BLM announces Fall/Winter Wild Horse Gather Schedule

Tuesday's Horse

Another ‘Pinocchio Report’ from the BLM, via Press Release. Its latest euphemism: “population growth-suspension techniques”. See paragraph 2 below:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced Oct. 7 its tentative fall/winter schedule for gathering wild horses and burros from overpopulated herds on Western public rangelands. According to the organization, the gathers are needed to bring herd sizes into balance with other rangeland resources and uses, as required by Federal law and approved land-use plans. Along with removals, the fall/winter gathers will be used to apply a fertility-control vaccine during the ideal time (from November through February) for maximum efficacy. In the new fiscal year (2012), which began Oct. 1, the BLM plans to apply several population growth-suppression techniques to approximately 2,000 wild horses. Methods to be analyzed in gather-related environmental assessments will include applying the fertility-control vaccine porcine zona pellucida (PZP); adjusting sex ratios in some herds to favor males; and incorporating geldings as components of breeding herds. All of these measures are aimed at reducing the number of on-the-range pregnancies. The public and media are invited to observe the gathers. Observation points will be determined by the BLM in a manner that recognizes the need for good viewing sites, along with the need to ensure viewer and animal safety. All helicopter-driven wild horse gathers will be completed by Feb. 28. The tentative dates of the fall/winter gathers can be accessed online. The BLM estimates that approximately 38,500 wild horses and burros (about 33,000 horses and 5,500 burros) are roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states based on the latest data available, compiled as of Feb. 28, 2011. Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators, and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to protect rangeland resources, such as wildlife habitat, from the impacts of overpopulation. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act mandates that once the Interior Secretary “determines … that an overpopulation exists on a given area of the public lands … he shall immediately remove excess animals from the range so as to achieve appropriate management levels.”

If you have not had a chance to read a summary of Ginger Kathren’s remarks concerning the BLM’s activities and what are probably the actual herd numbers, please go here.
The paragraphs we refer to are:

Ginger went through her experiences at roundups and how they’ve changed over the years and how much worse it’s gotten (video). She covered how much wild horses and burros have lost since 1971, both in acreage and in numbers. One of the biggest points made was the inaccuracy of population data BLM provides. That’s when she looked back at Joan Guilfoyle and staunchly said that, in her opinion, BLM is managing our wild horses and burros to extinction. Assisted by charts created by C.R. MacDonald and Lisa LeBlanc (updated by Carla Bowers), Ginger showed off the great disparity and inaccuracy of BLM’s own published data. Using BLM data published in 2007, accounting for removals and the 20% growth rate BLM maintains, the wild horse and burro population as of September 30, 2011 should be 17,724 – a far cry from the 38,500 BLM reports are on the range.