Federal Government killing wild horses in order to "save" them.

In yet another example of the Federal government's ridiculous mismanagement of taxpayer money, and with a blind eye towards anything that can remotely be considered humane, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has made the decision that rounding up wild horses in the summer desert heat of Nevada is somehow necessary to "save" them.

Using a helicopter to stampede entire herds of wild horses, young foals and pregnant mares included, the BLM is capturing hundreds of wild horses this month, in Elko County, Nevada, by stampeding them over the desert at breakneck speeds, with no water, until the horses are eventually worn down and corralled.  In one case, the horses were run over 8 miles in 100 plus degree heat. Some of the young foals had their hooves literally "run off" over the rocky ground, leaving them crippled. Many pregnant mares have miscarried due to the stress of roundup.

In the past year, over 160 horses rounded up by the BLM have died from exhaustion, stress, dehydration, and injury brought on directly by the inhumane treatment involved in helicopter roundups.

Hundreds more wild horses, who manage to survive the roundup process, are being held in BLM pens awaiting shipment to yet-to-be-acquired holding facilities in the Midwestern U.S.  The BLM considers this to be an acceptable alternative to leaving them on the wide open range. Over $75,000 per week in taxpayer money is being spent to hold these horses in "facilities" that amount to mostly overcrowded open corrals very near the open range the horses once roamed, for free.

The BLM has hired Dave Cattoors to round up wild horses.  This despite the fact that Cattoors has a Federal conviction for "aiding and abetting" the theft and sale of wild horses for slaughter.

Spokespeople for the BLM claim that the horses are in imminent danger of starvation and dehydration if left in the wild, insisting they are overpopulated, yet the same spokespeople assure the public that the vast majority of horses are in "good shape" after their helicopter stampedes, claiming the death tolls are low, and apparently acceptable.  Other BLM spokespeople have said that the horses must be moved to due damage to livestock fences.  The "Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. §1331 et seq." states that the BLM is to protect wild horse from "harassment", "capture", and "death", maintaining them as free roaming components of public lands.  The law also requires wild horses and burros to be treated humanely.

Critics of the BLM horse round up program wonder why the Federal government sees the need to stockpile wild horses in the Midwest, stating there is no real imminent danger to the animals in the wild. Indeed, wild horses, more correctly termed "feral horses" because they are descendants of domestic animals, have through natural selection been bred into wily and capable animals, quite able to adapt to varied environmental conditions. It has been

A lawsuit has been filed by horse enthusiasts in an attempt to stop the BLM's disastrous roundup procedures, and a judge did halt the roundups, only to be overruled in the government's zeal to continue what they call benignly call "gathering".

The BLM has a long history of "over managing" (and in some cases, mismanaging) our public lands, which has included the destruction of historical sites, volunteer operated recreational facilities, legally owned and operated mining claims, including the harassment of claim owners, along with the mismanagement of wildlife exhibited by the current handling of our wild horse herds.

Current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has stated that wild horses do not belong on public lands.  The BLM is part of the Department of the Interior.

 Wild Horse Facts (Courtesy of IDA):

- The Obama Administration plans to remove 12,000 mustangs from their Western ranges in FY 2010. Most of these horses will end up in government holding facilities.

- The number of wild horses in government holding facilities (35,000) now exceeds those left in the wild (33,000 by BLM estimates).

- The wild horse population today is smaller than in 1974 when the BLM conducted its first census after Congress protected the horses due to their dwindling numbers.

- Wild horses comprise a minute fraction (0.5 percent) of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by cattle at least 200 to 1.

- The BLM manages more than 256 million acres of public lands. Cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres, while wild horses are restricted to 26.6 million acres of land that is shared with cattle.

- Since 1971 when Congress protected wild horses as “living symbols of freedom” and important parts of our national heritage, the BLM has removed over 200,000 horses from the range and taken away 20 million acres of wild horse habitat.

- The BLM frequently increases livestock grazing allotments after removing wild horses. Horses are also displaced for the benefit of other commercial users of public lands, including mining, oil/gas and other extractive industries.

- The Obama Administration proposes to spend up to 500 million tax dollars to purchase private lands in the Midwest and East to warehouse wild horses removed from public lands (which the taxpayers already own) in the West. In response to IDA’s lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that these holding facilities are likely illegal.

- The mustang has spent hundreds of years acclimating to the arid, rocky terrain of the west and their presence on that landscape is part of our national heritage. Not only are they ill-suited to the wet, lush Midwestern climate but their absence from the west is an affront to our cultural history.

For more information concerning the issue of wild horses in the west:

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/index.html