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Government
considering euthanizing wild horses
2008, The Associated Press
June 30 - Federal officials are considering euthanizing wild horses
to deal with the growing population on the range and in holding
facilities, authorities said Monday.
BLM
to roundup Nevada wild horses
2008, KRNV
June 30, Reno, NV - More than 330 wild horses from a herd in northern
Nevada will be the target of an emergency roundup by the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management. The BLM announced plans earlier this month to
gather about 1,700 wild horses from the Nevada range, citing ongoing
drought, dwindling forage and an over-abundance of animals.
Wild
horses aren't free - Failure to enforce a 1971 law endangers the
mustangs it was supposed to protect
2008,
Los Angeles Times
June 2 - Under [the] law, horses are to be "considered
in areas where presently found as an integral part of the system
of public lands." Their management falls to agencies inside
the Department of the Interior, primarily the Bureau of Land Management,
which culls the herds based on the land's grazing capacity and what's
required to sustain the wild horse population. But the government
also balances the needs of horses against other uses of the range
-- and that means corporate cattle ranching. Today, instead of being
protected, mustangs are in danger of being "managed" out
of existence.
BLM
struggles to find balance on Green Mountain allotment
2008, Star Tribune
Lander, WY, May 19 - The Green Mountain Common Allotment is one
of the largest unfenced ranges in the nation, and the Bureau of
Land Management has been struggling for more than a decade to come
up with a plan to manage the half-million-acre spread. The allotment
– 86 percent federal lands, with some state and private parcels
– […] is home to three iconic herds of wild horses,
some of which are descended from Spanish mustangs, Ross said. "One
of the benefits of having very little fencing out there is that
it allows horses in the three main groups to interbreed and maintain
genetic diversity," he said. The proposed fencing would probably
keep the three groups separate from one another, and do away with
future genetic interchange, Ross said. It also would limit the horses'
movement between summer and winter forage.
Corolla
herd is too small, study says
2008, The Virginian-Pilot
After years of efforts to reduce Corolla's wild horse herd, it might
be time to rebuild it again. Research by Texas A&M University
shows wild horses on the Currituck Outer Banks have low genetic
diversity, a condition caused by breeding within a small population,
which could lead to defects.
Horse
advocates protest in Carson City
2008, Nevada Appeal
Apr. 25, Carson City, NV - More than 60 wild-horse advocates, a
couple of dogs and one horse braved biting winds in Carson City
at a demonstration Wednesday against any plans to remove horses
from the Virginia Range. Wildlife ecologist Craig Downer said assertions
the horses are starving are false, because they can subsist on very
dry vegetation, and added that they greatly reduce fire danger.
County
singers team up to preserve wild horse herd in Nevada
2008,
Associated Press
Apr. 17, Carson City, NV - Country singer Willie Nelson has joined
in a fight to preserve a wild horse herd roaming mountains near
the old Nevada mining town of Virginia City - and Gov. Jim Gibbons
is getting a lot of calls as a result.
A
Troubled Symbol of the West
2008,
The Oregonian
Mar. 16, Pendleton, OR - A wild horse population explosion is occurring
on reservation lands across the Northwest. On the Umatilla reservation,
wild horses compete with domestic livestock and wildlife for limited
forage. They consume forage better used by elk, deer and bighorn
sheep that tribal members hunt for food.
Protected
Wild Burros in Danger of Extinction
2008, Blog Critics Magazine
Since 1971 wild burros have gone from being "living symbols
of the historic and pioneer spirit of the west" to exotic feral
animals that are interfering with the natural order. It's interesting
how this wasn't considered a problem until a few years ago when
a move was made by big game hunters in North America to reintroduce
the Desert Big horn sheep into the same areas that burros were already
grazing. Once state governments became aware of just how potentially
lucrative the Big Horn Sheep hunt could be, (with licenses fetching
up to $100,000 each at auctions), burros became a nuisance creature
that needed to be dealt with. All of a sudden we hear they are a
threat to water supplies, their populations are too high, and they
are a threat to the precious Big Horn Sheep gold mine.
BLM
wants to trim herd of wild horses - by adoption
2008,
San Francisco Chronicle
Feb. 10, Billings, MT - A wild horse herd along the Montana-Wyoming
border that traces its ancestry to the mounts ridden by Spanish
conquistadors could be reduced through adoption by more than 35
percent under recommendations released Monday by federal officials.
Genetic testing has shown the Pryor herd descends from horses used
by Spanish conquistadors during their drive to colonize the American
Southwest. The first to arrive in the Pryors were likely brought
by Crow or Shoshone Indians in the late 1700s or early 1800s.
Wild
Horses Becoming More Endangered
2007,
WRAL.com
Corolla, NC - A group that monitors endangered species says that
situation of the two wild horse herds on the Outer Banks is worsening.
The American Livestock Breed Conservancy moved the Corolla and Shackleford
herds from the threatened category into the critical category. The
next category is extinction. The federal Shackleford Act stipulates
that herd should have a minimum of 100 horses to maintain genetic
viability. The Currituck Wild Horse Management Plan calls for that
herd to stay at a minimum of 60 horses. Work by Dr. E. Gus Cothran,
a leading equine geneticist and expert on feral horses, however,
shows that the Currituck herd should also have at least 100 horses
to maintain genetic diversity, the ALBC claims.
BLM
seeks bids for one or more new wild horse pastures
2008, St. George Daily Spectrum
As part of its responsibility to manage, protect and control wild
horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids
for one or more new pasture facilities located anywhere in the continental
United States. Each pasture facility must be able to provide humane
care for and maintain at least 500 wild horses – up to as
many as 2,500 – over a one-year period, with an option under
BLM contract for an additional four one-year extensions.
Questions
raised after burros killed at Big Bend Ranch State Park
2007, The Big Bend Sentinel
TX, Dec. 6 – A strategy to improve the habitat of native animal
species has led to the killing of wild burros at Big Bend Ranch
State Park and sparked two investigations on how the matter was
handled. The in-house investigation continued over several months
and, according to those involved in that process, what it revealed
was disturbing. Eighteen burros, some found as recently as October
and November, were discovered shot, according to [a] source. "There
are a whole lot more out there," the source said. "It
was inhumane." In one instance, said the source, "a female
was shot and the baby was still trying to nurse on her – and
she was dead."
Two
horses die after roundup in Carson forest
2007, Associated Press
Santa Fe, NM, Dec. 5 - The U.S. Forest Service says two wild horses
captured during a roundup in the Carson National Forest have died.
One horse died November 26th after running head-first into a metal
corral panel and breaking its neck.
The
Science Behind Wild Horse Roundups
2007, KTVN
Rounding up wild horses carries inherent risks for the animals,
so presumably, there should be a good reason for capturing them.
In early September, a BLM roundup captured 900 horses in Nevada's
Jackson Mountain Wilderness Area, supposedly because there wasn't
enough forage to support them. When the horses got to the Palomino
Valley holding facility, they started dying because of the feed
they received. What bothers wild horse advocates the most is that
while the BLM felt there was only room for 200 or fewer horses in
the 280,000 acre Jackson Range, they said it was still okay to have
8,000 cattle and sheep grazing in the same area.
Nevada's
Wild Horses Face Desperate Future
2007, Las Vegas Now
The Bureau of Land Management spends millions of dollars each year
to round up wild horses and burros, and then millions more to house
and feed them inside government pens. In Nevada, thousands of additional
horses are slated for roundups in the next few months. Wild horse
advocates question whether the BLM has any justification for corralling
the animals in the first place.
Nevada
BLM's Wild Horses Money, Where Is It?
2007, Las Vegas Now
This is a wild horse story that isn't about wild horses. It's
about the agency, which is supposed to manage the herds and what
it does with millions of taxpayer dollars. BLM spends a bundle on
rounding up horses -- about $2 million a year in Nevada -- but only
one-twentieth as much on adoptions. The result is a huge backlog
of horses in government pens and feeding them costs even more millions.
Unbridled
History
2007,
InForum News
N.D., Nov. 3 - Wild horses roaming what’s now Theodore
Roosevelt National Park have been linked for years to three of the
area’s most noteworthy historic figures: Sitting Bull, the
Marquis de Mores and Old Four Eyes himself. […] But the National
Park Service has taken the position that airtight proof is lacking
to officially acknowledge any ties. […] Years ago, horses
were routinely sold for slaughter, including as food for zoo animals,
and horse advocates say cavalier treatment continues, as evidenced
by a helicopter crash during a roundup last month.
BLM
center closed after horse deaths
2007, Reno Gazette-Journal
Sept. 26 - Federal officials today closed the Palomino Valley animal
adoption facility, where 132 horses died because of salmonella and
other health problems. Tests on some of 983 horses recently placed
in the facility operated by the Bureau of Land Management revealed
high levels of salmonella that can infect domestic animals and humans.
Others had pneumonia.
Roundup
in the Great Divide
2007, Jackson Hole Star Tribune
Rock Springs, WY - If all goes well, nearly 500 wild horses
will be rounded up and removed from the range east of here, according
to the Bureau of Land Management. A contract crew has been working
to round up the excess horses, which are run into a trap, sorted
into pens, loaded into tractor-trailers, and trucked 40 miles to
the BLM horse corrals at Rock Springs, where they will later be
available for adoption. The entire southern section of the Great
Divide Basin area is checkerboard, with every other square mile
section being private property, the majority of which is held by
the Rock Springs Grazing Association. Cattle and domestic sheep
are grazed in the area.
Senator
Reid Pushes For Investigation of 71 Dead Wild Horses
2007, Las Vegas Now
Aug. 25 - Nevada Senator Harry Reid wants to know what killed 71
wild horses on the Nellis Air Force Base Range. The BLM says high
concentrations of nitrates killed the horses. Now the senator wants
the Pentagon to launch a full scale investigation to find out how
the nitrates got in the horses’ drinking water.
Praise
for Arizona's wild horses on House floor
2007, The Independent
Washington D.C., Aug. 3 - An Arizona congressman has honored Arizona's
wild horses on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Natalie
Luna, spokeswoman for Congressman Grijalva, said he made his speech
in response to concerns raised by some in his constituency, mainly
with actions taken by the BLM and the USFS in rounding up excess
horses on their land. She said those constituents alleged the agencies
were not following the 1971 law. "The congressman had several
constituent groups express their concerns about the wild horses.
He was hoping to give a little more attention to this issue and
protect a part of America's and Arizona's heritage. He is hopeful
that with a lot of the local voices and other members of Congress
that we can save the horses from slaughter and they are able to
live in the areas they have long lived in," she said.
BLM
plans more horse roundups
2007,
Casper Star Tribune
July 29 - Last January, federal cowboys were able to round up about
920 wild horses in southwest Wyoming before bad weather shut down
gathering operations. Federal managers are proposing to return to
some of those wild horse herds in the region later this summer and
gather more horses in their continuing effort to reduce overpopulated
herds, Bureau of Land Management officials said. The wild horses
will be captured from areas outside of the adjacent Adobe Town and
Salt Wells herd management units, which, when combined, represent
the biggest herd of wild horses in Wyoming, according to BLM plans.
Wild
horse round-up begins in southwest Idaho
2007, Associated Press
July 26 - The Bureau of Land Management has started rounding up
wild horses in southwestern Idaho to reduce herd numbers so the
horses don't overgraze rangelands. Yesterday BLM crews used a helicopter
and a Judas horse trained to run into a trap to capture 41 horses.
Officials say they will be done rounding up horses by August 3rd
and hope to capture 296 horses in all.
Still
No Answer From Nevada BLM on Wild Horse Budget Spending
2007, Las Vegas Now
July 18 - Nevada's Bureau of Land Management is rounding up
more wild horses than ever before. Thousands of horses have been
removed from the ranges in the last two years. In fact, there are
now more wild horses in government pens than there are in the wild.
So what does it cost to mount all of these roundups? Apparently,
the BLM doesn't know.
BLM offers discounts on wild horses
2007, Associated Press
Jackson, WY, July 13 - The Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming
is offering discount prices on captured wild horses. Between now
and the end of September, mares and foals can be adopted for $125
per pair. Standard adoption fees are $125 per animal.
BLM seeks bid for more pasture facilities to maintain wild horses
2007,
Associated Press
June
25 - The Bureau of Land Management is asking for bids for new pastures
to hold its wild horses and burros. The bureau has pastures in Oklahoma
and Kansas but is now looking to expand. Each pasture facility must
be able to provide humane care for and maintain at least 1,000 wild
horses -- up to as many as 2,500 over a 1-year period.
Final
Round-Up of Nevada's Wild Horses
2007, KLAS-TV
May 25, Las Vegas, NV - Tough times lie ahead for Nevada's wild
horses. There are already more horses in government pens than exist
on the open range. Wild horse advocates suspect that the drastic
horse roundups Nevada has seen in recent months are related to the
news that the BLM budget is being cut, as if someone was trying
to grab as many horses as they could while the money was still there.
House
Votes To End Wild Horse Slaughter
2007, Associated Press
April 26, Washington, D.C. - The House voted Thursday to prevent
the government from selling off for slaughter any wild horses and
burros that roam public lands in the West. The 277-137 vote would
restore a 1971 law preventing the Bureau of Land Management from
selling the animals for commercial processing. The protection was
removed in 2004 when former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., inserted
a measure in a spending bill allowing their sale. "These animals
were earmarked for death," said the bill's sponsor, Democratic
Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, chairman of the House Natural
Resources Committee.
Wild
horses revive desolate marshland
2007, Reuters
Canterbury, England - Close to the cathedral city of Canterbury,
wild horses are helping to bring wildlife and rare birds back to
once desolate marshlands. In an intriguing ecological exercise that
could revitalize the countryside, naturalistic grazing is the environmental
buzzword - the horses basically munch the marshes back to life.
History-making
wild horse settlement
2007, Arizona Central
A "significant victory" for horse lovers, that's how the
attorney representing a coalition of animal advocates is characterizing
an agreement reached with the US Forest Service. The group is dropping
a lawsuit filed to protect a herd of nearly 400 horses roaming the
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Heber. In exchange, the Forest
Service will solicit public comment on how the wild horses living
on the forest should be managed. The Forest Service must also recognize:
wild horses as "an integral part of the system of public lands".
Panel
approves wild horse sale ban
2007,
Star-Tribune
March 10 - Legislation to reinstate a ban on the commercial sale
and slaughter of wild horses and burros was approved by the U.S.
House Natural Resources Committee this week. The bill, which has
received bipartisan support, would restore the prohibition on the
sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros that was eliminated
by [the Burns Amendment]. To the delight of Western stockmen and
the consternation of wild horse advocates, Burns' amendment allowed
the sale of any wild horse that has been rounded up and is more
than 10 years old or has been unsuccessful in the adoption program
three times. Stockmen have voiced concerns that wild horses compete
with cattle for limited forage in the dry West, while wild horse
advocates have downplayed the competition, noting that wild horses
number only 28,000 in a West that has 9 million cattle grazing on
public lands.
Wanted:
Albertans to save 10 American wild horses
2007, Edmonton Journal
Edmonton, March 6 - Ten American mustangs have been on a wild ride
in the last few months -- from the northern Nevada desert to [humane
enforcement] seizure in Alberta to the auction block, and possibly
the slaughterhouse. But now there's hope that the incredible journey
will end instead in adoption of the animals by foster farms. The
horses, part of a group culled by officials from the Sheldon National
Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, were brought to Alberta by an Evansburg-area
woman, who planned to sell them.
Advocates
Will Fight On For Nevada's Wild Horses
2007, Las Vegas Now
A federal court judge refused to stop the round ups of wild horses
and burros that roam government land in Southern Nevada. The Bureau
of Land Management says the animals need to be removed because there
is not enough food for them, but advocates accuse the BLM of mismanaging
the horses. The attorney for the group says, "Anyone who has
spent time in the desert sees guzzlers for quail. They see guzzlers
for big horn sheep." He adds the government does not want the
hassle of actually managing the herds: "I think it is labor
intensive. I think it's controversial and it's best and easiest
to take them off the land."
Santa
Maria Ranch developers seek solution to wild horse removal dilemma
2007, Reno-Gazette Journal
Key people working to find a way to have wild horses and people
peacefully coexist in the housing subdivision that lies on land
that was once the Santa Maria Ranch gathered Friday to discuss several
fencing options. A saga that has played out for almost six months
pitting wild horse lovers and developers of the Santa Maria Ranch
against one another may have an amicable solution. Developers stood
in the chill of the early morning air to discuss the wild horses
that obviously think the ranch is part of their roaming territory.
The meeting was a continuance of the December 11 Emergency Community
Forum that was attended by more than 125 people, mostly outraged
over the gradual loss of wildlife, particularly wild horses throughout
the region.
Texas
Horse Slaughterhouses Violate Law, Appeals Court Decides
2007, Bloomberg
Jan. 20 - Two Texas slaughterhouses responsible for half the 100,000
horses killed in the U.S. annually for overseas consumption may
face criminal charges if they don't shut down, the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals decided. ``The lone cowboy riding his horse on
a Texas trail is a cinematic icon,'' the three-judge appellate decision
said in a unanimous decision yesterday. ``Not once in memory did
the cowboy eat his horse, but film is an imperfect mirror.''
BLM
officials back wild horse ranch
2007, Casper Star Tribune
Concerns about the condition of wild horses moved to a private ranch
in Albany County won't deter the Bureau of Land Management from
pursuing more such arrangements, a state BLM official says. But
a wild horse advocate said such "sanctuaries" aren't the
answer to dealing with what federal officials see as overpopulated
horse herds in Wyoming and elsewhere the West.
Wild
Horse Adoption Program Criticized
2007, KLAS-TV
Hundreds of wild horses and burros were rounded up in southern Nevada
recently. BLM officials claim most of the animals will eventually
be adopted out to good homes, but those claims are not supported
by BLM's track record. Some of the horses and burros that were rounded
up last week will eventually be adopted out but it's wishful thinking
to say most will find homes. The fact is, most of the horses gathered
from Nevada end up spending years in government pens.
Grazers
seek no loss to energy
2007, Casper Star Tribune
Rawlins, WY, Jan. 13 - The Wyoming Stock Growers and Wyoming Wool
Growers associations are asking that ranchers who lose grazing areas
to energy development be compensated and that the grazing areas
be reclaimed properly. The BLM is proposing to allow drilling of
2,000 natural gas wells on some 270,000 acres of federal, state
and private land south of Rawlins. The BLM's study of the development
says roads, facilities, damage to forage and weed invasion could
result in the loss of 20,000 animal unit months over the life of
the project. Ranchers can be compensated for loss of grazing leases
by being allowed to graze their livestock elsewhere or by financial
agreement.
BLM
seeks bids for one or more new pasture facilities in West
2007, Reno Gazette Journal
As part of its responsibility to manage, protect and control wild
horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids
for one or more new pasture facilities located west of the Mississippi
River. Each pasture facility must be able to provide humane care
for and maintain at least 750 wild horses -- up to as many as 1,500
-- over a one-year period, with an option under BLM contract for
an additional four one-year extensions. The BLM needs additional
space for wild horses placed in long-term holding facilities, all
of which are currently located in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Boy
unearths important horse fossils
2007,
Horse Talk
Jan. 12 - A startling discovery by a young Californian boy has helped
fill a key gap in the evolution of the horse. Gavin Sutter, aged
eight, from Auburn, found the prehistoric bones of a horse dating
back 15 million years. "Fifteen million years ago, when these
animals roamed Nevada, the Sierra Nevada and many of the mountains
along the west coast of North America had not risen to their current
elevation,"
Scientists
tracking mountain lion to find out impact on wild horses
2007, Reno-Gazette Journal
Jan. 8 - Movements of a mountain lion that may be making a staple
diet out of wild horses are being tracked by scientists at University
of Nevada, Reno. The current study is an offshoot of previous research
started in 2005 for the Nevada Department of Agriculture. That work,
part of the state's effort to control and stabilize the wild horse
population in the Virginia Range, attempted to determine how wild
horse behavior is altered when mares are injected with contraceptive
chemicals. While doing field work associated with that research,
UNR graduate student Meeghan Gray kept coming across the remains
of dead horses, generally foals or young adults with trauma to the
neck or chest that were partially covered in dirt. "It was
pretty obvious a mountain lion was doing this," Gray said.
Wild
horse roundup begins
2007, Casper Star Tribune
Green River, WY, Jan. 6 -- Federal land managers began a massive
winter roundup Friday to reduce two overpopulated wild horse herds
that roam southwest Wyoming. The wild horses will be captured from
the adjacent Adobe Town and Salt Wells herd management units, which,
when combined, represent the biggest herd of wild horses in Wyoming.
BLM state wild horse and burro program leader Alan Shepherd said
the wild horse gathering aims to capture 1,760 wild horses from
the two herds, whose population exceeds 2,000 animals. A horse advocacy
group spokeswoman, however, called the winter roundup "ill-advised
and potentially cruel" due to cold weather and treacherous
footing. She said horses will likely get wet from running in the
cold and could be susceptible to colds and other diseases.
Slaughter
Bill Ban On Wild Horses Introduced Today
2007, The Horse
Washington, D.C., Jan. 5 – A bill to restore the 34-year ban
on the commercial sale and slaughter of America's wild, free-roaming
horses and burros (H.R. 249) was introduced today by U.S. House
of Representatives Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.).
Similar legislation was passed unanimously last May as an amendment
to the House Interior Appropriations bill, but stripped from the
final bill in a House-Senate
conference committee.
Advocates
to Challenge Wild Horse Roundup in Cold Creek
2006,
Las Vegas Now
Las
Vegas, NV, Dec. 22 - Government plans to round up hundreds of wild
horses from the area around Cold Creek, Nevada are about to hit
a snag. Wild horse advocates say they will go to court to stop the
roundup. Herds of wild horses roam in and around Cold Creek almost
daily, drawn by ample water in the area. Residents say the horses
are healthy and well fed and are no threat to anyone. But the Bureau
of Land Management says there are too many horses on the range and
that there isn't enough food or water for them.
Wild
horses kept at local feedlot
2006, Lahonta Valley News
December 22 - Jim Gianola, wild horse and burro specialist with
the Bureau of Land Management, said 800 horses were hauled into
the Fallon feedlot in the past six weeks, which serves as an overflow
facility for the BLM's Palomino Valley Center. "There are more
horses in holding facilities than outside in the wild," Gianola
said.
Wild
horses offered at reduced adoption rate
2006, The Pueblo Chieftain
Dec. 10, Canon City, NV - With 1,000 mouths to feed and more on
the way, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is looking to adopt
out wild horses at the East Canon Prison Complex at a price even
Santa would appreciate - $25. The reduced price, a savings of $100
per horse, is being offered on geldings aged 4 and older. The horses
have not been trained.
Emergency
Wild Horse Roundup Scheduled
2006, Associated Press
Dec. 3, Nev. - The U-S Bureau of Land Management has announced plans
to conduct an emergency roundup of more than 200 wild horses from
wildfire-ravaged areas of eastern Nevada. BLM officials say the
roundup expected to start Sunday in portions of Lincoln and White
Pine counties is necessary because of wildfires that destroyed forage
for the animals. Officials plan to gather 190 wild horses from the
Dry Lake, Highland Peak and Rattlesnake Herd Management Areas, and
up to 25 wild horses from the Seaman and Clover HMAs. The roundup
will leave about 160 wild horses in the latter HMAs and 80 horses
in the other HMA's.
Controversial
Wild Horse Roundup in Cold Creek, Nevada
2006, KLAS-TV
Las Vegas, NV, Nov. 17 - Another roundup of wild horses is in the
works, this time in the community of Cold Creek, north of Las Vegas.
A few hundred people live in Cold Creek. Many of them say they moved
here because of the wild horses that wander through their property
almost every evening. The locals know the horses so well they've
given names to most of them. They've been hearing about a proposed
roundup for months now, so Wednesday night, residents packed the
fire station to find out what the BLM has in mind. They checked
out the exhibits, ate the government cookies, and waited to speak
their mind. The moment never came.
Galloping
Scared
2006,
Vanity Fair
Exhausted and terrified, a herd of wild mustangs gallop around
the side of the mountain, miraculously managing to skirt the treacherous
prairie-dog holes and deep crevices as they try to escape the screaming,
whirling predator on their tail. Their instincts tell them they
can out-run most any animal, but this one is relentless. You wish
a director would yell "Cut," and the horses would be led
to a plush Hollywood stable for rest, food, and water. But it's
not a movie, and the pilot flying the helicopter is not an actor.
He works for a government program to round up wild horses from public
lands.
Nevada's
Wild Horses: Soon Gone Forever?
2006, KLAS-TV
Las Vegas, NV - Nevada is home to more than half of all the wild
horses in the nation, but the number of horses on the open range
has plummeted in the past few years, mostly because of large-scale
roundups by the Bureau of Land Management.
Wild Horses - Texas legend throws support behind move to protect
herds.
2006,
Texarkana Gazette
Aug. 25 - Texas legend Willie Nelson is probably best known for
his songs, his raucous lifestyle, his battle with the IRS and his
support for fellow Texas musician Kinky Friedman in the upcoming
governor’s race. But Willie has another side to him. He has
for many years been a big supporter of America’s farmers,
organizing the Farm Aid concerts with Neil Young and John Mellencamp
since 1985, and campaigning for increased use of biodiesel as an
alternative fuel source. Now Willie is joining the crusade to save
one of America’s last remaining ties to its Old West heritage—wild
horses.
Nevada's
Neglected Wild Horses
2006, KLAS-TV
The pictures are shocking, malnourished horses, feeding areas clogged
with debris and wild animals neglected and left for dead. It's a
bleak look at the life portrayed on federally owned and operated
land. It has some speaking out about the care -- or lack thereof
-- for these animals. Eyewitness News spent several hours
on Friday with a group of wild horse advocates. They took us through
some tough terrain to show us how these horses are being "managed."
Take a short a drive from Las Vegas and you'll find the place, a
beautiful desert area where wild horses once roamed the trails by
the dozens. Now some believe they are being left to die out there.
Reining
in the herd - BLM roundup plan draws critics
2006, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Las Vegas, NV, July 8 - The Bureau of Land Management plans to round
up all but a few dozen wild horses from public lands on the outskirts
of the Las Vegas Valley. Preservationists with the group Wild Horses
4 Ever called the Bureau of Land Management plan an attempt to "zero
out" hundreds of horses in herds on six management areas in
the Spring Mountains and west of Lake Mead. They said they are bewildered
that the BLM can afford $350,000 to round up 250 wild horses and
570 burros from the Spring Mountains, plus 60 animals from areas
near Lake Mead, but can't pay to repair water supplies where one
of the 13 remaining wild horses in the Red Rock herd area was found
dead recently.
The
unkindest cuts
2006, Las Vegas City Life
July 6 - Unlike the Bureau of Land Management, which is bound by
law to manage horses on its lands, U.S. Fish & Wildlife is charged
with keeping things comfortable for native species -- in the case
of Sheldon, a half-million-plus-acre refuge at the northwest border
of Nevada, that includes the sage grouse, pronghorn antelope, mule
deer, bighorn sheep and other animals. No spirited symbol of freedom
on the list here; horses are deemed invaders. The June 19-20 roundup
of about 330 horses was part of a broader plan. After officials
rid the area of destructive cattle in the '90s, it was now the horses'
turn to go -- not completely, but almost. In a bow to the public's
appetite for oohing and ahhing at wild horses, officials set a goal
of keeping about 100 horses on the range. But what was supposed
to have been just a routine culling sparked a stampede of outrage
-- and accusations of carelessness, callousness and cover-ups. Wild-horse
activists say that in their zeal to curb the number of horses on
Sheldon, federal officials ignored pleas to postpone the removal
and needlessly ran to death several colts and foals. Further, they
claim that the department's scheme for mass adoptions will surely
send some horses to the slaughterhouse.
BLM
hopes birth control will limit wild-horse population
2006, Associated Press
July 6 - The Bureau of Land Management plans to give 24 older wild
horses birth control shots as part of an ongoing effort to help
limit the population and address concerns about range conditions
in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming. The agency, which
has used birth control in select mares since 2001, also plans for
the first time to use mineral or protein blocks as bait to trap
and capture up to 22 horses that would be put up for adoption later
this summer. Half those horses are to be bachelor stallions and
the other half yearlings.
Low
turnout for annual wild horse, burro adoption
2006, Southeast Missourian
June 26, Jackson, MO – At the seventh Adopt-A-Wild Horse
and Burro program, 70 horses and 11 burros were available for adoption,
but only about 16 animals were adopted. Randy Anderson, head organizer
of the event, was disappointed with the low turnout. "There's
a lot of animals out there, less people to adopt them, a lot of
competition from other organizations, the price of fuel and economic
considerations." Larry and Robbie Lott of St. Louis adopted
two mares at the event to put on their farm in Marble Hill, Mo.
Larry said these horses require time and monetary commitments. "I
wouldn't suggest a novice buying one of these horses," he said.
"You need a place to put them. These are wild mustangs. You
have to put the time in." Some people attending the event weren't
interested in buying an equine, but were there to view the wild
horses up close. Todd and Amy Buffington of Cape Girardeau brought
their 2-year-old son.
Opponents
of wild horse roundup fear slaughter is in store
2006, Reno Gazette-Journal
Jun 25 - With one critic calling the operation a "disaster,"
opponents of last week's wild horse roundup in northwest Nevada
claim the captured mustangs will be shipped for slaughter instead
of rescued for adoption. About 300 wild horses are corralled at
the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge on the Nevada-Oregon border.
The roundup that ended Tuesday is part of a plan to remove all but
about 100 of the estimated 1,500 mustangs living on the 575,000-acre
range. "The BLM has a mandate to manage wild horses,"
said Neda DeMayo, who operates a horse sanctuary in Southern California.
"Fish and wildlife doesn't. So, the only thing that would protect
these horses is public outcry."
Humans
wiped out wild horses, study suggest
2006, MSNBC
Horses originated in North America, but all the wild ones were
killed by early hunters, researchers say. Some horses snuck over
to Asia before the land/ice bridge disappeared. Those were domesticated
by Asians and then Europeans, who reintroduced horses to the Americas.
In recent times, Americans had large horse-raising ranches, and
some of the horses escaped to become what are today known as "wild"
mustangs.
They’re
dragging them away – Wild horses
2006,
One Eleven Magazine
March
– It may come as a surprise to many, but wild horses –
the animals that blazed our trails, fought our wars, the very meaning
of “don’t fence me in” – still roam the
West. They live on public lands, or in parks, mostly in Nevada.
Unfortunately, all of them are now under siege, victims of federal
and state policies that have possibly pushed them to the brink of
extinction. These policies involve unchecked roundups of mustang
populations, waged with virtually no media scrutiny.
Questions
surround wild horse sales plan
2006,
Casper Star Tribune
Feb. 27 - Last week the Public Lands Council -- a ranchers' group
-- and the Bureau of Land Management sent out 15,000 letters to
ranchers who use BLM lands in the West to consider adopting some
of the older wild horses now in BLM holding facilities. The BLM
says if these horses, numbering about 7,000, are moved, it will
make room for more horses to be rounded up from ranges. Pat Fazio,
statewide coordinator for the Wyoming Animal Network, questioned
why ranchers would want to adopt horses. "These are the very
people that wanted them off the land, and now they want them back?"
she said. A central question in the debate is whether wild horses
can be sold to slaughter for human consumption. Niels Hansen, a
Rawlins rancher and chairman of the Wyoming State Grazing Board,
said he doesn't see a problem with selling old, unusable horses
to slaughterhouses. He also said if he were to buy horses from the
BLM under this program -- the agency is seeking $10 per horse --
and then sold them to someone else who then sent them to slaughter,
he might be liable. "I don't know how to get around this and
how to protect myself," he said.
Of
Rocks, Creeks and Broom-Tailed Horses
2006, LA Weekly
Feb.
1 - Will California’s own wild mustangs ever return to Coyote
Canyon? Should they? Among other things, the official reports said
that the horses were starving and dying of thirst and therefore
needed to be rounded up. Such was not the case, but no matter: A
plan was in place and, one day in 2003, the contractor from Utah
who makes his living rounding up wild horses on public lands all
over the West arrived with his team, his truck, his chopper and
his portable corral and chute and set the trap.
BLM
gathers 672 horses at Monte Cristo
2006, Ely Times
Jan. 26 Ely, NV, - The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service
had by Tuesday gathered 672 wild horses from the complex that is
located primarily in northeastern Nye County. The federal agencies
anticipate gathering as many as 840 wild horses from the complex,
which consists of three BLM herd management areas and one Forest
Service wild horse territory. Approximately 700 of the gathered
horses will be placed in the BLM's Adopt-a-Horse-or-Burro Program.
The remainder will be released.
Wild
Horse Round-Up
2006,
KLAS TV
Jan. 13, Las Vegas, NV - Wild horse advocates took on the Bureau
of Land Management during a special meeting Thursday night. The
BLM plans to move most of the wild horse herd out of Red Rock Canyon,
but wild horse advocates say it is unnecessary and they claim the
agency will not repopulate the herd. Jerry Reynoldson, wild horse
advocate, said, "I haven't heard anything to suggest to me
they know conclusively they need to remove these horses from Red
Rock. They simply want to do that."
BLM
plans round-up of Red Rock Canyon wild horses near Las Vegas
2006, Associated Press
Jan. 6, Las Vegas, NV - The Bureau of Land Management plans to round
up and remove most of a herd of wild horses in the Red Rock Canyon
National Conservation Area. The agency says it plans next month
to remove 19 of 35 horses from the area about 20 miles west of Las
Vegas -- and add four mares to the herd next year from the BLM's
Wheeler Pass Herd Management Area. A spokeswoman with the National
Wild Horse Association says she doubts the BLM will follow through
with reintroducing horses to the area in years to come.
BLM slates Monte Cristo horse gather for Jan. 6
2005,
Ely Times
Dec. 23, Ely District, NV – The Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) Battle Mountain and Ely field offices are scheduled to begin
gathering and removing wild horses from the Monte Cristo Complex
on January 6. The BLM and Forest Service anticipate gathering about
840 wild horses during the approximately 20-day gather period. About
700 head will be removed during this gather as the BLM strives to
achieve an appropriate management level of about 285 on the range.
Bright
Idea: Alliance seeks to stem wild horse births
2005, Albuquerque Tribune
Dec. 12 - It's birth control for wild horses who prove fertile in
their free-roaming lives on the nation's Western countryside. It's
developed from pig ovaries and injected in a mare's hips. Called
PZP, the contraceptive gave birth to an agreement between a federal
agency and the Humane Society of the United States at a meeting
late last month in Santa Fe. The Bureau of Land Management and the
Humane Society announced they would work together to further development
and use of PZP on mares living on federal land in 10 Western states.
Congress agrees to increase in Shackleford ponies' herd size
2005, Picayune Item
Raleigh, N.C., Nov. 19 - Congress has given the National Park Service
permission to increase the size of the wild horse herd on Shackleford
Banks,
a change intended to help maintain the herd's viability while still
preventing it from stripping the island's resources. Since 1998,
federal law has dictated that the "banker ponies" - descendants
of animals brought by Spanish explorers - should number at least
100 and no more than 130. The mandate is meant to maintain the herd's
genetic diversity without straining the resources of the grassy
barrier island where they live, part of the Cape Lookout National
Seashore. The herd's base size will increase to 110 and it will
periodically be
allowed to expand to 130 or more, under a bill approved by unanimous
consent
Wednesday by the U.S. Senate, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones said. The House
already
approved the measure.
BLM
Sale Program: Potential buyers back out after agency imposes fines
for selling animals to slaughter
2005, Las Vegas Review Journal
Washington D.C., Oct. 31 - The federal government is looking for
homes for more than 400 wild horses after buyers this spring pulled
out of revised contracts imposing criminal penalties for selling
the animals to slaughter. Twenty individuals and two tribes seeking
427 wild horses canceled their contracts after the Bureau of Land
Management in April suspended its infant sale program amid reports
of horse slaughter, according to interviews with BLM officials and
agency records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal through
a Freedom of Information Act request. "A number of these individuals
had completed the necessary paperwork, some even had sent checks
paying for their animals. However, they still decided not to complete
the purchases and backed out," BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said.
BLM wants to remove most horses near Muddy Gap
2005, Casper Star Tribune
Lander, Wyo., Sept. 11 - Federal wild horse managers plan to remove
most of the wild horse population near Whiskey Mountain west and
southwest of Muddy Gap this fall. Roy Packer, range management specialist
at the Lander Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, said
the roundup operation would be similar to one completed last year
in the Antelope Hills area of the Red Desert.
BLM
trims wild horse herds
2005, Casper Star Tribune
Adobe Town, Wyo., Aug. 24 - Wild horse managers are rounding up
horses in southwest Wyoming this week and through September in an
effort to drastically reduce the number of horses on certain public
lands. Alan Shepherd, wild horse program lead for the Bureau of
Land Management in Wyoming, said there are now about 1,200 horses
in Adobe Town in southern Sweetwater County, and the agency aims
to gather 1,000. Of those, 600 will be removed from the population
and put into the adoption program. The rest will be released in
other areas. Another roundup is planned to begin Labor Day in the
Salt Wells Creek area, also in southern Sweetwater County, where
there are now about 625 horses. About 500 will be gathered, and
300 will be removed.
Cowboys
corral Spring Creek mustangs
2005, Cortez Journal
Disappointment Valley, Colo. - Four full days of wild mustang wrangling
was watered down to one this past weekend as the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management and some Utah cowboys were able to round up the
Spring Creek Basin herd in a matter of hours. Ninety horses were
corralled Sunday from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Southwest Colorado
northeast of Dove Creek. Animals were marshaled to help minimize
impacts to forage health and vigor of the region. Of the total,
73 were adult studs or mares and 17 were foals. Another five horses
were spotted by helicopter and not captured.
Roundup
splits up desert herd
2005, Denver Post
Slick Rock, Colo., Aug. 23 - In human terms, the helicopter roundup
and disposition of 90 wild horses in southwestern Colorado on Sunday
and Monday went as smoothly as possible. But in those two days,
the equine social order of the Spring Creek herd fractured, with
families split up and homes lost forever. Wranglers for the Bureau
of Land Management took all 73 adults and 17 foals off their desert
range in Disappointment Valley, a landscape of crumbling buttes,
drab knobs and alkali gullies that usually lives up to its name.
Cortez veterinarian Susan Grabbe said no horses - or wranglers -
were seriously injured, not even during the fierce kicking and biting
that goes on once wild horses are crowded together in pens. Then
individual fates were sealed Monday morning with the pointing of
a BLM finger.
Wild
horses' fans fear roundups will weaken herds
2005, Billings Gazette
Aug. 20 - Wild-horse advocates are concerned that the roundup of
up to 10,000 wild horses and burros across the West this year will
lower their populations drastically and threaten the animals' genetic
diversity. "You cannot preserve this gene pool with such reductions,"
said Karen Sussman, president of the Society for the Protection
of Mustangs and Burros. "Each herd has a significant historical
value." The Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible
for managing the herds, will hold 57 gathers this year in nine Western
states. In the past three years, the agency has removed 10,000 horses
each year from federal lands.
Development,
wild horse tourism conflict on Outer Banks
2005, The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City, N.C., Aug. 14 - Carova's road-less, undeveloped
stretch of beach is an ideal habitat for the famed Corolla wild
horses, and is drawing hundreds of tourists daily to view the free-roaming
herds. It is also fast becoming a draw for developers eyeing vacant,
sandy lots ready for construction. While the horses' presence has
inspired tour-guide businesses and souvenir sales throughout the
Outer Banks, development may be pushing that aside. As vacation
homes and resort hotels are being considered for development by
Currituck County government, the Corolla wild horses are at risk
of becoming extinct, some local business owners say.
Hundreds
of horses rounded up by BLM
2005, Elko Daily
Elko, Nev., Aug. 11 - U.S. Bureau of Land Management's gathering
of wild horses in the Buck and Bald Complex has ended with 795 horses
transported to Palomino Valley. A total of 850 horses were gathered
at Buck and Bald in the Ely BLM district, and 55 were returned to
the herd management areas making up the complex, according to BLM
spokeswoman Maxine Shane.
Pryor
horses overcome foal losses of 2004
2005, The Billings Gazette
Aug. 4 - Nature has a way of putting all things to the test. Last
year, it was the Pryor Mountain wild-horse herd's turn. Only one
of 28 foals survived, mostly because of hungry mountain lions on
the hunt. This year, the herd bounced back. Nearly every mare capable
of getting pregnant got pregnant. Of the 35 foals produced, 28 have
survived, enough to make up for the 2004 losses. "The herd
responded," said Linda Coates-Markle, wild-horse manager for
the Bureau of Land Management in Billings. The herd, which numbers
around 167, roams the BLM's 40,000-acre range in the Pryor Mountains,
a mix of rolling lowlands and pine-covered uplands about 80 miles
south of Billings.
Congressional
Copout
2005, Baltimore Sun
July 28 – Here’s how it works in Congress: When the
chairman of a Senate appropriations subcommittee sneaks something
into the law and 259 House members vote to take it out, the senator
gets his way. That's why House and Senate negotiators agreed - despite
overwhelming opposition from the House - to leave unchanged a statute
championed last year by Montana Sen. Conrad Burns allowing wild
horses to be sold for slaughter.
Wild
Horses: BLM keeps herd in check
2005, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Eureka, Nev., July 10 - The band of horses came into view around
a small hill, followed closely by a low-flying helicopter that herded
the animals toward a wide funnel of camouflage netting. The horses,
galloping in a tight group, passed through the gate of a small enclosure,
which quickly was slammed shut.
Wild
and free
2005, Boston Globe
July 4 - As we gather today on town squares and parade down Main
Street to proclaim our 229th birthday, let us pause to consider
the wild horse -- the great American icon, the fleet-footed wind-drinker
that our country rode in on. Pressed into service by the thousands,
the wild horse blazed our trails, fought our wars, spilled rivers
of blood. Often our cavalry horses were known by number only. Sometimes
they had names. I speak of Comanche, a mustang that fought with
Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It was 1876, the year
of our centennial, on June 25, that Custer made his famous last
stand.
At the time, 2 million wild horses roamed the West. By 1950, there
were 50,000. Today, there are perhaps 28,000. What happened? World
War I, the pet food industry, and cattle ranchers, who contend that
wild horses steal food from cows, and just may, under the Bush administration,
finally realize their dream of seeing wild horses permanently wiped
from public lands.
Iron
County men who killed 9 wild horses sent to prison
2005, Salt Lake Tribune
June 30 - Frustrated over watching wild horses graze on grass they
had planted for cattle, two Iron County ranch workers say they reached
the breaking point and "just lost it." Picking up their
rifles, they began shooting, they said. By the time it was over,
nine horses were dead. For their crime, the two Enterprise men,
Fred Eugene Woods, 48, and Russell Weston Jones, 30, were sentenced
Wednesday to five months in prison, followed by five months of home
arrest. U.S. District Judge David Winder also ordered them to pay
restitution of $2,005 to cover the value of the animals. "Horses
are the living symbols of the free spirit of the West," the
judge said. "The victims are the American people."
Horse
plan draws ire
2005, Associated Press
Reno, , Nev., June 25 - Horse protection advocates said Tuesday
that they'll oppose a proposal aimed at boosting adoptions of wild
horses unless Congress also bans the slaughter of any horses in
the U.S. Leaders of the Humane Society of the United States and
other groups said they favor part of the proposal introduced by
Nevada's entire congressional delegation Monday to impose a one-year
waiting period on the transfer of ownership for wild horses sold
through a relatively new sale program at the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management. But they said other provisions in the bill would undermine
protections for the mustangs unless the bill is accompanied by the
slaughter ban, which has passed the House and is awaiting action
in the Senate.
Starving
adopted mustang found tied to tree, rescued
2005, Kern Valley Sun
Ranger, a six-year-old mustang, was tied to a tree in the forest
for months without adequate food or water. But he's in horse heaven
now - an earthly one, in Southlake, with other mustangs and even
a couple of burros for company, with lots of fresh hay and even
a lake view. "He was skin and bones," said Karen Knippel,
a Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Program volunteer.
"He had dull eyes and was lethargic. He was barely hanging
on."Ranger's story is one as tangled as a mustang's tail and
is an example of how adopted BLM horses and burros can fall through
the cracks of the system, starting out with a good home but ending
up in a bad way.
Nevadans
seek to change wild horse sales plan
2005, Las Vegas Sun
Washington, D.C., June 20 - Nevada's lawmakers want to make it easier
for people to adopt wild horses and want to provide more protection
for older horses purchased through a new program. Bills to be introduced
in the House and Senate today would reduce minimum horse adoption
fees by 80 percent, eliminate the limit of four titles per adopter
per year and would establish a one-year waiting period for buyers
to receive titles to wild horse purchased through the new sales
program. The government's wild horse adoption program has been around
since 1973, according to BLM spokesman Tom Gorey. More than 205,000
animals have been adopted since then, he said. The minimum bidding
fee is $125, which Porter's bill would reduce, and the horses go
to the highest bidder. Adopters can adopt more than four horses
a year, but can only receive titles for four horses in a 12-month
period. Gorey said someone could adopt 10 horses but would not have
all the titles until three years later. Porter's bill would eliminate
that limit, so adopters could get all the titles to their horses
after a year.
Land
Study on Grazing Denounced
2005, Los Angeles Times
June 18 - The Bush administration altered critical portions of a
scientific analysis of the environmental impact of cattle grazing
on public lands before announcing Thursday that it would relax regulations
limiting grazing on those lands, according to scientists involved
in the study. A government biologist and a hydrologist, who both
retired this year from the Bureau of Land Management, said their
conclusions that the proposed new rules might adversely affect water
quality and wildlife, including endangered species, were excised
and replaced with language justifying less stringent regulations
favored by cattle ranchers.
Government
eases rules for livestock that graze on federal land
2005, USA Today
Denver, Colo., June 17 - Thousands of ranchers whose livestock graze
on government land will face less burdensome federal regulations
under new rules announced Thursday. The regulations, which go into
effect in mid-August, reverse some of the key changes pushed through
by the Clinton administration to protect 160 million acres of rangeland
in the West. The rules announced by the Bureau of Land Management
will affect those who hold about 18,000 grazing permits. Ranchers
currently pay $1.79 a month for a cow or calf to graze on government
land. That fee will not change. Tom Lustig, a Colorado-based attorney
for the National Wildlife Federation, and other environmentalists
criticized the change as a giveaway to the ranching industry that
will make it harder to crack down on overgrazing and other harmful
practices, and limit public comment on grazing decisions made by
the government. "It cuts out the public," Lustig said.
"It will be extremely difficult to remedy grazing that is causing
problems."
Wild-horse
saga not finished
2005, Billings Gazette
Lovell, Wyo., June 10 - Hope Ryden went to Lovell in 1968 looking
for a story. The ABC producer had little experience with horses.
She only knew a fight was brewing over the wild mustangs that roamed
the Pryor Mountains. The Bureau of Land Management planned to rid
the land of the "trespass horses." A group of Lovell townsfolk
bucked, saying the horses belonged there. "It was getting vindictive.
It sounded like a range war," Ryden said. "I had to ask
… which was it, trespassing horses or national treasure?"
She found a "gem on the mountaintop" in the herds of horses,
she said.
More
protection for state's wild horses OK'd by House
2005, Las Vegas Sun
Washington, D.C., June 9 - The House agreed to ban federal funding
for inspectors at horse slaughterhouses and border inspection sites
on Wednesday, adding another potential layer of protection for the
Nevada's wild horse population. Last month the House agreed to ban
the Bureau of Land Management sales of wild horses after the government
discovered dozens had been bought and then resold to slaughterhouses
that sold the meat to foreign countries. Sales have resumed, unless
the Senate agrees to the same ban, but the BLM has implemented stricter
guidelines and consequences for those who buy horses and do not
intend to care for them. But Wednesday's amendment, approved 269
to 158, offered by Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., and Rep. John Sweeney,
R-N.Y., aims to end horse slaughter for human consumption overall.
Turf
war over West's wild horses
2005, Associated Press
Palomino Valley, Nev., June 7 - They are revered as majestic, galloping
icons of the American West — or reviled as starving, disfigured
varmints that rob ranchers of their livelihood. Wild horses and
burros are stirring emotional debate from Western rangelands to
the halls of Congress after dozens of horses were slaughtered legally
in April. Protections for the mustangs that might have prevented
the slaughter were repealed in December, but now some in Congress
are pushing a measure to reinstate those protections. The bill has
passed the House and is headed to the Senate. The debate is the
latest in a decades-old turf battle that’s literally about
the turf — that is, the grass, which grows thick in wet years
and disappears in drought.
Nevadans
choose wild horse design for state quarter
2005, Las Vegas Sun
Carson City, June 2 - The wild horse is going to be the Nevada theme
on a 25-cent piece to be minted in January next year and distributed
nationwide. State Treasurer Brian Krolicki said today that nearly
60,000 people voted in the contest to choose one of five designs
for the state's quarter. The wild horses were a clear winner. Even
though the issue of wild horses has been controversial, Krolicki
said this was "a beautiful design" with three wild horses,
the Sierra Nevada in the background with the sun rising and the
sagebrush on both sides. The motto is "Morning in Nevada."
Krolicki said the mustang design gathered 18,900 votes or 32 percent
of the people who cast ballots either online or by mail. He said
voting by children "made the difference" for the winning
wild horse design. He estimated that 25 percent of the vote came
from children, including his daughter Kate, favoring the wild horses.
They
Have To Be Free
2005, ESPN.com
On the chilly Friday morning of Jan. 21 last, scores of students
from Damonte Ranch High School in South Reno, Nev., streamed out
the school's doors and moved en masse to a jury-rigged corral near
the front entrance of the campus. A snowstorm in the nearby mountains
of the Virginia Range had driven a small herd of wild horses down
to the valley in search of forage, and a crew of state agricultural
cowboys had rounded them up. From there they would be trucked off
to a holding center, where they would be vetted for worms and disease,
then offered up for adoption. What had brought so many students
out in force was the fear, fed by a flurry of recent news reports
out of Washington, D.C., that these wind-blown beasts – for
years perceived as the nation's symbols of unfettered freedom –
had been captured for the purpose of being sold at auction, slaughtered
and cut up as steaks for dinner tables spread from France to Japan.
In such countries, horse meat is a delicacy.
Saving
wild horses
2005, Louisville Courier-Journal
Washington, D.C., May29 - The Senate must have been horsing around
last year while Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., slipped a dubious provision
lifting the 1971 ban on sales of wild horses into a spending bill.
After it was discovered that the sales sent 41 horses to the slaughterhouse,
the House voted this month to reinstate the ban, which can be supported
on solid grounds. First, there are only 27,000 wild horses and 4,000
wild burros on government land in Western states. Allowing the sale
of these animals could endanger the species. Second, processing
wild horses for food consumption overseas could pose health risks
to consumers, since virtually nothing is known of the history of
the animals, which are not raised to become meat. Third, a compromise
is available if philanthropists follow the lead of Ford Motor Co.,
which has set up a donation fund to save these horses. Such action
could ease the concerns ranchers have for securing their lands and
taxpayers may have with the costly price tag of protecting wild
horses.
Government
contract keeps rancher in business - Wild horses help tame a way
of life
2005, Kansas City Star
Bartlesville, Okla., May 29 - Dwarfed by a huge hoop of blue sky
unspooling above him, John Hughes drives his pickup along rutted
roads into the low sloping hills of his ranch. Brown mustangs graze
in the ankle-high grass. In 1988 [Hughes] received a Bureau of Land
Management contract to keep aging herds of wild horses. Today, Hughes
has about 1,200 horses on his 12,500-acre ranch and 2,800 more on
other ranches near Bartlesville. "We're an old folks home for
unwanted horses." He's not alone. Seven ranches - three others
in Oklahoma and three in Kansas - keep 13,600 wild horses. That's
about as many as remain on the range in all the Western states except
Nevada and Wyoming.
SLAUGHTER
OF 41: House votes to halt horse sales - Montana senator: Amendment
dead on arrival, marketplace works
2005, Las Vegas Review Journal
Washington, D.C., May20 - House lawmakers voted Thursday to end
federal wild horse sales and brushed aside promises of new protections
the government put in place this week to prevent animals from being
resold for slaughter. A 22-minute debate pitted gruesome images
of horses butchered to make a buck against horses left to starve
on public lands or penned up in government corrals. "The very
notion that the wild American horse will be slaughtered as a food
source for foreign gourmets has struck a chord with the American
people," said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., who proposed the sales
be ended. The vote was seen as a victory for animal welfare activists.
But it might not last long. When the amendment reaches the Senate,
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., plans "to throw it out." "I'm
in the livestock business, and I've bought and sold horses all my
life," Burns said Thursday. "Basically, the marketplace
works."
House
moves to block sales of wild horses and burros.
2005, Associated Press
Washington, D.C., May 19 - Lawmakers voted Thursday to block a six-month-old
law that allows the government to sell wild horses and burros, with
opponents of the law protesting that the animals were ending up
in processing plants and on the tables of foreign restaurants. The
249-159 House vote would stop the Bureau of Land Management from
using any money in a $26.2 billion bill funding next year's natural
resources and arts programs to sell horses that roam public lands
in Western states. The measure overturns a provision in a spending
bill passed last December that ended a 33-year-old policy of protecting
wild horses from sale or processing. The horses, said Rep. Nick
Rahall, D-W.Va., shouldn't be sold so they "can end up on the
menus of France, Belgium and Japan."
U.S.
will resume selling wild horses
2005, USA Today
Denver, Co., May 19 - The federal Bureau of Land Management will
announce Thursday it is resuming sales of wild horses with protections
to prevent the animals from being sent to slaughter, the agency's
director said Wednesday. The agency suspended the sales last month
after discovering that 41 animals rounded up from Western rangeland
had been sold to an Illinois slaughterhouse and processed for meat.
In addition, Ford Motor Co. will pay to transport up to 2,000 horses
to Indian reservations and locations run by non-profit organizations.
The company will also oversee a "Save the Mustangs" fundraising
drive to help groups that adopt the horses pay for their care. Wild
horses are "a beautiful symbol of the Wild West" and an
"icon" for Ford, said Jon Harmon, a spokesman for the
company whose Mustang sports car has been a flagship brand since
1964.
Horse
advocates want suspension of mustang roundups in Nevada
2005, Associated Press
Reno, Nev., May 17 - Wild horse protection advocates urged the Bureau
of Land Management Tuesday to suspend all roundups of the mustangs
in Nevada until Congress makes it illegal again to sell the older,
excess, unwanted ones for slaughter. But BLM officials said halting
plans to gather as many as 4,000 mustangs from the Nevada range
in the coming year would cripple a long-term effort that's within
a year of bringing horse numbers down to sustainable levels.
Burns
says Reid backed bill limiting wild horse protection
2005, Las Vegas Sun
Reno, Nev., May 12 - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
a well-known defender of wild horses in Nevada and the West, has
been accused of supporting changes to long-standing protections
for the horses -- changes that have led at least 41 wild horses
to the slaughterhouse. At the center of the issue is the controversial
"Burns amendment," which was introduced by Sen. Conrad
Burns, R-Mont. The amendment allows the BLM for the first time in
the agency's history to sell wild horses to anyone, including horse
traders looking to make a quick buck by selling the previously protected
animals to slaughterhouses. Burns introduced the amendment into
the immense federal budget bill last fall. Burns' spokesman, James
Pendleton, said that Reid assisted Burns in drafting the amendment
despite Reid's very public opposition to the amendment.
Critics
oppose fence by The Nature Conservancy
2005, Associated Press
Reno, Nev., May 9 - The Nature Conservancy says complaints about
a barbed wire fence at the MacCarran Ranch east of Sparks are based
on misunderstandings. The 300-foot fence put up about a year ago
has cut off a path traditionally used by wild horses to drink from
the Truckee River at the McCarran Ranch. Nature Conservancy spokesman
Michael Cameron says the fence was installed to help keep horses
away from the nearby Tahoe-Reno Industrial Park and Wild Horse Adult
Resort brothel. But after horse advocates complained, he says the
bottom strands of fence have been replaced with smooth wire so foals
and fawns won't be harmed. The state Department of Agriculture is
recommending a permanent watering hole be built elsewhere along
the river. About 300 horses roam the mountains south of the ranch.
Wild
Horses Sold by U.S. Agency Sent to Slaughter
2005, National Geographic
May 5 - The U.S. government has halted its sale of wild horses while
it investigates two separate incidents of mustangs being resold
for human consumption. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible
for managing the 37,000 wild horses on public lands, mainly in Nevada,
Oregon, and Wyoming. The agency's mission changed in December, when
Congress passed a bill that made it legal for the BLM to sell wild
horses outright. Supporters of the law said its goal is to reduce
the number of horses that BLM keeps in holding facilities and to
reduce the agency's horse-care costs. Previously the agency had
been allowed to sell wild horses, but titles to horses were not
turned over until one year later. Since December the BLM has sold
about a thousand wild horses under the new rules. The slaughtered
horses were originally sold to the Rosebud Sioux Indians in South
Dakota and to an unnamed Oklahoma man who said he wanted the horses
for a church youth program.
BLM
to hold hearing on helicopter wild-horse roundups
2005, Nevada Appeal
May 5 - The sometimes-controversial topic of helicopter use in rounding
up wild horses will be up for discussion with federal land managers
at a public hearing scheduled for later this month. Animal rights
groups and wild-horse advocates have criticized the practice in
the past as cruel and dangerous to the easily spooked equines, although
Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Maxine Shane said few complaints
have surfaced in recent years. The BLM uses helicopters to gather
horse population numbers as well as to gather the horses themselves.
Endangered
U.S. horses avoid slaughter
How the mustangs were saved: Canada welcomes equine refugees
2005, The Globe and Mail
Toronto, Canada, Apr. 29 - Six weeks ago Randy Bird stood on a government
ranch in Rock Springs, Wyo., watching as a herd of endangered wild
mustangs galloped around the paddock, terrorized by his human scent.
Today he feeds his own small herd by hand on his ranch near Harwood,
Ont., east of Toronto. "They'd never seen a tree or a barn
or even eaten grain when they arrived," he said proudly. "Now
they come straight up to the fence when I call them." If it
hadn't been for Mr. Bird and the efforts of a little-known Canadian
group called the Save the Mustangs Foundation, nine mustangs would
likely be dead -- sold by the Bureau of Land Management to so-called
kill-buyers under a controversial new U.S. law that allows mustangs
over the age of 10 to be sold "without limitations." It
was a close call for these Canadian equine refugees, who have become
poster ponies for a drive to raise awareness of the plight of these
historic horses in the United States.
Animal
advocates demand halt in state wild horse sales
2005, Parhump Valley Times
Washington, D.C., Apr. 27 - Animal rights advocates on Friday demanded
Interior Secretary Gale Norton put a stop to wild horse sales until
the government writes new rules to protect them from being slaughtered.
A West Virginia lawmaker said the destruction of six horses this
week would ring a "wake up call" for Congress to re-examine
a law it passed last year relaxing sales of the animals. Government
officials and wild horse groups stepped up investigations Friday
following the disclosure that the horses had been bought on April
15 and resold to a meat plant in DeKalb, Ill., three days later.
The initial buyer was identified Friday by horse advocate groups
as Dustin Herbert of Meeker, Okla. Two government sources confirmed
Herbert as the purchaser. Attempts to contact Herbert at his home
were unsuccessful. A phone message said his answering machine had
been turned off.
Coalition
hopes to stop horse slaughter
2005, cnn.com
Washington, D.C., Apr. 27 - A coalition of celebrities, race track
leaders and others is pressing for action on legislation that would
end or limit the slaughter of wild horses Lawmakers have tried for
years to stop the killing of wild horses and burros at three U.S.
slaughterhouses that send the meat for consumption overseas. The
effort gained momentum last year after Congress replaced a 34-year-old
ban on selling wild mustangs and burros with a plan that allows
the sale of older, unwanted horses. One current proposal would stop
the commercial sale of wild horses and burros. A second measure
would ban the slaughter of horses in the United States. "When
you've got a coalition ranging from (country singer) Willie Nelson
to ("Desperate Housewives' star) Nicollette Sheridan, we've
got something for everyone," said Nancy Perry, the Humane Society
of the United States' vice president of government affairs.
Lawmakers
hope to save wild horses
2005, Las Vegas Sun
Washington, D.C., Apr. 27 - The recent slaughter of wild horses
sold by the federal government should give momentum to new legislation
that would halt the killing of animals that many consider to be
an icon of the American West, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said. Nevada
has the most wild horses of any state, roughly 19,000, according
to the Bureau of Land Management. That's more than half of roughly
37,000 total in the West, according to the BLM's February 2004 estimate.
Ensign next month plans to introduce a bill that would ban slaughter
of horses for human consumption, Ensign said. A similar bill has
been introduced in the House. "The love affair that I have
with horses is the same as a lot of Americans have had since the
beginning of this country," said Ensign, a veterinarian who
as a boy rode horses in the Lake Tahoe meadow where the opening
credits of the longtime television show "Bonanza" were
filmed. The Humane Society of the United States has been flooded
with calls, pleading with the group to save the wild horses, said
Nancy Perry, vice president of governmental affairs. "This
has been an un-American experience these last few weeks, few months,"
Perry said today. "Our deep concern has turned to outrage and
frustration."
More
wild horses slaughtered at Cavel as Interior Department, Ford unite
to save 52
2005, Daily Chronicle
Washington, D.C., Apr. 26 - The Interior Department abruptly halted
delivery of mustangs to buyers while it investigates the slaughter
of 41 wild horses at the Cavel International plant in DeKalb this
month. By enlisting last-minute financial help Monday from Ford
Motor Co. - makers of the Mustang sports car - the agency saved
the lives of 52 other mustangs. The latest horses killed came from
a broker who obtained them from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South
Dakota. The tribe traded 87 of the 105 aging horses it bought from
the government for younger ones. Interior officials said they would
review whether a federal contract had been violated. Tribal officials
were unavailable for comment. The department also is investigating
this month's sale of six wild horses to an Oklahoma man and their
slaughter at the Cavel plant, the same place 35 of the 87 horses
traded by the tribe were killed.
Interior
Department Looking into slaughtering of Wild Horses
2005, KATC
Washington, D.C., Apr. 26 - The Interior Department has abruptly
halted delivery of wild mustangs to buyers while it investigates
the slaughter of 41 wild horses in the West this month. The latest
horses killed had come from a broker who obtained them from a Native
American tribe in South Dakota. The department is also investigating
this month's sale of six wild horses to an Oklahoma man
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