Plenty of Water at Nevada Roundup – And Dead Horses Too!
By Steven Long, Photos by Katie Fite and Cattoor Livestock Roundups,
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A federal helicopter chase contractor has acknowledged there was plenty of water in an Elko County, Nevada wild horse area, contradicting what government lawyers told a U.S. District Judge last month.
She said that many of the horses in a large herd management area just didn’t know it was there and were kept in pastures far away.
In an exclusive interview with Horseback Magazine, Sue Cattoor of Cattoor Livestock Roundups, Inc. said the Owyhee River, the border of their most recent wild horse stampede dubbed the “Tuscarora Gather,” has enough water for vacationers to camp and fish, plus multiple trails leading down to water’s edge giving access to thirsty animals including horses.
A disturbing photo of a dead Palomino Wild Horse surfaced on the Internet and in news reports last week. The picture, taken by Western Watershed Project Biodiversity Director Katie Fite shows the horse lying in rocks below a cliff. Wild horse activists say the photo demonstrates the cruelty of a government program wasting millions of dollars that is out of control. Many of them believe that a Cattoor helicopter drove the horse over a cliff.
That is not true.
But a firestorm of outrage has swept across the desert sands of Nevada and the nation at what many believe is a government agency that has turned rogue. U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, (D) La has proposed that her colleagues consider removing the Wild Horse and Burro Program from federal Bureau of Land Management control.
And fifty-four members of Congress have petitioned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to end the capture of wild horses on land controlled by the BLM. They have asked the National Academy of Science to investigate the agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. More than 150 horses and foals died in the wake of a mid-winter roundup in Nevada’s Calico Mountains. The congressmen say that 21 horses have died at BLM’s hand thus far during and after the Tuscarora stampedes.
Reno federal Judge Larry Hicks imposed a temporary injunction that had stopped the agency from capturing horses after one day in which 12 horses died after being run eight miles in more than 100 degree July Nevada desert heat. He lifted the temporary restraining order after being told by government lawyers an emergency existed because horses needed to be captured since they faced the prospect of dying of thirst because there was no water in the desert.
In fact, the BLM trucked water into the area rather than driving them, as they are clearly capable of doing, to a freely flowing river with abundant water. But she says the bulk of the horses involved in the roundup were in three pastures away from the river.
Cattoor acknowledged that the Owyhee River has running water, and during the roundup an Idaho group was camping on its banks – and even fishing.
“They were just a little ways up from where the horses trail down to the river. It‘s almost like a miniature Grand Canyon. This particular spot of where the trail goes down in the canyon is where the horses go to water,” Cattoor said.
Cattoor also said that there are other trails leading to the river that would have been available to the horses, but “the horses aren’t using those trails. They are only using this one. A lot of those horses didn’t know that trail was there because a lot of the horses we captured in this HMA were young horses.”
Typically, foals follow their mothers to water, so in all likelihood, the young horses whose habitat is near the river had been exposed to the abundant water in the waterway and the riparian area on either side, despite Cattoor’s comments to the contrary.
But some horses came to the river for the first time, she acknowledges. How did these lost horses get there? Were they driven there by a Cattoor helicopter, activists are certain to ask.
“After they were down in there, they did not know how to come out,” Cattoor said.
A wide trail leads down a gently sloping river bank to the river shown in a photograph on the Cattoor website http://www.wildhorseroundups.com. Sue Cattoor says the photo is deceptive and the trail is very steep.
Cattoor says that there has been ample water in recent years to sustain horses in the area.
“I find it odd that with all the months of planning by the BLM that occurs before a round-up there was no mention of lack of water for the horses in any of their documentation and then after the lawsuit was filed, it suddenly became an emergency,” said Vicki Tobin, co-founder of the Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance.
“The BLM has authority to round-up horses in an emergency situation so if the horses were in such dire straits, they should have dealt with the situation long before the lawsuit was filed.”
Like many in the West steeped in a ranching tradition, Sue Cattoor believes the wild horse are livestock, not wild animals. That tradition views livestock as a commodity, nothing more. Something to be bought and sold. Ranchers have a very pronounced vision of how animals should be viewed, and Cattoor is no different.
“If they are wildlife, then why don’t they issue a license for them to be hunted?” she asks.
Cattoor said campers along the river mentioned that the wild horses were in the area when they first got there, however, there were no campers around during recent visits by others to confirm what the federal contractor says.
Visitors say they found evidence that there were traps set up along the river bottom. Cattoor counters that what they believe were the remnants of BLM pens were actually the abandoned campsites of the Idaho campers who had traveled to fish the river.
There are no witnesses to refute the allegation that horses could have been driven by a roaring helicopter into the area whose rugged features include jagged rocks and towering river banks. The horses also could have injured themselves on the sharp outcrops trying to escape something they feared and had never seen before.
“They climbed up on that ledge looking for a way out and didn‘t know how to get back out of it,” Cattoor said.
In a lengthy note on the company website Sue Cattoor explains her firm’s position in minute detail. The note is also accompanied by a photo of a broad well traveled trail leading to a flowing river filled with plenty of water. Another photo of the river shows steep cliffs. Cattoor denied Horseback Magazine permission to use the photos.
Sue Cattoor acknowledges the horses were injured trying to negotiate the rough terrain.
“They were moving around in those rocks, trying to go up and down to survive and would have gotten the injury in the rocks. Those horses were trying to find a way down”
She said the pocket of possible stragglers from the helicopter chase were discovered after the helicopter pilot and her husband flew over to speak with the campers they had seen along the river.
“When they flew over to talk to these campers, they discovered these horses on the opposite side of the river from where the trail was. They herded those horses that were up there back down to the river because those horses had ledged up there and they did not know how to get back down.”
But after the herd was driven down river, the two severely injured horses remained, Cattoor said. One was the Palomino horse later photographed dead by Fite.
The photo of the still living but injured Palomino horse was taken from the Cattoor helicopter and the wound appears to be to the bone. The photo was supplied to Horseback Magazine by Sue Cattoor.
Cattoor says the horse had vision problems and was old.
“There were two horses. One, the horses that she (Fite) took the picture of, and a foal that was caught in the crevasse of the rocks with broken legs that they had to go back and euthanize,” Cattoor said.
Former Horseback Magazine veterinary columnist Dr. Angela Chenault viewed the blown up photo and said the injury was possibly survivable, but “its not likely to have a good outcome on a feral horse. Aftercare is critical and even stalling this horse will be a problem mentally.”
The horse found by Fite was not driven over the cliff to its death by Dave Cattoor, it was shot by him from the helicopter with a high powered rifle.
“It happens on occasion because when we are out gathering horses, if we see something that has a pre-existing injury or if something is extremely old and needs to be put down, they will euthanize it in the field,” Cattoor said.
Dr. Chenault said the injury was not fresh.
“It’s difficult to say how old by the picture but I would say it is over 24 hours by the way the muscles look,” she said.
Activists will likely continue to believe the worst of the Cattoors and their company. And Sue Cattoor will continue to attempt to spin the image of a company that is compassionately capturing horses, even if some die in the process.
The helicopter contractor said that despite the judge’s ruling that observers be allowed to view the roundups, her company will not allow observers on horseback despite a long standing Horseback Magazine request to the BLM to do so.
“If they are on horseback they are going to interfere with the operation,” she said. “We never allow our wranglers to be on horseback when the helicopter is driving horses to the trap. We can’t have somebody there that might turn the horses back and cause problems.”
Cattoor said she would have no objection to observers who hiked in to the roundup area if they were accompanied by a BLM public relations person. In past “gathers” armed guards have prevented observers and the press from freely walking into the roundup area.
Despite encouragement from Cattoor for Horseback to observe a roundup, BLM has barred press and public in the trap area because recent ones have been located on private property. The agency claims landowners object to media and other observers on their land. However, when the BLM leases property for a site, it falls under federal control much like a post office building does when it is leased by the federal General Services Administration for public use. The landowner relinquishes control of his property to the control of the federal government.
Cattoor Livestock Roundups will not allow the media to fly as passengers in their helicopter citing prohibitions from their insurance company.
“I have no problem with the press coming out and watching if they want to, as long as they are absolutely not interfering with the gather and causing stress for the horses,” she said.
Cattoor also was critical during the interview of media reports of the numbers of horses which died “because of helicopter gathers.”
On the Calico roundup seven horses died in the field out of a total of more than 150 horses and unborn foals who met their deaths in captivity, including two foals who shed their hooves after being stampeded over rocky terrain in the dead of winter by a roaring helicopter.
“In this roundup we didn’t lose any on the actual HMA (herd management area). Others died for lack of water or too much water, or were destroyed for humane reasons,” Cattoor said.
“They are trying to stop roundups saying the helicopter gathers are cruel and inhumane and that’s not a fact,” she said. “The losses from Calico was because those horses were in very bad shape when they were captured because there wasn’t enough food out there.”
Photographs of the captured Calico horses by naturalist Craig Downer and wild horse litigant Laura Leigh show fat healthy horses even in the BLM hospital area.
And 54 members of Congress clearly want to knock Sue Cattoor and her company out of a job, temporarily at least.
And litigation continues in the courts to stop what the BLM benignly calls “gathers.”
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Our wild horses and burros are not livestock! They are a reintroduced native species that should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Using helicoptors to stampede our wild horses is one of the most inhumane ways to round up any animal. Sue Cattoor needs to be shut down and sent to prison for what she and her company of criminals are doing to our wild horses. It is not up to them to shot a horse because they think it is old and of no use anymore. These wild horses have lived in peace and harmony with other native species and are not destroying the environment their presence benefits the environment. By not allowing observers should sound an alarm that maybe something illegal is going on. Horseback Magazine keep up the good work and really push being observers at these cruel round ups.
From above article:
“It happens on occasion because when we are out gathering horses, if we see something that has a pre-existing injury or if something is extremely old and needs to be put down, they will euthanize it in the field,” Cattoor said.
This extremely old Wild Horse and Burro program (b. 1934 or thereabouts) really does need to be put down. Permanently. Bring in some modern views here. Good lord.
Ten year olds could do a better job.
The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program began after the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act was passed in 1971. The Taylor Grazing Act was passed in 1934, which created the Grazing Service. BLM was created in 1946 as a combination of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service.
While wild horses and burros were cruelly rounded-up, shot, sold for pet food, etc. before, during, and after the 1930s, until the passage of the Act there was no official program to protect the animals.
Dear Steven,
I admire your research and journalism. Your work is proof that a story doesn’t need slant. It must only show facts and thinking readers will draw obvious conclusions.
We have the photos, the research, the interviews to prove BLM has stopped living up to its responsibilities. Now, 54 members of Congress have opened the door enough that we may have the chance to share them with future judges, Sec. Salazar and the President.
You and Katie have supplied us with even more valuable information and I can’t thank you enough.
Best,
Terri Farley
That’s right – our native wild horses are definitely NOT livestock. There is DNA proof that not only did the Equus genus originate in North America and NOWHERE else, horses DID survive the Ice Age and probably their brush with extinction was caused by human predation. The last living horse in North America was E. caballus – the SAME species that the Spanish re-introduced in the 1500s. With all this incontrovertible DNA evidence, I don’t anyone can claim that horses are non-native and invasive. That just doesn’t wash anymore.
Sue Cattoor might be interested in the fact that the FDA has horses in the Companion Animal section of their web site.
Even with the recent scientific fossil findings proving the horses are native to Northern America, BLM’s idea of keeping their promise by managing the horses on the best available science, is to completely ignore it.
BLM “Science” — at work:
http://conquistadorprogram.org/blm_wild_horses/blmfoiaresp_mtgminutes.pdf
Sorry Sue, you gave one of your biggest little secrets away…what a fool. How much are y’all making for your high dollar wild horse hunting excursions?
Words are not going to even begin to convey what vile, wretched, rotten-hearted maggots are at the core of this treachery.
These two are paid millions of taxpayer dollars…..and Dave Cattoor plead guilty using aircraft to hunt wild horses… (thanks to Steve for the correction)
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/pdf/Cattoor_Indictment-GuiltyPlea_Hunting-Killing-WH-1992.pdf
If they quit removing all the older more range savvy horses you wouldn’t have situations where horses were not aware of water areas and how to get in and out. Sue has just given evidence for our argument when she states the horses couldn’t find their way out, if that is even true. I read her web page and shook my head yet again at the contradictory statements. Of Sue wants kudos for shooting a horse from a copter with a high powered rifle (and having the audacity to call it humane euthanasia) then hope she ain’t holding her breath. I tip my hat to you Steve and every advocate who hit the ground running when they got wind of this debacle at Owyhee.
Just wondering if Sue could not be taken to court as well for any of the statements she made.
Also, seems like the road to the water was man made for a car, so why couldn’t a horse travel down that road? I am suspicious that the horses got stuck because they were trying to run away from the helicopter, and as far as the “campers” mentioned on her website, I doubt they ever existed. Probably just a fence they had to take down in a hurry.
NIce work as always, Steve.
When all the older horses are removed from the ranges (most older Calico mustangs were shot) their valuable “herd wisdom” goes with them. Yes, these horses are native wildlife, protected by law that no judge seems to be willing to uphold. Why? Corruption by special interests. Americans are sick and tired of the corruption. I’m sick and tired of my hard earned tax dollars (multi-millions) going to the killer Cattoors. The jig is up Sue, every BLM excuse to roundup these mustangs is an exposed lie. Spin it all you want but America already knows the ugly truth. It is a federal offense to harrass, harm, or kill a mustang, therefore you are a criminal. You are also in violation of NV state law 574.100.
Please sign this petition to charge them with animal cruelty:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/arrest-salazar-blm-catoor
…and then you ship the rest to slaughter, don’t you? You are all making a KILLING AT THE EXPENSE OF THE HORSES AND AMERICAN TAXPAYERS, AREN’T YOU??
http://saveourwildhorses.webs.com/anewgatetoslaughter.htm
Keep talkin, Sue…say, where is hubby?
Opinion: Salazar and his bevvy of hunting fanatics are not going to change a thing; any “investigation” will be whitewashed, bet on it. Do NOT fall for this. Keep the pressure up, people, because they are not giving up their sadistic pleasures at everyone else’s expense, not while any of us are still breathing – these people are lower than pedophiles…they are without conscience, without souls. Be prepared for the next round of lies.
Super write up, Steve. But none of this is a surprise, BLM lying, Sue out of touch with reality, ole Dave killing wild horses…they have all been doing that for decades but now that have people watching. Hence, the private property issue. They all know they are wrong, they are aware that they are breaking the law but they are doing it for the money, including the BLM, and they are doing because the CAN!
Let’s endeavor to put BOTH of these law breaking entities out of business, for good.
So Sue… you ran her up on the rocks days before and her baby broke it’s legs. Then Dave shot her.
But these are the result of “humane rescue operations” attempting to push horses into an area to get water?
Maybe if you just left them alone they would go to the water that they would usually use this time of year? Perhaps all the odd movement kept them out of normal patterns?
Or did you start pushing bands into unfamiliar territory days before the gather in your “pre-flight?”
It’s so interesting that not a single horse died up there, not one dead horse found testified to in open court by BLM, until the helicopters took to the air.
BTW: the Court documents that contain this photo DO NOT say it was run off the cliff. It is noted that this is simply not an area she would attempt on her own considering there is a clear trail not far from where her body was found. Be interesting to hear what the plaintif actually says when she can finally speak…
Thank you so much Steven, for searching for the truth and sharing your findings with us, despite how much Sue Cattoor can be believed. We can see the obvious lies, but as to some of the rest of her statements, we’ll probably never know for sure how much of it is true.
One thing is for certain. The gathers are deadly. Nothing about them can be called humane.
I was 11 the year the Wild Horse & Burro Act was passed. I was so proud & pleased that my Congress would consider these animals so singular they would make it an official declaration – to protect them, as my legacy, in perpetuity.
They did not label them ‘former stock animals’ or ‘introduced wild life’. They recognized them as a Heritage species and worthy of protection, so much so there was not a single dissenting vote in passing the Act.
Now I’m well past middle-age and deeply embroiled in a fight to save their lives, to ensure their survival as my grandchildren’s legacy. I cannot empathize with a mind-set that considers these animals so common & annoying as to be utterly disposable. There is no justification, no excuse, no tired, repetitious rhetoric offered that can quantify wholesale barbarity under color of ‘authority’. When I see the face of a man with a high-powered rifle killing a wounded & frightened Mustang from the safety of a helicopter and watching it tumble to the rocks below, I don’t see compassion. I see a well-paid hired killer.
And I hear a disturbing tenor in the contractor’s view – that the only animals of any worth are those that should be killed.
This is not ‘compassion’ either, no matter what ’spin’ you put on it.
Why should Public opinion be so important to the contractor? They are well-paid with Public money to do a job few of us want them to do. Our opinions should matter no more to the contractor than they do to the Bureau. But efforts in the media to try and make pretty the destruction & suffering brought upon these animals, who harm no one, is insulting and furthers their cause not one iota. Better to remain silent, take your fee and GO HOME.
These horses should have been left alone and our public servants should have seen to it that they were treated to the principal portion of the resource pie including access to water within their legal herd areas in Owyhee. Same goes for Rock Creek and Little Humboldt hmas. They are being displaced by other interests, including livestock contrary to the law.
Revisited the 1961 movie THE MISFITS! They fired on horses with shot guns from airplane in that film. Now Helicopters instead!
If Marilyn Monroe went crazy about the killings in front of Sue Catoor like she did in this movie Sue still probably wouldn’t get it. She’d just find a way to do a spin about the crazy blond who doesn’t have BLM personnel with her.
At least the tire drag thing isn’t happening anymore. Not much has changed though….still oblivious sensitivity to humane respect for these majestic creatures. Pathetic spin that that BLM and Catoors care.
Good report. Appreciate it.
Wonder if Sue decided to say a few things, even if they reflected poorly on her and Dave, to let the BLM know that she would talk. I am thinking that perhaps there may be some possibility of the BLM trying to find a less controversial contractor, so Sue is talking to let them know that she knows and is willing to say a lot more.
Perhaps she is tired of being villified for doing the work that our government wants them to do. Who can know for certain. There are so many forces at play.
I was unaware that even if a round-up is help on private land, since it is a government sponsored activity, the government rather than the land owner is actually in charge. The post-office analogy makes sense. Very interesting.
Thanks for your hard work.
Sue and her husband deserve to be villified right along with the BLM and Salazar…
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/pdf/Cattoor_Indictment-GuiltyPlea_Hunting-Killing-WH-1992.pdf
Honestly, I did not think the BLM and the Cattoors could get any lower or I could get any angrier, but the photo of the Palamino mare is appalling, she did not go in there on her own. The fly overs or initial movement of the helicopters drove her and her foal into the rocks and broke the foals legs, it’s simple, no problem before the helicopter and then this unnecessary tragedy. I am almost rendered speechless at the unbelievable failings of the wild horse and burro program and the fact that they have given 20 million dollars to a contractor who sold our federally protected wild horses to slaughter, almost speechless, and then this horror gives me strength to fight for what is just and right. We are watching, we are determined, we are many, and we are strong and we will never give up until the Cattoors are gone and the BLM does right by the wild horses! I think that will mean taking the Management out of their hands and putting in the hands of an Expert Wild Horse Coalition. These horses are an incredibly valuable resource, a gold mine in tourism dollars and the government is foolish for their lack of insight on what the wild horses could do for America.People would come from all over the world to see them, if anyone knew we had wild horses.
“And 54 members of Congress clearly want to knock Sue Cattoor and her company out of a job, temporarily at least.”
Lets make it permanent!
Conrad Burns, Harry Ried, Ken Salazar, Bob Abbey, Cattor and any one else involved in the destruction of Public Property, Wild Life and animal abuse should be behind bars. Finally we are getting proof of the ruthless, extermination of OUR wild horses.
The wild horses have been in the Native American language for centuries before the Spanish came. They have no right to label and destroy these horses. Thank you Steve, you are a horse hero and warrior.
Is this same horse shot down by Cattoor, a mare? And could she really be the mother to that foal injured in the rocks? Because if this is the case, then that explains why she was lingering there. She would not leave her foal. And what a horrible tragic story this is.
A horrible tragic story played out thousands and thousands of times on our American public lands over decades and decades.
These animals are not seen as horses — they are seen as one might view moss on a walkway; or roaches in your kitchen — if they are SEEN AT ALL by the public servants.
I am totally horrified by what is being done to these beautiful, peaceful beings. And w/our tax dollars!! How can an average citizen help stop this atrocity? Is there a petition going around? An address we can write to in order to let the public outcry be heard by those w/the power to stop this? My heart aches for the suffering these horses have had to endure.
What can we do to fix this?
54 members of congress. Who are they? I want to congratulate them.
csimeri
So out of the Mrs. own mouth are the words, “horses kept in far pastures”. who is holding wild horses in ‘far’ pastures for your company to run days before official start of round-up?
and what happened to all the wild horses that grew up and were totally familar with the watering sources used for thousands of years by ALL wild life?
guess ‘things’ with blm and contractor are exactly the same as this white paper, describing the killing, poaching, secret pastures to steal protected wild horses.
link here, read this and weep!
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbWVyaWNhbmhlcmRzNHxneDo1ZTMzMWRhMDE2YTZkNzg5&pli=1
Thank God, Sue Cattoor is such an idiot! Hopefully, a lot of what she has revealed in this article will be enough to bring criminal charges against her and her horse-hating husband. The BLM and the Cattoors need to be held accountable for every horse they’ve killed. As far as the water situation goes, its just barbaric that anyone would keep thirsty animals. from drinking. If you lead a thirsty horse to water it will drink..all by itself.
let me see if I get this right, there is the lack of water in the desert while people are fishing and camping along a river, and let’s not forget Sue does no wrong and feels she is doing a humane thing for our wild horses, Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m thinking once again anyone who is associated with the ” Bureau Of Lying Maggots ” need to take a lesson in compassion and not the seedy, greedy manipulation of a society in which there are people who love these beautiful animals. I’m ashamed as an American that we allow this to happen and once again all I can do is pray for these individuals and hope that the members of congresss take the right action in dealing with “BLM “
There is a special place in hell for Sue Cattoor and all others like her…those who profit off of killing innocent animals. Her comment about viewing horses as livestock versus animals that can be hunted epitomizes “people” like her pretty well…her view, like most peoples view on animals, is that an animal is either 1)”livestock”…to be managed, confined, kept hostage then killed to become food or clothing, or…2) it is to be hunted for sport or pleasure….and NO OTHER OPTION EXISTS. To her, animals are here on this earth to serve us and for us to profit off any way we can, and the thought that an animal can be “wild” and live its life adherent to its own purpose and free is too hard to fathom.
Wondering…wondering…scratching my head…duh!
The helicopter flying witch (no offense) has made a number of statements that I just cannot figure out.
One, the horses “… were (((KEPT))) in pastures far away…” Kept? By whom? Did the wild horses “kept” themselves? Odd, as they appeared to know the area and river basin water and trails leading down and up and out! Or maybe Ms. Cattoor used the word as a country colloquialism? “Kept.”
She said, the campers “…were just a little ways up from where the horses trail down to the river…this particular spot of where the trail goes down in the canyon is where the horses go to water.” So, this says to me, the horses knew the way to water, and went on a regular basis. But yet she says the horses were dehydrated due to lack of water.
She adds that “there are other trails leading to the river that would have been available to the horses, but ‘the horses aren’t using those trails. They are only using this one.’ ” Why? Because she then stated, “a lot of those horses didn’t know the trail was there because a lot of the horses we captured in this HMA were young horses.” So that statement tells us the horses were FIRST captured by helicopter and chased to the canyon river basin on one particular trail chosen by Cattoor’s? ????
OR! Were the horses already there, drinking at the river?
“But some horses came to the water for the first time,” according to Cattoor. AHA! She goes on, “After they were down in there, they did not know how to come out. Adding, “…there has been ample water in recent years.” Well Sue Cattoor, just maybe, there was “ample water THIS year too as has been photographed and documented. And what’s this with the horses knowing, not knowing, how to go down the trail to the river, and knowing, not knowing, hoewto get up and out using a familiar trails??
But then again, just maybe the horses were driven in terror down the trails from the “kept pastures” to the riverbank where BLM traps were waiting. The horses panicked and tried to get out>>>fast. Maybe the horses stampeded causing them to have trouble getting up the familiar trail? Maybe this is how Palomino mare and her foal got trapped on a ledge, severely injured.
Or maybe, the horses brought themselves to the water basin (canyon), were drinking, and then the whirling loud blades whipping up the water and sand. TERROR! They stampede UP the trail…too many, too fast. Slip and fall off a ledge.
Lots of riddles here in Cattoor’s story. Lots of contradictions:
-The horses were in pastures
-the horses used this river basin water source.
-The horses were not used to this trail and did not want to use other trails used before.
-The horses had trouble getting down the trial…
-The horses could not find there way out of the canyon.
Big question. How did the Palomino Mare and foal get stuck on a ledge? It looks like there was no path to the ledge. But a drop. Maybe they slipped and fell a few feet, the mare scraping to the bone. Her foal following, stuck in a crevice with two broken legs. Or maybe the foal fell first! And the mare would not leave her baby.
And how did Cattoor know the Palomino mare had vision problems? And older horse is viewable from a distance. But how could she tell the mare had vision problems? Was this her reasoning why the Palomino mare slipped, fell? Or maybe the mare was in shock! Heat exhaustion. {{{PAIN}}}
To these sociopaths, horses are seen as commodities…THINGS.
Ms. Cattoor called the horses livestock. If wildlife, they should be hunted. Has spoken of excess horses that should be slaughtered.
But one spiel by Ms. Cattoor about “gathers,” is that problems do happen.” She said: “If we see something that has a preexisting injury or if something is extremely old and needs to be put down, they will euthanize it in the field.”
A wild horse is a “something!”
That “something” Palomino mare and her foal suffered greatly. Terror, pain, fear. The mare apparently stayed by her foal. Gee, a “something” can do this?! Stayed with her leg skin flayed off. Stayed for how long watching, hearing her foal stuck in a crevice with {{{TWO}}} broken legs.
Until humanely “euthanized.” Hopefully killed instantly as Dave Cattoor blasted away at mare and foal. Um, I wonder if the other horses heard the high-powered rifle blast over the helicopter’s deafening roar?
Thank You Mr. Long. Your reported and answered questions. But Ms. Catoors statements were bothering me. I read and re-read. Still did not make sense. I thought I needed more coffee.
Nope. This “some-thing,” is not in reality, and/or is trying all to save her skin!
Amen
ample water
yeah; this business of the BLM/Cattoors “destroying Mustangs due to ‘vision problems…has got to stop…
perjury to say things that aren’t true; and you and I know: there is no way the Cattoors could detect “vision problems in a mare from a helicopter; I think the Cattoors have lying problems
My God, when is this nigtmare going to end?! It’s truly amazing and frightening how this has been allowed to go on and on. If anyone should be rounded up, it should be the people responsible! The total lack of concern for the wild horses and the American people is appalling. This must come to and end! These magnificent creatures need to be set free, as well as the taxpayers from the ridiculious cost of such inhumane and irresponsible behavior.
It’s no wonder they cant keep there storys strait they can’t even get the dates right on there own web site (wild horseroundups cattoor livestock) They state in the justafication for shooting the mare “On Sunday August 11 Dave and the pilot flew to the camp they had seen on August 9th that was located just a little ways from the trail that the wild horses use to access the river for water. They went to talk to the campers and let them know that the wild horses were probably hesitant about going to the river to water with them camped so close.”
Lets see todays date is “August 4th” the last time we had a SUNDAY AUGUEST 11 was in 2007…………….These people are getting away with merder and getting paid for it, they do need to be held acountable,,, hope there bloodstaid money is worth what there lieing souls will pay in hell………..I’m sickend, as for our congress? The people have spoken, WHY is this still being allowed to continue??????????? GREED ….
an another thing.. How can you make a medical diegnosis in the air from a HELICOPTER????????????? they state QUOTE “Here is a picture of the one under the ledge. You can see the injuries on the legs. This horse was also probably very old and was a light colored palomino or almost albino that could hardly see”. “Dave and Chad flew back to the temporary holding facility and after consulting with the BLM COR determined there was no way to rescue these injured animals and a decision was made to go back and humanely euthanize them”.. UNQUOTE HUMANELY???? so now the very thing he was charge for years ago(Shooting wild horses while in flight)Is now being labled HUMAN, and he’s getting PAID to do it??
I can not believe these people are doing this. WILD HORSES. WILD means they should be left alone, die of natural causes. I’m a horse fanatic. I’m 16, my parents own a horse farm with all horses registered in my name, and I work on another horse farm. I know horses. If they would leave these wild horses alone, they will fend for themselves. Wild horses don’t need help finding water. They’re WILD. It’s instinct. These roundups SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING. Horses are sensitive creatures. If they see a helicopter above their heads and hear the roar from the blades, HELLO DUMBASS! They’re going to run, stampede, injuries happen.. If these people would LEAVE THEM ALONE none of this would happen. And about the horses being kept in pastures? What the hell? WILD HORSES IN PASTURES? That’s like being kept against their will. They are terrorizing Americas horses. Seems to me like they hate horses. So why is the government letting people who hate horses run a “horse sanctuary organization.” I was very young when this act was passed. I remember looking at a magazine once and being proud and happy to know that someone was trying to save the wild horses. But now I know the truth. These people disgust me more than anything. I hope they go to jail. Better yet, I think America should make them suffer the same fate these poor horses have. I think we should put these people in the desert, chase them off a cliff with a helicopter and then shoot them. Execution style.
They have an “Adopt a wild horse or burro organization.” I’m torn between what to do now honestly. Because in order to adopt one, millions of them have to be put through roundups again. Honestly, I’d love to adopt them all. They wouldn’t be put through these bullshit roundups and run to death from exhaustion.
Wild horses are wild horses for a reason. Like the Bald Eagle. Bald Eagles can take care of themselves. Wild horses can too. IT’S NATURE. Roundups and forced deaths like this isn’t. It’s downright inhumane. These people make me sick.
It is unbelieveable. I detest these Catoors and the BLM. Keep writing letters, keep sharing the truth, and thank God for Madeleine Pickens and others who have the means and the funding to make a difference in this issue. I hope Cattors and all members of the BLM get to feel the terror and pain and suffering they have caused these animals. Even after the stampede is over, keeping a mustang in a pen is as cruel as keeping a bird in a cage.
Is there a way to e-mail this article to our Congressmen (with our personal comments if possible)?
Yeah; just copy and paste the article and send to your Congressperson via their “Contact Us” page…I send e-mails to my Congressman Himes: co-sponsor ROAM Act; about once a week;
I sent my Congressperson the info on: “blm ’shot mare + foal…”
I would guess the BLM Cattoors caused the Injuries; then “shot the pair to “destroy the evidence of how the helicopter injured;
they did the same thing with 3 foals a few weeks ago; (not from helicopter but in the field;
the foals had bowed legs; that is no reason to “destroy them ! aw
OMG! What has happened to common sense? These are LIVE BEINGS!!!
ps is the Mare with the “bloody front legs in one pix; the same Mare shown in the other pix “persihed in the Rocks?
If so: obviously; the BLM roundup injured the Mare; the BLM admits they shot her; and then after that she fell onto the rocks and died
that is inhumane; her legs weren’t that bad; I have seen much worse
ps Are there any pix of the Foal? thanks; Anna usa