Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
Opinion
Refer to this news release on EIN and this web site on Weebly.
Western Horse Watchers is skeptical of the event, its organizers and affiliates, and shall remain so until convinced otherwise.
This post is for information only and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Refer to this column in The Salt Lake Tribune by the communications director of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.
They want the horses off the range as much as the bureaucrats and ranchers, but they want it done with PZP not helicopters.
You’ll never hear them talk about resource allocations, mismanagement of HMAs and confining the ranchers to their base properties because those discussions might make life better for the horses.
RELATED: Do “Stay Wild” Caps Absolve the Advocates from Wrongdoing?
It’s how they signal their support for the ranching agenda.
Given that the area is covered with grazing allotments it would be a smart thing to do.
The Western Watersheds map shows the area around Alpine in eastern Arizona, habitat for the New Mexico Jumping Mouse according to yesterday’s story by Arizona’s Family, is covered by grazing allotments. (Click on image to open in new tab.)
The advocate interviewed for the report, ringleader of the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group and field marshal for the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, is not a voice for the horses and discussions later this week with the Forest Service will likely include options for humane management, code words for getting rid of them with PZP.
Western Horse Watchers was unable to find a project associated with the removal at the ASNF NEPA site.
RELATED: Forest Service to Remove Horses from Apache-Sitgreaves Forests.
The measure, formally known as the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2022, has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, according to the overview at Congress.gov.
The title is a misnomer. Like the Montana Solution, it’s a different way of protecting the public-lands ranchers.
RELATED: Titus Admits Helicopter Ban Won’t Help Wild Horses.
They’re wrong about almost everything in the wild horse world.
They say they’re protecting the horses while they’re getting rid of them with PZP.
Most are defenders of the public-lands ranchers.
They couldn’t convert an AML to AUMs if their lives depended on it, much less compute a forage allocation for livestock in an area set aside for the horses, but they know exactly how much adjuvant to add to the pesticide and how long to mix them.
Don’t give them a penny!
You know them not by their words but by their deeds.
RELATED: Congress Authorizes $11 Million for Montana Solution in FY 2022?
The highest bid for a horse from the “overpopulated, drought-stricken” HMA was $14,100, according to a report by the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
Others received no bids.
As for the fanatics at SWAT, don’t give them a penny. They are protecting the public-lands ranchers, not the horses.
RELATED: Sand Wash Basin Aftermath.
The Division G Explanatory Statement for the omnibus spending bill, linked in a March 9 news release by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, indicates on page 8 that up to $11,000,000 shall be used this year “for administration of and research on reversible immunocontraceptive fertility control.”
The Montana Solution is not safe, humane or reversible, despite claims to the contrary by the advocates. You only need to look at the data for the herd on the Maryland side of Assateague Island, where it was applied for over 20 years.
On the other hand, if you’re in business to protect the public-lands ranchers, are you going to care about any of that?
RELATED: BLM to Receive $137.1 Million in FY 2022 for WHB Program.
Don’t be deceived by the advocates.
Figures obtained by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses show 106 horses dead out of 3,552 moving through the facility in 2021, about three percent, according to a report posted today by FOX 13 News of Salt Lake City.
On the Virginia Range, the same group is getting rid of an estimated 600 wild horses every year, out of roughly 3,000, which works out to 20%. That’s just one of the areas where they’re decimating the herds with the Montana Solution.
Who’s the greater threat to the horses?
RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Program Rivals Major Roundups.
The successful candidate will oversee fertility control projects on the Virginia Range, Fish Creek HMA and Pine Nut HMA/HA, according to the job posting for Nevada State Director by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.
However, the HMA does not appear on the list of roundups and darting programs for FY 2022 published by the BLM.
The solicitation did not indicate if applicants would receive “Stay Wild” caps, one of the ways the advocates signal their support of the ranching agenda.
The Fish Creek roundup ending on January 3 last year yielded 18.2% foals.
Curiously, more youngsters were shipped than captured.
RELATED: Spreading the Montana Solution Across the Fruited Plain.
The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses is hiring!
Four job openings were posted to Idealist today:
The bureaucrats and ranchers are watching closely.
They know the optics of helicopter roundups are bad but they’re wondering if the group can convince enough people that getting rid of wild horses with PZP is good.
RELATED: Do “Stay Wild” Caps Absolve the Advocates from Wrongdoing?
They’re spreading the Montana Solution across the fruited plain, hoping you won’t notice the absence of foals and the destruction it portends.
By getting rid of the horses, they ratify and reinforce the mismanagement of areas designated for their welfare.
Here’s what they’re trying to protect:
1. Former HMAs now managed almost exclusively for livestock.
2. HMAs managed primarily for livestock.
3. Off-range corrals flooded with animals displaced by permitted grazing.
4. Loss of wildness.
5. Fulfillment of ranching agenda.
On the bright side, problems of genetic diversity and inbreeding go away, because there is no breeding at all.
All of this is coordinated by a group that refused to sign the letter to Haaland seeking the removal of livestock from HMAs.
If you still don’t think they’re frauds, get your cap, make the pilgrimage to Billings and join their army of certified volunteers.
RELATED: Advocates Protect Ranchers, Not Horses and Burros?
A visitor asked for information showing that some of the advocacy groups defer to cattle/mining interests at the expense of wild horses and burros. Here is the reply:
Hi R.,
Data collection and number crunching are needed to show how the government manages areas set aside for wild horses and burros.
There are many such posts on the blog, here is a recent example:
How Many Wild Horses Can the North Lander Complex Support?
The government puts ranching interests far above those of the horses and burros.
AMLs typically correspond to 20% or less of the authorized forage.
Livestock receive three to six times more forage than the horses and burros.
The off-range corrals and pastures are flooded with animals displaced from their home range by permitted grazing.
In their desire to get rid of the horses with PZP, instead of helicopters, the advocates reinforce the status quo and protect the ranchers.
That’s how you know they’re frauds.
The problem is resource allocation, which is documented in the land-use plans.
As for drilling and mining, they affect anywhere from a few acres to a few thousand acres, but public-lands ranching devours entire HMAs and beyond.
Regards,
B.
westernhorsewatchers.com
RELATED: Lots to Celebrate at Sulphur HMA, If You’re an Advocate.
They’re wrong about almost everything in the wild horse world, so it’s easy to imagine, but Western Horse Watchers has no such data.
However, the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses indicated today in a news release that 74% of those who responded to their poll oppose helicopter roundups, and 63% support birth control for herd management.
Statements regarding the beliefs of Americans, a huge leap from their sample of 520 registered voters, give or take, may or may not be valid.
Referring to helicopter roundups, the group’s executive director noted that “The more the American public knows about the BLM, the less supportive it is of the inhumane and outdated approach to wild horse and burros.”
If the people understood how the BLM manages the public lands, especially areas set aside for wild horses, they’d reject the Montana Solution along with the roundups.
That’s bad news for her and her army of volunteers, who seek the approval of the bureaucrats and ranchers at the expense of our wild horses.
RELATED: Signatories of Rock Springs Petition Duped by Advocates?
Sixteen saddle-started horses and one halter-trained colt, forced off their home range in Nevada to accommodate the public-lands ranchers, were adopted over the weekend at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, according to a BLM news release dated February 28.
The announcement said there are no natural predators that can effectively control wild horse and burro populations on America’s public lands, as those animals would also be interested in the privately owned cattle and sheep that dominate the landscape and may find them to be easier targets.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, a nonprofit that works with Congress, governors and state legislatures to promote hunting, angling, recreational shooting and trapping, said in a news release yesterday that it signed a letter to Tracy Stone-Manning, along with other hunting and wildlife groups, supporting the BLM’s plan to gather 22,000 wild horses and burros from western rangelands this year.
The letter describes the animals as nonnative, feral livestock that lack natural predators and can have significant detrimental impacts on native ecosystems and wildlife habitat.
Other signatories include the National Rifle Association, Public Lands Foundation and The Wildlife Society.
Privately owned cattle and sheep, the predominant nonnative species on America’s public lands, were not mentioned and apparently have no impact on rangeland health.
What if the herd was well within the True AML but the government got rid of them to protect the public-lands ranchers?
If “overpopulated” stirs you to a sense of duty, then you need to be in Florence, CO this weekend for the Sand Wash adoption, as described in this BLM news release.
RELATED: Sand Wash Roundup Over.
The wild horse and burro program has been a drag on the grazing program for fifty years.
Nearly half of their land is managed principally for livestock. The remainder is managed primarily for livestock, with few exceptions.
AMLs are low relative to the available resources. Most of the forage has been assigned to privately owned cattle and sheep, with a small amount reserved for wildlife.
Pest control programs, the subjects of numerous environmental assessments, do not allocate resources. They cannot change resource allocations. They enforce resource allocations already on the books, in the land-use plans.
Findings of no significant impact don’t apply to the horses.
Roundups shift resources back to the ranchers in just a few weeks. Darting programs accomplish the same thing over a much longer timeframe but with the added benefit that the herds don’t bounce back.
Most of the advocates are frauds. Next to the federal government, nobody’s getting rid of more wild horses than they are.
At the Salt River and Virginia Range, they operate almost exclusively of the bureaucrats and ranchers, whose approval they seek at all costs. Residents, tourists, motorists, campers, hikers, predators and shooters can’t even come close.
RELATED: Story of ‘American Horses.’
The February edition of Horse Tales has been published.
You can still help the Pine Nut permittees by purchasing a calendar from the advocates, as indicated at the bottom of page 3.
Fifteen fun facts about burros are presented at the top of page 4. Fact #16 might be their disdain of coyotes.
The column written by the real estate agent and PZP darter in the Minden/Gardnerville area follows immediately, continuing on page 18. Listings appear on the back cover.
Some of the properties may be related, directly or indirectly, to a Pine Nut permittee, perhaps on the Buckeye Allotment. Who knows? But it would explain why she’s so eager to get rid of the horses.
An article by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses on page 19 discusses the Onaqui roundup and the rescue of a mom-baby pair. Don’t be fooled by the image, they despise youngsters and are only trying to separate you from your money.
Wednesdays are darting days at the HMA, where volunteers trained in the Montana Solution use Gen 2 projectors to keep the resource scales tipped in favor of the ranchers.
Western Horse Watchers Association 