by Steven Long, Editor of Horseback Magazine
BLM contractor's chopper running Pryor Mountain horses into trap - Photo by Terry Fitch
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Of the 14,000 wild horses the Bureau of Land Management will take from their wilderness homes next year, the agency will only return 2,200 to the wild.
A substantial number of the horses taken in BLM “gathers” will be mares. And of those, the agency says it will render 800 incapable of reproducing, or almost 40 percent of the heard strength returning to the wild. Equine geneticists claim the government’s plan is to eliminate wild horses from the American West in favor of cattle leases where ranchers pay a $1.35 per head per month.
Under this formula, there will be precious few Mustangs left in the West a generation from now. Wild horse lovers claim it is a rape of the national wildlife heritage comparable to the 19th century destruction of the buffalo herds that once roamed the land.
The BLM claims the horses are hard on the land, but currently there are only slightly more than 30,000 left in the wild according to the agency. That number is hotly disputed by animal welfare advocates. More than 1 million cows graze on the public acreage, yet the agency never complains of bovine damage to meadows and riparian areas.
The agency controls 262 million acres.
The government claims wild horses breed resulting in a 20 percent each increase in herd size each year resulting in an ever growing population. Yet entire foal crops are wiped out in some herd management areas each year by predators such as wolves and mountain lions. There are only slightly more than 60,000 wild horses left, and half are already in BLM holding pens eating government feed, hay, and grazing land at an ever growing cost to the taxpayer.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, (D) Louisiana, has called for the BLM to submit a report next year on how it plans to change what is currently perceived as gross mismanagement.
The BLM's "management" program proves to be a failure - Photo by Terry Fitch
The agency says no herd management areas will be left bare of wild horses after next year’s roundups, however, anecdotal reports coming into Horseback’s offices this week tell another story. No wild horses can be found on a Nevada refuge after an October roundup, sauces say, yet the BLM claims horses are still there? Perhaps they are ghosts who only appear to government bureaucrats? Observers suffering from eye strain wonder.
The drug of choice to render mares incapable of reproducing is PZP. It is provided to the agency in a cozy deal with the Humane Society of the United States. Activists charge the nation’s largest animal welfare operation has a conflict of interest when it comes to wild horses.
Some have become increasingly aggravated with a perceived lack of action on the part of the HSUS, as well as the Washington based Animal Welfare Institute to halt BLM’s aggressive roundup schedule. In fact, HSUS applauded a BLM plan announced recently by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to remove wild horse herds from the west and place them as tourist attractions in the Midwest and East. Wild horse experts scoff at the plan.
Neither HSUS or AWI has lent their name or prestige to a petition demanding President Obama call a moratorium on BLM roundups of wild horses. The hard hitting petition has been submitted to the White House by The Cloud Foundation and the Equine Welfare Alliance.
Frustration with HSUS boiled over when EWA co-founder John Holland wrote last week to Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society, regarding the perception that the relationship with BLM appears to be too cozy.
“ Have you given any consideration to how HSUS is gradually being made more and more complicit in this rapidly expanding assault on our wild herds? Are you comfortable with that complicity?” Holland wrote. “It is now clear that the BLM is planning for the elimination or eventual extinction of the herds. I am deeply concerned that HSUS may be drawn into a ballooning potential scandal.”
Pacelle didn’t give Holland the courtesy of a reply, instead directing a wildlife scientist with HSUS to respond.
“The HSUS supports the use of contraception as a management tool to bring horses to, and maintain, viable populations on the range,” wrote Stephanie Boyles. “The HSUS does not support the gather and removal of any wild horse, except in cases in which the health or safety of an individual horse is in question, for which there is not the probability of locating an appropriate adoptive home.”
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
In my opinion, the HSUS has been going downhill for years now. This is not the first time I’ve questioned their real agenda. I think they need to do some house cleaning too.
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HSUS has been involved for decades in “mustang genocide” experimentation working hand in hand with BLM to eradicate America’s mustangs.
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I work for the HSUS and would like to address the comment by Jack. Our organization has worked long and hard to protect mustangs, both in legislative channels and on the ground. Absent the multiple floor votes we helped obtain in Congress, the dialogue would be a very different place. We are still tremendously concerned about the continued ongoing roundup and removal strategy and we will push hard for reform and will never accept that there isn’t room enough for our majestic wild mustangs.
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interesting. i haven’t seen hsus joining in with so many other organizations to call for the moratorium on wild horse & burro roundups!
hillary, just how hard IS hsus pushing for reform? i know that MANY of us would like to know what hsus is actually doing to “push for reform” & to help protect the wild horses & burros….’cause we haven’t seen much of anything.
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Hillary, I feel that in your heart you believe what you say. And I’m sure you love your job and are one of those passionate about supporting your organization, as you should be.
This is not a critism, this is a request, because I really want to know. Now I ask you to research and provide links to this website of actual evidence of those measures you mention.
Thank you
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Why hasn’t the HSUS taken the BLM to court over their breaking the MOU about decreasing roundups when PZP was used ? Roundups have actually increased and PZP has been used on almost all returned mares. I’d like to know what the HSUS has done to actually HELP our wild horses. It even supported a roundup where some wild horses were killed just to use mares for PZP research when PZP has already been studied and used for years. ALL cruel roundups need to stop NOW before wild horses are extinct but the HSUS is doing nothing to stop them that I can see. A former BLM agent, Holly Hazzard, was even hired by HSUS .
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Thanks for your responses to my comment. Although I don’t work directly on wild horse issues at the HSUS, I can direct questions/feedback here to relevant staff within our organization. Let me try to address your questions, but first a clarification. Holly Hazard was never an employee of the BLM. She formerly ran the Doris Day Animal League, which merged with the HSUS several years ago. Heidi Hopkins worked for BLM and now heads our research project to demonstrate that contraception works.
Here are several specific ways in which the HSUS has been advocating for reform. We’ve been involved in at least four meetings with BLM and Interior officials at the highest levels in the past six months to call on the agency to stop its mismanagement of the horses and to adopt a more rational approach to its wild horse policies.
The HSUS has worked hand in hand with Congressional leaders on the ROAM Act, and Wayne Pacelle testified in support of this legislation – and against BLM’s failed polices – at the hearing earlier this year.
We have attended the wild horse and burro Advisory Meeting and spoken out against BLM’s policies.
The HSUS was one of seven organizations to work with BLM to promote the adoption of wild horses into appropriate homes for National Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Day, to get them out of long term holding.
Wayne’s blog today addresses this issue in greater depth; check out http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/11/wild-horses.html.
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This is correct, Wayne has made a stand and is right onboard with what we have been saying…we will reblog his post to aide in it’s reach.
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Hillary, Thank you. I think in our desparation, over heart break at the current wild horse mismanagment, we forget to see the forest for the trees. Maybe HSUS does not always live up to all our highest hopes and expectations, or has made what some would consider errors (who hasn’t?), but I for one am thankful for all you do. We will all continue to forge ahead.
Points of confusion are the push for PZP (seeminly a conflict of interest – but probably not, probably all the right intentions) and lack of response. Lack of resopone breeds suspician – so thank you for your effort. I’m sure you can expect continued pressure for more HSUS participation, more demand for natural predation, please accept our good intentions towards a common goal, even when we get frustrated.
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Thank you! We appreciate it. Best wishes to all for a happy Thanksgiving.
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A downed cow in a stockyard gets immediate attention from the HSUS, yet the downed, maimed, injured and euthanized horses by the BLM during their round ups get nothing from the HSUS. I don’t understand it and wish Wayne Pacelle would show the same intensity for the wild horses as he does for cattle, puppy mills and dogfighting.
The HSUS could make a real difference, yet their silence is deafening.
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I believe the HSUS has given up on the Wild Horses.
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