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Mesa Verde Wild Horse Update

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The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign delivered nearly 9,000 letters to the National Park Service. Here is an excerpt from their press release:

Durango, CO (January 11, 2016) . . . On Friday, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign submitted official public comments to the Mesa Verde National Park urging protection of the historic population of wild horses there. AWHPC submitted letters from 8,982 citizens urging the Park to explore ways to protect and humanely manage this herd with its comments.

Mesa Verde Wild Horses“The horses of Mesa Verde National Park are part of the area’s natural landscape and history. They have been present on those lands since before the park was created in 1906,” said Deniz Bolbol, AWHPC Programs Director, who submitted comments on behalf of the organization. “We urge the Mesa Verde National Park to create a humane management plan for the horses that will preserve this unique and historic herd and protect their free-roaming behaviors, while managing their numbers through the use of humane, safe, and reversible fertility control.”

“The National Park Service (NPS) has a dual mission to preserve unique resources and to provide for their enjoyment by the public,” she continued. “The horses are an important part of the visitor experience, as evidenced by the countless videos and photographs of these beautiful animals that are regularly shared online by park visitors.”

Joining AWHPC in urging protection of the Mesa Verde horses are thousands of Coloradans, including Durango resident Kate Feldman, a psychotherapist and horsewoman who states, “The Mesa Verde horses are an important natural and historic resource in our area. I and many other local citizens value this beautiful wild horse population and urge the National Park Service to protect these horses, not eradicate them.”

ACTION ALERT: Stop BLM Spaying Experiment

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An new action alert was issued by the American Wild Horse Campaign. Act now – comments are due by January 14, 2016.

We have only until Thursday (1/14) to get comments in to oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) disastrous plan to spay wild mares on the range in the White Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) in Wyoming. Surgically removing the mares’ ovaries is both physically dangerous and psychologically devastating as it stops the production of hormones that drive natural behaviors. AWHPC is committed to fighting this ill-conceived and destructive proposal, which also includes the removal of at least 169 wild horses, leaving fewer than 400 mustangs on 1,600 square miles of land! We need to bombard the BLM with comments opposing the spaying of mares, so please take action today and share this alert with your friends and family! 

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ACTION ALERT: Stop the Eradication of Colorado’s Wild Horses (Mesa Verde National Park)

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The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign has a new action alert for the Mesa Verde National Park wild horses.

Mesa Verde Wild Horses

In 2013, the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado announced its intent to rid the park of wild horses that have roamed the public lands there for more than a century. The plan was delayed after the public — including thousands of AWHPC supporters — weighed in against it. Now the park has revived its proposal to remove these beautiful horses, who are not protected by federal law. The Mesa Verde horses desperately need our help! Please weigh in again in favor of humane management and against eradication of this historic herd! Take action today and be sure to share with friends and family!

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Congress Approves Omnibus Bill

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The following update is from an The American Horse Council 

AHCCongress has passed an omnibus appropriations bill, which will fund the government through September 30, 2016, was passed by Congress.  This bill is a package that includes all 12 of the FY 2016 appropriations bills, and will fund government agencies and programs until the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2016.

The omnibus bill contains several provisions that impact the horse industry, including reforms to the H-2B temporary guest worker program, the U.S. Department Agriculture (USDA) FY 2016 appropriations bill, defunding of horse slaughter, and reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

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H-2B Temporary Worker Program

The bill includes several beneficial provisions relating to the H-2B temporary, non-agricultural worker program and would roll back some of the most onerous provisions of a 2015 H-2B rule.  The AHC has been working to ensure these provisions were included in the omnibus bill.    These provisions will make the H-2B program less burdensome for employers, including those in the horse industry to use. The bill will do the following:

  • Exempt H-2B returning workers from the 66,000 annual cap;
  • Require wages to be based on the job category and experience level required, rather than an artificially inflated median wage;
  • Clearly define seasonal as ten months, as opposed to the nine months in the 2015 H-2B rule;
  • Prevent the Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing the provisions of the 2015 H-2B rule related to corresponding employment and the ¾ guarantee of work days; and
  • Prevent DOL from implementing the new and burdensome DOL enforcement scheme in the 2015 H-2B rule related to audits and the Certifying Officer (CO) assisted recruitment.

These provisions will make the H-2B program easier to use and were supported by the AHC.

FY 2015 USDA Appropriations

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Equine Health

The bill appropriates $898 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS is the USDA agency responsible for protecting the U.S. equine industry and responding to contagious equine disease outbreaks.   Funding for Equine, Cervid, and Small Rumiant health is set at $19.5 million, the same as FY 2015.

Horse Slaughter 

The bill includes language that prohibits USDA from using any funds to provide inspectors at meat processing facilities that slaughter horses, continuing a block that begin in 2005, except for a brief period in 2012 and 2013

No horse slaughter facilities are operating in the U.S. and this bill would effectively prevent any such facility from opening until September 30, 2016.

The language was included in the omnibus bill because the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment that prohibited funding for inspectors at horse slaughter facilities when they debated and approved their respective version of the FY 2016 USDA appropriations bill.  The Senate amendment was offered in committee by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and passed by a voice vote.

Horse Protection Act

The bill provides $697,000 for enforcement of the Horse Protection Act (HPA), the same as FY 2015. The HPA was enacted in 1970 to prevent the soring of horses, primarily Tennessee Walking Horses.

Because soring continues to be a problem in the “big lick” segment of the Walking Horse industry, the AHC has been working to pass the Prevent All Soring Tactics Act (PAST Act) (S.1121/ H.R.3268). The PAST act would strengthen the HPA and end this cruel practice.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund

The bill will also reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for three years with funding of $450 million for the coming FY 2016, a nearly 50 percent increase over the previous level.

The program, which expired on October 1, 2015, provides funds and matching grants to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water for recreation and the protection of natural resources.  The LWCF program benefits recreational riders by providing increased recreational opportunities.

Wild Horses and Burros

The omnibus bill also includes a provision that would prohibit the Bureau of Land Management from euthanizing healthy wild horses in its care or from selling wild horses or burros that results in their being processed into commercial products.

The bill is expected to be signed by the President shortly.

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Fantastic News! Forest Service Drops Plan to Roundup Salt River Wild Horses

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation 

Photo | Jennifer MaHarry Photography
Photo | Jennifer MaHarry Photography

The U.S. Forest Service announced that it has withdrawn its notice to round up and impound the wonderful Salt River wild horses who live in the Tonto National Forest near Phoenix, Arizona. This is a direct result of public pressure and a great example of how our government and elected officials can and should listen to the will of the people!

Since August, we have worked with our coalition partner the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) toward the cancellation of the impound notice in order to allow time to negotiate an agreement for the long-term protection of the horses on Salt River.

Just last week, U.S. Congressman Matt Salmon and seven of his House colleagues sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who oversees the Forest Service, asking the agency to listen to public, which wants these horses preserved. Previously, Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake and Governor Doug Ducey expressed their strong support on behalf of their constituents for protection of these horses.

Huge congratulations go to the SRWHMG and its president Simone Netherlands for their tireless work to protect these horses. They have organized tremendous public support and have spent years doing critically-important, boots-on-the-ground work as stewards and documentarians of this very special herd.

BLM Proceeding with Fertility Control with Nevada Wild Horses

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The following update is from the American Wild Horse Preservation  Fertility Control

Ely, Nevada (October 14, 2015). . . The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) today blasted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for ignoring scientific advice and environmental complaints in its decision to proceed with the use of an experimental fertility control vaccine on wild horses in the Antelope Herd Management Area (HMA) in eastern Nevada.

Last month, AWHPC filed a complaint with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) against the BLM to stop a precedent-setting plan to use the experimental drug, known as GonaCon, for the first time ever on federally protected wild horses. The long- term effects of the vaccine on wild horses are unknown, and the National Academy of Sciences recommended that more research was needed on GonaCon’s impacts on wild horse behavior before being used in wild horse populations.

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Massive Oregon Mustang Roundup

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The following action alert is from the American Wild Horse Preservation 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning a mega roundup of wild horses in the Beatys Butte Herd Management Area (HMA) in southern Oregon later this month. The roundup will shatter the lives of 1,500 wild horses and cost American taxpayers as much as $76 million for the helicopter stampede and lifetime warehousing of captured mustangs in government holding facilities!

This massive roundup is being conducted to appease ranchers in the Beatys Butte Grazing Association, who graze their livestock on our public lands at taxpayer-subsidized rates. This small group of ranchers has been pressuring the BLM to remove horses so they can graze more cattle in the same public lands area.

Please take a stand today! Your signatures will be hand delivered later this month to the Oregon BLM at a joint meeting of the agency’s citizen advisory boards that oversee most of the wild horse areas in the state.

White House Asked to Halt Experiment on Nevada Wild Horses

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign 

On September 24, 2015, AWHPC’s law firm, Meyer Glitzenstein & Eubanks, filed a complaint on our behalf  with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) against the BLM to stop a precedent-setting plan to use an experimental fertility control vaccine on wild horses in the Antelope HMA in eastern Nevada. Unlike the PZP fertility control vaccine, which has been studied and used for more than two decades, the vaccine in question, known as GonaCon, has never been adequately studied in horses. The National Academy of Sciences itself concluded, “Further studies of behavioral effects of [GonaCon] are needed.”

The long-term effects of GonaCon on horses are unknown, but include potential behavioral impacts that will change the social dynamics and organization of wild horse herds, and miscarriage if the vaccine is administered to mares in the early stages of pregnancy. The agency’s plan to use GonaCon for the first-time ever on wild horses under BLM management without scientific study is unjustified. As a result, AWHPC is calling upon the CEQ to prohibit the BLM from using GonaCon in wild mares in the absence of a formal scientific study that accurately collects and analyzes data on the physiological and behavioral effects of the vaccine on horses.

Update: Ranchers Drop Anti-Mustang Lawsuit

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign 

RENO, NEVADA (September 28, 2015) … Pershing County and six public lands ranchers today dropped their lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) seeking the removal of hundreds of wild horses from public lands in the area. The ranchers and the BLM entered into a private settlement agreement that does not commit the government to any action. The agreement merely creates a drawn-out schedule over BLMseveral years during which time the BLM is to consider the removal of wild horses from 16 wild horse habitat areas that overlap public lands utilized by the ranchers for grazing their privately-owned livestock. This dismissal comes three months after the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) and Pershing County property owner Debra Davenport were granted intervenor status in the case.

“This agreement is not court sanctioned and is little more than a face-saving way for the ranchers and local government to drop a lawsuit that had no legal merit and was bound to be dismissed by the court,” said Deniz Bolbol, AWHPC spokesperson. “The BLM should not reward ranchers for filing meritless lawsuits by prioritizing the removal of horses from the public lands at issue. Rather, the BLM should focus on humane on-the-range management and fulfilling its legal mandate to protect all wild horses and burros on our public lands in the West. Prioritizing removal of horses in these areas will simply encourage more baseless legal actions by ranchers and their local government allies.”

The lawsuit sought to force the BLM to immediately round up hundreds of wild horses from Congressionally designated wild horse habitat on public lands in Pershing County, Nevada.

The lawsuit was part of an attempt by ranchers, who view mustangs as competition for cheap taxpayer-subsidized grazing on public lands, to use the court system to compel the BLM to remove more wild horses from the range. To date, AWHPC has intervened in five of these cases. Earlier this year, Judge Du granted AWHPC’s motion to dismiss a similar case filed by the Nevada Association of Counties against the BLM, and the U.S. District Court in Wyoming granted AWHPC’s motion to dismiss the State of Wyoming’s lawsuit against the BLM seeking the removal of thousands of wild horses from the range.

Action Alert: Protect the Wild Horses of Wyoming’s Red Desert

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign 

Comment deadline: October 9, 2015

Photo: Casper TribuneThe Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is accepting public comments on an environmental analysis (EA) of a massive helicopter roundup and removal of nearly 2,000 wild horses living in Wyoming’s Red Desert Complex, which includes the Antelope Hills, Crooks Mountain, Green Mountain, Lost Creek and Stewart Creek Herd Management Areas (HMAs). The action would leave behind just 480 horses on this 700,000-acre (more than 1,000-square-mile) public lands area!
The EA ignores over 6,000 public scoping comments submitted earlier this year calling for the humane management of Red Desert wild horses on the range with PZP fertility control, and for humane capture methods, instead of using helicopters to chase horses into holding pens. Alternative 2 — the Proposed Action in the EA — calls for removal of over 1,700 wild horses from the Complex — that’s 45% of the total estimated mustang population in the entire state — and includes the token application of PZP fertility control to just 23 mares. Alternative 1, a second alternative analyzed but not proposed in the EA, would more fully utilize fertility control and return more wild horses to the range, but would still permanently remove approximately 830 wild horses from the Complex. Both alternatives call for using traumatic helicopter capture methods.
It’s time to take a stand for Wyoming’s wild horses.  We must insist that the BLM stop ignoring the public andstart humanely managing the Red Desert wild horses on the range, allowing the horses within the HMAs to remain where they are on our public lands! The BLM should raise the “Appropriate” Management Levels (AMLs) for the Red Desert Complex wild horse populations. The BLM must fairly allocate range resources to ensure that wildlife — including wild horses — have a fair share of the forage on our public lands, rather than giving exorbitant resources to the privately-owned cattle and sheep operations.

UPDATE: BLM Advisory Board Meeting Signals Dark Clouds for Wild Horses & Burros

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The following update from is from AWHP, written by Suzanne Roy

logo_2The BLM held its second, and final, Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting of 2015 on September 2nd and 3rd in Oklahoma City, OK.  Of all the board meetings I have attended since 2009, this was by far the most ominous. Emboldened by years of BLM’s crisis-creating, the pro-slaughter majority on this board is now openly endorsing slaughter as a solution to the BLM’s budget woes. These members, who overwhelmingly represent livestock interests, are also aiming to reduce wild horse numbers below the already ridiculously low allowable population levels.

The BLM Wild Horse and Burro (WH&B) program, under the leadership of Dean Bolstad, a long-time BLM bureaucrat, seems only happy to comply. In fact, after the pro-slaughter board members spoke explicitly about the need to overturn Congressional ban that prevents the BLM from selling wild horses and burros for slaughter, Bolstad commented that, of the 49 board meetings he has attended since 2003, this was the best one yet.

In 2013, the National Academy of Sciences evaluated the BLM’s WH&B Program and concluded that “continuation of ‘business as usual’ practices will be expensive and unproductive for the BLM and the public it serves.” Undaunted by this warning, the BLM is continuing down the same destructive path, announcing at the meeting:

  • Expansion of helicopter roundup contracts to include three companies, including Sun J Livestock, which was found previously to have engaged in “unprofessional” conduct, including the electro-shocking of wild horses.
  • Scaling up removals under the guise of sage grouse protection.
  • Spending over 70% of the budget to round up and warehouse horses, while continuing to spend less than 1% on humane fertility control to manage wild horse populations on the range.
  • Spending millions on research, much of which is aimed at perfecting techniques to permanently sterilize wild horses on the range.
  • Meeting with Congress to share its self-inflicted budget woes, with the goal of overturning the ban on selling captured wild horses and burros “without limitation” that would enable kill buyers to purchase large numbers of wild horses and burros for slaughter.

Court Gives BLM Green Light to Destroy West Douglas Herd

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The following update is from The Cloud Foundation 

ZEROING OUT ENTIRE WILD HORSE HERD NOT VIEWED AS CONSTITUTING “IRREPARABLE HARM.”

Washington, DC (Sept. 15, 2015) – Today, Federal Judge Christopher R. Cooper denied a Preliminary Injunction to stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from carrying out its decades old quest to remove the entire West Douglas wild horse herd. Tomorrow the BLM will begin a helicopter roundup and removal of wild horses in and around the herd area with the ultimate goal of zeroing out the herd (area).

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The lawsuit was brought by The Cloud Foundation (TCF), Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF), The Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition (CWHBC), Dr. Don Moore and Toni Moore of Fruita, CO., and Barb Flores of Greeley, CO, to protect this herd and the neighboring Piceance East Douglas herd. “Sadly,” states Toni Moore, “the courts did not view the loss of an entire herd of wild horses as ‘irreparable harm.’ “

“Wiping out the West Douglas herd erases a whole distinct set of genetics, separate from nearby East Douglas horses,” states Linda Hanick, TCF Board member who testified in the Sept. 11 hearing on the case. “The roundup disregards the importance of the historic recorded documentation of these horses since Sept 1776. This roundup closes the door on an important piece of Colorado’s wild horse history.”

“We’re very disappointed of course,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of TCF. “Wild horse families that have shared a history with this rugged Colorado landscape for hundreds of years will be swept away, while the real public land destroyers, the thousands of head of welfare livestock remain. It is terribly unfair, but we continue to fight for those wild herds that remain!”

“Rangeland impact of livestock in West Douglas is greater than 10 times the impact of wild horses,” states Barb Flores, plaintiff in the case who also testified in the Sept. 11 hearing. “Both use the area year round. While cattle are moved from pasture to pasture, wild horses migrate throughout the herd area on their own.”

Action Alert: Say NO to BLM Mine Expansion in Wild Horse Habitat

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation  triple b horses blm photo

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently is accepting public comments on a plan to expand the Bald Mountain mining operation that will affect the wild horses living in the Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA) in White Pine County, Nevada. The proposed action will permanently remove 1,210 acres of already scarce vegetation available for wild horses, temporarily remove an additional 6,879 acres of currently available forage, reduce the amount of water available for wild horse use, increase the size of the area negatively impacted by human activity and noise, and pose a risk to wild horse safety and health by either physical injury or exposure to poisonous mercury and cyanide contamination, which is a byproduct of gold mining.

Comments must be received by September 28, 2015.

Chilly Pepper Orphan Update

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The following update is from Chilly Pepper Equine Rescue 

Lil bitORPHAN UPDATE – Lil Bit is doing wonderfully. Her cast has been working and she is improving a little bit each day. We want to thank y’all as we have raised approximately half of her vet bills.

Cowboy is doing better. Due to the fact that he could not travel due to health issues, we were amazed and so thankful that by the time we could bring him to NV, we did not even need to do his casts on his legs. He will need some extremely delicate hoof trimming and some special supplements and meds, but his outlook seems to be much better than was expected. He is the baby that the local vet said might need to be euthanized. However our specialty is the critical foal care and we work so very hard on the “hopeless” cases that God puts in front of us. We do not search them out, but I truly believe, and our rescue is based on my belief that if God puts an injured creature in front of you, you darn well better give it the best care you can.

We spent the last couple of days transferring panels over to the new property we will be leasing for the 55 wild horses. The Let ’em Run Foundation has donated the use of all of their panels and a shelter to be used by the 55 Wild horses and the babies. There are several adoptions in the process and we will update you as soon as we have all the details. We are still needing lots of forever homes for these guys, but in the meantime we need to have the funds to support and care for them. It is an amazing property with tons of water. In this area and with the ongoing drought, the water alone is worth gold. Unfortunately, we will need to do a lot of repair on the fencing.

Action Alert: Tell BLM No to Sterilizing Saylor Creek Herd

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation.

saylor creek horsesFor the first time ever, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to convert a wild, free-roaming mustang population into a non-reproducing herd of sterilized horses. The BLM Idaho plan for the Saylor Creek Herd Management Area (HMA) would destroy the wild horses’ wild, free-roaming behaviors and is a recipe for managing this beautiful wild horse herd to extinction. If implemented, it would set a dangerous precedent for destroying healthy, sustainable wild horse populations into sterilized groups of horses that will die off. AWHPC’s formal protest of this destructive and devastating plan is pending, but we need the public to weigh in to help Keep the Saylor Creek Wild Horses Wild! Take action and sign the petition.

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700 Horses in Crosshairs of Army Training

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The following story is by Heidi Rucki of the Examiner.com.

Lately it seems that horses are often in the news, and horses have become the unwary targets of the clash of human land use versus their simple animal existence. Any time horses become magnets of such attention, they frequently do not fare well. Information coming from the U.S. Army on Aug. 12 and 13 has riveted attention on about 700 “feral” horses roaming on thousands of acres in Louisiana on lands used by the army during training exercises. The horses are increasingly considered “nuisance animals” because they may pose a kicking or biting danger or leave random piles of manure.

Fort Polk spokesperson Kim Reischling says that the intense military training of crosshairstroops has to pause until the horses are “shooed away.” They leave behind horse manure in the areas used by soldiers. The training area is about 90 miles northwest of Lafayette, LA, and around 20 miles from the Texas state line. Most of the horses are located on 48,000 acres of the 90,000 acres of forest land that are used for training purposes.

BLM Summer 2015 Roundup

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The following update is from American Wild Horse Preservation.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Summer 2015 roundup season is underway. Newly captured wild horses and burros will be added to the nearly 50,000 currently stockpiled in holding facilities. Of note is the BLM removal numbers are significantly lower than those of previous years, which is largely the result of BLM’s inability to remove larger numbers of horses due to lack of holding space. This situation creates an opportunity, and should make it necessary, for the BLM to increase the use of humane fertility control as an alternative to removing massive numbers of wild horses and burros from the range. However, the agency continues to fight against making progress towards creating a humane and sustainable on-the-range management program.