Wild Horses at Risk – Need Written Comments and Attendance at Meetings in Rock Springs
September 4, 2013Why Wild Horses?
October 16, 2013The Bureau of Land Management is currently revising the Resource Management Plans for Rawlins and Rock Springs. These management plans provide the template upon which public lands in these areas are managed for many years to come.
Today is the last day to provide comments on the BLM’s plans to eradicate almost all of the wild horses on 2 million acres. Nearly half of the wild horses in Wyoming live in these four herd areas. Because of a lawsuit brought by the Rock Springs Grazing Association, whose members enjoy taxpayer subsidized grazing on the portions of the checkerboard that are public land, the BLM is planning to do the following:
1. Zero out the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin herds – meaning no more wild horses in these two Herd Management Areas.
2. Reduce the AML (Allowable Management Level) of wild horses for the Adobe Town Herd from 610 – 800 to 225-450 horses, despite the fact that there is only a tiny portion of the half million acre Herd Management Area that in in the checkerboard area.
3. Sterilize the White Mountain wild horses, and turn the herd into a non-reproducing herd – which means in 20 years there will be no more wild horses.
The BLM is soliciting comments from the public in order to complete the Scoping phase for amending the Resource Management Plans for the Rock Springs and Rawlins areas. Now is the time to tell the BLM that it must protect and preserve the wild horses int he checkerboard area for future generations, not eradicate these wild horse herds because of a special interest group who receives tax subsidies to graze their livestock on our public lands. Livestock grazing on public lands is a privilege, not a right. Wild horses are protected by Federal Law.
The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act mandates, “The Secretary shall manage wild free-roaming horses and burros in a manner that is designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands.”
The removal of wild horses from these areas not only is in violation of the Act, it also violates the BLM’s own policy of managing public lands for “multiple uses.”
Please comment today.
Some important points to cover are:
*That you oppose the BLM’s plans to zero out the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herds, and the reducion of the AML for Adobe Town to 225 – 450 horses and turning the White Mountain Herd into a sterile, non-reproducing herd.
*That you ask them to consider the economic impacts of their proposed actions, which would include lost revenues from tourism, increased costs of roundups and long term holding for wild horses, which is in direct contrast to the economic benefits of reducing or eliminating taxpayer subsidized livestock grazing on public lands.
*That you ask them to reduce the livestock grazing on the checkerboard lands instead of reducing wild horse numbers, and that wild horses should be managed in the wild using fertility control methods that are not permanent.
*That you ask them to consider the impact on the public of destroying the wild horse population on 2 million acres of public land when the public is overwhelmingly in support of protecting and preserving wild horses and interested in visiting them and viewing them on public lands.
For more information you can go here: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/
Here is where you should send your comments:
Please send comments before 4 p.m. MST today to BLM_WY_RockSpringsRMP@blm.gov with the subject line ‘Wild Horse Scoping’ or to the fax number (307) 352-0329.
Don’t let this be the last of Wyoming’s wild horses.
34 Comments
*I oppose the BLM’s plans to zero out the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herds, and the reducion of the AML for Adobe Town to 225 – 450 horses and turning the White Mountain Herd into a sterile, non-reproducing herd.
*I ask you to consider the economic impacts of their proposed actions, which would include lost revenues from tourism, increased costs of roundups and long term holding for wild horses, which is in direct contrast to the economic benefits of reducing or eliminating taxpayer subsidized livestock grazing on public lands.
*I ask you to reduce the livestock grazing on the checkerboard lands instead of reducing wild horse numbers, and that wild horses should be managed in the wild using fertility control methods that are not permanent.
*I ask you to consider the impact on the public of destroying the wild horse population on 2 million acres of public land when the public is overwhelmingly in support of protecting and preserving wild horses and interested in visiting them and viewing them on public lands.
Aren’t there enough animals in the wild facing extinction without adding the wild Mustangs to that list?????
Please make sure to send your comments TODAY to the BLM at RockSpringsRMP_WY@blm.gov
Unless you intend to give them all loving homes….Leave them alone!!! They have every right to their territory. Horses are beautiful creatures that do not pose a threat to mankind in the sense of bodily harm. If it was a bear getting too near a community that I could understand. This is just random attempts to justify ending the lives of creatures that many people enjoy in their lives as pets and teammates. I believe that you should re think destruction and perhaps focus on education of people and trying to keep herd numbers down by sterilizing the worst bred in the herd. (those that have huge conformation faults that could be passed onto foals and reduce the integrity of the herd.)Management is the key.
There is no such thing as HUMANE horse slaughter!!!
Find another solution to the government’s problem and leave our history alone. Isn’t it going against the law to violate the act to protect the wild horses, oh that’s right the government can break the law.
I feel they should be able to roam as they are a very neat animal to see out running wild I don’t think it would be right to take them away PLEASE SAVE THE WILD MUSTANGS !!!!!!!
Thank you for keeping me informed on this extremely important topic. I will be most appreciative to be notified of additional information and updates in the future. I sent an email and was certain to include the aforementioned suggestions. Many thanks!
Many many thanks to all of you who have sent their comments in and have spread the word!
Carol
This is such a tragedy. Must humans take everything for themselves to the point that beautiful horses like these are inhumanely slaughtered and will probably become extinct? Please leave these horses to run wild and free. We do not need every square foot of earth for ourselves.
Do to this important ACT!!!! The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act mandates, “The Secretary shall manage wild free-roaming horses and burros in a manner that is designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands.”
*I also oppose the BLM’s plans to zero out the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herds, and the reducion of the AML for Adobe Town to 225 – 450 horses and turning the White Mountain Herd into a sterile, non-reproducing herd.
The Mustangs have been here for generations and it is there right to be here our ancestors fought for them to have that right and to be able to live free with out mans interference. Loving homes is not what they want nor is it how they have grown to adapt. BLM and those trying to control the Mustang are doing nothing but adding them to the extinction list.
It is a shame that people want to let the horse go. I know for certain that we are going to wish we had at least one or two per family very soon. save the horses because soon you will not be able to drive automobiles
Please !
Think long and hard before you. Mess with an AMERICAN ICON. It is not right !
I am against the removal of the wild horses. I am not sure how to send my comment to the BLM. Virginia
Please send comments before 4 p.m. MST today to BLM_WY_RockSpringsRMP@blm.gov with the subject line ‘Wild Horse Scoping’ or to the fax number (307) 352-0329.
This is animal abuse , who are they hurting ??????????????? Take care of them like all other wild life !!! YES THEY ARE WILD LIFE ! Not to be harmed !
Aren’t we losing enough of our natural habitats and resources without wiping out wild mustangs too? As one person said, “There is no such thing as a humane horse slaughter.” These horses and their ancestors were here before all the ranchers, they have just as much right to roam free as any of our other endangered species. How nice
that theses ranchers receive government subsidies to graze their herds on public land
that by right alone should mean the horses have precedence over the herds, they were there first. Aren’t we killing enough wild life with pollution, global warming, etc.
that we also have to slaughter these beautiful creatures…
These beautiful animals have just as much right to rum free as any other animal! Leave them alone!
When is the government going to stop providing grazing on the cheap for cattle ranchers and enforce the The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Americans want their horses left on the range, wild and free! Enough is enough. If the government has their way soon there will be no wild horse, no wolves and who knows what will be next. Don’t we as American taxpayers have a say in anything anymore? Leave the Wild Horse’s on the range that is their rightful home.
Is the BLM unaware that the removal of wild horses from these areas violates the
BLM’s own policy of managing public lands for “multiple uses”?
I certainly DO oppose the BLM’s plans to zero out the Salt Wells Creek and Great
Divide Basin Herds. Reducing the AML for Adobe Town and turning the White MOuntain
Herd into a non-reproducing herd is just a way of completely eradicating these bands.
The BLM has mis-managed the whole wild horse & burro program from the get-go. If
there was a genuine thought to actually saving the herds of wild horses & burros, then
someone should be in touch with Karen Sussman at ISPMB. She has actually DONE the
studies & learned the herd dynamics of wild horses.
Frankly, if the BLM has set out to destroy our wild horses & burros – they should be
proud – because THAT’S what they are very good at. The public is becoming much more
aware & interested in protecting & preserving the wild horses & burros. Reducing or
eliminating the taxpayer subsidized livestock grazing would be better for all of us, rather
than continuing these very costly roundups.
Remember, the people who are commenting on these roundups are TAXPAYERS!
The Mustang horses can be the best breed because they learned to take care of themselves without a human to depend on, and their teeth are not made like the cattle and sheep, or hogs that will destroy any land base, yet cattle men like to depend on their domesticated animals.
The need for the Mustang and Buffalo, deer, antelope, and elk will be the survival food of the future. You cannot keep shooting needles in domesticated animals full of chemicals thinking the next generations will not be affected. Which means we are affect from eating unhealthy animals, or riding unhealthy horses.
The animals you call wild are not wild. They are gifts like any natural food from the earth. This natural food is medicine that keeps us alive. The Mustang horse can help us to understand our nature if we want to learn to work with it.
The opportunity for our Children and Grandchildren of learning from such a gift will be take away because of the greed of the rancher and farmer that wants to destroy nature instead of enhancing it. Using up all the resources by not giving back to it is not a good value to live by. Change the way of thinking like the greed of the ancestors that came here to take only take. This value is not in the Natural Law.
Leave the horses alone ! What the (H) is wrong with you people. They deserve the right live just as you do. People are the cause of ruining this planet. Maybe we should sterile people. That would fix a huge problem, wouldn’t it.
These horses part of the heritage of America. Should our children only see them in story books. They aren’t even in US History books any more. Please reconsider the elimination of these animals.
wild horses are the most beautiful animals around and should be left alone.
Save the horses without them our world will not be the same to see horses running free is like a symbol of freedom our kids and future kids should be able to see them running free
Our government is breaking the heart of America, they screw up everything they touch. These beautiful horses are part of our ecosystem now after all of the centuries. I’m so sadden by this.
What can I do?
Who can we write?
How do they think they are helping by disturbing these free roaming innocent animals? Their own statistics show they are making matters worse.
Who is behind this? Please give me information. I’ll write anyone, I’m retired, have plenty of time, I will do anything I can to have these beautiful creatures left alone to grace our world with their stunning beauty.
Dear Alicia,
The comment period for the Rock Springs RMP is now over, so you do not need to submit comments for this now. However, I suggest you follow http://www.Wildhoofbeats.com, http://www.WildHorsePreservation.org and http://www.thecloudfoundation.org to keep posted on news and alerts for wild horses that will give you opportunities to write and comment that will make a difference for our wild horses. Both American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and the Cloud Foundation will be working to stop the BLM from eradicating wild horses from Wyoming and if they do bring a lawsuit to stop this, donations to their legal funds will be very important in helping save these herds. I will keep everyone posted about the upcoming roundups and status of the BLM’s plans and actions for these 4 Wyoming herds.
Why is this abuse being allowed to go on? Why are those committing these acts above the law? And way are BILLIONS of dollars being spent to collectively “manage” Wild Horses and Burros in this shameful manner?
As usual Government believes in just using GENOCIDE to take out what they do not like! These animals are part of America’s history, and deserve to continue to RUN FREE!!!! So where abortion only kills babies, Obamacare wills off the American Adult and now let’s MURDER some equines too huh?? LET them RUN FREE!
It is extremely sad that our government is allowing man to distroy the wild life to what our country and world is about. Rounding up the wild horses and putting the stress they do on these poor animals then selling them to killers is wrong!
There is enough land for horses and cattle. Instead of spending the money to round them up to slaughter then spend the money to control them by gelding the stallions. Let nature take the horses not man destory the beauty and life they have. Animals do not have a voice and as always man’s greed over power! It is no different when it comes to countries and the slaughter of millions over greed…
Stop and think for one minute what is really right to what is wrong and think about the animal for a change that their lives mean something!
It is terrible that our nation continues to be destruction of what created for us to enjoy and admire as humans. The beauty and spirit of this animal is a reflection of our creator. Horses are sensitive and loving when the feeling is mutual and are harmless. There is enough land to go around if not abused or neglected. Almighty God placed them in an atmosphere of freedom and liberty in this beloved animal. Greed and selfish motives is destroying this country piece by piece. There has to be an end to wickedness that thinks it can rule the land and control what it wants. I continue to pray that the Lord thy God, Abba Father will intervene in the name of Yeshua!
i vote that the wild horses stay on the land.and the subsidies go to the preservation
all the wild mustangs in wy. blm should keep the laws and stay out of bus. of killing
off horses. there is a place in wy. for these horses to grow and for future gen. to
enjoy.leave well enough alone.
The Department of the Interior, Sally Jewell in Particular, and the BLM are ignoring all of the real experts and continuing to eliminate all of the wild horses in the United States. It is against the law and it is unethical and No one in government is willing to stop it–so we must and we will. “We be small but we be fierce”
I hate what our country has come to. The government has already screwed up our future, they should leave our history alone. The mustangs have more of a right to be here than we do.
I was just looking at the BLM online gallery and some of the horses for adoption were captured in Adobe Town! I hate it that the wild horses are taken away from their beloved home. I live in Arizona and I’m planning on starting a horse rescue soon. There are two HMAs in AZ that have mustangs, I really want to go and see the wild horses. I have done a lot of research on horse auctions and horse slaughter and a lot of horses at auctions are BLM Mustangs! In April I went to a horse auction and 3 of the horses there were BLM mustangs with brands on their necks. It is so sad that people think of mustangs as just useless trash that is destroying land. I agree with you Carol, for all you’re doing!
My website is: http://hopefortheequine.weebly.com