Wild Horse Roundups To Be Scaled Back By Government

WASHINGTON — The government said Thursday it will scale back costly roundups of wild horses that some critics contend are inhumane.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will reduce the number of wild horses removed from the range by about one-quarter – to 7,600 per year. The agency also will expand the use of fertility controls and increase the number of animals adopted by individuals or groups. The bureau continues to oppose horse slaughter, which some in the West have advocated as a way to thin herds.

The agency's director, Bob Abbey, said the new plan was intended to ensure that viable herds of wild horses and burros remain on the nation's public lands for generations to come. To improve the health of both horses and Western lands, officials need the help of private partners and must ensure that management decisions have a scientific foundation, Abbey said.

The changes do not include a proposal that Abbey and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar floated in late 2009 to move thousands of wild horses to preserves in the Midwest and East, where they would graze on land unthreatened by drought and wildfires. The government would have established large horse ranches open to the public for tours and educational visits. The preserves would have cost at least $92 million to buy and build. The plan ran into bipartisan opposition in Congress and among the public.

"It was very evident to us that the public did not like that idea and so we have dropped that from the strategy we are pursuing now," Abbey told reporters in a conference call.

The new approach comes a week after the House approved an amendment to cut the agency's budget by $2 million to protest the roundups. The program's annual cost has tripled over the past decade to $66 million. Annual costs are expected to reach at least $85 million by 2012.

More than 38,000 wild horses and burros roam in Nevada, California, Wyoming and other Western states. An additional 40,000 animals are cared for in corrals and pastures in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The wild horse program was created by Congress in 1971. It's intended to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. Under the program, thousands of horses are forced into holding pens, where many are vaccinated or neutered before being placed for adoption or sent to long-term corrals in the Midwest.

Animal rights advocates complain that the roundups – which sometimes include use of helicopters – are inhumane because some animals are traumatized, injured or killed.

Ranchers and other groups say the roundups are needed to protect fragile grazing lands that are used by cattle, Bighorn sheep and other wildlife.

Abbey said he knows the changes will not end controversy over the horse management program, but said they send an important message: "We will no longer kick the can down the road just because it is challenging."

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, called the latest plan encouraging, but said the Obama administration needs to do more to reduce the number of horses rounded up and removed from public lands.

The current plan "is not economically sustainable and it is bad policy," Pacelle said.

___

Online:

Bureau of Land Management: http://www.blm.gov

Comments

[Edy Williams]

10:44 PM on 03/12/2011

Horses have earned their place in our society! From the years of the Romans,the Pioneers of America,how would one have even managed to pull a carriage? We owe them,They are theraputic for handicaped, useful in helping children become good boy & Girl scouts! Being outdoors in fresh air, exercising. These are the worlds ultimate "coach.! Smoke free,alcohol free, all muscle, as you soon will enjoy with the Kentucky Derby..(MAY!)

[fourtruth]

08:20 PM on 03/12/2011

Where did they get that picture? Folks that is NOT representative of these sturdy little horses.

BLM is always trying to cry chicken little - "the forage is dwindling!" While advocatres footage of roundups and the range conditions proves otherwise time after time.

And last weeks early stop to a roundup due to "forage issues" first showed not only healthy horses, but down right fat horses andin winter too, but photographers were held up for hours as 2,000 cattle were unloaded onto the same land they just stripped of wild horses.

And then this week BLM Advisory Board member says cattle taking wild horse land is a lie! Lier Lier YOUR pants are on fire!

Truth:

CATTLE KILL WILDHORSES.

and

WELFARE CATTLE RANCHING IS KILLING TAXPAYERS =

almost 1 BILLION dollars a year folks.

[SAVEME]

09:03 AM on 02/28/2011

I have always wanted one of those little burros. So cute with a red harness.

[cragusa]

08:45 PM on 02/27/2011

They need to increase the numbers of predators by stopping mountain lion hunting and introducing wolves. The ranchers and horse people will love it !!!

[fourtruth]

08:21 PM on 03/12/2011

Ranchers won't love it - unless you mean the taxpaer subsidies they get for predator kills - easier to get that government check than actually deal with the cattle?

But, yes, they need to stop killing the mountain lions for sure.

[Laurie Bellx]

07:41 PM on 02/27/2011

Do babies have ‘horse sense’?
http://www.psychology-advice.net/do-babies-have-horse-sense

[p456]

10:35 AM on 02/27/2011

I other countries around the world people eat horse meat. It's low in fat and a very good source of protein. Wild free range horse meat free of growth hormones will be better than beef from a mega farm. As the global food supply tightens we need to start making different choices. Or we could just leave them alone.

[story1]

12:25 PM on 02/28/2011

In other parts of the world, people eat dogs and cats as well. Does this mean we should go the same? The issue has nothing to do with the world in need to eat horse meat, bu the importance of letting wild horses run free. In 10 years from now, it the round ups continue at this pace, there will be no more wild horses running free. Ten years!
While at the same time, there is a huge increase of cows are grazing public lands, for private profit only.

[p456]

02:12 PM on 02/28/2011

When you get down to it dogs, cats, chickens, cows, pigs and horses are viewed differently by different cultures. There is nothing wrong with eating a dog or a cat not to mention a horse. So I say put them on the menu we eat everything else on the planet.

[fourtruth]

08:31 PM on 03/12/2011

EXCEPT - dogs, cats and horses in the USA are given medications that are not allowed in our food chain - because? They render the meat toxic - YUM!

Wild free range horse meat is NOT free of toxins - they are rounded up and given wormers and birth control and pain medications then some returned to the range untile next roundup and more chemicals administered to them.

The EU has banned USA horse meat because of these reasons. Now you can always go to Japan and get some good raw USA horse meat - of course they have the highest liver cancer rates in the world.

Cattle - We should stop eating so many cows - they produce more methane than all of our cars put together and destroy our public lands and our wildlife.

Add that cattle ranching on public lands costs taxpayers almost 1 BILLION dollars a year in direct taxpayer subsidies and indirect costs - for just 3% of all cattle grazing - that according to USDA are exported for profits - for the likes of Hilton, Hewlett Packard, Anheiser Busch,etc.

Lose - Lose.

Gut Welfare Ranching - save wild horses and the current costs of wild horse warehousing -

WIN WIN.

[Edy Williams]

09:07 PM on 02/26/2011

such beautiful CESTNUT horses! Even a little baby Colt all ready to be adopted! Like to have One! Where are these wonderful horses? Will we know?

[fourtruth]

08:34 PM on 03/12/2011

There are adoptions all year long all over the United States - visit BLM website.

[ChristyLee]

11:53 AM on 02/26/2011

To quote Saving America's Mustangs, "We are gathering very healthy horses off of range with sufficient forage to support not only the horses currently there but even larger numbers if the truth were told. The claim that large numbers of wild horses are starving or will starve is an exaggerated conclusion that has been offered as a stalking horse to continue the current gather policy. With 40,000 horses currently in holding pens and a schedule to remove another 7500 each year, how long will it be before we have eliminated our wild horse herds or put the program in such financial hardship that it cannot survive? Saving America's Mustangs will continue to call for a halt to all gathers until such time as real science is applied in this area, and we feel that Secretary Salazar would be well served to simply stop gathers now and let the science tell the real story when the NAS study is completed."
This I agree with wholeheartedly. Stop shipping MY Mustangs, and YOUR Mustangs, to the Midwest to live in horror. A MASSIVE Sanctuary has been built for them by Madeleine Pickens next door to the gather areas. I'm sick of the job justifying rhetoric the BLM spews.

[fourtruth]

08:58 PM on 03/12/2011

Just last week, photographers leaving the early ended roundup of 1400 wild horses were held up for hours by trucks unloading 2000 cattle!

Hum - wonder why the roundup was stopped early? Because the cattle, that according to BLM do not take wild horse range, arrived a few days early?

Add insult to injury - a BLM Advisory Board member said just yesterday, at the Phoenix public hearings (taped - find link to archives at RTFitch), that cattle do not replace horses on public lands - the gall, the shear adacity, the bold faced LIES!

That man must apologize for his ignorance or being misinformed or remain suspect forever.

[batguano]

09:07 AM on 02/26/2011

Re-post from collettethehedgehog

"What is rancher propaganda is that there are too many HORSES for the public land that was committed to them by the public decades ago. If you make the agribusine­ss ranchers remove their cattle from the public lands that have been land-grabb­ed. Presto there aren’t too many horses for the land and water. Why do you think wealthy friends of George W investment ranchers care?"

The truth of Collette’s comment is undeniable, and the Obama admn has through its Interior Sec, Ken Salazar, who presides over this and other outrages and slaughters of wild animal populations, and includes Wild Mustangs and burros, bears, wolves, Coyotes, large cats, and any others who "threaten" the profits of ranchers. Ranchers lease public BLM lands for pennies on the dollar in sweetheart deals to run their cattle for private profit; the political considerations take precedence over science and the testimony of wild-life biologists.

"the federal government intentionally kills millions of free-living animals each year, most of them at the behest of ranchers and farmers who consider those animals a nuisance. And 90-plus percent of those killings happen via poisoning".

This extermination of our wild heritage to protect private profits at great public expense must stop!

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3183

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2009/01/public-lands-ranching-the-scourge-of-wildlife/

http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/2010/04/0346federal-public-lands-ranching-is.html

[devildoc68]

10:05 PM on 02/26/2011

Agreed...cattle ranchers are special interest period. Their cattle brought the brucellois disease to this country, they rent land for $1.35 AUM (animal unit measure) per month and last year the Interior Dept. lost 115 million dollars from what it cost the taxpayer to what the ranchers paid. Their cattle destroy all in their path and pollute streams and ponds and these ranchers cry oh so hard that they don't get a fair shake. These public lands belong to the public and a vote should be done by the public on how this land is 'given away' to ranchers to kill anything that might be an inconvienence to these cattle. Move the ranchers to private land and give our wildlife a chance to survive."yup...done gots muh rifle and coonskin hat'.....time to run the ranchers out to their own land.

[fourtruth]

08:45 PM on 03/12/2011

X2 Agreed.

If the Tea Party are real at all - they will gut this almost 2 BILLION dollars a year taxpayer subsidy to these welfare ranchers.

[Stephanie Sellers]

07:20 AM on 02/26/2011

300 cows quickly replaced our indigenous mustangs on wilderness preserves in a monopolizing move by corporate cowboys. They're in cahoots with the BLM. Don't forget it, either. http://saveourwildhorses.webs.com/welfareranching.htm
4% Fair Tax Averages on America’s 9.2 Million Horses
Replaces Horse Slaughter with Logic and Value

A. *Horses under 501©3 is 0.00 tax until Adopted.
B. *est. $1,200 valued horse in range of $300-$2,500 is $48 tax.
$48 x 4mhorses = 1billion.9m.2k Revenue
go to https://sites.google.com/site/horsesasnationaltreasure/home Petition
site, for more figures.
This is vast revenue to pay for land, training, and wages for Committees to
oversee America’s horse industry, including reclaiming the Wilderness Preserves
for Our Mustangs.
Rebuild America with pride.
We built this Nation with horses.
We can do it again.
Sanctuaries should not only foster horses but should be learning facilities to
teach responsible horse ownership. Sanctuaries become county revenue builders
as fees are paid for horse adoption, trail rides, horseback riding lessons, and
host competitions. Ideally, Sanctuaries should adjoin Federal land already
utilized by equestrians or with promise to do so, such as land owned by The Army
Corps of Engineers, State Parks and National Forests.

Stephanie M Sellers

Horses as National Treasure. Make Horse Slaughter History with Fair Taxes and
Committees. Petition and addresses on website.
https://sites.google.com/site/horsesasnationaltreasure/

[Nick2]

08:20 PM on 02/25/2011

In an economic downturn, they're wasting money on this? Fire the Bureau of Land Management. All they do is cater to rich ranchers who want wild horses killed for their own interests.

[fourtruth]

08:48 PM on 03/12/2011

Agreed - if the Tea Party is real at all they will gut this almost 2 BILLION dollar a year taxpayer subsidized corporate welfare - Welfare Ranching.

[arabianway]

05:32 PM on 02/25/2011

The horses in this picture are severely underweight. For their ribs to be showing, they have been underfed for quite some time. Having survived the helicopter roundups, they have lost their freedom and now, confined, are being starved to death. The government employees and officials involved in this in no way represent the American people, instead they serve big business, in this case cattle ranchers. If you care about these horses, contact your elected representatives and keep on contacting them.

[blackwind]

07:42 PM on 02/25/2011

It's far more likely that they were just brought in from the overgrazed range, than that the BLM was underfeeding them. They are underfed out in the desert all the time. That is why they are being rounded up.

[Nick2]

08:22 PM on 02/25/2011

Let them die a natural death in that case, don't run them to ground with helicopters and horrify them. Animals in the wild die all the time, I understand it. I don't understand the urgency to hasten the death, except that greedy rich ranchers want them off their land.

[fourtruth]

08:52 PM on 03/12/2011

No - every roundup is photographed, as are the horses pre-roundup on the range, and the photographs publically posted on the internet.

Someone had to search high and low to find this photograph- if these did just come in off a roundup.

There was only one roundup of malnourished horses in over 3 years, out of 10,000 plus horses a year. It turned out that the feneces supposed to be open to forage were closed off by "someone", same for watering places - they had been fenced off.

[climbing panda]

04:06 PM on 02/25/2011

i just found a way to cut $84 million form the 2012 budget. leaving $1 million for a cull.

[fourtruth]

08:54 PM on 03/12/2011

Or better yet cut almost 1 BILLION dollars a year - cut the welfare ranching - then culls of wild horses are not even needed in the first place.