After a new report of disease, wild horse advocates are angered about what they believe is poor care of horses rounded up earlier this year in the Calico Range north of Reno and now corraled at a privately run holding facility in Fallon. They want more veterinarian care and more independent observation of the taxpayer-funded operation to process the horses for eventual adoption or transport to long-term pastures.
In this post, I talk to people on both sides about the main concerns recently voiced by horse advocates. These include a recent pigeon fever outbreak in Fallon, whether veterinarian staffing is adequate and the counting of dead foals. The following is based upon emails and phones conversations with Ginger Kathrens of the wild horse advocacy group The Cloud Foundation and with Heather Emmons of the Bureau of Land Management. (A much shorter, more traditionally structured version of this story is planned for the print edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal in the coming days.)
PIGEON FEVER
Background: A “humane observer” named Elyse Gardner of Novato, Calif., first noted three cases of pigeon fever at the Indian Lakes Road facility in Fallon on March 21. The next week, she noted nine more. According to the BLM, “pigeon fever is a disease that stems from bacteria found in the soil. It is most likely transmitted from biting flies during fly season, which occurs in late summer on the range, and has a long incubation period (from weeks to months). The disease has nothing to do with pigeons. The name comes from the large chest abscesses that some horses get, which can look like the large breast of a pigeon.”
BLM position: “Approximately 2% of the Calico Complex wild horses came into the facility showing clinical signs of healed abscesses from pigeon fever. It was not something acquired through the soil at the Indian Lakes Road Facility,” said Emmons in an email reply.
“Another .25%-.50% had more recent or current pigeon fever infection. This minuscule quantity of infection is not an epidemic proportion at all, it is not widespread at the facility and it is not an uncommon disease for horses to acquire from the range. BLM has experienced this kind of disease before at its facilities.
“At the present time, pigeon fever is noted at the .25%-.50% rate in the current population of horses at the Indian Lakes Facility in Fallon, Nevada (or at about the same rate that existed on the range). The chest swellings range in size from golf ball to grapefruit size. The incidence of Pigeon Fever is expected to decrease over time, and may or may not reoccur during the 2010 fly season.
Horse advocate position: “When the horses came in, the BLM reported that they were healthy,” said Kathrens in a phone interview. “There were no reports of healed abscesses and no eyewitness accounts of healed abscesses. In conversations with other horse experts regarding the likelihood of the horses acquiring a disease like this on the range, no one had heard of it. The BLM people I’ve spoken with say that they’ve never seen it in horses coming in directly from the ranges and it’s unlikely that they contracted this in the wild.
“Dr. [Richard] Sanford has made a statement that the same percentages of horses in the Calico range have pigeon fever as they do in Fallon — how could he know that, especially when they don’t even know how many horses are there?
“I’ve spent 16 years with wild horses and I’ve never seen any horses with anything resembling this disease. I’d never even heard of it. We had to go look it up to see what it was.
“When [pigeon fever] happened at another BLM facility, they isolated the horses so it didn’t spread to the general population but they aren’t doing that at Fallon for some reason.”
BLM position: “All the horses that have active pigeon fever at the Indian Lakes Road Facility are being monitored. Abscesses have all resolved without treatment. No deaths or complications have been associated with infection.”
Horse advocate position: “That’s good if that’s true. But we have no method of checking that because we’re not allowed in,” Kathrens said.
VETERINARIAN STAFFING
Background: Dr. Richard Sanford is the lone BLM veterinarian in charge of the health of the equines at the Fallon facility and at the BLM’s holding facility in Palomino Valley north of Reno. As of yesterday, the Fallon facility had 1,847 horses, according to the BLM. And the Palomino Valley facility generally has around 700 to 800 horses and burros.
Horse advocate position: “How can one person in a day walk through and even see all the animals? It seems odd that you would have that many patients for one veterinarian,” Kathrens said.
BLM position: “BLM also has a back-up vet, in case Dr. Sanford is not available,” Emmons wrote. “Because these facilities are short-term holding facilities, horses and burros are not intended to stay at the facility for extended lengths of time. Instead, the horses are prepared for BLM’s adoption program or prepared to be shipped to long-term holding pastures, and only stay in the short-term holding facilities for roughly 6-8 months. Therefore, horses and burros rotate through these facilities, and don’t require daily veterinary care.”
Horse advocate position: “This makes no sense,” Kathrens said. “These are wild animals who have never been handled by human beings, they are being removed from wild, removed from their families, foals are immediately weaned, they are in a strange environment. Because of all this stress and strain, they are more likely to suffer disease and injuries. This is the time when they need more veterinarian care, not less like at some adoption event.”
BLM position: “Dr. Sanford’s job is similar to a veterinarian who has an animal hospital: he has many patients but not all of them need care at once, nor do they all even require care, beyond the preparation process and Coggins [blood] testing. Dr. Sanford and his back-up vet have unmatched experience and knowledge in humanely caring for wild horses and burros as they have worked with thousands of them over several decades. …
“Additionally, each facility has several BLM employees and contractor staff who work as a team with Dr. Sanford. These members have extensive experience in humanely caring for and handling wild horses and burros. The team members’ daily tasks include: feeding, horse handling, facility maintenance, monitor horses and administering some of the health care tasks. During the preparation process, they work with Dr. Sanford to administer vaccinations, freezemarks and perform other tasks.”
FOAL DEATHS
Background: Horse advocates noticed a foal (a baby horse) struggling to stand after reportedly suffering a broken leg, which they blame on the more crowded conditions at the Fallon facility than the horses experience in the wild. When they checked on the status of the horse, they say they were told the foal had been put down but this death did not show up on the BLM’s updates of deaths in Fallon.
BLM response: During gathers of wild horses, foals are counted because the contractor is paid per head gathered but for its population survey counts, the BLM does not count foals, Emmons said. This is because the foals are generally nursing and not grazing, and the population counts are counting equines to determine how much they are eating on the range
As for counting foals at holding facilities, Emmons wrote, “BLM doesn't count foal deaths. BLM does not count miscarriages either. However, based on public concern, BLM tracked the number of miscarriages from the Calico Complex gather. Past post-gather observations indicate that about 1-5% of the mares miscarry. The percentage increases if the mares are in very thin condition, such as those gathered from the Calicos. As of April 1, BLM has confirmed 18 miscarriages at the Fallon facility that occurred between Jan. 30-April 1. On Jan. 29, BLM estimated 20-30 mares had miscarried up to that point (as mentioned earlier, BLM normally doesn’t count miscarriages – thus the estimation). At the most, the Calico mares have had an estimated 48 miscarriages – which means 4% of the mares gathered have miscarried. The 4% is within the normal 1-5% of miscarriages BLM normally observes post gather, especially in light of the very thin condition of many of the Calico mares.”
Horse advocate position: “Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you don’t count,” Kathrens said, adding they are requesting BLM count foal deaths because the rate seems high at the Fallon facility.
“And they need to compare apples to apples. A 4% miscarriage rate might be normal on the range but the most likely term for losing a baby — like with all mammals — is in the first or second trimester. Is 4 to 5 percent acceptable for miscarriages at 11 months [like at the Fallon facility]? After investing all that time in carrying their offspring, to lose the baby right at the very end is far less likely.”
MORE OBSERVATION
Background: Because of the disease outbreak, foal deaths and other concerns, horse advocates want the amount of time they are allowed to monitor treatment at the Fallon facility to increase. Currently, they are allowed in for two hours once a week, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays. This Sunday, because of Easter, they will not be allowed to observe. They've contacted the national BLM office for a makeup day.
BLM position: It does not plan a makeup day because of Easter.
"Once we started preparing [the horses] for freezebranding, vaccinating and deworming, that’s when we scaled back to just Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. because it’s not conducive to have people in there. So for the safety of the animals, that’s why we cut back the hours. So we’re going to stick with Sundays from 11 to 1," Emmons told me.
PHOTOS
Background: Horse advocates have been circulating disturbing photos of sick and injured photos taken at the Fallon facility, like the two included with this post, saying that they demonstrate the need for more monitoring and more veterinary staffing. Wild horse advocate Cat Kindsfather took the two photographs. The one of the foal trying to stand, with a horse in the background trying to help her up with a nudge, was taken March 21, according to Kindsfather; more details are available here. The one of the horse with the hole in his flank was taken Feb. 28, according to Kindsfather; more details are available here.
BLM position: It has no comment on the photos because “we cannot confirm the source, where they came from, etc.,” Emmons said.
Horse advocate position: “Wow, that’s amazing that they won’t comment even though they were taken in the presence of BLM staff,” Kathrens said.
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