BLM's 2010 Round-up Schedule provides for the capture of a staggering 12,000 additional wild horses and burros, at the cost of 32 million of our tax dollars! Given BLM’s recent handwringing over the number of horses in government holding, this announcement is simply baffling. It was not long ago that the agency announced a proposal to euthanize some 30,000 wild horses stockpiled in federal holding facilities.
Despite legal efforts from wild horse advocates, on December 28th the BLM began a massive, two-month long roundup of over 2,500 wild horses from the Calico Complex in North Western Nevada. This herd was last rounded up in 2005, when BLM left an estimated 575 horses on the range and administered contraceptive vaccine to some of the mares. Yet, BLM now claims there are over 3,000 horses in that same area, a 120% annual increase while their EA cited a maximum rate of 27%. Locals familiar with the herd are adamant there are far from that many horses left on that range. A BLM Wild Horse & Burro Specialist, who has monitored the Calico range for the past 6 years, testified under oath in a May 2009 court case that, based on her latest observations, the range "was meeting management objectives" and that, given BLM's latest population claims, she "would have expected the monitoring data to show higher levels of use" by wild horses. Indeed, only BLM’s creative accounting could find that a herd has quintupled in size in less than five years, let alone a herd under a contraceptive program!
Interesting background information: last year, BLM authorized a 300% increase in cattle grazing for the area, and the building of a fence that BLM itself admitted might cut wild horses from their winter range and cause them to die. Wild horses would also be locked out of the best pasture with the most abundant water during the driest time of the year. At the time, BLM justified its decision by arguing that wild horse populations in the area were minimal. A couple of months later, it came out with its puzzling claim of population explosion, setting the stage for this massive round-up.
Clearly, something here is amiss. Where did these 3,000 horses come from?
The Calico Complex roundup will take place in the dead of winter, and will drive the herds for miles out of the mountains over snowy and icy terrain. Young foals, older horses or pregnant mares will face the brunt of this brutal roundup. Aside from the immediate humane implications is the glaring fact that the BLM has no viable plan for these horses.
BLM claims that the horses are being removed to protect the range from overgrazing, yet they increased allotted cattle grazing on the 500,000-acre Calico Complex. Please join us in protesting this egregious mismanagement of America's last remaining wild horses.
This is just one example of what happens when BLM chases wild horse for miles in the dead of winter. This mare did not survive the helicopter chase.
Join Protests
San Francisco - Dec. 30
Chicago - Dec. 30
Denver - Dec. 30
London - Dec. 30
Los Angeles - Jan. 6, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, in front of Sen. Feinstein's office building
Albany, NY - January 7, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, NY Capitol Building
Denver - January 7, 12:00 pm-2:00 pm, in front of Sen. Udall’s office building
Las Vegas - January 7, 5:00 pm, protest at Harry Reid's speech
Boston - January 8, 10:00 am-3:00 pm
Las Vegas - January 10, 12:00 pm-3:00 pm, protest #2 at Red Rock Canyon
New York City - January 17, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, Columbus circle
Reno/Sparks - January 18, 12:00 pm-2:00 pm
Sacramento - January 21, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, State Capitol Bldg
Phoenix, AZ - Saturday Jan. 30, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the BLM office One North Central, Suite 800
Boulder, CO - Saturday Jan. 30, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Downtown, corner of Broadway and Canyon
If you cannot attend the rallies, you can still have your voices heard:
- Write you representatives in Congress and ask them to protect America’s wild horses by supporting the ROAM Act (HR1018/S1579). Find your Reps at www.congress.org or call the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 to be connected.
- Write Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and ask him to call for a moratorium on roundups until viable alternatives for in-the-wild management policies are in place to preserve our remaining wild horse herds on the public rangelands where they currently exist, in keeping with the intent of the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
The Honorable Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
These stout horses contradict BLM’s claims that the removals are driven by humane concerns over the threat of starvation on the range.
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