It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  For wild horses, that is.

Two articles, two days apart, same author, same publication.

• Wild Horse Population Explodes as Deer and Antelope Die
• Winterkill Hits Wyoming Mustangs Hard

We report, you decide.

RELATED: Wyoming Wildlife Observers Speculate about Winterkill.

Witnesses say a stallion chased her aggressively, when she fell to the ground and died instantly, according to a report by OBX Today.

The story did not indicate if she had been isolated from the gene pool by safe, proven and reversible fertility control.

The article was written by herd manager and PZP darter Meg Puckett.

Contrary to the remark about the dangers of wild horses, the advocates are a far greater threat to them than they are to humans.

Table 3 in the Draft EA shows AUMs, grazing seasons and numbers of animals.

If 1,311 cattle are allowed in the Palomino Buttes Allotment for six months, 7,866 AUMs would be required.

If only 2,876 AUMs are authorized, the number of animals could not exceed 479.

If Weaver Lake can accommodate 335 cattle and eight horses on a five-month grazing season, 1,715 AUMs would be required.

If only 1,456 AUMs are available, the number of animals would be 291.

The Allotment Master Report suggests the AUMs are correct, or nearly so.

The Authorization Use Report indicates the grazing seasons are valid.

The headcounts need to be reviewed, a substantive comment on the EA, unless the ranchers have developed new breeds that gain weight with less food.

Curiously, the forage allocations that pit 64 wild horses against an equivalent 361 cow/calf pairs in a year-round grazing season have been sanctioned by an HMAP, the be-all/end-all for wild horses according to the advocates.

RELATED: Palomino Buttes Pest Control Plan Out for Public Review.

Zonastat-H, the ovary-killing pesticide known as PZP, skews sex ratios in favor of females.

The advocates refer to this as mares living longer.

The Park Service reported in March that the herd on the Maryland side of Assateague Island consisted of 29 stallions and 46 mares.

The Assateague Island Alliance indicated 14 bands as of June 7, implying that 14 stallions were trying to breed.

They also indicated that the current herd of 81 included seven foals, suggesting that only a handful of mares can bear fruit.

Thus, the breeding population is not 81, but much smaller.

Given that only seven foals were born in 2023, the breeding population could range from eight (one stallion and seven mares) to fourteen (seven stallions and seven mares).

Why aren’t the advocates worried about genetic diversity?

Why the low birth rate?  The darting program was shut off seven years ago.

Most of the mares have been ruined by the safe, proven and reversible fertility control vaccine.

Moreover, it’s not an accident.

You can’t have a surplus of viable females when you’re trying to drive the population into the ground.

This is what’s happening at the Salt River and Virginia Range, courtesy of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses and its army of nitwits.

The advocates know that PZP is a sterilant.  If they pummel the mares for at least five years, the herd won’t bounce back.

They can then walk away and ruin another one, with the aid of your donations, to the delight of the bureaucrats and ranchers.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Choosing the Best Poison Edition.

The BLM opened a new project in ePlanning on June 14, skipping the scoping period and moving directly to document review, in what may be an attempt to fast-track a decision.

The Proposed Action, Alternative A in the Draft EA, features gathers and removals over a ten-year period, with intensive use of ovary-killing pesticides.

The population would never drop below 32 adults, consisting of 16 mares treated with said pesticides and 16 studs.

The initial roundup would gather as many horses as possible, followed by selective return to the low end of AML.

The HMA covers 74,234 total acres in eastern Oregon, including 72,359 public acres, according to the March 2023 HA/HMA Report.

The AML ranges from 32 to 64.

The stocking rate at the upper end of AML is 0.9 wild horses per thousand public acres, slightly less than the target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres.

The HMA coincides roughly with the Palomino Buttes and Weaver Lake allotments, as discussed in Section 3.2.1 of the EA.

The National Data Viewer shows the arrangement.  Click on image to open in new tab.

Livestock receive 4,332 AUMs per year, compared to 768 AUMs per year for the horses.

The HMA is managed primarily for animal agriculture.

The 64 wild horses allowed by plan will compete with livestock equivalent to 361 cow/calf pairs on a twelve-month grazing season.

Comments will be accepted through July 16, but only in writing or by email.

The HMA appears in the latest roundup schedule, with a start date of August 14.

RELATED: Status of Allotments at Palomino Buttes HMA.

The capture and removal goals have increased from 7,194 and 5,857 in the April 18 schedule to 7,223 and 5,971 in the June 14 schedule.

Alamo has been added as an emergency with a start date of June 12.  A gather page has been created but there are no daily reports.

Helicopters will take to the air on July 1 at the Reveille HMA as pest control actions resume after foaling season.

Drive-trapping is the fastest and most efficient way of shifting food and water to the public-lands ranchers and enforcing the resource allocations of the land-use plans.

Fertility control pesticides, on the same EPA list as toxic chemicals, slow population growth or stop it altogether, although they have not been approved for use in animal agriculture.

The incidents may or may not be announced at the BLM news site.

RELATED: Roundup Schedule Updated.

Today’s news release follows the BLM’s by a few days.

How will the new HMAP function?

The 140 wild horses allowed by plan will be accompanied by livestock equivalent to 647 cow/calf pairs on a twelve-month grazing season, excessive forage consumption will be remedied by removing the horses, and the mares will be poisoned with ovary-killing pesticides.

Comments will be accepted through July 14.

RELATED: Draft EA for Murderer’s Creek HMAP Out for Public Review.

If you attended the 2022 Save Our Wild Horses conference, you probably went home thinking that herd management area plans (HMAPs) were the be-all/end-all for wild horses.

It was a bunch of crap but that’s what the advocates do to separate you from your money.

The Forest Service has crafted one for the Murderer’s Creek JMA and an assessment of the environmental effects is out for public review.

Appendix L, copied to the Analysis folder of the project, indicates at the top of page 13 (page 18 in the pdf) that livestock receive 7,770 head-months of forage in the JMA, roughly equal to 7,770 AUMs per year, compared to 1,680 AUMs per year for horses.

This means that 647 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing and livestock receive 82% of the authorized forage, neglecting wildlife.

The JMA is managed primarily for animal agriculture and the new HMAP will ratify and reinforce that, as explained last year.

The horses have been cheated by the bureaucrats in favor of the ranchers with the approval of the advocates.

Welcome to the wild horse world.

RELATED: Draft EA for Murderer’s Creek HMAP Out for Public Review.

Additional meeting materials are expected but as of today, only the agenda is available.

The meeting will be livestreamed starting on June 28.

RELATED: WHBAB Educational Tour Set for Blue Wing Complex.

The herd contained 81 horses in June, according to the Assateague Island Alliance, up from 79 in May.

Seven foals have been born this year.

The number of deaths was not reported.

The list indicates names and bands, but not sex, so the ratio of females to males cannot be determined.

Mares outnumbered stallions 1.7 to 1 in March.

If the herd has organized into fourteen bands and only seven mares gave birth, the breeding population must be around 21, not 81.

Why aren’t the advocates concerned about genetic diversity?

The safe, proven and reversible darting program was shut off in 2016.

RELATED: Assateague Pony Census, May 2023.

Initially, the plan was to develop the HMAP in Phase I and identify enforcement actions in Phase II, but those tasks have been combined into one set of planning documents, based on feedback from unnamed stakeholders.

The BLM news release says the current population exceeds 500 horses, resulting in degradation of natural resources in and around the JMA.

The new management plan will promote the health and vitality of the Murderer’s Creek herd and achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance, alongside other important uses on the landscape (such as animal agriculture).

The Joint Management Area covers 142,740 total acres in central Oregon, including 108,488 public acres.

The 140 horses allowed by plan require 1,680 AUMs per.

The stocking rate allowed by plan is 1.3 wild horses per thousand public acres, slightly more than the target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The JMA is subject to permitted grazing.  The National Data Viewer shows the BLM and FS portions but does not show the FS allotments.  The BLM allotments are shown with green borders.  Click on image to open in new tab.

The Proposed Action, Alternative 2 in the EA, features gathers and removals to achieve AML, sex ratio skewing in favor of males, treatment of mares with fertility control pesticides, use of IUDs and transfer of mares from other areas to boost genetic diversity.

The EA and other supporting documents have been copied to the Analysis folder at the project site.

Comments will be accepted through July 14.

If you can’t access the EA, you can read it here.

RELATED: Comments Invited on Murderer’s Creek Management Plan.

At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range with Damian Czajka.

If you’re up to speed in the wild horse world, you know why there are no foals.

If not, add a bookmark to Western Horse Watchers.

The GoFundMe page says $525,000 has been collected as of June 11.

The goal is $625,000.

Most of the land has already been sold, but the remaining parcel, which includes the home and the area where Misty spent most of her life, is on the market.

The Beebe family hopes the Museum of Chincoteague can acquire the property and maintain it as a ranch.

RELATED: Chincoteague Foal Joins Beebe Ranch Fundraiser.

The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company will donate the proceeds from a Buy-Back filly to the museum’s effort to purchase the ranch, according to an announcement by Sport Horse Auctions, coordinator of the auction that follows the annual swim.

Bidding starts today and runs through June 14.

Buy-Back foals are usually returned to the Virginia side of Assateague Island after the event in late July, but this auction may be occurring now because the museum is in contract with a closing date of June 30.

RELATED: Chincoteague Museum Puts Contract on Beebe Ranch.

The WBR is one of four HMAs, out of 177, where animal agriculture is not allowed.

On May 9, the BLM opened a new project in ePlanning that initiated a land health assessment for the Basalt, Belleville, Little Huntoon and McBride Flat Allotments, to evaluate their potential for livestock grazing and other uses.

A scoping letter was the only document posted for public review.

Basalt and McBride Flat are in the Sierra Front Field Office.  The Allotment Master Report shows no permittees and no active AUMs.

Belleville and Little Huntoon are in the Stillwater Field Office.  The Allotment Master Report shows no permittees and no active AUMs.

Three are in the Maintain category and one is Custodial (condition unknown).

Belleville intersects the WBR according to the National Data Viewer.  Click on image to open in new tab.

If the allotments are found to be suitable for animal agriculture (the answer may already known), additional planning and decisions would be required, including an EA or EIS in a new project, to revise the applicable RMP(s) and reallocate or reauthorize resources.

The Montgomery Pass HMA may also be affected.

It’s possible the allotment boundaries could be shifted to eliminate the overlap, but history suggests the WHB areas will be sacrificed for the benefit of permitted grazing.

The project may have been instigated by ranching interests, but this was not specified in the description.

Comments will be accepted through June 16.

Of the two leading fertility control pesticides, both on the same EPA list as toxic chemicals, the advocates have a clear preference, Zonastat-H, indicated by comments on the proposed livestock management plan for Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

As for injection site reactions, these photos show injuries inflicted by volunteers with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses on the Virginia Range.  Click on images to open in new tabs.

Previous photos show injuries that persist for weeks and get worse with time.  They were caused by Zonastat-laced darts, fired by the same nitwits for the same group.

When the product is used for herd reduction, as it is on the Salt River and Virginia Range, the inevitable result is sterility, as the advocates, desperate to convince the bureaucrats and ranchers that they have a better way, pummel the mares for an extended period to achieve their population goals.

This is what happened on the Maryland side of Assateague Island, where the pesticide was applied with reckless abandon for over twenty years.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Snubbing the Advocates Edition.

Public opinion regarding the new livestock management plan tilted 63 to 1 in opposition to their removal, according to a story dated June 6 by INFORUM.

A keyword search of the comment report yielded nine occurrences of “PZP” and eight occurrences of “birth control.”

The report provides summaries of comments, so the frequency of such ideas in the original comment pool is likely much higher.

The following snippets reveal a misinformed public, an indication of how far the advocates have propagated their lies.

From Section 3.8:

Safe, proven and reversible?  Nonsense!

Also from Section 3.8:

Yep, abnormal sex ratios peddled as mares living longer.

In the seven years since the Assateague darting program was shut off, the herd has not bounced back, proving that the safe, proven and reversible fertility control pesticide is anything but.

Pay no attention to the advocates!

Their top priority is to keep their base fired up and the donations rolling in, while achieving nothing useful for America’s wild horses.

RELATED: TRNP Mares Sterile?

Q. What do you call a woman who couldn’t convert an AML to AUMs if her life depended on it, much less compute a forage allocation for livestock in an area set aside for wild horses, but graduated with honors from the Billings School of PZP Darting?

A. An advocate.

Q. What do you call a ranching advocacy group that recruits dozens of such women every year to poison wild mares with restricted-use pesticides?

A. The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

Q. Who should you call if you see said women applying said pesticides in areas used for animal agriculture, a purpose for which they were not registered?

A. Law enforcement.

RELATED: More Wild Horse FAQs.

A new project was created in ePlanning yesterday, covering bait trap removal of 150 wild burros from private lands inside the HMA.

Operations run from June through September.  Click on image to open in new tab.

Refer to the CX for details.

The incident does not appear in the latest schedule.

There were no opportunities for public involvement.

The project was not announced at the BLM news site.

The HMA is subject to animal agriculture, with allotments shown in green.

The effort was announced in a news release dated June 5.

How do you know HR 3656 is bad for wild horses?  The advocates support it.

They see it as an opportunity to expand their fertility control businesses.

As for the new site, sign the petition if it means areas identified for wild horses will be managed principally for them, as specified in the original statute, but say no to any measure that calls for the poisoning of mares with ovary-killing pesticides.

RELATED: It’s Back: Helicopter Ban for 2023.