Calico Round Up Ends Feb 5, 2010

Broken Horses, Broken Promises

Calico Round Up Ends with 1922 Mustangs Captured

Death Toll 39 To Date

The Bureau of Land Management has pulled the plug on the massive roundup of wild horses in the Calico Complex. This remote and starkly beautiful area in northwestern Nevada was home to one of the largest wild, free-roaming herds of wild horses in the United States. 39 horses are reported dead as a result of the winter roundup. This does not include the 25-30 mares that have aborted their late term foals in the feedlot style facility outside Fallon, Nevada. The death toll is expected to rise as BLM begins preparing and processing the horses next week (freeze-branding, gelding of stallions, etc.). However, the public may not know what happens from here on out, as BLM has decided not to provide veterinary reports on the cause of death in the new Fallon facility, according to BLM manager, John Neil. 

Despite a public statement by Don Glenn (December 7 at the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Reno) in which he said that the public is welcome to view the roundups at any time (hence no need for a humane observer), the public was allowed only limited access to watch the Calico roundup. Viewing was limited to Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays by appointment only. Only 10 observers were allowed on any one day.  Even on the days the public was allowed to attend, viewers were required to leave between 1 and 2 in the afternoon, even though the Cattoor contract crew and helicopters continued to round up wild horses. Close access was denied for the last two weeks of the operation and injuries could not be detected or documented. BLM has referred to the visitors as “anti-gather advocates”. The contractors admitted that 30 wild horses captured on January 31 were left overnight in a crowded capture corral without water due to muddy conditions which prevented trucks from accessing the capture sight.

Now BLM sights are set on the wild horses of the Eagle Complex in the mountains of eastern Nevada. The area is larger than the state of Rhode Island, yet the number of mustangs allowable according to BLM is 100. At the same time, the number of privately-owned welfare cattle allowed is over 2,700.

 --The Cloud Foundation

NV officials propose sending "feral" wild horses to auction

Nevada is home to many of our country's last free roaming wild horses. Despite the current economic slump, this is a state where tourism has flourished causing development to sprawl. In one such case, wild horses; native to the lands have been labeled feral by the NV Dept of Ag. The labeling in NV enables officials to round up these horses and send them to auction with no protection from the slaughter pipeline. Neighboring communities are lacking fences that should have been built when the area was developed. Cattle in the area seem to be contained and managed, yet officials have not been willing to step up and take responsibility for the protection of these horses. Much like the wild horses under the charge of the BLM and the Forest Service, these horses are guilty of not paying heed to the road signs that mark the invisible boundaries. America is in an uproar over the removal of thousands of wild horses across the west by the BLM; now comes the Dept of Ag. Will enough Americans rise up to challenge these atrocities?

One solution to save these so called "feral" wild horses is to raise funds for fencing; an expense that should have been covered with funds received by the local government during the development of the area. In the meantime, exposure and support is imperative for the sake protecting these wild horses.

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NV Depart of Ag to to Sell Horses by the Pound?

The recent announcement of plans by the Nevada Department of Agriculture to remove 24-25 wild horses from the Damonte Ranch development in southeast Reno, Nevada has brought to light several issues that must be addressed.

The area in question has been used by wild horses as grazing lands for over a hundred years. The expansion of our city has slowly converted these grazing lands to residential and commercial properties thus complicating the issue of human/animal cohabitation. Who is responsible for creating the problem and for solving it?

Scrutinizing the Damonte Ranch development points us to the answers. Along with grassy lawns and greenbelts providing a food source which draws grazing animals by their very nature,development laid a web of roadways precipitating horse/human encounters dangerous to both. Protective fencing was apparently not part of the plan even though such fencing was removed to accomplish the build out.

City and County agencies were certainly aware of the need for mitigating these dangers in the planning and permitting stages of the project. Again, mitigation was not addressed.

The state of Nevada has laws that speak specifically to the issues at hand. These laws have been ignored in too many instances.

As a result of the failure to address mitigation of a known consequence of this development, the Nevada Department of Agriculture will soon place 25 horses up for bid, preferably to be purchased by a single buyer. They will be sold by the pound. An average bid of 3-4 cents per pound commonly results in transport to Mexican or Canadian slaughter facilities.

It is our position that the primary responsibility to the public and to the animals lays squarely on the lap of our City and County agencies and the Developers who are involved.

Wild horses don’t read street signs. They don’t understand that us two legged critters have claimed their land. Just like us, they must eat and drink to survive. They are the innocent ones..... we are the guilty.

Carrol Abel

President

Hidden Valley Wild Horse