Wild Horses get no Holiday from the Suffering Delivered by the BLM

Horse News

By R.T. Fitch on April 6, 2010 • ( 21 Comments )

“In the Opinion” of R.T. Fitch – author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart”

The BLM just can’t seem to get the definition of “Holiday” straight

I am going to need your help, here.  There seems to be some sort of mix-up over how the Bureau of Land Management defines the term “Holiday.”  Maybe it’s just me but observing the BLM, first hand, I sure have become one confused American tax payer.

During the Labor Day “Holiday” weekend of 2009 the BLM decided to abuse, harass and break apart the fully viable Pryor Mountain Wild Horse herd in a botched round-up that ended up in total chaos and failure.  The management of the BLM decided to close down most of the Wild Horse Preserve and much of the neighboring National Forest on the busiest outdoor recreational “Holiday” weekend of the year.  BLM employees enjoyed over time while the horses suffered the trauma of being chased down mountain sides in excess of ten miles with temperatures hovering in the 95+ range.  Why was this done over the “Holiday”?  Could it have been that the bulk of the news media was on vacation?  Or maybe it was because almost all of our elected officials were enjoying the long weekend?  Perhaps it might have been due to the fact that Wild Horse Advocates might have had other plans that tugged them in another direction and they could not be there to witness the atrocity?  Who knows for sure but one thing is for certain, a major reason for the “Holiday” round-up was explained to us, in no uncertain terms, by a local BLM official:  “Because we can!”

Not many months later the 2009 Christmas “Holiday” season rolls around and what does the BLM do?  They announce that they are going to strip the Calico Mountain Complex, in Nevada, of 80% of the Wild Horse population (no mention of the thousands of private cattle that graze there for virtually nothing).  The public screamed no, a law suit was filed and even the Federal Judge said it was a bad idea yet the BLM began to chase pregnant mares and foals down icy mountainsides and across the volcanic rock strewn desert on December 28^th smack dab in the middle of the Christmas holiday.  Horses died, foals were killed yet they hunted them down during the holidays with no remorse because…?  No one would notice?  News media was on vacation?  Politicians were on leave?  Caring advocates wouldn’t come out in the freezing temps in the middle of the Christmas “Holiday”?  Another thing is certain; they killed horses during the “Holiday”

Now Easter comes into the picture; the BLM is under fire for not only the killing of horses during the helicopter terror of a round-up but mares are being shot and put down at an alarming rate at the private feed lot, well over a 100 so far.  So they limit viewing time to only two hours on Sunday as they continue their covert, dirty work but alas, photos and reports of the horses being infected with Pigeon Fever leak out and the “Holiday” of Easter now means that the facility is closed to the public on the only viewing day of the week.  The BLM gets a two week “Holiday” to figure out how to further cover up the deaths, lie about the infection and continue to plan for the “Equicide” of our native Wild Horses.

The distortion of the term “Holiday” is clear evidence of the BLM’s corrupt manipulation of rules, policies, laws, and procedures to fit their sordid ways and plans.  If I was tasked, as a writer, to develop a piece of fiction about an out of control federal agency that bent the rules to fit their needs while ignoring the cries of legislators and the public, I couldn’t come up with a group better for the part than our own Bureau of Land Management.

The secret is out.  The troops are rallying.  It’s no longer just a handful of “left-wing, vegetarian, tree hugging city folk”, nope, the anger and disdain has now cut across all social and economic boundaries while spilling out of our nation’s boarders and shocking those from other lands.  The numbers are increasing and the movement to stop the madness is gaining speed, the BLM has met their match and they are standing on the threshold of being out of the Wild Horse killing business.  Their day will come.

But in the meantime, while the BLM plays word games and subverts the law, horses will die, thousands will suffer and they will know no “Holiday” from the cruelty that the Obama administration doles out to those who cannot speak for themselves.

Let’s hope that one day, soon, the President takes a “Holiday” from his silence and declares a true “Holiday” from the round-ups so that our children will be able to take a future “Holiday” and watch the native wild horses of North America run free on the land that is rightfully and legally theirs.

A reminder to the BLM; the truth takes no “Holiday” and nor shall we.

Categories: Horse News, The Force of the Horse, Wild Horses/Mustangs

Tagged as: BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Christmas, Cruelty to animals, Department of the Interior, Equine, Executive Branch, Government, Horse, Mustang, Nevada, R.T. Fitch, Straight from the Horse's Heart, United States, Wild Horse, Wild Mustang