This wild horse is grazing in the Red Desert of Wyoming. Image by Randy C. Bunney; Great Circle Photographics.
Last November, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducted the most recent helicopter round-up of wild horses in Wyoming’s Salt Wells Creek Herd Management Area. This time, a total of 668 animals were captured. Of these, 79 horses were released back into the wild, but 3 horses died and 586 were permanently removed from the range. In the end, there were just 251 horses left behind on 1.2 million acres of land, of which 725,000 acres is public land managed by the BLM.
Wild Horse Roundup: To Appease Ranchers?
“The roundup stampeded wild horses for miles over rugged terrain in extreme winter weather conditions,” director Suzanne Roy, from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) told Decoded Science. “Wild horses live in closely-knit family groups, which were shattered as a result.” Describing conditions in the holding facilities at Rock Springs, WY and Gunnison Prison in Utah, witness accounts also paint a bleak picture of these wild animals maintained in pens with no shelter and exposed to the full force of the elements.
Suzanne Roy says, “the roundup was conducted specifically to appease ranchers who graze their livestock on the public lands where wild horses live. The ranchers view wild horses as competition for cheap, tax-subsidized grazing on BLM lands.”
Ecologist Dr Madan Oli, author of A critical crossroad for BLM’s wild horse program, offers a somewhat more understanding view, saying, “The BLM is faced with a very difficult task of managing wild horses in multiple-use public lands involving organizations and people with very different (and often contradictory) interests and agendas. It is therefore understandable that BLM’s policies and practices are not going to be equally acceptable to all parties.”
Wild Animals Forced to Revert Back to Captivity
In 1971, President Nixon signed the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which declared that “wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West and they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.” The act stated that the population of wild horses needs to be monitored “to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance.”
However, captured animals “do not live the life of wild horses as seen in the public land,”said Dr Oli. Instead, after the round-ups, animals are forced to revert back to the status of captive livestock. The AWHPC believes most horses will languish in these holding facilities, where presently 50,000 wild horses are stockpiled from previous round-ups. Only about 2000 of those are sold or adopted each year, making this a long-term option for most of these animals.
“There is a real possibility that those horses could be sold for slaughter,” said Suzanne Roy. “We have always maintained that the endgame of BLM’s unsustainable roundup/remove/stockpile approach to wild horse management was slaughter….to stockpile so many wild horses in holding that the “only” solution would be to slaughter them.”
Captive Horses: Costly System
Not surprisingly, in addition to the stress imposed on these animals, these policies have resulted in a complex and costly system for maintaining captive horses. Dr Oli estimates the cost is over $1000/horse per year, and may exceed $1 billion in total by 2030. “These are staggering numbers and it’s unclear if the Congress will pay for these escalating costs,” he added.
Wild Horse Management Program: Unsustainable
Based on these facts, Dr Oli’s conclusion is an obvious one. “As currently practiced, BLM’s wild horse management program is simply not sustainable. Even to maintain the current wild population size, BLM must continue to remove 15-20% of the wild population, and that cost, combined with cost of maintaining horses in captivity, will likely exceed their total budget.”
The program has now reached a breaking point and the direction which will take is unknown. At the moment, the National Research Council (NRC) has laid out a clear path for reform using humane fertility control as an alternative to the roundups. This can be fully backed-up by scientific research showing the use of effective contraceptive agents in feral horses for up to 3 years. This proposal has the full support of the AWHPC, but the BLM remains resistant to implementing these simple and cost-effective reforms.
“The situation in Wyoming makes clear the fact that the BLM is managing our public lands, not for the public, but for the cattlemen who enjoy rock bottom grazing rates, thanks to our tax subsidies. The agency consistently places livestock interests ahead of the public interest, which clearly favours protecting wild horses and conserving our public lands for future generations,” said Suzanne Roy.
Wild Horses: What Does the Future Hold?
When asked about what the AWHPC intends to do, Suzanne Roy is clear: “We intend to keep up the fight to defend Wyoming’s wild horses in federal court.” The group has already successfully stopped BLM from converting the wild free roaming horse population in the White Mountain to a non-reproducing herd. “We are committed to ensuring that the public’s will – and the public law that was passed to protect wild horses and burros on public lands in the West – are upheld.”
Undoubtedly, wild horses strike a deep chord with the American public. “The West was built on the backs of the ancestors of today’s mustangs. They are national icons,” said Suzanne Roy. “What does it say about us as a country that it’s acceptable for the federal government to choose the most violent and destructive method to control an animal that represents the freedom and untamed beauty that makes America great?”
You all have my permission to reproduce all or parts of this COMMENT. I would ask anyone who shares my COMMENT to becareful and not take “parts” out of context to the real meaning of the whole story. Other than that, have at it, my friends! We are done “preaching to the choir,” and having the media NOT tell the whole story. I welcome anyone who will “join the charge!” (Explain that you have the permission of this writer; and, OK to use my name.)
Actually reported the story??? How about this? How about you READ the WFRHBA, where it states the excess horses, after being held a certain amount of time, can be euthanized???? I am so sick of people making ranchers the scapegoat in all of this…do you live in Nevada? I do. The largest population of wild horses are in Nevada. Do you have any idea how many wild horses take advantage of the water supplied for cattle???? Any idea???? I do, because I drove a water truck, owned by an evil rancher, that had to go on three times as many trips just to keep the troughs full because of the number of horses drinking. Nevada is the driest state in the nation, yet has the largest population of wild horses. Now, how can that be? The evil rancher developing and maintaining water resources….That’s how. And guess what? Those ranchers pay taxes, and employ people. I am sorry, but at some point, the people have to come before the feral horses costing ME, a taxpayer a half a billion dollars a year…Get real, there needs to be SOME management of wild horses. They have almost no natural predators, and their population doubles every four years..And no, they were not here first.
The BLM capture and removal of wild horses and burros is not in keeping with the law or the
wishes of the American people who own the land and who own the wild horses – it
is completely biased and favored toward a special interest group – in this Wyoming case
the RSGA. This in itself is illegal and
often called “Regulatory Capture”. Regulatory capture is a form of political
corruption that occurs when
a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead
advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that
dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory
capture is a form of government failure; it creates an opening for firms to behave in ways
injurious to the public (e.g., producing negative externalities). The agencies are called “captured
agencies”.
Standing outside looking in I see how the horses, as with the Indigenous Native Peoples, become inconvenient obstacles.Hardhearted money worshiping people will forever take the joy out of life and living.
Our government officials are doing all the opposite of what the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act said to do. This is a shame and a disgrace. Reserve Design is the answer not more drugging of these underpopulated horses, and lowering the grazing permits for livestock on the legal herd areas of the wild horses and burros! See my book The Wild Horse Conspiracy, available on amazon.
I’d like to offer this – a tired and repetitive reminder of exactly what we’re up against:
How accurate are the BLM’s assessments of on-the-range populations?
Dr. Oli’s conclusions might have some merit, but what are his assumptions based on? The Bureau’s estimates of the free-roaming populations? And what does the Bureau base ITS population assessments on?
We have no proof – no empirical data, no visual documentation, no valid representation other than perhaps the computer-generated Population Modeling Program that produces what MAY occur. Based nationally on a 20% foaling rate, most paperwork authored for removals of wild equines will demonstrate population increases (over the traditional 4-year removal cycle) as high as 600%, or a 150% per annum increase.
You should pardon the pun, but that is inconceivable.
Only about 50% of the herd – mares or jennies – are capable of bringing a foal to bear, an 11-month gestation that spans nearly every season, on rough and dangerous ranges. Of that percentage, only a small segment will actually participate in breeding for a variety of naturally-occurring reasons. Of that percentage, another, smaller segment will carry a foal to term, and of the live foals brought to term, another dynamic will die within their first few months.
These population estimates are based on each and every animal – regardless of sex – successfully participating each and every year. Even post-roundup, when bands are fractured, finding themselves miles away from any other survivors.
The ‘science’ – if it can be considered as such – of the Wild Horse and Burro Program is significantly flawed. By capitulating to birth control without verification of these herd numbers, these animals are being condemned to eventual extinction through attrition. And perhaps, that IS the end game for the WH&B Program.
Anyone with a grain of common sense and logic should now understand that the so-called “management” by BLM and others is a total and unscientific failure. They have been supplied with and had available to them the necessary tools of proper equine science to do otherwise, yet have not. The most effective way to start saving the money being poured into BLM coffers is to release captive wild horses back onto the “designated range lands” from which they were taken. BLM has lied to everyone for so long, regarding the status of our public lands/range lands, that we cannot believe a thing they say about any of the above. We already know they are selling out to Corporate Ranching for the price of cheap grazing PERMITS. Since when does a “permit” trump a LAW? Wild horses were granted protection and proper management when the 1971 LAW was passed for that purpose! Now, add to that the unmatched greed of Big Oil, and the fracking interests … all commercial interests … and you have a picture of what is happening to our PUBLIC lands. Now! Ask Sen. Harry Reid why it is that he wishes to zero-out the wild horses of Nevada and of our whole country? Reportedly, it was he who inspired the drafting of the Burns Amendment (done in a late-night, after hours Congressional meeting), which was THEN added to a bill the president had to sign. (So, what ELSE is new, right?) Once done,, the wild horses became subject to transfer to known killer-buyers and slaughter! (This was not permitted under the original law passed in 1971.) It is also known and was documented on film that the BLM, in collusion with ranchers on a certain wild horse management range, deliberately fenced off a quality water source for cattle; and, left the wild horses on the other side, with no viable water source and within sight and smell of the good water, to a predictable fate. (Of course, the BLM had made that happen., because they had earlier stated that it WOULD happen; that this area was ‘too dry for the horses.’ Well, talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy! — These BLM people are federal employees, lying in their teeth to their employers … “We, The People of the United States.” They are directed by an appointed, self-proclaimed scientist, Sec. of Interior Sally Jewell, who does NOT have a clue, re: equine science. Why would she? Her background is in business, Big Oil, and banking. Nice arrangement for those who wish the quickest access to public land. — These are the primary reasons, and no others, why the wild horses are being removed. The BLM was called out for “misrepresenting the facts” and inventing numbers to suit themselves, by no lesser an organization than the National Academy of Science (NAS) whose report showed their lies, regarding the wild horse population figures and the fact that they did not adhere to the guidelines … the ratio of cattle-to-horses on common grazing lands … given them. Sec. Jewell made humor out of her understanding of the reasons for reported increases in herd sizes. She made a fool of herself in the eyes of anyone who ever raised horses; and, her BLM “drugstore” cowboys have been described by those who know as folks who could NOT get a real job on even the smallest horse operation in this country, so “they work for BLM.” — We can do better than that, and we must. If every tax payer agreed with at least one equine scientist or manager, we would have it solved. Pass the S.A.F.E. Act, being held up in Committee since last year by those who will profit from horse slaughter plants, or who want to build more and take part in the ‘horse holocaust’ hoped for by the BLM. The BLM has imprisoned thousands upon thousands of wild horses in inhumane conditions of insane proportion. They would like nothing better than to see that living, breathing evidence of their miserable failure … the thousands of captive wild horses and burros … disappear from the Earth. Mass KILLING never solved anything, and it will not solve this problem. This all has to STOP, and stop NOW. — Do you have the President’s ear? Your so-called Congressional representative? Your elected Senator? How about the Sec. of Agriculture? All of these people in the highest positions of our country, elected, housed and paid BY us as tax-paying citizens are running amok. Any one of them could step up and fix this! For my money, and in my humble opinion, they had better get on their mark. I trust NO ONE, anymore, nor will they get my vote when their name shows up … no matter WHEN or how long it takes. BTW: the only person who actually knows and understands what’s going on is Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ), who should have been appointed as Sec. of Interior. Many were surprised when he was not. Makes you wonder who and for what reason suggested Sally Jewell, who is no gem Please, as you read this, remember it all. Mostly, the wild horses of our country … your wild horses … are in grave danger and need your help. Don’t let them down.
A good start here, but several key elements in understanding the science involved are missing. These include:
1.) The incessant reduction of legal homelands and forage designated for wild horses and burros by federal law. Over 22 million acres once open for them have been withdrawn to favor other interests, though wild horse bands are small and widely dispersed in natural conditions.
2.) Reducing the allowed areas by fencing of necessity increases the impact of the animals thereby contained. Over a quarter of a million wild horses and burros have been removed since 1971. Though the entire population left in the wild is estimated as only being between 15,000 and 35,000, the current practices are guaranteed to maximize the impact of even so few hooves.
3.) More than 100 herds have been completely exterminated, gone forever from lands they were entitled to roam forever.
4.) Remaining herds are typically reduced to populations in the low hundreds, though the IUCN is on record declaring genetic viability necessitates herd sizes of 1,500.
5.) No mention is here made of the numbers of domestic livestock allowed into legal horse management areas, though they number in the millions and represent less than 4% of our total domestic livestock supply chain.
6.) No mention is here made of the egregiously large demands the oil and gas industry makes upon scarce western water, though wild horses have been fenced out of traditional watering holes, falsely accused of competing for these resources with livestock and extraction industries.
7.) Dr. Oli hints at the unsustainability of the current BLM management regime while simultaneously indicating the “only” imaginable path is more of the same, by removing 15-20% of the herds regularly. He well knows the PNAS study (among others) which prove contraceptive darting is a proven effective method of population control in the wild. Other solutions exist which he also fails to consider or mention here. To his credit he does clearly indicate the current situation is the result of the BLM and USFS policies carried out over the past 40 + years.
8.) There is significant credible science indicating wild horses and burros are native species to the Americas, and both belong here and can rehabilitate their natural ecosystems if domestic livestock (invasive species by definition) are removed and intelligent ecosystem-wide management is pursued.
oops, sorry for the double posting, the first seemed to disappear so I entered it again.
The endgame of the BLM and ‘Wildlife Services’ (a misnomer if ever there was one) is to remove wildlife from public lands to benefit ranchers- PERIOD. They don’t care about the people of this nation who care about wildlife (80% of us), only about the greedy people who want to feed cattle off public lands. It’s disgusting. Often they kill family pets and non-target species (eagles, golden eagles, etc). :Lands set aside for wild horses? So what! All they care about is the rancher whose cattle ruins the land anyway.
It would make every THINKING American sick, if the media did the job it ONCE did and actually reported the story.