Nuisance Roundups Increase in Latest Schedule

Outside Chloride HMA, Four Mile and Bible Spring were added to the May 1 update.

The bottom-line totals are the same as in the April 1 edition.

Trump Administration Unveils Deportation Incentive Program

The government will pay $1,000 to illegal aliens that leave the country voluntarily according to a report by AP News.

The story did not indicate if the migrants would receive $500 when they crossed the border and $500 if they stayed out for a year.

The status of compliance inspections is unknown.

Unlike the Adoption Incentive Program, payments are made in lieu of capture and are not available to those who would take the detainees from the government and escort them to Canada or Mexico.

The program is an important step in keeping Democrats away from the levers of power.

EPA Cuts GonaCon Treatment Interval by 92%

The change was mentioned in a response to comments in the Buffalo Hills DNA.

The January 21 labeling amendment allows the second dose to be given in as little as seven days after the first.

The effect of the change on treated animals is not known.

Although the 2017 labeling amendment changed the interval to 90 days, the BLM continued to refer to the 2013 and 2015 registrations in planning documents issued after that date and gave two doses 30 days apart to mares captured in roundups, which constitutes unlawful use of the pesticide.

If that sounds like an allegation of wrongdoing, it is.

Blue Wing Preliminary Planning Documents Out for Review

The Preliminary Environmental Assessment has been copied to the project folder along with a cover letter.

Comments are due by June 4 according to the news release.

Alternative A, the Proposed Action, features

Implementation of a new HMAP
Removal of excess animals to low AML
Application of fertility control pesticides
Sterilizing up to one fourth of the herd
Skewing the sex ratio in favor of males
Development of a new water source

The proposed HMAP is discussed in Appendix XIII of the EA.

Section 2.4.2.2 refers to a 2025 labeling amendment for GonaCon Equine, which may have changed the interval between treatments from 90 days to seven, but Western Horse Watchers has not been able to find it at the EPA website.

UPDATE: The amendment changed the interval from 90 days to 7 days.

CAWP Too Far Downstream to Help Wild Horses

Look at the photos in this BLM blog post.

Is that what you want for America’s wild horses?

The Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program applies to horses that are off the range or nearly so.

In effect, it ensures that burn victims receive the best possible care instead of figuring out how to have fewer fires.

It guarantees the removals will continue because it does not address their causes.

The advocates believe the problems can be avoided by not having any horses or not having them in sufficient numbers to protect herd health and genetic viability.

Mustang Monday

At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range with Western Horse Watchers.

Washoe Lake Allotments

This photo, taken on May 2, helps you understand why the Virginia Range advocates are eager to beat the horse numbers down with ovary-killing pesticides.

The view is from the west side of the lake, looking east across the marsh to the Virginia Range.

The Jumbo Allotment is on the far side and Duck Hill borders it on the south.

The advocates want the ranchers to win but motorized removal is cruel and costly and somebody has to take care of the captured animals.

A better approach is to not have any horses at all, and mass sterilization is an effective way to achieve that.

The advocates can sterilize a mare for about $200 (six to seven doses of PZP).

The Allotment Master Report puts Duck Hill in the Improve category, does not meet one or more standards for rangeland heath, and Jumbo in Custodial, condition unknown.

If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of Horse Creek

The allotment, site of a spring exclosure project north of Winnemucca, NV, offers 3,600 active AUMs on 38,859 public acres according to the Allotment Master Report.

It’s in the Improve category, one or more standards for rangeland health not met.

The management plan assigns no forage to wild horses.

How many could live there?

The forage assigned to livestock is equivalent to 300 wild horses, or 7.7 per thousand public acres.

Why is this important?

Your faithful public servants claim that rangelands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (25,500 animals on 25.6 million acres).

The advocates, defeated a long time ago, prop up the fairy tale with their darting programs.

If the allotment was an HMA, the AML would be 39 and 261 wild horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

BLM allotments in Nevada support livestock equivalent to 173,144 wild horses on 40,194,360 public acres, or 4.3 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Wild horses can be placed on public lands not identified for their use by acquiring base properties associated with grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.

BLM Headquarters Moving Back to Grand Junction?

It will if the Local Opportunities, Conservation, and American Lands Act becomes law.

Foal-Free Friday, Morons and Oxymorons Edition

The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses and New Life do not belong together in the same sentence, paragraph or article.

The morons are those who support these frauds.

Open Letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum

Dear Secretary Burgum,

Pay no attention to those who write letters about cost-effective, humane solutions to the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

They don’t know what they’re talking about.

They have been misled by groups that claim to represent the horses and burros but are actually allies of their enemies.

The problem is an unelected bureaucracy that ignores the intent of the original statute and puts ranching interests far above those of the horses and burros.

Not only are you responsible for that, but you can do something about it.

BLM Wyoming State Director Placed on Leave

He was sidelined because of ethics violations according to a report by WyoFile.

Acolyte Praises Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group

They have been doing a great job of managing the horses according to the writer of a letter to Tuscon dot com.

They administer birth control and provide water troughs and feeding programs at no cost to the government.

Much to her dismay, the Forest Service wants to reduce the herd to 100 or 150 horses, which is the next stop on the tour.

Environmental groups that want it cut to 50 or less will get their wish.

Those who want it wiped out altogether will be gratified.

There is no need to continue the charade. Most of the mares have been ruined by the advocates, which the writer ignores.

Other characteristics omitted from the letter:

Injuries and infections
Elevated death rate
Abnormal sex ratio
Loss of genetic diversity
Selection for faulty immune systems

The writer wants you to send letters to the governor and other officials to keep the herd in the Tonto National Forest even though her buddies are doing the opposite.

Salt River Advocates Achieve Nine Percent Death Rate

The death rate in wild horse herds typically ranges from five to six percent per year.

But the Salt River advocates have exceeded that by 50%!

Data from report by KPHO News:

Initial population: 460
Current population: 260
Duration of darting program: 6 years

460(1 – .09)⁶ = 261

The average age of the herd is increasing because few if any new foals are hitting the ground, which should increase the death rate, but not by this much.

Are they spiking the PZP with some other toxin?

RELATED: Remember This Roundup?

Three More ORPs in the Pipeline

Environmental assessments have been copied to project folders in ePlanning for public review, with comments due on May 7.

Craig – new facility, 500 wild horses, former cattle ranch
Hepler – existing facility, expand capacity by 1,190 wild horses
St. Augustine – new facility, 330 wild horses, former cattle ranch

RELATED: Another ORP in Oklahoma?

It’s Official: HR 2864 Is the Veterans for Pesticides Act

Same title as in the 118th Congress, same poison.

Remember This Roundup?

Here are the numbers:

Target – Wild horses
Initial population – 460
Final population – 260
Overall reduction – 43.5%
Type – Planned

It wasn’t carried out by the BLM.

It did not involve helicopters.

No animals were consigned to off-range holding.

The herd will continue to shrink when the contract expires.

The persons responsible will not face charges.

Still can’t place it?

There was no roundup.

You can’t call it removal because the advocates did it.

It’s a fine example of wild horse conservation, carried out by the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group with support from the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

Data provided by KPHO News in an April 28 report.

Forest Service Still Targeting Mount Charleston Horses

Report by KTNV News of Las Vegas.

The story does not indicate if Chris Giunchigliani is in any way associated with hunting or ranching interests.

State Not Happy with Salt River Sterilization Program?

The contract with the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group expires in May and the new agreement states that for every horse born, three other horses must be removed or adopted out according to a report by KPHO News.

SRWHDG ringleader Simone Netherlands said “We want every horse born on the Salt River to be able to live out their lives on the river” but that doesn’t happen very often thanks to her and her band of merrymen.

Mares that do bear fruit probably have faulty immune systems and the advocates rely on predators to fix those uh-ohs.

Other benefits of PZP darting programs, besides shrinking herds, include abnormal sex ratios, injuries and infections, tiny breeding populations and loss of genetic diversity.

But the crème de la crème, which the advocates deny, is mass sterilization and the Arizona Department of Agriculture apparently doesn’t understand that.

The herd has likely reached the tipping point and will continue to decline, contract or no contract.

A better option would be to acquire land that meets the requirements of a base property, attach it to one or more vacant allotments in the Tonto National Forest, such as Bartlett or St. Clair, and move the horses from the contested area into a much larger home.