Since 2019 they’ve been stalking the mares across 300,000 acres in western Nevada and destroying their ovaries with a restricted-use pesticide.

Next year they’ll refer the animals as self-boosting, a code word for sterile.

Their goal is to win the approval of the bureaucrats and ranchers and spread the destruction over a much larger area, moving them into the upper echelon of the wild horse removal industry.

That’s how they protect wild horses.

But you won’t see any of that in this article about the Virginia Range darting program.

The story said that advocates with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses announced yesterday that their four-year long fertility control effort is reducing births and could set a new model for managing wild herds but did not say where or how the announcement was made.

RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Program a Model for Herd Management?

The advocates never stop.

Now they’re praising HR 726, legislation that would protect wild horses and burros on federal lands, reduce or eliminate the need for inhumane helicopter roundups, and provide jobs and avenues for healing American veterans with Post Traumatic Stress and other disorders resulting from combat, according to a news release on EIN by Animal Wellness Action.

This would be accomplished by stalking the mares and jennies in their lawful homes and destroying their ovaries with a restricted-use pesticide.

The advocates refer to the product as a vaccine, available from the Billings School of PZP Darting and Public Deception.

Other benefits:

• Barren mares
• Confused stallions
• Increasing death rates
• Shrinking herds
• Injuries and infections
• Abnormal sex ratios
• Massive human involvement
• Disruption of natural order
• Loss of genetic diversity
• Sterility
• Subordination to livestock

As for the full range of wild behaviors in a natural setting, forget it.

Western Horse Watchers proposes that Cameron Ring and his mercenaries be officially designated as the Dartmoor Brigade.

RELATED: Combat Veterans Duped by One of Their Own?

Getting rid of wild horses is their job, not the government’s.

The possibility of a nuisance gather was mentioned in the January edition of Horse Tales, in a column starting at the top of page four.

The author, a real estate agent, PZP darter and pleader for the public-lands ranchers, was interviewed for a story about the removal by The Record-Courier of Minden, NV.

Five horses were captured and taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.

Note the absence of youngsters in the photo.  This is the handiwork of the advocates.

The horses don’t have to compete with cattle according to the article, although the National Data Viewer suggests otherwise.

In this map, the Pine Nut HA is shown in black, the HMA is orange and the allotments are green.  Click on image to open in new tab.

RELATED: Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth at Pine Nut Mountains?

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum sent a letter to the Park Service today expressing confidence that the agency can find a solution that supports genetic diversity and protects the environmental integrity and capacity of the park for current and future generations of visitors, according to a report by The Bismarck Tribune.

RELATED: Park Service Rejects TRNP Comment Extension.

Horses have the day off.  In the Little Picacho Wilderness, part of the Chocolate Mule Mountains HMA in southern California, with Lonnie Huffman.

This was the scene today, water tanks barely visible.

Compare to these photos from last year.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary, a Colorado non-profit corporation, acquired the property for a wild horse refuge, according to a news release on PRN.

The refuge will house up to 500 wild horses taken from HMAs in Colorado.

The announcement did not indicate of the horses would be darted, sterilized and/or kept in segregated pastures.

The transaction represents a victory for the bureaucrats and ranchers.  Get the horses off the public lands and into private care, giving livestock unfettered access to their food.

The facility covers 18,650 deeded acres west of Craig, with an additional 3,500 acres in BLM leases and one 300-acre private lease, according to the agent’s listing.

The operator information report in RAS links the ranch to grazing authorizations 0504787 and 0504788.

The allotment information report ties the authorizations to three allotments.

The allotment master report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.

The authorization use report shows livestock types and grazing seasons.

The news release did not say if the new owners would petition the BLM for changes in livestock types and seasons of use, as American Prairie did in Montana.  Such changes would likely have the ranching community crying foul, as it did with American Prairie.

With catch-treat-release promising to alleviate the feud between the advocates and roundup contractors, new adjuvants working their way through the research pipeline, and IUDs gaining traction among the uninformed and misinformed, the future looks bright for the public-lands ranchers.

The concept of a self-assembling IUD was discussed at the same conference attended by your chair of the WHBAB, but the video doesn’t show the actual device.

That gap has been closed with the demonstration below.  More information at iUPOD.

Although helicopter roundups are the fastest and most efficient way of shifting food and water to livestock operators in areas identified for wild horses, population growth suppression ensures the herds don’t bounce back, keeping the resource scales tipped in favor of the ranchers for many years to come.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Coddling the Ranchers Edition.

Attorneys for the Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition and the federal government appeared today before a federal judge regarding a plan by the Forest Service to reduce the AML and bring the current population in line therewith, according to a story posted today by Courthouse News.

The judge adjourned the hearing after two hours, stating he would take the matter under advisement and issue an opinion at a later date.

Removal of wild horses from the WHT has been delayed by equipment problems and the lack of an adequate off-range holding facility.

A government attorney said that horses not sold or adopted would be euthanized.

RELATED: Big Summit Roundup Attracts Legal Action.

The agency has denied a request by state legislators to add another 60 days to the comment period, according to a report by KX News.

The scoping newsletter will be available for public review through January 31.

RELATED: Dickinson Press Calls for Longer Comment Period at TRNP.

Wild Horse Education pledged $5,000, bringing the total to $25,000, according to a BLM news release.

The shootings occurred in November 2021 but were not announced until August 2022.

The incident liberated enough forage to support ten cow/calf pairs on a six-month grazing season.

RELATED: Jakes Valley Reward Doubles.

The Editorial Board announced their position in an op-ed posted this morning.

Western Horse Watchers would like to see the Park Service come clean on the history of wild horses at the park, going back to Fort Buford, and to consider the reintroduction of the old bloodlines now preserved by The Nokota Horse Conservancy.

RELATED: Acknowledging the History of Wild Horses at TRNP.

At the Ozark National Scenic Riverways with Tim Layton, another area where the Park Service manages wild horses (for those arguing against their removal at TRNP).

The project is still in second place but there are probably less than two dozen original thoughts in the queue, and the rest are talking points furnished by the advocates.

RELATED: McCullough Peaks Now #2 in Top 5 (Most Active) on ePlanning.

What do you see in these data from the Pancake Complex in Nevada?

a. A wild horse problem, the ranchers only get 89% of the authorized forage.

b. A resource management problem, the horses get just 11% of the authorized forage.

c. The problem is drilling and mining.

d. We’re changing the way wild horse herds are managed, not their land.

e. You have to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses.

RELATED: Rorschach Test for Advocates.

The Operator Information Report at RAS indicates that Albert Sommers, co-sponsor of the resolution, has a permit to graze livestock on public lands managed by the Pinedale Field Office, authorization #4915862.

Go to this page for an overview of his ranch.

The Allotment Information Report ties the authorization to three BLM allotments, shown in the following map from the National Data Viewer (click on image to open in new tab).

The overview mentions grazing on the Upper Green River Allotment of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, which is not covered by the NDV, but you can find it on the Western Watersheds map.

The Allotment Master Report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.

The nearest wild horse area is the Desert HA, last gathered in October 2001.

Unfit for free-roaming equids, it is well-suited to privately owned livestock, despite considerable dietary overlap between the two species.

RELATED: Wyoming Legislature Petitions Congress to Legalize Slaughter.

If you’re new to the story, pull up a chair and sit a spell.

Wild horses pre-date the 1947 park by more than 60 years, as noted in a column posted today by INFORUM.

The original herd is gone.  The horses you see today are an exhibit.

Some were rescued by Leo Kuntz and taken to his ranch near Linton.

He tells their story in a 2011 film titled “Nokota Heart.”

Sadly, Kuntz died in 2018.

RELATED: Lawmaker Seeks Extension of TRNP Comment Period?

A story posted this morning by KFYR News indicates that a North Dakota State Representative helped concerned citizens draft a letter to the acting Park Superintendent requesting another 60 days for public comments.

The comment period was set to close on January 31.

The extension would give the legislature enough time to decide if they would intervene in the planning process.

The report did not indicate if the letter had been submitted.

RELATED: TRNP Superintendent Says Genetic Viability Off the Table.

These AUM numbers came up in a Google search this evening, probably for the Pancake Complex in Nevada.

Western Horse Watchers believes the livestock AUMs are on the high side, as discussed previously, but let’s ignore that for now.

What can you conclude, without reaching for your calculator?

• The horses have been cheated by the bureaucrats in favor of the ranchers
• The Complex is managed primarily for livestock
• You don’t have a wild horse problem, you have a resource management problem

Reaching for a calculator,

• The AML ranges from 361 to 638
• The number of horses displaced from the Complex by permitted grazing is 4,952
• The True AML is 5,590

The current population was not given.

The BLM collects about $80,000 per year in grazing fees from ranching activity inside the Complex while it spends around $9 million per year to care for the horses displaced thereby.  Would you say that’s a wise use of the public lands?

Consider these two scenarios for wild horse removal.

A. Eliminate 150 excess horses

• Initial population – 400
• Final Population – 250

B. Eliminate 150 excess horses

• Initial population – 400
• Final Population – 250

In one case, 150 horses were removed from their lawful home and shipped to slaughter, as the Wyoming legislature desires.

In the other case, 150 horses died on the range and were not replaced because the advocates sterilized most of the mares with their safe, proven and reversible darting program.

In one case, the herd will rebound.  In the other case, the herd is toast.

Which one is which?

Which one is a win for the horses?

Both cases liberated 1,800 AUMs per year for the public-lands ranchers, enough to support 300 cow/calf pairs on a six-month grazing season.

Sadly, the premise about excess animals was false.  Both populations were well within their True AMLs.  The actions were carried out to help the ranchers.

Unabashed and undeterred, the advocates want this for all wild horse herds.

Why are you still giving them money?

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Getting Rid of Them Inconspicuously Edition.