Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
Opinion
The agency will celebrate its diamond anniversary in 2021, according to a news release issued last week, with everyone invited to “reimagine your public lands.”
Some in the wild horse world may imagine that the milestone is really the 87th anniversary of the Grazing Service.
In a poll commissioned last year by The Cloud Foundation, 69% of respondents opposed the removal of wild horses from 1.5 million acres of public lands in southern Wyoming to accommodate the oil/gas and livestock industries, according to a report by Cowboy State Daily, an online news service.
The survey likely referred to the Rock Springs RMP amendments, which were instigated by grazing interests, not the oil and gas industry. Four HMAs are affected.
Release of those results coincided with the comment period for wild horse management actions in the same area, affecting five HMAs.
Although both projects target wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard, the distinction is not clear in the article.
RELATED: Public Review of Rock Springs Draft EA Ends This Week.
A wild horse herd increases from 200 to 300 animals in three years, a 14.5% annual growth rate. The government removes 100 horses at the end of year three, leaving 200 on the range.
Another herd has 200 wild horses and does not grow over the three year period, thanks to the advocates, who limit the birth rate. At the end of three years there are 200 horses on the range.
Both cases yield the same results. The government got rid of the horses with helicopters while the advocates got rid of them with contraceptives.
The first case is condemned while the second case is acclaimed.
That is the double standard.
Contraceptives can’t shrink a herd from 300 to 200 horses in three years.
They should let the ‘advocacy’ groups do that, according to a letter appearing in today’s online edition of the White Mountain Independent.
This is the double standard of the wild horse world.
The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and the American Wild Horse Campaign did not team up to oppose the new Heber management plan. They have been in cahoots for several years, taking the Salt River herd from over 100 foals annually to the single digits in 2021.
The event, a population control technique, will be replaced by an online auction this year, according to a story by The Washington Post.
On the other side of the country, the Western States Horse Expo is still scheduled for June 11 – 13.
It’s the second lowest growth rate ever, according to a report posted yesterday by AP News, less than one percent per year (0.72% if you want to split hairs).
How much of the increase was due to illegal immigration?
Social Security is going bust because we’re aborting/contracepting/sterilizing ourselves out of existence.
The same mentality has carried over into the wild horse world, spearheaded by the ‘advocacy’ groups.
Refer to this job posting. Proficiency with a darting rifle not required.
A report by OBX Today says a colt and filly have been added to the herd, with breeding patterns controlled by the local ‘advocacy’ group.
Between four and six foals are born each year, according to the story, roughly equal to the expected number of deaths.
A herd of 100 would lose five horses every year, assuming a 5% death rate.
Left to themselves, a wild horse herd will usually grow.
RELATED: Another Currituck Foal, Wild Horse Growth Rates.
If you shot these horses with darts, you’d probably be charged with animal cruelty.
Not so for the PZP zealots.
They’ve denied about 600 lives this year on the Virginia Range, by their own estimation, pushing the birth rate below the death rate, assuming a 5% loss per year and initial herd size of 3,000. It’s the downslope in this chart.
If the government took 600 wild horses off the range in a roundup, there’d be outrage.
Not so for the PZP zealots. Herd contraction is bad, unless it’s done by them.
These people are getting rid of more wild horses than predators, motorists, drillers, miners and shooters ever could, second only to the government.
Don’t give them a penny.
RELATED: Cutting the Virginia Range Herd Down to Size.
He was reported missing yesterday, according to a story by the CBS affiliate in Denver.
Only four days old.
Rewards are being offered but no details were given.
There’s nothing to cheer about in the proposal, unless you’re a public-lands rancher, but it did out some of the bogus advocacy groups.
The plan will enforce resource allocations already on the books by removing 70% of America’s wild horses and burros from their home range.
RELATED: Cheerleader Groups Endorse New WHB Management Plan.
The site has reverted to mostly white space with a logo and video feed.
The link for creating new accounts is gone.
RELATED: Normal Ops at FRANK?
To receive funding, proposals solicited earlier this week for on-range projects must align with one or more the following requirements:
Nobody in the wild horse world is going to participate in these efforts, except for a few of the ‘advocacy’ groups (see this example).
Proposals would likely come from farm bureaus, stock grower’s associations and public-lands ranchers, who would benefit from the program.
If the goal is to protect wild horses and burros, why not consider these themes?
The total program funding is $500,000, ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 per project.
RELATED: Funding Available for WHB Protection Projects.
Two ‘advocacy’ groups have claimed responsibility.
Western Horse Watchers was unable to confirm the announcements at BLM’s news site.
RELATED: Confusion Lawsuits In the News.
The screen with a video feed has been replaced with a full featured home page.
New accounts can be created here.
RELATED: FRANK Livestreaming.
The event, hosted by the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and the American Wild Horse Campaign, two unabashed proponents of PZP, will occur April 22, according to a story in today’s online edition of the White Mountain Independent.
RELATED: Heber Comment Period Ends This Week.
Although ‘Perseverance,’ the rover, has demonstrated the advantages of a mobile fertility control platform, the drone has taken the idea to a whole new level.
“This is exactly what we’ve been praying for,” said one of the ranchers who witnessed the flight from a closed-circuit monitor.
“Those horses have been robbing us of our birthright for fifty years,” quipped another, “and it’s time somebody did something about it.”
A spokeswoman for one of the leading advocacy groups, who wished to remain anonymous, described the technology as “a breakthrough.”
RELATED: The Multiple-Use Mission of ‘Perseverance.’
A video feed is running but registrations have been halted due to attacks on the site.
RELATED: FRANK Launches Tomorrow.
Table 4 in the Draft EA does not provide allotment sizes and grazing seasons, nor the percentage of each allotment falling inside the Complex, so key management indicators for the five HMAs involved, such as forage allocations and stocking rates, can’t be determined.
That would be a substantive comment on the EA.
What are the management priorities in these HMAs? Do privately owned livestock receive better treatment than wild horses and burros?
The Proposed Action reads like a pest control program: Roundups, fertility control vaccines, intra-uterine devices, non-reproducing animals (males and females) and sex ratio skewing.
As for the allotments, RAS provides some information. Four are managed by the Black Rock Field Office and one by the Humboldt River Field Office.
The Allotment Master report for Black Rock shows three in the Improve category and one in the Maintain category, while the report for Humboldt River shows one in the Improve category.
Alder Creek
Paiute Meadows
Buffalo Hills
Soldier Meadows
Leadville
The total grazing area is 1,116,025 acres, with 1,062,012 acres in the Improve category.
That means 95% of the BLM grazing land associated with the Calico Complex does not meet standards for rangeland health.
As of today, there is no category for blaming substandard conditions on wild horses and burros.
RELATED: Comments Invited on Draft EA for Calico Gather Plan.
Western Horse Watchers Association 