Wild horse allies: BLM officials stacked against them

RENO -- Wild horse protection advocates are accusing the federal Bureau of Land Management of stacking a public advisory board with friends of cattle ranchers, and warning that the panel is increasingly sympathetic to the idea of slaughtering excess animals in over­populated herds on U.S. lands in the West.

BLM officials deny the charges and are fighting back in uncharacteristically strong terms, saying the activists are resorting to dishonest scare tactics to help push their "anti-management agenda by any means possible."

"Their apocalypse-now, sky-is-falling rhetoric is flagrantly dishonest and is clearly aimed at preventing the BLM from gathering horses from over­populated herds on the range," BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said. "The BLM is not 'managing for extinction.' There is no conspiracy to put down healthy horses that are in off-the-range holding facilities."

Leaders of a coalition of more than 45 wild horse advocacy groups wrote to BLM Director Bob Abbey on Thursday to "object in the strongest of terms" to recent appointments to the nine-member Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board.

In one case, the agency rejected a request for reappointment from an Ohio woman who opposes the slaughter of horses and replaced her with a Colorado woman who believes that option has to be on the table, given the spiraling cost of housing horses and burros gathered from the range in 10 Western states.

"It is apparent that the BLM is stacking this citizen advisory board with representatives of special interests that stand to profit from the capture and slaughter of America's wild horses," wrote Suzanne Roy, director of the North Carolina-based American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

"Instead of releasing wild horses back to their legal homes, BLM seems to be setting the stage for a lethal solution," said Craig Downer, a wildlife ecologist for The Cloud Foundation based in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The horse advocates leveled similar criticism last year at a National Academy of Sciences committee BLM has commissioned to conduct a two-year review of the horse program.

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Jack.Barclay Feb. 13, 2012 | 1:05 p.m. Report Abuse

   @gene--What damage? What harm? I don't know, how much does it cost to repair a damaged watershed? What harm does it have when horses eat all of the perennial plants in a burn area? What harm does it have when horses trample a spring until it no longer flows? What harm is there in horses destroying all of the riparian vegetation? What harm is there in horses transporting weeds in to new locations?
   
   I guess if you live in Vegas or some other metro area, and you are not the wildlife that suffers at the hooves of the horses, then I guess there is no harm.
   
   Alvinjh--you might have a point if we were argueing the introduction of a non-native plant to fullfill a lost ecological function. However, with horses and plants such as Bromus spp. the effects are well known and there is no argument to be made. Horses are not native and do not fullfill any lost ecological function.
   
   @all--cattle are managed, horses are not. Cattle are round up and moved multiple times every year. If this was done with horses, there would be no problems. Horses cannot be managed according to the WHBA of '73.

2. genebuddymaxwell Feb. 13, 2012 | 8:24 a.m. Report Abuse

   Stomper, yes I agree. What a waste of our tax dollars. Just leave the horses alone. What damage are they doing and who are they hurting? I have seen them east of Reno near Fernley, they were way the heck away from everybody. If you don't want to waste tax dollars "housing" these animals, then leave them alone! Geez, freakiin' common sense! Don't blame the advocates, they aren't the ones who started this boondoggle. BLM is big government...I thought we were against government meddling!

3. Stomper Feb. 13, 2012 | 8:01 a.m. Report Abuse

   What a waste of our tax dollars! The horse population needs to be managed like all other wildlife on our public lands. There is currently no lack of this species on our public lands, yet we allow a small group of "Advocates" to waste our money / resources because of their personal love affair with this species. Sure wish we could force these "Advocates" to pay for the millions of dollars it costs me and you to house the overflow of this species.

4. Alvinjh Feb. 12, 2012 | 11:26 p.m. Report Abuse

   KLG...are ranchers native? I have nothing against ranchers per se, but that non native argument includes almost everyone and everything on the face of it--and it absolutely includes everyone and everything if you go back far enough.
   
   This argument is about power--who makes the rules about who gets what. Horses are not an economic resource other than as a reminder of the romance and freedom of another time.
   
   Some of us like that. I also like seeing free range cattle enjoying a decent life before they are harvested as opposed to living their entire life in an 40" barn stall till they taken.
   
   But cattle have allies--their owners who sell them for food. When horse are viewed as acceptable table meat they'll have similar allies. Till then, save the native vs feral arguments for the so called scientists using that as a basis for removing non native species.
   
   For a more detailed argument about that non-sense read the article in "Nature" about "Ecology Biased Against Non-Native Species?."
   
   Here's a link--
   
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110608153538.htm
   
   and a synopsis...
   
   
   "Mark Davis, lead author and professor with Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, says that a nativism perspective -- native species equals good, non-native species equals bad -- has dominated conservation efforts over the past few decades. He points to a number of ecologists, "including those who rightly could be called legendary for their contributions to the field over the past decades, who believe there has been way too much ideology and not enough good science associated with the anti-non-native species perspective."

5. KLG Feb. 12, 2012 | 10:45 p.m. Report Abuse

   Budrock, you said so yourself, horses are not native to Nevada; obviously it is not their homeland! Maybe people like you should realize the role the cattle rancher plays in feeding America and maybe you should appreciate all of the hard work he or she puts in to provide this valuable food to our country. It is a hard job with long hours, no paid retirement or benefits, and no comfortable office. Most ranchers love horses; afterall, they make their living using one. The problem is too many! Also millions of dollars are being spent on a problem that needs a solution - - fast!

6. budrock1 Feb. 12, 2012 | 10:12 p.m. Report Abuse

   Spaniards brought horses from Europe centuries ago. It is their homeland, not the cattle's. They should be allowed to remain free on their historical grazing lands and continue as a historic symbol of the West!! Horses have 2 major predators - mountain lions and...MAN!! Cattle industry in greedy and cares for nothing but putting cash in their pockets!

7. Islander Feb. 12, 2012 | 9:43 p.m. Report Abuse

   So we should allow the "natural" residents, the horses that the ranchers have let loose on the range so as not to pay grazing fees for them, run free and wipe out the feed that the deer, elk, wild sheep and others need to survive. Since the horses have no natural predatory control on there population, they will soon be the only "wild" animal left in the west.

8. Oscar.Jones Feb. 12, 2012 | 8:58 p.m. Report Abuse

   WHAT??? The BLM possibly being influenced by self serving interests? We must maintain the HEALTH of the range. That means getting rid of pesky free-range horses, so cattle can have the grass. This move has been going on forever between Cattle Ranchers, and Sheep Ranchers. If you ever watch the old westerns on TV. And, the wealthy, ruthless Cattle barons buy off Politicians, and Agencies designated to "Protect" the land. Just ask the President of the Cattlemens Association.

9. William924 Feb. 12, 2012 | 7:42 p.m. Report Abuse

   Who was there 1st, the wild horses or the cattle? BLM is about the most useless organization on the planet, except fot the UN.

10. Bob_Realist Feb. 12, 2012 | 7:22 p.m. Report Abuse

    Oops, I think there were some errors (typos) in my comment but I'll have to wait until it is approved to make corrections.

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