Wild Mustangs

I wrote this article 2 years ago to bring an understanding to what our government does when we're not looking. I'm reposting this here, as it has recently come to the news that oil rights have been leased to drillers in Wyoming in what is said to be national parks. I maintain the thought process that these parks, and all their inhabitants, need to be protected for our future, not drilled and destroyed so someone can drive their SUV to the corner store to get milk. It is my contention that the horses are being murdered so that more of these 'rights' can be sold. Herein is the article in it's entirety:

Everyone who has been in an American history class should know that horses have been an integral part of life for Americans since the Spanish introduced them around 15191. They have done everything from being transportation to bravely fighting in war to being a pet for a child’s 4H project.

For centuries, horses have been allowed to roam the vast landscape of the American West. Popular theory is they were descendants of Cortez’s herd, escaped from him when he explored. In the 1950’s, it was observed that their numbers were dwindling from a combination of disease, abuse, and other atrocities. People rallied around them, fighting to preserve this bit of our history and the lines of the Spanish horses. About twenty years later, they won. The wild horses and burros fell under the protection of the U.S. government in the form of The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. They were to be allowed to roam freely and without the worry of capture. The act, in part, states:

It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.2

People breathed a collective sigh of relief. The horses were protected as long as the act was in place. So far, so good. The act is still in force today.

So, why the uproar? Why does this matter today and why the hell am I writing about it, 38 years after it was signed?

Because. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a federal government entity, is rounding up the horses. They’ve quietly been exterminating them for years. Why? No one knows. There is no rampant disease in the population. The horses are not decimating the land or ecologies where they roam.3 They aren’t wandering past their boarders, destroying private lands. But they are dying. They are being abused by the very entity that was supposed to protect them.

Since 1971, the BLM has been rounding up the horses, around 200,000 of them, and putting them in ‘storage’ facilities. They claim that they are adopting out the horses, yet according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), there are more wild horses in storage facilities than are actually in the wild. Of the $1 billion dollar BLM budget, $600 million is being spent to hold the horses in storage, paying for food and facilities. Evidence suggests that many of the horses end up being shipped to slaughterhouses. It was announced in 2008 that 30,000 horses would be slaughtered due to lack of funding to maintain them. Furthermore, the GAO found that many of the horses should not have been removed from the ranges.2

In just one recent roundup in the Tobin Range Herd Management Area, the BLM is gathering 430 horses, leaving only 23 on the range5. Their goal is to remove 12,000 horses from these ranges, in some instances leaving entire areas horse-free. The cost for such an endeavor? $30 million.3 The systematic removal of horses by BLM from areas set aside for their pastures has emptied 20 million acres of land. They are completely herd-free and unused.

The question has come up: what is going to be done with all the land? There are some who think the horses are being destroyed for land rights. This country has a history of taking land for commercial uses. Are we killing horses for the same reason? Scouring the web, you can find many articles about the gathers, but none of the science behind the numbers of how many horses are being left on the ranges or for their systematic extinction. The numbers seem phenomenally small for the vast acreage available and permanently set aside for the horses. What would need that amount of space, commercially, that the BLM would consider removing that many animals? Mineral rights, wind farms, just about anything. It’s all speculation right now.

Let’s take a look at how the animals are rounded up and what comes of them afterward. Many roundups are completed by contractors who are paid by the head. A typical price is $300 per horse, no matter the condition. During a June 2006 roundup at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, horses were rounded up using a helicopter to chase them towards the corral. For those who don’t know about horses, this is foaling season, which means pregnant mares birth their young around this time. While it is hotly contested by the contractor that ran the roundup, many foals were lost. Pictures show foals who had gotten separated from their mothers, hog-tied and left in the plains to be picked up at a later time. Eight foals were found in the wilderness, five days after the original round up. Five of them were dead. Three were severely dehydrated and required emergency veterinary assistance. It is known that one foal was trampled in the holding pens as it tried desperately to find its mother. All of these foals were merely days old. It was also documented that many pregnant mares aborted their fetuses as they ran from the helicopters or held in corrals. The contractor used for this roundup maintains that none of this happened. To that end, they increased security around the holding pens and roundup areas. Still, concerned horse-lovers found ways in to take pictures. They can be found here: http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/sheldon.html

When talking to Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary in charge of public lands, he has stated that he will sweep the lands clean of wild horses, leaving very few herds. To this end, he would move all the wild mustangs to private ranches on the east coast and sterilize them. KLAS-TV in Las Vegas received a candid email that sums up what BLM feels about the horses. Mr. Cameron Bryce, an ecologist for BLM stated, “Wild horses do not belong in western ecosystems," and that "The 1971 Horse and Burro Act was based on emotions, not science."3

What does all this mean? Well, you can take the approach that they are just animals and we need the land for some reason. You could ignore their mistreatment and the fact that $1 billion per year is being used to eliminate another piece of our national heritage. Or, you can write your congressman and senators, supporting H.R. 1018, The Restore Our American Mustangs Act (ROAM Act). Details on the ROAM Act can be found here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1018&tab=summary The House of Representatives has passed this bill by a vote of 239 to 185. Now, it’s time for the Senate to respond. Find your Senator here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. Urge them to vote yes.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Endnotes:
1 Ben Singer. “A Brief History of the Horse in America”. Canadian Geographic, March/April 2005. 26 October 2009. http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ma05/indepth/default.asp

2 The Library of Congress. “House Report 111-177 - RESTORE OUR AMERICAN MUSTANGS ACT”. 26 October 2009. http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp111SczUN&refer=&r_n=hr177.111&db_id=111&item=&sel=TOC_23612&

3 KLAS TV, “I-Team: BLM to Roundup More Wild Horses”, LasVegasNow.com, 23, October 2009. 26 October 2009. http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11375828

4 USGS Fort Collins Science Center. “Tracking a Western Legacy: The Wild Horse Identification and Management System (WHIMS) . USGS. 26 October 2009. http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/spotlight/horse/

5 U.S. Department of the Interior. “BLM To Gather Excess Wild Horses from the Tobin Range”. Bureau of Land Management News Release. 10 October 2009. 26 October 2009. http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/newsroom/2009/october/blm_to_gather_excess.html

Paganicon, 2011

Paganicon was held this past weekend, March 25-27, 2011, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was leery of going, because I’m horrible around new people, but I was excited to meet with people that thought and believed similarly to myself.

The Pagan community there, as I’m beginning to find out, is not only vast, but active. They hold gatherings, walks, rituals, you name it, they probably have it. Activity is supported by shops and various practitioners, too. And the great part, in my opinion, is the range of experience. I met people who started on their path more than 30 years ago, as well as newbies like myself, who had been searching for the past year or so. To call the Twin Cities a vibrant Pagan community is like saying the sun is warm.

Everyone was very welcoming. I was very impressed by the acceptance of everyone, no matter what their path or beliefs. There were classes or sessions on just about every aspect of Paganism, and in every one of them that I was in, each person was respectful of the thoughts being spoken. There were lively conversations and exchanges of ideas, many of which I had never heard.

Just a sampling of classes that were offered:
Working with Tree Energy
Rites of Passage
Planetary Magick
Lost Gods of the Witches
Pagan Leadership & Community Building
Elemental Magick
Laughter Yoga

One of the things that impressed me was the keynote speaker, John Michael Greer. He is an author of several books, a Freemason, the current Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, as well as an engaging speaker. Overall, he was a wonderful man who loved to sit down and kibitz on a wide variety of topics and was very pleased to do so. Mr. Greer answered several questions for me about something my grandfather was involved in years ago. He was an amazing soul to be around.

Now that I’ve talked it up so much, were there any drawbacks? Anything that made my shy away? The only thing that I can honestly say was a drawback was time. There wasn’t enough time in the day or time in the conference to talk to everyone and do everything. The entire weekend was packed full of interesting topics, wonderful people, and great company.

To top of an amazing weekend, the President of the event found out last year that she was pregnant. We found out Sunday as the conference was drawing to a close that she was in labor and at the hospital. I wish her and her family great blessings with her new little one!

If you get the chance next spring, I would whole heartedly recommend attending. Information on the Twin Cities Pagan Pride is available at http://tcpaganpride.org/info/.