What will wild horse haters come up with next to rid America of her mustangs and burros?
The Feral Horse Committee of the Nevada Wildlife Commission has drafted a letter to the State Engineer to instruct federal agencies (ie BLM) to remove any wild horses and burros using Nevada waters illegally.
The Associated Press reports:
A Nevada wildlife committee has suggested mustangs and burros are not legally entitled to quench their thirst from water rights allocated to federal agencies to support wildlife.
The Feral Horse Committee of the Nevada Wildlife Commission has drafted a letter to the state engineer, contending the federally protected horses are not wildlife under state law, and the animals’ drinking of water does not constitute “beneficial use” as required for a water rights permit.
Among other things, the committee wants the state engineer to instruct federal agencies to immediately remove any wild horses or burros “that are making unlawful use of Nevada waters,” according to the letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
“The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners would strenuously object to any attempt to assign a form of beneficial use of Nevada water for these federally owned animals,” the draft letter states.
The committee meets Tuesday in Eureka, a small town 240 miles east of Reno on U.S. 50. Along with the letter, it will consider an overall policy statement on the wild horse issue, according to a posted agenda.
Jason King, state engineer, said the federal government holds about 28 water permits in Nevada, mostly on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, for wildlife benefit.
Tuesday's Horse 
When we lose our commonsense, there is always diseaster, it separates us from them(those who look at horses as money in their pockets) Commonsense tells us that the horses are oh so needed in our environment, ecologically they are essential to our well being , so they are much more than just friends , they will prove to be our survival in the future , they teach to us how to Trust, (they are experts in it) they teach how to love (experts here also) they teach that there is more to live for , then where is the next video game , or the next huge TV, they take people who have lost all of these things and fix it …………………………without a word being spoken………………….. I know I was one of them…………………
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There is nothing more rewarding than the love of an animal in your time of need.
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Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. This may be a redundant post since it is not filled with factual information so I apologize in advance.
What is it with this US government that can’t let a few thousand wild horses roam on the land they own? It isn’t even just at the federal level, it is poisoned at the state and county level as well. There is more than enough room for the cattle and development of energy sources. Not that I agree with fragmentation and loss of habitat by any means. If we choose to eradicate what was put on this earth to admire and enjoy we might as well throw in the towel. Mother Earth was meant to be home and habitat for all of God’s creation.
I think the people who comprise the American government have finally succumbed – they have joined forces with that part of the world that values nothing but money and power. Freedom, democracy and quality of life is dead. Is this what the people of North America want? I’m not so sure anymore.
Has it come to the point that nothing genuine really matters anymore? Does no one care about the quality of life or the beauty of nature and our commitment to it? If that is the case, what is the point? I am assuming, perhaps naively, that these people once had some modicum of compassion. Or all they all psychopaths?
I think we are at the brink of world collapse. Perhaps not in the sense of the 2012 Armageddon theory and nuclear holocaust but more so from the vantage of losing the meaning of life.
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I find it hard not to descend into childishness, reading these lines of crap: Before the advent of these Wildlife ‘advocates’, I don’t believe wild things had ANY issues of water or property. “They were there first.”
However, I can’t blame all humans for the idiocy of a few who can’t learn or were never taught to share.
I have a huge cockleburr in my petticoat where their ‘advocacy’ is concerned.
‘My’ Big Horns, for one. Why a species of concern so fragile, populations are ranch-raised and cannot be exposed to anything Domestic sheep-ish, with rabid attention to detail of their genetics & constant monitoring of them on the ranges once released – only to end up shot and decapitated, their heads gracing the walls of ‘real’ men. (imagine a long line of colorful expletives, some beginning with a big black ‘F’, some alluding to issues of parentage, and some involving biological functions, if ya get my drift…)
Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepard, I think said it best:
“You can’t love Nature with a gun.”
Either lobby for all or shut the hell up.
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Lisa, perhaps I am taking your statements too literally. We are a horse advocacy group. We fall way short of dealing with all the issues facing horses as it is. While I advocate for numerous issues relating to many, many nonhuman animals personally, I feel we at the Fund must stay focused on what we can do for horses, which often seems despairingly little. This should in no way imply that we do value horses over any other animal, or any other living being who has no voice other than the one we can lend them. It is man’s harsh, unfeeling and uninformed interference with nature that has brought us to this day. Animals were there before us no doubt. God created them before the human animal.
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My apologies, Vivian. Sometimes a rant goes off pointe and gains a life of it’s own.
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And, DNA proves horses certainly were in North America LONG before humans!
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Can I try one more time?
When I referred to ‘advocates’ I meant those mentioned in the article – not Equine Advocates.
While I strongly support wildlife, my choice is to stand up for equines.
(I re-read my own comment; it doesn’t sound very supportive, does it?)
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Lisa, I thought that was what you meant, but was not sure. We get asked a lot about what makes horses so special and why I have an organization that stands up just for them and not all animals. Thanks!
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There is no reason for an apology.
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The BLM and friends just keep coming up with idiotic policies. I just do not understand how they can get away with it. The BLM and company never has a problem with livestock consuming water and destroying the grasslands. When will the government leave these poor horses alone?
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Is there something I am missing about mustang and burros? Are they somehow a huge threat to everyone and everything? What did they ever do to deserve the treatment and the attitudes directed towards them. They are a vital link to the history of the United States. They were fought for and gained protection in 1971. They were given land to live on. They live on it, die on it, rear their families on it, graze on it, roam it, are just living their lives doing no harm to anyone and yet all of a sudden they are at the centre of a whirlwind of controversy again. Can there really be enough of them to pose such a huge threat to grazing and water. Can the millions of cattle possibly be the threat instead? Or the mining interests? Or those who want to build pipelines through the land. These are the wild spirit of the west, they belong to the American people, who want them left in peace. Why is no one listening? How can an animal that does not kill and eat ranchers calves, or stampede through crops, or topple buildings, or turn every piece of federal land into a barren dust bowl be such a threat to these people who seem determined to stamp them out like some sort of pest? There are the stewards who round them up, corral them, shoot them and watch them die…there are those who want to slaughter the excess animals…now they want to deny them the water they drink??? How bout denying people in Las Vegas their swimming pools and lawns?? Much more to the point when it comes to who should have access to water. Under law they are wild and so should have water rights…this is absurd and stupid and so like the anti-horse movement it would be laughable if it were not so darn serious.
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Shame on the U.S. for allowing this to happen. I wonder, though. What if you were to gently gather every single wild horses & burro, families intact, and move them to their very own island, to live out their lives with no interference? With the way the world is gobbling up every single resource available, how long would they be safe, even then? Their destruction represents much, much more than their loss of habitat and way of life.
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Yes , You are so right !!!!! They represent Freedom , they represent all that is Beautiful and innocent, what they have to give is enormous…………………. One is there ability to help us…… My God , whats wrong with these Morons……………. They cant see past the end of their noses………………………or their Bank Accounts………………………………………To put a Price on something that is clearly Priceless is a crime………………………….. of the most horrible kind !!!!!
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I posted this under the AP article. Nevada can not ignore federal law. This new committee is going way overboard.
“Regardless of state law to recognize wild horses and burros as wildlife, they are a federally protected species under federal law. According to the 1971 Act, this means ALL unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros. Whether or not Nevada agencies choose to call them wild or feral, they’re still a federally protected species which does constitute “beneficial use” of water.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1976 (Kleppe vs. New Mexico) that “where state laws conflict with the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, or with other legislation passed pursuant to the Property Clause, the law is clear: the state laws must recede … ”
Despite the ranchers’ state owned water rights, the horses and burros remain federally protected as “components of the public lands” and are entitled to roam free in areas where they were as of the date of the WFRHBA, 1971.
This committee is basically asking the state engineer to instruct federal agencies to break federal law.”
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Thank you Valerie for your legal expertise.
It does not appear to me the BLM needs any instructions on how to break federal law. How “clever” of them to try to get the state of Nevada to give them the go ahead anyway.
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Is this not also a crime punishable by Jail sentence?
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Lisa I am total agreement with your comments.
These special interest groups i.e. Wildlife have become nothing more than a group to feed “their” special interests.
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From Michigan State College Unversity of Law:
http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusnv501_097.htm
{ Nevada Revised Statutes Annotated Currentness. Title 45. Wildlife. Chapter 501. Administration and Enforcement. General Provisions. § 501.097. “Wildlife” defined:
” Wildlife” means any wild mammal, wild bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, mollusk or crustacean found naturally in a wild state, whether indigenous to Nevada or not and whether raised in captivity or not.
Added by Laws 1969, p. 1350. Amended by Laws 1987, p. 560; Laws 1991, p. 259; Laws 2007, c. 411, § 24, eff. July 1, 2007.”}
Now, I realize that my familiarity with the English language might be construed, in the matter of advocacy for wild horses and critters occupying the same environments, as perhaps a bit biased. However, my puny li’l interpretation of this plainly worded- statute seems pretty rock hard.
If I AM misinterpreting, please, somebody set me straight. Otherwise, this is, in my opinion, a State Law.
Wild Horses are Wild Life. This is another attempt to bastardize them, to find any excuse to end them.
One other note of disparity: ‘federally owned’. As I understand such things, and again, I prefer my language plain and strong, the Federal government is a representative body for the Public good; the Public ‘owns’ Wild Equines and Public lands. The Federal government, in this case, the BLM, are the ‘stewards’ of the land and everything on it.
I really resent these ‘advisory boards’ who purport to protect when in reality they’re scrambling madly to cover their own, er, interests.
And proving a point: if Wild Equine Advocates aren’t allowed to stand up for these animals, No One Else Will.
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Lisa, good catch on Nevada wildlife law! Sounds like plain English to me, but then I’m not a lawyer.
Water wars between states and the feds can take a long time to settle, because they’re legally supposed “partner” in agreements. Throw in a couple of Indian tribes and watch the fireworks!
As I understand it, the wild horses and burros are “held in trust” for the American people, just like the public and Indian lands. The DOI/BLM/BIA are tasked with “protection and managment”, but they aren’t “owners”, which is why the sale of public lands in California that recently came to light is yet another example of the BLM flauting the law. When is this rogue agency going to be investigated – top to bottom?
“The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners would strenuously object to any attempt to assign a form of beneficial use of Nevada water for these federally owned (NOT!) animals.”
I think assigning “beneficial use” is their greatest fear. They might have to admit that the wild horses and burros already do, or could in future, benefit the people of the state.
Some folks (even in Nevada!) make money from wild horse and burro excursions, and communities derive income from those who come to see the animals. This is “beneficial use”, and I hope they chime in on this threat to their livelyhoods.
And I think “beneficial use” is one of the big sticking points in Elko re: Madeleine Pickens, and the earlier Winecup/Gamble wild horse proposal (rudely shot down by their own friends and neighbors!). A wild horse “sanctuary” (even if it’s, in reality, Long Term Holding), might bring tourists to the Elko area, and “threaten their way of life” – at least the ranchers’ way of life.
One of the real estate listings for Winecup/Gamble mentions the potential of carving up and selling off one of the West’s remaining great ranches for “the sum of it’s parts”, including sending water to Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, and even LA. It will be interesting to see if the residents of Elko County consider losing that and other water in the area a “threat to their way of life”.
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If we can find address we can send what you found to that Nevada Committee, so they fully understand that they are breaking the Law , and we will prosecute them…..What the Hell is wrong with these people have they lost their damn Minds?????
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