Tag Archives: fertility control

Equine reproductive immunology Ph.D speaks out in 2010 against using PZP on wild horses

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PM President Obama Listen to the Science

November 27, 2010

Jared Bybee, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist

Department of the Interior

Bureau of Land Management

Billings Field Office

5001 Southgate Drive

Billings, Montana 59101-4669

VIA FAX: 406-896-5281

RE: Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Fertility Control Preliminary Environmental
Assessment Tiered to the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Environmental Assessment and Herd Management Area Plan May 2009 EA DOI-BLM-MT-0010-2011-0004-EA

Dear Jared Bybee:

Background

I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range
Fertility Control Preliminary Environmental Assessment Tiered to the Pryor Mountain Wild
Horse Range Environmental Assessment and Herd Management Area Plan May 2009 EA DOI-BLM-MT-0010-2011-0004-EA. My background is in equine reproductive immunology and wildlife conservation. I applaud the Billings Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a thoughtful approach to this issue. Cover letter 4700 (010.JB) dated November 2010 and signed by James M. Sparks, Field Manager states that the BLM would consider comments and revision to the EA or unsigned FONSI as appropriate. I urge a “no action alternative” as outlined on page 7 and 8 of the EA. This request is based on two pieces of new scientific evidence about effects of current immuno-contraception use.

Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) Contraception

The proposed action as stated on page 7 of this EA would exempt “mares ages 5-10 unless they have produced foals, or are part of a large bloodline.” This is reminiscent of the approach taken with the Assateague Island wild horse population. It is a compromise approach to this issue, in comparison to placing all mares on PZP. However a recent study shows that mitochondrial DNA diversity is low in the Assateague Island horse herd (Eggert et al. 2010). Since mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother (mare), this is evidence that female inherited genetics on Assateague Island wild horses is under represented. It is imperative that this be assessed before rolling out a similar management plan for the Pryor Mountain wild horses.

There is a recent Princeton University study on PZP effects. Consecutive PZP applications, analogous to the proposed action plan in this EA, showed that mares gave birth later in the season, and were cycling into the fall months (Nunez et al. 2010). In a state like Montana where freezing temperatures are found in the fall, this can have serious and long term effects on foal survivorship.

I must include a statement on long term consecutive use of PZP. Any form of PZP contraception is not completely reversible in mares depending on the length of use of PZP. Contraception can only be reversed when the antibody titer decreases to 50-60% of the positive reference sera (Liu et al. 2005). Mares treated for 7 consecutive years do not return to viable fertility (Kirkpatrick and Turner 2002; Kirkpatrick et al. 2009). The issue of reversible contraception is very important to be able to maintain wild equines in the United States. Long term treatment with PZP has inherent negative potential for this herd.

I am requesting a new look at the proposed fertility control action for the Pryor Mountain wild horses.

Sincerely,

Christine DeCarlo, Ph.D.

Lori S. Eggert, David M. Powell, et al. (2010). “Pedigrees and the Study of the Wild Horse
Population of Assateague Island National Seashore.” Journal of Wildlife Management
74(5): 963-973.

J. F. Kirkpatrick, A. Rowan, et al. (2009). “The practical side of immunocontraception: zona
proteins and wildlife.” J Reprod Immunol 83(1-2): 151-7.

J. F. Kirkpatrick and A. Turner (2002). “Reversibility of action and safety during pregnancy of immunization against porcine zona pellucida in wild mares (Equus caballus).” Reprod
Suppl 60: 197-202.

I. K. Liu, J. W. Turner, Jr., et al. (2005). “Persistence of anti-zonae pellucidae antibodies
following a single inoculation of porcine zonae pellucidae in the domestic equine.”
Reproduction 129(2): 181-90.

Cassandra M. V. Nunez, James S. Adelman, et al. (2010). “Immunoctraception in Wild Horses (Equus caballus) Extends Reproductive Cycling Beyond the Normal Breeding Season.” PLos ONE 5(10): 1-10.

(Posted for educational purposes)

 

Equine reproductive immunology Ph.D speaks out in 2010 against using PZP on wild horses

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Native Wild Horses (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved)

Native Wild Horses (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved)

November 27, 2010 

Jared Bybee, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist 

Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Land Management 

Billings Field Office 

5001 Southgate Drive 

Billings, Montana 59101-4669 

VIA FAX: 406-896-5281 

RE: Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Fertility Control Preliminary Environmental 
Assessment Tiered to the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Environmental Assessment 
and Herd Management Area Plan May 2009 EA DOI-BLM-MT-0010-2011-0004-EA 

Dear Jared Bybee: 

Background 

I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range 
Fertility Control Preliminary Environmental Assessment Tiered to the Pryor Mountain Wild 
Horse Range Environmental Assessment and Herd Management Area Plan May 2009 EA DOI-
BLM-MT-0010-2011-0004-EA. My background is in equine reproductive immunology and 
wildlife conservation. I applaud the Billings Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) for a thoughtful approach to this issue. Cover letter 4700 (010.JB) dated November 1. 
2010 and signed by James M. Sparks, Field Manager states that the BLM would consider 
comments and revision to the EA or unsigned FONSI as appropriate. I urge a “no action 
alternative” as outlined on page 7 and 8 of the EA. This request is based on two pieces of new 
scientific evidence about effects of current immuno-contraception use. 

Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) Contraception 

The proposed action as stated on page 7 of this EA would exempt “mares ages 5-10 unless they 
have produced foals, or are part of a large bloodline.” This is reminiscent of the approach taken 
with the Assateague Island wild horse population. It is a compromise approach to this issue, in 
comparison to placing all mares on PZP. However a recent study shows that mitochondrial DNA 
diversity is low in the Assateague Island horse herd (Eggert et al. 2010). Since mitochondrial 
DNA is inherited from the mother (mare), this is evidence that female inherited genetics on 
Assateague Island wild horses is under represented. It is imperative that this be assessed before 
rolling out a similar management plan for the Pryor Mountain wild horses. 

There is a recent Princeton University study on PZP effects. Consecutive PZP applications, 
analogous to the proposed action plan in this EA, showed that mares gave birth later in the 
season, and were cycling into the fall months (Nunez et al. 2010). In a state like Montana where 

freezing temperatures are found in the fall, this can have serious and long term effects on foal 
survivorship. 

I must include a statement on long term consecutive use of PZP. Any form of PZP contraception 
is not completely reversible in mares depending on the length of use of PZP. Contraception can 
only be reversed when the antibody titer decreases to 50-60% of the positive reference sera (Liu 
et al. 2005). Mares treated for 7 consecutive years do not return to viable fertility (Kirkpatrick 
and Turner 2002; Kirkpatrick et al. 2009). The issue of reversible contraception is very important 
to be able to maintain wild equines in the United States. Long term treatment with PZP has 
inherent negative potential for this herd. 

I am requesting a new look at the proposed fertility control action for the Pryor Mountain wild 
horses. 

Sincerely, 

Christine DeCarlo, Ph.D. 

Lori S. Eggert, David M. Powell, et al. (2010). "Pedigrees and the Study of the Wild Horse 
Population of Assateague Island National Seashore." Journal of Wildlife Management 
74(5): 963-973. 

J. F. Kirkpatrick, A. Rowan, et al. (2009). "The practical side of immunocontraception: zona 
proteins and wildlife." J Reprod Immunol 83(1-2): 151-7. 

J. F. Kirkpatrick and A. Turner (2002). "Reversibility of action and safety during pregnancy of 
immunization against porcine zona pellucida in wild mares (Equus caballus)." Reprod 
Suppl 60: 197-202. 

I. K. Liu, J. W. Turner, Jr., et al. (2005). "Persistence of anti-zonae pellucidae antibodies 
following a single inoculation of porcine zonae pellucidae in the domestic equine." 
Reproduction 129(2): 181-90. 

Cassandra M. V. Nunez, James S. Adelman, et al. (2010). "Immunoctraception in Wild Horses 
(Equus caballus) Extends Reproductive Cycling Beyond the Normal Breeding Season." 
PLos ONE 5(10): 1-10.

(Posted for educational purposes)

BAD NEWS! The President’s proposed budget calls for aggressive population control methods. Email your Senators and Rep to defund sterilizations and request a ten-year moratorium on roundups

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from Wikimedia

from Wikimedia

Statement

“The President’s fiscal year 2015 budget request is outrageous. It favors Big Oil and Gas fracking on public land while funding the American wild horse wipe-out. Currently there is no evidence of overpopulation while the BLM’s  runaway train for sterilization packaged as ‘birth control’ bashes down the tracks. We request a ten-year moratorium on roundups for scientific studies on population, migration and holistic land management. Science must come before aggressive measures to sterilize native wild horses. Birthrates are abnormally high from excessive roundups. Studies show the herds will self-regulate if the BLM stops managing them to extinction.” ~Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs

Contact your senators and representatives today!   http://www.contactingthecongress.org/  Send them the study showing wild horse herds will self-regulate http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6057

Please sign and share the Change.org Petition to De-Fund & Stop the Roundups.

Sign and share the petition for a 10-year moratorium on roundups for scientific studies: http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-scientific-research

Read the fine print, ask questions and beware of pleges you are asking your representative to sign. Read: Are wild horses going to be sterilized due to an advocacy campaign? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6356

PZP is a restricted use pesticide approved by the EPA calling wild horses PESTS! The Humane Society of the United States is the registrant of the drug. Why did they name indigenous wild horses pests? Was it to fast-track the drug because the FDA would not approve it?

Press Release: No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4453

Protect Mustangs speaks out against the Cloud Foundation’s PARTNERSHIP with BLM using risky PZP that could terminate natural selection: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4941

Wildlife Ecologist, Craig Downer, speaks out against using PZP in the Pryors: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4178

Proof the herds will self regulate: Study shows wild horse herds with functional social structures contribute to low herd growth compared to BLM managed herds http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6057

Use social media, email and call elected officials to help save America’s wild horses. Wild Horse Wednesday™ is a call to action day. #WildHorseWednesday www.ProtectMustangs.org

Go to the 2015 Budget and comment below on the problems you see.

PM BLM Hip Branding

Cross-posted from a BLM press release:

President Proposes $1.1 Billion for BLM in Fiscal Year 2015
Investment in Public Lands Yields $150 billion in Economic Output and 750,000 Jobs

WASHINGTON – President Obama today requested $1.1 billion for the Bureau of Land Management in Fiscal Year 2015, which will enable the BLM to continue to responsibly manage the development of conventional and renewable energy on public lands, conserve valuable wildlife habitat and cultural and historic resources, and implement innovative landscape scale management approaches.

“This balanced and responsible proposal will advance the BLM’s mission of multiple use and sustained yield of the public lands at a time of tight budgets,” said BLM Principal Deputy Director Neil Kornze. “The BLM continues to be a major economic engine for many communities across the West and this budget makes smart investments that provide for a secure energy future, expanded outdoor recreational opportunities and thoughtful resource management.”

Kornze noted that the BLM generates an estimated $150 billion annually in economic output for the Nation and supports more than 750,000 jobs through resource development and conservation and recreational activities on BLM-managed public lands.

The 2015 President’s request seeks $954.1 million for the Management of Lands and Resources appropriation and $104.0 million for the Oregon and California Grant Lands appropriation, the BLM’s two major operating accounts.  The total BLM budget request, partially offset by new fee collections, is a decrease of $5.6 million below the 2014 enacted level.

Under the President’s budget for 2015, the BLM – with a workforce of about 10,000 employees – would focus on the following priorities:

Powering Our Future – The President’s 2015 budget proposes an increase of $20.3 million above the 2014 enacted level ($113.4 million) for the BLM’s Oil and Gas Management program. The request includes both direct appropriations and funding fees for services provided to oil and gas producers on Federal lands.  The request includes an increase of $5.2 million to provide staffing, training, and other resources needed to strengthen operational guidance to BLM units.  The request also includes $4.6 million to strengthen the BLM’s core oversight, leasing and permitting capabilities, allowing the BLM to keep up with industry demand and workload.  Among other things, the increase will enable BLM to fill vacancies and expand staff in key locations, as well as continue implementing leasing reforms instituted in May 2010 by supporting enhanced environmental analysis and planning for future lease sales.  The budget request also proposes to expand and strengthen BLM’s inspection and oversight capability through fees comparable to those assessed for offshore inspections.  This funding will help BLM fully implement a risk-based inspection strategy to improve production accountability, safety, and environmental protection of oil and gas operations.  The budget proposes an inspection fee schedule estimated to generate $48.0 million in offsetting collections, which allows for a proposed reduction of $38.0 million in appropriated funds, while providing an increase of $10.0 million to enhance BLM’s inspection capability.

The President’s Budget request maintains funding for renewable energy at essentially the 2014 enacted level, $29.2 million, providing the BLM with the resources it needs to continue to aggressively facilitate and support solar, wind and geothermal energy development as Interior works toward the President’s goal of approving 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy on public lands by 2020.

Since 2009, the BLM has approved 50 utility-scale renewable energy proposals and associated transmission on public lands, including 27 solar, 11 wind, and 12 geothermal projects. Together, the projects could support more than 20,000 construction and operations jobs and, if fully built, generate nearly 14,000 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 4.8 million homes.

Complementing the Secretary’s Powering Our Future initiative are efforts to facilitate efficient delivery of energy to the markets where it is needed to meet growing demands.  The West’s aging electrical infrastructure is an impediment to efficient energy transmission and maximizing renewable energy development.  The BLM has a critical role in expanding electric transmission infrastructure through the issuance of rights-of-way.  To support the necessary upgrades needed to improve reliability and increase capacity, the budget includes a $5.0 million increase in the Cadastral, Lands and Realty Management program to enhance the BLM’s ability to identify and designate energy corridors in low conflict areas and to site high-voltage transmission lines, substations, and related infrastructure in an environmentally sensitive manner.

Bureau of Land Management Foundation – The budget proposes to establish a charitable, non-profit organization to benefit the public by protecting and restoring BLM’s natural, cultural, historical, and recreation resources for future generations.  The National BLM Foundation will be similar to existing foundations, including the National Park Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Forest Foundation.

Sage-Grouse Conservation – The President’s request continues to provide $15 million to implement broad-scale Sage-Grouse planning and conservation activities to lessen the threats to the sage grouse and its habitat to help prevent the future listing of the species for protection under the Endangered Species Act.  The efforts include amending or revising 98 land-use plans to designate priority habitat; performing habitat restoration and improvement; and conducting habitat mapping, assessment and monitoring activities.

America’s Great Outdoors – The BLM plays a key role in advancing the President’s conservation initiative to reconnect Americans to the outdoors.  More than 61 million visits are made to BLM public lands every year.  Accordingly, the 2015 budget request includes an increase of $1.9 million to strengthen management of national monuments and national conservation areas, key units of BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System that contain some of the West’s most spectacular landscapes.  Other increases in support of America’s Great Outdoors include $900,000 in Recreation Resources Management for planning, visitor safety, and interpretive services and $742,000 in Cultural Resources Management for inventory and site protection activities.

The 2015 budget also includes increases for programs funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a vital component of the America’s Great Outdoors initiative.  The 2015 budget proposal includes a total of $89.4 million for BLM land acquisition, including $25.0 million in requested discretionary appropriations and $64.4 million in permanent funding.

Wild Horse and Burro Management – The President’s budget proposes a $2.8 million increase in the Wild Horse and Burro Management program to allow BLM to more aggressively implement recommendations in the June 2013 National Academy of Sciences report on improving the WH&B program, including expanding ongoing research on population control methods, a key component of controlling program costs.

Engaging the Next Generation – The 2015 budget request seeks a total of $4.8 million for BLM youth programs and partnerships, a $1.3 million increase over the 2014 enacted level.  This funding will enable the BLM to engage youth in work and training opportunities that promote conservation stewardship and pathways to careers.

Enterprise Geospatial System – The BLM is requesting $3.8 million to expand the implementation of the BLM’s enterprise geospatial system in 2015.  This will include improved data management across administrative units that will provide enhanced information for landscape-scale planning initiatives, include the Greater Sage-Grouse Plan Implementation and Monitoring, Renewable energy Development, Rapid Eco-regional Assessments, Climate Change Adaptation and Regional Mitigation.

Abandoned Mine Lands – A $2.8 million program increase in the Abandoned Mine Lands program will support implementation of the remediation plan goals for 2015 at the Red Devil Mine site in Alaska.

Challenge Cost Share – A proposed program increase of $1.2 million in the Challenge Cost Share program will be leveraged with support from local partner organizations to address priorities for on-the-ground habitat conservation, recreation, and cultural resources protection work.

Livestock Grazing – As in previous years, the Administration’s budget proposal seeks to initiate a grazing administration fee pilot project that would enhance BLM’s capacity for processing grazing permits.  A fee of $1 per animal unit month is estimated to generate $6.5 million in fee collections in 2015, more than offsetting a $4.8 million decrease in appropriated funds in the Rangeland Management program.  The increase of $1.7 million in funding resources will allow BLM to make more progress in addressing the grazing permit backlog.

Alaska Conveyance – The 2015 budget proposal seeks $19 million for the Alaska Conveyance Program allowing the Agency to continue to pursue the implementation of more efficient cadastral survey methods with a goal of completing all Alaska survey and land transfers in the next 10 years.

Oregon and California Grant Lands – The budget proposes reductions totaling $11 million in the Oregon and California Grant Lands account, including a $4.2 million decrease in Western Oregon Resource Management Planning, which is consistent with the expectation that the BLM will complete six resource management plans during fiscal year 2015.

Implementing Federal Oil and Gas Reforms – The 2015 budget includes a package of legislative reforms to bolster and backstop administrative actions being taken to reform management of Interior’s onshore and offshore oil and gas programs, with a key focus on improving the return to taxpayers from the sale of these Federal resources and on improving transparency and oversight.  Proposed statutory and administrative changes fall into three general categories: (1) encouraging diligent development of oil and gas leases, (2) improving revenue collection processes, and (3) advancing royalty reform.  Collectively, these reforms will generate roughly $2.5 billion in revenue to the Treasury over ten years, of which approximately $1.7 billion will result from statutory changes.  Many States also will benefit from higher Federal revenue sharing payments as a result of these reforms.

Modernizing Management of Hardrock Mining and Abandoned Mine Clean-up – The budget includes mandatory proposals to address the legacy of the Nation’s antiquated laws on hardrock mining.  Reforms will ensure the cleanup of environmental and safety hazards from past mining practices by creating a Hardrock Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) program with dedicated funding for AML cleanup, and provide taxpayers a fair return from the mining of gold, silver and other hardrock resources on Federal lands.

Additional details on the President’s FY 2015 budget request are available online at http://www.doi.gov/budget.

Link to this alert is here: : http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6467

Astounding data on population growth

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ISPMB HERDS SHOW THAT FUNCTIONAL SOCIAL STRUCTURES CONTRIBUTE TO LOW HERD GROWTH COMPARED TO BLM MANAGED HERDS 

 As we complete our thirteenth year in studying the White Sands and Gila herds, two isolated herds, which live in similar habitat but represent two different horse cultures, have demonstrated much lower reproductive rates than BLM managed herds.  Maintaining the “herd integrity” with a hands off management strategy (“minimal feasible management”) and no removals in 13 years has shown us that functional herds demonstrating strong social bonds and leadership of elder animals is key to the behavioral management of population growth..

ISPMB‘s president, Karen Sussman, who has monitored and studied ISPMB’s four wild herds all these years explains, “We would ascertain from our data that due to BLM’s constant roundups causing the continual disruption of the very intricate social structures of the harem bands has allowed younger stallions to take over losing the mentorship of the older wiser stallions.

In simplistic terms Sussman makes the analogy that over time Harvard professors (elder wiser stallions) have been replaced by errant teenagers (younger bachelor stallions).  We know that generally teenagers do not make good parents because they are children themselves.

Sussman’s observations of her two stable herds show that there is tremendous respect commanded amongst the harems.  Bachelor stallions learn that respect from their natal harems.  Bachelors usually don’t take their own harems until they are ten years of age.  Sussman has observed that stallions mature emotionally at much slower rates than mares and at age ten they appear ready to assume the awesome responsibility of becoming a harem stallion.

Also observed in these herds is the length of time that fillies remain with their natal bands.  The fillies leave when they are bred by an outside stallion at the age of four or five years.  Often as first time mothers, they do quite well with their foals but foal mortality is higher than with seasoned mothers.

Sussman has also observed in her Gila herd where the harems work together for the good of the entire herd.  “Seeing this cooperative effort is quite exciting,” states Sussman.

ISPMB’s third herd, the Catnips, coming from the Sheldon Wildlife Range where efforts are underway to eliminate all horses on the refuge, demonstrate exactly the reverse of the organization’s two stable herds.  The first year of their arrival (2004) their fertility rates were 30% the following first and second years. They have loose band formations and some mares are without any harem stallions.  Stallions are observed breeding fillies as young as one year of age.  Foal mortality is very high in this herd.  Generally there is a lack of leadership and wisdom noted in the stallions as most of them were not older than ten years of age when they arrived.  In 2007, a decision to use PZP on this herd, a contraceptive, was employed by ISPMB.  This herd remains a very interesting herd to study over time according to Sussman.   “The question is, can a dysfunctional herd become functional,” says Sussman who speculates that the Catnips emulate many of the public lands herds.

In 1992 when Sussman and her colleague, Mary Ann Simonds, served on the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, they believed that BLM’s management should change and recommended that selective removals should begin by turning back all the older and wiser animals to retain the herd wisdom.  Sussman realizes that the missing ingredient was to stop the destruction of the harem bands caused by helicopter roundups where stallions are separated from their mares.  “Instead, bait and water trapping, band by band, needed to be instituted immediately,” says Sussman.  Had this been done for the past twenty years, we would have functionally healthy horses who have stable reproductive rates and we wouldn’t have had 52,000 wild horses in holding pastures today.   BLM’s selective removal policy was to return all horses over the age of five.  When the stallions and mares were released back to their herd management areas by the BLM, younger stallions under the age of ten fought for the mares and took mares from the older wiser stallions.  This occurs when there is chaos happening in a herd such as roundups cause.

Sussman also believes that when roundups happen often the younger stallions aged 6-9 are ones that evade capture.  This again contributes to younger stallions taking the place of older wiser stallions that remain with their mares and do not evade capture.  She is advocating that the BLM carry out two studies: determining the age of fillies who are pregnant and determining age structures of stallions after removals.

Currently Sussman is developing criteria to determine whether bands are behaviorally healthy or not.  This could be instituted easily in observation of public lands horses.

Taken from BLM’s website:  “Because of federal protection and a lack of natural predators, wild horse and burro herds can double in size about every four years.”

White Sands Herd Growth: 1999-2013 – 165 animals.

BLM’s assertion herds double every four years means there should be 980 horses or more than five times the growth of ISPMB’s White Sands herd.

Gila Herd Growth:1999-2013- 100 animals.

BLM’s assertion herds double every four years means there should be 434 horses or nearly four times the growth of ISPMB’s Gila herd.

Sussman says that BLM’s assertion as to why horse herds double every four years is incorrect. The two reasons given are federal protection of wild horse herds and lack of natural predators. ISPMB herds are also protected and also have no natural predators, but they do not reproduce exponentially. She adds that exponential wild horse population growth on BLM lands must have another cause, and the most likely cause is lack of management and understanding of wild horses as wildlife species.  Instead BLM manages horses like livestock. “According to the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, all management of wild horse populations was to be at the ‘minimal feasible level’,” Sussman says. “When the BLM’s heavy-handed disruption and destruction of wild horse social structures is the chief contributing factor in creating population growth five times greater than normal, than the BLM interference can hardly be at a ‘minimal feasible level.'”

Sussman concludes that ISPMB herds are given the greatest opportunity for survival, compared to the BLM’s herds which are not monitored throughout the year.  “One would assume,” Sussman says, “herds that are well taken care of and monitored closely would have a greater survival rate.  Yet, even under the optimum conditions of ISPMB herds, they still did not increase nearly 500% like BLM herds.”

Karen Sussman has been riding horses since the age of four.  She has spent the last thirty-two years working with wild horses and burros and has been involved in every aspect of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program including: assisting in the development of a consistent training program for the prison training program, development of a volunteer compliance program for adopted wild horses and burros, a catalyst for the increasing fines from $2,000 to $100,000 for the death of wild horses or burros, monitoring fee-waivered animals in Montana.  Sussman received the prestigious Health of the Land Award serving on the BLM’s Black Mountain Eco-team developing a gold-standard model for managing wild burros.  She served on the National Wild Horse and Advisory Board in 1990-92.

Cross-posted from:  http://www.ispmb.org/

 

The Salazar Plan outlines everything in 2009

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Release Date: 10/07/09
Contacts: Frank Quimby (DOI) , 202-208-6416
Tom Gorey (BLM) , 202-912-7420

Secretary Salazar Seeks Congressional Support for Strategy to Manage Iconic Wild Horses
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today proposed a national solution to restore the health of America’s wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them by creating a cost-efficient, sustainable management program that includes the possible creation of wild horse preserves on the productive grasslands of the Midwest and East.“The current path of the wild horse and burro program is not sustainable for the animals, the environment, or the taxpayer,” Salazar said in a letter outlining his proposals to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and eight other key members of Congress with jurisdiction over wild horse issues.  Salazar said he is “proposing to develop new approaches that will require bold efforts from the Administration and from Congress to put this program on a more sustainable track, enhance the conservation for these iconic animals, and provide better value for the taxpayer.”Bob Abbey, Director of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), commended the Secretary for his initiative, saying, “The proposals we are unveiling today represent a forward-looking, responsive effort to deal with the myriad challenges facing our agency’s wild horse and burro program.”  Abbey added, “We owe wild horses and burros on Western rangelands high-quality habitat. We owe the unadopted wild horses and burros in holding good care and treatment.  And we owe the American taxpayer a well-run, cost-effective wild horse program. Today’s package of proposals will achieve those ends.”The challenges to the BLM associated with maintaining robust wild horse populations in the West have been recognized by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has warned that program costs have risen beyond sustainable levels and directed the BLM to prepare a long-term plan for the program.  The Government Accountability Office also found the program to be at a “critical crossroads,” affirmed the need to control off-the-range holding costs, and recommended that the BLM work with Congress to find a responsible way to manage the increasing number of unadopted horses.  In response to Congressional direction, Salazar’s proposals aim to achieve a “truly national solution” to a traditionally Western issue.

In four decades under the BLM’s protection, wild horses that were fast disappearing from the American scene are now experiencing rapid growth.  Secretary Salazar noted that some 37,000 wild horses and burros, which have virtually no natural predators, roam in 10 Western states, where arid rangelands and watersheds “cannot support a population this large without significant damage to the environment.”

The BLM works to achieve an ecological balance on the range by removing thousands of wild horses and burros from public rangelands each year and then offering them for adoption.   Unadopted animals are cared for in short-term corrals and long-term pastures.  With the sharp decline in wild horse adoptions in recent years because of the economic downturn, the Bureau now maintains nearly 32,000 wild horses and burros in holding, including more than 9,500 in expensive short-term corrals.  In the most recent fiscal year (2009), which ended September 30, holding costs were approximately $29 million, or about 70 percent of the total 2009 enacted wild horse and burro program budget of $40.6 million.

A key element of the Secretary’s plan, designed to address concerns raised by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Government Accountability Office, would designate a new set of wild horse preserves across the nation.  Citing limits on forage and water in the West because of persistent drought and wildfire, Salazar said the lands acquired by the BLM and/or its partners “would provide excellent opportunities to celebrate the historic significance of wild horses, showcase these animals to the American public, and serve as natural assets that support local tourism and economic activity.”  The wild horse herds placed in these preserves would be non-reproducing.

In his letter, Salazar also proposed:

  • Managing the new preserves either directly by the BLM or through cooperative agreements between the BLM and private non-profit organizations or other partners to reduce the Bureau’s off-the-range holding costs.  This coordinated effort would harness the energy of wild horse and burro supporters, whose enthusiasm would also be tapped to promote wild horse adoptions at a time when adoption demand has softened.• Showcasing certain herds on public lands in the West that warrant distinct recognition with Secretarial or possibly congressional designations.  These would highlight the special qualities of America’s wild horses while generating eco-tourism for nearby rural communities.• Applying new strategies aimed at balancing wild horse and burro population growth rates with public adoption demand.  This effort would involve slowing population growth rates of wild horses on Western public rangelands through the aggressive use of fertility control, the active management of sex ratios on the range, and perhaps even the introduction of non-reproducing herds in some of the BLM’s existing Herd Management Areas in 10 Western states.  The new strategies would also include placing more animals into private care by making adoptions more flexible where appropriate.

Noting that his proposals are subject to Congressional approval and appropriations, Salazar said he and Director Abbey look forward to discussing them with members of Congress “as we work together to protect and manage America’s ‘Living Legends.’”

A copy of the letter is online at www.blm.gov. For background information on the national wild horse and burro program, please visit the BLM’s Website at www.blm.gov.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. In Fiscal Year 2012, activities on public lands generated $4.6 billion in revenue, much of which was shared with the States where the activities occurred. In addition, public lands contributed more than $112 billion to the U.S. economy and helped support more than 500,000 jobs.
–BLM–http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2009/october/salazar_seeks_congressional.html

#Breaking: Requesting Secretary Jewell call for a moratorium on roundups and population studies before controlling fertility of wild horses and burros

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Secretary Sally Jewell Photo by BLM

Secretary Sally Jewell Photo by BLM

Letter to the Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell on Flag Day

June 14th, 2013

Dear Secretary Jewell,

First of all we would like to congratulate you on your new position as Secretary of Interior.

The National Academy of Sciences published a report last week. According to a press release from NAS released Wednesday, “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) current practice of removing free-ranging horses from public lands promotes a high population growth rate, and maintaining them in long-term holding facilities is both economically unsustainable and incongruent with public expectations, says a new report by the National Research Council.”

Despite the fact that there is no evidence of overpopulation, The NAS is suggesting a broad use of fertility control–sterilization and risky birth control approved by the EPA as a “restricted use pesticide”.

You can read about the issue in the Washington Post here as it went viral around the world: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-05/national/39747528_1_roundups-fertility-population-growth

The FDA would not approve this fertility control drug for equines. If the drugs/pesticides/birth control are not dangerous, then why haven’t they been approved for domestic horses?

Science has proven wild horses are returned-natives. Any designation of them as “pests” surely will be challenged in the courts in the near future.

We are requesting a moratorium on roundups and a scientific study to determine the actual population as well as birthrate–without the herds feeling an urgent need to reproduce because of excessive roundups since 2009. We kindly request this occur before any action to sterilize or give birth control labelled a “restricted use pesticide” to America’s wild horses and burros.

There are several health risks involved with giving free-roaming mares PZP, GonaCon® and other immunocontraceptives as well as sterilizing them or the stallions. I will provide more information in another letter.

We also request you consider the fact that managing wild horses and burros with fertility control would domesticate them because man would be choosing who breeds when, for more than a million years, Equus caballus has evolved through the survival of the fittest model.

The environment is changing and with it wildlife must evolve to survive. We are deeply concerned that using fertility control would manage them to extinction due to human interference with natural selection.

We don’t have any conflicts of interests as we are not funded by organizations and or companies connected to fertility control products and services. We are asking you for your help during this crisis because we represent many Americans who care about wild horses and burros.

Advocates estimate there are only 18,000 wild horses left in the wild. The BLM has been claiming their numbers are in the high 30,000 to justify large-scale, costly roundups and removals since 2009. The BLM has a huge budget for the program and no scientific proof of population–no headcount. Their overpopulation claim lacks scientific evidence as we claimed and was determined by the National Academy of Sciences

It’s time for wild horses and burros to be managed using real science not junk science. We encourage you to put a moratorium on roundups and complete a comprehensive scientific population study before you agree to using any fertility controls on our wild herds.

Thank you for helping save America’s wild horses and burros from being managed to extinction.

Sincerely,

Anne Novak

 

Anne Novak

Executive Director

Protect Mustangs

San Francisco Bay Area

 

As seen in the Washington Post

Read about native wild horses: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562 

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www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is devoted to protecting native wild horses. Our mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

 

#WildHorses #Environment #animals #horses #fracking #food #water #green #science #Foodie #America #Nature #News #Breaking @SecretaryJewell 

Bogus Science and Profiteering Stampeding Their Way into Wild Horse Country

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Nevada mustang © Carl Mrozek

Nevada mustang © Carl Mrozek

A Review of Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward (2013) 

by Jaime Jackson, AANHCP Executive Director

I’ve reviewed the entire 300+ page National Academy of Sciences report—clearly a major undertaking by all the scientists involved and a bit of a “heavy” read—including its academic findings and recommendations (“A Way Forward”) which are, in the end, woefully predictable. Thinking about it, however, the scientists who created the report really had no choice, given the limits of the Wild, Free-roaming and Burro Act itself, if we are to accept that, but to work within its boundaries and the conundrum set upon them by that law’s specious political and land management premise and somehow respond to the task put upon them by the BLM. Clearer and more honest minds might have said, “I want no part of such a nasty, skewed project.” I also gleaned the biographies of each scientist to see what kind of understanding they would bring to the table regarding horse care based on their education and training, and if they seem like “clear minded” thinkers who could think outside the box in the best interest of any horse. On that note alone, wild horses are in trouble.

Because the “limits” put upon the NAS committee by the wild horse law are what they are, and because these are basically mainstream scientists drawn out of academia, it is entirely logical that they would recommend regulating wild horse and burro populations, in their words, “with science”. But what kind of science, one might ask? Well, the fact is, it’s the same brand of science, and scien- tific minds in today’s academia, that has failed the domesticated horse. We’re talking about scientists who serve the special interests of government and its lobbyists, the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, and so forth, that have given us drugs and feeds and management practices that cause laminitis and other metabolic breakdowns of the horse. Indeed, it is all profitable for the very community that has created this “science based” disaster for horses. I’m not just spewing words here without foundation, horses truly suffer for it, and it is this bad science and corresponding harmful equine management practices that have given birth to and fueled the internationally burgeoning NHC movement. That is a fact—and it is a fact also that these scientists, and the special interests that fund them, refuse to acknowledge NHC because what we do and advocate for gets directly to the bottom of ethics and profiteering and inbred academic close-mindedness.

The authors of this NAS report have very skillfully woven together what is genuinely good sci- ence with the bad, while ignoring other good science altogether—all to the end of supporting the bogus proposition that their brand of “science” favors a lasting solution for wild horse management. If one reads their report carefully, however, one can sense the palpable excitement and impatience behind their drug-based recommendations. For example, they urge the BLM to step up an accurate numbers count in the HMAs (which, arguably, given that agency’s past, can never be trusted) because, they suggest, the quantities of PZP and other pharmaceutical agents needed to cleanse wild horse country will surely be vastly greater than what was used in their scientifically con- taminated control study done to the Assateague ponies of the U.S. east coast (cited in their re- port). Assateague was not good science, anymore than what has happened to those horses long before the government’s study. It catered to the drug industry and the same eugenics science that the U.S. and British governments sanctioned and used against people during the greater part of the 20th century (up to the 1960s and 70s), and that was astutely “borrowed” from by Nazi Germany for its extermination campaigns to “rid the world of undesirables”.

Just as tactfully, and just as predictably, the NAS authors stated that predation behavior was not viable, ignoring Drs. Turner and Morrow’s mountain lion predations studies referenced in my books, The Natural Horse and Paddock Paradise, and which proved the viability of natural predation on wild horse herds. Of course, the reason that natural mountain lion and wolf predation won’t work, and which the NAS report fails to explain, is because BLM management practices have provided for their extermination and/or removal under welfare ranching pressure that deflects the truth of what’s happening within their grandfathered land leases born of the Taylor Grazing Act and the BLM’s inception.

I could easily go on, and on, and on, nit picking the massive tangled NAS report, but would just be wasting my time and yours with the report’s self-serving “word salad”. The fact is, there is no genuine solution in their report that respects the natural integrity of America’s wild, free- roaming horses. And there is no debating the authors of the report either, for they are completely sold out to the very special interests who have never seen value in our wild horses. In fact, it is the science community that has recently aided and abetted the government in reclassifying wild horses legally as “pests” so that the pesticide PZP can be used on them for birth control purposes. You see, the NAS report is no surprise, as its convoluted “commandments” have been systematically orchestrated and colluded with by just about everyone in sight, including—and I am sad to say—nearly every purported “wild horse protection” group and sanctuary in the United States. Many of these groups stand to “gain” from this collusion, including the HSUS that co-owns patent rights to PZP.

Tax payers can expect to pay more, not less, as they watch their wild horse herds deteriorate genetically under the government’s Nazification of the HMAs through racism-based eugenics. This is because there is profit motive at its foundation. In fact, the report cautions that “public confidence” and trust will be an important part of the “master solution”. Inundating tax payers with scientific “word salad” that few can understand, is understood. Clearly, the public does not understand the underlying issues, except what they hear in the news. From that vantage point, this does not bode well for our wild horses.

What is needed is a new vision and a new law for genuine wild horse preservation. The current law is bankrupt and offers no real protection, let alone preservation. Science, industry and the big government have joined claws and are at war with Natural Selection, because they are losing—and they know it. And, it is for this reason, that Science is now being called upon to step up the delusion that the war on nature can and will be won. Like the war on cancer, no such victory is forthcoming. But because the war is profit driven, the war is welcome. Read the NAS report with a critical eye, and you will see this. In the end, HMAs will become zoos with GMO wild horses. Like those we see in the wild horse protectionist’s “sanctuaries”: sad, pathetic parodies of real wild horses. Is this what the public envisioned when it stood behind the original wild horse protection law? Of course not. but, here today, government and science and industry (and its camp following ersatz wild horse protectionists begging for crumbs), all hand in hand, are going to exploit wild horses and unwitting taxpayers for what they can—until, at long last, nature has proven them wrong, and the deceptive game is exposed for all to see. The Assateague model, which they will cite and hold up, is a broken one. But they are counting on an uninformed public to buy into it. Those of us in the NHC movement know better and can refute it with facts by simply looking at the hooves of those horses, if not the non-adaptative environment they are squeezed into be- cause of an historical fluke. Looking through the bios of the NAS committee members, I seriously doubt that any of them would have a clue of what I’m talking about.

The Obama Administration, as much of the voting public on both sides of the aisle have come to realize, is a compromised, “sold out to big industry” travesty that is going to stand be- hind the eugenics science and land grab scheme fully intended to bilk the taxpayer and pad the pockets of profiteers who, quite frankly, don’t give a damn about wild horses. That includes Sally Jewell, Obama’s hand-picked clone of Ken Salazar to head the Department of the Interior (BLM’s overseer), who is no friend of the wild horse or any horse. She came right out of big banking and the oil industry. Check out her bio on her DOI government website. She will go right along with “big science” because that is where the money is and because, the fact is (and it is not rocket science to figure it out), it will lead to the decimation of wild horse herds. James Kleinert’s film “Wild Horses and Renegades” draws a direct line between Jewell, “wild horse pests” and their extermination, and the land grab now going on in BLM country by big industries such as BP and backed by the Obama Administration.

Let me put it in simple terms — it’s just a matter of time before they’re shoeing wild horses in the HMAs! If you don’t want that, support the AANHCP’s vision for genuine, lasting wild horse protection and taxpayer relief. See it here: http://www.aanhcp.net/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=218&Itemid=85

NAS report: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php? booksearch=1&term=1&record_id=13511&Search+This+Book.x=27&Search+This+Book. y=15

NAS committee members: http://dels.nap.edu/Committee/committee-membership/DELS-BANR-10-05

Jamie Jackson’s piece in PDF: PM Jamie Jackson Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program