Where did the wild horses from Sand Wash Basin go? A Colorado state prison.

[bluedigger]

Mustang advocates are frustrated by a lack of access to holding pens at the prison. One beloved horse was euthanized

CAÑON CITY – Hundreds of horses, noses to the dusty ground, nibbled on alfalfa hay spread in thin rows across a wide pasture.In one direction, the Wet Mountains jutted toward a bluebird sky. On the other, guard towers and tops of Colorado state penitentiary buildings, some encircled with loops of razor-tipped wire, loomed above the landscape.

Not much more than a month ago, the horses were wild, roaming the Sand Wash Basin in the far northwest corner of Colorado, near the Wyoming state line. They were herded by a low-flying helicopter and then hauled in semitrailers to Cañon City, to the grounds of the Colorado Department of Corrections, as part of a massive effort by the federal Bureau of Land Management this year to remove thousands of mustangs from public lands across the West.

The pens on the prison grounds in south central Colorado had only about 200 horses just a few years ago, so few that the BLM and the state Department of Corrections let their joint inmate horse-training program expire. Inmates still water, feed and shoe the horses, but no longer break and train them for riding. Now, as the federal agency is on pace to round up more than 10,000 wild horses and burros for the second year in a row, the pens at Cañon City are filled with 2,317 horses and officials are considering a restart of the program popular with prisoners.

More than one-quarter of the horses at the 120 acres of prison-complex holding pens are from the Sand Wash Basin, a rocky landscape of cliffs, sagebrush and juniper trees. After a two-week roundup in September, 633 stallions, mares and foals were moved to Cañon City.

https://www.the-journal.com/articles/where-did-the-wild-horses-from-sand-wash-basin-go-a-colorado-state-prison/?fbclid=IwAR0demsb5eOKhl4MfXZbTpVdDfRe4647FJ65J04NqpvdVNXMkD_qJyYVsUY

[Bayard]

1. Sickening

"Massive effort by the federal Bureau of Land Management this year to remove thousands of mustangs from public lands across the West" Because, "BLM officials say the roundup was necessary after years of drought dried up the rangeland," Count me in the dubious category.

Big ranchers have called the shots on these roundups for years, saying the horses are grazing on, "their" land, that they lease for pennies. These are public lands. Its usually big beef operations, but in this article, it says domestic sheep.

I'd like to see Sec. Haaland look into this personally. "the federal agency is on pace to round up more than 10,000 wild horses and burros for the second year in a row,"

[secondwind]

2. This is terrible beyond words. I hope folks are writing their

Congress critters about this!!!

[in2herbs]

3. Biden's Sec of Interior, Haaland, agreed with the roundup so we can all thank her. /s/

[StarryNite]

4. Our wild horses and burros are being managed to extinction by the

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service. Those agencies are doing everything that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 says these animals are to be protected from.

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.


Last Trap (Surprise)
BY LAURA LEIGH ON OCTOBER 14, 2021

The last trap, of the last day, as the sun sets during the last run.

93 (36 stallions, 43 mares, 14 foals) wild horses were captured on one of the longest days of any roundup we have attended. The last run came in at 4:42 p.m. Our team member left the range (a 2 hour drive back out and to room) as the agency apparently finished processing in the dark or by headlights.

To date: 1216 (484 stallions, 528 mares and 204 foals) captured, 95 (61 stallions, 34 Mares treated with PZP) released, 20 deaths. (see ongoing team reports)

[link:https://wildhorseeducation.org/2021/10/14/last-trap-surprise/|

[StarryNite]

5. It's no coincidence that the BLM just made a Euthanasia Policy update

Since they are fast tracking the captures they needed to find a more expedient way of getting the horses out of the feedlots. The use of Captive Bolt Guns such as what are used in slaughterhouses are one of the things that have been added to this update.

The Humane Society of the United States:
"Horses are skittish by nature (owing to their heightened fight-or-flight response), which makes accurate pre-slaughter stunning difficult. As a result, horses often endure repeated blows and sometimes remain conscious during dismemberment—this is rarely a quick, painless death."

“Guidance for Euthanasia” (policy change)
BY LAURA LEIGH ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

The document is what BLM calls an “Instruction Memorandum” or “IM.” IMs outline policy for the agency. The BLM now publishes two types of IMs: permanent and temporary. Permanent IMs provide lasting guidance that is short in scope. Permanent IMs remain in effect until superseded or deleted. Temporary IMs offer operational, incident-specific, project-related or one-time policy or guidance for evolving activities. Temporary IMs expire at the end of the third fiscal year following issuance.

Like most documents the BLM calls policy, specific definitions are vacant leaving such a vague description that from district-to-district, facility-to-facility, carrying out the “policy” translates into whomever is on-site making the rules.

The “new” euthanasia policy can leave any horse advocate stunned. The examples here are simply a few from our volunteer who spent days combing the directive.

Captive Bolts Added and Wild Horses Should Not Get Old

Reaction Editorial Review by Marie Milliman

[link:https://wildhorseeducation.org/2021/09/09/guidance-for-euthanasia-policy-change/|