Story and Photo by By Laura Leigh, Horseback Magazine

FALLON, NEVADA, (Horseback) – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held a “public tour” at the Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow) short-term holding facility in Fallon. Unlike other short-term facilities this facility is “off-limits” to the public except for a couple of days a year.

After the Calico Roundup of 2009/2010 the BLM ceased public tours claiming that the facility was privately contracted and they did not have to open the doors to public scrutiny. Investigation into the closure of the facility did reveal the contract did have weekly public tours as part of the signed, completed contract. The real reason the facility was closed was revealed in email records of the written request to close the facility as “damage being done to the reputation” of BLM staff.

Images published after the weekly tours revealed serious issues at the facility. Each week images portrayed injuries, design flaws and even a foal that was born at the facility that apparently starved to death.

Throughout the winter of 2010/2011 the facility was utilized as intake for animals from various roundups including the Eagle HMA in Ely Nevada.

The Eagle roundup was particularly brutal. Temperatures, as operations began in the morning, went as low as 12 degrees below zero. Freezing fog was often present at dawn. A young horse was seen to stumble three times as its family was driven to the trap.

That horse was sent to Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow). After following the truck from the range to the facility access was denied to observe the horse at Broken Arrow. Inquiries to the BLM insisted that the animal was fine yet that week 4 horses of a similar age died of injury and others of respiratory distress.

After Calico the entire time the facility was used for intake of horses from the range the facility remained off-limits to view.

After Litigation was filed in an attempt to gain access to report to the public about the hands-on care and disposition of animals the BLM offered a public tour last summer. The tour this year was done in the same fashion.

The public was “checked in and briefed.” John Neil (manager of Palomino Valley Center and BLM manager of Indian Lakes) and Heather Emmons (BLM public affairs) were the personnel that were in the cab of the pick up truck that pulled the wagon that held the public.

The members of the public in attendance were varied. Two journalists, two advocates, a family that came to “see the wild horses” and a young girl participating in the Mustang Heritage Foundation’s youth challenge (she had her father and two friends with her. (An additional story will be filed on this young girl’s story).

Horses from roundups from the last two years and three different states are stored at the facility. Animals from the 2009/2010 Calico roundup were present. Also at the facility were animals from Triple B, Owyhee, Callaghan, Eagle, Silver King, Twin Peaks and several other HMA’s. Many of these animals have been housed at this facility for over two years. As the facility is off-limits to public view there are no adoptions.

During the tour Neil did inform the public that the facility will no longer be used as intake for animals taken from the range. This does not represent a policy and could change if space is required. Palomino Valley Center in Sparks will be used for intake and after a few months animals will be sent to Indian Lakes as an overflow facility. This option allows the public a couple of brief months to see animals after they come off the range toward generating interest in the sagging adoption program.

The facility held approximately 2,500 animals. The majority of animals appeared in good weight and coat.

Hoof care is done in a rotational fashion. Serious overgrowth in the row that was next on the schedule was noted. As the public is severely restricted access there is no way to know if this is a “one time” occurrence or status quo.

Hospital pens were off limits just as they were during the two tour days offered last year.

BLM staff was pleasant and frequently interacted with the public.

If you want to attend the public tour BLM is offering another opportunity on April 27.

From the BLM website:

April 27 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The tours can each accommodate up to 30 people and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. The public can sign up to attend and get driving directions to the facility by calling the BLM at (775) 475-2222. There will be 2 tours per day offered for 1 ½ hours each: one at 11 a.m. and one at 12:30 p.m. Each tour can hold a maximum of 15 people.

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The tin ear of the federal Bureau of Land Management is clearly so out of tune to the desires of the American public and so in tune with the wants of corporate agriculture, hunting interests, and natural resource exploitation that the agency, and its titular head, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, has made appointments’ that not only mock public opinion but create a fetid cesspool of criticism where it now wallows – a pool of its own making.

Last week the BLM named three appointees to its toothless Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board after an earlier candidate had already caused controversy. The board is a rubber stamp for ill advised management policy rather than functioning as a quasi independent advisory body to safeguard the public’s interests in the 245 million acres of wilderness it manages.

The appointments fly directly in the face of, and run contrary to, the findings of the most recent poll on how Americans feel about the grisly practice of horse slaughter. The poll was commissioned by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It was conducted by Lake Research, a blue chip political research firm founded by Celinda Lake. The pollsters found that nothing has changed in the public’s opinion of horse slaughter. In fact, it has solidified, increasing previous findings by a full ten percentage points over a decade of previous polls on the issue that found the same thing.

Yet rather than take another look at how to handle management of the herds in ways different from capture and ultimately killing, Salazar completely ignored the wishes of the American people. In a agency that has endured three years of scandal and ridicule, the secretary piled fresh dung on the manure heap.

The BLM knew of those earlier polls when it appointed three commissioners to the WHBAB. Yet it again served the interests of ranchers who  have often called America’s wild horses, “The cockroaches of the west.” These ranchers have been caught fencing off water holes where Mustangs go to sustain life. They have treated the public lands as their own. And yes, they have often captured wild horses and sold them off to killer buyers beyond the scrutiny of the agency.

The BLM has also fought any attempt by the press to serve as watchdogs of its actions. That abruptly came to an end last week when a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals demanded a Horseback Magazine journalist be allowed access to observe, photograph, and report freely on the practice of the capture of wild horses, a practice it benignly and ridiculously terms “gathers.” Instead, of the gentle herding of horses the term implies, the animals are madly stampeded by a roaring helicopter, the tips of its skits sometimes touching the back of a crippled animal to drive it toward a trap even though the creature is in terrible pain.

In fact, the findings of the polls are so imbedded in what has become established fact that literally nobody was surprised with the Lake firm’s most recent survey found that this time 80 percent opposed the practice of killing horses for their meat – and more importantly, the result came from virtually all demographic groups. That finding included all horses, wild as well as domesticated.

In the face of this, Salazar and BLM Director Bob Abbey ignored the strong feelings of the vast majority of Americans and appointed Callie Hendrickson, a Grand Junction, Colorado woman who has been outspoken in favor of horse killing to replace an Ohio trustee who opposes the practice. Despite the fact that the BLM manages 245 million acres of land, Hendrickson said at the time of her appointment “The rangeland can’t stain large numbers.” Well Callie, we say hogwash.

That’s an awful lot of land. Moreover, we are told 12 million acres originally designated in the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act for wild horses have been taken away over the years and not replaced.

James Stephenson, a consultant to The Yakama Nation, was appointed with the full knowledge of Salazar and Abbey that he is enthusiastic about killing horses as a population control measure.

And then there is Dr. Boyd Spratling, a Nevada vet, and past president of the National Cattlemen’s Association. He was re-appointed to another three year term in the wake of vast public criticism regarding how BLM vets allowed foals stampeded by agency helicopters to run to the point that they shed their hooves in an excruciating death agony – a callus, heartless, and frankly unforgivable act of veterinary irresponsibility that should cost somebody their license.

It seems the BLM likes to keep it in the family. It has appointed June C. Sewing of Cedar City, Utah, director of the obscure National Mustang Association, to serve on the board.

Her husband was a previous member.

Horseback Magazine has filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request asking for the names of all Americans who offered themselves for service on the board. The response should be interesting.

There have been calls in Congress, most notably by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) Louisiana, to sever the wild horse function from the BLM’s responsibilities. The time has come to act, Mary. These most recent appointments demonstrate that the agency, the secretary, and the BLM director have no interest in what the public has demanded. This rogue branch of government has continued to capture and sterilize horses in such enormous numbers to the point that slaughter will not be needed to eliminate the herds from our Western Lands because they will be genetically incapable of replicating themselves. Worse still, it has squandered our tax dollars to benefit a few western ranchers who pay a tiny $1.35 per cow and calf per month for the land. That’s an outrage.

It’s a national disgrace.

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch broke a story Wednesday certain to raise European eyebrows about the safety of American meat being exported from Canadian slaughterhouses. A report from the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition cites undercover surveillance and sloppy reporting, and perhaps falsification of birth records, health, and ownership documents of American race horses, and others,  sold for slaughter.

The Canadian group also released graphic undercover video shot inside an abattoir.

Horses used in racing in the United States routinely receive a multitude of substances such as phenalbutazone, wormers, and insect sprays that are banned for food animals.

The report cites falsification of ownership records and health certificates.

Increasingly, concerned U.S. public officials are openly discussing a European type passport system for  all horses born in the United States. Such a system would carry with it severe penalties for use of fraudulent records.

The cumbersome documentation would require detailed health data on every horse. The proposed system would be much more burdensome for horse owners than the ill fated National Animal Identification System (NAIS) proposed, and then abandoned by the USDA after howls of protest from horse owners.

Discussion of such a system began again in earnest this week after Congress removed a federal ban on taxpayer funded meat inspectors in horse slaughter facilities.

European food animals, including horses, must have passports required by law that contain the creature’s health records in minute detail from birth. Falsification of the records carries very harsh penalties.

Bute and many other drugs routinely used to maintain the health of U.S. horses is strictly prohibited in European food animals, including equines.

Almost all American horses receive phenalbutazone at some point in their lives. The drug, a proven carcinogen, never leaves the horse’s system and must be tested in the kidney to be found. It is also extremely dangerous to pregnant women if ingested. Bute also causes aplastic anemia in humans.

Recently, Horseback, confirmed that some “killer buyers” routinely falsify records of horses going to slaughter in Canada and Mexico. In an investigation in Presidio, Texas,  state Texas Animal Health Commission inspectors found the same set of Coggins papers was used repeatedly for animals coming into a holding pen for horses bound for slaughter in Mexico. The Canadian findings seem to confirm fraudulent reporting is routinely taking place on both borders.

By Bob Abbey is Director of the Bureau of Land Management

Thank you for your petition regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program.

The BLM shares your commitment to the humane care and management of wild horses and burros. As described by Congress under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, these animals are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West. The BLM’s goal is to protect and effectively manage these iconic animals for current and future generations of Americans.

The BLM performs gathers of wild horses and burros in response to the annual herd growth rate. In many cases, the ecosystems of public rangelands are not able to withstand the impacts from overpopulated herds, which include soil erosion, sedimentation of streams, and damage to wildlife habitat. The 1971 Act (Section 1333) mandates that once the Interior Secretary “determines…that an overpopulation exists on a given area of the public lands and that action is necessary to remove excess animals, he shall immediately remove excess animals from the range so as to achieve appropriate management levels.”

The BLM estimates that approximately 38,500 wild horses and burros (about 33,000 horses and 5,500 burros) are roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states based on the latest data available, compiled as of February 28, 2011. Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years

The estimated current free-roaming population exceeds by nearly 12,000 the number that the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. (The appropriate management level is approximately 26,600.) Off the range, there are more than 41,000 other wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term corrals and Midwestern long-term pastures. In the most recently completed fiscal year (2011), holding costs accounted for $43.2 million (57 percent) out of a total enacted Wild Horse and Burro Program budget of $75.8 million. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in an October 2008 report, found the program’ s mounting holding co

sts to be unsustainable.

As a result of the GAO report, and because of feedback like yours, the BLM is preparing to publish a new wild horse and burro management strategy as part of its ongoing effort to reform the Wild Horse and Burro Program and put it on a sustainable and cost-effective track.

The new strategy emphasizes population growth suppression techniques, including fertility control; promotes public-private eco-sanctuaries to hold excess wild horses removed from Western public rangelands; seeks to boost adoptions by making more trained wild horses available to the public; and establishes a comprehensive animal welfare program. The BLM developed the new strategy after actively soliciting input from both the public and the agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board on how to best ensure the health of America’s wild horses and burros, both on and off the range.

The BLM will move forward with this strategy and make any necessary adjustments after the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) completes a two-year study that has been commissioned by the BLM. The NAS study, to be finished by 2013, will recommend how the BLM should proceed in light of the latest scientific research. During the time the NAS study is carried out, the BLM plans to gather and remove from Western public rangelands approximately 7,600 excess animals annually from Fiscal Year 2012 through FY 2014– down from planned removals of more than 10,000 a year – to keep the overall on-the-range wild horse and burro population at 38,000 to 39,000 during this timeframe. (Some additional gathers may be necessary in emergency situations.)

It is important to note that the strategy also includes a comprehensive animal welfare program through which the BLM will strengthen humane

animal care and h

andling practices. The standards set by this program will apply to BLM employees and volunteers, along with contractors who gather wild horses and burros from the range and those who feed and care for these animals in short-term or long-term holding facilities.

For more information please visit the BLM’s page here.

Check out this response on We the People

Wyoming

Tuesday, November 2, 2011, the U.S. District Court in Wyoming granted the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) and our coalition partners,The Cloud Foundation (TCF) and the International Society for the Protection of Mustang and Burros (ISPMB), the right to intervene in the lawsuit filed by the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) against the U.S. Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The court decision gives AWHPC, TCF and ISPMB the right to vigorously defend Wyoming’s mustangs against the RSGA’s attempts to remove all wild horses from a 2 million-acre swath of public land in southern Wyoming.

We will mount this aggressive defense because we know that the federal government will not — especially since the Interior Department itself advised the grazing association to file this litigation as a way

to get Congress to appropriate more funding for wild horse roundups and removals!

This lawsuit epitomizes what our wild horse herds are up against in all 10 Western states — it is one battle that we simply cannot afford to lose.

But we need your help to continue this fight for the mustangs!

By Steven Long, Photo Courtesy James Kleinert

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – An award winning filmmaker and his attorneys have released a devastating video on You Tube showing apparent hypocrisy and lies on the part of the new director of the federal Bureau of Land Management director of the beleaguered Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Producer James Kleinert released graphic footage of agency officials denying reasonable access to him regarding his request to film a Colorado “gather” of Wild Horses. It also shows the new director, Joan Guylfoile, ignoring attempts by the press and public to speak to her in a small group at the site. The video has prompted scrutiny at the agency.

“BLM staff will review that and other posted videos that are relevant to the performance of the Wild Horse and Burro Program,” said BLM Chief Washington Spokesman Tom Gorey.

Guylfoile spoke earlier this week at the International Equine Conference promising a new day in BLM’s relationship with wild horse advocates and the public.

Kleinart and his attorneys have sued BLM.

Several other suits are ongoing against the agency as well. The BLM is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Interior, headed by former Colorado lawyer and rancher Ken Salazar.

In recent weeks BLM has initiated a public relations campaign aimed at convincing the public that it is listening to their complaints regarding the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Author and wild horse advocate R.T. Fitch introduced Guylfoile to the conference. He related a conversation he had with her prior to the introduction on his widely read blog, Straight From the Horse’s Heart.<p>

“I will be introducing you, this morning, and understand that you do not want to answer any questions while in front of the audience but would you like to make yourself available for interested attendees during the break?”

The new director of the Wild Horse and Burro program quickly snapped her reply,

“Oh no, simply no questions what so ever.”

“Why is that?”, I asked.

And out of her mouth came a response that made all of time stand still,

“I have only had my job for five weeks and I really don’t have a full understanding of it, yet.”

“The BLM is committed to making sure that wild horses and burros are humanely treated during gather operations and in all other facets of our agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Program,” Gorey said. “That’s why Director Bob Abbey has called for a review of the adequacy of existing operating procedures in connection with the recently completed Triple B gather in Nevada, as detailed in our Sept. 23 news release. The results of that review will be posted on our Website, consistent with our efforts to make the Wild Horse and Burro Program as transparent as possible.”

Advocates and scientists charge the bureau is on a determined drive to make the wild horse extinct in the American West by depleting the herds to such a great extent that they are no longer genetically viable.

BLM chase contractor Sue Cattoor is also shown on the film denying access to the roundup to the group, including Kleinart.

The film also depicts a minor confrontation between the woman and a Kleinert lawyer of constitutional issues in which she refused to discuss provisions of the U.S. Constitution calling such a discussion “politics.”

Chicago (EWA) – As Senator Max Baucus and the horse slaughter lobby make a concentrated effort to persuade Congress to reverse the 2007 defunding of USDA horse slaughter inspections, evidence is growing that the main consumers of US horse meat are not likely to welcome the move.

An Irish Veterinary Journal white paper, released in December of 2010, has recently come to light. The paper gives an inside account of the EU (European Union) deliberations that are leading to tough new restrictions on drug residues in animals, including horses, intended for human consumption horses. The new EU regulations clearly define food animals and the risk to humans, particularly children, of ingesting horse meat containing banned substances.

Focusing on one such banned substance, phenylbutazone, the paper outlines the extreme dangers to children and warns veterinarians, “It is a statement of fact that if the European Commission on its audit of this country find evidence of bute use in animals not excluded from the food chain, then the product will immediately lose its license Europe-wide. If samples prove positive for phenylbutazone or its metabolite in equine meat of Irish origin, it will be traced back, and the prescribing veterinary practitioner will be in the firing line of prosecution.”

The paper states “The difficulty with phenylbutazone is that it, or its metabolite, can cause aplastic anemia in children.

If a child were to consume an animal-based product containing even the minutest amount of bute or its metabolite then the child may develop aplastic anemia.”

Horses have always been shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. The closing of the plants didn’t save U.S. horses from slaughter as the industry began shipping all horses across the borders. Moreover, phenylbutazone is one of the most popular and effective drugs used in equine practice in the U.S.

In a 2010 paper in the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology, doctors Marini, Dodman and Blondeau found that all 18 of the race horses that the study tracked to slaughter had been given phenylbutazone. The study further expla ins that the drug can take up

in injured tissues and be released back into the blood stream later as the tissue heals, and that there is no acceptable washout period for the drug. Ignoring food safety laws, outspoken slaughter proponent Sue Wallis has declared on several occasions that she wants to feed US horse meat to children and prisoners in Wyoming, as well as the starving children in Africa. Wallis went so far as to sponsor a Wyoming law, HB0122, which would provide that seized animals be slaughtered for use in such state institutions.

European Regulations [(EU Comm Reg No 504/2008] require all horses in Europe to have a passport [tracking system]. All passports issued to horses over six months of age will automatically be excluded from the food chain as will horses with duplicate passports. By 2013, the EU has announced that all third countries, including the US, will have to meet the same traceability standards.

Both Canada and Mexico are instituting tracking programs based on RFID tagging technology in order to meet the new requirements. However, after years of resistance from ranchers and horse owners, the U.S. scrapped a similar program called NAIS (National Animal Identification System) in 2010.

It is a well known fact that horses in the US are not raised or regulated as food animals. The US has no mechanism to remove animals from the food chain that have received substances banned in food animals or any way to trace horses back to the owner(s) or veterinarians that allowed the animal to enter the food chain.

Congress must start taking food safety seriously and realize the risk to the U.S. for knowingly allowing unsafe food into the foreign markets. Horse slaughter in this country is not used for food production but as a dumping ground for owners that no longer want to be held accountable for their animals and breeders that continually produce excess horses that far exceed the demand for horses.

These animals should never enter the food chain.

Equine Welf are Alli

ance calls on Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 [S 1176] to protect US horses and foreign consumers.

#

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization with 195 member organizations and hundreds of individual members worldwide.

The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids. www.equinewelfarealliance.org ]]> http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/11521/feed 6 http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/10512 http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/10512#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 04:59:57 +0000 steven http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/?p=10512 WASHINGTON, (AWHPC, WWP) – This morning, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it was withdrawing a controversial and unscientific plan to castrate free-roaming wild stallions and convert two viable wild horse populations in the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in southwestern Wyoming [...]]]>  

Photo by Katia Louise

/>WASHINGTON, (AWHPC, WWP) – This morning, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it was withdrawing a controversial and unscientific plan to castrate free-roaming wild stallions and convert two viable wild horse populations in the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in southwestern Wyoming to “minimally-reproducing” herds comprised primarily of geldings.

The announcement was made during a status conference call today on a lawsuit against the plan, which was filed on July 25, 2011 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the public interest law firm Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal on behalf of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, the Western Watersheds Project a local Wyoming couple and wildlife photographer Carol Walker.

“By galloping ahead with this destructive plan, the BLM ignored over 10,000 public comments and the opinion of experts who warned of the irreparable harm that would be inflicted on these wild horse populations, but the agency could not ignore a federal lawsuit,” said Suzanne Roy, Campaign Director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

Under the proposed action, the BLM would have rounded up every horse that it could find in the two HMAs – or an estimated 900 mustangs, permanently removing 723 of them and returning just 177 castrated stallions to the range.

“The BLM’s plan to sterilize wild Wyoming mustangs made clear the agency’s intent to manage wild horses to extinction, in flagrant violation of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act,” Roy continued. “It’s a shame that citizens must turn to the courts to force this agency to respect and uphold federal law.”

Roy indicated that the plaintiffs would now consider their options for further action once the BLM issues a new decision record, a move

that is expected by the end of the week. It will be the fourth action proposed by the BLM’s Rock Springs Field Office for these HMAs and the third decision record issued for this roundup plan. The agency has agreed to postpone any roundup activity until September 1 or later. The roundup had been scheduled to begin on August 16.

Last week, scientists and other experts filed declarations detailing the harmful impacts the proposed action would have on the individual horses, the wild horse herds and the environment in the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas. The declarations were attached to the plaintiffs motion for a Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order.

For background on the legal action, including news coverage, new releases and copies of the complaint, please visit the AWHPC website here.

AWHPC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. AWHPC’s grassroots efforts are supported by a coalition of over forty historic preservation, conservation, horse advocacy and animal welfare organizations.

Western Watersheds Project (WWP) is a 501c3 group that is devoted to protection of public lands, values, watersheds and wildlife in the American West. WWP has over 1200 members, many of whom recreate on portions of these lands and enjoy their scenic beauty, wildlife and other attributes.

 RENO, (BLM)  — Today U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben issued a decision in favor  of

“The BLM is pleased with the decision of the court that allows us to move forward with the

Group urges real-time cameras, temperature restrictions, more fertility control; Summer gather operations could resume in days

Photo by Laura Leigh,   

WASHINGTON, (HSUS) – \— The Humane Society of the United States released a report it recently submitted to the Bureau of Land Management, calling on the agency to make several critical improvements to its standard operating procedures (SOP) for wild horse gathers.

The report calls on the agency to conduct a fair and unbiased comprehensive evaluation of its gather SOPs to ensure that these policies are consistent with the most up-to-date science available on wild horse behavior and focus on the immediate and long-term needs of the animals involved in gather operations. These proposed recommendations would immediately enhance the transparency, humaneness and efficiency of these controversial operations. 

“The BLM has faced withering criticism over its decisions to gather and remove too many horses from public lands and to conduct its gathers in ways that cause harm and suffering to the horses,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS.

“If BLM is going to continue to gather horses, it must rehaul its procedures, and this report provides a blueprint for that.”

The report comes just days before the BLM could resume summer gather operations in Western states, and one of its most critical recommendations is to set acceptable temperature ranges for conducting gather operations.

In the past, the BLM has failed to suspend helicopter drive trapping gather operations in extreme weather conditions.

Such conditions undoubtedly increase the risk for gather-related injuries, illnesses and deaths and may have contributed, in part, to wild horse deaths that have occurred at gathers conducted in the months of July and August when temperatures at Herd Management Areas in the Western states are known to exceed 90 degrees. To minimize and/or eliminate the loss of lives at future gathers, The HSUS report recommends that the BLM err on the side of caution and animal welfare by refraining from conducting helicopter drive trapping gathers in temperatures above 90 degrees or below 32 degrees until a proposed expert panel can develop performance-based standards.

To improve transparency, the report also recommends the installation of real-time cameras on contractor helicopters, traps, corrals and holding facilities that would not only provide BLM personnel with the ability to better observe and direct gather operations from a safe location, but it would also serve as a powerful tool for evaluating and improving existing gather procedures and provide the public with the ability to observe and document gather activities remotely via live-streaming on the Internet. 

As a broader strategic management issue, The HSUS strongly recommends that the BLM increase its use of the fertility control agent Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) to manage wild horse and burro populations, and that these population control programs be designed to inoculate the appropriate ratio of total mares in a herd (between 65 percent and 85 percent) between November and February in order to optimize the benefits of this more humane and cost effective management tool.

Since September 2010, the BLM has received more than 55,000 comments from the public on the agency’s “Wild Horse and Burro Program Strategy Development Document” and the “Proposed Strategy: Details of the BLM’s Proposed Strategy for Future Management of America’s Wild Horses and Burros.” Nearly all of these comments criticized the BLM’s management program and urged more protection of wild horses and burros.