Assateague Island Prefigures Salt River, Virginia Range

The Save Our Wild Horses conference starts next week in Reno against a backdrop of the largest wild horse sterilization effort in the nation.

Volunteers with the Campaign Against America’s Wild horses are driving the breeding population into the single digits, with 11 foals born this year to a herd of almost 3,500.

Many of the mares are at risk of sterility.

The same is true at the Salt River in Arizona, where CAAWH facilitates another wild horse eradication program.

Protecting Them From Removal 12-03-23

Both herds will reach the tipping point this year, a threshold passed by the Assateague herd over ten years ago.

With too many nonviable mares, the herd is imploding and the only way to save it is to bring in horses from other areas.

RELATED: If PZP Is Reversible, Why Hasn’t Assateague Herd Rebounded?

Assateague Population Trend 04-11-24

Latest Census Shows Assateague Herd Imploding

An undated report by the Park Service indicates the population in March was 73, including 30 stallions and 43 mares, down from 75 in March of last year and 76 in March 2022.

Ten deaths and eight births were recorded since the last report.

For years the advocates pointed to the herd as a model of wild horse management.

Now they’ve swept it under the rug because it contradicts their lies about PZP.

The herd exhibits characteristics for which the pesticide is famous:

  • Sterile mares
  • Abnormal sex ratio
  • Tiny breeding population
  • Increasing death rate
  • Irreversible decline

This is what the advocates want for all wild horse herds.

RELATED: No Growth for Assateague Herd in Latest Census.

Assateague Population Trend March 2024 Update 04-10-24

Why Are There So Many Wild Horses in Off-Range Holding?

Because most of their food has been assigned to the public-lands ranchers, not because the advocates haven’t implemented enough darting programs.

WITHOUT DARTING PROGRAMS

  • Goal: Ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses
  • Forage allocations: 20% to horses, 80% to livestock
  • Result: For every wild horse allowed on public lands, four have been consigned to off-range holding
  • Who foots the bill: Taxpayers

WITH DARTING PROGRAMS

  • Goal: Ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses
  • Forage allocations: 20% to horses, 80% to livestock
  • Result: For every wild horse allowed on public lands, four have been consigned to off-range holding
  • Who foots the bill: Taxpayers

Darting programs change the method of removal, with the added benefit that the herds don’t bounce back.

Thus, the advocates do a better job of achieving the long-term goal than the helicopter pilots and wranglers.

McCullough Peaks Darting-1

Advocates Anxious to Renew VR Darting Agreement?

Absolutely!  This is the year they push the herd over the cliff.

The Campaign Against America’s Wild horses said in its March update that a goal for April is to renew the cooperative agreement with NDA to continue reducing the wild horse population on the Virginia Range.

As the effort moves into its sixth year, many of the mares are at risk of sterility.

CAAWH Membership Card Exposed 01-01-24

This is the point of no return, the time when the herd begins to shrink, irreversibly.

RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Update for March 2024.

Challenge to SOWH Conferees

Get out of the classroom and see how many barren mares you can find on the Virginia Range.

Should be easy.

Last week the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a leader in nonmotorized removal, reported that only eleven foals have been born this year to a population of nearly 3,500, thanks to them.

The herd is reaching the tipping point.

Although publicly CAAWH denies that PZP is a sterilant (refer to following video), its own literature states otherwise.

CAAWH Self Boosting Mares 04-07-24

Refer to the Advocatespeak Decoder for the meaning of “self-boost.”

The conference provides an opportunity for organizers and attendees to denounce the sterilization effort, which will spread to other areas once the bureaucrats and ranchers realize its finality.

Condemnation forthcoming?  Don’t bet on it.

RELATED: Backdrop for Saving Wild Horses Conference: Mass Sterilization.

Codewords for Ranching Superiority (on Public Lands)

Like the advocates, the bureaucrats use deceptive language to mislead the public about their true intentions and loyalties.

In 1971, Congress declared that wild horses and burros were to be protected from capture, branding, harassment and death.

Areas where they were found were to be managed principally for them.

Today, the wild horse and burro program operates as a grazing program ancillary, supporting three tenets of rangeland management.

This process is sold to the American people as

  • Achieving and maintaining AMLs,
  • Healthy horses on healthy rangelands, and
  • Restoring a thriving ecological balance and multiple-use relationship,

Meaning that livestock operators receive most of the authorized forage in the lawful homes of wild horses.

But inverting the priorities is not enough.

Congress is unlikely to repeal in the statute so the bureaucrats have opted for long-term nullification through the planning process, one HMA at a time.

The Caliente Complex is a perfect example.

The advocates condone the effort through their darting programs.

RELATED: Codewords for Nonmotorized Removal (of Wild Horses).

Thriving Ecological Balance-3

Foal-Free Friday, Shooting the Messenger Edition

Your host is not a villain, he tells you about the villains.

  • Western Horse Watchers is not pursuing a hidden agenda, the advocates are

We Want the Ranchers to Win 04-04-24

  • Western Horse Watchers is not poisoning the mares with ovary-killing pesticides, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not selling eradication as conservation, the advocates are

Better Way 10-25-23

  • Western Horse Watchers is not driving the breeding populations into the single digits, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not skewing the sex ratios in favor of females, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not inflicting injuries and infections, the advocates are

VR Darting Injury 09-15-21

  • Western Horse Watchers is not praying for the older horses to die, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not blowing smoke up your butt about HMAPs, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not telling you that PZP is reversible, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not promoting the overpopulation narrative, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not trying to hide the mismanagement of resources in areas identified for wild horses, the advocates are

Changing the Way Herds are Managed 11-04-23

  • Western Horse Watchers is not desperate for a seat at the table, the advocates are
  • Western Horse Watchers is not fighting for ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses, sometimes referred to as achieving and maintaining AMLs, the advocates are

Why don’t you hear about this?  It’s illegal for the government to stifle free speech so today’s messengers are silenced by its big-tech minions.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Arithmetic for Advocates Edition.

Virginia Range Darting Update for March 2024

The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a leader in nonsurgical sterilization, reported today that 165 mares received 165 doses of PZP during the month, 31 given as a primer and 134 as a booster.

Over the life of the program, which began in 2019, the advocates have pumped 8,927 doses of the pesticide into 2,007 mares.

Eleven foals have been born year-to-date.  One died of unspecified causes.

The current population is thought to be 3,480 with 353 horses listed as missing, compared to 3,444 with 338 horses listed as missing in February.

The population was 3,465 with 342 horses listed as missing in January and 3,471 with 336 listed as missing in December.

The goal for April: “Continue to maximize booster treatments to mares across the Virginia Range as we move through spring breeding season to prevent pregnancies, and continuing to allow for humane population decrease.”

Let Us Fix Your Wild Horse Problem 02-18-23

Not discussed in the report:

  • Long-term population goal
  • Number of viable mares
  • Size of breeding population
  • Loss of genetic diversity
  • Changes in death rate and sex ratio
  • Unlawful use of pesticides

PZP tricks the immune system into attacking the ovaries, resulting in sterility after five years of treatment.

The report will be submitted to the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Update for February 2024.

Adjectives for Pests 12-01-23

Any Wild Horses to See 2024 Total Solar Eclipse?

Not on the east coast and not out west but horses in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways will.

An article by the Park Service puts the town of Eminence in the zone of totality and with it most of the park.

The Pulltite Campground is on the western edge.  Click on image to open in new tab.

An interactive map by NASA shows the track across the U.S.  The event occurs April 8.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways 04-04-24

If Sourdough Was Managed Principally for Wild Horses

The AML would be 545 and the stocking rate would be 7.9 animals per thousand public acres.

The allotment, located southeast of Harper, OR, offers 6,538 active AUMs on 68,844 public acres, according to the Allotment Master Report.

The bureaucrats and ranchers tell us that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The advocates give credence to the story with their darting programs.

If it was an HMA, the AML would be 70 and 475 horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

RELATED: The Allotments Tell the Story: They’re Lying, All of Them.

Sourdough Allotment 04-01-24

Lake Pleasant Roundup, Day 51

The incident started on February 5.  Results through March 26:

  • Scope: Lake Pleasant HMA
  • Target: Burros
  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Bait
  • Goals: Gather 400, remove 400
  • Captured: 183, up from 144 on Day 22
  • Shipped: 180, up from 93 on Day 22
  • Released: None
  • Deaths: 3, no change from Day 22
  • Average daily take: 3.6
  • Unaccounted-for animals: 0

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

No activity was reported between February 28 and March 25.

The death rate is 1.6%.

The capture total includes 78 jacks, 80 jennies and 25 foals.

Youngsters represented 13.7% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 49.4% were male and 50.6% were female.

The HA and HMA are the same size.  The area is subject to permitted grazing.

  • Forage liberated to date: 1,098 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 915 gallons per day

There are no plans to treat any of the jennies with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The roundup targets animals that are damaging private property and creating a public safety hazard, purposes for which PZP was not authorized.

The incident supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: Lake Pleasant Roundup, Day 22.

Lake Pleasant HMA with Allotments 02-06-23

If Keeney Creek Was Managed Principally for Wild Horses

The AML would be 598 and the stocking rate would be 10.1 animals per thousand public acres.

The allotment, located south of Harper, OR, offers 7,180 active AUMs on 59,439 public acres, according to the Allotment Master Report.

The bureaucrats and ranchers tell us that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The advocates reinforce the narrative with their darting programs.

If it was an HMA, the AML would be 60 and 538 horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

RELATED: The Allotments Tell the Story: They’re Lying, All of Them.

Keeney Creek Allotment 03-31-24