AWHPC FILES COMPLAINT WITH INSPECTOR GENERAL OVER BLM NEGLIGENCE IN DEADLY TUSCARORA ROUNDUP

Inspector General Conducting Review of BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Amid Escalating Controversy

Washington, DC (July 27, 2010). . . The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), which is supported by a coalition of more than 40 public interest, historic preservation and horse advocacy organizations, today supplemented the ongoing Department of Interior Office of Inspector General (OIG) review of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s wild horse and burro program. AWHPC filed a complaint outlining the BLM’s negligence in the conduct of the Tuscarora roundup in northeastern Nevada.

At least 25 of the 822 wild horses captured to date in that roundup have perished, the majority of them from dehydration-related complications. Most of the dead are very young horses, including foals aged 2-5 months.

The OIG launched a program-wide evaluation of the BLM’s wild horse and burro management in May.

“The BLM repeatedly claimed that the Tuscarora roundup required ‘extreme diligence,’ yet the agency’s actions reflect just the opposite,” said Suzanne Roy, AWHPC Campaign Director. “From failing to manage conditions on the range to avert an emergency for horses, to launching a desert roundup in the heat of summer when foals are young and vulnerable, to leaving dehydrated horses unmonitored overnight with free access to water, the BLM’s conduct exemplifies the fundamental failures of this broken federal program.”

Seven horses died within the first 24 hours of the roundup from dehydration-related complications – including colic, brain swelling and “water intoxication.” — after being stampeded by helicopter for eight miles in 85 degree heat into capture pens, then left unattended overnight. The BLM found the horses dead and dying when it returned to the capture site in the morning. Water intoxication occurs when dehydrated horses are given free access to water and over-drink. All of the horses who died were under age 8, including 2-5 month old foals.

After the horses died, BLM claimed that this routine removal of “excess” horses was now an emergency rescue due to allegedly extreme water shortages on the range. Ironically, Roy said, the emergency water shortage relates only to horses and not to the hundreds of cows and the wildlife that also inhabit the range and have access to water.

The AWHPC complaint included a statement by Bruce Nock, Ph.D., tenured faculty at the Washington University School of Medicine and expert on the physiological effects of stress on animals regarding the dangers of a summer roundup.

“[I]t may take less than 20 minutes of moderate exercise to raise a horse’s body temperature to dangerous levels . . . Add the sympathetic nervous system activation triggered by being chased by a helicopter in summer heat and you have the potential for real problems … deadly problems,” wrote Dr. Nock wrote. “But the high ambient temperatures of summer aren’t the only problem. The year’s crop of foals are only months old during their first summer. . . . [E]arly development is a fragile time when stress/trauma can have a devastating impact that can last a life time.”

Dr. Nock previously wrote a report for AWHPC on the traumatic effects of helicopter roundup and capture on wild horses.

The Tuscarora roundup continues. The agency intends to use helicopters to roundup 1,548 wild horses and permanently removal of 1,137-1,197 of these animals from the Owyhee, Little Humboldt and Rock Creek HMAs in Elko County, Nevada over the next several weeks.

AWHPC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

Text of Complaint Follows Here

# # #

July 27, 2010

U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Inspector General
1849 C Street NW – Mail Stop 4428
Washington, D.C. 20240

To Whom It May Concern:

This complaint is submitted on behalf of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) seeking full investigation of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s conduct of the Tuscarora Wild Horse Gather, which commenced in on Saturday July 10, 2010 and in the management of the three Herd Management Areas (HMAs) involved in this plan.

The AWHPC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Our grassroots efforts are supported by a coalition of over forty public interest, conservation, horse advocacy, historic preservation and animal welfare organizations.

We request a prompt and independent investigation of this situation, including whether or not BLM’s conduct in this matter violates the agency’s own Standard Operating Procedures, as well as the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act and its regulations.
§ 4770.1 Prohibited acts.

(a) Maliciously or negligently injuring or harassing a wild horse or burro;

(f) Treating a wild horse or burro inhumanely; (Emphasis added.)

WFHBA:

(6) willfully violates a regulation issued pursuant to this Act, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $2,000, or imprisonment for not more than one year, or
both.

BACKGROUND

Under the Tuscarora Wild Horse Gather plan, the BLM intends to use helicopters to roundup 1,548 wild horses and permanently removal of 1,137-1,197 of these animals from the Owyhee, Little Humboldt and Rock Creek HMAs in Elko County, Nevada over the next several weeks.

BLM began its operation in the Owyhee HMA and as of July 25, the agency had captured 823 wild horses. At least 22 of these mustangs have died to date. The majority (14) of these deaths have been attributed to dehydration-related complications. Most of the dead are very young horses, including foals aged 2-5 months. (Gather reports)

At least 12 of the deaths were attributed to water intoxication (gather reports)– a direct result of the failure of BLM’s post-capture management of horses who had exhibited signs of dehydration. (See below.)

BLM temporarily suspended the Tuscarora capture operation on Sunday, July 11, 2010 after arriving at the capture site to find seven horses dead and dying from complications related to water intoxication, which occurs when dehydrated horses are given free access to water and over-drink. Complications include colic and brain swelling. Five more horses died from the effects of water intoxication over the next few days.

BLM immediately attributed the deaths to pre-existing dehydration caused by water shortages on the range, which the agency discovered in a fly over of the Owyhee HMA on the morning of July 11. BLM declared that the Owyhee roundup, planned as a routine gather of “excess” wild horses, was now an emergency.

BLM convened a Review Committee comprised primarily of BLM employees to review the situation. Not surprisingly, the Review Committee agreed that the BLM must continue to roundup Owyhee horses to “rescue” them from the newly-discovered water shortages on the range.

On Friday, July 16, BLM resumed the capture operation just hours after U.S. District Court Judge Larry R. Hicks ruled on a lawsuit challenging the roundup and allowed it to go forward. In his ruling (attached), Judge Hicks affirmed the First Amendment right of the public and media to witness the roundup and ruled that BLM’s closure of public lands to prevent public access to observe the helicopter stampede unconstitutional. However, BLM has continued its blackout on public observation while completing the Owyhee portion of the roundup.

ALLEGATIONS IN THIS COMPLAINT

1. BLM violated its own SOP’s by failing to ascertain range conditions and animal health before commencing the capture operation.

The Interim Report of the Review Committee states clearly “a majority of the horses have already been without water for at least five days from the start of the gather operations, when the BLM first became aware that all the ponds had completely dried up and began monitoring the situation.” ( P. 6, Emphasis added. )

BLM’s failure to ascertain conditions on the range before beginning the roundup violates the agency’s Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] (Environmental Assessment (EA) , Appendix A)., which require “a pre-capture evaluation of existing conditions in the gather area(s)” including “animal conditions, prevailing temperatures, drought conditions.”

The BLM’s July 12, 2010 news release also claims that the agency did not know about the allegedly life-threatening lack of water in the Owyhee Complex until after it subjected 228 horses to helicopter stampede on July 10:

“The private contractor conducted an aerial flyover of the immediate area Sunday morning, July 11, and located two large bands of wild horses. One band, approximately 100 to 150 horses, is staying close to a nearly dried-up water hole. The second band, approximately 150 to 200 horses, is located approximately eight to 10 miles from the nearest water source. Both of these bands are presently at risk of mortality from dehydration if they do not reach other water sources.”

The BLM’s alleged lack of awareness of specific conditions related to the range and the horses in the Owyhee HMA is a strong indictment of the agency’s range monitoring program and consistent with the historical failures of this agency.

2. BLM failed to develop and implement an adequate post-capture veterinary and husbandry management plan for captured horses.

As we will detail in Allegation 5, BLM had ample knowledge of the potential for dehydration in horses operating on low water reserves in the summer desert environment. However, the agency failed to develop an appropriate plan to care for potentially compromised horses after subjecting them to extreme physical exertion and trauma in a helicopter chase. Instead, the BLM left the horses unmonitored and unattended overnight with free access to water, something even an amateur horseman knows can be deadly due to the risk of over-drinking and “water intoxication.”

The BLM’s decision to leave captured horses unmonitored with free access to water is even more egregious in light of the fact that the BLM observed horses exhibiting signs of dehydration upon being driven in to the trap site.

The Interim Report of the Review Team (pp. 3-4) describes the events of July 10, 2010:

The gather contractor located approximately 32 animals within 1 mile of the holding facility and brought them into the facility at a slow trot. The animals were in good physical condition although showing some signs of being drawn-up due to lack of water.

The contractor located a second group of 196 horses approximately 8 miles from the holding corrals at about 9:00 a.m. At the time, the temperature was 81 degrees. Again, the animals came into the corrals at a slow trot and arrived in good physical condition. . .

The animals were sorted, watered and fed. The USDA veterinarian observed that some of the animals remained drawn-up but none showed signs of distress. The contractor and BLM crew left the site at approximately 1630 [4:30 p.m.].

[On the morning of July 11], BLM staff including District Manager and Field Manager, USDA veterinarian, gather contractor, arrived 0630-0645. Four animals were found dead in the pens and several others showed signs of significant physical distress. Despite attempts at treatment, three additional animals were euthanized. The USDA veterinarian completed necropsies on three animals and determined that the animals had died from colic and brain swelling attributed to water starvation/dehydration and subsequent water intoxication.” (Emphasis added.)

The EA makes clear that BLM was aware of the risk of dehydrated horses before commencing this gather operation, making its lack of proper management of these horses all the more egregious:

“Given the dry conditions and the expanding wild horse numbers, along with the limited perennial water sources in the Owyhee HMA, the BLM has a very strong concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death in the Owyhee HMA this summer (2010) if excess wild horses are not gathered.” (P. 18, emphasis added).

This shows that lack of water was recognized and a factor in planning the roundup. The agency is negligent in failing to develop a structured hydration plan given the potential for critically low water resources identified prior to the gather. The agency’s veterinarian also committed serious transgressions by failing to monitor the hydration status of horses and failing to implement an overnight monitoring plan in the face of unlimited water access.

3. BLM should have suspended the capture operation on July 10 after the first 32 horses rounded up exhibited signs of dehydration

From the Interim report:

“BLM imitated gather operations in the northern portion of the Owyhee HMA at 6:30 a.m., Saturday July 10. The temperature at the gather site was approximately 61 degrees as relayed by the local Remote Area Weather Station (RAWS). . . . The gather contractor located approximately 32 animals within 1 mile of the holding facility and brought them into the facility at a slow trot. The animals were in good physical condition, although showing some signs of being drawn-up due to lack of water.

The contractor located a second group of 196 horses approximately 8 miles from the holding corrals at about 9 a.m. At the time the temperature was 81 degrees. Again the animals came into the corrals at a slow trot and arrived in good physical condition. . . “(P. 3-4, emphasis added.)

Why didn’t the BLM suspend the capture operation after the first horses came in exhibiting signs of being “drawn-up due to lack of water?” Instead the agency continued the operation, driving a far greater numbers by helicopter over a far greater distance in temperatures that had risen at least 20 degrees, with deadly results.

The Standard Gather Operating Procedures (EA Appendix A, pp. 63-64, 68) state:

The primary concern of the contractor is the safe and humane handling of all animals captured.

The rate of movement and distance the animals travel shall not exceed limitations set by the COR/PI who will consider terrain, physical barriers, weather, condition of the animals and other factors.

The Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) and the project inspectors (PIs) have the direct responsibility to ensure the Contractor’s compliance with the contract stipulations. All employees involved in the gathering operations will keep the best interests of the animals at the forefront at all times.

The extent of suffering involved in the water intoxication deaths, both for the horses who died and for those who recovered, indicates that BLM and its contractors violated numerous provisions of their own SOP’s on July 10.

4. Decision to proceed with summer roundup irresponsible.

BLM’S decision to proceed with this capture operation in July raises serious concerns because the operation:

Subjects horses to miles-long helicopter drive in high summer temperatures at a time when water reserves are low and horses’ ability to recover from extreme physical exertion and trauma is compromised.

Stampedes vulnerable newly-born and very young foals and their lactating mothers in a helicopter chase for up to ten miles over rugged terrain in high temperatures.

These concerns are discussed in a complaint filed with the Interior Board of Land Appeals by Advocates for the West on behalf of In Defense of Animals. (Attached here.)

Bruce Nock, Ph.D., tenured faculty member at Washington University School of Medicine and expert on the physiological effects of stress in animals wrote in a brief report:

“[I]t may take less than 20 minutes of moderate exercise to raise a horse’s body temperature to dangerous levels when it is hot and humid.” Add the sympathetic nervous system activation triggered by being chased by a helicopter in summer heat and you have the potential for real problems … deadly problems. Dehydration which can cause hypotension, colic, convulsions, and heart and renal failure may be the most obvious. . . . . But the high ambient temperatures of summer aren’t the only problem. The year’s crop of foals are only months old during their first summer. It may seem like the young should be more resilient and more able to survive stampedes than older horses. That may be so in some ways. But early development is a fragile time when stress/trauma can have a devastating impact that can last a life time.”

The conduct of roundup in summer exacerbates the trauma of the helicopter roundup, which Dr. Nock has previously written about in a March 2010 report for AWHPC.

Dr. Nock’s specific concerns about summer roundups are echoed in the EA for the Calico roundup, which took place earlier this year. In this document, BLM listed the various reasons why a winter roundup was necessary while enumerating the dangers of a summer roundup, especially to young foals (foaling period, as acknowledged by the recently updated BLM Handbook, is March 1 through June 30):

“During summer months, foals are typically small, and average 4 months old. Newborn foals are often gathered, and many foals are too young to wean. By fall and winter, most foals are of good body size and sufficient age, and can easily be weaned. Fall and winter time-frames are much less stressful to foals than summer gathers. Not only are young foals in summer months more prone to dehydration and complications from heat stress, the handling, sorting and transport is a stress to the young animals and increases the chance for them to be rejected by their mothers. By gathering wild horses during the winter, stress associated with summer gathers can be avoided.” (Emphasis added)

It is important to note that most of the horses who died in the Tuscarora round up to date are very young, including foals aged 2-5 months. (Gather reports.)

5. BLM’s Knowledge of Drought Conditions in Owyhee at Least in Mid-May Raises Questions Regarding Agency’s Failure to Manage the Range and BLM’s Motives

In mid-May 2010, BLM conducted on-the-ground observation at Owyhee. As a result of this, BLM posted a May 2010 video entitled: “Extreme Terrain Requires Extreme Diligence” on its Tuscarora Gather webpage (Transcript here.) The video begins with this:

“BLM employees—rangeland managers, biologists, horse and burro specialists and others—work together to understand the dynamics of the range and work to manage a balance: from different species of animals that share the land, to water availability, to how many animals the land can sustain….”

“There is little water available to sustain more than 800 horses. Of the twenty-three ponds on the Owyhee HMA, more than half have very little water left in them and the rest have dried up as of mid-May.” (Emphasis added_

In the video, Dave Overcast, BLM Tuscarora Field Office Manager – and a Declarant in the federal lawsuit against the roundup filed by plaintiff Laura Leigh – states:

“We’re out here today on the Owyhee Herd Management Area. We’ve got about 500 wild horses out in this area. Our concern today and what I’d like to show you is behind me – one of these little storage ponds for water that we have. There’s just a couple in this area. You can see this one will be out here in about the next four weeks – first of June. And there’ll be no water left. Our horses will need to travel clear over 10 miles to the river in order to get water and then come back in this area. So, in caring for horses, this is one of our concerns.”

We strongly encourage you to see this video for yourself, and to see the clear lack of water of which BLM knew two months before the disastrous July 10 roundup commencement.

The EA also highlights water-related concerns on the HMA:

“The Owyhee HMA is very dry with very few perennial waters (see attached map 5). In the Dry Creek Pasture of the HMA the only perennial water can be found at Bookkeeper Spring. In the Chimney Creek Pasture of the HMA the only perennial water can be found at Desert Range Reservoir. In the northern portion of the HMA (Star Ridge) the only perennial water is the Owyhee River in the extreme northeastern portion of the HMA. While there are few perennial waters, there are numerous stock tanks and seasonal lakes (vegetated playas) that collect seasonal water in the Owyhee HMA. These stock tanks and seasonal lakes are dependent on winter precipitation where there may be no water or little water available by the spring to summer period during some years (Gray, Ken 1992).” (P. 13)

Indeed it is in these three areas – Star Ridge, Dry Creek and Chimney Creek, that BLM is now claiming the water emergency is now occurring. Again, as stated in Allegation 2, BLM was fully aware that water shortages in this area could compromise wild horses:

“Given the dry conditions and the expanding wild horse numbers, along with the limited perennial water sources in the Owyhee HMA, the BLM has a very strong concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death in the Owyhee HMA this summer (2010) if excess wild horses are not gathered.” (P. 18, emphasis added).

In short, the “extreme diligence” that BLM touted as necessary in its video was nowhere in sight on the day that the agency commenced the Tuscarora gather – or, apparently, in the at least two months prior to the roundup when BLM clearly knew about, and even warned about, the extremely dry conditions about which the BLM expressed such “strong concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death in the Owyhee HMA this summer (2010)….” but did nothing to avert them or to prepare for post-capture management of dehydrated horses subjected to extreme physical exertion and trauma in helicopter stampedes.

6. Proper range management by BLM would have averted emergency water shortages before they occurred.

By allowing this emergency situation to develop in the first place, BLM has failed egregiously in its mandate to manage these public lands and our wild horse herds. A proper range management program should have anticipated the potential for emergency water shortages, and taken steps to avert disaster before the situation became critical. If necessary, water should have been hauled in prior to an emergency situation developing.

The mid-May 2010 video claims that BLM manages the land by “work[ing] together to understand the dynamics of the range and work to manage a balance: from different species of animals that share the land, to water availability, to how many animals the land can sustain….”

How did BLM manage this land – if at all – prior to the deadly July 10 roundup?

The BLM used lack of water to justify this roundup – even warned in the EA of its “great concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death” if the roundup did not occur. But at least two months prior to this roundup, the BLM knew of the dire water situation, even videotaped it with the dire warning that “Extreme Terrain Requires Extreme Diligence.” This entire scenario raises fundamental questions about BLM’s range management program and the motives of this agency.

CONCLUSION

BLM’s “management” of wild horses consists almost entirely of roundup and removal. In the controversial Calico roundup, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar publicly claimed that the horses in Calico were starving. When that turned out not to be true, BLM claimed that it rounded up wild horses to prevent starvation.

In this case, BLM alleged water starvation on the range only after seven mustangs died as a direct result of the agency’s negligence in failing to establish and implement proper management and veterinary care practices. In the BLM’s explanations and justifications, the agency consistently tries to have it both ways:

BLM is aware of the potential for water shortages on the range but didn’t know about water shortages on the range until after horses died from dehydration-related complications.

BLM says that summer roundups are dangerous when justifying winter roundups, then claims they are safe when it wants to conduct such operations in summer.

BLM says horses are suffering from water starvation, then backtracks on that assessment the next day.

Why did BLM allow the water situation to deteriorate so badly for the horses that it created an emergency? Why did the BLM ignore its own “strong concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death in the Owyhee HMA this summer (2010)….” ? Why did the agency fail to have a proper plan in place to manage horses who were potentially compromised by low water resources? Why did the BLM plan this roundup in the dead of summer in the Nevada desert? Why did the agency subject 196 horses to a helicopter stampede eight miles in duration in temperatures approaching 90 degrees after the first 32 horses captured on July 10 came in with signs of dehydration? Why did the agency leave these horses unmonitored with free access to water?

Far from the “extreme diligence” touted in its promotional video, the BLM exhibited extreme negligence in this capture operation.

A full investigation of this situation is urgently needed.

MASTER LIST OF DOCUMENTS

Online –

Tuscarora Gather Page

Environmental Assessment on the Tuscarora Gather Plan (“EA”)
Interim Report of Review Team, July 16, 1010 (“Interim Report)
Transcript of video entitled “Extreme Terrain Requires Extreme Diligence”
BLM News Releases

Attached:

Emergency Preliminary Injunction of Federal Court Judge Larry R. Hicks (“Emergency Injunction”) (Attached.)

Order of Federal Court Judge Larry R. Hicks July 16, 2010 (“Court Order”) (Attached)

IBLA Appeal Filed by Advocates for the West

Report of Dr. Bruce Nock on Danger of Summer Gathers

“Distances travelled by feral horses in ‘outback’ Australia”

Sincerely,

Suzanne Roy

Campaign Director

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign

919-697-9389

sroy@wildhorsepreservation.org

www.wildhorsepreservation.org