For those people that like these horses, you all better start adopting. Is it ludacris to have more BLM horses in holding areas than on the rangelands? Sounds like poor herd management by the experts.




With costs up, BLM considers euthanizing wild horses
Associated Press
Originally published 01:13 p.m., June 30, 2008
Updated 01:35 p.m., June 30, 2008

Photo by Essdras M Suarez, The Rocky, 1999

Bob Anderson, a wrangler from Rock Springs, Wyo., observes a recently captured herd of wild horses in the Red Desert of Wyoming in 1999. The roundup was part of the Bureau of Land Management's adoption and relocation program.

RENO, Nev. — Faced with too many wild horses on the range and in holding facilities, federal officials are considering drastic policy changes that include ending roundups and euthanizing animals.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Henri Bisson said today there is an overpopulation of wild horses on public lands and the agency can no longer afford to care for the numbers of mustangs that have been rounded up.

The number of horses adopted by the public has dropped off, leaving the BLM with more animals than it can care for, he said.

One option would be to stop all roundups — something the agency said would lead to "ecological disaster." "The other option is to use some combination of the (adoption program) and euthanasia, which would be really difficult to do," Bisson told The Associated Press.

"Our goal is supposed to be about healthy horses on healthy ranges. But we are at the point we need to have a conversation with people about pragmatically what can we do given the financial constraints of our program to meet the goals we have," he said before meeting with area horse advocates.

Bisson was in Reno to brief the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. He said there are 32,000 wild horses on the range in 10 Western states. About half of those are in Nevada.

BLM has set a target "appropriate management level" of horses at 27,000.

Some 33,000 more horses are in holding facilities, where most are made available for adoption. But those deemed too old or otherwise unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities to live out their lives — some for 15 to 20 years.

Last week the BLM said it was seeking bids from people around the country to provide pasture and care for 500 to 2,500 horses taken from the range that are considered unadoptable.

Caring for so many animals is crippling the agency's budget, Bisson said.

Last year about $22 million of the entire horse program's $39 million budget was spent on holding horses in agency pens. Next year the costs are projected to grow to $26 million with an overall budget that is being trimmed to $37 million, Bisson said.

Continuing current practices would require a budget of $58 million next year, escalating to $77 million in 2012, BLM estimated.

"We have a responsibility to balance the budget, so we are going to have to make some tough choices," Bisson said. "We don't want to do this at the last minute. So we need to have a conversation with horse advocates and try to share the pain a little bit so people understand that if we have to make those tough changes it's not because we want to."

The horse management program had been successful until recently, according to the agency. But in the face of an economic downturn that means higher costs for fuel as well as feed, adoption rates have dropped off significantly over the past year with no improvement in sight, Bisson said.

"I think the high price of energy, the economy, the price of hay is having a huge impact on our program. People across America now need to make a choice: Do I buy another horse or buy gas for my pickup?" Bisson said.

Bisson said none of the alternatives will be popular.

If roundups are ended he expects an outcry from horse protection advocates and from sheep and cattle ranchers who see the mustangs as competition for feed on the open range. If horses are euthanized, the outrage will come from horse protection groups, he said.

"Those are difficult choices to make," Bisson said. "But the law allows us to utilize those choices or some combination of that."

At least three roundups are planned in the coming weeks to remove about 1,700 wild horses in Nevada, where the BLM says ongoing drought has left dwindling forage and water for an overabundance of animals.

I am glad to see our tax dollars hard at work again. Did anyone consider gelding every male they take from the range, even if they are released back, thats one that won't reproduce. They did a trial many years ago with a birth control agent for mares that was unsucessful.

I guess I'll be the first one to go out on a limb, but euthanizing unfit horses is not a bad idea, considering the space limitations and the cost. With approx. 30,000 horses, I don't think the Mustangs will be on the endangered speices list.

Adoptions are down, imagine that! You can't give domestic horses away, why would anyone want a wild one? If they have an adoption in our area, I want to go, just to see what, if anything the horses bring.

I'm for the gelding option too, even though, as a Canadian, I don't really feel I have a stake in this. Would also make for more effective management of the gene pool. You have to wonder though, when Bisson says there will be "outrage" from horse protection groups, why these groups fail to see reality of what must be done and accept those realities, instead of merely criticizing when something happens they don't like. Maybe they need to be more like horses with the blinders off - seeing ALL around themselves, rather than just the narrow views the blinkers provide.

This is exactly what we tried to warn the Anti-Slaughter people would happen. Modern horses are an invasive species. There are no pedators to 'cull' the herds. Eventually there will be a die off. It will happen it's just a matter of time.
Disney was NOT an expert on animals. Bambi was a CARTOON. Wakeup and smell the horse apples.

You're right! BLM has been mismanaging the horses fo a long time now, ignoring the 1971 Act, removing hoses from HA's that were set aside for them, is jus one example of many.

http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/pdfs/BLM_letter.pdf

NW- You stated "Sounds like poor herd management by the experts."

I am not disagreeing that it is poor management. Though, who are the experts mentioned? I do not work for the Dept. of Interior nor USDA (except on joint projects) but I would like to mention those folks are governed by Congress and the Legislature which in turn are supposed to be doing what the voters you and I and millions of other people want and our tax dollars pay for. Whose to blame? The 20 million people who believe Walt Disney is the sole source of information on for feral horse and wildlife management or those who are working for BLM, USFS, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service and being told by Governement what they can and can't do or those who make their living from the land and sit back and apathetically watch it being destroyed while complaining about what a dire state everything is in?

Just my two cents.

With the economy the way it is; the government isn't going to get rid of horses. I showed a 13 month old filly today. She lead, pick up feet, had six kids hanging all over her. Got on her mother, that hasn't been fooled with since Oct. 07 and she stood calm to be mounted, walked in circles and stood calm to be dismounted. She is not broke, saddled twice, last year, 3yrs old. 13 month old filly was saddled and left for 30 min. with saddle on, all she did was graze. 3yr. old mare has 2 month old dun colt with her. The Looker said they would get a trailer for the yearling and call us back. Has not happened yet; Asking $250.00 yearling, anyone with horses knows what a loss this is. My husband wants to keep all 12 after this experience. I was so proud of the way they behaved with strangers, you could not of asked for more.

I was watching White Cloud, PBS documentry the other night for the 3rd time. Your heart goes out to the will they have to survive. If there are to many of them on the range; they come to you as our mare Patience did off the Nevada range; a walking skeleton with a healthy 3 month old colt, this was in 1992. The more things change the more they remain the same; there had been a four year drought; Patience was barely four when we got her. We enjoyed the Mustangs for 5 years and sold them to a local farmer.

My heart breaks for the wild herds; because a few bad years will reduce the numbers and no one wants to adopt with the economy being what it is. The numbers will have to be reduced or they will die on the range of over population. Which is better? Lets ask PETA. No one on this forum wants to see healthy horses die; but there are hard choices to be made and the government is too soft to make them.

Ending the slaughter horse market was a mistake; we will all pay for.

Graywolf, I think you nailed it. Ending slaughter was a mistake and it is proving itself. Dead is dead whether it is at the hands of a do-gooder "rescuing" too many and then starving them to death because they can't afford the feed, sufffering a slow agaonizing death in nature because the govt mismanaged the herds, or from a single shot in a slaughter house.

Now if it was me given a choice as to how I would choose to go, personally give me the one shot to my head. Leave the suffering to someone else.

Read this:

http://www.horsenation.info/news/AUMs.html

I do, however, agree that if and when a given HMA is suffering from lack of food/water, that a round-up and adoption might be in order. HOWEVER, if the horses were allowed to roam & migrate on their originally and legal rangelands alloted them by the 1971 Act, starvation and lack of water would not be a problem.

So you all understand.
With no predators the horses will continue growing in population until they out grow their allotted land no matter how big that piece of land is. With no market they can’t be rounded up and given away much less sold. There will reach a time when they will eat most, if not all, of the food available to them. Then they start to die. Whole bunches of them will die. It's just part of nature. So choose how you want them to die, it's your choice.

First, I would recommend BLM continues it's use of PZP, which is one of 3 sterilization drugs they have tested on Mares. Now I know that Coin stated it was unsuccessful, but they really never gave it a chance. It HAS been used successfully on the Assitigue and NC ponies for a number of years, making gathers nearly obsolete.

Next, I'd like to recommend the capture and geld any stallions that are old, crippled, or carry bad genetic lines that cause conformational problems ie; crooked legs, etc. That would be cheaper then gelding alot of them, while at the same time leaving some good stallions on the range as we wouldn't want to obliterate the herds by stopping all breeding entirely...there will always be foal losses.

Aditionally, allow more, and hunt less mountain lions living on HA's...and yes, even wolves...two natural wild horse preditors.

Get rid of fencing that blocks the horses from reaching already available ponds and water recourses on federal and BLM lands, and offer ranchers that not only allow, but help wild horses, a tax break, or some other sort of monitary reward for doing so.

As for the 30,000 horses currently in holding pens...temperarily stop gathering new ones and put more into getting the holding pen horses trained (ie; prison training programs) and adopted out.
Humanely euthanise the old ones, crippled ones, or those deemed to wild and unstable to ever gentle.
Resume gathers only after the holding pen horses numbers have been brought down via adoption, and yes, even euthanizia...but only as a last resort, not first resort.

Now I know my thoughts and feelings may need some revamping, but at least I am trying to think of some optional ideas. I have a really hard time believing that BLM seems to think there needs to be 2600 acres per horse.

Just my 2 cents.

Wow MB. That horse nation article was wrong on so many levels.

You are correct in the assumption that it will take a multi-faceted approach to "solve" the wild horse issue. I do disagree on a couple points.

You can not compare NC and the Assatague herds to those in the Great Basin, where the majority of the sh!tters are. The terrain is much harsher, the territory is larger and a lovely little tree called a juniper makes it difficult to dart vs. round up the animals.

Additionally, we are talking states in which agriculture specifically beef cows ranks in the top three for economics only following mining and tourism. I don't know what you do for a living but how would feel if someone came to your work and said " Sorry, we messed up and can't get our sh!t together so the rest of the US has turned on you and we are now taking your job, your culture, and oh yeah for good measure you will probably lose the ranch which has been in your family for 4 generations. "

Increasing mountain lion and wolf populations are not going to come close to even contributing to the issue. Which is an easier snack- a feral horse, or a deer, or better yet a rancher's cow? The wolves are a non-issue they were brought back into YNP and have reeked havoc on the surrounding acreage ever since while doing nothing to reduce the elk and buffalo populations the main excuse for bringing in a large predator. These animals do not stay where they are put they roam and have territories which move especially when easier pickings are found. They seem to have a fondness for peoples best border collies, cats, and some old gentleman also- Sorry this is really personal for me.

Getting rid of fences around water sources. I wish I had the pictures from Sheldon Refuge before and after they fenced the horses out. Horses mangle watersheds, cows do not have as great of an impact because they are managed. Another example on private land fencing out horses -I have seen meadows appear out of what look like a sagebrush flat. These horses had at least 200 square miles to roam and search out food but they camped on the spring.

People need to pull their heads out. Open back up slaughtering and get some market for domestic horses. Use some form of birth control preferably sterilization and quit trying to take away from peoples livelihoods you have no idea about. If they want horses so damn bad shipping back to NYC and turn them loose in the big refuge of Central Park, with wolves and lions to control their habits.

We just had our New Hampshire adoption and it was 100% sold out. 70 animals, 60 Mustangs and 10 Burros. All gone around 2PM on Sat. All that were left was 7 Mustangs that went into foster care with volunteers and those are now adopted. Prices were pretty good. Highest was $550.00 as I remember, most going for between $125.00 and $300.00
PA was also a good adoption. All but 20 adopted out. We did not get as much PR out on that one as we would have liked to. NJ at the end of this month and so far looks like a lot of interest. Had a meet the mustangs day last weekend there, very well attended and many people asked for adoption forms.
More and more people are finding out about Mustangs and just how good of a horse they are. A guy down the street from us sold all his breed horses and is replacing them with Mustangs. He has 4 now and as soon as they become titled, he is getting 4 more. I told him about the sale authority Mustangs and he is looking into that as well.
I doubt we will ever adopt them all out, but on the East coast we have made a lot of progress with education and showing our trained Mustangs to horse people here, and they are pretty impressed with them.

Lets see 70 mustangs out of 30,000 that leaves 29,930 so if you could have 247 successful sales then the problem would be solved. On the East and West Coast this is something people read about, shrug their shoulders and wonder why the Feds don't just take care of the problem over night. Out West it's wrecking the land, ruining agriculture and destroying people's lives.
You want to bet that the Feds are lossing a couple of thousand dollars per animal sold?

Well that's over 100 animals that are no longer part of the problem from just 2 adoptions. There are many of us who spend countless hours, miles, and our own money to get mustangs adopted out. I am not one to sit around and complain. I tend to get out there and try to do something about it and the best thing I can do is get as many Mustangs and Burros into private care as possible.

No the adoption program does not make a profit. It never was intended to. The 1971 act sets aside funds to protect the animals. The adoption program came along in 1973 to get animals into private care and to recoup some of the money.

The 1971 act also allows euthanizing, the BLM has never used it and will only turn to it as a last resort. That is a very slippery slope. As you all know already just the mention of it gets the public up in arms.

The wheels for outcry are already in motion. Movements to repeal the 1930s and 1976 multi use acts are being looked into by groups as well as lawmakers. This would remove all privately owned cattle off public lands. The bill to repeal the Burns rider of 2004 has already passed congress and is in the senate now waiting for vote. Word is that it will pass with little debate.

John Q Public is not a rancher nor a horseman for the most part and will in no way stand for privately owned cattle pushing federally protected animals off of public land. He will never believe that 30,000 mustangs do more damage then 4,000,000 cattle do. The politicians can't side with the ranchers or the media will crucify them. They all saw what happened to Conrad Burns and that rider just made it legal to sell mustangs with no restrictions on use.

Opening slaughter again will do nothing to help as once the Burns rider is repealed it will be once again illegal to sell mustangs for slaughter. It would indeed help with the domestic horse problem, at least until the horse prices went back up. Then the breeders would kick back into high gear and in a few years we would have the same problem all over again.

It just seems that no matter how you look at this problem, things don't look good. I have no answer and don't pretend to. As I said before, the thing that I can do personally is get as many as possible adopted and out of the problem. Sitting around complaining and placing blame is just not me.

Word is out that euth will not be even talked about until at least the start of next year. The government has been flooded with emails, letters and calls against it and they will be looking at other options, euth for the most part is off the table.

The NJ adoption was a huge win. 51 animals adopted out. Only 9 were not adopted. Plus there were 17 INTERNET adoption animals there being picked up. I was not able to go to the OH adoption, so I don't know the numbers from that one.

More and more people are finding out just how wonderful the Mustang is and adoptions are once again starting to pick up. For awhile we were lucky to adopt 5 at an adoption. Now we either sell out or only have a very few left at the end.

While I was in NJ my Wife loaned my Mustang Vinny out to a friend for a trail ride. When they got back she could not stop talking about Vinny. She has been riding for 30 years and had never ridden a Mustang before. She said Vinny was the best trail horse she had ever been on and about the best horse she ever rode period. Wife said Vinny looked like a 4X4 mud racer when they got back. Just covered in mud. The trail is rather tough and has deep mud, water, downed trees, stone walls, and swampy areas. Then it opens up into nice trails, then you have to go back through the tough part again to get home. Out of the 6 horses on the ride, Vinny was the only one that never balked or refused any of the obstacles. He just jumped right in and kept on going. They were out for 4 hours. The other 5 horses were beat, but Vinny had a date with another friend in the afternoon for some hunter jumper practice. I use him for mounted shooting and trail riding, but we let our friends daugther show him in hunter jumper events. She rode him for 2 hours. The Wife trail rode him the next day, and I rode him when I got home from NJ. At 15 Vinny is just getting into his prime it seems.

That's great news about the adoption Hans! At the WMC, all the mustangs were also adopted out
After averaging the bids of the 26 mustangs, the average came out to be around $1800, which in turn will be used to help promote other adoptions and offer more events and the like. More and more people are discovering that these horses aren't the "rangerats" and "killer horses" they've been made out to be. The secret is our and I couldn't be happier for the mustangs!

Vinnie sounds like an awesome ambassador! (but then, I don't know of many that aren't, lol)

We have a gal up in Cody, WY that is currently raising funds to get her mustang which has been excepted to compete in the NATIONAL Barrel Racing compition to be held in Georgia...in Oct., I think.
I know she'll do well If you'd be interested in helping, email me privately...they are raffeling off a pig, wrapped and ready for the freezer.

Again thanks for the update and for all you do for the wild one!

Lona,
I'd be glad to donate to her. We need more champion Mustangs out there.
There was an 11 year old girl in NJ that took her Mustang from adoption and only 2 months off the range to her first blue ribbon in hunter jumper in just 6 weeks.
They have won just about every event they have entered since and are beating breed horses worth up to $100,000.00 on a regular basis.
Vinny is a pretty good spokes horse. He has about 10 people coming by every week to meet him and learn about Mustangs. He is great with kids and loves to jump. He has won his share of blues in hunter jumper as well. He is also a great mounted shooting horse and an unbeatable trail horse.
We are taking both Mustangs on a 20 mile all breed trail ride on the 16th. We have not ridden with these folks before so we will have lots of Mustang info available for any that want it. We normally have about a dozen or so that ask us for info after the trail rides as they can't believe that they are not tired after the ride. I always tell them if they want to wear out a Mustang, they better bring thier lunch as it is going to take awhile. These horses are used to going 30 miles or so just to get something to eat. A 20 mile trail ride is just a little walk for them. In fact we are ridding them to the trail ride, and then home again after it. That adds 10 miles to the day.

Thanks Hans! Oh, and I stand corrected, lol....Dillon qualified for the WORLD Championship Barrel Racing, not the National as I had mentioned earlier.

I just sent off an email to my friend, Jan, who is helping her, and asked her to resend me the information, address and photo so I could share it with you as I accidently deleted it...but I alo seem t have lost your private email address...so if you can, email me at my yahoo address if you still have mine, then I can just forward to you when I receive it.

In the meantime, here is wat was posted inmy yahoogroup:

"I am helping a friend of mine (Nichole Baggs) raise money to go to
Georga this fall. Nichole and her Mustang Dallas qualified to compete
in the World Barrel Racing Championship this fall in Georga. Nichole
is a mother of 2 and is from Cody, WY. Dallas is a mustang from
McCullough Peaks HMA. Nichole has done all the training on this
horse...what an accomplishment to get to this level of performance.

The raffle will be for a full pig, cut, wrapped and curred to the
winners request. I realize most of you live outside of the area, and
it would not be cost effective to have 300 lbs of meat shipped to your
location. If you win the raffle, you can request they just draw again
till someone else wins. The tickets are $5. If you are interested in
supporting this Mustang in her plans to attend...pls email me
privately and I will let you know where you can send your donation.
Should something unforscene occur that would prevent Nichole from
attending, the money will be donated to another non-profit Mustang
organization.
Thanks,
Jan"


And boy do I hear you on the trails, lol. Every year in June I host a benefit trailrid for St Jude Children's Research Hospital..and since I'm only 4 miles from where I hold it, we often ride there and back on our mustangs...while other riders trailer in and back...I've seen many of their horses loaded up after our mid day lunch and never finish the ride because they are to spent to do it. Ours are still ready for more even after the ride is over and we are back home.....and I've never once had to lunge them to get the "fresh" off of them before a ride either...I also love how they can handle whatever nature wants to throw in their faces, lol.

I just remembered your post from way back. In Oct at Glasgow KY we had an adoption. The numbers were 42 out of 76. Not one of the best adoptions we have had this year, but it was over 50% and I know KY is in a real bind horse wise so I am very happy with those numbers. I think it was a first come first served adoption so the price per animal would have been $125.00
Just thought I would let you know as you asked about it.
Hans