Wild Horses: “D” is for Destroy, Devastate and Decimate – the BLM’s plan for Wyoming’s Wild Horses
June 14, 2011Wild Horses: Comments Due June 20 on Great Divide Basin Roundup – will it be another sterilized herd?
June 18, 2011
Re-evaluating?
Don’t count on it.
The Wyoming Bureau of Land Management just posted a press release that they are reconsidering the decision record on a roundup of 2 Wyoming herds that would result in gelded stallions, spayed mares, and two totally sterile horse herds:
“After considering public input, the Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming High
Desert District is re-evaluating certain aspects of its decision record
related to spaying gathered mares during the proposed White Mountain/Little
Colorado herd management areas wild horse gather. As part of the
re-evaluation, BLM may amend or modify its environmental assessment and
decision record for the gather, and if modified, a new decision record
should be available next week. For more information, contact Marty Griffith, (307) 775-6093.”
Thank you all of you from the bottom of my heart who have been calling the Wyoming BLM, your Congressmen, Senators, and for getting the word out. I think it may be working. I think the Wyoming BLM counted on no one reading the original EA for those two herd areas, and no one being the wiser about the contents of the sinister “Alternative D.” They wanted to just go about their business and destroy these two herds with no one the wiser.
However, we need to keep up the pressure, and turn that “maybe” to a “NO!” on sterilizing the Little Colorado and White Mountain Herds, and using spaying mares and gelding stallions to do it. Please keep calling the Wyoming BLM. Please keep calling your Senators and Congressmen. And by all means, come to the Satewide Hearing in Rock Springs, WY at the BLM office this coming Tuesday, June 21 at 5:30 pm to make your voice heard.
Here is the link to info about the meeting:
http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2011/may/18hdd-helicopter.html
The heat is on, and we need it to save these two herds and all the rest of our wild horses. This is not and has never been about just these two herds – if this decision stands and the BLM is able to accomplish this atrocity, this will surely be the model for future wild horse management – management to extinction.
A BLM Wyoming spokesperson has just told the Cloud Foundation that “spaying has been taken off the table for White Mountain/Little CO, but not for future roundups.”
Notice they did not say that gelding all the stallions was off the table – and if they do that and simply remove all the mares, their goal of sterilization for these two herds can still be accomplished.
Here are those Wyoming BLM phone numbers again:
Wyoming State Wild Horse Specialist Amy Ruhs, 307-352-0375,
Rock Springs Wild Horse Specialist Jay D’Ewart, 307-352-0331
High Desert District Manager: John Ruhs 307-352-0256
Wyoming State Director: Don Simpson 307-775-6256.
5 Comments
why not just do vasectomies in the field on some of the stallions? That way they could stay with the herd because they would still ACT like stallions, it would be much cheaper and safer than spaying mares or gelding stallions, and NO ROUNDUPS would be necessary. Shoot em with a dart gun and do it right in the field. This idea was told to me by Tim Harvey who is the humane observer for the BLM. It makes so much more sense than rounding up horses, breaking up families and herds, and paying a ton of money to imprison horses in long and short term holding facilities!
Unfortunately doing vasectomies on stallions in the field is pretty close to spaying mares and does not surprise me a bit that a so called “humane” observer for the BLM would suggest such a thing.
Doing vasectomies or gelding in the field? Are you serious? Think about that for a minute. Wild stallions, invasive procedure in non-sterile conditions and released back to the wild like they had a hangnail. Managing wild horses with a combined population of less than 25,000 on 10 western states is not be rocket science. They do not need these drastic measures period. Contraceptive darting done with science, thought and care is all that is needed. And the idea of SPAYING wild mares in the field is absolutely barbaric and insane. Any idiot who came up with these ideas needs to be retired out to pasture for good. They are not fit to be in charge of our wild horses anymore. To have non-reproducing herds goes against all of the meaning of WILD horse. The numbers do not warrant such extreme measures and we should not have to pay for it!
WHY DO THEY NEED VASECTOMIES OR GELDING AT ALL? They don’t!!
Thank Heavens for Carol’s pictures which show the HMA as it is, in good condition, so the BLM couldn’t say otherwise. What I haven’t read (even though I read the decision as well as the E/A) is why they chose option “D”. They give no justification for this option other than it will reduce the need for roundups in the future. (no kidding)
It’s too bad you didn’t take pictures of all the cattle as well as the horses. Then even those who are on the fence could see what the multiple use mandate is doing to our wild horses.