The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses is hiring!

Four job openings were posted to Idealist today:

• Socialist Media Engagement Specialist
• Grassroots Advocacy and Outreach Manager
• Nevada State Director
• Government Relations and Public Policy Fellowship

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.

• AMLs are zero
• Livestock receive most of the resources, with a small amount reserved for wildlife

2. HMAs managed primarily for livestock.

• AMLs correspond to 20% or less of authorized forage
• Livestock receive four to six times more forage than the horses

3. Off-range corrals flooded with animals displaced by permitted grazing.

• True AMLs often exceed current populations by wide margins
• Carrying capacities have not been exceeded

4. Loss of wildness.

• Increased presence of humans in their environment
• Alteration of natural behaviors
• Low birth rates and rising death rates
• Herds don’t bounce back

5. Fulfillment of ranching agenda.

• Non-native species become the primary consumers of resources
• Ranchers don’t pay for the field work, but they reap the benefits
• Funding comes from donors who think they’re helping the horses
• Some support may come from groups aligned with the ranchers

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.

The advocates want the same thing as the bureaucrats and ranchers: Fewer horses on the range.  Ever notice that?

RELATED: Nuttiness of Wild Horse World.

Western Horse Watchers agrees: The numbers show that many areas set aside for wild horses are managed primarily, if not principally, for livestock.  That’s why the animals are being forced off their home range at a record pace.

Data from the Pancake roundup, discussed in a BLM blog post, indicate five horses lost (0.24%) due to injuries sustained in the incident.  Not mentioned are the 21 horses put down (shot dead?) due to physical defects.

The number of horses that would be lost if the roundup didn’t occur?  Zero.

Ten horses were lost in the Rock Springs roundup due to injuries sustained in the incident (0.24%), plus 27 put down due to physical defects, compared to zero if the incident didn’t occur.

The number of horses shipped from the Rock Springs HMAs was not provided, so the results cannot be checked for balance and the number of unaccounted-for animals cannot be determined.

Thus, it is true, the figures don’t lie—if you can get them.

On Day 4 of the Jackson Mountains roundup, not considered in the post, a foal was put down because it was an orphan.  That was its only shortcoming.  The government has since tried to cover it up.

Links to roundups in 2021 have been removed from the Nevada gather page, but the daily reports for Jackson Mountains can be found here.  The final death rate was 5.9%!

The writer(s) of the blog post indicated that the Pancake herd boomed as food and water dwindled, suggesting that other factors may be more important for the support of life on western rangelands.

That’s what a Rock Springs resident told Wyoming Public Media in a story posted yesterday.  They won’t be starving to death in the winter.

The government, media and advocates have done a fine job covering for the public-lands ranchers, brainwashing the American people about the situation out west.

The Rock Springs HMAs could not be overpopulated with 5,105 wild horses (before the roundup), when the BLM authorizes privately owned livestock equivalent to 15,982 horses in the same area, on top of the 2,145 horses allowed by plan.

The horses displaced from the HMAs by permitted grazing represent almost one third of those in off-range holding.

The advocates won’t tell you the truth about wild horses because the rationale for their darting programs would fall to the ground.  They are far more concerned about their standing with the bureaucrats and ranchers.

RELATED: Management Priorities at Rock Springs HMAs.

Refer to the audio segment posted today by KNPR Radio of Las Vegas.

The herds must still be managed (for the benefit of the public-lands ranchers).

There will be fewer injuries (but there will still be roundups).

Management plans (that favor the ranchers) won’t change.

Just use a more humane approach (but keep the gravy train going).

Resource enforcement goal before the ban: 22,000 captured and 19,000 removed.

Resource enforcement goal after the ban: 22,000 captured and 19,000 removed.

RELATED: Anti-Helicopter Chatter Too Far Downstream to Help Wild Horses.

As if right on cue, the executive director of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses told FOX 5 News of Las Vegas in a report posted yesterday that her group supports the ill-advised plan to end helicopter roundups and the use of fertility control vaccines to eradicate wild horses.

Ranchers in the Pancake Complex receive over five times more forage than the horses, yet this woman, and other like her, want to target the horses.

RELATED: Anti-Helicopter Chatter Too Far Downstream to Help Wild Horses.

No youngsters have been captured eight days into the roundup.

Apparently, the Pancake herd didn’t get the memo.  Twelve percent of the captured animals were foals, in a roundup that ended yesterday.

If you’re an advocate, there is much to cheer about at the HMA, as noted previously.

The group, which represents the interests of farmers and ranchers in the state, said in news release posted today by the Elko Daily Free Press that HR 6635, legislation that would ban the use of helicopters in wild horse and burro roundups, would seriously thwart the efforts of the BLM to achieve AMLs as well as restore the condition of rangelands that provide habitat for wildlife and multiple-use stakeholders.

Helicopter roundups are the only cost-effective method available for gathering the necessary number of animals over vast and difficult terrain, according to the writers, who did not explain that AMLs are usually small relative to the available resources.

Western Horse Watchers has not seen any critiques of the proposal by groups representing drilling and mining interests.

RELATED: Anti-Helicopter Chatter Too Far Downstream to Help Wild Horses.

The Sulphur HMA features everything they demand, yet it is a disaster for the horses.

RELATED: Lots to Celebrate at Sulphur HMA, If You’re an Advocate.

Here are some of the highlights:

• No foals have been reported five days into the roundup
• The herd is getting smaller, without the aid of helicopters
• The death rate is probably increasing, as explained here
• PZP and GonaCon will stabilize the birth rate, which appears to be zero
• Livestock receive 77.4% of the authorized forage, neglecting wildlife
• Around 850 horses have been displaced from the HMA by permitted grazing
• The HMA has a herd management area plan (HMAP)

The advocates are pleased with these results.  The herd is well on its way to extinction, with benefits accruing to the public-lands ranchers.

This is what you’re supporting when you give them money.

RELATED: Youngsters Hard to Find at Sulphur HMA.

Figures for Day 4 of the roundup show zero foals captured to date.

With no new blood hitting the ground, the herd will shrink without the aid of helicopters and the ranchers will be able to enjoy everything their allotments have to offer.

How much longer before the advocates point to the HMA as a paragon of wild horse management?  It even has a herd management area plan (HMAP)!

RELATED: Sulphur Roundup Day 3.

A report posted yesterday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal says lawmakers want the BLM to replace helicopters with wranglers and spend more money on fertility control to manage (i.e., inhibit) population growth.

The proposal does not address the cause of roundups: Resource management plans that put ranching interests far above those of the horses.

It’s a stupid idea, prompted, at least in part, by the advocates.

If legislators want to help America’s wild horses, let them unwind all of the changes to the WHB Act and restore it to its original form.

RELATED: End Helicopter Roundups?