America’s Wild Horses Need Us the Most in 2022
January 10, 2022
Colorado’s Wild Horses Need to be Protected from the BLM
August 16, 2022
Don’t Let the Bureau of Land Management’s plans for sterilization of the North Lander Complex in Wyoming become a model of extinction for all our wild herds By Carol J. Walker
The Bureau of Land Management has released an Environmental Assessment for the North Lander Complex in Wyoming. The Complex includes Conant Creek, Dishpan Butte, Muskrat Basin and Rock Creek. The Complex is 375,292 acres and the Appropriate Management Level for the entire complex is 320 – 536 wild horses. The Bureau of Land Management’s most recent flyover count of the area says there are 1664 wild horses total in all four HMAs. They are projecting that there will be 1997 wild horses in 2022.
You can read the Environmental Assessment here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
When I received notice, I assumed that this EA would be like most others recommending a helicopter roundup and removal of the horses down to the low AML which is 320. What I did not expect and what shocked me to my toes was the brutality of the Proposed Action Alternative:
•Geld/vasectomize a high percentage (up to 95% or more) of captured stallions returning to the
range.
• Use flexible Intrauterine Devices (IUDs) for wild horses on open (not pregnant) mares returning
to the range.
• Use GonaCon-Equine vaccine on all mares returning to the range including mares receiving an
IUD.
• Implement a 60:40 male:female sex ratio.
This is also a 10 year plan. No Environmental Assessment should be a 10 year plan – when there is action that the BLM proposes to take on our wild horses there should be a new Environmental Assessment that deals with the current conditions of the horses and the Herd Management Area. This should only be for the “first gather.”
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And then there is this ridiculous statement: “
“It is not the intention of this action to eliminate reproduction
within the complex; only to reduce it so that it is in balance with mortality.”
No, the intention is nakedly obvious – ultimately the complete sterilization of this herd.
Gelding or vasectomizing 95% of the stallions is not reversible. It is permanent sterilization. Gelding especially completely changes the behavior of the stallion, who may keep his behaviors for a period of time as he loses testosterone, but ultimately it will completely change the structure and society of family bands that wild horses live in. There has been no research done or cited that shows that this does not negatively affect wild horses, and to just decide to do it in the interests of population control is very extreme. Clay Stott the Wild Horse and Burro Expert who wrote this EA has been heard to say that wild horses do not have families. This complete lack of understanding of wild horse behavior has led to this insane plan being proposed.
In the EA they say that during the first gather they will capture 80-90% of the horses, around 1900-2000 (But there were only 1664 in the count in November 2020?) They will return around 300 horses of each gender.
All the mares that are returned will receive two shots of GonaCon and be kept for 60 days at a holding facility before being released. GonaCon is not the birth control drug of choice – that is PZP. GonaCon is in the very beginning stages of study of its use in wild horses, and there are many questions about its possible cause of abortion of foals in the first trimester, disrupting behavior because the mares do not cycle, and possible lack of reversibility. It could render the mares permanently sterile. And if this is not enough they want to put IUDs in some of the mares as well. IUDs have only been studied on domestic mares, and have now been placed in one herd in Utah and this year, in four herds in Wyoming. IUDs should never be used on wild mares. They say they are “Temporary birth control” because the just “fall out” after 2 years. Really? And who will be there to help these mares in remote locations who are in distress, develop infections, have complications?
Then, the EA continues talking about the second gather, two years or so later where they plan to also skew the sex ratio. So there will be mostly geldings left in this herd. All the mares will be given GonaCon and some IUDs. If the BLM were actually using science to inform their decisions, there is no possible way that they would throw multiple methods of sterilization at one herd, and then just for the heck of it, skew the sex ratio. Wild horses naturally exist in herds that have in 50% mares 50% stallions. Not 60% geldings, 40% mares treated with GonaCon and IUDs.
The justification for keeping these herds at the absurdly low numbers of Dishpan Butte and Rock Creek at 50 horses, 60 in Conant Creek and 160 in Muskrat Basin is that the horses move between the HMAs and intermingle. But there are fences throughout and a portion of Dishpan Butte is separated from all the other HMAs by highway 135. These horses do not intermingle. Dr. Gus Cothren, the leading wild horse geneticist says that herds need at least 150 breeding age adults to maintain genetic diversity, and health of the herd. BLM’s solution? Move some fillies from one HMA in the Complex to another. Or if that doesn’t do it, how about bring in horses from another HMA altogether? How about not. How about not destroying the genetic viability of these herds in the first place?
Perhaps the real reason behind throwing almost all possible methods of sterilization (except spaying) at these herds is that they are the least well known herds in Wyoming. Their location is remote, with the Riverton being the closest town. If they destroy the herd behavior of the horses, there won’t be thousands of people who are following these horses complaining. As the geldings die and the mares fail to reproduce, this herd will age and die out.
The wild horses in the North Lander Complex are among the wildest of the wild. They survive and thrive in a harsh environment. It is no acceptable to destroy their wild behaviors and destroy their families and their herds. If this goes forward in the second year of the 5 year plan by the BLM to roundup and remove as many wild horses as possible, it could serve as a template for destroying other herds and the ultimate extinction of our wild horses.
Comments are due no later than February 18 at 4pm MT. You can go to the EA here to comment: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
On the left side you will see a green Participate Now, click on that and you will see another green participate now on the right side of your screen, click on that. If you cannot comment this way, you can also send your comments by mail here: Wild Horse Specialist, BLM Lander Field Office, 1335 Main Street, Lander, WY 82520. For more information, contact BLM Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Clay Stott at (307) 332-8400.
Here are my suggestions for comments:
Select the No Action – No Gather, Removal or Population Control Alternative. This EA needs to be thrown into the trash and a new one published.
- If birth control is necessary to control the numbers of wild horses in this herd, use safe, researched and reversible birth control PZP on the mares.
- Do not remove wild horses below High AML.
- Do not do anything to the stallions.
- Do not place horses from other Herd Management Areas into the North Lander Complex.
- Do not skew the sex ratio of the herd.
- Even though in the EA it continually repeats that this is not something to be considered in this document but is only done though Land Use planning, since Land Use Plans are only revised every 20-30 years this is not a viable solution. You need to consider this in the EA: Raise the AMLs for each HMA in the Complex to at least 150 horses.
- The other issue that needs to be addressed is overgrazing of livestock and the need to remove livestock grazing from the Complex where wild horses should be principally considered and managed and treated. Yes this should be in the Land Use plan – but again that is not going to happen – 20-30 years between revisions does not allow anything to be implemented in a timely manner. Address this here in the EA where it is germane.
Please use your own words. Thank you for caring about our wild horses.
176 Comments
Please stop the eradication of our beloved wild mustangs they deserve better
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
There are no viable scientific reasons to eradicate America’s horses who are subjected to cruelty,direct injury,and death or who are housed in barren prison like enclosures for months where many are illegally sent barbaric slaughter. Please stop and change to a humane plan with equine advocates.
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please please donot go through with this terrible thing to such a beautiful animal that deserves life and to stay free. Not only hurts the horses and the lost they go through with their families but it hurts us as humans who love them and want to see them stay free
The Eplan is appalling, you just intend to destroy the wild Horse population. With out the stallions who protect the mares they will die out which is your intention in my opinion. This plan needs to be burned try again and use your brains for change. As you can see I’m passionate about this.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
The wild horses have lived on these ranges for many years, and now the blm are planning their extinction. This has to be stopped, leave our wild horses alone. The only reason they would do this is for profit off the ranchers for grazing. Leave our wild horses alone!
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
I don’t understand why you insist on doing this to these Beautiful wild horses. You’re going to make them extinct!!!
Stop stealing and talking our MUSTANGS from our public lands and killing them as well
all the other Wildlife just to benefit some corporate greedy ranchers and the feed the corruption of the conflict of interest of some politicians and your board members. This is our public lands NOT Yours.
Stop The Abuse, poison, murder of our Iconic mustangs and burros..You all should be cast out of this country
Please let these wild horses remain as they are. No chips. No reproduction reductions. Nothing else to control them. Keep them helthy and safe… otherwise let them be. They’re not experiments and they’re not a political agenda project. Yes we love these horses in their beauty, strength, stamina, their survival skills that remain, but they’re part of our history. We need to put our focus on more important things, that help our community, like helping people grow their farms and small town businesses.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please, please, stop!!! These horses are a national treasure. Some of these blood lines are too precious to destroy. Please stop!! What are you thinking. Nature does its own weeding out! Leave them alone!.
Please stop sterilization of the beautiful horses that we come to see and watch. Don’t empty our planet of horses. Please stop! Please treat the hem properly, with respect.
Please submit your comments here by 2/18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
This plan needs input from intelligent people who have NO monetary incentives- purely the passion to save the mustangs.
There are scientific ways proven effective which your plan ignores.
Greed leads to many injuries and death due to your need to eradicate the species for sake of profits.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
I have a better idea, let’s have the members of the BLM, stand in line to be eradicated !! With all of that space, what are these magnificent creatures hurting ?
All Sterilizations should be stopped !
You’re in dangering an iconic herd of wild horses. Besides it’s not providing that the use of chemicals will stop a mare from becoming in foal, It doesn’t work on the wild donkeys.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
I am Not in agreement with this plan for sterilization of the Wild Horses!
This plan of the BLM is a farce of science. Putting forth this abysmal EA report is a mockery of an attempt of transparency. Anyone who has owned horses will recognize familial bonds, and to put forth the dogma that mustangs do not have family bands, let alone family bonds is a disservice to all Americans. The BLM is supposed to be the custodians of our public lands. There is nothing about this that has the interest of the American public at heart, this is pure and simply a bid to appease live stock ranchers, who undoubtedly fatten the pockets of key administration figures heading this branch of government agency. If you can’t fulfill your duties through the backing of legitimate science than you should step down and give the position over to someone who can respect the credibility of genetic viability for the HMAs.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
I WILL NOT BEG YOU I WILL FIGHT YOU WE THE PEOPLE SAY LEVE OUR MUSTANGS ALONE THEY BELONG ON THE LAND THEY WERE RAISED ON THEY BELONG FREE.UOUR GREED TO SLAUGHTER THEM ALL FOR YOUR OWN PURPOSE THEY DONT BELONG TO YOU,THEY AR THE PEOPLES MUSTANGS.WE THE PEOPLE FIRE YOU AND CRIMINALS FROM STEELING OUR TAXES TO GET RICH ,KARMA WILL FIND YOU !YOU AR HEARTLESS WE THE PEOPLE FIRE YOU.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop destroying these horses. They were to have been protected as national treasures in the Wild Horse and Burro Act from the 70s. Some people say these aren’t wild horses but you can bet they are the same horses Congress wzs talking about or their descendents. What other horses were running around free in the USA?
Please save our wild horses from gelding stallions and using different birth control on mares.
Using untested methods on the mares. It’s a type of torture and so cruel for the horses to endure.
And the BLM needs firing and
Put people in that cares about the wild horses and who does what is best for them.
STOP the cattle and sheep ranchers from getting public land for their livestock to graze on.
And please stop the helicopter roundups.
Please save our wild horses and their heritage. Let them run wild and free for all their lives.
Thank you.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
If you think it’s such a fantastic plan than submit yourself, your families, & all your loved ones to it. If it weren’t for people, the livelihood of these horses wouldn’t be in jeopardy. We keep allowing illegals into this country & breeding machines mooch the welfare systems…..go after the source & leave our majestic wild horses alone.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
No Ned and no God given right to wipe a complete species off the face of the earth. That is what this plan would do and is no any moret acceptable than killing the last Rhino elephant or tiger
Stop destroying our herds of beautiful wild horses. They are part of our country, our planet, too.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
As Americans, we have a short history which is unfortunately full of destruction and extinction. Let’s learn from our mistakes (bison, bald eagle, wolves etc) and not allow the wild horses to become a cause our children will need to take on to restore these herds.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Can’t reach and activate the link. Trying to comment.
Here is the link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Click on the green Participate now button, then move the slider to the right and you will see a second Participate Now bottom – click on it.
My comments submitted today. This truly an abomination! It shows what a corrupt agency that has been allowed to operate unsupervised, unaccountable and unregulated for so long will do. They’ve gotten away with every outrage so far so why not push it further? Congress just continues to fund BLM operations without ever holding them accountable or actually investigate what they are doing with taxpayer money!
Please STOP ERADICATING OUR WILDHORSES. They deserve to stay free. They need to be respected as with anything thats suppose to be Federally Protected. Otherwise no one is representing what this is suppose to mean. Please help our wildhorses and burros. Don’t sterilize and use iuds.. Let them have a future for our kids to enjoy
This is so sad to know our beautiful mustangs are being decimated. Slaughtered. Please stop this and SAVE THEM
✋ rounding up our wild mustangs and burros now
Stop using iuds and gelding our mustangs now!!! STOP using my tax dollars to kill our iconic mustangs I own the land because I pay for it I’m not paying for killing starving and I’m not going to be a conspirator for you
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Let wild horses remain wild. Let their herd grow
Stop the sterilization of AMERICAN MUSTANGS NOW THEY BELONG TO US NOT YOU B L M
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
This abuse and intention iradication of our mustangs needs to stop. It’s al for greed and letting the cattle and sheep ranchers take over the mustangs land. The blm gets government money, the ranchers throw money at the government. This horrid abuse is all about greed. The HMAs numbers are absurdly low. Helicopter roundups are abusive and deadly. These mustangs are Federaly protected. Yet they are no longer considered protected. They are healthy and strong when rounded up, then reduced to skin and bones in the holding pens. They are abused, killed or sold to slaughter buyers. It’s all an atrocious money grab, we the people see this and want it to stop!!!
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
The wild horses should be let be to be free and wild they have a right as we have a right to enjoy them.
Please stop this cruelty to our Wild horses! God created them for a purpose! Not to be consumed by man or taken advantage of for money. It is morally wrong to steal them for profit! They are are history, our children deserve to see them in the wild! Please let them be free! They have families like you and I. They grieve loss like you and I . Have a heart if you can in Jesus name Amen
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
You should listen to the will of the people whom elected you.
We have had enough of this war you have allowed BLM to wage on these animals.
Stop leave them be with out government interference get the ranchers out of horses grasslands
Ranchers are already supplemented financially by the tax payers enough is enough ..
Leave the horses be . I demand you to hear our voice ….it’s the will of the majority of the people…
Man up ….
Please think about how you would want someone to treat your horses…these horses and burros are protected for a reason. Sterilization of any form is detrimental to them and nature has it’s own way to keep the herds healthy. The statistics are inaccurate. Please stop the senseless abuse of power at their expense and our tax money. This is morally wrong and these protected animals deserve better. Please do the right thing and have some integrity. These animals need your help for survival rather than extinction. Thank you
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
We need to stop this now people before we lose any more horses every day we lost hundreds and thousands of horses every day people in the roundups
Please stop the plans to sterilize these beautiful wild horses! They deserve to be wild and free and to continue to exist! This herd deserves so much more than this! They deserve our love and protection and what you are proposing is cruel an barbaric! I am asking you to please reconsider and don’t do this!
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Yes stop the man made ways Gods ways better healthier
This is by far the worst plan put together for Our Mustangs, please stop the eradication of the Mustangs NOW! More research must be done on birth control methods and safer alternatives need to be implemented. Gelding the stallions is also a terrible idea leave them alone and get rid of the privately owned livestock.
I tell ya.. this is not the way the Lord, creator of all, planned.. He will return to judge the living and the dead.. They have no right
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
We have owned four wild mustangs over the years.. Best horses out of probably 100 we have ever owned. Do not think you are God. Who do you think you are? Must never have had a horse before. Must have never seen the love you can endure. I hope you fail.. and fail miserably.
It is imperative to discontinue these barbaric practices. It is dangerous for wild horses. Please stop sterilization and the dangerous roundups. Restore their HMA s without competition from ranchers. Cattle and other domestic livestock are damaging yo the environment.
please do not do the this new plan! They do not deserve this treatment! save the land for our beautiful wild horses! not for sheep and cows ! this land was promiced to care for the horses… thinning down herds is fair,
Elimination of any of the herds is totally wrong!!!
Please let the wild mustangs stay free. It’s important that they breed to carry on these genes. Destroying these horses is so wrong on so many levels. Please stop the helicopter roundups, the sterilizations, spending our taxpayers money, and please listen to the people to keep the wild horses free…
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please do not intervene with nature our American wild horses should be protected by the original law back in 1971 by President Regan! We must stand together and not play god. Horses have family’s & feelings. As human beings we need to respect there lives have empathy and compassion. I am pleading with you to stop this unnatural process! We must Stop destroying a generation of treasures our “American Wild Mustangs” ????????
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please hear our voices … we speak for wild mustangs… Please feel in your heart,
They are a part of our History and should be protected in a kind and humane way. Please let Nature takes its course… Man can Not control everything, This is just so wrong.
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
No one will hear your voice unless you do as Carol suggests & write to the BLM – NOT Carol’s blog. This is preaching to the choir!
PLEASE redirect all your comments to link Carol provided, as Maggie says. We here are all in agreement; it’s the BLM that MUST hear from us.
This makes me so sad i don’t understand why they’re trying to do this, We should be learning to ACTUALLY coexist with them not pretend we’re coexisting for a few years or decades before deciding we need to make it impossible for them to produce more of themselves. I thought that the BLMs MAIN PRIORITY was to ACTUALLY HELP ranchers get along with the mustangs or learn to manage them BETTER NOT TO WIPE THEM OUT! DO THEY EVEN KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO COEXIST WITH SOMETHING ANYMORE!? If so here is the DEFINITION! ” Coexisting with Species
Simply put — coexistence is HELPING people SHARE the landscape WITH WILDLIFE and using innovative tools to REDUCE the CONFLICTS that often occur WITH wildlife IN their NATURAL HABITATS. “, the BLM has COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN AND IGNORED THEIR TRUE JOB AND PURPOSE! This NOT okay and I am BEYOND EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED ANGRY and ASHAMED of the BLM for EVEN CONSIDERING this. i bet the BLM doesn’t realize either that if they go through with this they will loose much more then they will gain. I deeply hope that these people stand back and think before they do something they’ll regret forever.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please don’t go ahead with the schedule you have planned for these horses. I have (partly) read and understood your side of the story, but cant fathom why your doing this.
Please stop the roundups and halt the use of helicopters. Both are horribly inhumane. There are better ways to manage our wild horses and let them stay on their homelands. Please stop spending money to roun them up and warehouse them and instead spend that money to keep them on the range. If they can do it with the Salt River hers we can do it everywhere
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
This plan is appalling in my opinion you just want to destroy the wild Horse population. The stallions protect the Mayors as well as keep the population going. In my opinion this plan needs to be burned. Try again and use your brain. As you can see I am passionate about this.
That a government agency is behind the eradication of these animals is a national disgrace. How can this be allowed to continue? It must be stopped now.
Ridiculous and inhumane.
Why don’t you neuter the humans instead… they’re the ones over populating and destroying nature and wild lands and polluting the world and our minds! LEAVE THE HORSES AND ANIMAL WILDLIFE ALONE!
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Sounds like good old “Clay” has absolutely NO knowledge, education or background on Wild Horse lives or habits. Thats one of the more shameful issues (with ALL those others) that most employees who are empowered to destroy our Wild Horses dont themselves have any actual background in these same wild animals, nor does it seem, they want to.
What should be a requirement in hiring the people in this agency certainly should be some particle of knowledge AND empathy towards the animals they are “managing” – guess thats not the case any more. I have read enough letters from former BLM people – who are disgusted by the way things are done now – to know there could be a better way.
So yes, I absolutely will write my opinion again to the agency of mis-management!
Thanks Carol for all you do and try to do for these wonderful animals.
Carol – sorry to take up allthis space, but this is my “comment” sent to the BLM!
I choose the No Action-No Gather, Removal or Population Control Alternative.
These herds are the ones least familiar to the public which would appear to be the REAL reason that the BLM is tossing so many possible methods of sterilization at them since, obviously there wouldn’t be as much backlash as there would be with better known herds in a less remote area. Without the thousands of people who normally would be outspoken with other herds, I assume the BLM feels they will be able to pretty much devastate these herd families without notice. Its obvious that after gelding 95% of the stallions and doubling the contraceptive moves on the mares, of course, these herds will simply get older and die out, which naturally is what the BLM wants!
One of my many questions would be since we already have a reasonably safe, somewhat researched & reversible(?) birth control PZP which has been used in several herds and WORKS – why the current “throw EVERYTHING at the wall & see what sticks” routine? I’m guessing because in order to facilitate the actual true goal of the BLM – which is destroy ALL herds – this is worth a try.
The idea that if it works too well, you can always bring horses from other HMAs into the North Lander Complex. Sure, which will dilute any of the wonderful genetics that already exist there.
These herds are doing well in their particular home areas BECAUSE they have been pretty much left alone – as Wild animals that is a good thing – the best thing, really.
The idea put forth that this is done thru “Land Use planning” and only revised every 20-30 years? Wrong..
Then there is the true elephant in the room – livestock! The actual non-native animals – cattle & sheep – that ARE responsible for the devastation done to the land & water in every single HMA(by the way, HERD MANAGEMENT AREA)the herd in question would be Wild Horses or Wild Burros, in many instances – NOT livestock herds – Wild herds.
If ever the BLM’s end results were in question – what they want to do here should make it clear to anyone exactly WHAT those end results would be.
Thank you Maggie!
It’s such a bad plan???? it’s 100% opposite of keeping wild horses wild. Why can’t we just LET THEM BE?!!! It’s THEIR land more than ours????
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
I am urgently requesting that you halt these roundups and the eradication of our wild horses. These medical procedures are barbaric and returning gelded Stallions to the range is a death sentence. Our horses deserve better and we as taxpayers do not want the majority of the mustangs on holding when they thrive on the range and also help keep the habitat in a way that is conducive for all wildlife. Our BLM should do better and not cater to cattle and sheep grazing. Thank you.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Leave the horses alone. They do not belong to any of you!
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Have just commented using your link, thank you so much for being a voice for these horses!!
It was hard to find the 2nd green Participate Now button in the link. After clicking the first green Participate Now button, you need to put your finger on the word “document” and slide your finger left so you can see more categories appear on the right, then the 2nd green Participate Now button appears.
The amount of people commenting on Carol’s above link to the EA will make a difference, don’t just comment here, it won’t mean anything to the EA!
Thank you! Yes BLM has made it unnecessarily difficult to comment, and when I reached out got nothing but defensiveness not helpfullness. There should be an option to send the comments through email.
Quit trying to destroy an important part of our country’s history. These horses have been around for 100’s of years and nature has done an excellent job of controlling overpopulation. They have survived droughts, horrible winters and still managed to stay at a population that the land can support. Remove the domestic cattle from the land and it won’t be overgrazed as the horses don’t destroy the land like the cattle do. Listen to the will of the American citizens seeing as you work for us, not the other way around. Stop this madness now before it is too late. Please don’t let us lose something so beautiful from our public lands…
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
The BLM is constructing a plan for sterilization of Wild Mustangs for their own benefit and that of cattle ranchers, period. America’s history is steeped in the West and the wild mustangs that roam there. Wild Mustangs are an example of freedom, strength, and resilience, all that is good about our country. Count me in on the side of the ever increasing number of people wanting to protecting Wild Mustangs. And Our numbers are growing!
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
The Majestic Wild Mustang a True American Horse which must be left alone! Many many people are so upset and angry about the future of these beauties I am one! Protect the Wild Mustang protect the wild protect the land flora and fauna protect the wild Mustang Horse
This is what I posted at the site:
Please reconsider your plan for mass sterilization of the herd of mustangs as part of managing the wild horses in the North Lander Complex in Wyoming. What is proposed will, in the long run, do irreversible harm to the overall health and welfare of the horses. Dr. Gus Cothren, the leading wild horse geneticist, says that herds need at least 150 breeding age adults to maintain genetic diversity, and wild horses thrive in herds that have 50% stallions and 50% mares.
Another point to evaluate is the fact that the insertion of IUDs in wild mares is an inhumane practice. Consider what will happen if a mare develops an infection and suffers a slow and agonizing death.
Thank you for considering my comments and feedback.
Note: It’s important to keep emotions, especially our love of horses, especially these wild beauties, out of what we send to the Land Management site. Here on Carol’s blog, and on social media, we can share our feelings, and I join everyone in the sadness, anguish, anger, and dismay this proposed plan stirs. But the folks in that government office don’t care a whit about our feelings – much as they obviously don’t care about the horses – but facts and non-emotional messages may have some influence. I hope.
Thank you!
I do not understand why lawsuits can not be filed in Federal Court to get an injunction against the BLM to halt the gatherings and subsequent sterilization of the horses. I would think it should be rather easy to demonstrate that the BLM actions are not in accordance with the Wild Horse and Burro Act and have no scientific basis for managing the horses. Perhaps I am wrong but, I am not aware of very much litigation on behalf of the horses. I would think that there is a Federal Judge somewhere who would be willing to require that the BLM justify their actions and prove that their actions are not arbitrarily determined. It doesn’t seem to me that evidence in support of the horses would be difficult to come by.
Hi Jack, there are lawsuits filed but you cannot just file in Federal court. There needs to be sufficient grounds for a judge to rule in favor, and saying simply that they are violating the 1971 act does not work.
Please leave our wild horses alone , they haven’t done anything to you .They have been on this continent far before us and they deserve and have the Right to be here . We need to protect them and stop destroying their environment and nature . Please
Thank you
Maya 16
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
This plan is outrageous and totally unnecessary. For hundreds of years horses roamed in the west until ranchers came along with their huge herds of livestock and wanted all the grazing land. The proposed sterilization of stallions by castration is permanent and no one knows what the long term effects of the fertility drugs are on mares since there has been no in depth studies done. The horses and burros belong on the land where they’ve always lived. They do not belong in holding pens! I am 100% against any further roundups and so are 80% of the American people. Scrap this plan.
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Hello Carol, do you know for a fact that these comments are actually read by the intended person/s they are sent to, because the roundups keep happening & intended sterilizations are so horribly wrong. why are those in charge keep letting this happen. Seems like no one is listening at all. It is ver y discouraging to see & hear what the BLM has done & still intends to do.
Thanks for listening,
Joan Bradt.
Even if the roundups are continuing it is important to comment because otherwise the BLM can say the public is in support of their actions.
Done! Thank you for the excellent information and links.
We can’t allow blm to destroy our wild horses blm have lied to allow us government is covering up blm lies
Keep up the hard work Carol, I am so proud of you and what we are all doing..for the horses sake.
your an inspiration..I am still sharing tons for you. God bless you and keep you and the horses safe..be careful. Amen.
please they do not deserve there lands raped by farmers no more !!we do not want are horses so cruly treated anymore in America.
Let the removal and areal extinction of other “nuisance” animals (wolves for example) and the following devastating effects due to this be a lesson instead of a repeat in history please.
Please submit your comments here by February 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
It is 50 years over due to actually begin the work the Wild Horses and Burros Act intended! Stop using our tax dollars on government sanctioned animal abuse! The BLM’s own data clearly shows the devastation to our public lands are being caused by the WELFARE ranchers and their livestock, NOT the wild horses and burros. The 50 years of lies is no longer acceptable, the gig is up, and the American people demand an end to these barbaric practices the BLM has been allowed to engage in. Wild horses and burros deserve protections and solutions that keep them wild and free. We will soon be living in a time where more wild horses and burros are in captivity than free, this is reprehensible! Even President Nixon, I know shocking, understood the importance of protecting our iconic wild animals and lands. STOP THE ROUNDUPS, DIVISE FROM WELFARE RANCHERS, and START IMPLEMENTING POLICIES THAT KEEP WILD HORSES AND BURROS FREE!!!
Please stop destruction of our lives planet by the sterilization of the wild horses that we come to see. Tourism will definitely slow down of not stop because there will not be the beautiful horses we come to see and love. Please stop the mismanagement of horses!
Please submit your comments here by 2/18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Horses were on this continent long before people were and they deserve to stay here. They are supposed to be protected by the government and should not be taken from their homes or sterilized all for the sake of cattle ranchers. Too many animal species on this planet have gone extinct at the hands of mankind. Wild horses should be one of them.
Dear Bureau of Land management
My name is Katie and I love wild horses and I would hate to see these iconic animals loose their freedom they deserve to be free on the land they originally roamed before humans ever settled here don’t you think It’s time to end all these round ups and find a better solution to keep the numbers steady (example PZP fertility control)but still keep them wild and also safe and protected they deserve to keep their land more than greedy farmers and ranchers they were there first and they should stay free until the end of time don’t you just want to be able to show your children the beauty of a wild horse running past them and have the thunder under your feet when they gallop past you please it’s time to end these cruel roundups and start admiring these beauties with a better perspective into why we should end roundups and just let them be with their families in the wild without having to worry about humans and getting separated or sent to slaughter please these roundups have gone on long enough please let’s end this forever let nature take its course rather then speeding it up by rounding up the wild horses. Wild horses are a part of our history and without them we are nothing so please there is scientific evidence that these horses are native and descended from ancestors that roamed North America during the ice age please put an end to these cruel unethical roundups and find a safe way and a way that doesn’t take away their freedom so many horses are injured, killed or separated from their own families they deserve their land more than we do we weren’t here first the wild horses colonized here first so please stop the roundups and please make all wild horse especially the salt well creek horses protected as a national landmark and not public government land but a national park where our grandchildren could be able to see the wild horses In their natural state and be able to feel the trembling from their hooves and be amazed by their beauty and grace and their freedom so please help pass the safe act to help protect these national beauties for generations to come please instead of rounding these horses up you should use a more humane way use the PZP vaccine we need wild horses their a symbol of our history if we don’t have wild horses we are lost in our nation it would be so different and heartbreaking for our nation there are more than 41,000 horses in government holding facilities where they are either trampled, adopted out without their family or sent across our borders Illegally to be slaughtered for human consumption more wild horses are in government holding facilities than on the open range the BLM is corrupt and lying about the number of Wild horses on our public lands that the BLM is telling you is 88,000 but in reality there’s only 33,000 wild horses on our public lands which about half is found in Nevada and the BLM says that the wild horses are overgrazing the land and trampling the plants when they move from place to place but in reality they have made little paths to move on so they don’t damage the vegetation and they don’t overgraze in fact they actually help the environment since unlike cattle they don’t rip the grass out of the ground instead they eat only the top half of the plants so they don’t destroy the roots in addition a horses digestive system doesn’t fully break down the vegetation as a result it is able to replant the forage and replant the seeds from their poop so please keep these horses wild and free and plus these horses are in fact classified as a federally protected species by the Wild free-roaming horses and burros act of 1971 so don’t you think it’s time treat them as the federally protected species they are supposed to be we don’t see the federally protected bald eagle being captured or killed do we so shouldn’t the wild horses have the same equal protections as the bald eagle the time is now please halt and end the roundups and pass the safe act so please speak up for the voiceless and end this corrupt agency from rounding up the American icon of the west that did so much for this nation from pulling our wagons and carriages to carrying us across the plains and Oregon trail to plowing our fields and carrying our mail and carrying us into wars don’t you think is enough to keep these icons wild and free so please stand with us and help halt the helicopters once and for all and pass the safe act so would rather be the one that led to these national icons extinction or the one that ended these round ups and the one that saved these American icons of the west so the next generation would be able to experience this phenomenon for generations
Sincerely yours truly
Katie, age 18
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please please do NOT do this to these beautiful animals. These horses are part of our American Heritage. They deserve and have every RIGHT to be there. Don’t destroy them
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
I submitted my comments. There have been 190 comments so far. I appreciated your insightful talking points and made several of them in my own words in my review. I wish we had thousands of commenters!
Thank you for commenting, I wish we did too!
Please don’t cause harm to the wild horses and the environment around them. We need to protect them at all cost and we need to stop disrupting nature’s way. They deserve freedom and they deserve to live their life without fear. Taking away all of that from these horses, these beautiful creatures is wrong.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop destroying these horses. They were to have been protected as national treasures in the Wild Horse and Burro Act from the 70s. Some people say these aren’t wild horses but you can bet they are the same horses Congress wzs talking about or their descendents. What other horses were running around free in the USA?
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please leave our wild horses and burros alone , whole and in peace. Get rid of the cattle and the sheep and restructure the BLM
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop your inhumane treatment of our wild horses. Please work with our horse advocates to take other options. They are out there to preserve our wild horses who deserve to be treated better than they have been. They deserve to be here and are an icon to our country’s heritage. The majority of the American people DO not want this to happen once they hear what is happening. Please work with our horse advocate groups to treat these horses with the dignity and spirit they have inspired to Americans for hundreds of years. Thank you.
My comments have been submitted. Thanks for all you do, Carol.
Thank you Deb!
Somehow the blm has to be stopped now, they are doing this so fast to our mustang’s
Please stop doing this and leave the wild horses alone. This is wrong and inhumane. Horses are also living things and they want to be free without anyone controlling them. Wild horses deserve to live in peace without anyone trying to decide for them.
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop this horrible practice that will rob our children and future generations of our beloved wild mustangs. No to sterilization
Please submit your comments here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please leave the wild horses free…Live and let live. You have no right to mess with nature. You cannot sterilise them …it’s not your call.
Please stop rounding up the wild horses!! They are healthy and there is plenty of room for cattle & sheep without removing any wild mustangs. Please keep the wild horses free and stop using taxpayers money. Stop the Roundups!! It’s what the people want!
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop the round ups and sterilizations. Let them be free.
It’s time to stop punishing Our beautiful wild horses by sterilization and constant round-ups! They deserve to be left alone to live their lives untouched by man. Please listen to everyone’s plea. You know in your heart that it’s dead wrong. We as a people should respect the creatures that share this planet with us, not brutalize them for being there!
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please do not mess with the wild mustangs! They are majestic animals and a huge part of our history! Please let them be! They are beautiful animals! Stop rounding them up! Please stop it. Mustangs are ama I g! ♥️❤️???? ????
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop the cruel and inhuman roundups that destroy families. Put an end to it!! It’s what the people want!
Such a barbaric act… STOP TRYING TO ERADICATE OUR BELOVED WILD ONES… START sterizling cattle, goats, sheeps…. WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO CARE FOR THOSE THAT CANNOT SPEAK… I AM HERE FOR OUR WILD ONES PER GOD’S INSTRUCTION
Am I the only one that can not find the right place to leave a comment to the blm? I went to the document that was mentioned above to leave a comment, but can not find the right place. This round up is a other insanity of the bLm and needs to be stop.
Push the green Participate now button then move the slider to the right and hit the second participate now button.
Submitted. Thanks for all your great info and efforts.
Thank you!
I am writing to address the plan for managing the wild horses in the North Lander Complex of Wyoming. In studying aspects of The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, one sees it is a federal crime for anyone to harass or kill “wild” horses or burros on federal land. If helicopter roundups are not harassment, what is? The BLM is charged with maintaining a thriving natural ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock* and vegetation and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation. To that end, it would be practical to remove more livestock, as cattle & sheep do far greater damage to the environment than horses. Not to mention the climate warming methane bovines emit being greater than even vehicles. The Bureau needs to adhere to scientific studies of the animals’ behavior and habitats;, ie: horses form strong familial bonds, herds need at least 150 breeding age adults to maintain genetic diversity, and wild horses thrive in herds that have 50% stallions and 50% mares. The Act also allows for public lands to be utilized for multiple purposes while improving the health and stability of “wild” horse and burro populations. However, the likely result of the proposed plan will be erosion of the herd’s viability. While none of us who appreciates wild horses has the wealth or power to stop it, our iconic wild horse herds will slowly dwindle and disappear, leaving the West with “Welfare Ranchers” and their livestock. No tourism opportunities there! Therefore, there can be little to no justification for the current scope of the proposed management plan. Please consider the numerous comments you must be receiving and give the horses a chance at a normal life.
* cattle number close to 94 million on Federal land.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please stop this cruelty to our Wild horses! God created them for a purpose! Not to be consumed by man or taken advantage of for money. It is morally wrong to steal them for profit! They are are history, our children deserve to see them in the wild! Please let them be free! They have families like you and I. They grieve loss like you and I . Have a heart if you can in Jesus name Amen
Our wild horses are part of our heritage. Don’t let the cattlemen coerce government into cruel roundups/slaughter and sterilization. Let these proud horses live on. They are beautiful and free. Save the wild horses!
Stop playing GOD! These majestic beings deserve better! We are their voice. Just STOP!
These beautiful animals are meant to run free: period!
Please stop the helicopter roundups and the gelding and using birth control on almost every horse. Your intent is loud and clear to remove every wild horse and burro. This agreement with ranchers running the show is bad business. This is wasting tax payers money and giving livestock priority. The dollar amount makes no sense. Federal land should never be leased to the private sector. Talk about damage to the land and native plants due to the horses is seriously flawed . Livestock destroy the ecosystem. In addition sheep pull up the entire root system and eat it. Horses have been there at least 500 years at a minimal. They are strong and some of the healthiest horses in the world just by managing themselves. Recently the BLM reported that Sand Wash Basin in CO had been reduced to moon dust because of the horses. Yet as soon as you take the horses in comes the livestock. To say that is ridiculous. No rancher is going to send their livestock to eat moon dust especially since they are sold by weight. You are breaking up families of animals that are living breathing beings that feel physical and emotional pain. They grieve horribly. The helicopter round ups are cruel and inhumane . Horses are chased including foals and heavily pregnant mares. Foals are trampled or are left alone to die. Mothers cry for their foals. Legs are broken. Your helicopters have been seen knocking over horses running as fast as they can and chasing a foal with a broken leg. These people in the helicopters and on the ground are shooting horses and their injuries from all of these methods is horrible. All of this makes no sense. There are a lot of tax payers making these ranchers holding horses and the helicopters an incredible amount of money. Millions and millions and millions are spent in comparison to the small amount grazing brings in. And this is because ranchers want it all. They are being incredibly greedy. Ranchers and their livestock are great as long as it is on their land. If they don’t have enough grazing or feed for their livestock they need to do what all of the ranchers do throughout this country, adjust the numbers to fit your land and your feed. It is not the American tax payers or the wild horses and burros job to subsidize ranchers. Please stop this!
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
It makes absolutely no sense to take part in the forced extinction of a species. In fact, it is cruel and inhumane. These are magnificent animal an deserve to be left alone.
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
We need to stop this now people before we lose any more horses every day we lost hundreds and thousands of horses
These horses and burros belong to us, the taxpayers who are tired of government appointed “officials” using OUR hard earned money to do exactly what WE are against. These horses are our heritage and true symbols of our history and freedom. The land is also ours – not to be destroyed by big greedy business, corporations, rich ranchers and hunting factions. There is no excuse for cruelty, not for us and not for the BLM and its interests. Sterilizing them in such a manner is just another way of exterminating them. Keeping them confined in bad weather with no shelter and living in filth is abuse . When will you ever do the right and moral thing?
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please let these beautiful animals live the life they deserve… free.
Wild Mustangs are an iconic symbol of American Freedom. They have just as much right to live wild and free as any other living being on this earth. They are a true symbol of pride and beauty that much deserves our respect and admiration. Please let them live as God’s beautiful gift to be loved and protected!!!! ♥️♥️♥️
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Don’t do this to one of the last of our National Treasures! When will humans learn…????
This is not where to submit your comments.
Please submit your comments here by Feb. 18: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2014081/510
Please reconsider your proposals to risk these horses lives for sterilization procedures
Hi! This plan will change herddynamic and will erradicate the wild iconic mustangs in this area. That is not a modern way, It’s cruel. What will happen if a mare gets an infection by the UID? Will they be superviced like they should – no just let loose. That’s not a way to treat horses protected by law. There are better ways to manage the population. Listen and learn from all of those who CAN this. They will more than likely help. The roundups are cruel and causes death and traumatized horses. It’s 2022- there are better ways than.
Stop this cruel practice on our precious wild horses!
Stop this cruel practice on our precious wild horses! We need someone running BLM that really care about our wild horses and burros because whoever is now does not care……it’s all about greed between BLM and the cattlemen and it is both sad and just wrong!
You should be protecting and by managing these herds you should be ensuring they will continue to thrive, not expire. Land should be shared with them not taking land from them putting them in pens and taking away all of their freedom. There is a reason they are stillexisting after thousands of years they were meant to be there.