The Bureau of Land Management is in a tight spot. They’re saddled with oodles of wild horses from across the west and the price to hold the mustangs is mounting.
What’s a government bureaucracy to do?
The bulk of the wild horse appropriation - totaling millions of dollars - is spent putting the captured critters out to pasture in BLM-run facilities.
The BLM could legally euthanize the horses or send them to slaughter. But if they do, the public will scream bloody hell (Ed. note: one example).
Congress’ cops, the Government Accountability Office, is leaning on the BLM to fix the problem. But the answer is as elusive as a politician’s campaign pledge.
This is where the public comes in. If we, the taxpayers (remember, we’re the ones supposedly calling the shots) unearth a solution, we can make the BLM listen.
I know. Getting a federal bureaucracy to heed our advice is like fighting city hall on a colossal scale. However, I believe the BLM people want to do a good job, but money is tight and the answer demands some tough decisions.
Wild horses are the bomb. Watching mustangs dash across the prairie is a cool glimpse of nature’s choreography in action.
I don’t have the answer, but I know we must find a solution and convince the decision-makers in our nation’s capital to listen.
Dig the pic. My pal, Ken Martin, who takes folks on wild horse tours in the McCullough Peaks, snapped these mustangs wallowing in the mud at the water hole.
The solution is simple. Get the cattle off the land and return the wild horses to their land. The cattle are privately owned and belong on their owner's land, not federal land. The horses were there long before the cattle and BLM and were doing just fine before they were rounded up.
ReplyDeleteThe wild horses also compete with the wild game in the area. The wild horse is not native to this country and needs to be managed to preserve the habitat of the native wild game.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the 6 million cattle, anonymous? They are decimating the land, not the horses.
ReplyDeleteI was able to go on a trip when the BLM gave contraceptives to the horses through a dart gun a few years ago. It was extremely low stress for the animals, very cost efficient and actually the mare was better off, giving her a chance to mature get healthy before getting pregnant. It would maintain a healthy herd. Why would we not do this?
ReplyDeleteJust remember that there are 200 privatley owned cows to each wild horse. Besides, its not just about cows anymore, in certain areas they are kicking the cows off too, cause of other (special) interest like community development, mining and drilling and yes even Big Game stocking to sell big game hunting permits. It is not about cows, horses or rangeland declimation anymore, it is about the privatization of public lands, special interest and who pays the most for what to who. You can read more about THE REAL reasons they want our wild horses off our land right here: http://www.freewebs.com/saveourwildhorses
ReplyDeleteand here: http://tinyurl.com/65s3qj
"The Greatness of a Nation and its Moral Progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals" -Ghandi
If I hear one more time the horse is not native to North America, I am going to hurl.
ReplyDeleteIt has been proven, beyond a doubt that great errors were made about the land bridge migration and the glaciers that covered North America.
People survived, and so did the animals. THe wild horse may have helped that population of starving humans to live, but decimated the N. A wild horse. The archeology and paleontology works need rewritten. Horse teeth were found in the fires of the surviving humans, Whether they were the first to kill off the horses, is a moot point. History is wrong and we need to recognize that we don't know everything. Just as the Mammoth survived up to 10,000 years ago here in North American. So kill the NOT NATIVE to North America, baloney.
Get the cattle off the Mustangs range. Herefords, angus, etc. are NOT Native to this country either, and destroy far more area that the wild horses. Cattle also, destroy springs and water holes.
It is greed, killing our Wild horses. PERIOD.
If you want to get rid of the cattle, then get rid of all the wild horses and put bison back on the land. That is a true restoration. The original settlers ran horses in the hills and rounded them up each year. Some got loose from farms and some never were rounded up. Except for the Pryor's mustangs, these horses are recent history. Hunitng bison would at least give back to the people economically and with meat. Nobody wants to harvest horses for their freezer. In case no one has noticed, all of these animals propogate. We have to get rid of them by adoption, euthanization, sterilization or slaughter. Oh,I forgot, no one likes any of those methods.
ReplyDeleteSo,let's say you get rid of everything but the horses and they multiply naturally. Do you think that they will just keep a static population that does not need to be managed? It is ridiculous to take managed cattle grazing out of the equation. The range is a renewable resource that gives financial benefit each year. When all of you green whackos have to eat grass to survive and bask in the sun on the south side of a hill for warmth, then maybe you will come around to realizing that beef is better than grass or horse meat! In the end what do you wild horse lovers want to do with them when they outgrow the range?
ReplyDeleteThere are 19 million acres. There is no overpopulation of horses. There is an over population of cattle. The horses do not need to be managed. The BLM needs to go or get out of the pockets of the cattle ranchers and probably the slaughter house owners. Move the cattle to their owner's land and the problem is solved. The owners can manage their cattle on THEIR land, not on land that is designated for wild horses. The renewable resources belong to the wild horses and wildlife, not privately owned cattle.
ReplyDeleteYou did not answer the question. You propose to take all 19 million acres to satisfy your prejudice toward horses against wildlife and livestock. At some point the horses will over poplulate 19 million acres. What do you propose to do then? It is the same problem, larger magnitude. Even if you had your eutopian horse only paradise, you are still up the creek without a paddle. The BLM would still have to manage them in the same problematical way.
ReplyDeleteI did answer the question. The land is for wild animals, i.e. animals without owners - wildlife and wild horses. The cattle are privately owned and belong on their owner's property. There are 200 cattle for every horse. The BLM is rounding up horses to make room for more cattle. Little by little, they are taking over the land and pushing out the wild horses. I do not want my tax dollars going to private cattle. If they continue with the unnecessary round-ups and keep whining about the cost, they should bill the cattle ranchers. It is the ranchers and the BLM that caused the problem.
ReplyDeleteYou can name call all you want. It does not alter the facts. Why aren't you asking that 6 million cattle be "managed"? How about "managing" them down to 30,000? How could you possibly say that 30,000 horses are too many but not have a problem with 6 million cattle?
What your comments suggest is that wild horses somehow will manage themselves and not overpoplulate and destroy the range. In case you haven't noticed, horses are livestock. In case you have never had horses, they do run out of feed if you have too many of them on the pasture for too long. At least the cattle grazing is managed by taking them off the range when the forage is harvested. You seem to want to make sure there is no economical benefit to anyone just to make yourself happy. I hope you are not a vegetarian living on welfare?
ReplyDeleteDo you call 6 million cattle being managed? The Federal land is not for bringing benefit to cattle ranchers. The cattle represent about 3% of the beef product. The point is the federal land is for wild horses and wild life, not privately owned cattle. Cattle do far more damage to the land than horses. The more damage they do, the more they keep reducing the land allocated to horses. You will not see the horses overpopulated in many life times. There were over 2M at one time and they were doing just fine. They do little damage - they graze and move on while the cattle stand and decimate the land. Again, there were no problems until the cattle took over. They don't belong there.
ReplyDeleteI am not a vegetarian and I'm not on welfare.
If you had an ounce of horse sense, you would know that horses are not wildlife and most of them are a bunch of inbred old plugs.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say the horses were wildlife. I said the land belongs to the wild horses AND wildfile. Horse sense? You said horses are livestock. Livestock are food animals and in this country, we don't eat our horses. Most states charge tax on horse feed but do not on livestock. State after state has been delisting horses as livestock. Remind me again who doesn't have horse sense.
ReplyDeleteYou are obviously involved in the cattle industry. You need to do some research on the land damage caused by cattle and how the cattle are NOT being managed.
I think you all need to do some research on the history of public grazing and how the BLM administers 18,000 private permits on 160 million of 258 million acres of public land. Permits and leases generally run for a period of 10 years and are renewable based on adherence to the terms and coinditions set forth by the BLM each year. The BLM takes an active role in the management of public lands by taking into account such factors as the current plant population makeup or diversity, precipitation and available forage. Many studies have documented how desirable vegetation has increased and invasive species are reduced on managed grazing areas. Without the investments made by private ranchers on public lands much of the open space recreation opportunities we all enjoy would become a wasteland either as a result of wildfire or natural overgrazing by wildlife.
ReplyDeleteWow is there no meet in the middle? 19 million acres with only how many acres that are actual viable for grazing. Water and grass is needed otherwise the McCullough Peaks (feral) horses would not need to be managed. We can't save all the unwanted horses, dogs or cats. And we can't keep spending our great grandchildren's money to make us feel better. There's room for all the wildlife and domestic livestock which feed the people if the animals are managed. Use some birth control, give some away and yes some will need to be slaughtered. In a perfect World none of this would be an issue.
ReplyDeleteIn 2001, BLM launched one of the most aggressive removal campaigns ever initiated taking over 75,000 wild horses and burros to date. Despite massive and repeated removals (many herds across the West have been rounded up annually or bi-annually since this began), BLM continues to report over the last few years, the same number of wild horses and burros are still remaining on the range! Yet analyzing the Wild Horse & Burro Programs own removal statistics since this began and the 20% reproduction rate they themselves apply, this is impossible! While BLM reported in February 2008 that 33k wild horses and burros STILL remained on the range, their own statistics independently analyzed revealed only 13,500 to 16,800 were really left! Furthermore, reviewing BLMs reported populations between 2004-2008, 38 different herds were found with highly inflated populations that jumped massively from one year to the next, some by as high as 500%! Just between 2007 and 2008, 24 herds were found with glaring discrepancies, such as the Wilson Creek HMA in Nevada where BLM removed hundreds of wild horses last February and reported only 130 were left; yet one year later, the number jumped to 386 and another round up is now on the horizon. In order to cover up the glaring discrepancies their own statistics reveal, BLM has recently begun claiming the aerial census methods used to count wild populations over the last 4 decades is so inaccurate and flawed that collectively, it accounts for the thousands of “missing animals” that comprise the difference between their own population reports for several years that concludes what IS really out on the range versus what they claim is still out on the range their own data fails to support! The evidence suggests BLM has manufactured the current crisis by removing thousands more wild horses and burros than they needed too and their statistics support the fact that BLM achieved their own national population target, pitifully low as it may be, over two years ago. Yet the round ups continue...So what if BLM is right, that there were tens of thousands of wild horses and burros they were “missing” in their aerial census counts and during the repeated round ups? The law requires that BLM determine just what is “excessive” by MONITORING THE RANGE and what the wild horses and burros are actually consuming! So wouldn’t that suggest that BLM wasn’t monitoring squat or that, not only were their census methods highly inaccurate, so are the methods used to determine what wild horses and burros are really eating, as BLM is now trying to suggest thousands more than they were aware of were “consuming resources” but remained unaccounted for? Then how valid is their population levels that determine what is “excessive”? Doesn’t this imply BLM has just been pulling numbers out of a hat to determine how many wild horses and burros can exist in “balance” with other rangeland users? Since 2000, Dave Cattoor made over $12 million dollars rounding up our herds and he has had an almost exclusive contract with BLM since the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act passed in 1971. Think he has a vested interest in backing BLMs claims of “overpopulation”? And what about that continuous, unchallenged drum of overpopulation? Can they be overpopulated? Sure! But are they? Just within CO, UT, ID, MO, and WY, 2007 elk populations were estimated between 675,000-700,000 while BLMs target wild horse population is about 5,500 for the same areas. In fact, the GAP in elk estimates is larger than BLMs entire national allowable management level for ALL wild horses! Bighorn sheep, the “native” wildlife burros continue to be erradicated for, numbered 70k last year; BLMs burro population targets; now under 3k. Overpopulation? In 2008, 96.7 million head of cattle alone were reported by the USDA nationwide. Just BLM (versus other agencies) authorize livestock grazing on 160 million acres and in 2007, BLM reported 6.8 million AUMs of forage was actually used exclusively by livestock though 11.1 million AUMs were potentially available. Wild horse and burros are only allowed on 34.5 million acres (though in August 2008, the BLM officially removed 1.6 million MORE acres from wild horse and burro habitat so this needs to be revised) and only 309k AUMs are allowed for their consumption, less than 3% of the available forage. Often, water sources are fenced with no water piped outside; read BLMs Resource Management Plan for Nellis-they failed to even include how many water sources were even IN Nellis but set a “new” population based on “water sources” that were never fully identified. They were also very clear that many they DID report on had been fenced off completely from wild horse use. While wildlife and livestock are allowed “alternative” water sources, not so for wild horses and burros. Apparently, BLM believes it is more cost effective to water them in long term holding facilities and issue quarterly checks to the facilities versus investing in long term reliable water sources on the range to compensate for the continued development, urbanization, habitat fragmentation and underground aquifer pilfering. The population objectives BLM has set over the years, known as AML (allowable management level) are riddled with ancient and incomplete data, unsupported statements, missing reports, and in some known instances, flat out lies! In the High Rock HMA in CA, BLM set the wild horse population number based on water sources for 6 springs though there were 20 in the area. They also claimed one spring was severely damaged due to “overpopulation” but 7 years later(yes, it took 7 years before the truth was published!), another BLM document unrelated to wild horse management reported this same spring was in excellent condition and had been long before BLM did their “wild horse analysis.” Why was it in excellent condition? Because it had been fenced off way before BLM set the “new” wild horse AML. Before the public swallows the story being peddled, this can of worms needs to be opened and thoroughly reviewed by a full scale Congressional investigation and the legal loopholes BLM has been using to manage our herds to death needs to be closed once and for all! Failure to do so NOW will result in the needless spilling of thousands of American Mustangs and Burros blood; BLM’s “management” of our remaining herds and their ever dwindling habitat must be addressed and accountability demanded! There is a reason wild horse advocates continue to cry out, “They are being managed to extinction!”
ReplyDeleteThese statistics, and many more, are available at:
http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com
Wow- this wild horse issue is a big deal out here huh? When I lived in Australia if the herd isn't managed it just dies out pretty nastily from draught and starvation. Do we maintain water supplies out here? if you do, turn them off. Let the horses run and do their thing and when they die of starvation and disease from overcrowding, their you go. Problem solved, the ugly, natural way. I personally don't know why we don't eat them. lots of other countries do it. I guess we all need to get a little hungrier and the economy needs to tank just a little more before people's priorities become their own survival instead of discussing birth control for wildlife. But I have to say, if we start talking about giving land back to wildlife, you better turn your house deed over to your local American Indian tribe, 'cause -newsflash- they were here first too. I'm just saying, that argument has applications in our own lives, not just the horses'.
ReplyDeleteA comment to Preserve The Herds: Take a look around McCullough Peaks are and see if you think the herd is disappearing. It is not. To repeat your statement:"news flash": they are having young each year and multiplying. No one needs a statistics degree to figure that out.
ReplyDeletewoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ReplyDeleteI have been watchin the wild horse problem for about 2 years now and is it, save the herd, no excuse me it preserve the herd said a lot of true facts , I couldn't find anything that he said or she said that was incorrect. Most of the water in the west is in the hands of ranchers and that could be a problem if the rancher left ( no more water for the horses) But let go back to the begining of the story, does america want to save this heritage to pass down from generation to generation, answer is yes Why What makes them feel this way about an animal that they may never even see, Do you know what goverment program got the most letters to congress, answer vietnam you know what was second, you got it wild horses. Go to a wild horse adoption around you, the bison guy, I know its a guy, you might want to stay home, but go look at the horses and tell them your not native to this land you were brought here by the spanish and you must go for the good of the land, look into their eyes and they will tell you, go home yourself white man. we were here before you. they are not asking for much just to live, and by the way they make the best family horses you will ever know , a trainer told me that he was training his first mustang and it was hot and bright and he had his sun glasses on ( which he does all the time with his other horse) his mustang wouldn't do anything until he took his off ,so he could see his eyes , he tried to put them back on and the horse stopped until he took them off again, They can read you
ReplyDeleteHow about this for a consideration, when talking about Govt waste...the grazing program (Rancher Welfare) COSTs us taxpayers over a million dollars a year to administer!
ReplyDelete