August 05, 2011. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is under fire again after issuing a proposal to remove horses from the 38,000 acre Pryor Mountain Wild-Horse Range (PMWHR), in Wyoming. Herd numbers, says the BLM, which currently sit at 150 horses and 17 foals, far surpass the Appropriate Management Level (AML) of 90-120 allowed. The proposal to roundup wild-horses next year, has again drawn criticism from the Colorado-based, Cloud Foundation.
Public input requested by BLM
The BLM, in the first stage of developing an Environmental Assessment (EA), is seeking public input on the proposed 2012 roundup. The EA, which is used to determine and analyze the effects of all roundups, also evaluates gathering methods and capture techniques. The BLM believes that current wild-horse numbers in the PMWHR, will exert unnecessary stress on both wild-horses and land, unless the herd is maintained within the limits established.
The Cloud Foundation, which recently lost an appeal for an injunction to prevent a wild-horse roundup in Nevada, says that the BLM is once again, jumping the gun before exhausting other options. Ginger Kathrens, the founder of the advocacy group named after a palomino stallion living in the Pryor Mountains of Montana, told Brett French of The Billings Gazette, that a reversible one-year birth control vaccine should be given time to work.
Mounting criticism over wild-horse roundups and methods used
The BLM has continued to face mounting criticism over wild-horse roundups and the nature of them from several wild-horse advocates, including the Wild Horse Preservation Organization in North Carolina, who believe roundups to be an incredibly cruel and stressful method of managing wild-horse herds.
Despite a pledge by the BLM in Feb. 2011, to reduce the number of wild-horses removed from ranges across the US, roundups are currently underway in the Triple B, Maverick Medicine and Antelope Valley Herd Management Areas of Eastern Nevada. Another roundup is planned on Utah wild lands in September of this year. A previous 2009 roundup in the Pryor Mountains, proved controversial when 57 horses were removed from the range via helicopter.
Recently, the Interior Department dropped plans to castrate wild horses in southwestern Wyoming, after the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign filed a lawsuit. The planned roundup included 100 percent of horses in the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas. The mustangs would have then been replaced with a non-reproducing herd of females and stallions.
The Billings Field Office of the BLM is inviting public comment until August 30, on the proposed Wyoming roundup, scheduled to take place at any point during the 2012 calendar year. To do so, submit your comment in writing to: Jim Sparks, Field Manager, BLM Billings Field Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101, or by fax to (406) 896-5281.
Elizabeth Batt - Elizabeth Batt is a former large animal nurse, certified NREMT, lover of equines and conservationist.
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