Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Desert Independent: More coverage of our Phoenix BLM Protest



Phoenix Protests BLM Wild Horse Mismanagement

By Robert WINKLER
The Desert Independent
February 2, 2010
PHOENIX, Arizona – On Saturday, January 30th at the BLM Arizona State Office about 30 people gathered and rang their "cowbell" as motorists honked. Even the young people participated. Their cause is serious. If you have been reading our articles, the BLM has not been following the will of Congress and as a result, the horses have suffered.
Material obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demonstrates that wild horses on BLM land in Arizona have been reduced to a meager 200 or less horses on BLM lands in only two herd management areas, the Cibolas and the Cerbats in the mountains near Kingman because the BLM has closed all other herd areas in the state. The Cerbat herd is estimated to be numbered at only about 60 to 90 horses left. These Cerbat horses are historically tied to the mounts of the Conquistadors riding the Spanish trail in the 16th century. They are a living, breathing tie to some of Arizona’s most early and romantic history, a true natural resource and they are in danger of disappearing under BLM management. For a true picture of the fate of the Cerbats see filmmaker Len Johnson’s stirring “The Last of the Spanish Mustangs.” Johnson spent much time with these Cerbat horses, probably more time than many BLM employees.
One of the most accurate accounts of ranch life during the late part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century is depicted in the book, “Hashknife Cowboy: Memoirs of Mack Hughes” written by his wife Stella Hughes. In the chapter on wild horses, there is no mention of the horses competing with range for cattle. In fact the book, an accepted archival history of Arizona, depicts a time when wild horses and cowboys roamed together with the cowboys loving to run with the “broomies (cowboy term for wild horse) and sometimes catching a few because they made such good ranch horses. It was not until the US Forest Service and BLM took over management of these areas that much of the conflict occurred when the Federal government began demanding money to lease public lands for cattle from the ranchers. At one point, the Federal government offered a ransom for every pair of ears a person could produce from the corpse of a wild horse. Also, the budget for “management” of wild horse is miniscule in the scope of the entire Federal budget.
Recent documents obtained under FOIA also disclose that the BLM held a series of “implementation committee” meetings in which a very few discussed the possibility of euthanasia of wild horses in holding facilities and discussed the ways they could insulate themselves from the scrutiny of the American public, the media and the Congress, interesting behavior by an organization functioning on the public’s taxpayer dollars. Material also demonstrates that the BLM continues to use a person to gather wild horses from public lands who pled guilty to illegally hunting wild horses from aerial devices and that person was allowed to give contract estimates for rounding up wild horses and burros in the state of Arizona. Finally, community members are concerned about questionable removal of wild burros, whole herds and families of these animals, from their ancestral lands without what may be the required studies under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).  
For more information and photos of the protest, click HERE.

2 comments:

  1. The BLM that are in any State should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest limit of the law for what they are doing and have done to our magnificent beautiful horses and burro's.They have got to be the most cold hearted cruellist people that were ever born.I can't believe they can sleep at night knowing what they've been doing,and God knows what they've been doing to his beautiful creations.All the land that has been taken from these horses and burro's needs to be returned to them and they all should be returned to their ranges to roam free as God so intended them to.Tell the cattlemen to keep their cattle on their own ranches and if that can't take care of them then sell off some of them so you can graze your cattle at your own homes,and not the homes of our wild horses and burro's.Kick the oil people,the cattlemen and God knows who else thats using the ranges that belongs to our wild horses and burro's which are very much a part of our HISTORY.Shame on anyone that thinks it's right what the BLM and Ken Salazar and the Government is doing to these magnificent animals.We need to save everyone of these beautiful animals so our Grandchildrens children will be able to see the wild horses and burro's roaming out on the ranges and not by reading about them in books.We need to rid ourselves of the BLM and Ken Salazar for good.So our wild mustangs and burro's can roam free on the open ranges that belong to them.And stop the BLM from injecting the mares so they won't have foals and stop neuturing the Stallions also,let them be and let them multiply to keep our wild horses alive and thrieving on the open ranges forever.And they say the wild horses don't have preditors how bout the mountain lions,the bad storms that kill a number of the wild horses and burro's.The BLM just ignores that huh.well its real and it happens its the law of the land,the horses definitely don't need the BLM managing them at all.HANDS OFF BLM!!!

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  2. Amen! This needs to stop and NOW! The BLM needs to be held accountable for all these deaths. If I managed to kill 100 horses, I would be thrown in jail!

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