A BLM news release issued yesterday reminds horse watchers to keep a safe distance when viewing or filming them on the range. One hundred yards is the minimum recommended distance. (Individuals equipped with PZP dart guns who are aiding in the extermination of these animals will need to get within 25 to 40 yards for accurate shot placement.)
The announcement also suggested that you move back if they approach, which is how you tell them you’re lower in the pecking order. Next to hand-feeding, it’s one of the best ways to make a horse pushy and disrespectful.
This story, presented yesterday by KOLR News of Springfield MO, features Fred Woehl, chair of BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. You might get the impression from his remarks that livestock are a minority on western rangelands.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. What matters is resource loading.
BLM currently allocates about nine million AUMs annually to privately owned cattle and sheep on public lands in the western U.S.
If the grazing season lasts three months per year, as stated by Woehl, there must be three million cow/calf pairs on western rangelands. If the season lasts six months per year, there must be 1.5 million cow/calf pairs on those lands.
Compared to 80,000 wild horses and burros (90,000—the figure he uses—may be a bit high).
Livestock have access to 155 million acres of BLM land, wild horses and burros have 27 million acres.
That puts the population density for livestock between ten and twenty cow/calf pairs per thousand acres, compared to three animals per thousand acres for wild horses and burros.
Now which species is overpopulated?
An AUM is the amount of forage consumed in a month by one horse, one cow/calf pair or five sheep. Wild horses and burros consume one million AUMs annually (because they’re on the range 12 months per year, as stated by Woehl).
Refer to this article posted yesterday about the wild horses of Echo Bluff State Park in Shannon County, Missouri. Many of them are born with black coats that slowly turn grey then white, similar to the Stone Cabin horses of Nye County, Nevada.
PZP darters will resume their population control efforts this week on land owned by Blockchains LLC, according to a report posted today by KOLO-TV in Reno, NV.
A story posted today by WCNC-TV of Charlotte, NC says she’s a chestnut filly named Rosie. This year, foals born in the area will have names beginning with ‘R,’ according to the report.
A story posted yesterday by The Journal of Durango, CO said that eighty wild horses will be removed from the park beginning this spring. Although the animals are popular with visitors, they are not protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act. The horses have damaged park facilities and trampled some of the ruins, according to the report.
These people get it. They unfurled a banner today at the BLM office showing privately owned sheep on public lands set aside for the Onaqui Mountain horses. The caption said over 2,000 of them were allowed to graze on the HMA. That’s enough forage to sustain 200 wild horses.
Refer to this story, posted today by Deseret News of Salt Lake City.
Also appearing were the PZP zealots, arguing that the horses would be better off if the BLM let them shoot the mares in the ass with contraceptives. One of them admitted to the local FOX affiliate that their goal was to “lower their numbers.”
What a bunch of idiots. They side with the ranchers!
Follow-up to a post from Tuesday. Foal was named Renzi, in honor of a terminally ill patient who traveled to the Outer Banks to see the horses for herself.
On the Pine Nut Mountains Herd Area (Fish Springs, south of the HMA) with JT Humphrey. He said the event went on for over an hour: “When I arrived, she was in labor another 30 mins, then it took 35 mins for the foal to stand, and another 35 mins before the two moved away towards the band. Coolest thing I ever observed.”
The locals think it’s a colt, according to a story posted today by The News & Observer of Raleigh, NC. The youngster joins a herd of approximately 100 wild horses that roam the dunes near the town of Corolla.
That’s why the new film has been avoided on these pages. It’s the violence, rough language and depiction of some aspects of prison life that render it unfit for family viewing, according to a review posted today by Catholic News Service.
The contractor removed 41 horses from tribal lands, a bit short of the 1,000 to 1,500 animals specified in the agreement, according to a story that appeared today in the Tribal Tribune of Nespelem, WA.
Apparently, those stupid horses didn’t hit their population target. When the helicopter went flying, not many were found.
A stallion and his band were moved to a pen over the weekend after visitors to the island ignored warnings to steer clear of them. They will be held there until the spring roundup April 12 – 13, according to a report posted today by Delmarva Now.
Fourteen former wild horses, younger than ten years of age, will be offered for adoption April 8 – 12 at the Double Devil Corrals, according to a report dated March 27 by the Herald and News of Klamath Falls, OR.
Presumably, the $1,000 incentive applies but was not mentioned in the story. Most of the horses unloaded so far have exited via ‘sale with limitations.’
These animals were forced off their home range—public lands set aside for them—to make way for privately owned livestock.
BLM will offer 75 wild horses and burros for adoption and sale at the Barney Wiggins Memorial Arena April 12 – 13, according to a news release posted today. The $1,000 incentive applies.
These animals were forced off public lands in the western U.S. to maintain healthy herds and protect ‘other rangeland resources’ (see Lexicon).
