FOA Asks Court to Stop Twin Peaks Roundup

The news release includes a link to the complaint, which alleges, among other things, that cattle and sheep in the HMA receive 26,644 AUMs per year, while horses and burros receive 9,792 AUMs per year.

The forage allocations tell you the HMA can support many more horses and burros than the bureaucrats admit but most have been consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

The incident is on the schedule with a start date of September 1.

Unlike most advocacy groups, Friends of Animals is not obsessed with fertility control pesticides.

One-Horse Pony Lays an Egg?

Apparently, at least according to the headlines on Drudge.

Your host was not among the 47.9M viewers.

Most wild horse advocates are Biden voters, disciples of climate change, LGBT and all manner of communist subversion.

One-Horse Pony Lays an Egg 06-28-24

Salt River Advocates Suffering from Mental Illness?

The Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, an ally of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, has started a fundraiser to intervene in the second case filed by the Center for Biological Diversity against the Forest Service.

The description says “They have sued our Forest Service over NEPA and are asking the judge for a halt of the humane management programs. This of course would spell the end of the Salt River wild horses as we know it.”

Halting the humane management program, sometimes referred to as mass sterilization with PZP, would be good for the herd, assuming the mares haven’t been completely ruined by the advocates. It would spell the end of their reign of terror.

Further, “The humane management programs are what have kept the Salt River wild horses safe and healthy, and it has also reduced the foaling rate from 100 foals a year to just one or two per year (for the past 3 years). So why would they attack these programs? Because they want to see the Salt River wild horses removed down to 44 horses!”

Forty-four is greater than zero. At least some horses will be left. If the darting program is not stopped this year, the tipping point will be reached and the herd will slide into irreversible decline, with life unable to keep up with death, just like the Maryland side of Assateague Island.

As for legal action, the advocates should be the target of a criminal probe.

They’re using PZP to eradicate herds that are said to be overpopulated, pose safety hazards to motorists or interfere with animal agriculture, none of which are approved uses of the pesticide.

Note in the photo below the lack of PPE, another violation of the Directions for Use.

Students Learn About Darting 10-26-22

Foal-Free Friday, Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics Edition

How would you classify the following statements?

PZP is not a pesticide
It has no adverse effects
AMLs represent carrying capacities
The advocates know what’s best for wild horses
Ranchers have a right to graze livestock on America’s public lands

Hint: None are statistics.

Ranchers Staging Sheep Ahead of North Lander Roundup?

So says a news release published this morning.

The allotments that overlap the four HMAs in the Complex are:

Conant Creek – Conant Creek Common
Rock Creek – Rim Pasture
Muskrat Basin – Muskrat Open and Granite Mountain Open
Dishpan Butte – Big Pasture and Dishpan Butte

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

The boundaries of the allotments coincide roughly with those of the HMAs.

Sheep are allowed in Rim Pasture and Conant Creek Common, according to the Authorization Use Report. The other four are cattle only.

Two areas in Rim Pasture have turnout dates of June 1, which may correspond to the trailers mentioned in the news release.

The Allotment Master Report provides management status and active AUMs.

Horses in the Complex receive 6,432 AUMs per year while livestock receive 48,964 AUMs per year.

The horses have been trying to reclaim some of their food from the ranchers and that is the driver of the roundup.

Piute Mountain Roundup, Day 27

The incident started on May 31. Results through June 26:

Scope: Piute Mountain HA
Target: Burros
Type: Emergency
Method: Bait
Goals: Gather 50, remove 50
Captured: 41, up from 33 on Day 14
Shipped: 41, up from 33 on Day 14
Released: None
Deaths: 1, up from zero on Day 14
Average daily take: 1.5
Unaccounted-for animals: -1

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

No activity was reported between June 13 and June 26.

A burro was dispatched for a pre-existing condition on Day 27. No details were given.

Dead animals are usually not shipped but the total indicates it was, throwing the numbers out of balance.

The capture total includes 26 jacks, 13 jennies and 2 foals.

The HA has no AML and is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:

Forage: 246 AUMs per year
Water: 205 gallons per day

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

What If the Rock Springs HMAs Were Zeroed Out with Pesticides?

Would the advocates drop their lawsuits?

What if the pesticide of choice was PZP?

Would they offer to do it at no charge?

Consider the June 25 news release by the Animal Welfare Institute about the BLM’s wild horse eradication plan in southwestern Wyoming.

Removal of nearly 5,000 wild horses could start as early as October 1.

At the end of the announcement, AWI cites the Virginia Range fertility control program, where their coalition partner, the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, is wiping out a herd of roughly 3,500 with PZP sterilization.

They have no problem with that!

Pesticide Pushers 07-17-23

Bordo Atravesado Roundup Ends, Now Crime Scene?

The incident concluded on June 24 with 240 horses captured, 201 shipped, 31 released and eight dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals according to these figures.

The daily reports indicate 238 horses captured.

The death rate was 3.3%.

Foals represented 11.7% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of seven percent per year.

Of the adults, 56.1% were male and 43.9% were female.

The May 16 report said 18 jennies were treated with fertility control of unspecified type, but no burros were caught.

The June 14 report said 31 animals were released, but their sex was not specified.

The June 3 schedule said ten animals would be treated with GonaCon Equine.

So the horses released probably included mares that received two doses of the pesticide less than 90 days apart, violating the directions for use in the 2017 labeling amendment.

The post-gather population probably isn’t much larger than 31, given that the pre-gather population was thought to be around 230.

The double-dose of GonaCon may mean the herd gets smaller for a few years if it recovers at all, giving the permittees primary use of the HMA.

Mesa County Commissioners Post Little Book Cliffs Comments

If you want to understand the enmity between the public-lands ranchers and wild horses, read the county’s news release dated June 24.

Better yet, read the June 11 letter from the Board to the BLM.

Western Horse Watchers estimates that sixty to seventy percent of the county is public lands, mostly BLM and USFS, and most of that acreage is subject to permitted grazing, based on the arrangement in the National Data Viewer and Western Watersheds map.

The HMA is close to the northern edge, denoted by red arrows.

RELATED: Turmoil at Little Book Cliffs?

They Fear Western Horse Watchers Most

The Love Triangle has been rocked back on its heels, long overdue.

From the unlawful use of pesticides to the mismanagement of resources, your host has put these phonies under the microscope and they don’t like one bit.

They’re now circling the wagons to protect their beloved gravy train, hoping their big-tech minions will ride to the rescue.

America’s wild horses will not be safe until the public lands have been cleared of privately owned livestock and the statute has been restored to its original form.

Working Together for a Horse-Free Future 12-21-22

Residents Question Response to Horses Struck by Vehicles

The incident started on March 5 when an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department buried a dead horse in a shallow grave by a busy road, according to a story by Fox News of Las Vegas.

A second horse was injured and unable to move.

They were found on lands managed by the BLM near the town of Cold Creek, NV and were likely associated with the Wheeler Pass HMA.

Caliente Roundup, Day 69

The incident started on April 16. Results through June 23:

Scope: Caliente Complex
Target: Horses
Type: Planned
Method: Bait
Goals: Gather 350, remove 350
Captured: 365, up from 344 on Day 65
Shipped: 328, up from 296 on Day 65
Released: None
Deaths: 10, no change from Day 65
Average daily take: 5.3
Unaccounted-for animals: 27

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

No activity was reported on Days 67 and 68.

The capture goal has been achieved with 4.3% overreach.

The death rate is 2.7%.

The capture total includes 157 stallions, 148 mares and 60 foals.

Youngsters represented 16.4% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of eleven percent per year.

Of the adults, 51.5% were male and 48.5% were female.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site is not known.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:

Forage: 4,380 AUMs per year
Water: 3,650 gallons per day

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

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: Caliente Roundup, Day 65.

Mustang Monday

On the Virginia side of Assateague Island with Bethany Farris.

Observing Wild Horse Roundups Does Not Protect Wild Horses!

The new fundraiser could be titled “Greaves Carries Water for Leigh.”

The goal is $2,000, with a current balance of $260.

Presumably, the money will support observation of the North Lander roundup starting on or about July 1.

It will not break the cycle of wild horse removals in favor of privately owned livestock, motorized or nonmotorized.

It will not change the goal of ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses, sometimes referred to as achieving and maintaining AMLs.

It will not alter the cozy relationship between the bureaucrats and ranchers, which the advocates accept and support.

It will not give principal use to the horses as Velma and the 92nd Congress intended in the original statute.

It will, however, keep their base fired up and the donations rolling in, while protecting and preserving the status quo.

RELATED: North Lander Roundup Pending.

Thriving Ecological Balance-3

Currituck Herd Adds Another Foal, Exonerating Advocates?

Too early to say.

The PZP darting program was suspended in 2022 but was it soon enough to save the herd from irreversible decline?

The herd on the Maryland side of Assateague Island is still shrinking eight years after the darting program was shut off.

A story dated June 21 by OBX Today says the filly was born earlier this month but does not indicate how many foals have been born this year and how many horses have died.

If life is incredibly fragile for the horses, as stated in the article, why were the advocates trying to snuff it out?

PZP, a restricted-use pesticide, tricks the immune system into attacking the ovaries, resulting in sterility after five years of treatment.

Wildfire Near Palomino Valley Off-Range Corrals?

Received this alert today.

The site identified in the notification says the evacuation was lifted at 6:39 PM.

Wildfire Near Palomino Valley Corrals 06-21-24

If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of Sand Hills

The allotment, in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, offers 15,081 active AUMs on 186,082 public acres, according to the Allotment Master Report.

The forage assigned to horses is zero.

How many wild horses could live there?

Using the principle of forage interchangeability, the True AML would be 15,081 ÷ 12 = 1,257, the number of horses the land could support if it was managed principally for them as specified in the original statute.

The stocking rate would be 1,257 ÷ 186,082 × 1,000 = 6.8 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Why is this important?

The bureaucrats and ranchers claim 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 the allotment was an HMA, the AML would be 186 and 1,071 horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

BLM allotments in Arizona carry livestock equivalent to 53,662 wild horses on 10,090,546 public acres, or 5.3 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Foal-Free Friday, Protecting the Gravy Train Edition

Can you imagine starting a nonprofit, and eventually raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions every year, while sidestepping the most important issue facing wild horses?

That’s what the advocates do.

Can you imagine inventing a fake problem to hide the real problem and supporting it with a bullshit storyline based on an undefined term in the statute?

That’s what the bureaucrats do.

Can you imagine trying to stay above the fray while reaping the benefits flowing therefrom?

That’s what the ranchers do.

Can you imagine silencing your critics to keep the situation out of the public eye and maintain the status quo?

That’s what their big-tech minions do.

Welcome to the Love Triangle on America’s public lands.

More poison for the horses means more forage for the ranchers, exactly what the bureaucrats ordered.

Pancake Gather Plan

Caliente Roundup, Day 65

The incident started on April 16. Results through June 19:

Scope: Caliente Complex
Target: Horses
Type: Planned
Method: Bait
Goals: Gather 350, remove 350
Captured: 344, up from 307 on Day 61
Shipped: 296, no change from Day 61
Released: None
Deaths: 10, up from 9 on Day 61
Average daily take: 5.3
Unaccounted-for animals: 38

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

No activity was reported on Day 62.

A filly was dispatched on Day 63 due to a fractured leg.

The death rate is 2.9%.

The capture total includes 150 stallions, 138 mares and 56 foals.

Youngsters represented 16.3% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of eleven percent per year.

Of the adults, 52.1% were male and 47.9% were female.

Body condition scores were not given.

The location of the trap site is not known.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:

Forage: 4,128 AUMs per year
Water: 3,440 gallons per day

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

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: Caliente Roundup, Day 61.

Turmoil at Little Book Cliffs?

Lawmakers behind the Colorado Wild Horse Project are upset that the BLM is working on a plan to do what their legislation was designed to prevent, according to a story dated June 19 by The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

Predictably, the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, unable to come up with an original thought, called for greater use of PZP, a restricted-use pesticide that tricks the immune system into attacking the ovaries.

Although the agency is working on an Enviornmental Assessment for management actions in the HMA, the roundup was dropped from the schedule earlier this month.