.

A good way to hide a problem is to omit it from the discussion and that’s what the writer does in a May 19 column about wild horses published by The Hill.

From the first paragraph: “With few natural predators and virtually no population control, these animals have multiplied far beyond the landscape’s carrying capacity — leading to degraded rangeland wildlife habitat, brutal horse starvations and mounting taxpayer costs.”

If accuracy was the goal—and it is not—the intro would read “With few exceptions, areas identified for wild horses are overlapped by grazing allotments, and management plans developed by the government favor ranching interests, not wild horses.”

That would explain the symptoms in the opening remarks:

• Lack of predators
• Degraded habitats
• Inadequate food
• Increasing costs

If the writer was honest, he’d tell you that the bureaucrats assign about 80% of the forage in the lawful homes of with horses to ranchers.

Carrying capacities are much higher than the government admits and the off-range corrals are flooded with wild horses because the government manages the land primarily for livestock.

Curiously, the nonprofit that won the case, halting the adoption incentive, wants the horses gone as much as the ranchers.

But they want it done with pesticides not helicopters.

RELATED: Why Are There So Many Wild Horses in Off-Range Holding?

The term was defined in a May 16 article by The Fence Post as purchasing agricultural lands and converting them to wildlife refuges.

The Public Lands Council, a ranching trumpet, opposes the concept and hiring decision.

If a proposed refuge for wild horses does not include public lands and does not displace livestock therefrom, it’s not worthy of your support.

RELATED: Key Indicators for New Wild Horse Preserves.

These people are complete phonies.

They’re wiping out the herd with ovary-killing pesticides so ranchers can access most of their food.

Financing was provided by the BLM.

RELATED: Top Five Synonyms for Wild Horse Sterilization.

Pick a random acre.

Is it subject to drilling or mining?  Probably not.

How about logging?  Maybe.

Permitted grazing?  Almost certainly.

Does it stand on its own two feet?  Pull its own weight?  No.

The ranchers pay almost nothing for the resources they consume and the services rendered on their behalf by the government and its partners.

• Promotion and propaganda
• Access to forage for pennies on the dollar
• Removal of competing animals
• Control of predators
• Wildfire recovery
• Cheatgrass mitigation
• Fuels reduction
• Range improvements
• Administrative and clerical

The grazing fee would have to be raised to $15 per AUM just to pay for the wild horse and burro program.

10,000,000 AUMs sold per year × $15 per AUM = $150,000,000 per year

The current fee is $1.35 per AUM.

The advocates portray drillers and miners as the bad guys while giving the ranchers a pass.

Makes you wonder whose side they’re on.

These people are sick in the head.

RELATED: Salt River Advocates Achieve Nine Percent Death Rate.

If we don’t get these buffoons off the range we won’t have any wild horses.

RELATED: Pesticide Caucus Serves Ranchers Not Wild Horses.

Added Defending to the list.

• Defending
• Protecting
• Preserving
• Conserving

RELATED: Synonyms for Wiping Out Herds with Ovary-Killing Pesticides.

Like the NGOs behind it, the membership will not advocate for principal use and management at the minimum feasible level.

Instead, it will support the goal of ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses, sometimes referred to as achieving and maintaining AMLs, but the weapon of choice will be pesticide-laced darts, not low-flying helicopters.

Moreover, they’ll argue that it’s not removal, even though the numbers go down just like they do in roundups.

The major difference is that the herds don’t bounce back.

RELATED: Congress Rides to the Rescue with Wild Horse Caucus?

Do not be fooled by the announcement, brought to you by the Las Vegas Sun in a story dated May 8.

It’s a ploy backed by the big-name advocacy groups to replace motorized removal with mass sterilization.

They want the horses removed in favor of livestock but they want it done with pesticides not helicopters.

RELATED: Open Letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

A story by The Virginian-Pilot says the advocates will not be sharing the names of foals and will use more discretion when sharing the names of the adults, another indication they are worried about the viability of the herd, a problem they caused.

A herd of approximately 100 should produce around 15 foals per year, more than enough to overcome the loss of five to six adults to natural causes.

The low number of foals suggests the herd is shrinking, perhaps irreversibly.

You will never hear the advocates criticize PZP darting programs because their livelihoods as NGOs depends on them.

If the pesticide was taken off the market they’d have nothing, no reason to exist.

The herd has survived on its own for hundreds of years, as stated in the report, but it cannot survive the advocates and their stupid ideas.

RELATED: Too Late to Save Currituck Herd?

Remember last year at the Save Our Wild Horses Conference when they were higher than a kite on HMAPs?

The first item in their recommendations was to create these plans for every HMA and enforce strict adherence to them.

Consider these features of the new plan for the Blue Wing Complex:

• Removal of excess animals to low AML
• Application of fertility control pesticides
• Sterilizing up to one fourth of the herd
• Skewing the sex ratio in favor of males

The underlying belief of those involved is that that the horses and burros are pests and that the land should be managed primarily for livestock.

The advocates, facing great embarrassment, will switch to another brand of snake oil rather than admit their errors.

It is not possible to overestimate the stupidity and naivety of the wild horse advocates, with the exception of those colluding with the bureaucrats and ranchers.

In those cases, it’s easy to underestimate the depths they will plumb to deceive their supporters and the population at large.

RELATED: Pancake HMAP Proves Advocates Ill-Informed About Wild Horses.

The government will pay $1,000 to illegal aliens that leave the country voluntarily according to a report by AP News.

The story did not indicate if the migrants would receive $500 when they crossed the border and $500 if they stayed out for a year.

The status of compliance inspections is unknown.

Unlike the Adoption Incentive Program, payments are made in lieu of capture and are not available to those who would take the detainees from the government and escort them to Canada or Mexico.

The program is an important step in keeping Democrats away from the levers of power.

Look at the photos in this BLM blog post.

Is that what you want for America’s wild horses?

The Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program applies to horses that are off the range or nearly so.

In effect, it ensures that burn victims receive the best possible care instead of figuring out how to have fewer fires.

It guarantees the removals will continue because it does not address their causes.

The advocates believe the problems can be avoided by not having any horses or not having them in sufficient numbers to protect herd health and genetic viability.

Dear Secretary Burgum,

Pay no attention to those who write letters about cost-effective, humane solutions to the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

They don’t know what they’re talking about.

They have been misled by groups that claim to represent the horses and burros but are actually allies of their enemies.

The problem is an unelected bureaucracy that ignores the intent of the original statute and puts ranching interests far above those of the horses and burros.

Not only are you responsible for that, but you can do something about it.

Here are the numbers:

• Target – Wild horses
• Initial population – 460
• Final population – 260
• Overall reduction – 43.5%
• Type – Planned

It wasn’t carried out by the BLM.

It did not involve helicopters.

No animals were consigned to off-range holding.

The herd will continue to shrink when the contract expires.

The persons responsible will not face charges.

Still can’t place it?

There was no roundup.

You can’t call it removal because the advocates did it.

It’s a fine example of wild horse conservation, carried out by the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group with support from the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

Data provided by KPHO News in an April 28 report.

RELATED: State Not Happy with Salt River Sterilization Program?

The odds are slim to none based on the interview in this report by KOLO News.

Beat the numbers down with ovary-killing pesticides, sell mass sterilization as wild horse conservation.

The story says you should not be feeding wild horses yet the beneficiary of the fundraiser is a group that feeds the horses!

The group is also responsible for the botched rescue last August that landed 24 Virginia Range horses in the Carson City prison.

A story about the Axtell burro deaths should focus on principal use and the importance of keeping the animals in their lawful homes.

Unless you’re in cahoots with the bureaucrats and ranchers or wanted to give a voice to those who are.

Such is the case in this article by Deseret News.

The incident provides an opportunity to sell mass sterilization as a humane alternative to motorized removal.

Burros can’t die in off-range holding if there are none to capture.

RELATED: Canyonlands Burros Dying at Axtell Corrals.

The online meeting runs from 1 to 3 PM Mountain time according to the news release.

You must register to comment.

The announcement did not indicate if a hearing had been scheduled to address the issue of nonmotorized removal, peddled by the advocates as in-the-wild management.