BLM Chief Gives Reasons for Attending Slaughterfest 2011

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Unaltered BLM Press Release – LIVE LINK

Release Date: 12/03/10
Contacts: Tom Gorey , 202-912-7420

Statement of BLM Director Bob Abbey on “Summit of the Horse”

BLM's Abbey attempts to defend appearance at Horse Slaughter Convention

The Department of Interior and the BLM have already removed from the discussion table any consideration of the euthanasia of healthy wild horses and the unlimited sale of older horses, even though these legal authorities exist under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as amended. Having taken the position that slaughter is not a viable or acceptable management option, I will focus my remarks on the present and future course of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, which the BLM is committed to putting on a sustainable track, as called for by the Government Accountability Office in a report issued in October 2008. I am also open to discussing new management approaches, and have already had talks with Madeleine Pickens regarding a possible wild horse ecosanctuary.
I recently met with wild horse advocates in Sacramento, California, including representatives of the Humane Society of the United States and the Cloud Foundation. I have demonstrated a willingness to discuss the BLM’s management of wild horses and burros with any organization interested in ensuring the health and welfare of wild horses and burros, both on and off the range. Some of these organizations take conflicting positions on what is the best way to manage wild horses and burros, but that is to be expected and welcomed in a nation known for free and open dialogue on controversial issues.

The BLM manages more land – more than 245 million acres – than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.

–BLM–

Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs BLM, Bob Abbey, Bureau of Land Management, Cruelty to animals, Government Accountability Office, government corruption, Horse, Horse Meat, Horse Slaughter, Humane Society of the United States, Madeleine Pickens, Public land, Sue Wallis, Wild Horse

Injunction Slapped on BLM as Bob Abbey Attempts to Break Wild Horse Roundup Agreement

http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/injunction-slapped-on-blm-as-bob-abbey-attempts-to-break-wild-horse-roundup-agreement/

R.T. Fitch 

Image of Wild Horses

SFTHH Exclusive
Sources have forwarded to SFTHH information that indicates during a pre-hearing meeting the BLM agreed NOT to fly any more deadly helicopter attacks on wild horses in the Tuscarora area until Laura Leigh’s hearing and suit is heard on the 15th.  July 18th was the earliest that they would continue their attack.
BLM Director Bob Abbey attempted to circumvent that agreement, today, which has prompted the seated judge to evoke an injuction PRIOR to the hearing.  No comment from the judge at the time of this report but obviously Bob Abbey’s disregard for common law has raised his ire.
More to follow.

BLM explains suspension of Owyhee wild horse helicopter roundup

Tuesday's Horse

Posted on Jul 12, 2010 by Vivian

RENO, Nev. — (Jul. 12, 2010) The Bureau of Land Management announced today that it is temporarily suspending the Tuscarora wild horse gather operations in Elko County, Nev., after BLM staff determined that gathered horses were dehydrated after seven gathered wild horses died from dehydration-related complications because of insufficient water in the area.
The BLM also announced that the Tuscarora gather operations, aimed at removing horses from overpopulated herds, will remain on hold until an assessment has been completed to determine how to best proceed in light of the current condition of these horses.
“Our agency is committed to the humane treatment of wild horses and burros, both on and off the range,” BLM Director Bob Abbey said. “Toward that end, I am suspending further Tuscarora gather operations until the situation concerning the initial stage of the Tuscarora gather is analyzed and thoroughly understood, and the options for minimizing mortality of horses weakened by dehydration can be assessed.”
The Tuscarora wild horse gather encompasses the Owyhee, Rock Creek, and Little Humboldt Herd Management Areas (HMAs) located in northern Elko County. The BLM initiated gather operations in the northern portion of the Owyhee HMA at 6:30 a.m., Saturday, July 10. By 9 a.m., the BLM contractor had gathered 228 wild horses, consisting of one group of approximately 32 horses located within a mile of the on-site temporary holding corrals, and a second group of approximately 196 horses located about eight miles from the corrals.
On arrival it was noted the horses were “drawn up,” or lacking fill from water. They were, however, generally in good body condition with most scoring 4 to 5 on what is known as the Henneke body condition scale.
The horses were provided with hay and water through the afternoon and evening. One horse was euthanized shortly after being gathered due to a fractured leg that occurred in the temporary holding corrals.
The morning of July 11, four horses were found dead in the pens and several horses were exhibiting signs of colic and brain swelling which was subsequently attributed to water starvation/dehydration and subsequent water intoxication. Gather operations were stopped at that point, and BLM staff, specialists, the gather contractor and the on-site U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian began treating the horses.
So far, seven horses have died from complications related to water starvation/dehydration or subsequent water intoxication. It was determined this was a direct result of a lack of water in the immediate areas occupied by the horses. The BLM brought in extra water, tank trucks and troughs to the temporary holding site to ensure that all gathered animals have ample water available. Electrolytes were provided in each pen and affected animals were examined and treated as indicated by the veterinarian on site.
The private contractor conducted an aerial flyover of the immediate area Sunday morning, July 11, and located two large bands of wild horses.
One band, approximately 100 to 150 horses, is staying close to a nearly dried-up water hole. The second band, approximately 150 to 200 horses, is located approximately eight to 10 miles from the nearest water source. Both of these bands are presently at risk of mortality from dehydration if they do not reach other water sources. The BLM is unable to bring water into this area because the area where these bands are located is not readily accessible by road. (emphasis added)
The BLM will carefully monitor the two bands of horses during the next few days to determine whether they are independently moving to other water sources or can be encouraged to reach such waters on their own. The BLM will also continue to provide food, water and veterinary care for the animals in the on-site temporary holding corrals.
As more information becomes available it will be posted at the website:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_programs/wild_horse_and_burro/owyhee_rock_creek.html.
For further comments and questions, the public may call 1-866-468-7826.
—-
Source: Press Release

What's Next for the Wild Horses and Burros?

Animal Law

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Posted Jun 19, 2010 by lauraallen

• Wild Horses and Burros

The Obama administration has thus far successfully largely distracted the public's attention from the culpability of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and his Mineral Management Service (MMS) for the oil spill catastrophe. 
After a few disclosures about the lingering corruption at MMS and its ongoing oil industry ties, the media quickly shifted its focus to BP.
It is not that BP is not to blame. Of course it is. But surely, Salazar and DOI should be held accountable in their rush to "drill, baby, drill" in the Gulf for their astonishing disregard for the laws to protect wildlife and their habitat. Had they done their job, the oil spill would not have occurred and the animals in the Gulf would not be suffering so.
Undoubtedly, the administration knows this. Which may explain why Salazar and his other DOI agency, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), are at least trying to appear to make nice with advocates and other citizens who care about wild horses and burros.
The good news
BLM Director Bob Abbey announced prior to the meeting that slaughter and euthanasia of wild horses and burros were "off the table", no longer options. Of course, under the Appropriations Act of 2010, BLM is prohibited from using any funds "for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of the Bureau of Land Management or its contractors or for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products". It appears Congress will continue the same prohibition in 2011.
But still, at one time slaughter and euthanasia were BLM's preferred means of managing wild horses and burros.
And, when the discredited Wyoming state Rep. Sue Wallis stood during the Denver meeting to discuss a proposed partnership with BLM to slaughter America's wild horses to feed to school children, she was shut down.
Of course, commercial horse slaughter for human consumption is illegal in the U.S. and what would BLM tell school children: "Your lunch today is an American icon, a wild horse (or burro), that just days ago, roamed free in the west, supposedly protected by law, part of a close knit band or family and a symbol of our western heritage and freedom?"  
Also, it was announced at the Denver meeting that the Wild Horses and Burros Advisory Board would fill two open positions with an animal welfare representative and a member of the public with knowledge of equines. It remains to be seen who will be selected, but it seemed promising.
Is this a public relations ploy?
Is this part of an administration effort to keep the lid on lawsuits, charges or complaints about BLM's violations of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the environmental laws like National Environmental Policy Act, and its gross mismanagement, deceptions and cruelty in the handling of wild horses and burros?
With the disaster in the Gulf only getting worse, the administration cannot afford to have the public reminded of Salazar's incompetence and willful disregard for wildlife and the environment. Just as he ignored laws to protect wildlife in the Gulf, Salazar who has said wild horses don't belong on public lands and who supports horse slaughter, has run over laws to protect wild horses and burros.
Abbey announced prior to the Denver meeting a partnership with the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution to engage the public in a "dialogue" and seek "in depth" public comments about Salazar's Plan to move wild horses and burros to continue to round up and remove wild horses and burros from public lands and put them in "preserves", "pastures" or feedlots in the East and midwest in non-reproducing herds where they are likely to become ill or die from the change in diet and confinement in "pastures" or feedlots and will certainly soon be extinct.
The continuing roundups have left fewer and fewer horses and burros on the public lands, and there is serious concern many bands and herds are no longer genetically viable. Indeed, Salazar's plan calls for sterilization of mares and stallions that remain on the range and even creation of non-reproducing populations on public lands. This despite the mandate of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1331 et seq. that these animals are "components" of the public lands that should remain free-roaming and free from "harassment" and "capture" and managed at the "minimal feasible level". Sterilizing mares or stallions and certainly herds not only jeopardizes their survival as a species and genetic viability but destroys free-roaming behavior where they form bands or families. 
The Salazar Plan ridiculed by advocates as creating Salazoos for wild horses and burros, has been reduced to writing in the Wild Horse Strategy Development Document. It is short on details, more of a splashy advertisement to sell Salazar's Plan to Congress and the public than a serious effort to solicit input. The Cloud Foundation has called the strategy plan "unsubstantial... designed to manipulate the public and marginalize the opposition to the Salazar Plan for wild horses and burros". 
The Cloud Foundation has reported that BLM also hired "spin doctors", a public relations firm, Kearns and West, to help obtain Congressional approval for Salazar's Plan. Indeed, the firm's senior mediator, J. Michael Harty, facilitated the Denver meeting. Kearns and West has worked for other government agencies including MMS, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to help them accomplish their policy objectives such as energy or other development plans.
Another customer is PG&E, involved in the Ruby Pipeline natural gas project which as Cloud Foundation put it, is "threatening public lands and five public herds with environmental devastation from Wyoming to Oregon." 
That doesn't bode well for real change in the way BLM has dealt with the public. It does not portend a "dialogue" with "in depth" public input.
But it is different than the strategy laid out in 2008 BLM meeting notes where BLM considered ways to keep the public away from round ups and the killing and sales of healthy horses and burros and planned to brand protests as "eco-terrorism".  Now, instead, BLM hope to appear to be working with the public.   
Here is the financial cost to taxpayers for the Salazar Plan to  devastate wild horses and burros which make up less than .5% of grazing animals on public lands:
  •In FY 2008, the cost of rounding up and holding these animals was approximately 81.3% of the $36,201,000 budget for the total wild horse and burro program. The BLM wild horse adoption program consumed another 13% of the total budget, leaving a meager 5.8% for monitoring and managing herd areas, census, and compliance inspections. (BLM report - 2010 Budget Justification)
 •The 2009 budget was $40,613,000 with the increase used for more roundups and holding costs. (BLM report - 2010 Budget Justification)
•In FY 2010 there was a substantial increase in the budget for the wild horses and burros program for a total of $67,486,000 with the entire additional $26,873,000 to be used for rounding up 12,000 horses and holding what will be a total of about 40,000 horses in pens. (BLM report - 2010 Budget Justification)
•For FY 2011 BLM has requested an additional $12 million apparently to defray the costs of holding wild horses and burros in corrals and long term holding facilities and then an additional $42.5 million for the first of seven "preserves", "pastures" or feedlots in the midwest or east.
BLM has already rejected a moratorium on roundups
Even before the Denver meeting, Abbey rejected a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups, insisting the scheduled roundups would continue.  This despite thousands of letters, emails and calls to Congress, the White House and DOI to end the roundups. This despite the consensus among the public present at the Denver meeting there should be a moratorium on roundups until there is an accurate census and current determination of appropriate management levels (AMLs) of horses and burros that can be supported on the range.
As Vicki Tobin, co-founder and vice-president of Equine Welfare Alliance pointed out, "Six months or one year will not create a crisis and will give the BLM time to move forward with accurate scientific data."

Abbey himself said the BLM would consider ways to make more forage available for wild horses and burros in herd management areas and whether the appropriate management levels set in herd management areas are based on the best available science. If that is true, how can BLM proceed with roundups until that has been done?  

What else the Salazar Plan says
The Plan document confirms roundups as well as aggressive sterilization remain a centerpiece of BLM's management of the wild horses and burros. Coupled with that is a focus on increasing adoptions and also on turning horses and burros over for use in a wide variety of organizations and programs. It is unlikely these animals could be protected from sales including for slaughter.  There is, in fact, mention in the Plan, albeit casually, that sales, the "customer base", for wild horses and burros should be expanded. In effect, removal from the range remains the goal.

And that is exactly what the cattle industry demanded at the Denver meeting. Cattle outnumber wild horses and burros on public lands    .  The industry receives a substantial taxpayer subsidy from livestock grazing on public lands. The cattle industry pays $1.35 per animal under 18,000 grazing permits and leases on 258 million acres of public lands.  Grazing livestock on public lands is a "$132 million loss to the American taxpayer each year and independent economists have estimated the true cost at between $500 million and $1 billion dollars a year."   

        Census, AMLs and other legal technicalities
BLM has over the years shown little regard for the limits on its discretion to remove wild horses and burros under the WFRHBA. There is supposed to be an accurate population count and determination of appropriate management levels, a finding of overpopulation. BLM's management of the wild horses and burros has focused on round up and removal and not on maintaining them as "components" of the public lands, free roaming, and managed at the "minimal feasible level" free from "harassment" and "capture".
The Plan document doesn't address serious questions about the census taken of wild horses and burros, whether the numbers are even remotely accurate or have been exaggerated to enable round up of even more horses.
The plan document doesn't address serious questions about whether the assessments of the range conditions are accurate or outdated, simply exaggerated or even fabricated as an excuse to remove wild horses and burros. There is only lip service to using the best science available for these census determinations and range assessments.
          Horses and burros returned to the range - in "pastures"?
It is telling that one option BLM offers is to "[c]reate preserves on HAs or HMAs which currently have no animals on them." The idea would be to return either reproducing or non-reproducing herds to herd areas where they were at one time. If wild horses and burros can be returned to herd areas or herd management areas, then why were they removed, even zeroed out, in the first place? And why must they live in "preserves" which Salazar has said can mean "pastures" or feedlots? Why shouldn't they live as the law requires in herd areas as "components" of the public lands, free-roaming and managed at the "minimal feasible level"?  
And why consider returning the wild horses and burros only to HAs or HMAs with no animals? Why not return them to their herd areas even if there are other animals inlcuding cattle and sheep?
           What about livestock grazing?
The plan document doesn't propose that if range degradation and lack of water are truly of concern, then cattle and sheep grazing should be restricted. There is no discussion in the Plan document about phasing out livestock grazing leases or permits. (The BLM only mentions voluntary relinquishment of leases or permits or private purchasers who would use the rights for horses and burros.) BLM doesn't answer the question as to why environmental assessments relied on to justify roundups rarely mention livestock grazing at all, let alone as a substantial cause of any range degradation or use of water.
Wild horses are outnumbered by cattle at least 200 to 1. In 1990, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the range was in the best condition it had been in during the past century. The GAO found any degradation was the result of livestock grazing and suggested removal of some cattle, not necessarily wild horses and burros.

But BLM never mentions this finding.

          Communications 

One section of the Plan proposes to "[i]ncrease the Wild Horse and Burro Program's transparency; improve communications and visibility." BLM offers to keep its website current and make it more accessible. 

  

All nice, but what does it mean?

  

BLM also offers to generate "standardized" reports about roundups, adoptions, sales (there's that word again) and "facilities".

  

Okay, but what information would the reports contain? 

  

BLM proposes what appears to be a glossy ad campaign to convince the public of its humane treatment of animals though it promises to develop a "structured approach" to create a program to monitor animal welfare and periodically solict input from veterinarians' groups especially APHIS  on its roundups, holding facilities, and "pastures. (Yes, APHIS, the USDA agency that "regulates" puppy mills and other  breeders and dealers, and animals held for entertainment, research and the like....Has BLM ever been to an APHIS-regulated puppy mill?)   

This is the same BLM that just a few months ago threw out the 11,000 or more public comments concerning the Calico roundup, ignored the plaintiffs who brought a lawsuit to try to stop the roundup, disregarded the judge's warning that BLM's policy of rounding up and holding wild horses in long term facilities may be illegal. Instead, BLM pushed ahead to use helicopters to run down nearly 2,000 horses in the dead of winter in the Nevada mountains, forcing them to run miles over rough, icy terrain with deadly and devastating results. The reasons given for the roundup were based on outdated and even blatantly false assessments. (For a comprehensive look at the history and politics behind the Calico roundup and more, visit www.americanherds.blogspot.com and for a look at the terrible illness and suffering these animals now endure, visit http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/)  
So forgive me if I am skeptical about this sketchy plan for better communications.
Ideas presented at the Denver meeting
Noted wildlife ecologist Craig Downer presented an idea of creating reserves or natural areas designed to conserve wild horses and burros and where they could roam free. He also told attendees at the Denver meeting of the importance of wild horses and burros to the western ecosystem. Both of Mr. Downer's presentations are attached below for downloading.
Ginger Kathrens, founder and volunteer executive director of Cloud Foundation, also offered proposals for working with BLM. Elyse Gardner offers a look at the presentations made at the Denver meeting. Will BLM really consider any of this?
In the Strategy Plan document  there is a survey soliciting public input. Here are some ideas for BLM:

1. Put a moratorium on further roundups until a plan for future management of wild horses and burros is in place.
2. Amend land use plans and identify herd areas and herd management areas where wild horses and burros can be returned to live free-roaming in bands or families to be managed at the "minimal feasible level". 
3. Designate ranges, reserves or refuges that are managed principally to conserve wild horses and burros and return or move wild horses and burros to these areas as a preferred alternative to sanctuaries, preserves or adoption.  There are also ideas for places somewhere between living in the wild and a Salazar "pasture" or feedlot. Madeleine Pickens' plan and Soldier Meadows are 2 ideas that should be considered and developed. 
4. Amend the WFRHBA and BLM regulations to mandate herds of wild horses and burros remain genetically viable and self-sustaining.
5. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to make sure land use plans provide that wild horses and burros are considered as an integral part of the system of the public lands and have been provided for comparably with other uses of the public lands.
6. Facilitate keeping wild horses and burros on public lands by changing boundaries, adding contiguous lands, using corridors or fencing to facilitate migration, providing forage, developing water resources and preserving predators.
7. Amend the WFRHBA and BLM regulations to require use of the best science available and state of the art technology for census counts and range assessments including AML determinations.  
8. Amend WFRHBA to eliminate use of sterilization for wild horses or burros that are not held in private sanctuaries or for adoption.
9. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to require reporting and environmental assessments concerning roundups to include analysis of livestock grazing in herd areas and herd management areas and consider as a serious alternative the reduction of livestock grazing.
10. Increase reporting and public participation and access to information about census counts, range assessments including AML determinations, roundups, holding, injuries, deaths, care and treatment, including designating independent humane observers that would be present for all roundups and during holding and transport.
11. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to specify requirements for humane treatment and care, and specifically ban use of helicopters and other aerial devices for roundups except in the event of an emergency, and the killing of healthy horses, and increase criminal penalties for violations of the WFRHBA.
12. Amend WFRHBA and BLM regulations to repeal the Burns-Reid Amendment that has meant the sale of thousands of wild horses for slaughter and prohibit the transfer of wild horses and burros if there is a risk they will be sent to slaughter. 

You may have other ideas such as promoting eco-tourism in wild horse and burros areas and increasing education about these animals. Let BLM know your ideas! If we don't speak up, there is a danger these animals will be lost forever in the fierce competition for the natural resources of our public lands. As the Equine Welfare Alliance warned, "The clock is ticking against America's wild horses....A plan that preserves the herds at manageable levels must be developed and implemented before the last of our wild horses and burros are rounded-up and become a closed chapter in our American heritage."  Pass this link onto everyone you know who will help save the wild horses and burros!

Abbey: Many myths in wild horse management debate

Salt Lake Tribune

By Robery V. Abbey

Updated: 01/10/2010 11:01:08 AM MST

The subject of wild horses prompts understandably emotional responses and, unfortunately, misinformation from some wild horse advocates who are critical of the Bureau of Land Management's management of these "living legends" of the American West.
These errors and false allegations serve neither the 37,000 wild horses and burros roaming Western public rangelands, nor the American taxpayer who underwrites the management of these iconic animals. Let me address a few of the more egregious claims that have shown up on the Internet in one form or another.
Myth 1: The BLM is selling or sending wild horses to slaughter.
Fact: This allegation is false. The BLM has not and does not sell or send wild horses to slaughter. That is why the Government Accountability Office, in a report issued in October 2008, found the BLM to be out of compliance with a provision in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act that directs the bureau to sell excess horses or burros "without limitation" to any interested parties.


Myth 2: Everything would be fine if the BLM left wild horses and burros alone.
Fact: This is an untenable assertion, given that wild horse herds grow at an average annual rate of 20 percent a year, meaning herd sizes can double every four years. Western public rangelands simply cannot withstand the environmental impacts resulting from overpopulated herds.
Myth 3: The BLM removes wild horses to make room for more cattle grazing on public rangelands. Fact: This claim is false. The BLM removes excess horses from overpopulated herds to ensure rangeland health. Authorized livestock grazing on BLM-managed land has declined by nearly 50 percent since the 1940s.
Myth 4: Since 1971, the BLM has illegally taken away more than 19 million acres set aside for wild horses and burros.
Fact: This claim is false. No specific amount of acreage was "set aside" for the exclusive use of wild horses and burros under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Among the reasons why horses are no longer managed in certain areas where they were found roaming in 1971 is that much of the roaming land was private or state land not controlled by the BLM, and other areas -- because of drought or wildfire -- lacked sufficient forage and/or water to sustain horses and burros year-round.
Myth 5: The BLM is managing wild horse herds to extinction.
Fact: This charge is demonstrably false. The BLM is seeking to achieve the appropriate management level of 26,600 wild horses and burros on Western public rangelands, or 10,000 fewer than roam today. In 1971, when the BLM was given legal authority to protect and manage wild horses and burros, the number of wild horses was 17,300 mustangs (plus 8,045 burros), compared to today's on-the-range population of 33,100 wild horses (plus 3,800 burros).
More myths and the BLM's response to them can be found on our agency's Web site at www.blm.gov, as can details about Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's initiative to put the national wild horse and burro program on a sustainable track. The bottom line is that the BLM is committed to ensuring the health of the public rangelands so that the species that depend on them -- including wild horses and burros -- can thrive. By reaching appropriate management levels in currently overpopulated herds, the BLM will be able to preserve healthy wild horse herds on healthy Western rangelands as a legacy for the American people.
Robert V. Abbey is director of the Bureau of Land Management .

Wild horses and burros: BLM's public relations nightmare

LA Equine Policy Examiner, Carrol Abel

Wild stallion escaping capture at BLM's Calico roundup                           photo by C. Downer

Wednesday, January 13, 2010  Wild horse roundups have been prevalent in news headlines of  late.  Viewing Bureau of Land Management's  wild horse and burro program under a microscope has resulted in a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of negative public. Read More....

LA Equine Policy Examiner, Carrol Abel

Carrol Abel has been involved with wild horses since 1996. She is current president of the Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund and active in the Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates. Daily contact with groups throughout the United States keeps her finger on the pulse of the wild horse world. Carrol wants to keep you up to date on the information you don’t have time to research yourself and provide a forum for your thoughts.

What’s In a Name? Maybe Plenty

Horseback Magazine

By Steven Long

NYT Accepts Myth as Fact in Disappointing Story

First Fatality in Calico Roundup, No Witnesses Allowed

Activist Claims Terror in Horses Eyes in BLM Photo Release

HOUSTON , (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management has released the name of a Nevada landowner who is cooperating with the agency in its roundup of more than 2,000 horses in the remote badlands of that arid state.

Horseback Magazine repeatedly asked for the name of the landowner, Greg Foster, who is cooperating with BLM on the gather. The agency claims the wild horses it is stampeding with a low flying helicopter are in mountainous terrain. Spokesmen say that the bureau is only setting up a holding pen and storing equipment on Foster’s property. Since press and public have been barred from witnessing the “gather” except in tightly controlled “media days,” there is no way to independently determine if the BLM is herding wild horses found on the landowner’s property.
The agency claims the horses are driven from the Nevada highlands into the pen set up on Foster’s property.
The BLM has refused to release any more information about the landowner other than his name. A search has produced numerous Nevadans named Greg Foster. An agency spokeswoman claimed the information is protected by the federal privacy act, however, details regarding federal contractors who are not engaged in national security work are generally readily available as public record. Horseback has asked for the information under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Horseback has also asked if Foster is reimbursing the federal government for removing horses from his property.
The roundup was ordered by Nevada BLM officials with the approval of Director Bob Abbey. It has sparked protests and demonstrations nationwide. It has also prompted celebrities such as Willie Nelson, the Barbie Twins, Cheryl Crow, and comedian Bill Maher to call on President Obama to call off the capture.
One horse has reportedly died in the roundup.
In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on another roundup in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals last year.
The percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups this year is slightly worse at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. In July, a Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses. Through September of this year, 79 horses have died as the agency rushes to clear wild horses from the West.
Over the last two years a total of 205 horses have died at the agency’s hands during its “gathers” to thin the herds despite the almost 260 million acres of vacant land managed by BLM.
Wild horse advocates claim the BLM roundups are genetically bankrupting the herds to the point of extinction.
The horse habitat set aside by the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act is coveted by ranchers for grazing land who sign leases at fire sale prices of $1.35 per cow per month.

Abbey Gives Go Ahead for Calico Gather in Defiance of Federal Judge’s Recommendation

Horseback Magazine

California Group Asks Feinstein to Stop Roundups - Protests

Chicago Protesters Brave the Cold

Colorado Residents Mount Protest

By Steven Long
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The director of the federal Bureau of Land Management personally gave a thumbs up to go ahead with a Nevada “gather” of wild horses.
“The decision to proceed with the Calico gather after Judge Friedman's ruling was made by Winnemucca Field District Manager Gene Seidlitz with the concurrence of BLM-Nevada State Director Ron Wenker and BLM Director Bob Abbey,” said BLM National spokesman Tom Gorey.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled two days before Christmas that the agency could go ahead with the roundup of wild horses in Western Nevada near the site of the famed Comstock Load, yet issued a pointed recommendation that the gather not proceed saying the agency faced a “conundrum.”
Friedman ruled that the agency practice of holding captured mustangs in large holding facilities is likely against the law and that it would be ill advised to proceed with the “Calico Gather” which was planned for December 28. Abbey clearly felt otherwise.
Gorey said the agency would have no further comment on its director’s decision to go ahead with the action which has drawn criticism from coast to coast and international press coverage in a perfect storm of protest by wild horse lovers.
“Judge Friedman's decision of Dec. 23, 2009, speaks for itself,” Gorey said. “The BLM has no further comment to make about the ruling, particularly since this legal matter is still under litigation,” he told Horseback Magazine.
The roundup began on Monday as planned and BLM barred press and public from witnessing the roundup. On Wednesday, the BLM escorted a small group of journalists to the site to observe the horses in a very controlled media event.
Wild Horse advocates claim that in the BLM roundups horses are stampeded down mountainsides, injured, and killed as they run from a roaring helicopter flying at low altitude. Horseback Magazine has repeatedly asked to witness BLM gathers, including the Calico, on horseback. BLM has denied the request.
Parts of the roundup are held on private land.
“The reason we have parts of it on private land is because it is the only way to have access to the horses for certain areas. They are really rough areas to get to. The private land is the only way we can get in there and get to them,” said BLM spokeswoman Heather Emmons.
The BLM denies that any horses are being removed from private property at taxpayer expense. Such removal would likely require reimbursement of the federal government by landowners for removing the horses. Many western ranchers view wild horses on their land as competition for their cattle.
BLM has refused to divulge the name of the property owner(s) whose land is being used for the gather other than to say it is not taking place on nearby Indian land.
Horseback has also repeatedly sought an interview with Abbey but has been refused.
In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on another roundup in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals last year.
The percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups this year is slightly worse at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. In July, a Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses. Through September of this year, 79 horses have died as the agency rushes to clear wild horses from the West.
Over the last two years a total of 205 horses have died at the agency’s hands during its “gathers” to thin the herds despite the almost 260 million acres of vacant land managed by BLM.
Wild horse advocates claim the BLM roundups are genetically bankrupting the herds to the point of extinction.
The horse habitat set aside by the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act is coveted by ranchers for grazing land who sign leases at fire sale prices of $1.35 per cow per month.

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