Remembering Velma

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of her passing.

The wild horse preservation movement started in this area nearly 70 years ago.

In her first encounter with the horse runners in 1950, Velma Johnston followed a livestock truck into a stockyard in Sparks, NV.  The vehicle contained mangled horses that were forced off their home range, destined for slaughter.

A colt on the floor, trampled.  A stallion with eyes gouged out to subdue him.  Other mustangs with portions of their hooves torn off and hides shredded by buckshot.

When she asked the driver where they came from, he pointed to the hills of the Comstock Lode, the Virginia Range.  (Source: Page 43 in Wild Horse Annie — The Last of the Mustangs, hardcover edition.)

This is the history of cattle ranching in the American west and the basis of the Wild Horse and Burro Act.

The sign at 0:07 says No Dumping but the horses ignore it.

Who’s Writing Appropriations Bills for the BLM?

The spending authorization for the Bureau of Land Management in FY 2020 includes $6 million for a pilot program to remove most of the wild horses from two or three HMAs and administer fertility control to the remaining bands.

It’s the first phase of the wild horse eradication plan pushed by range-fed beef producers and operators of private sanctuaries.  See page 2 in HR 3052.  The program is explained on page 11 of the report that accompanies the bill.

Note the prohibition against returning horses to the range.  This is the handiwork of the public-lands ranchers and their political allies.

Pilot Program-1

The House subcommittee that drafted the legislation has eleven members, presented here along with their grades from Conservative Review.

  • Betty McCollum, Chair, D-MN, F (16%)
  • Chellie Pingree, D-ME, F (19%)
  • Derek Kilmer, D-WA, F (10%)
  • José Serrano, D-NY, F (20%)
  • Mike Quigley, D-IL, F (12%)
  • Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-NJ, F (17%)
  • Brenda Lawrence, D-MI, F (17%)
  • David Joyce, Ranking Member, R-OH, F (34%)
  • Mike Simpson, R-ID, F (31%)
  • Chris Stewart, R-UT, F (58%)
  • Mark Amodei, R-NV, F (40%)

They all received a failing grade because they’re all liberals.

Could it be that public-lands ranching is an enterprise of the Left, a darling of the Democrat Party?  Sure looks like it.

RELATED: CANA Foundation Throws in with Public-Lands Ranchers.

Alto Wild Horse Hit by Vehicle

A stallion was killed yesterday on New Mexico Highway 48, while attempting to cross it with some other horses.  Refer to this report by Ruidoso News, posted today.

Wild horses in this area were the subject of a two year court battle that ended last year, when a judge ruled the New Mexico Livestock Board had no authority in the case.

RELATED: Alto Horses Settling In, Alto Horses Get Temporary Warning Signs.

CANA Foundation Throws in with Public-Lands Ranchers

A news release posted today by EIN Presswire praises language in a draft appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior about the ‘rewilding’ of horses and burros.

The concept, which appears on page 15 of the proposed legislation, refers to the transfer of captured horses from government corrals and contracted pastures to private facilities, not their home range, just as the ranchers wanted.

The draft also includes $6 million for the first phase of the wild horse eradication plan, also favored by the ranchers.  See page 10.

RELATED: CANA Foundation: Don’t Give Them a Penny.

Multiple Use on the Heber WHT

Video of some wild horses trying to live peacefully with ‘other rangeland resources’ in the disputed territory.  What could possibly go wrong?

Oh yeah…eleven of the horses have been killed by gunfire in the past year.

Pay no attention to the fencing.  It was put there by an oil company to keep nosy environmentalists away from their drilling rigs and frac tanks.

RELATED: Advocates Ask Politicians for Help with Heber Shootings.

Visiting the Black Hills Sanctuary

On the road in South Dakota with RVOnTheWayside.

Places like this can never be accepted as a solution to the wild horse ‘problem.’  Privately owned livestock, which far outnumber wild horses on public lands in the western U.S., belong on private land, not free roaming horses.

RELATED: Private Sanctuaries: End-Game of Wild Horse Management Plan, Story of the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary.

The Big-Name Advocacy Groups Have Lost Their Way

Refer to this letter in the Desert Independent, posted 06/15/19.  It’s just one example.

Whenever you see a plea for ‘on-range management’ of wild horses (sometimes posited as ‘humane management’), run.

These organizations offer no meaningful resistance to the ranching juggernaut.

Instead, they argue about methods and timing: The range-fed beef producers want the horses gone now, by any means necessary, while the so-called advocates want their numbers to decline gradually, through application of contraceptives.

Consider the situation at Twin Peaks HMA, where the horses get the short end of the AUM stick.  Why aren’t they pushing back against the public-lands ranchers?

Might be a good idea to check their donor list before giving them money.

BLM to Renew Burning Man SRP

The environmental impact statement is complete and the special recreation permit should be renewed within 30 days, according to a news release dated 06/14/19.

The festival usually runs from late August through Labor Day weekend on the Black Rock playa northeast of Gerlach, NV.

Burning_Man_Location-1

The anti-family event, which occurs in the middle of wild horse country, is brought to you by the multiple-use mandate of FLPMA, the ‘No Rancher Left Behind Act.’

Lies at Pauls Valley

Adoption event last month at Pauls Valley Off-Range Corral in southern Oklahoma.

Remarks by the woman beginning at 5:11 are false.  The land can support way more than 26,000 horses and burros.  Herd sizes do not double every three years.  BLM forces these animals off their home range (public lands in Western U.S.) so their food can be sold to privately owned cattle and sheep.

Thanks to Camille’s Mustangs for getting this on film.

RELATED: Wild Horse Overpopulation?

Story of Velma Johnston

Good job Elizabeth!

The WHB Act has been amended several times by ranching interests (visible at top of frame at 1:50) and no longer affords the protections sought by Velma.  This is the challenge going forward: Roll back the changes and put an end to public-lands ranching.

Today, more and more horses are being forced off their home range (public lands) so their food can be sold to privately owned cattle and sheep.

Adoptions don’t keep pace with the roundups so most of them end up in government corrals or contracted pastures.  No family, no foals, no legacy.