BLM Advisory Board recommends sterilization of wild mares

THE CLOUD FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE

SALT LAKE CITY (October 30, 2012) – The Cloud Foundation opposes the recommendation of spaying wild horse mares in their native western rangelands. During its meeting in Salt Lake City today, the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recommended that the agency implement spaying wild horse mares in the field.

“They talk about this mutilation of mares as an immediate response to a crisis,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation (TCF). “How can they recommend a procedure that is proven to be dangerous and invasive?”

The Arizona-based Conquistador Program obtained information regarding field-testing of mares via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (pdf). The invasive sterilization procedure was tested on wild horse mares from the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, and resulted in 10% mortality rate, with recovery taking at least a month.

“This is a very invasive procedure and most veterinarians are reluctant, at best, to even recommend it,” states Donald Moore, DVM, of Fruita, Colorado who questions the ability of BLM to conduct such a dangerous technique. “It is not feasible to perform this surgery in the field. Even if this ill-advised surgery were to be performed, BLM is not equipped to house and handle the mares in a manner that meets an acceptable level of care required for their recovery.”

Even BLM’s vet, Dr. Al Kane USDA-APHIS, expressed concerns regarding this protocol: “It’s a lot more complicated and the potential for complications and side effects is much greater,” he reported to the Advisory Board last year. “The potential effects on herd behavior or individual mare behavior are an issue.”

Spaying mares was proposed in the summer of 2011 on two herds in southern Wyoming. This proposal was met with public outcry and was withdrawn from the table.

The Advisory Board also brought up concerns regarding the ineffectiveness of the immunocontraceptive drug known as PZP. “BLM used PZP on only 1000 mares this past year, and proposes to only use it on 1000 again in 2013,” explains wild horse advocate and TCF board member Linda Hanick. “They have set PZP up for failure and instead are opting for permanent sterilization.”

Spaying of mares largely stems from concerns over the lack of space in BLM holding facilities. BLM faces increased scrutiny since it was revealed that more than 1,700 wild horses being sold to one man, Tom Davis, who apparently sold the horses to slaughter.

“BLM approved Davis’ applications for the purchase of wild horses. The man is a known kill buyer,” states Lauryn Wachs, Associate Director of TCF. “How do you authorize the sale of truckloads of horses and not question where they’re going?”

BLM Assistant Director Ed Roberson confirmed this week that the Department of Interior’s Office of the Inspector General is going to investigate the slaughter allegations. BLM won’t comment on the subject. Meanwhile the Advisory Board continues making dangerous recommendations for the management of wild horses on their native rangelands.

“Ken Salazar should be proud,” says Kathrens of the Secretary of the Interior. “This is an advisory board he has created to manage wild horses to extinction.”

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LINKS OF INTEREST

– The Atlantic: Are We Leading Our Wild Horses to Slaughter?

– All the Missing Horses: What Happened to the Wild Horses Tom Davis Bought from the Gov’t?

– Wild Horses targeted for possible slaughter

– Nevada policy change sells its wild horses by the pound

All 45 Pryor wild horses adopted out

PHOTO CREDIT: THE CLOUD FOUNDATION
Roger Burkowski, a new friend to TCF, drove all the way from Mountain Home, Texas (with his friend Walt) to adopt the spectacular coyote dun two year-old Kybir. Seen here, the well-behaved Kybir loaded right up.

While there are back-slapping reports going around about the BLM’s successful placement of all 45 Pryor wild horses and foals put on display from a Pryor Mountains roundup via bait trap, these adoptions would not have occurred the way they did without the hard work, organization and determination of Ginger Kathrens, The Cloud Foundation and loyal wild horse supporters and adopters.

Here’s one report from the Billings Gazette which does not overdo it that will give you a bit of background in case you have missed what has been going on:

All 38 of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range’s adult wild horses and seven foals were adopted out on Saturday. The horses were trapped over a six-week period by Bureau of Land Management staff.

“Really, this entire operation of selective removal through baiting is unprecedented for the BLM,” said Jared Bybee, wild horse specialist. “We actually gathered and handled about 150 wild horses without injuries or incidents involving the wild horses, the public, or BLM staff.”

Read more >>

As heart stopping as this roundup must have been for Kathrens, The Cloud Foundation and their loyal supporters, it does show that taking wild horses and burros off the range can be done considerably more humanely than with those horrible helicopters. Kathrens also demonstrates how to work with those you may not agree with and get the right result for the horses. Well done all.

Federal Court forces Interior Dept to consider scientific evidence regarding Wild Horse management

THE CLOUD FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE

Judge Rejects Gov’t Attempt to Ignore Expert Declarations on Negative Impacts of Plan to Castrate Wild Nevada Stallions

Washington, DC – May 10, 2012 – The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has rejected an attempt by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to withhold and ignore critical scientific evidence in its decision-making process for the implementation of a precedent-setting plan to castrate wild stallions. At issue were expert declarations submitted to the BLM from leading experts in wild horse behavior and biology outlining the devastating impacts of castration on the health and natural behaviors of wild free-roaming stallions and wild horse herds.

The ruling is part of litigation filed in December 2011 by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), Western Watersheds Project and The Cloud Foundation challenging the BLM’s illegal plan to castrate hundreds of wild stallions in eastern Nevada’s Pancake Complex, as well as to eliminate wild horses from the Jake’s Wash Herd Management Area, which lies within the Complex. The ruling on this case will have widespread implication for thousands of the remaining wild horses living free and wild on public lands.

The Honorable U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell stated in her 23-page opinion (pdf) that the agency “may not simply remain studiously ignorant of material scientific evidence well known to the agency and brought directly to its attention in timely-filed comments.” She decisively rejected the BLM’s attempt to exclude the expert declarations from the agency’s decision-making process and affirmed that the Court would consider the “material scientific evidence” contained in the declarations as in future rulings in the case.

“The BLM went to great lengths to avoid considering scientific information provided by leading wild horse experts,” said Suzanne Roy, director of AWHPC. “The agency is not interested in science, it’s only interest is clearing our public lands of wild horses to make room for livestock grazing and other commercial interests.”

“This is yet another example of the agency’s epidemic refusal to incorporate science in its management of wild horse and burros herds,” said Ginger Kathrens, executive director of The Cloud Foundation. “We commend Judge Howell for seeing through the BLM’s thinly veiled excuses and standing up for science and the right of the public to have input into government management decisions.”

The scientific evidence submitted by Plaintiffs that the BLM attempted to ignore included a declaration from Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, the Director of Science and Conservation Biology at Zoo Montana and a foremost authority on wildlife reproductive biology.

He stated:

“The very essence of the wild horse, that is, what makes it a wild horse, is the social organization and social behaviors. Geldings (castrated male horses) no longer exhibit the natural behaviors of non-castrated stallions. We know this to be true from hundreds of years experience with gelded domestic horses. Furthermore, gelded stallions will not keep their bands together, which is an integral part of a viable herd. These social dynamics were molded by millions of years of evolution, and will be destroyed if the BLM returns castrated horses to the HMAs. . . . Castrating horses will effectively remove the biological and physiological controls that prompt these stallions to behave like wild horses. This will negatively impact the place of the horse in the social order of the band and the herd.”

The other declarations, submitted by Dr. Allen Rutberg of the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Anne Perkins of Carroll College in Montana; and Dr. Bruce Nock, a faculty member at Washington University School of Medicine provided further scientific information about the impacts of castration on wild stallions and wild horse herds.

Other plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit challenging aspects of the Pancake roundup include wildlife ecologist Craig Downer and photographer Arla Ruggles, who enjoy wild horse viewing in the HMAs and whose professional and aesthetic interests will be harmed if the BLM moves forward with its plan. The plaintiffs are being represented by the Washington D.C. public interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal. A previous lawsuit filed in July 2011 by the firm prompted the BLM to withdraw a similar plan to release hundreds of castrated wild stallions in two HMAs in Wyoming.

The complaint alleges that the BLM’s plan for the Pancake Complex violates the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act. The complaint can be read here (pdf).

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Source: The Cloud Foundation Press Release

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About the Plaintiffs:

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) is a coalition of more than 45 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

Western Watersheds Project is a non-profit conservation group dedicated to protecting and restoring western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives and litigation. The group works to influence and improve public lands management in 8 western states with a primary focus on the negative impacts of livestock grazing on 250,000,000 acres of western public lands.

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.