The Bureau of Land Management: Wild Horses

1. The Bureau of Land Management:Wild Horses Jessica Conley

2. What does the BLM do? • BLM removes thousands of animals from the range each year to control herd sizes. • 33,000 wild horses on the range (1) • 22,000 horses age 5 years and older are turned out on pasture at long-term holding facilities where they will live out their lives (1) • 8,000 potentially adoptable horses are held in short-term corral facilities until they are placed in private homes (1) • total enacted Wild Horse and Burro Program budget is $75.8 million (2) • Wild horses have virtually no natural predators and their herd size can double about every four years (2).

3. What are the Controversies? • Wild Horse Round-up • Holding Pens/Treatment of Horses • Wild Horse birth control • Wild Horse Adoption

4. WildHorse Round-up For Round-up: • Wild horse populations will grow out of control without round-ups • A large population would lead to destruction of land • Without land the horses would starve and die off • Destruction of land would also harm other wild life • Herd population has grown since the BLM took control in 1971 • Extinction is possible without the BLM • Low mortality rate during round-up (1% - gather-related deaths) Resources: (3), (4), (6)

5. Wild Horse Round-up Against Round-up: • Horses are being killed in the round-ups • Horses have a right to freely live on the range • It is better for the horse to become naturally extinct than to be round-up • Some people argue that cattle ranchers and others want to open up the land for other purposes • The BLM is mismanaging the horses • "They are managing them to extinction.“ - Founder of Respect 4 Horses • Helicopters run the horses for miles and miles • Horses are brutally and unnecessarily exhausted • Wranglers misuse electric prods, beat horses, slam gates on horses, and perform other inhumane acts. Resources: (8)

6. Round-up Incident: Calico • About 3,000 horses roamed on more than half a million acres • The BLM authorized a round-up of 2,500 • The round-up stopped at 1,900 because there were less horses than the BLM has thought • Horses were damaging the vegetation and resources in the area so a round-up was required according to BLM. • During this round-up about 100 horses died • Mares aborted foals due to stress • Some horses were in “poor condition” • The rest of the horses died from injuries sustained during helicopter round-up or from holding pens Resources: (5)

7. Holding Pens/Treatment • 20 long-term holding facilities; majority in Oklahoma • Most of the captured BLM horses are in these long-term facilities • Tall grass prairies • No veterinary care • “Stress-free” compared to living on the range • Range life: • Locating food and water • Mares give birth until old age • Stallions fighting • Short-term holding facilities hold horses longer than intended which leads to problems with controlling and containing mud and manure. • Small pens design for short-term holding being used for long-term holding. Resources: (7)

8. Wild Horse birth control For Birth control/Castration: • Reduce breeding • "We're on an unsustainable path," said Tom Gorey, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. • The range designated as wild horse and burro habitat can sustain just 26,600 animals. • The population now exceeds 38,000, including about 5,500 burros. • This is causing ecological damage: • herds trample streams and strip vegetation • destroying habitat needed by other animals Against Birth control/Castration: • Castration reduces stallions’ fighting instincts and will change herd dynamics and their social structure • Some worry that the vaccine will become less effective and the treated mares will produce high-risk foals out of season. Resources: (9), (1)

9. Wild Horse Adoption • In the past 37 years, more than 235,000 horses have been adopted by private owners through the BLM (1). • The BLM performs thousands of post-adoption compliance checks each year. • Better option than euthanasia or holding pens, but bargain prices and inexperience owners can lead to problems • Some owners have problems training the horses • "The problem with the BLM adoption program is that people are attracted to the low cost of these horses," she says. "But when they get them home, most people don't know what to do with them.“ Resources: (1)

10. Euthanize Unwanted Wild Horses? • The BLM has not chosen this path due to the public’s negative reaction to euthanasia • According to the BLM, they have the right to euthanize • Should they euthanize the horses that are unadoptable, ill, or old?

11. Questions/Concerns/Discussion

12. Resources: • http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13658 • http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/history_and_facts/quick_facts.html • http://rocknrodeogirl.hubpages.com/hub/The-Debate-about-Wild-Horse-Roundups • http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-03/us/wild.horses.government.roundup_1_wild-horses-horses-and-burros-herd-management-area?_s=PM:US • http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/pdf/death-report.pdf • http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/videos/video-controversy-surrounding-wild-horse-roundup • http://www.thehorse.com/Video.aspx?vID=578 • http://www.havasunews.com/articles/2011/12/10/news/doc4ee2fc9f7e556484278843.txt • Plan for Wild Horses Sparks Controversyhttp://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpps/news/plan-for-wild-horses-sparks-controversy-dpgonc-20120103-fc_16780096#ixzz1nXjcHCXJ