Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
On the range
The group that assisted in the rescue last weekend of a wild horse trapped in a cattle guard is asking for volunteers who can participate in the training and be available when a call comes in.
More information in this story by KOLO News of Reno.
RELATED: Washoe County Deputies Free Wild Horse from Cattle Guard.
They opted instead for a new rule seeking humane treatment during roundups, according to a report dated October 19 by the Pahrump Valley Times.
An outright ban would be a serious affront to those associated with animal agriculture, which the commissioners promote as a key part of the local economy.
A markup of the proposed rule describes it as NYE COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 599.
The article said the motion passed unanimously, with an effective date of October 30, but it has not been posted to the county’s ordinance page as of this morning.
RELATED: Nye County Commissioners Reject Helicopter Roundups.
They’re not worried about inflation, rising interest rates and Bidenomics.
They know something’s wrong.
The bands are dispersed.
The mares are barren.
The herd is shrinking.
That’s how the advocates protect wild horses.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Useful Idiots Edition.
The deadline has been moved to November 24 according to a story posted this morning by The Bismarck Tribune.
The due date has been updated at the project site.
The incident started yesterday with 63 horses captured, none shipped, none released and no deaths.
RELATED: Moriah Roundup Announced.
Gather operations concluded today, with 489 horses captured, 329 shipped, 145 released and 15 dead.
There were no unaccounted-for animals.
The capture goal was 761 and the removal goal was 380.
Data quality was good.
The death rate was 3.1%.
The capture total included 173 stallions, 257 mares and 59 foals.
Youngsters represented 12.1% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of 7% per year.
Of the adults, 40.2% were male and 59.8% were female, not consistent with a simple random process centered at 50% males / 50% females and a sample of 430 horses.
Some of the mares will be treated with a fertility control pesticide and be returned to the range, so the net removal cannot be determined at this time.
The roundup was billed at catch-treat-release.
The incident occurred over the weekend according to a story by KRNV News.
Volunteers with the Technical Large Animal Rescue team assisted.
RELATED: New Cattle Guard to Contain Little Book Cliffs Horses?
The incident will begin on or about October 22. Three HMAs are affected.
The capture goal is 1,106 and the removal goal is 1,068.
Helicopters will push the horses into the traps and operations will be open to public observation.
Up to 19 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide, before being returned to the range with up to 19 stallions.
The current population is thought to be 1,161.
The AML, the number of horses allowed by plan, is 110 – 184.
The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and the beneficiaries thereof, not named in the news release. Click on image to open in new tab.
The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management:
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Axtell, UT.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
RELATED: Decision Published for Roberts Mountain Complex.
The ranch includes 7,942 deeded acres east of Richfield, UT, with grazing preference on approximately 80,000 state and federal acres, according to the agent’s listing.
The operator runs approximately 350 cow/calf pairs year around.
In addition to forage on public lands, the owners feed hay produced from valley operations as well as purchased hay.
The agent’s map links the deeded acreage, shown in red, to six BLM allotments, shown in yellow, and one FS allotment, shown in green.
The National Data Viewer shows the BLM allotments. The FS allotment is south of North Cove Mountain and west of Bear Valley in the Fishlake NF.
The allotments do not intersect any wild horse or burro areas.
The Operator Information Report at RAS ties Annabella Land & Cattle to Authorization #4305032. The Allotment Information Report ties the authorization to Bear Valley, Gypsum, North Cove Mountain and Salls Meadow.
A keyword search of the Allotment Master Report yielded four instances of “Annabella,” consistent with the Allotment Information Report.
The permittees on the two remaining allotments may be DBAs or lessees but this was not explained in the listing.
Information about the Forest Service allotment can be found in the 2023 AOI.
An outlay of $25 million obtains access to a miniscule 558 AUMs per year on BLM land and roughly 483 AUMs per year on FS land. Not a great deal in your host’s opinion.
The price tag would break the budget of the new adoption partnerships program, but nobody said public-lands ranching was for the little guy.
The incident began on October 1. Results through October 15:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
No horses were caught on Days 14 and 15.
The trap and temporary holding pens were moved to another undisclosed location on Day 15.
The contractor dispatched a mare on Day 14 due to low body condition score and loss of teeth.
The death rate is 3.3%.
The capture total includes 168 stallions, 235 mares and 45 foals.
Youngsters represented 10.0% of the animals gathered, consistent with a growth rate of five percent per year.
Of the adults, 41.7% were male and 58.3% were female, suggesting the herd has an abnormal sex ratio.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 15 ended with no unaccounted-for animals.
Mares returned to the Complex will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide. As of today, all returned animals have been stallions.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Calico Roundup, Day 13.
The incident began on October 1. Results through October 13:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
The location of the trap site on Days 12 and 13 was not given.
Body condition scores ranged from 3 to 4 on both days.
The contractor euthanized a stallion on Day 13 due to low BCS and lameness.
The death rate is 3.1%.
The capture total includes 168 stallions, 235 mares and 45 foals.
Youngsters represented 10.0% of the animals gathered, consistent with a growth rate of five percent per year.
Of the adults, 41.7% were male and 58.3% were female, suggesting the herd has an abnormal sex ratio.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 13 ended with 65 unaccounted-for animals.
Mares returned to the Complex will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide. As of today, all returned animals have been stallions.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Calico Roundup, Day 11.
The opportunity is open to local and state governments, tribes, other federal agencies and nonprofit organizations through January 15, according to today’s news release.
Proposals will support off-range activities related to placement of wild horses and burros into private care, such as training, outreach and compliance inspections.
An additional funding opportunity related to research may be announced in November and another in December for on-range projects such as application of fertility control.
The agency did not indicate if the solicitation was related to the falling out with MHF.
One possibility would be to seek funding to acquire a base property, update the livestock type and season of use for the allotments attached thereto, and place adopted horses or burros on public lands, as American Prairie did for bison in Montana and as Madeliene Pickens tried to do for horses in Nevada.
They’re thinking about it, according to a story dated October 11 by KFYR News.
The horses you see today have little if any historical significance.
Leo Kuntz tells the story of the original herd in the 2011 documentary “Nokota Heart.”
RELATED: TRNP EA Out for Public Review.
The incident began on October 1. Results through October 11:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
There was no gather activity on Day 10.
The location of the trap site on Day 11 was not given.
The average body condition score on Day 11 was 3.
The contractor euthanized a mare on Day 10 due to an infection.
The death rate is 3.4%.
The capture total includes 149 stallions, 193 mares and 35 foals.
Youngsters represented 9.3% of the animals gathered, consistent with a growth rate of four percent per year.
Of the adults, 43.6% were male and 56.4% were female.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 11 ended with 55 unaccounted-for animals.
Mares returned to the Complex will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide. As of today, all returned animals have been stallions.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Calico Roundup, Day 9.
The incident will begin on or about October 16 according to today’s news release.
The capture and removal goals are identical, 400 each.
The current population is thought to be 550.
A helicopter will push the horses into the trap and operations will be open to public observation.
The HA covers 53,312 total acres east of Ely, NV, just inside the Utah state line.
The AML is zero.
Moriah intersects three grazing allotments according to the National Data Viewer, Muncy Creek, Devil’s Gate and Smith Creek.
The Allotment Master Report puts Muncy Creek in the Maintain category, the other two were unclassified.
The allotments offer a combined 20,054 AUMs per year on 293,664 public acres, for a weighted average 68.3 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, equivalent to 5.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Not bad for an area that’s unfit for wild horses.
The target rate across all HMAs is one wild horse per thousand acres.
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Sutherland, UT.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
RELATED: What Happened to the Moriah HMA?
The incident began on October 1. Results through October 9:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
The location of the trap site on Days 8 and 9 was not given.
Body condition scores ranged from 4 to 5 on both days.
The contractor euthanized a mare on Day 8 because of a snake bite, followed by two stallions and a mare on Day 9 due to blindness.
The death rate is 3.6%.
The capture total includes 135 stallions, 172 mares and 30 foals.
Youngsters represented 8.9% of the animals gathered, consistent with a growth rate of four percent per year.
Of the adults, 44.0% were male and 56.0% were female.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 9 ended with 119 unaccounted-for animals. Given that 86% of captured mares have been shipped, but only 2% of the stallions, this group is probably dominated by males and will be used to tilt the post-gather sex ratio in favor thereof.
Mares returned to the Complex will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Calico Roundup, Day 7.
At Sand Wash Basin HMA with Jane Goble.
Bait trapping set to begin on September 25 has been marked TBA on the FY23 schedule.
The incident began on October 1. Results through October 7:
The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.
The location of the trap site on Days 6 and 7 was not given.
Body condition scores ranged from 3 to 4 on Day 6 and 4 to 5 on Day 7.
The contractor executed a mare on Day 6 because of an ulcerated cancer of the withers, followed by a stallion on Day 7 due to a previous leg fracture.
The death rate is 2.8%.
The capture total includes 112 stallions, 152 mares and 24 foals.
Youngsters represented 8.3% of the animals gathered, consistent with a growth rate of three percent per year.
Of the adults, 42.4% were male and 57.6% were female.
The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.
*According to advocates.
Day 7 ended with 104 unaccounted-for animals.
Mares returned to the Complex will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.
Other statistics:
Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.
RELATED: Calico Roundup, Day 5.
Western Horse Watchers Association 