Image from Carol Walker
The BLM is planning a roundup on the first of September that will rob the wild west of more of it’s wild horses. The time to act is now & every voice counts. Be sure to read more about the round up and what you can do to help the wild horses.
There Is Nothing Humane In This Technique
Image from Carol Walker
Image from Carol Walker
I just want to snatch that whip and teach him a lesson with it…who’s with me?
A Whole Video Of Pictures
Carol Walker is a talented photographer and a friend to wild horses, she took these painful images and tirelessly raises awareness for their cause.
Carol put together the montage video below to show people the horrible conditions BLM mustangs face.
If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to check out Carol’s interview.
Greed is why the Americans wild horses are being round up with plans to dispose them. We don’t need more cattle graving on our lands.
Hurt the cattle men where it really hurts them — give up eating meat. Your health and this earth will thank you. Plant eating people are healthier and don’t need anyone growing or killing animals for them to live.
Joni,
It is NOT that the cattle are taking critical grazing from horses. It is that there are too many horses inhabiting the range. I don’t want to see the horses gone either. But before you point a finger and yell thief…please go and look at what the horses impacts on range. It is just as bad or worse as cattle.
Charlie, are you math challenged? Or did you not know that the number of wild horses on the range are just 1/2% (one half percent) of all the large mammals on the range? That is 1/2% of the total of all cattle, wild horses, elk, deer, sheep. If it isn’t obvious from that stat that the horses who are so FEW of the total number of grazing animals are NOT responsible for the overwhelming MAJORITY of the damage to the ranges, well, then I guess you should give up on critical thinking! You really need to read the Sept 2005 GAO (that’s a federal accountability agency in case you didn’t know) reports which call public lands livestock grazing the most damaging use of public lands and a huge drain via costs of $200 million to $1 billion to run it:
http://www.klamathforestalliance.org/Newsarticles/newsarticle20051031.html
http://www.publiclandsranching.org/htmlres/subsidies.htm
The BLM has their PR department putting out lies and false assurances to the public stating flatly that no animals are harmed in these roundups and show a beautfil pasture with peaceful grazing horses as an example of their holding pens on the BLM website. The public needs to be educated before it is too late—the photos you show here need to reach mainstream media—get this on MSN! Contact the major networks and expose BLM’s dirty little secret before the last of our beautiful wild mustangs have had their spirits broken, their freedom taken away, their families splintered and in many cases a horrible death inflicted upon them—for no reason other than the greed of our cattle industry.
Maybe the BLM is guaranteeing what they shouldn’t be. I don’t believe that you really understand what will happen if these animals are left to themselves. Left alone, they will eventually overgraze the land, regardless of cattle or any other ungulant grazer, and will starve themselves out. Now I understand that you wish to preserve the image of a free roaming wild horse…but they can’t be free roaming and manage themselves. They won’t stop breedinglong enough so their numbers reach carrying capacity. They won’t stop grazing long enough for the grass to grow to provide enough for the whole herd to eat. They won’t stop drinking long enough to keep the water sources from drying up. They just won’t. Human intervention is the only way they continue to exist. Perhaps not all of the BLM’s methods are entirely sound but they are doing thier best with what they have. I would much rather see a few horses sent to slaughter than an entire species starve to death. Better to have less free roaming wild horses than none at all.
Charlie, time to wise up. Obviously you’re a rancher or a cowboy who has no use for wild horses or anything else that interferes with your little world. Here’s a clue: once they remove all the “protected” wild horses and the land is no longer protected, they’ll tell you to get your cattle off too so they can punch through more pipelines, set up more wind/solar farms and dig more wells and mines. Can’t you see that big govt is out to get the public lands for the use THEY WANT, to make themselves and their buddies lots of money. They could care less if you make a living with cattle or not. They don’t care if there is one living thing on those lands – they just want their money. The politicians only care about the huge corporate special interests who line their pockets with donations. In fact, that is why they keep insisting on this lunacy of roundups, claiming there are too many horses (see previous comment – they are just 1/2% of all large grazing mammals). The politicos want to thank the Hiltons, the Hewletts and Packards and other big boys who own 75% of the grazing permits. They don’t care about you (if you’re one of the little guys in the 25%). But they’ll try to influence you to believe they are right so you will support their program now. Can’t you see what they are aiming for? It’s all so clear but you have to do the research and see for yourself. I encourage you to do that. Open your mind, realize that smoke and mirrors can be seductive but there is no substance behind them. People decrying this inhumane, foolhardy mission to destroy a species have done the research – we’re not on a bandwagon here. It’s all there if you will look!
At the turn of the century there were over 2 million wild horses on public land. Now there are less than somewhere between 15-30,000. If the horses could not manage themselves and would run out of food and water then why were there so many doing OK before? The only thing a mandmade intervention has done is decimate the herds to the point of extinction. It is when wild horses are fenced out of water or fenced in pastures on public land that they run out of food and water. Man is what makes tragedies for the wild horses when we interfere and only think of what is in it for us. Why can we not leave wild things alone and let them be wild and just enjoy them for that beauty? Why does everything have to make money for us or is has no use? America’s soul is starved and sick because it goes after things that are shallow and superficial and throws away and kills that which is priceless and irreplaceable. We need wild horses, for us, for our souls, to know that wild things will always be wild and free.
I WANT TO MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR….I AM NOT FOR KILLING HORSES!!!! I WOULD JUST AS SOON SEE WILD HORSES RUNNING FREE.BUT, U HAVE TO KNOW THAT THE RESPONSIBLE RANCHERS R NOT DOING THESE KINDS OF NASTY ACTIONS,IT’S THE GREEDY RANCHERS OR POACHERS THAT R MONEY HUNGRY AND GREEDY FOR WEALTH AND POWER THAT CAN ONLY RESULT IN TRADGETY,PERIOD. THESE MEN HAVE NO HEART AT ALL AND DON’T GIVE A DAM ABOUT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURES GOD EVER CREATED. DO KEEP IN MIND THAT NOT ALL RANCHERS R THE SAME. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH EATING MEAT, AS LONG AS IT IS DONE HUMANELY, AND BY THIS, I MEAN THE ANIMAL NEVER SUFFERS TO GIVE IT’S LIFE, AND IS DONE TO HONOUR THE ANIMAL, IN ORDER TO FEED PEOPLE. WHERE DO U THINK MEAT COMES FROM? NOT THE SUPERMARKT!!!!! AGAIN, I WANT TO MAKE IT REALLY CLEAR,THAT IT IS NOT OK TO HURT AN ANIMAL,JUST FOR SPORT OR MONEY,PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!
I think feral horses a great. I enjoy observing them, and think they have a place on public lands. However they like all plant and animal species need to be managed. Current law prohibits hunting or capturing of these animals by private individuals. This leaves the managers of public lands (B.L.M.& Forest Service) with limited options. I saw nothing in your presentation that would indicate anyone acted in an inhumane way. I applaud you for your passion on this issue and wish you luck in changing the laws related to it.
I see one instance of a roundup that is not confirmed to be a BLM roundup.
While I admit that this isn’t the “nicest” manner of rounding up the horses and moving them, what exactly do you expect them to do? Calmly lead wild horses into trailers? There is no calm way to move wild horses, and, unfortunately, they need to be moved. Even when there is no “Evil” cattlemen badgering the government, herds will outgrow their range, so horses need to be relocated or given to human homes. You know. Just like feral cats and dogs.
Or did you forget there is NO difference between “wild horses” (which aren’t, they’re feral) and feral cats and dogs?
Side note: The US produces almost exactly the amount of meat it consumes. Overall meat consumption in the US has increased. Conclusion: Not eating meat just means someone else is eating it for you.
There is DNA proof that wild horses were on this continent and that they migrated back over the Bering Straits to Europe 11-13,000 years ago. And the horses that were reintroduced here by the Spanish are of the same genetics. There were wild horses here before any of us. And the horses are wild now. They have been wild for hundreds of years here so they are not just someones horse that just got out of the fence. And you cannot eat all “our” beef the rest of us do not eat.
@CG: Who exactly do you think is rounding up these horses? Joe Blow the local farmer? It’s illegal to harass and round up the wild horses so who the heck else would it be?
PRESS RELEASE
BLM Rushes Forward with Roundup of World Famous
Wild Horse Herd Before Senate Can Act
LOVELL, WY- August 28, 2009: In response to the destructive removal planned for America’s most famous wild horse herd, the Cloud Foundation and Front Range Equine Rescue have filed a lawsuit and a request for an injunction in Federal Court in Washington, DC. The Pryor Herd gained worldwide fame largely due to the popular PBS NATURE Documentaries about the Pryor Stallion, Cloud. The appellants’ aim is to prohibit the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from rounding up all the horses in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range and removing 70. This roundup, unprecedented in size and scope, is slated to begin September 1, 2009 according to the recently released BLM Decision Record. This would be the largest removal in the 32-year history of this specially designated wild horse range. The helicopter drive-trapping operation would be shrouded in a cloak of secrecy as BLM proposes to close the entire public lands area to humane observers and the general public except “on a case by case basis”.
Advocates in this case argue that the removal of 70 horses will leave this unique and historical herd genetically non-viable and unable to sustain themselves into the future. According to noted equine geneticist, Gus Cothran, Ph.D. of Texas A&M University, “… a census population of 150-200 is required to achieve the minimum effective population size…. The [Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Herd] has been one of the most important and visible herds within the BLM Wild Horse Program and it is important that it stays viable.”
BLM is circumventing Congress’ wishes that wild horses be protected in the American West. The House just passed the Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) act and the Senate will review this bill (now S.1579) when they return from recess in September. “Is BLM just trying to do as much irrevocable damage to America’s wild horses as fast as they can before the Senate can act?” asks Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation.
“Right now there are twelve entire herds being eliminated from 1.4 million acres in Eastern Nevada because these lands are suddenly not appropriate for wild horses,” Kathrens continues. “However, no action has been made to reduce cattle grazing in these areas.” There are no grazing permits in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range and reasons for holding an unprecedented removal this year are not clear. The range and adjacent lands are in excellent condition following three years of drought-breaking precipitation.
Cloud and the wild horses of Montana’s Pryor Mountains are world famous but fame and an outcry from the American public does not seem to impact BLM plans. There are currently only 190 wild horses (one year and older) living in the spectacular Pryor Mountains. In order to remove 70 the BLM must take older horses who could be sold directly to killer buyers or destroyed on the spot according to their codes of federal regulation.
The Pryor Mountain wild horses are descendants of the Lewis and Clark horses who were stolen by the Crow Indians in the early 1800’s. George Reed, Secretary of Cultural Education for the Crow Tribe Executive Branch, wrote in 2006: “We advocate preserving our heritage, culture and language, and these Pryor wild horses are part of our culture.” Lakota and Northern Cheyenne Tribal Leaders will gather in response to the BLM’s destructive actions on Saturday, August 29th. This ride “Honoring Freedom: The Ride to Save America’s Wild Horses” will start in the lowlands and culminate in ceremonies at the Dryhead Overlook atop the mountain.
BLM Director Bob Abbey has had his office reroute calls to the BLM hotline due to the number of complaints he’s received on this issue. “Nothing has changed for the wild horses with this new administration” Kathrens says, “except it has gotten worse”.
For More Information contact:
The Cloud Foundation
719-633-3842
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org
Well Louise, I’ve got the right to tell you that your sentence that animals don’t suffer by giving their lives for us to give food is not hundred per cent right. It ain’t anymore like it was in the older years, when people used to go hunting with bows or arrows. Tell me, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN WHAT IT IS LIKE IN A SLAUGHTERHOUSE??!! God, yes, well, gave us animals so that we won’t be alone in this great world he had created for all his creations to live upon. Surely you know that the Bible says that we were all vegetarians before the Flood. What happened is that after the Flood, food was very, very scarce, and so we were allowed from then on to eat animal flesh. But God did not give us animals to wear their skin for fashion, to shoot them down for sport or pleasure, because he values animal life just as much he loves human life and all the rest of his creations. And so, he disapproves of abuse, cruelty, and injustice. So, again, you say an animal doesn’t suffer when giving his life for us to live. If his life has been given away in a slaughterhouse, you greatly err. I guess you’re just too scared yourself to go visit or just see a video on how animals are slaughtered in a slaughterhouse. Crammed in dirty, small spaces, listening to the music of their screaming companions as they are killed, and seeing whatever goes around them, and, man, it is not rare that a cow is skinned alive! Do you think that slaughterhouses are clean, pleasent places to be? No killing nowadays is done humanely for an animal, ESPECIALLY, ESPECIALLY in slaughterhouses. At least, it’s rare. And, really no-one goes hunting for food anymore. You’re just too scared to give up meat. If you have health problems and you can’t give up meat, I take it back. But it’s just that really, do you think that EVERY piece of meat on your plate was from an animal that had been killed in the “kindest” of ways?
Those poor beautiful babies! If you want to help please write not only Mr. Salazar but your Congressmen and women and the president. Let our voices be heard for the sake of these magnificent creatures. If you still love beef, buy it from local farms that raise grass fed beef and aren’t taking land away from the horses. Show the larger cattle ranchers that we will not tolerate what they are doing for the sake of money.
BTW, There is a special place in hell for those “wranglers” and it involves horses who can use whips and fly helicopters!
lgcee,
Then we had better protect the horses hadn’t we? Instead of griping about monopolistic companies why don’t we make sure the horses don’t become a problem. The horses may be 1/2%(one half percent)of “the range” but on the public grounds they are alloted they are getting overpopulated. Which is the only land figure that should be considered in this case. I am the son of a rancher and a cowboy as well. I own a wild horse for your information and DO NOT wish to see them gone! Correct me if I’m wrong but I figure you for a Boston or a New York horse club member who hasn’t worked extensively with horses or livestock this or any other…let alone know the affects of large grazing ungulates on a “range.” The damnable government as it is, is the only thing protecting those horses. If they become a problem then the government will eliminate them! In Nevada(where the bulk of the feral horses are located)they had to allocate $10 millon more to their budget to care for the horses. Less horses would cost less tax payers money. That would be simple logic. Overpopulation leads to disease, inbreeding, and starvation which is a much bigger problem than what we see now. Feral horses grow at a rate of 20% a year. In Nevada in 20 years the horses will number over 87,000 horses. Now if they start to starve…are you going to put them on your lawn? As long as the horses stay at a managable number they are safe. Thanks to very outspoken advocates like you who are in all actuality impeading(hindering) real progress to save the horses.
Oh, shut the hell up, you horse torturer!
They need to invent a more of a humane way to round up wild horses!! An amazing autistic woman (Temple Grandin) has created a more humane way for cattle to be slaughtered so I’m pretty sure a dumb red neck can figure it out!! Gee people get some sense in you!! And I don’t understand why they don’t make collecting wild horses illegal. You’re messing with nature. God put ALL creatures here to learn from them. You don’t see people walking around with a gun in a city and shooting every illegal Mexican! And they are over populating our land of the free! Like seriously stop being so selfish and making dumb lazy remarks. Figure it out! The least they could do is capture them and neuter & spade them and release them to the wild. There are solutions. It’s not impossible… the word it’s self says IM POSSIBLE. I would love to do something but I’m just a 17year old girl. I’m sure I won’t get far. But I’m trying my best by going to college to be a veterinarian and hopefully specialize in equine care. Ok well anyways I hope some one does do something. Because that is disrespectful to these creatures, if we use them for our own use’s we should at least give them some respect for there sacrifices. You may think they’re just animals, or may not care if they were here before us but they deserve to be here just as much as your ungrateful butt is!
I don’t believe rounding the wild horses up is the problem! It’s the way they go about it. How bout getting some real cowboys out there that will be a great start. There is an art to penning horses and it is not done with a helicopter!
maam
there are some who are doing just that,,, some things shouldnt be allowed it is up to the ones who have a little common sence to see through the deseptions of a goverment that clearly lacks the intergraity? and the responcibilty to manage our BEAUTIFUL WILD HORSES I WISH I HAD MORE HELP
IF RANCHERS WOULD KEEP THERE HERDS DOWN TO SIZE TO FIT THERE OWN LAND THEN THE WILD HORSES WOULD HAVE MORE TO EAT I DONT HAVE ENOUGH LAND FOR TWO HORSES I DONT SEE ANY GOVERNMENT OR POLITICIAN OFFERING ME FREE LAND SO I DONT HAVE TO FEED MY ANIMALS HAY EVERY DAY 365 DAYS WILD HERDS WILL MANAGE THEM SELVES AS NATURE INTENED THE THATS MORE HUMANE THEN THE SUFFERING THAT MAN IS CAUSING THEM AND I FEEL THAT IF THEY ARE SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY ON THESE HERDS WHY NOT SPEND THE MONEY ON A WAY FOR BIRTH CONTROL SO WE CAN MANAGE THE BIRTHS EACH YEAR TO THE RIGHT RATIO FOR THE LAND OF EACH OF THESE HERDS JUST REMEMBER THEY ARE PART OF AMERCAN HISTORY AND WHERES MY LAND TO USE FOR FREE I WANT A BALE OUT IM A POOR OWNER
I don’t live in the country where the wild horses roam free. But I do live in Oklahoma where the wild horses have been relocated on the tall grass prairie, the Osage. I’ve had the privilege of visiting one of these ranches with camera in hand. These horses are well taken care of and rotated to fresh pastures on a regular basis as horses have a tendency to graze a certain area into the ground.
There are approx. 20,000 head in that area of Oklahoma & Kansas. This is not free grazing, the land owners are paid by the head, and if the truth is known it has probably saved some of these ranchers from going broke. They have been a God sent to this part of the world for us Okies to enjoy. I can sorta see parts of both sides of the story, as I’m sure things will work out. And I’m sure the wild horse is here to stay, along with the buffalo and the bald eagle.
God bless us all, Gary Minshall
Did not see anything inhumane??? Well…….lets get all the members of your family and your extended family together and have a helicopter hover them, and have people slapping whips at them while they are so spoked they stat stepping all over each other!!! Wow… Hmmmm… let me see…. Will that work for your family the next time a rancher wants to move your ass out of the way????
Why don’t they geld the Studs? That would solve everyones problems. Then when the little colts grow up old enough to bred then let them breed, get the mares pregnant then geld them, or wait a year or two then geld them. There has to be a solution other then ripping these families of horses apart and taking them off the land and not letting them stay free. What I find hard to believe is that the public is constantly told these horses are starving and need to be rounded up so they don’t die but yet when they are gathered they are not starving and in most cases they are “fat”. Some herds don’t get gathered at all and for years and years and years the land supports them then allll of a sudden the BLM says they are starving and have to be rounded up. What all of a sudden they land stop growing or what? Give me a break. If the land can support the stupid cows it can support the horses, cattle destroy the land more then the horses do. Kill a few more cows and leave our Mustangs alone.
@Pat in Wyoming, wheres the documentation of 2 million at the turn of the century? Or do you not have documentation but instead you counted them yourself? Please enlighten me on where this figure came from because after having trained a wild mustang myself and staying in contact with the BLM, I certainly never heard of it. @Jazzed up – the caps does nothing to your statement. You say the herds will handle themselves? Starvation is more humane than being captured? Yes, unfortunatly some mustangs break their legs, some cut themselves to pieces, some honesly go crazy, but a death by being put down comes alot faster than death by starvation. @Nini, seventeen year olds can do things just as well as adults, for goodness sakes, you are (were considering this post is atleast a year later than when you posted)less than one year from being an adult. Yes, I recognize my post is quite later than the others, however I hope that anyone who comes across this thread may not be tricked into believing your lies as a result of being misinformed.
I have a really good friend and her dad and her are both ranchers and i help with it. not all ranchers want the land! We want to help the wild horses if we could we would buy all the wild horses from the round up and put them on are land and let them run free where no one can take them! But you are right them blm people just care about money and not the horses. If i had my way i would treat the round up people the way they treat the horses.
Charlie,
I can’t understand for the life of me how some anthropomorphic jerks think that humans are needed to intercede on everything. Nature existed far long that we humans have. Nature has a balance that is far more sophisticated than we are. We are needed for anything on Earth except to destroy it. One of your posts discussed the starvation and habitat destruction etc. from the horses overbreeding. Did you ever consider a spay and neuter program to remedy the problem? Or is selling them for dog food more humane? Come on! Think about what your saying, man! I have a brother in law whose a hunter. He says that killing deer helps to prevent them from starving to death, but I notice that he never kills the weak starving ones. He kills the ones with the biggest racks for his trophy room. That’s what your arguments remind me of. You also said that you own a “wild” horse. How ludicrous! Guess what…you can’t “own” a horse and still call her/him “wild”. That’s the definition of wild…you can’t be owned. For the record, I would welcome a horse to graze on my organic (no pesticides, no fertilizer, just plain ol’ manure based, great big) lawn any day!
Dr. Regina