In Arizona: Obama’s BLM Squandered Wild Horse Funds Now Looking for Help

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Obama’s BLM Squandered Wild Horse Funds Now Looking for Help

Straight from the Horse's Heart

(In My Humble Opinion) by R.T. Fitch ~ Author/Director of HfH Advisory Board

After years of wasting money on deadly Wild Horse Roundups the well has run dry

BLM: "Please, you can trust me."

As part of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) alleged “New Strategy” the agency claims that it is extending its hand “soliciting proposals for private-public partnerships to establish wild horse ‘ecosanctuaries’ on non-BLM managed land.” In a press release, dated 03/16/2011, the BLM states that they will entertain said partnerships in an effort to help the BLM care and feed the “excess” wild horses the BLM have removed from their rightful homes.
On the surface this would appear to be a wonderful new and revolutionary idea but in reality it is not even a concept that the BLM can claim to be its own. Madeleine Pickens has made the commitment to acquire half a million acres of grazing land, in the west, in an effort to give a better home to the horses that the BLM has unjustifiably removed from their lawful range. Years of research and lobbying went into the plan and BLM Director Bob Abbey give Pickens a thumbs down after months and months of reassuring her that the plan was viable. Of course, Abbey now says that he was misquoted but what do you expect from a guy who has been gorging himself at the government’s feed trough for his entire career, the truth?
A glaringly obvious consideration, with this entire scenario, is that it is nothing more than Secretary of the Department of Interior Ken Salazar’s “Zalazoo Plan” only in a different flavor with someone else helping to pay the bill. The proposal still calls for separate, “non-producing” herds of gelded stallions and chemically sterilized mares segregated onto different land. Abnormal, death herds of shattered former families living out their lives separated from their natural partners simply waiting to die. No bands of wild horses, no births or babies but instead just herds of gelded stallions running separate from herds of mares. Ain’t that sweet?
As usual the BLM is looking at the backside of the horse versus making corrections and guiding the head. Don’t get me wrong as I would welcome anything to help improve the quality of live for those that are in holding but again, the collective bureaucratic mind of the BLM can only see to treat the symptom versus curing the disease and now that they have squandered away tens of millions of your dollars on senseless and deadly roundups they want help with the very problem that they created.
Fix the problem you knuckleheads!!! Stop swelling the bank accounts of cruel stampede contractors Cattoors and Sun-J. Settle into the idea of accurately COUNTING the ACTUAL number of horses on the range and partner with professionals who can recommend humane management practices and stop fueling the problem by recklessly removing wild horses and burros from their rightful homes. It’s an easy fix but to continue down the road of ripping every single wild horse and burro off from their rightful land and then shoving them into long term holding has proven to be a failure. Fix it!
If the BLM were forced to function within the private sector they would have failed in business many decades ago. The roughshod concept of full speed ahead at all costs without proper numbers, planning and finances would run a private company straight into the dirt but instead the BLM has used your money, destroyed your herds, ignored years worth of public protest and now that they are out of money, they want you to help. It’s time to put some business sense into the running of our government and if we can’t succeed in doing it at the top then lets run the leaders of this agency out of town on a rail and build a bureau of professional, compassionate and accountable business personnel who realize that 1+1 does not equal 20.

Click (HERE) for BLM press release