Dignity Returned

As I followed a semi-load of wild horses on Route 80 we made the familiar turn off into Wells, Nevada. As we passed the Loves gas station, where we met the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) in the bitter cold of dawn during the Antelope roundup, I was flooded with memories of all that was seen. Each trap site with it’s intricacies of “access no access,”  each conversation, each band that was fractured, each face came back to me in detail.

The cargo

The semi turned down a dusty dirt road. This time the driver came to a slow stop. I could hear the animals settle. He then proceeded down the graded dirt path at a crawl, mindful of the precious load he carried. I began to cry.

My experience has been to drive roads in much worse shape at speeds that make you hold your breath for the safety of the lives inside the container.

Yet the horses onboard were headed to Mustang Monument, Madeleine Picken’s Mustang Sanctuary run through her organization Saving America’s Mustangs.

That sanctuary has raised no less controversy than the Wild Horse issue itself. But that was not what today was “all about.”

This face says so much...

For the last two weeks I rose in the middle of the night to meet the driver at a “feedlot turned way station” in Fallon. Each dawn I documented the loading of animals that had been saved from certain death. My lens captured the faces of the mares and their babies as they left the confines of that dusty old feedlot and boarded the truck.

The faces belonged to Pauite horses that had gone to a slaughter auction last Christmas. If wild horses are prejudicially referred to as “desert rats,” the Pauite horses are considered no more than fleas on those rats. These reservation horses are regularly sent to kill with little to no hope. They are not managed under the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, but are legally shipped off under the jurisdiction of tribal authority.

Wearing the auction tag

The truck slowly backed up to a chute at the makeshift roundpen of hay bales.

An excited woman met me and crawled with me to the top of the pen to document the off loading of these horses headed home.

The woman was Madeleine Pickens. In her hand she held a small camcorder. She observed the offloading of each horse that warily left that metal container. Her voice into her camera demonstrated concern as she made sure that each mare matched up with each foal. Foals that had been born in a dusty feedlot that would soon run in the open range for the first time.

Madeleine Pickens documents her horses

The last few horses were reluctant to leave the container. The others began to munch on the bales of hay that made up the pen. Laughter and pleasant conversation filled the air and joined the sounds of the horses calling to those already home in the field beyond the gate.

Where am I?

The moment had arrived. The moment of “Freedom.” The moment the “fleas on rats” are given the greatest kindness a human could show them. A chance to run in the open range. A chance to live as bands. A chance to live and die with freedom and dignity in the normal course of what they are.

Ranch manager, Clay Nannini, walked to the gate and removed the chain. The gates opened…

It took but a brief moment for the horses to recognize the opportunity.

I cannot describe in words the sensation of “wrong turned right” that flooded my senses. The emaciated, abused, disregarded souls ran to join the others. The babies that I had seen born in that feedlot ran free. The beautiful Spruce Mountain in the background bore witness with us of what I can only describe as “dignity returned.”

Ms. Pickens climbed the rail, opened her arms and declared “I own you now, no one will ever hurt you again.”

That familiar promise. How many horse owners have made that promise as they bring home a horse from auction or one they found in a bad situation? The scale was much bigger, yet the promise hung in the air with undeniable truth.

Sanctuary

After checking in to the roadside Motel I laid down on the bed, still in my clothing. My life still an uncertain path, roundups beginning again in mere days. The Court case still dominating my life. The issues surrounding our horses still unresolved. But I slept.

I slept like I haven’t slept in months.

Beyond words....

To learn more about Mustang Monument go to:
http://SavingAmericasMustangs.org

Wild Horse Education Video

Wild Horse Education is beginning to publish Videos in a series titled “Roundup Reality.”

The videos will show footage taken at roundups and explain the size of the HMA and how many horses are to be “gathered.” They will show how the roundup was executed and demonstrate  if public access was allowed. Each video will be descriptive of each specific event.

Written explanation, with additional information, will be available in archived form on the Wild Horse Education Room 101 site.

The first in this series is the Eagle Roundup of 2011. This video has been chosen because the horses from this roundup went to the Broken Arrow facility (aka Indian Lakes).

Horses in that facility have been off limits to public viewing since the BLM shut the doors last spring due to public response from weekly images taken by observers that visited the facility. New information has been brought to light through the FOIA requested of journalist Deb Coffey. Her research has uncovered a copy of the contract held by Troy Adams for that facility. The contract states clearly that public visitation is part of the scope of the agreement through the year 2015.

The lawsuit brought by journalist Laura Leigh that is currently awaiting the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals addresses these issues directly. The public has a right to know how their American herds are treated by their government and contractors, throughout the entire process. This suit and other actions are supported directly through Wild Horse Education.

Facility Reports can be viewed: 
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b/Indian_Lakes_Facility.html

Antelope photographs

I take about 1000 frames each day plus hours of video.

I have been doing a video of each roundup with a voiceover that describes the area and AML, etc. This one I just put to music… cause it has taken too long. Articles coming soon…. Interesting article for Horseback very soon…

It’s been snowing all day… maybe the helicopter wont fly in the am? I have seen so many bands broken up by this pilot… He starts with a larger group and only a few come in… or he has to let a band go. Many of the horses are lathered… really lathered. The layout of each trap does not make sense. I am worried about what he has left on the range in his wake.

When we get to the point in time when a roundup takes place the time for policy talk ends… it becomes an issue of literally life and death for these animals. A dialogue needs to take place to evolve the methodology used to stampede horses and treat them like pests… This is the only animal in our history to have an entire act of Congress devoted to it….

President Obama… are we a civilized nation? Do we as Americans still value compassion? Or have we sold that off to the highest bidder?

I’m tired… goodnight.

Eagle Video

Here is the first video from the Eagle roundup. I’m back in the field again. Very tired and updating the blog may be tough again for awhile.

Please check Horseback Magazine  for updated articles and reports.

Eagle day 2

Communication issues. Cell and internet difficult to maintain.

Eagle day 2

I will try to get comprehensive update by tomorrow pm. Today started at -7 degrees…

This one escaped today...

Callaghan Holding 12-20

Rounding up today. Finishing Callaghan.

BLM schedule, subject to change:
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/wh_b_information_center/monthly_review_of/tentative_2010_gather.html

Back to work.

Faces of PVC October 2010

Editing tons of footage and reviewing still images.

What sticks in my mind this am are the thousands of faces in holding I have seen. These are just a few from one day at Palomino Valley. Horses are from Tuscarora and Twin Peaks…

Second video of Tonopah and videos from Silver King coming soon… heading out to check on some horses first…

Edited to Add stills from today

Stallion (Big Pen)

Twin Peaks Stallion (Broken Family)

Twin Peaks Stallion

Mares (PVC)

"Why?"

Tonopah

It has been a bit of a “rough trek” trying to report to all of you the treatment of our horses as they are rounded up and handled by the BLM. I am still trying to get a report on the actual trap for Horseback.

In Tonopah we had an AML of 3 at Paymaster because they didn’t want to list as a “zero out” and to allow a horse or two to cross the border on occasion.

Observation was discriminatory, again.

It has taken me some time to edit the footage together that I have to give you all a “taste” of the frustration. It is frustrating to view the tapes and review the documentation.

Gather reports:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/battle_mountain_field/blm_programs/wild_horse_and_burro/montezuma_paymaster/gather_daily_reports.html

Field office data… Please note the number of “Fast tracked” projects and that so many use WATER. Also note how proud the district is of how much gold and silver come from the land (we all know about mining and what it does to WATER):

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/battle_mountain_field/blm_information/projects_and_planning.Par.37910.File.dat/Projects%20and%20Planning%20Schedule%202010.pdf

Note the date on this project that utilizes heliostats (water) in the federal registry, Sept. 3, 2010 with expected approval of Dec. 2010:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:SG-yOAYYixIJ:www.loanprogram.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TCD-NOA.pdf+blm+tonopah+field+office&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShmz2Tjqr-i3koby0E8pe0lb10cF01pEAePDcUDkRYayq_awF4DpcSdoc3LwCEmDoF9ENyDVtXD44r0MCP0TQkHXGAzMw0YjyZP7XAakYoS3PzOFrEzMwh68oQ1Ly5Xj9_BrOfq&sig=AHIEtbR6sG7W9Gp-dkaHiktWZ3jNad4uxw

Warning in New York Times article: 

“The Nevada controversy highlights the emerging conflict between the Obama administration’s plans to greatly expand the use of renewable energy and the concerns of those who fear solar arrays, wind farms and geothermal plants could disrupt or destroy wildlife habitat and soak up precious water supplies in the arid West.”

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/04/23/23greenwire-park-service-warns-of-solar-projects-impacts-t-10660.html

But OUR horses are just about gone now in this area and the main reason given is lack of water… but we can bend over (literally) to create avenues to “fast track” projects, yet can’t find a way to make sure horses can get water.

 

Silver King video soon… Just need to push through the frustration. 

Edited to add stills.

We watched loading only after Horseback called DC

 

Paymaster AML of 3

 

 

Tonopah's one day of Observation

 

Fighter

Each and every life

Father and son for the last time (Twin Peaks)

Today I am working on more paperwork… answering the BLM’s convoluted logic to why observers can’t be allowed to witness what is happening to OUR horses. They talk about policy that gives them the right to roundup, they talk about safety protocols that did not exist in the past… they do everything they can to try to justify outdated brutality being utilized by an agency tasked to protect an animal so important to the American people it has an entire act of Congress devoted to it.

Freedom and Family (American values?)

That act has been undercut by corporate/special interests to continue to rape our country at no benefit to you or I… as our rights and interests are ignored repeatedly under “Multiple Ruse.”

But within the confines of my lawsuit all of it is irrelevant.

I want to SEE what you are doing with America’s horses. Why… WHY wont you let me?

When will Congress and the judicial system wake up and recognize how vitally important this animal is to the history and spirit of the American people?

6171 found a home (photo Elyse Gardner)

EACH and EVERY life that lived peacefully and FREE before a chopper cut it’s world to shreds continues to matter to us. These are OUR horses.

Hope dying of hoof slough (Indian Lakes/Broken Arrow)

Each set of eyes I see before they disappear into the black hole that has become the Wild Horse and Burro program speaks of the freedoms we are loosing daily. Each set of eyes burns deep into our hearts… and we will NOT forget them as they disappear into a system that has become a closed door funnel for tax-payer dollars as it ignores the right of the people to know what happens to our horses.

Sorro euthanized at the Broken Arrow/ Indian Lakes

This agency is notorious for misinformation as basic as where a truck has it’s final destination… we want to SEE our horses.

This IS an American Tragedy…

Our Horses…

Silver King Mare Left 5 hours in Alley

caught in jute (Twin Peaks)

PVC cutie from Tuscarora

PVC mare Tuscarora

PVC mares Tuscarora

Tonopah face lacerations

Trap visibility Tonopah

 

Back to work… will edit Tonopah and Silver King… after I answer the BLM… again.

Soap Opera part II

This one picks up after Miller stops in the first video…

oh and there will be more. Here is part II…

Video footage by Elyse.  Edit by Laura.

I don’t know if you can see the number of times I bite my lip… for many reasons. There had been a lot of conversations over the previous days that covered an awful lot of information that needs to be repeated and repeated.

There is no way I believe the assertions that came forth in court, no way. But if they were true they actually created an even greater desire to bring info to the public. I was completely precluded from bringing any information except that they were willing to go through an awful lot of trouble to keep advocate eyes out of a place they never expected them.

Much more to come…

On top of the bruises we drove all night the day after Court to get out there. I’m surprised I’m coherent! (OK, so I’m entitled to complain a bit).

 

Here we go again

Here we go again.

Nothing unexpected coming in. Nothing reassuring at all.

Same old, same old.

July is here and the claim that “foaling season” is over and running horses for miles is now “safe” is back in the dialogue.

We start in Owyhee in just days.

June 25 BLM Indian Lakes update: Mares are still foaling, but births are fewer and intermittent.

So I guess only mares in holding facilities are still giving birth. I guess running a foal born on July 1 at one week old for miles and miles in the desert is “safe.”

Oh yeah… and they will keep the public away until about the third week of July so if anything happens they can hide it. Close public land so no cameras can catch any of the horror or “civilians” find dead babies in the desert sun. I guess if we don’t see it somehow it hasn’t happened.

Sheldon 2006. They tried to deny what happened there. USFWS… but same contractor.

AWHPC Sheldon 2006 dead foal

We saw young horses die this winter from the effects of the helicopter gather. Those youngsters were about 8 months old… some of these babies will be less than 8 days old.

8 month old dying of hoof slough from the effects of being run miles by a Cattoor helicopter

Do you think we will ever get a schedule of proposed areas the BLM will close? When do you think such a schedule will arrive? If you are on public land and don’t know about the closures (because they didn’t post them) will you be arrested? Will lease holders be banned from the land or just the general public?

Write to Bolstad, Abbey and your Congressperson and tell them you demand observers be allowed from day one. To allow the BLM to operate without observers is not acceptable.

Dusty trail down dead end AML

Again… I feel the need to remind readership that this is a BLOG. A blog is defined as an “online diary.” It is not the same venue as an online newspaper.

Before you read the BLM explanation of an HMA in the Mojave Desert area unable to sustain more than 3 horses as an AML read this:

The plant would generate electricity using heat generated by the sun’s rays. BrightSource plans to erect thousands of “heliostats” on three solar fields. Each heliostat will have two mirrors that track the sun, and reflect it onto a boiler filled with water atop a tower. The boiler will produce steam for a turbine. The company says the mirrors will capture a greater percentage of solar energy than other solar thermal technologies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022204891.html

or this:

http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/ivanpah/index.html

MAP

ttp://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Planning_and_Renewable_Resources/wild_horses_and_burros/statistics_and_maps/new_hma_state_maps.Par.49045.File.dat/HMA_Nevada.pdf

BLM Nevada News

BATTLE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT OFFICE, NO. 2010-17 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Schirete Zick, 775-635-4067

Tonopah Wild Horse Gather Preliminary Environmental Assessment Available for Public Comment

Tonopah, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Battle Mountain District’s Tonopah Field Office is proposing to remove about 182 excess wild horses and burros from within and outside of the boundaries of the Paymaster and Montezuma Herd Management Areas (HMAs) to establish the appropriate management level (AML) in the HMA to 27 wild horses and 10 burros.

The Montezuma Peak HMA is located west of the town of Goldfield and 26 miles south of Tonopah in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The Paymaster HMA is located less than five miles north of the Montezuma Peak HMA and 7 miles west of Tonopah.

The proposal and associated impacts are described and analyzed in the Paymaster and Montezuma HMA Wild Horse Gather Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA).

The BLM would appreciate receiving substantive comments on the EA by July 15, 2010.

Comments received during the public review period will be analyzed and considered as part of the decision-making process.

The EA may be viewed at http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/battle_mountain_field.html.

Submit written comments to Thomas J. Seley, Tonopah Field Manager, Tonopah Field Office, P.O. Box 911 (1553 S. Main St.), Tonopah, NV 89049.

Comments also may be via e-mail to montezuma_gather@blm.gov. In order to be considered, all comments must be received by mail or e-mail at the above addresses.

Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available.

The gather is needed to achieve the AML in the Paymaster and Montezuma HMAs and achieve a thriving natural ecological balance for the remaining wild horse and burro population, wildlife, livestock and vegetation. The BLM issued Final Multiple Use Decisions (FMUDs) between 2001 and 2007 for the allotments within the HMAs, which established an AML of 38 wild horses for the Paymaster HMA and 3 horses and 10 burros for the Montezuma Peak HMA.

These HMAs are very arid, located at the northern edge of the Mojave Desert and do not provide suitable habitat for large numbers of wild horses and burros. The areas have a history of poor animal health and emergency gathers due to lack of adequate forage and water, particularly during drought years.

It is estimated that approximately 45 wild horses would be gathered and removed from outside of the Paymaster HMA and inside if needed to leave a post gather population of 23 wild horses.

Approximately 61 wild burros and 78 wild horses would be gathered and removed from within and outside of the Montezuma Peak HMA to leave a post gather population of  3 wild horses and 10 wild burros.

……………………

So I am expected to believe that 3 horses (or 23 horses) represents a population protected? I am expected to believe that the Mojave desert can support heliostat projects but can’t have more than 26 horses?

So do you want to tell me exactly how you derive AML? Exactly what management means on MY land? Do you want to tell me whose pocket the money goes into? Do you want to attempt to actually TRY to manage in a way that allows enough resource for all uses? Or do you just want to keep lying to me and then saying it is for my own good?

YES… there may not be enough water for much in that desert… but I guess a 1.4 billion dollar boost can explain a lot.

Not very far from there stimulus funds were going to be used to create an organized crime museum….

“Stimulus” money… I guess today is not the day to get me started on that one.

Any of you watch the program “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?”

And if you haven’t read Debbie Coffey’s article yet… PLEASE READ IT.

Water is more precious than gold.

I have a lot to do and will write more soon……. I like this song.

So much for talking…

While we were in Denver listening to BLM’s hired gun Michael Harty act as if his meeting actually meant something … the stallions at Fallon have been castrated. I wonder how many of those smiling faces at that  meeting knew what was happening?

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html

Gelding of the five years and older stallions took place this week.  During gelding, one stallion was noted with two cryptorchid testicles and was euthanized, one stallion suffered a spinal injury while in the chute and died on his own and one gelding was found dead in the pen.

The letters I have written (we all have written) go unanswered. Instead Gene Seidlitz of the Winnemucca district replied to Craig Downers letter and cc’d us all.

That is not a reply to MY letter.

He addressed Craig’s fly over… never my questions directly… NOT EVEN CLOSE.

He never responded to my last letter. He has never sent me the schedule for data collection that he invited me to participate in… that started today. He is side stepping and squirming instead of simply answering. Does someone behave that way when they have legs to stand on? Or when they are acting like someone with something to be ashamed of?

A proposal sits unanswered that would have taken in all of these horses at a savings to the tax=payer that would not have required gelding!!!!!!

Does our president care that his BLM… yes Obama’s BLM… behaves in such a manner? A manner that only deserves the label “sociopathic.”

How can anyone go to work in the morning for the BLM and look their children in the eye at night?

Before I left for Denver I said to watch them… best face, big hit.

Watch them now while they close air space and deny me access to observe data collection…. what are they really doing?

I am in the desert and rather beside myself at the moment…. we will NEVER even be permitted to see these older stallions that the BLM has castrated… who died? Does the BLM even care?

I will write more later… I need to walk or something.

How can anyone go to work in the morning for the BLM and look their children in the eye at night?

SaveWildHorses posted this in comments. I think this is a great idea…. start cc ing the White House, Senators on your emails to the BLM.

Yes! And on every correspondence with any BLM official please make sure they see your cc: to the following

Your Senators
Barbara Boxer
all the chain of command in the WH&B and BLM (Don Glenn, Bob Abbey, Ken Salazar)
and the President

Soon, I think we may need to start contacting the Justice Department

Disposition of Inventory?

Many of you sent letters to Gene Seidlitz of the BLM’s Winnemucca district in reference to the “Disposition of Inventory” at the Broken Arrow.

Gene’s response (he chose to respond to the group using Craig’s letter as the one to respond to. He did NOT respond to my request) :
Craig:

Thanks for your continued interest in the Calico Complex. This note serves
as a response back to all of you regarding the recent flight by Mr. Craig
Downer which indicated only 50 wild horses and 350 livestock within
portions of the Complex.

As stated during the Calico Complex Gather, we have been planning for the
post gather population survey for this area and/or areas within the Tri
State area. Based on the significant amount of wild horse movement in and
outside of the HMA’s in this general area (northwest portion of Nevada)
this is the first time we will count the NW corner of the state to get a
comprehensive inventory. We intend to implement the Simultaneous
Double-Count with Sightability Bias Correction method. This methodology is
outlined in IM 2010-057. This method should yield the most accurate counts
possible. The BLM considers the methodology a valid tool for developing
estimates of horses (wild and feral) populations. It is a peer-reviewed
methodology, recommended by the USGS and BLM National Horse and Burro
Program research coordinator and tested on some BLM HMA’s and National
Wildlife Refuges.

This flight is tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2010 with a
certified pilot and three crew members. Although we have had offers from
some of you to fly with the BLM, regulations, policy and protocols that
address both safety and liability issues are grounds to deny your requests.
Once the population survey is completed, the data will have to be compiled,
analyzed and then presented. At this time, I can not provide you with an
exact date for this data to be available to you and others.

Thanks for your continued interest in the WH/B program and the Calico
Complex.

Gene
775-623-1501
775-623-1503 (fax)

My response to Gene:

Gene,
I thank you for responding. However your response is not a response to the requests.

The requests were directed, not at the survey that we all know is going to be done this summer, but to the disposition of inventory at the Broken Arrow. The disposition of that inventory is premature until the survey is complete using the parameters of current knowledge.

1. BLM has identified “new” knowledge based on movement among the various jurisdictions involved in the planning for the new complex.

2. A gather was conducted where insufficient numbers to complete the contract were found.

3. A new protocol has been outlined, but not implemented, for data collection within that complex.

Based on these three issues alone, any disposition of inventory is premature and borders on irresponsibility to the mandate to protect these horses as well as to the mission statement of the new complex.

Exclusion of interested participants in the actual “count” protocol creates the need for a project to be designed by the interested party that uses the same protocol, yet is executed independently. This will create the very situation you claimed you wanted to avoid at our meeting. We will then have the “us and them” battle with data obtained in an identical manner, instead of a “we” approach to “moving forward” in the “new direction” claimed in DC.

I realize the microcosm management issues at the district level yet feel strongly that the need exists to follow the intention of cooperation as promised during such “productions” as the meeting I just attended.

I hope to hear a response from you that is directed at the core request in each letter you received.

Thank you,

Laura Leigh
Project Manager
Herd Watch

……………………………………………..

Act on this information at your own discretion (courtsey of dictionary.com):

dis·cre·tion

–noun 1.

the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice: It is entirely within my discretion whether I will go or stay.

2.

the quality of being discreet, esp. with reference to one’s own actions or speech; prudence or decorum: Throwing all discretion to the winds, he blurted out the truth.

—Idiom 3.

at discretion, at one’s option or pleasure: They were allowed to work overtime at discretion.

End of Visitation

photos by me unless otherwise noted on this site

Today is the day the doors close at the BLM facility, “The Broken Arrow,” in Fallon, NV.

Because the BLM privately contracted the facility the public will no longer be able to bear witness to the lives within those walls.

Row of mares that have babies at the Broken Arrow

Personally I find this distressing.

The intellectual in me finds it outrageous.

A contract by a government agency that manages American horses in trust for the people did not make arrangements (as it awarded a lucrative no-bid contract to, I am told, a personal friend) to allow visitation by the public. That contract (in my opinion) by it’s very nature should have included the stipulation that public visitation be standard in operation as it made it’s monetary “reward.” “Services rendered” at that facility should include the public the agency is tasked to serve.

Mare and foal Broken Arrow

The human being in me is literally in pain.

I have seen these horses run free.

Peaceful Freedom

General and his band captured (True is with him)

Actions of Salazar's BLM

Soldier Meadows temporary holding

I watched them loose their freedom in a gather that looked like a gushing wound as band after band poured down those mountains. I looked into confused eyes as they stood in those pens after gather. I walked the hospital pens and agonized over little Hope… I looked in his pain filled eyes, too… helpless to help him as he died of hoof slough most likely due to roundup trauma (noted in the BLM, incomplete, vet report).

Hope Springs Eternal

I saw them standing in the bitter cold in January at the Broken Arrow. A facility that was still under construction as almost 2000 horses entered it’s gates. Almost 3000 was the projected number for that facility. I shudder to think of 1000 more horses in that incomplete facility as this administration runs full steam ahead furthering an agenda instead of putting the breaks on as it claims a “new direction.”

Scar face Mare Broken Arrow January 2010

Youngsters January 2010

I got to know so many of those horses as individuals that have left a lasting imprint on my soul. The sense of responsibility to these amazing beings has grown… it is incomprehensible to me the lack of recognition these animals have as individual beings. They are not just “inventory.”

Calico Filly (photo Elyse Gardner

My last visit to the facility brought instant recognition of many of these horses. Not only did I remember them… but I know some remember me. So many of the younger ones have grown into young adults, smart and curious. The older horses attempting to adjust to a life that will never resemble anything they were born to be. Many of them will now be shipped out of sight to die in long term holding, also off limits to public view.

Huge old stallion at Broken Arrow

Mare and foals Broken Arrow 2010

Medicine Hat

Young Sabino

Mare and foal Broken Arrow

My heart aches… just aches.

Instead of recognizing the value of the free, volunteer eyes at it’s disposal the BLM claims the observers place a “burden” on staff as the public is offered a tour comprising a few hours each Sunday. Each Sunday it seems the observers point out apparently overlooked issues within the facility. Orphaned foals, the Pigeon Fever/not pigeon fever abscesses still appearing in the population, injuries and the critical condition of the foal we now know as “Sorro,” are all issues brought to the attention of “staff” by the “burden” of public eyes.

Perhaps in this “dialogue of new direction,” and all the supposed areas for cooperative effort, perhaps the public actually needs to be involved? What a concept…

Sorro euthanized at the Broken Arrow

This “new direction” is a public relations campaign. The 2010 gather schedule stands. The “dispute resolution firm” is a hired gun to create a support document for placation of the public. Salazar’s plan to decimate our wild herds runs pedal to the floor. The “new direction” is just a short cut to “Salazoo.”

Free Wild Horses

Free band stallion

My heart aches… just aches.

Downloading…

Just downloading some of the pics and video I’ve taken over the last two weeks.

Sometimes when you see all the pics in one place you see stark contrast… contradiction… beauty…

Don’t get me wrong here… I think a relationship with a wild horse is an amazing thing. Smart, beautiful, spirited companions that teach us so much as they join our personal lives.

But the fight to protect them in their “fair share” as mandated by Congress is a task buried under mountains of diverse methodology and historical prejudice. “Multiple Use” is a standard catch phrase when asked about management in HMA’s. Horses currently occupy aprox. 10% of  BLM land. So in a sense simply by mathematics multiple use has been met. Yet in many wild places herds are being brought down as the “multiple use” line is used within that 10%.

So many of those areas are really beginning to look managed for a dominant use, not horses. Many look managed as cattle have become a priority species in wild places. Yet there is another use that is gaining priority status… energy.

I made this slideshow just to get the “yuck” out of my system.

Until a single data collection methodology is utilized on all public land, and decisions made in a truly public process,the “yuck” will return.

But for now I feel like I can finally crawl into bed.

Never a Straight Answer

Here is a follow up article from Horseback Magazine to yesterdays story.

The Big Story

The BLM Punts

Photo by Laura Leigh (photographer note: Processing horses at Palomino Valley center. “T” is for the Tobin herd. Also note they don’t call it the “squeeze” for no reason).

By Steven Long

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management has punted on whether it employed a veterinarian on its Calico roundup who is not licensed in the State of Nevada. Responding to a query by Horseback Magazine regarding the credentials of Dr. Albert Kane, the BLM referred questions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal, and Plant Health Inspection Service.

This far, 113 horses and miscarried foals have died after a helicopter driven stampede in Northern Nevada. The bureau’s fiercest critic in Congress, Sen. Mary Landrieu told Horseback late Tuesday that she will sit on her hands regarding the deaths.

“Sen. Landrieu will not call for an immediate hearing, but the Senator continues to be engaged on the matter and is working to find a permanent humane solution,” Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders said.

Late last year Landrieu called for BLM to clean up its act within a year or risk losing management responsibilities over wild horses and burros on its 260 million mostly vacant acres of federal land in the West.

The BLM responded in detail Tuesday to Horseback’s story on Kane’s lack of credentials, reveling that about another vet working the Fallon Nevada holding facility is in good standing with the state, but only mentioning Kane in a brief punt to another government spokesperson in another federal agency. The BLM cited a gap in the Nevada’s veterinary practices act which would permit an unlicensed vet to work.

Other vets and physicians find the gap in credentials troubling.

“Unlicensed vets cannot perform veterinary duties in NY (no exams no nothing and you do get fined here),” said a vet who has tangled with Kane in the past but declined to be identified.

A physician active in the movement to stop the BLM wild horse roundups was even more harsh in her criticism.

“If Kane is still there, it is possible he is helping with the “disposition” of the horses.  This is really criminal” the doctor said. “The BLM needs to hire vets who are expert at dealing with metabolic syndrome.  I bet they are colicky.  This is a travesty of the first order.  These people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a helicopter contract but then they skimp on proper care?  It is a very chilling thought that the vet used by the BLM may not have sufficient knowledge on metabolic syndrome and doesn’t know how to provide proper care to these horses.  I am very concerned about this possibility even if he is licensed elsewhere.  The BLM should have hired a vet who has extensive knowledge on metabolic syndrome so that the horses do not develop this condition.”

Medical professionals have been critical of the BLM practice of feeding wild horses rich hay immediately after their capture in a dramatic departure from their lifelong diet of sparse desert grasses.

The BLM said in exquisite bureaucratese:

“On the issue of veterinary credentials: The BLM ensures that veterinarians working within the Program (sic) have the necessary qualifications (graduate education and legal credentials) to work within each state. Private practitioners who work under contract for the BLM are required to bevlicensed by the boards of veterinary medicine in the states where theyvpractice. State veterinary medical practice acts generally exclude veterinarians in the employ of the United States Government or respective state governments such that they are not required to be licensed in each state for the performance of their official duties. In Nevada, for example, the practice act for veterinarians does not require a state license (see citation below) for Federal veterinarians performing official
duties.

NRS 638.015 Applicability. Nothing in this chapter applies:
1. To the gratuitous castrating, dehorning or vaccinating of
domesticated animals nor to the gratuitous treatment of diseased animals by friends or neighbors of the owner thereof, except that all vaccinations for zoonotic diseases must be administered by a licensed veterinarian or a
person under the direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
2. To debar any veterinarian in the employ of the United States
Government or the State of Nevada from performing official duties necessary for the conduct of the business of the United States Government or the
State of Nevada, or a political subdivision thereof, upon which he is assigned.

Dr. Rich Sanford is the attending veterinarian providing care for the Calico horses at the Indian Lakes Facility. Dr. Sanford’s license is NV #565. He has 25 years of experience working with wild horses.

APHIS has requested that all questions about Dr. Kane be referred to Lyndsay Cole, APHIS Public Affairs. Her email address is:

Lyndsay.M.Cole@aphis.usda.gov

JoLynn Worley, 775-861-6515
Office of Communications
BLM Nevada State Office

Horseback has requested the USDA provide the biographical information on the veterinarian that both Kane and the BLM have refused to reveal.