Urgent: Comment on the Carson City RMP revision plan

Pine Nut HMA

FROM Wild Horse Education:

This is crucial to comment on. There are 21 Herd Management Areas effected directly by this RMP. All decisions in the district on wild horse and burros (all public land issues) are based on the “RMP,” Resource Management Plan. This is the document that all “EA’s” (therefore roundups) are based on.

Comments are due by Midnight, TONIGHT.

A “copy paste” is listed below. Please take this simple Action.

Here is the scoping document specific to Wild Horses and Burros:
https://www.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/lup/22652/34881/36305/9.1_WH&B.final.pdf

The scoping document specifically asks for your input on these areas (copied and pasted from document):

Should HMA boundaries be adjusted, combined and/or eliminated?

What criteria should be used to make habitat and population suitability and viability determinations?

What methods, other than removal through gathers, should be considered to achieve AMLs?

How should BLM address wild horse and burro urban‐interface issues?

Which HMAs are suitable for the long‐term management of wild horses and burros?

What age structure and sex ratios are appropriate to ensure healthy future herds of wild horses and burros?

Where are habitat improvement projects appropriate?

What kinds of improvement projects are feasible?

When is it appropriate to develop or augment water for horses and burros?

Any other issues or concerns with the management of wild horses or burros?

Below is a suggested letter to Colleen Seivers, RMP Project Manager

The email address for comments is:  BLM_NV_CCDO_RMP@blm.gov

you may copy and paste this, or use it to formulate your own, but please send as soon as possible.

~~~

Colleen Seivers,

I write to you as an interested party to wild horses and burros. When crafting the new (revisions) RMP for the Carson City District the following should be paramount as this mandated use has become threatened by the encroachment of other users.

The vast majority of users of public land have considerable resource available to their use. Wild Horses and burros are restricted to the boundary lines that, in many cases, were inaccurately drawn. This finite, and flawed, space is vital to the survival of this American Heritage species as intended by Congressional law. Within these boundary lines horses and burros are to be considered a principle, but not exclusive, use. Currently they are not managed as such. This mandated use is the lowest of priority.

To perpetuate a use of public land the viability of that use must be first priority. Populations must be managed to perpetuate the species with a minimal level of interference. Populations capable of breeding to sustain genetic viability, without interference, must be maintained before other uses are allowed.

Numbers within the boundaries of HMA’s should all be given a minimum management level of 150 individuals that are of reproductive age.

If current boundary lines do not allow for that viability standard, the authority to change those lines currently exists and must be reviewed. If areas are too small to accommodate the viable population than HA land bordering the HMA can be added. If areas are too small to support a viable population than the real possibility that the lines were flawed must be taken into account and corrected.

Public/private cooperatives must adhere to all standards as any contractual agreement and must be made available for public comment and competitive bid. Any public cooperative that requires removal, handling or range repair (springs, fencing) must be reviewed carefully against any standard of conflict of interest. No allotment permittee for livestock grazing should hold any permit to remove wild horses from any public land.

The language in the standing RMP (quoted below) must be enforced with the recognition that this language applies to all permitted activity including extractive industry.

“Designated wild horse and burro ranges are devoted primarily to the protection and preservation of wild horses or burros. This means that other uses may be constrained to the extent necessary to provide fully for their welfare. This could require reductions or closure to livestock grazing, although in the case of the Marietta Herd Area, current livestock/wild burro use areas overlap only slightly. “

Please recognize that the vast majority of the public is unaware of the decision making process on public land. There is an assumption that horses exist protected and viable due to an act of Congress. A greater effort needs to be made to educate the public to the multitude of projects that have potential impact. The damages to wild horses are not being appropriately mitigated without public participation, yet the public remains uneducated to the process.

The impacts to sex ratio skewing are not fully understood. Until further data is available that clearly demonstrates a population control impact without adverse effect to herd behavior it should be suspended. PZP should only be utilized within the confines of known seasonal effectiveness. Under no circumstances should surgical sterilization of mares be employed as the risk of infection and death is too great. Currently surgical sterilization of stallions should not be employed until impact to the behavioral structure on the range has be adequately documented.

The Carson City District should adopt a humane care standard for all roundups and with facilities in the district. Until the National office compiles and implements a policy the district should implement an interim policy to ensure the humane handling of animals.

The expectation is that the Environmental Assessment associated with the proposed revision will adequately document the risks to the HMA’s occupied by our protected wild horses from the extractive industry coming into these ranges. Any permit that adversely effects the areas occupied by wild horses and burros must effectively replace, repair, restore and all damages, encroachments or loss of surface use. If those projects can not effectively do so they must be denied.

All HMA’s are suitable for management. Under authority given in the ACt of 1971 the Secretary set up sanctuaries (or Herd Areas). The land base and resources have been taken from the protected American Heritage Species and utilized for other interests. The  impetus at this juncture needs to be on the management of wild horses and burros on their entitled land as a prioritized use.

Respectfully,

At the steps of the Supreme Court?

Leigh and others at the Calico Complex Roundup 2012 (Mike Lorden) (Note from Laura: This is much better than we have recently had, yet a far cry from what we had before we released images)

Note from Leslie Peeples, Co-Director

WILD HORSES AND BURROS AT THE STEPS OF THE SUPREME COURT

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has had 40 years to come up with an acceptable strategy for “humanely” managing wild horses and has not done so.  The simplest issue in the program, for most people to grasp, is the need for humane care.  All horse people know that what they have seen over the years in photos and video is not “humane”.

The agency has not wanted us to see foals with their feet falling off, broken legs, broken necks, sick horses, animals hotshotted repeatedly, horses drug on the ground by a rope around their necks, stuck in panels and gates or driven to exhaustion by a helicopter. What we cannot see we cannot act on.

Due to Wild Horse Education’s (WHE) court cases, we will we be able to document the animals themselves. With the new access to information we will also be able to expose everything else that needs to be exposed to cfeate real change for fair and euitable management of wild horses and burros.

Legal issues can be complicated to understand but for anyone who cares about America’s wild horses and burros, or our constitutional rights, it is imperatve to realize the impact that WHE court cases are having toward positive changes and what those changes are and may become.

Our attorney Gordon Cowan once said, “The fastest way to create change is to make the guilty party operate in a fish bowl”.  This allows the public to “see” the truth and act on it, creating change.

The public has been blocked from truly seeing and knowing what is happening to America’s wild horses and burros.  From planning, to the range information, through the roundups and all the way to the animals end destinations, much has been hidden.  WHE brought the “1st Amendment” suit to open the doors to the information to create change and it now has far reaching implications for transparency.

To help understand this complicated process we offer you this analogy; example once there was a child of color that was blocked from going to a “white” school.  The case was taken to the local district court and denied. The case was then appealed in the Circuit Court and denied.  The case then moved up to the highest court, the Supreme Court, where the judges ruled it was unconitutional to block her from the “white” school.  They sent the case back to the local district court with strict instructions for the judge.  Now the district court rules it is unconstitutional and the young lady is allowed to go to the school.  Setting this “case law” means that from that moment forward no child of color will ever be blocked from any school anywhere in America.

On Tuesday, April 24th, a mandate came from the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco that has now become “case law” and can only be challenged in the Supreme Court.  This “case law” will be used for years to come in challenges of our government by the people.  Should BLM Appeal (in the Ninth) their denial to the Supreme Court, wild horses and burros may walk up the steps to the highest Court in the Nation.

Read the rest HERE: http://wildhorseeducation.org/2012/04/26/wild-horses-and-burros-standing-at-the-steps-of-the-supreme-court/

ALERT- Jackson Mountain

Triple B roundup, July and August of 2011 (foaling season!)

This is just a fast ALERT and more info will be added shortly.

Those of you that have been worried about me, the sky is now where the sky should be and the ground is where the ground should be… thank you.

From Wild Horse Education

BLM has released a Press release today on the Jackson Mountain HMA.

During a phone conversation with Winnemucca District manager, Gene Seidlitz, we were alerted to the limited public comment period. BLM is limiting the time to comment on the EA claiming a potential emergent situation.

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/april/0.html

(The above link takes you to BLM press release that contains a link to the EA’s in the district, all active ones. Scroll down to wild horses to download the Jackson Mountain EA)

Please note that the roundup is scheduled to begin in July of 2012. If we can all remember the Owyhee roundup specific questions come to mind. IF there is an emergent situation that is known involving water and actual foaling season in the Nevada desert why in the world would BLM take action in July that would require a helicopter run?

We had deaths of foals at Triple B in July and August of 2011 and there was no water emergency.

If you note the AML in the EA for each areas of the HMA that encompass Livestock grazing you can get an idea of the inequity of forage use.

Wild Horse Education is preparing an independent survey of the potential for disaster.

If you would like to donate to the effort it is greatly appreciated.

We will craft sample comments as soon as our survey is complete.

One Year Ago… Ninth Circuit Appeal

This post was from one year ago as Wild Horse Education began the Appeal in the Ninth Circuit. That Appeal resulted in a “win” that will bring the issue actually into dialogue in the US Court system. That battle moves forward and needs your support. These issues that Wild Horse Education is addressing at this time (Transparency and Humane Care Standards) have been a convoluted battle. Each case that we bring has resulted in a “win” that gains traction for the conversation to arise to a new level based on the credibility of each case brings.

This has not been easy nor has it been simple. Infrastructure is built on an “as needed” basis. Documentation is often filed using intermittent internet, failing equipment and cases are brought on more “will” than funding.

Just reflecting today on the road. The twists and turns of the past and best way to address the obstacles of the future.

Let’s go back one year ago….

The battle to see our horses continues, as horses continue to die behind closed doors

Wild Horse Education is continuing the legal battle for transparency against the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Because the public is continually denied consistent access to roundups and holding facilities that house the American public’s wild horses, taken from public land with public funds, this action is gaining increasing importance.

On February 14, 2011 Plaintiff Laura Leigh filed for permission to appeal her First Amendment Rights case against the BLM to the Ninth Circuit Court. Her plea was based on the fact that there had been no ruling by the Federal Court in Reno to her request for Emergency Injunctive Relief in a case she had filed five months previous. Her request cited that “no action” in a case requiring emergency relief was an essential denial of her motion.

Judge Larry Hicks of the Federal District Court in Reno has now denied Leigh’s motion as “moot.” However in his ruling he does allow written testimony to stand in the record that had been objected to by the BLM.

“Basically this is good news,” said Leigh “What the Judge has now given me is an opportunity to present this case without first going through the process of gaining the Court’s permission. He has also ruled that the entire record of the case remains intact and that is vital to demonstrate the repetitive behavior that has precedent in higher Courts as not moot.”

Leigh has spent the last year observing more roundups than any government personnel and bringing the public daily reports. The suit she brought earlier last year, to the same Court over closure of public land and a roundup during the heat of summer for the Owyhee Herd Management Area, bore fruit for public observers. That suit found that closure of public land was a prior restraint to First Amendment Rights, creating the beginning of a daily observation platform for the public.

“The current suit is NOT about observing a single roundup,” Leigh stated “The emergency relief requested extends to the repetitive battle for observation. We have a right to know how our money is spent in the hands-on management of our horses throughout the process. From roundup through holding and their ultimate disposition, wherever that may be, it is our right to see it.”

This winter horses from the Eagle Complex joined those named in Leigh’s suit from the Silver King Herd Management Area behind the locked doors of the BLM Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow) facility in Fallon Nevada. Horses continue to die and suffer disease out of sight of public scrutiny. Horses in that facility continue to die at an alarming rate as indicated in the weekly reports.

Last spring the BLM closed the doors of the facility, which had previously offered weekly public tours, because of the intensity of public outrage. In an email from Dean Bolstad, of the Nevada state office in Reno to his superiors, dated May 25 of last year he writes: “The impact of stopping the tours pales in comparison to the impact to our employees and BLM’s image.”

Is this a reason to deny the public basic rights guaranteed in the Constitution? Or is this a reason to “clean up your act?”

The full Appeal is expected to be filed by Leigh and her attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno soon.

The legal efforts are supported solely by Wild Horse Education, a registered non-profit in the state of Nevada.

1/31/2011

Personal Note: This suit has been a tremendous effort. You can ask anyone that has travelled with me how many hours I spend researching and crafting documents. Researching and collecting evidence and data in the field daily. The “concept of law” in this country is a complex process and the learning curve is steep.

Yet historically the evidence points to the fact that documentation and exposure changed practices that occured in the past. Documentation is creating a broader base of exposure throughout the world for what America is doing to it’s own symbol of Freedom.

We need to push this program into the light. The closed door facilities need to open. Meaningful observation MUST be allowed at roundups and facilities.

But I need your help. Support this action that benefits YOUR right to know.

~~

Heart and Soul… the wild ones will not be forgotten.

Humane Care fight marches on

Not foal? BLM DOES roundup during foaling season

This week photojournalist Laura Leigh of Wild Horse Education filed another Brief in the ongoing fight to get BLM (Bureau of Land Management) to create a meaningful standard of care for the wild horses and burros that Congress mandated them to protect. In the 40 years that the Wild Horse and Burro program has existed under the BLM no standard of care has been created with disastrous consequence.

This action began with the Court granting a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in August of 2011 against the Agency. This action came after Leigh’s lens captured conduct that included lack of water, dragging animals by the neck, hotshot use and a helicopter apparently coming in contact with an exhausted animal.

The conduct was later admitted to by the agency in an investigation called the “Triple B Team Review.”

The new filing by Leigh’s Reno attorney, Gordon Cowan, came after asking the Court permission to move the action forward. Permission was granted based on precedent set in another case brought by Wild Horse Education and Cowan.

The government attorney’s are fighting Leigh’s Motion. The argument is based simply on the assertion that they are fighting her Ninth Circuit, First Amendment, win that set the precedent.

In the current brief Cowan rights “ The ruling in Leigh v. Salazar, 668 F.3d 1126 (9th Cir. 2012) stands as precedence unless or until the appellate court reverses itself. “

Nowhere in the government’s argument against Leigh do they address her assertions. According to BLM math, they will be required to do another operation at Triple B in the very near future. They do not argue her assertion that the care standard is needed. They do not argue her assertion that the offending conduct occurred.

“This is typical of the legal strategy employed by the agency,” said Leigh “They never address the real issue at hand only create assertions that the issues can not be addressed.”

Leigh, through her attorney, has attempted to initiate conversations to rectify the issues. To date BLM has refused to engage.

~~

Wild Horse Education is a Nevada non-profit supporting documentation and distribution of information for sensible change for America’s wild horses and burros. To support the legal challenges and continued documentation visit: WildHorseEducation.org

Links of interest:

http://wildhorseeducation.org

The entire BLM Triple B Team Review is no longer available online but an Analysis of the report, including extensive quotes, can be read here:
http://wildhorseeducation.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/analysis_blm_revtb_2011_whe1.pdf

 

Youtubes of interest:

Horse hit with helicopter:

Animals rounded up in sub-zero temperatures with causalities in holding:

Year in review, 2011, montage:

 

Public Confidence Lacking in BLM Wild Horse and Burro program

Release from Wild Horse Education

In recent years public concern over the government’s management of wild horses and burros on public land has skyrocketed.

In 1971 President Nixon signed into law the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act .The Act was intended to curtail “mustanging.” Mustanging was an unregulated brutal practice engaged in by many ranchers and private individuals to eliminate wild horses and profit from it by selling them into the fertilizer and dog food markets. This practice led Congress to declare these animals “fast disappearing from the American landscape” and in need of protection from “capture, branding, harassment and death,” and handed the honor of protecting and preserving them over to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

BLM regulations and policy state that wild horses and burros shall be managed as viable, self-sustaining populations of healthy animals in “balance” with other multiple uses and the productive capacity of their habitat (CFR 4700.0-6). Self-sustaining refers to the process whereby established populations are able to persist and successfully produce viable offspring which shall, in turn, produce viable offspring, and so on over the long term.

Stone Cabin Roundup, February 2012

After 40 years of BLM mismanagement the “wild horse program” has reached a crisis state. This crisis not only encompasses their management practices, but public confidence in the agencies ability to represent the truth. One of the spin tactics seems to be to portray public opinion as not credible and to disregard the publics legitimate and real concerns.

In a recent article responding to the public outcry, regarding the appointment of a second very pro-horse slaughter member to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, BLM DC Public Relations head Tom Gorey said “the activists are resorting to dishonest scare tactics to help push their anti-management agenda by any means possible. Their apocalypse-now, sky-is-falling rhetoric is flagrantly dishonest and is clearly aimed at preventing the BLM from gathering horses from overpopulated herds on the range.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Wild-horse-allies-BLM-panel-stacked-against-them-3306325.php

“This kind of argument by Gorey is intended to diminish the credibility of questioning their actions through spin instead of addressing very valid issues.” said Leslie Peeples of Wild Horse Education, “the public calling for balance on the Wild Horse and Burro advisory Board is not dishonest, but what is dishonest is the quote ‘anti-management agenda’ and ‘over populated herds.’  Advocates simply want ‘fair and balanced management’ where wild horses and burros are considered ‘comparably’ with other users of public land.  BLM’s claim that they are over populated is in fact fabricated by their methods of considering all other users of the land first and then allotting the left over crumbs to wild horses and Burros. The BLM calls this (AML) Appropriate Management Levels and a ‘natural ecological balance.’ Then dismiss concerns instead of address them.”

Here is why the BLM is getting such a strong response from the public about this Advisory board appointment. Over the last year there has been a small contingent pressing hard for resuming horse slaughter in the U.S. and they have publicly stated that wild horses should be processed for human consumption. The newest appointee to the BLM advisory board Callie Hendrickson, appointed to the position of General Public Advocate, has indicated she is in favor of unlimited sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros.

BLM storage facility in Fallon, 2012

Currently the BLM style of “feral livestock” management has an increasing number of concerned tax-payers asking the government that represents them the following valid questions:

1.     With more wild horses in expensive government holding facilities than in the wild, why hasn’t BLM come up with a more creative “on the range” management strategy? Why, after 40 years, is viability of wild populations not studied, migratory patterns are unknown and inaccurate boundary lines remain unchanged?

2.     If BLM’s “official stance” is that no wild horses will go to slaughter, and knowing the public would be outraged, why would they appoint two pro-slaughter members to the Advisory Board when they have yet to appoint any member representing the wild horse advocate community at large? Why does BLM continue to appoint members to the board who are clearly anti-wild horse?

3.     Why in 40 years is there still no clear and defined humane care standard for management and handling of wild horses and burros? Almost every state in the nation has a humane standard for domestic animals and even slaughter bound animals have laws and standards in place regarding their care.

4.     Why are so many extractive projects being fast-tracked into the areas where horses are legally allowed to live without consideration of the impact on them, or compensating the animals with additional space to exist?

5.     Why are all other interests on public land defined as “viable uses” when the simple definition of what makes wild horse and burro populations “viable” for the long term is an unknown and is not taken in to account?

6.     Where is the “balance” in BLM’s “natural ecological balance” statement or why is there such an “unbalanced” policy in the allocations given wild horses and burros as compared to other uses of public lands? And how can the public have any confidence that there is “balance” when BLM spends only 1% of the budget planning for herd management?

7.     Why are the BLM’s total on the range population numbers the same, 38,000, year after year, and how can the public have confidence that BLM’s numbers are accurate when they spend only 1% of the budget on “estimating” the populations of the animals with no “independent” oversight.

8.     Why is the agency fighting transparency at tax-payer expense, in the Courts, instead of simply fixing the problems in the program so that they can be transparent to the tax-paying public? Why if there is nothing to hide, are many of BLM wild horse and burro holding facilities off limits to public view and the public held at such a great distance from viewing roundups?

9.  Why do government employees that work for the Wild Horse and Burro program refer to these animals as feral livestock? The entire program, and everyone employed within the program, exists by an Act of Congress that declares these animals “wild and integral.”

10. Why is the American taxpayer still paying over 125 million a year to support the grazing industry and approximately 3 million privately owned livestock, while some 30,000 (by BLM estimates) wild horses and burros are the scape goats blamed for creating the range damage and must be removed, again at taxpayer expense?

11. What is the BLM justification for not addressing that over 50% of our wild herds below genetic viability for long-term survival?

12. How does the BLM get away with receiving thousands of public comments, simply calling that “public involvement” and continuing business as usual effectively blocking true public input and participation?

Listed above are just a dozen of the valid questions a concerned public wants answers to.

Horses being removed in sub-zero temperatures

The public concern becomes magnified when BLM employees are quoted in the press making blatantly false and pro-slaughter statements in defending the agencies failing adoption program.  BLM Specialist Chad Hunter said, “With the slaughter houses all shut down, there isn’t an outlet for unwanted horses.”  
http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20120407/OUTDOORS01/204070324/Wild-Horses-Utah-BLM?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage

“Here we have another government employee supposedly in a knowledgeable position spouting anti-horse propaganda. Horse slaughter is a reality faced by horses and horse owners in the US daily,” stated Laura Leigh, Founder of Wild Horse Education “Horse slaughter is a foreign export business, any horse owner could sell their horse into the slaughter pipeline today, it is still an option. The BLM adoption program is not a priority. And besides, how do they expect the public to want to adopt a wild horse if the agency can’t even demonstrate wild horses and burros are worth developing a human care standard for?”

“The lack of public confidence in the Wild Horse and Burro Program is not a product of any ‘activist anti-management strategy,” said Leigh “ It’s the Agencies inability to engage the public in credible transparent dialogue.”

In 1971 an Act was passed by Congress to protect these animals as an American Heritage Species. It is long overdue that the agency address the public’s legitimate concerns.

It is time for an honest conversation, transparency, humane policy and truly “balanced” management.”

On April 23-24 in Reno, Nevada the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will meet at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. Public comments will be accepted on Tuesday in person, registered by 10 am. If you cannot make the meeting you may submit written comments to: Bureau of Land Management, National Wild Horse and Burro Program, WO-260, Attention: Ramona DeLorme, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, Nevada, 89502-7147.  Comments may also be e-mailed to the BLM at wildhorse@blm.gov  .

http://WildHorseEducation.org

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/march/NR_03_19_2012.html

Repost from WHE

I have food poisoning and am a bit “off.”

But I was working on something I had hoped to share yesterday along with Desotoya comments. I got my comments in but the truth is I am not sure what the edit is that holds the content! At least the room stopped spinning.

REPRINT from Wild Horse Education:

Wild Horse Education put out a video to mark the anniversary of the passing of the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The video is nearing 500,000 hits. It averages 150,000 hits per month. The issues surrounding horses is gaining attention as the conversation grows.

Steaming after run in sub freezing temperatures, escapes trap, 2011 Antelope (Leigh)

There are two versions of the video. One loaded in our menu that has the final edit and better soundtrack. The draft edit is the one that has gone “viral.”

The comments on the YouTube illustrate that many people do not know what they are actually seeing. They see the images but do not follow the issue close enough to remember the faces and what the circumstances were.

So we created a Timeline to educate. For example: “What are you complaining about? Stallions fight,” and then I am accused of being an idiot.

The stallions in the pics from Silver King were left n an alley (32×8) with their mares, one injured. The horses were left in that alley for 5 hours at temporary holding. They could not move from each other and no personnel even opened a gate to let them into the larger pen (that was empty) so that the stallions could move their family groups.

Is it Bad Enough for You? Wild Horses

Timeline Breakdown

0:08 Twin Peaks, 2010. BLM claimed at this time that horses “trot or walk” into pens. This video shows lathered animals.

0:54 Twin Peaks, 2010. Immediately after running into trap rear gate is closed as another group is driven in. Overcrowded.

1:00 Antelope, 2011. Three examples of the proximity of chopper. This IS NOT near the trap (BLM claims the chopper must come close at the trap mouth).

1:03 Twin Peaks, 2010. This trailer has an open top so animals at the rear of the trailer can move up as they are pressed. Not all trailers used have open tops.

1:07 Antelope, 2011. More examples of the proximity of the helicopter. This is NOT near the trap. (Note placement of wash).

1:14 Twin Peaks

1:18 Antelope, 2011. Animals just driven into traps were loaded often within moments of arrival. No time to settle, pressure was put to move animals and many attempted to escape.

1:20 Eagle, 2010. Temperatures at the beginning of the day were as low as 12 below zero. Many pregnant mares were observed and animals struggling. Steam rose from sweaty bodies in the frigid cold. Horses were then confined and not given space to move. (In common vocabulary it is called “run hard and put away wet.” No horse owner would do this as it can cause illness and death. Injured animals were hidden behind the closed doors of BLM’s private facility in Fallon where respiratory disease and injury killed many.

1:34 Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) private BLM facility in Fallon, NV 2010. After the Calico roundup of 2009/2010 BLM allowed weekly public tours. The facility was closed due to “damage to BLM reputation” as noted in Court records. This foal was born in the facility and it was claimed that a vet did rounds daily. The foal starved and was euthanized according to BLM.

1:34 Silver King, 2010. Mare with gash in her face came off trailer that way. This group was offloaded into an alley and left in the alley (three studs and their mares) for 5 hours (video taped and time stamped). The claim was that there were not enough personnel to sort. So animals were kept in a 32 by 8 alley, 5 hours. The same three people that had been there all day sorted this group in 20 minutes after getting word that the foals from this group (that had been on a trailer) were on the way. The studs fought for 5 hours. The one stud let his other mares go but protected the injured mare the entire time.

1:35 Broken Arrow tour, 2011. Laceration from tag twine.

1:37 Palomino Valley Center, 2011. The Antelope roundup ended three days early due to the number of pregnant mares. In holding babies were being born before the roundup ended. This baby was born right after the roundup in holding and died. Staff noticed it in the morning and these pics were taken after a water truck sprayed the area in early afternoon. After notifying staff, baby was euthanized.

1:41 Eagle Complex, 2010. The black colt stumbles three times on the drive to the trap. He cannot be viewed at temporary holding so the truck is followed to Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) where access is denied to see him. 4 colts die from injury the following week, including two broken legs.

1:44 Flyover of public land in Nevada, 2010

1:48 Antelope Complex, 2011.  Lathered band hits trap after several attempts. Stallion runs over jute that had fallen down and escapes. He runs up the hillside and stays for 15 minutes watching his family loaded. Sound of helicopter drives him off.

1:52 Antelope Complex, 2011. Horses panic after capture as they are immediately loaded.

1:54 Twin Peaks, 2010. Driving horses across valley floor. No where near trap.

2:00 Silver King, 2010. Studs fighting as they are kept in alley with their mares for 5 hours.

2:02 Wells Nevada, 2010. Horses released onto Madeleine Pickens sanctuary.

2:06 Antelope Complex, 2011. Lathered and pregnant horse slips as driven into trap. Antelope was bitter cold.

2:08 Eagle Complex, 2010. Public view of trap.

2:09 Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) 2010. Foals with bandaged feet. One had hooves literally separate from the bone (died). No windbreaks.

2:13 Litchfield Corral, 2010. Severely lame Twin Peaks foal.

2:19 Antelope Complex, 2011. Pregnant mare almost falls during drive.

2:23 Callaghan, 2010. Youngster leaning on equipment, standing in water and debris at temporary. Nights freeze over. At roundup prior at Callaghan a youngster almost froze to the ground.

2:28 Antelope, 2011. Breath of sweating horses after drive in temperature that did not rise above freezing.

2:30 Litchfield Corral, 2010. Lame Twin Peaks youngster.

2:33 Antelope Complex, 2011. Super Bowl Sunday. Single horses chased repeatedly. One horse chased for over 13 minutes. All bands driven in were fractured.

2:40 Twin Peaks, 2010. In capture corral right after drive.

2:44 Antelope Complex, 2011.  Fleeing horses.

2:47 Antelope Complex, 2011. Public Observation a mile away.

2:51 Antelope Complex, 2011. During PZP treatment for release (22 old horses) this horse gets her nose pinched not once, but twice by smiling wrangler. The horses were then released into an area where a horse had been shot but the investigation never solved.

2:57 Tonopah, 2010. Youngster separated at trap after capture.

2:59 Broken Arrow, 2011. “Public day.”

3:01 Flyover, Public land Nevada, 2010.

3:02 Antelope, 2011. Lathered stallion.

3:04 Antelope Complex, 2011. Stallion attempting to protect his youngsters after contactor puts another stallion in the alley.

3:05 Tonopah, 2010. Youngster separated at trap after capture.

3:09 Antelope Complex, 2011. Horse panics as helicopter drives more horses into the trap and flies overhead. The frightened horse was just driven in and separated from family.

3:17 Fallon Feedlot NV, 2011. Horses being loaded to go to sanctuary in Wells at Madeleine Pickens ranch.

3:21 Antelope Complex, 2011. Young horse tries to find a way out of the trap after 4 youngsters were driven in without adults.

3:24 Twin Peaks, 2010 close up of helicopter

3:27 Fallon Feedlot NV, 2011. Starved wild horses saved from slaughter by Madeleine Pickens.

3:31 Eagle Complex, 2010. Horses heading to temporary holding.

3:31 Eagle Complex, 2010. Horses on semi loaded in single digit weather for the trip from Ely to Broken Arrow in Fallon where they will be off-limits to public view. Significant number of horses die of respiratory illness out of sight.

3:34 Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) 2011. “public tour” given inside a wagon. Public is not allowed off the wagon. No interaction or significant time can be spent observing animals.

3:36 Antelope Complex, 2011. Lathered horses in below freezing temperatures.

3:38 Eagle Complex, 2010. Steaming horses on a day that began at 12 below zero.

3:40 Antelope Complex , 2011. Chaotic loading just 3 minutes after these horses were driven into the trap.

3:43 Antelope Complex, 2011. Lathered horses enter the trap in frigid weather.

3:45 Antelope Complex, 2011. Super Bowl Sunday. Single horses chased repeatedly. One horse chased for over 13 minutes. All bands driven in were fractured.

3:51 Antelope Complex, 2011. Frigid weather and steaming animals.

3:55 Silver King, 2010. This group was offloaded into an alley and left in the alley (three studs and their mares) for 5 hours (video taped and time stamped). The claim was that there were not enough personnel to sort. So animals were kept in a 32 by 8 alley, 5 hours. The same three people that had been there all day sorted this group in 20 minutes after getting word that the foals from this group (that had been on a trailer) were on the way. The studs fought for 5 hours. The one stud let his other mares go but protected an injured mare the entire time

3:57 Eagle Complex, 2010. Trailer load of steaming animals leave the range in single digit temperatures.

3:58 Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) 2010. Foal born to Calico mare in captivity starved and was euthanized as BLM claimed vet on site and doing rounds daily.

3:59 Litchfield Corrals (2010) Severely lame Twin Peaks foal, euthanized.

4:01 Antelope Complex, 2011. Temporary holding right before a storm. Animals were left with no windbreak as storm hit with 48 hours notice.

4:02 Antelope Complex, 2011. More lathered animals driven into trap.

4:03 Antelope Complex, 2011. Panic as loading directly after capture, rushed and constant pressure.

4:06 Antelope Complex, 2011. Lathered stud breaks free as his pregnant mares are driven into the trap. Roundup was finally called off just days later due to pressure about the heavily pregnant mares.

Another video was uploaded to show activities for the year of 2011 and includes more current footage: 

Timeline will be added shortly.

The fight for Access continues

 Where’s the Trap? (Mike Lorden) Leigh and others at the Calico Complex Roundup 2012

Wild Horse Education’s Ninth Circuit Press Access win challenged by BLM

(Reno) On Friday the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed a Motion for Reconsideration in the Ninth Circuit case challenging access to Wild Horses and information surrounding the care of animals. The Motion addresses the win for Press Freedom granted by the Court on February 14 in the access case brought by Laura Leigh, journalist for Horseback Magazine and founder of Wild Horse Education.

The Ninth Circuit Court in granting Leigh’s Appeal recognized that roundups will occur as a matter of course. BLM had argued that the issue was “moot” because the roundup had ended. The Ninth Circuit ruled the issue was not moot because the Agency is mandated under the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act to remove excess animals (excess as defined by BLM) and that the animals will continue to reproduce. This created a win for journalists and the public attempting to gain meaningful access to the actions of their government.

Lawyers for the BLM write in their request to the Court, “that the mere possibility of agency action does not present a live controversy.”

Go to
http://WildHorseEducation.org
to read the rest of the article and to donate to support the work.