Ben Masters claims, in his PRO-KILL statement on 9/10/16, that there are 3,160 wild horses in the area he visited on the BLM tour last week. He visited Dolly Varden Spring in Antelope Valley, Nevada. One of our members was there too.
A well established local journalist, Larry Hyslop wrote about the wild horses at Dolly Varden Spring on 8/20/16. According to Hyslop there are 1,100 wild horses. Ben Masters, a new Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board member, claimed there were three times as many in his PRO-KILL statement on 9/10/16.
So who is telling the truth?
How many wild horses are out there? Where is the evidence?
Ben Masters only holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University. He produced and played himself in the film, UNBRANDED, a Bureau of Land Management propaganda film with all those talking heads forced into the story of an epic journey.
Bureau of Land Management in Oregon thwarts placement of wild horses with sales rate hike
The same tax-payer funded facility who wants to partner with Oregon State University to conduct population control experiments on Americas pregnant wild mares is price gouging would be buyers of 3-Strikes wild horses to prevent them from going to good homes. The Bureau of Land Management (BoLM) in Oregon at the notorious Hines facility is asking 5 times as much money for each wild horse on the Internet Adoption. All the other facilities across the nation ask $25 or less.
Email your 2 senators and your congressional representative to let them know this is another example of BoLM’s lack of fair customer service. Include this blog post so it’s clear.
This is just one example of many that show BoLM’s poor customer service in the adoption and 3-Strikes program.
It’s clear the BoLM doesn’t want these wild horses to be adopted into good homes as the law requires but would rather sell them by the truckload to horse traders for slaughter, kill them or give them to henchmen in the states counties and cities as Rep. Chris Stewart’s Amendment on the 2017 Appropriations Bill would allow for “work horses” and most would end up going to slaughter. Obviously that’s their goal.
Protect Mustangs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
American public outraged wild horses are not relocated on public land
Between August 29 and September 1, a total of 155 horses – 33 foals, 55 mares and 67 studs – were rounded up and removed from public land by the Bureau of Land Management Vale District in Oregon as part of an emergency roundup in the Three Fingers Herd Management Area. Protect Mustangs, a nonprofit preservation organization, wants the family bands to remain intact and be immediately returned to public land. If need be, the organization says the wild horses should be returned to one of the many herd areas that has too few equids.
The wild horses rounded up were transported to the Oregon Adoption and research facility near Burns/Hines, and BLM claims they will be offered for adoption later in the year. Will all the wild horses will be offered for adoption or will some be sold because they are over 10 years old and some used in sterilization experiments at various locations including but not limited to Hines, Oregon?
The public is encouraged to watchdog and take photos of the American wild horses ripped from their homes who are now at the Hines Corral Facility, anytime Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. FOIAs should be filed to investigate why the BoLM went ahead despite court documents filed by an advocacy group to halt the proposed Three Fingers Roundup based on a faulty environmental assessment. The public has a right to know the truth.
“This gather was safe and successful for the horses,” said BLM Vale District Manager Don Gonzales. “Our overall goal is to maintain a thriving ecological balance of the Three Fingers HMA and surrounding rangelands, and to preserve the health and well-being of the Three Fingers herd.”
The Cherry Road Fire, which started August 21, burned about 90 percent of the Wildhorse Basin pasture in the Three Fingers HMA, where more than half of the estimated 279 wild horses in the herd live in freedom. Protect Mustangs wants to know the cause of the fire.
The Bureau of Land Management claims the fire damaged the mature seed heads needed to sustain the wild horses through the coming fall and winter months. They claim the remaining 10 percent of the Wildhorse Basin pasture has limited water resources and forage.
“With the end of their fiscal year approaching and with a roundup in their budget, the Oregon BoLM jumped on an opportunity to stockpile more wild horses in holding who could be at risk of being sold to slaughter in their lifetimes,” says Novak. “Was the public notified of the emergency government roundup so humane observers could attend?’
According to BoLM, each wild horse rounded up had a veterinary assessment upon arrival at the temporary holding corrals. Alleged pre-existing conditions and burn injuries were noted on three animals, and one foal with a severe hernia was euthanized.
Located 25 miles south of Vale, the Three Fingers Herd Management Area (HMA) is bordered on the east by the Owyhee Reservoir, on the south by the Leslie Gulch Road, and on the north by the Owyhee Dam. The herd population is currently estimated at 279 — the BoLM’s Arbitrary Management Level (AML) for the area is only 75-150 wild horses but that is too low for genetic viability of the treasured American herd especially facing climate change.
“America’s wild horses are disappearing in a vicious public land grab,” states Novak. “The public is outraged.”
Protect Mustangs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
The Bureau of Land Management (BoLM) is providing shade for the captive wild horses up for adoption at the Wyoming State Fair this weekend.
It’s time for the Wild Horse and Burro Program to follow their own example.
We would like to see the federal agency, who rakes in more than $4 billion a year in receipts, provide shade and shelter for all the captive wild horses in holding facilities. More than 43,500 people have signed our petition for shade and shelter (http://chn.ge/1DriOvN).
On June 9, 2013 Nevada State Senator Mark Manendo and Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs officially requested shade for the wild horses and burros at Palomino Valley Center, near Reno and elsewhere to ensure the welfare of these treasured equids. Their request for shade was refused and the sprinkler mitigation offered was unsuccessful because shelter is needed.
Now it is the summer of 2016 and due to public pressure some facilities are taking baby steps and some are conducting trials but it’s not enough. America’s captive icons of freedom deserve shade now!
The BoLM partnered with UC Davis for an expensive shade study that determined wild horses don’t need shade when they are in the corrals. It’s obvious they like having access to shade and use it as seen in the photo taken at Palomino Valley Center last week. The BoLM continues to conduct various shade trials while the years fly by and the wild ones suffer. Please sign and share the petition (http://chn.ge/1DriOvN) to get the BoLM to stop dragging their feet and do the right thing before more wild horses die.
Send this blog post to your congressional representative and two senators so they can get this done for the captives in the pens with no voice.
Protect Mustangs is a nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
Was Sage Creek (#1478) given Pesticide PZP like so many of the Fish Creek mares from Sarge’s herd who were rounded up, forcibly drugged but never released?
Look how the Bureau of Land Management inflates population numbers to justify roundups and the need for Pesticide PZP:
Fish Creek (NV)
256 = Population-estimate 2013
461 = Population-estimate 2014, before foaling season (January)
80.1% = Percentage increase in one year? Looks like some funny numbers!
Here are some Fish Creek mares at the BLM’s facility in Fallon, Nevada in 2015. They were going to be given Pesticide PZP and returned to the range but many were never returned. How many were slammed with 3-Strikes and where are they?
Can you find Sage Creek in with her relations?
The BoLM doesn’t want to use widespread PZP they want a one-shot quick way to sterilize America’s wild horses based on the false premise that wild horses are overpopulated and need fertility control. . . when the truth is they are being managed to extinction!
Supporting PZP only supports the BLM’s divide and conquer game to ruin a united force to protect America’s wild horses. It’s time to focus on the wild horses not pesticides.
Now Sage Creek looks horrible and should be honored with a life in sanctuary away from those who brutally ripped her from her family and freedom when they rounded up the Fish Creek wild mares for Pesticide PZP–made from slaughterhouse pig ovaries.
Here is what the Bureau of Land Management says about Sage Creek (#1478):
Sex: Mare Age: 6 Years Height (in hands): 14
Necktag #: 1478 Date Captured: 02/19/15
Freezemark: 10621478 Signalment Key: HF1AAAAFJ
Color: Red Roan Captured: Fish Creek (NV)
Notes:
Tag-#1478. 6 year old red roan mare gathered from the Fish Creek Herd Area in Nevada in February of 2015.
This horse is currently located in Palomino Valley, NV. For more information, please contact Jeb Beck at (775) 475-2222 or e-mail: j1beck@blm.gov
Update August 10: BLM said, “If no bids were placed on an animal in the last internet and a bidder that didn’t get the horse they choose as first pick didn’t decide to take a horse with no bid then those horses with no bids are available for pickup at PVC till August 22. After that date any remaining horses will be put on the next internet adoption. . . horses are available for pick up FROM PVC ONLY we will not ship as the truck is full at this point.”
From Protect Mustangs:
You can help by sharing Sage Creek’s (#1478) post to find a sanctuary who will give her a safe forever life and help her improve her body condition. Sage Creek never deserved to be forcibly drugged with Pesticide PZP under the false promise of returning to the wild, get 3-Strikes and become at-risk of ending up at slaughter. Share to help save her now!
Together we can turn this around.
Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
Today The Economist published an article titled America is set to spend billions on taming its growing wild-horse population with fake projected costs in the multi-billions for shock value and pro-kill, pro-slaughter, pro-sterilization undertones. It’s clear the media piece goes beyond yellow journalism and was placed in the economist by a PR firm paid for by public land-grabbers who hate wild horses. Otherwise, how could such an article, filled with outrageous errors and lack of facts, get into the publication?
The $1 billion figure that BLM claims it would cost to care for the wild horses held in captivity has ballooned. Keep in mind that in an article posted in the Rawlins Times, BLM inflated that number to $2.3 billion — 230% times the original number.
In today’sEconomist.com article, the $2.3 billion has swelled to $4.6 billion — 200% times higher still.
This “article” is trying to put pressure on Congress to kill or sterilize America’s beloved wild horses. The motives are clear.
Marybeth Devlin, Protect Mustangs Advisory Board member and member of the Alliance for Wild Horses and Burros wrote the following in the comment section. Let’s hope people will read the facts:
“The Big Lie of “overpopulation” is the pretext for BLM’s war against the wild horses. It’s BLM’s version of the “Shock Doctrine,” wherein BLM concocted a phony crisis to push through policies antithetical to the Wild Horse Act against the will of The People.
In fact, horses are a slow-growth species when it comes to reproduction. The gestation-period lasts over 11 months, and a mare produces just 1 foal. While an independent study of BLM’s records did confirm a nearly 20% birth rate, that study also found that 50% of foals perish before their first birthday. Thus, the effective increase in population from new foals is just 10%. However, adult mortality must also be taken into consideration. Adult mustangs succumb at a rate of at least 5% a year. So, what is a normal herd-growth rate? Around 5%, probably less. Thus, a herd could not double in 4 or 5 years, debunking another BLM falsehood. But BLM stealthily inserts herd-growth rates far higher than 20% in its reports — biologically-impossible herd-growth rates. For instance, in Wyoming, BLM declared that the Salt Wells Creek herd grew from 29 horses to 616 horses in 6 months (yes, months), a 2,024% increase. BLM’s “data” is chock-full of preposterous growth-estimates. So, when you hear talk of how the wild horses are reproducing “exponentially,” that’s a sure sign that BLM has falsified the data. You should also know that the National Academy of Sciences was required by the terms of its grant to draw conclusions per BLM’s figures — the falsified figures. The NAS was not allowed to collect data independently. Thus, BLM wired the results to confirm its lies.
Wild horses are underpopulated. Per the guidelines of BLM’s own geneticist, more than 80% of the herds suffer from arbitrary management levels (AMLs) set below minimum-viable population (MVP). Low AMLs enable BLM to claim an “excess” in herds whose numbers, even if they were over AML, would still not reach MVP. So being “over AML” is meaningless as well as misleading. But those low AMLs, combined with fraudulent, biologically-impossible herd-growth estimates, give BLM an excuse to scapegoat those few wild horses for the range-damage done by the millions of livestock that overgraze the public lands.
PZP is a potent weapon in BLM’s arsenal — for its biological warfare against the wild horses. PZP is a registered pesticide. Its mechanism-of-action is to cause auto-immune disease — tricking the immune system into producing antibodies that target and attack the ovaries. The antibodies cause ovarian dystrophy, oophoritis (inflammation of the ovaries), ovarian cysts, destruction of oocytes in growing follicles, and depletion of resting follicles. The mare’s estrogen-levels drop markedly as PZP destroys her ovaries. Ultimately, PZP sterilizes her. A recent study — which included the McCullough Peaks herd — found that PZP extends the birthing season to nearly year-round. Out-of-season births put the life of the foals and the mares at risk. Worse yet, radioimmunoassay tests indicated that PZP antibodies are transferred from mother to female offspring via the placenta and milk.
As for the wild horses held in captivity, they are the “legacy” of former Secretary Salazar’s equid cleansing era, during which he had tens of thousands of wild horses removed from the range. However, the mortality rate of captive wild horses is about 8% a year. So, obviously, since they are not reproducing, their numbers will steadily drop, showing that BLM’s billion-dollar figure for their care was bogus — it was just another Lie. But that Lie has ballooned. BLM has taken the $1 billion figure that it originally announced, multiplied it by 230%, and then multiplied that number by another 200%, amplifying the fraud. When BLM lies, it lies Big.
The Wild Horse and Burro program, if administered per the minimum-feasible management-model specified by Law, would not cost much at all. BLM does not lack for resources. There are 22 million acres of legally-designated wild-horse herd areas — which BLM previously took away for political expediency — that can be reopened as habitat. The horses now held captive can be released to those areas, where the cost of their upkeep will be $0.
Contrary to BLM’s disinformation campaign, wild horses do have natural predators — mountain lions, bears, wolves, and coyotes. But those predators are persecuted mercilessly. The government exterminates what the hunters don’t shoot. However, the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros — Wild Horse Annie’s foundation — notes that even without predators, their wild-horse herds self-regulate their numbers, with population-growth in the single digits.
Finally, adoptions have not declined. It’s just that BLM used to count sales-for-slaughter as “adoptions.” Now, only “forever-family” placements qualify. However, mustangs are not homeless horses. They are wild horses whose home is on the range.”
Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
Why isn’t the Bureau of Land Management making a sale to safety happen?
Many people have shown interest in buying 6-year-old Nellie Diamond (#0484) but she still has no bid listed on her page and the auction is over. Is the BoLM returning email inquiries and phone calls? She can be adopted or sold. With sale the purchaser gets title of her immediately. With adoption she can be returned to BoLM if the adopter wants to. Of course then she would have another strike . . . Might be best to get her to a sanctuary with her friend Star Creek (#1483). The pair would only cost $50 and 2 lives would be saved.
Star Creek (#1483) is a sweet 6-yr-old mare from Fish Creek, NV who was rounded up last year to forcibly drug the mares with Pesticide PZP– made from slaughterhouse pig ovaries. Now Star Creek has 3-Strikes from failed adoptions and is another RED ALERT wild horse now at-risk!
This lovely wild mare wasn’t picked because she’s ‘plain” even though she seems very sweet with a special star. Now she’s at risk of being sold to a horse trader who might sell her to a kill-buyer for slaughter.
Please share Nellie Diamond (#0484) and Star Creek (#1483) so together they can go to a loving home or sanctuary!
Here is some basic information:
This horse is currently located in Palomino Valley, NV. For more information, please contact Jeb Beck at (775) 475-2222 or e-mail: j1beck@blm.gov
This horse is available for sale or adoption with bids staring at $25.00. At the conclusion of the bidding, the successful bidder will inform the BLM if they are purchasing or adopting the animal. If the animal is purchased, not adopted, the successful bidder receives bill of sale to the animal upon completion of payment and final paperwork. If the animal is adopted, the minimum bid must be $125, and the animal is not eligible for title until the one year anniversary.
Pick up options (by appt): Palomino Valley, NV; Delta, UT; Elm Creek, NE; Pauls Valley, OK.
Other pick up options: Ewing, IL (September 3) ; Mequon, WI (September 16); Clemson, SC (September 23); Loxahatchee, FL (September 30); and Murray, KY (October 7).
Adoption confirmation for this animal must be finalized, by e-mail to BLM_ES_INET_Adoption@blm.gov, no later than Noon Mountain August 4. After this date, all unclaimed animals will be available for in-person walk up adoption/purchase ONLY.
Update August 10: BLM said, “If no bids were placed on an animal in the last internet and a bidder that didn’t get the horse they choose as first pick didn’t decide to take a horse with no bid then those horses with no bids are available for pickup at PVC till August 22. After that date any remaining horses will be put on the next internet adoption. . . horses are available for pick up FROM PVC ONLY we will not ship as the truck is full at this point.”
Protect Mustangs is against cruel research on wild horses and burros. Population ecology can be done through noninvasive observation of the herds without harassing the wild horses and burros with roundups and radio collars. The BoLM is either too lazy to do this or just enjoys torturing our icons of freedom to “experiment” on them. Wild horses and burros need to be left alone, period.
Salt Lake City, Utah—Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Utah Wild Horse and Burro Program will be working collaboratively with scientists at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center to conduct several wild horse and burro research projects. The research is being done partly in response to the 2013 National Academies of Science (NAS) report that recommended science-based management of free-roaming equids within the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The NAS report recommended acquiring population ecology information on wild burros to better understand their demographic parameters and improve their management, since there is remarkably little published literature on wild burros. Two research proposals include the Sinbad wild burro Herd Management Area (HMA) managed by the Price Field Office. The first study, which has been approved, would test population survey techniques for burros and identify and develop new techniques that can be applied across wild burro ranges of western rangelands. The second proposed study would study the demography of free-roaming burros to provide data for population modeling, to improve management of wild burros, and to contribute to a better understanding of the ecology of wild burros.
The NAS report also recommended research be done on wild horse demography and ecology, and highlighted the utility of statistical models for improved management. Studies to support this approach are being proposed for the Frisco HMA, managed by Cedar City Field Office, and the Conger HMA, managed by Fillmore Field Office. Specific questions approved in the research for the Conger HMA include quantifying the impacts of sterilizing a portion of male horses in the population and how treatment impacts their behavior and ecology.
Research on both wild horse and wild burro HMAs may include looking at the fertility, fecundity (reproductive rate), recruitment rate, age-specific survival and mortality, habitat selection, movements, habitat range; and their behavior and ecology at the scale of both the individual and population levels. We expect these studies to support and contribute to the management of wild horses and burros.
Price, Cedar City, and Fillmore Field Offices have begun initiating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis of the research proposals. The public review and scoping period for these proposals are anticipated to begin early in the fall of 2015.
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 mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In fiscal year 2014, the BLM generated $5.2 billion in receipts from public lands.
–BLM–Utah State Office 440 West 200 South, Suite 500 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101
Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.
UPDATE Monday August 1, 2016: Nellie Diamond has a bidder. We will let you know if for any reason her sale is not completed. Thank you everyone for sharing! Congrats to Nellie Diamond’s bidder!
Mary Diamond (#0144) was rounded up and captured in 2013. She was separated from her mama too early for a wild horse and lost her entire family–she was still nursing. Mary Diamond has spent most of her life in captivity. Her memories of living in the wild with her mama bring her comfort when she is sad. She has been offered for adoption at least 3 times and now is going for sale because nobody picked her. That’s what happens when a wild horse get’s 3-Strikes from the Bureau of Land Management. Please SAVE Mary Diamond from a horrible fate if she falls into the wrong hands.
Call BoLM to buy Mary Diamond for $25 and save her: Jeb Beck at (775) 475-2222 or e-mail: j1beck@blm.gov
Sex: Mare Age: 4 Years Height (in hands): 14.2
Necktag #: 0144 Date Captured: 01/19/13
Freezemark: 12620144 Signalment Key: HF1AAAAAC
Color: Black Captured: Diamond Hills South HMA, Nevada
Notes:
Tag-#0144. 4 year old black mare, gathered from the Diamond Hills South Herd Management Area in Nevada in January of 2013.
This horse is currently located in Palomino Valley, NV. For more information, please contact Jeb Beck at (775) 475-2222 or e-mail: j1beck@blm.gov
This horse is available for sale or adoption with bids staring at $25.00. At the conclusion of the bidding, the successful bidder will inform the BLM if they are purchasing or adopting the animal. If the animal is purchased, not adopted, the successful bidder receives bill of sale to the animal upon completion of payment and final paperwork. If the animal is adopted, the minimum bid must be $125, and the animal is not eligible for title until the one year anniversary.
Pick up options (by appt): Palomino Valley, NV; Delta, UT; Elm Creek, NE; Pauls Valley, OK.
Other pick up options: Ewing, IL (September 3) ; Mequon, WI (September 16); Clemson, SC (September 23); Loxahatchee, FL (September 30); and Murray, KY (October 7).
Adoption confirmation for this animal must be finalized, by e-mail to BLM_ES_INET_Adoption@blm.gov, no later than Noon Mountain August 4. After this date, all unclaimed animals will be available for in-person walk up adoption/purchase ONLY.
Protect Mustangs is an organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.