Trump admin pushes to annihilate this wild horse herd on 9/11 . . . public widely opposes

[CousinIT]

Link to tweet

No good vibes because U.S. government is going to annihilate this wild horse herd on 9/11. So much for freedom, we can't even save our wild horses from capture and cages. 💔💔💔 #FridayVibes #wildhorses #publiclands #sadness #Utah #AnimalWelfare #StopTheRoundups #share

Trump Administration Again Seeks to Slaughter Tens of Thousands of American Wild Horses

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/media/trump-administration-again-seeks-slaughter-tens-thousands-american-wild-horses

Washington, DC (April 2, 2019) . . . The American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) today harshly criticized the Trump Administration for again ignoring the will of 80% of Americans by pressing for permission from Congress to kill tens of thousands of federally-protected wild horses.

The renewed push came in the administration's Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget justification, which again asks Congress to lift its long-standing prohibition the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros and the sale of these federally-protected animals for slaughter.

“The Trump Administration continues to defy the will of the American people by proposing the slaughter of our iconic wild horses and burros,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Campaign. “The Administration’s decision to prioritize the mass killing of mustangs over humane management alternatives recommended by the National Academy of Sciences is, irresponsible, morally bankrupt, and politically unacceptable.”

The President’s budget justification reads, "that appropriations language restricting BLM from using all of the management options authorized in the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 be eliminated so that the full suite of tools originally authorized by Congress will be available to manage growing wild horse and burro herds."

While seemingly innocuous, this references language that Congress annually adds to appropriations legislation to prohibit BLM, the agency responsible for managing the vast majority of free-roaming wild horses and burros in the West, from killing healthy mustangs and burros and selling them for slaughter.

Fortunately, Congress has rejected the Administration’s previous requests to lift the wild horse slaughter ban and seems poised to do so again. In fact, both U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), who represents the state where more than half of the nation’s wild horses reside, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, chair the House Natural Resources Committee both requested FY 20 appropriations language to expand the slaughter ban to the Forest Service and to require the BLM to utilize fertility control as an alternative to the roundup and removal of wild horses from the range. (See info on Rep Titus’ letter here and Rep. Grijalva’s letter here.)

[LakeArenal]

1. "public wildly opposes"

So done deal then.

[CousinIT]

2. Dem congress won't let them. Why it's important to have a Dem congress!

[Newest Reality]

3. Go, go, gadget democracy!

Yay! That was simple.

Now, onto the next problem. I have a thirty-two page list here...

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Know this Herd quite well.

Interact with this group a couple times a year while Prospecting.

The real on the ground truth is,the Ranchers in the Hamline Valley of Utah(Iron County) want the horse's gone claiming they are taking all the feed away from their Cattle on their Grazing Rights Claims. This has been a hot button issues for more than a decade. Iron County Commissioners have published statements calling for destruction of this Herd in order to benefit Their Constituent Ranchers.

Bottom line,every single Grazing Allotment has been over Grazed by the Cattle and Sheep for decades and the Drought has only made this worse. How bad has it gotten,33 Ranger Positions were eliminated at one BLM Office and were replaced by a half dozen Volunteers who get their Volunteer credits within that Community. It is such a sad joke. Bob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz did their level best to wipe out the Wild Horse's and Donkeys in both Utah and Nevada.

[CousinIT]

5. "over Grazed by the Cattle and Sheep for decades"

So that's the real issue it seems, not the horses. But the ranchers want to make the horses pay for it - with their existence.

Hmph.

[stopdiggin]

9. and the land (federal or not) belongs to them, because

because, well .. my daddy and granddaddy were here too ..
('course if some Native Americans were to attempt the same rationale ... Oh, wait ...)

[Coventina]

20. Fuck cattle ranchers!!!!

[demigoddess]

22. the question is why does the federal government have to feed cattle

that are owned by private ranchers??? Isn't that socialism? Do ranchers really want a socialist government while the rest of us have to deal with capitalism? Socialist Ranchers!!! Wow!!!

[Coventina]

23. Cows on public land should be public cows, subject to hunting permits.

They absolutely should NOT be considered private property.

Cattle ranchers are the worst hypocrites of them all. They project this tough image of rugged individualism when really, as you say, they are the biggest "welfare queens" of them all!

Plus, as someone who is morally opposed to eating cows, I think their entire industry is abhorrent and should be abolished.

[Wellstone ruled]

24. Believe the Grazing Fee

is some where $1.29-$1.50+ per Cow unit with a restriction of so many Units per BLM leased land unit. And those Land units do vary in acreage from a partial Sections of land to Sections of land. This is one touchy item in Utah as well as Eastern Nevada. The Largest leaser is the Mormon Churches mega Cow Calf operation that straddles the Nevada Utah Border from roughly the Iron County line all the way to Wells and Elko Nevada.

Sad to say,the Ranchers as well as their extended Families are just plain nasty to those of us who love to explore and dry camp on BLM land along the borders and enjoy the watching this massive herd of Horse's especially this time of year when the Fold's are gaining their independence from their mothers. Fun part is,if you camp where or near their Night Bed Down areas,these young ones will poke their noses into your camp just before sunrise.

[Phoenix61]

26. Silly.

It’s only socialism when the other guy gets something. It’s my God given right when I get something.

[KPN]

25. It has actually been a hot button issue for

a couple of decades and an issue for several or more. At its core, the issue is the federal government has been subsidizing a way-of-life for ranchers who have relied on public land grazing “rights” to raise their livestock for many decades. The grazing fee that the federal government charges per animal is well below the rate charged on lands leased from private landowners by and large. In addition, the amount of beef/lamb produced by grazing on federal lands is an insignificant percent of the total beef/lamb raised and consumed in the US. So we tax payers really are subsidizing a way of life for a relative few throughout the western states. And these few are the same people who have been leading the sage brush rebellion out west for the past 40 years or so — the push to transfer federal public lands (your lands, my lands, the public’s lands) to the western States and ultimately privatize them.

I would also clarify that not all grazing allotments are overgrazed, and probably most are not. But no doubt most ranchers would overgraze federal lands when not monitored. And ranchers balk at having their grazing rights or allocation reduced due to the presence of wild horses in federal efforts to support wild horses and not overgraze the lands.

It’s a complex issue, but eliminating/euthanizing horses is probably the least acceptable solution.

[Wellstone ruled]

29. The Hot Button area is called the Hamlin Valley

kid of bordered on the South by Utah hway 56 from State hwy 18 on the east and the valley extents north about thirty miles or so and into Nevada on the west. Or as some know it as the Thomas Mountains on the west. Descendants of the original Mormon Pioneers still hold the non BLM land,but,they sure as hell think all those Public Acres are theirs because the Good book says so.

Yes this is a hot button issue only after Clinton carved out the Escalate btw the same Families who ran cattle in Hamlin Valley had sons and daughters and other relies running cattle and sheep in the Escalate.

Dealt with this crew for ten years working part time retail.

[KPN]

34. Ah ... been through the area but no real experience

with Hamlin Valley. But I can imagine as I’ve been in Escalante many times in the late 90s thru 2010 or so backpacking canyons in the area where anti-monument, anti-wilderness and anti-feds signs were prevalent along road sides. I actually spent a few nights hunkered down, staying dry immediately below Jacob Hamlin arch in Coyote Gulch because of a flash flood one trip this time of year late 90s. ... The controversy was obvious but the country was spectacularly beautiful.

[Wellstone ruled]

37. Glad you enjoyed your Hike.

And yes,those anti signs kind of spoil ones experience.

And for those non meat eaters,those suckin Range Cattle taste just nasty. If you like the taste of Varnish Bush and Sage,you got it.





So agree,the Beauty of the South west is spectacular. Sad how a small group of self righteous people think they have to control the Public from experiencing what you and I already have.

[Coventina]

33. It doesn't have to be complex: STOP SUBSIDIZING RANCHERS

That's it. Problem solved.

It's a way of life that needs to go bye-bye.

It's damaging to the land, it's not good for the cows (who wants to end their life in a slaughterhouse?), it's not good for wildlife (like the horses and wolves and any number of other species), and it's not good for people (red meat being one of the cornerstones of obesity and heart disease).

[Hekate]

6. The Trump Admin Death Machine marches on. Human beings, horses, the planet itself...

If it's alive and doesn't serve his immediate wants, Trump wants it caged or dead.

[LakeArenal]

7. And mounted for a trophy.

[Demovictory9]

8. he is so sick!!

[real Cannabis calm]

11. Good reply Hecate

[bdamomma]

31. Caged or dead???

I can think of something who should meet their fate that way. This has got to end he is killing everything, that suit means nothing, he's got to go. Period.

[StarryNite]

10. welfare ranchers

The same thing is going on in Arizona on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest with the federally protected Heber wild horse herd. The welfare ranchers don't just want a piece of the pie, they want the whole pie. Nineteen wild horses have been shot since Oct of last year. The big killing spree occurred this last January. Over 30 tips came in through a group we have worked with, almost all pointing to two individuals. Forest Service Law Enforcement, who is the leading the investigation is sitting on their thumbs. The Heber Wild Horse Territory management plan is due to be released to the public at any time. It will call for a major cull of the herd all because of the ranchers pushing for it.


The following is from an interview in 2015 with a welfare rancher ranch manager. He is such a damn liar. For one thing he doesn't own the ranch. His family lost it years ago to a corporate ranching company. But by reading this you would think it was his ranch and his cattle. Also per Forest Service documents the herd size has remained stable since 2005. In fact, it is smaller now due to the shootings and thefts.

"Larry Gibson is a third-generation rancher in Heber. His barn is lined with dozens of haystacks – food for his 900 head of cattle. They also graze in the forest, but in recent years, Gibson says there hasn’t been as much to eat.

"A lot of these areas, you know, we go and measure the grass before the cows ever get there. There may be 80-percent usage before we ever get there," Gibson says. "If the horses have eaten the feed, you can’t bring your cattle up.”

In his own lifetime – 57-years – Gibson’s seen the wild horse population increase exponentially. He pays the Forest Service about $1,600 a month for grazing rights, and feels he’s not getting his money’s worth. Gibson believes there’s one solution to protect livelihood and land.

“So in my opinion, the best thing to with these up here would be remove every one of them. Whether they go to adoption, or, you know, I hate to say it, euthanized or to a slaughter plant," Gibson says. "I mean that sounds kind of harsh, but something has to be done with them.”

[link:https://www.knau.org/post/heber-wild-horses-legendary-or-problematic|

[Coventina]

21. Fuck all cattle ranchers!! I hope they go out of business!!!

There's no excuse for them to mooch off of public land!

[StarryNite]

30. Exactly!

HOW WELFARE RANCHERS TAKE TAXPAYERS FOR A RIDE
Ranchers on BLM land have 94 percent of their grazing costs covered by taxpayers. And they target wild horses for removal in order to preserve the rangeland that makes this financial windfall possible.
JAMES MCWILLIAMSMAR 21, 2018

"Based on the claim that wild horses overgraze Western landscapes, the BLM routinely removes them and places them in temporary holding facilities—mostly in Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico—before moving the horses to permanent corrals. By closing these facilities and opting to put down the horses, backers of the bill note taxpayers will save $10 million a year. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke supports the measure on account of its fiscal belt-tightening.

But that $10 million in savings requires some context. Ranchers leasing BLM land cost taxpayers an estimated $500 million a year (and probably much more—some say a billion dollars). According to Stephen Nash's Grand Canyon for Sale, about 15,000 ranchers receive a $33,000 from the federal government annually.

This windfall of this bill comes in the form of radically reduced leasing fees (that some ranchers, such as Cliven Bundy, refuse to pay altogether). The cost of grazing cattle on privately owned land in the West is $21.60. BLM ranchers pay $1.41 per animal unit month (AUM), the amount of monthly forage eaten by a cow and her calf. In essence, ranchers on BLM land have 94 percent of their grazing costs covered by taxpayers. "Welfare ranchers," as critics call them, target wild horses for removal in order to preserve the rangeland that makes this program possible.*"

[link:https://psmag.com/environment/horsing-around-with-the-truth|

[Duppers]

41. Making themselves more wealthy is ALL

they care about.

[StarryNite]

49. Some of them are very, very wealthy

This is an interesting article...

Forbes Billionaires Top US Welfare Ranchers List
Posted on March 25, 2015 by Vickery Eckhoff

[link:http://dailypitchfork.org/?p=698|

[2naSalit]

59. And many are legislators...

just look at the legislator rosters of the western states where cattle grazing is big.

[stopdiggin]

12. interested in the "fertility control" and whether that could be effective

I hadn't heard of this option before. Is it currently in use. Effective? I really don't like the slaughter idea, but there IS a valid argument that wild horse numbers need to be controlled. For their own health and safety, as well as that of the land. And "adoption" programs simply haven't worked. The government has been "warehousing" unwanted animals for years, at some expense .. and this is a can that just keeps getting kicked down the road by congress.

About 46,000 wild horses and burros are in corrals that cost the BLM nearly $50 million to maintain each year, and 73,000 others run free in western states. That’s nearly three times the 27,000 animals the bureau says the land can sustain.

[CousinIT]

13. Yea, I'd think that would be the best option - sort of like TNR for cats.

Reduce their ability to reproduce.

... but not slaughter them wholesale! I think most people (except the welfare ranchers and the minority of Republicans owned by them) don't want that.

[KPN]

28. Fertility control has been used with some success.

But it’s very expensive, doesn’t fully address the cattle vs WH&B grazing issue or WH impact on private lands, and wild horse advocates don’t fully support it if it leads to a reduction in wild horse population.

As far as numbers go, those are estimates. Last I know which truthfully was about 8 or 9 years ago, the BLM did not really have an accurate census survey of WH&B numbers — which in itself made management planning difficult. People still release horses into the wild intentionally or unintentionally (my neglect) — so in some respects they are feral and the numbers get further complicated by that.

Keep in mind also that wild horses are not native. Their impacts extend to wildlife (sometimes T&E) as well as livestock grazing.

It’s a complicated issue. But there’s no question that western rancher’s way of life is subsidized via federal land grazing leases and rights.

[StarryNite]

32. Horses are native to North America

Cattle on the other hand did not evolve in North America and are considered an invasive species by many.

The American wild horse – native or feral? Does it matter?

"In his Reno Gazette article, Craig Downer makes the case that the wild horse is truly a wild, native species. As is widely acknowledged by the scientific community, the modern horse originated in North America around two million years ago. The ancestors of the horse, in North America, go back much farther than that. At least until ten to twelve thousand years ago – horses roamed the lands where they are found today in North America. As Craig Downer points out, “considerable evidence indicates that horses never totally died out, although they diminished, along with many other species at the close of the last Ice Age.” Many disbursed, going across the Bering Strait to Asia and from there they spread out across the world."

"According to Ross MacPhee, a native species is one that evolved in a particular geographic location, and there is no doubt that the wild horse evolved in North America. During the Pleistocene, the wild horse lived in North America from two and a half million to around 10,000 years ago. This is supported by both fossil and DNA evidence. The horse is an American species and is not native to any other continent."

"From a scientific viewpoint, it matters not at all that the horse spread to other continents and was domesticated along the way. In the evolutionary time scale this is only a blip on the radar. The wild horse is a native species that has returned to his place of origin. Ross MacPhee concludes, “Reintroduction of horses to North America 500 years ago is, biologically, a non-event: horses were merely returned to part of their former native range, where they have since prospered because ecologically they never left.”"

[link:https://animalpeopleforum.org/2015/10/01/the-american-wild-horse-native-or-feral-does-it-matter-part-two/|

[KPN]

35. Matter of opinion I'm afraid. Horses were extirpated

in the Americas several million years ago. That are not native to current ecosystems existing here in the opinion of most biologists/ecologists. WH advocacy groups make the case that they are ... mostly, I think, because of a somewhat faulty impression that land managers eradicate them as essentially an invasive. The two primary federal land managing agencies as far as land area goes (the Forest Service and the BLM) do actually manage Wild Horses like wildlife — they manage the habitat which sometimes means thinning or removing herds largely through capture. The States manage wildlife numbers or populations on BLM and FS lands while the FS and BLM manage habitat (which is why Wild Horses affect ranchers actually).

[StarryNite]

48. The evolution of the horse began in North America

The Surprising History of America's Wild Horses
By Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Patricia M. Fazio July 24, 2008 Animals

Modern horses, zebras, and asses belong to the genus Equus, the only surviving genus in a once diverse family, the Equidae. Based on fossil records, the genus appears to have originated in North America about 4 million years ago and spread to Eurasia (presumably by crossing the Bering land bridge) 2 to 3 million years ago.

[link:https://www.livescience.com/9589-surprising-history-america-wild-horses.html|

Wild horses and burros are not managed as other wildlife. They have a special protection under the
Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-195)

§1331. Congressional findings and declaration of policy

Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols
of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life
forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these
horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of
Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture,
branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the
area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands

§ 4710.5 Closure to livestock grazing.
(a) If necessary to provide habitat for wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury, the authorized officer may close appropriate areas of the public lands to grazing use by all or a particular kind of livestock.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/43/4710.5

However, even with the protection of the Act the Forest Service and the BLM are managing America's wild horses and burros to extinction.

[KPN]

54. The FS and BLM are doing exactly what the law says.

The WH & B population has actually increased significantly since the wild free roaming act. Why do you think ranchers are rebelling?

I’m not defending tRump or western ranchers, just laying out some of the basic facts and conditions that make this issue pretty darned complex. Public land management in itself is pretty darned complex let alone an issue that involves the charismatic animal which has the historic/cultural significance, magnificence and emotional appeal of free roaming horses. And again, euthanasia is not the answer let alone an acceptable answer.

[GulfCoast66]

45. Don't want the horses killed. But the opinion you are expounding is reaching IMO.

There are arguments both ways. Perhaps the first humans here killed them out. It’s likely that is hard to tell.

Regardless, until Europeans arrived there had not been any horse species here for over 10,000 years. Maybe longer, although I doubt it.

But claiming the re-introduction of horses is just a make up thing is not true unless you can bring back their traditional predators, which won’t happen.

But regardless of the ecological arguments. Killing them to increase the number of totally non-native cattle for socialist ranchers is just messed up.

But there is no doubt horse herds without their natural predators can cause degradation to the landscape. And if there are reasons to control the herd size for that reason I’m down with it. Not to allow more cattle grazing.

My only reason for resounding is I think it is dangerous to make simple ecological arguments based on super complicated subjects. I mean, who knows how the other megafauna used to interact with the native horses here? Plus, the climate was totally different during the ice age.

It’s complicated from an ecological viewpoint.

[KPN]

52. Yup. And complicated from a cultural history,

public land management and ownership pattern, and local political standpoint as well. The bottom line is eradicating wild horses as tRump is proposing to do is not an acceptable solution to anyone but a few, and will never happen. It’s a complex problem that can never be resolved with ignorant, simplistic win-lose solutions.

[StarryNite]

55. It's happening now KPN.

It's not acceptable but it is happening.

[KPN]

60. It happens sometimes in roundups which have

been used since the WH&B free roaming act was enacted in ... 1971? Anyway, emaciated, ill, and injured horses have been sometimes euthanized (much like we euthanize pets for similar conditions) when it appeared they would likely not survive. The option and authority to do so was actually written into the bill. But it (euthanization) has never been carried out as a first or second or third resort, nor has it been standard operating or routine practice.

Moreover, Congress recently has been specifically prohibiting euthanization for population management in its annual appropriations language funding the WH & B program on federal lands.

As a member of the public, it is easy to focus solely on the beauty, iconic status, and personal relationship humans have with horses (again, much the same as with pets) and ignore the troubling realities of the overall situation. The free roaming population is growing, not shrinking and is outstripping both the fiscal resources to adequately manage them and the land resources’ ability to support them. Getting rid of the horses through euthanization is not an acceptable answer (to this point at least and I seriously doubt that Congress will completely eliminate its prohibition of euthanization as a standard practice for managing herd sizes in the 2020 appropriations (Oct 1, 2019- Sept 31, 2020).

Bottom line: it’s not being done right now. National Geographic did a good article on the issue several years ago. More recently, The High Country News published a fairly detailed article about the complexities involved. Google them if you are open to learning more.

Again, I’m not defending euthanasia, ranchers who seek only to eliminate wild horses, or the tRump administration’s proposal to remove Congressional restrictions. I’m only attempting to share some of the background and facts that I have learned via being exposed to the issue over the years.

[StarryNite]

53. Ever hear of Wildlife Services?

THE GOVERNMENT AGENCY IN CHARGE OF KILLING WILD ANIMALS IS FACING BACKLASH

"Wildlife Services is a federal agency that shoots, traps, and poisons wild animals en masse at the behest of state governments, agricultural interests, and more. With a purported mission to reduce human-wildlife conflict and mitigate economic damage caused by wildlife, it kills many thousands of critters that come between ranchers or farmers and their profits, and it has done so for more than a century. Earlier this month, it released up-to-date data about its nationwide operations in 2018 and, as usual, the numbers were eye-popping."

Apex predators are essential to a healthy ecological balance and they, like the wild horses, are being wiped out at the behest of the welfare ranchers.

The evolution of the horse began in North America. They belong here as do so many of the other animals that are being destroyed for nothing other than greed.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

14. "...require the BLM to utilize fertility control as an alternative..."

The pro-life people won't allow this solution. They believe all forms of contraception are tantamount to abortion. PETA probably agrees.

Remember, every sperm is sacred.

[Duppers]

42. Wow! Just learned something new

About PETA. Thank you.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

58. Just checked their website. PETA supports spaying and neutering.

I wonder if the same solution would work with Repugs to keep them from breeding?

[Bayard]

15. Forage Intake: Horse versus Cattle

Cattle are much less picky than horses about what they eat, and they eat a lot!

Cattle eat consistently for approximately 12 hours, and can eat up to 130 pounds of grass and forage per day. Because they will eat almost anything in front of them, they are ideal to clear high grasses that grow out in the wild. Unfortunately, this also clears all of the natural forage for any other wildlife that might live there.

There are numerous studies done on the destructive force that grazing cattle have on our environment. Not only do cattle increase methane and other greenhouse gasses, their foraging habits create very real fire dangers that can decimate the natural ecosystem. Cattle can also negatively change the soil characteristics and can also prevent future plant growth. Overall, cattle move very little, but must eat a lot, meaning that they completely consume all of the natural plants and grasses in a small area.

Horses on the other hand, are very picky and roam more when they eat. Horses will refuse to eat a number of different plants, instead feasting on the grasses that are available. A typical 1,000 pound horses will eat approximately 20-25 pounds of grass per day.

That’s 130 pounds of food versus 25 pounds. With a 9:1 ratio, that’s 1,170 pounds versus 25 pounds. For the 30:1 ratio, that’s 3,900 pounds versus 25 pounds.

https://www.hanaeleh.org/horses-versus-cattle-truth-behind-grazing-rights/

Water consumption difference is even more drastic. This is our land, and our horses. The BLM is responsible for their care, not their demise. The ranchers calling the shots here just hate the horses on principle. Saying the horses are taking all "their" grass, is simply bullshit.

I believe solving the breeding situation is pretty simple--geld the stallions. Simple procedure, and recovery is quick (like, after they wake up). Whereas trying to do something to a mare is major surgery, that is often performed inhumanely in the field.

[in2herbs]

18. The castration of free-roaming stallions is a high risk, invasive surgical procedure fraught with

negative complications and results. A few years back an effort by the BLM to castrate wild stallions in Wyoming failed because of the medical risks.

[Bayard]

36. Source, please?

I've been around several studs being gelded over the years. They're a little sore when they wake up, but it doesn't last long. They don't even get stitches. It is certainly not high-risk, and I've never heard of any negative complications.

On the other hand,

"The BLM still plans to carry out an experimental surgery called “ovariectomy via colpotomy,” in which a veterinarian cuts into a mare’s vaginal wall, places a hand and arm through the vagina in the abdominal cavity, manually (and blindly) locates the ovaries and then severs and removes them with a rod-like chain tool called an ecraseur.
“It’s obvious that the BLM wants to eradicate wild horses in the West using barbaric surgical procedures performed in an unsterile environment,” states Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation and the Humane Advocate on BLM’s National Wild Horse and Burro Board. “Mares will suffer horrific pain and potential death. Why does the BLM continue to turn its back on proven, humane, reversible fertility control?”

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/media/blm-proceed-barbaric-sterilization-wild-mares-despite-repeated-public-outcry-and-legal

[NickB79]

38. Here is one

https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3255311&itype=CMSID

To survive in the wild, a horse must be able to achieve a certain fitness level that may be impossible to attain once the animal is castrated," wrote Bruce Nock, a neurobiologist at Washington University's school of medicine. "The BLM's proposed action [in Nevada] will foster unnatural competition for resources, including unnatural competition for reproductive mares, and cause social disruption within the herd. Social disruption is a very powerful stressor for herd animals that can accelerate physical and mental deterioration and long-term viability of individuals and the herd as a whole."

Bolbol contends that allowing only 12 or 13 stallions to breed will degrade the genetic diversity of the Conger. She also noted the gelding procedure has a mortality rate of 5 percent. Older stallions are particularly at risk, as shown this summer when a popular 25-year-old Utah stud died after castration.

[Bayard]

63. Not buying it

Gelding a stallion does not make it less physically fit. That's ridiculous. Stallions are much more stressed out and physically depleted from breeding mares, and worrying about who may be stealing their women.

Furthermore, I don't see how you'd get down to a dozen stallions if the mares are continuing to produce foals. A good many of those will be male.

[NickB79]

67. My only experience with horses is domesticated ones on farms

And I'm pretty sure your experience is the same.

Neither of us have ever studied horses in the wild, survived brutally hot summers, frigid winters, drought, starvation and predators.

Trying to extrapolate our farm experiences to wild horses would be like trying to extrapolate our experiences with our pet dogs in the park to wolf pack dynamics, IMO. I'm inclined to listen to experts who have studied the horses in the wild.

[Duppers]

44. Just watching a number of programs

on the Animal Channel confirms what you said.

It is NOT INVASIVE & is quick. "Dr. Jeff" took a tech into the field with him to demonstrate and then let the tech do a castration. It was a "wham-bam, thank you" procedure.

Stick to your guns, lady! You're right.

[Duppers]

50. Great post. Most informative.

Thanks!

👍👍

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. I don't know enough about this specific herd to make a sensible comment,

but a year or so ago I read a book called Wild Horse Country by David Philipps. It's about mustangs and how they got here and how they're protected and how their numbers are skyrocketing beyond what the land can sustain. Apparently any efforts to cull the herds are fiercely fought, and it's not real easy to introduce birth control in any realistic form.

I realize what I don't know about horses, especially wild horses and their management, would fill many volumes.

[in2herbs]

19. On September 29, 2012 in an article titled "All the Missing Horses: What Happened To The Wild Horses

Tom Davis Bought From The Gov't?" written by Dave Phillips of ProPublica, he quoted Ginger Kathrens, director of the horse advocacy group The Cloud Foundation, based in Colorado Springs, as saying: "He (Davis) is just a symptom of the train wreck that is the Wild Horse and Burro program. They (BLM) just warehouse more and more horses and create their own crisis. Then, after they run the program into the ground they have to find ways out of it. It is a whole unnatural ridiculous system run amok. And who pays the ultimate price? Wild horses."

In a claim for preservation in support of their attempts to decimate the WH&B Act, cattle ranchers are asserting that the estimated 36,000 wild horses (pre-2012 numbers) and burros on public lands are damaging the public land. According to reliable estimates these same cattle ranchers are grazing millions of their cattle on our public lands. For this reason, horse activists cite "welfare ranching," as the real reason behind the cattle rancher's "preservation" claims, as ranchers lease public grazing land from the BLM for meager fees.

Currently (pre-2012) there are millions of cattle grazing on 157 million acres of public land, or two thirds of all BLM lands. The National Academy of Science has stated that this livestock consumes 70% of our grazing resources while the wild horses and burros consume less than five percent.

[in2herbs]

17. The sterilization of wild horse mares is not the same as sterilizing a domesticated pet. Here's

some info if the BLM is using PZP, porcine zone pellucida, to sterilize mares in wild horse herds, a procedure they were doing even before 2012:

Under the direction of the Humane Society of the United States a non-invasive sterilization vaccine called PZP is currently being tested on mares in the wild. PZP is a protein-like substance existing in the embryos of female pigs. Thus, the vaccine introduces a substance into the horse that the horse’s body does not produce on its own and that the horse does not consume as part of its diet. PZP “sterilizes” the mare by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies against the vaccine and then bind the sperm to the egg’s surface. After five to seven years of immunocontraception vaccinations this procedure “sterilizes” by causing “ovulation failure.” Ovulation failure leaves mares permanently sterile without having undergone invasive sterilization procedures. Considering that mares can become pregnant in their yearling spring – before their first birthday – to be truly effective at controlling the birth rate of wild horses the vaccine would have to be given to yearlings and then yearly after that for a prior of five or more years. However, a medical treatment span of just four to five years is recommended when using PZP and no vaccination is recommended at all on yearling mares.

The effect of this PZP sterilization process is said to be reversible after four to five years of treatment. But no return to fertility is expected after seven years of vaccination therapy.

Some horse activists believe that the BLM’s policy to control the population of wild horses through various sterilization techniques will, in fact, lead to the extinction of the present wild horse population.

While we wait to see the long-term effects of PZP on wild horse herds it is important to note that some of the same horse organizations that favor the use of PZP also applauded other abusive practices such as the decades-old practice of breeding horses for a heavier body and smaller feet, especially the Quarter Horse and Arabian breed.

[Duppers]

46. Thanks for this enlightening info! nt

[KPN]

61. One fact that many here are probably unaware of is that

some domestic horses are allowed to roam free on federal lands every year and ultimately become feral wild horses.

This issue is a heck of a lot more complex and has a huge number of moving parts (including the movement of horses/herds) than many people understand. The federal agencies have been dealing with it sincerely, to the best of their ability and in accordance with the law for decades. Bottom line is the issue has only intensified as the population of wild horses has increased.

[Bayard]

64. PZP is a good idea,

If they give it time to work. It doesn't sound like the herds are being given even a couple years, much less 5-7 years. We need a more immediate solution (although not allowing cattle ranching on our land would solve the problem nicely).

I still favor gelding most of the stallions. Leave enough of the best ones to maintain the herd at stable levels. Genetic diversity will be maintained because the mares will continue to produce male and female foals. Again, keep the best, geld the rest.

Quarter Horse breeding really got off on the wrong track in trying to breed for the qualities you mention. Not only did they get all kinds of foot problems, other genetic abnormalities occurred. I think a lot of that has been corrected now, but I'm not a QH person. Arabs are bred for extreme type--the dished head, high tail set, flat croup.

I have Warmbloods myself.

[in2herbs]

65. They once thought that Premarin (mare urine) was a good hormone therapy for women, too, and

look how that turned out. No one knows the effects of injecting wild or domesticated horses with stuff from pigs. It is even something that could take generations to reveal.

They've been "working" on the use of PZP for nearly a decade. How much more time is needed?

Medically speaking, castrating wild stallions is far different and far riskier than castrating domesticated stallions. I don't think a horse is disposable or should be used as a medical experiment or political solution.

[Bayard]

66. I'm saying,

If it takes 5+ years to make a mare sterile with PZP injections, its going to take too long to suit the ranchers, and the BLM which they control.

Why would it be any different to geld a wild stallion, than a domestic one? As long as its done by a competent vet, using sterile technique.

[Duppers]

68. Absolutely! 👍👍

I, for one, got your point up-thread.

[in2herbs]

70. It's not the vet, it's the problem of observing and/or treating any post-surgery infection in a

wild stallion. That is why the procedure was stopped. With a domesticated stallion he's easy to catch or keep in a stall to observe and provide post-surgery treatment if necessary. How does one do that with a wild stallion?

Nothing will suit the ranchers except the annihilation of our wild horses.

[underpants]

27. This post and discussion is very informative. Thanks CousinIT.

I've bookmarked it to come back to it.

I know most of the basics - horses are way less harmful to the land and environment than cattle and sheep - but there's lots of good info here.

[NickB79]

39. Natural populations need predators to keep numbers in check

As far as I know, wolves aren't widespread in the area yet and mountain lions don't attack such large prey.

[flvegan]

40. So this is ultimately about cattle?

I can only glean that from the responses, but that sounds like a "rational" reason in this timeline in which we live. So the slaughter of these other animals is to protect the rights of other people to feed some other animals so that those other animals can be slaughtered to be eaten by people, and that's some sort of outrage, huh? Cool. I will say that I'm quite chuffed that folks are taking a stand to try to shine a light on this and prevent the untimely demise of these animals.

That said, for your consideration:

If only, ONLY there were something that each person could do to minimize this need of killing these horses to allegedly protect the grazing rights of cattle or something. SOMEthing that would minimize the need for these cattle. SOMEthing like...I don't know, maybe not eating them.

Might just turn out to be good for the planet too, you know. Or something.

[Coventina]

43. My point exactly. Killing horses so that we can kill cattle. It's dumb.

[CousinIT]

57. +1

I agree. I don't know the solution but this seems to be the problem - as I've learned from the responses to this thread. And mass slaughtering horses because of it seems like a cruel and sadly misplaced effort.

Mass sterilization isn't as straightforward as I thought (ie: horses are not cats or dogs).

[Duppers]

47. +100

[Kali]

51. omg

this thread is so full of ignorant crap I don't know where to start

perhaps I should just trash it.

no clue about western land ownership or the history thereof, no clue about the benefits of livestock INCLUDING horses under good management, no possible acknowledgment that yes unmanaged numbers of horses can be detrimental to the environment AND themselves, and the silly claim about evolution = native. yet nobody advocates for reintroducing camels.

and of course all ranchers are evil welfare right wing hypocrites. thanks guys.

[MFM008]

56. Yeah

All ranchers pretty much are.

[ismnotwasm]

62. I Despise these fuckers

I’m sure if I researched it, there would be a plausible sounding rational of why a herd of wild horses should be slaughtered, but a rational isn’t a fucking reason. There should be other options. In Washington state we relocated a bunch invasive species of GOATS.

This is bullshit

[Bayard]

69. AND another thing (back on my soapbox)

The last horse slaughterhouse was shut down in this country in 2007 (unfortunately, there was a 10 year expiration of the law). So, in the past several years, horses were shipped to Canada or Mexico, to be killed and shipped overseas for human consumption.

"in January 2019 the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (H.R. 961) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the United States AND ban their export abroad for that purpose"
https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/horse-slaughter (Please sign the petition while you're there).

A few companies have been pushing to reopen the slaughterhouses, one in New Mexico, and the other in Illinois, I think. So far, they have not succeeded, mostly because Congress has refused to fund inspections (Dems and Rethugs, alike). So, they're saying they'll pay for their own inspections, and the USDA has actually been considering letting them do that.

The point being, if the wild horses can't be sent to slaughter here, or at either border, what else does tRump have in mind to do with them? Just shoot them outright and bury them?

[in2herbs]

71. Who knows what Trump thinks will happen to the horses, that is not the lesson. When the amount

of money that one small group of persons (ranchers) possess dictates a negative behavior not shared by the All in a society, that negative behavior cannot be allowed to flourish. Our existence as a civilized nation is connected to recognizing, understanding and embracing our symbiotic relationship with equs.

Former Montana Dem. Senator Max Baucus was one of our worst. He was a proponent of slaughtering horses and stated that slaughtering horses will be good for the American economy and slaughtering horses will mean jobs for Americans.

As a society which prides itself on being better, grander, and more civilized than the rest of the world, for the U.S. to continue to look upon the horse as a disposable item which can be driven to extinction because there are corporate profits to be had is an example of the urgent need to change our beliefs so that we can change our behavior.