The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued its 2010 Round-up Schedule which provides for the capture of a staggering 12,000 additional wild horses and burros, at the cost of 32 million of our tax dollars! Given BLM?s recent handwringing over the number of horses in government holding, this announcement is simply baffling. More than ever, America ?s wild horses are under siege, their long-term survival increasingly threatened.
Nevada?s Calico Complex, with over 2,500 horses slated for removal next month, is high on the list of questionable removals and another example of BLM?s out-of-control behavior. This herd was last rounded up in 2005, when BLM left an estimated 575 horses on the range and gave the mares a contraceptive vaccine. Yet, BLM now claims there are over 3,000 horses in that same area, a preposterous number, even by BLM standards. Locals familiar with the herd are adamant there are far from that many horses left on that range. Indeed, only BLM?s creative accounting could find that a herd has quintupled in size in less than five years, let alone a herd under a contraceptive program!
Interesting background information: last year, BLM authorized a 300% increase in cattle grazing for the area, and the building of a fence that BLM itself admitted might cut wild horses from their winter range and cause them to die. Wild horses would also be locked out of the best pasture with the most abundant water during the driest time of the year. At the time, BLM justified its decision by arguing that wild horse populations in the area were minimal. A couple of months later, it came out with its puzzling claim of population explosion, setting the stage for this massive round-up.
Clearly, something here is amiss. Where did these 3,000 horses come from?
Comments to BLM regarding this round-up must be provided by Thursday, November 12, 4:30 pm PST to Jerome Fox, BLM, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV 89445; Fax: (775) 623-1503; Email: NV_WFO_Webmail@BLM.gov (please be sure to include the following reference #: DOI-BLM-NV-W030-2010-0001-EA)
More importantly, the Department of Justice, which is currently investigating BLM for other misdeeds, must be made aware of another instance of this federal agency running amok. Please express your concerns over BLM?s questionable practices and continued mismanagement of our wild horses to:
John Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice, Room 2141
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
Email: john.cruden@usdoj.gov
(note: letters to the DOJ are not subject to the Nov. 12 deadline)
On behalf of America?s wild horses, thank you for your support,
The AWHPC Team
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.org
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