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BLM Stops Sterilization Experiments But Returns Very Few Wild Horses and Burros to the Range
February 16, 2019
Please Comment Today Against the Decimation of the Wild Horses and Burros of Warm Springs
March 12, 2019

Please Comment Today to Help the Fifteenmile Wild Horse Herd in Wyoming

Published by Carol Walker at February 20, 2019
Categories
  • Blog
Tags
  • animal cruelty
  • animal welfare
  • BLM
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • carol walker
  • family bands
  • Fifteenmile Herd
  • genetic viability
  • helicopter roundup
  • mustangs
  • roundup
  • roundups
  • sale authority horses
  • Wild Hoofbeats
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  • Wild Horse Freedom Federation
  • wild horses
  • Wyoming

The Bureau of Land Management has released the Environmental Assessment for the Fifteenmile Herd Management Area in northern Wyoming, proposing rounding up and removing wild horses down to the low end of the Appropriate Management Level, 70 wild horses, or 100 if the AML is adjusted up, but which would leave the herd at well below the number needed to maintain genetic viability, which is 150 adults.

The Fifteenmile Herd management Area is a wild and remote place, consisting of 70,534 acres of public land, and it is 35 miles west of Worland. It is a starkly beautiful and, with mesas and buttes and hoodoos and red rock, and very few people visit the horses there.

This area is unique because these wild horses have been unmolested for 10 years, with the last roundup and removal taking place in October of 2009. The horses are truly wild, most often running from the sight of vehicles even miles away. They are very colorful, and and very healthy despite living in such harsh, dry and inhospitable lands.

The last count of the herd according to the BLM was done in January of 2016, and even with the statistical adjustment of the “simultaneous double count” method the BLM uses to adjust up the direct count, they only estimated 284 wild horses. If this number is accurate, then the BLM’s projections of increasing herd size 25% every year is completely inaccurate. The BLM estimates they left 100 horses in 2009. If the population increased as they projected, there should be 472 wild horses in the HMA in 2016.

The numbers that the BLM cites for increasing herd size are ridiculous. They project that the herd will number 337 in 2017, 404 in 2018 and 485 in 2019. They are basing the need for this roundup on a lie.

You can read the Environmental Assessment here:

https://www.wildhoofbeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fifteenmile_EA_FINAL_01282019.pdf

Many people have maintained including the report the BLM commissioned from the USGS that constant roundups actually boost the birth rate of wild horses. In this case, with this herd being left virtually untouched for the last 10 years and the birth rate increasing very slowly, this seems to prove that out. This herd can provide an incredibly valuable resource to study managing a herd without roundups and removals as a much more cost effective, more humane for the horses alternative to the constant destructive cycle of every 3 years rounding and removing more wild horses.

The excuse of range degradation does not exist for removing wild horses here. The BLM’s own survey shows that 97% of the range is is in good shape and the 3% that is not is not due to wild horse or livestock degradation.

I do understand the need to remove wild horses that have strayed onto private land. But that should be accomplished by low impact low stress bait trapping on those private lands. Resources are sparse in this HMA so baiting the horses in should work well.

In the Proposed Action the BLM discusses changing the AML to a low of 100 and a high of 230 wild horses. This is much better than the 70-100 range that now exists. But I suggest changing the AML to 150-300 wild horses. I suggest doing a 5-10 study of the herd, and seeing what the population does to keep itself in check due to changing weather, forage and range conditions, and water availability. I asset that this herd has found its own equilibrium – therefore let us benefit from this and study what is working instead of destroying the herd.

Something that the BLM never considers or mentions or accepts as a viable concern is the welfare of the horses that are rounded up and removed. With the current policy of shipping every horse 5 years old or older off to private facilities, and then possibly selling them to slaughter, most of these horses are condemned to death once they are removed from their home. They belong on the range, on our public lands.

I am completely opposed to skewing the sex ratio 60% males to 40% females to “slow population growth.” The BLM has absolutely no proof that this works, and I have seen the damage that doing this skewing does to a neighboring herd, the McCullough Peaks Herd. It stresses the herd in a very negative way, increasing fights and conflicts between stallions and decreasing the stability of wild horse families and it should never be done on wild horse herds.

Please comment by March 4 on this plan, and choose the No Action Alternative, and request that they raise the AML to 150-300 wild horses, and begin a study of this unique herd.

The most effective thing you can do is to use your own words – the BLM says if you use a form to comment that they count all the forms received as one comment.

Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

(please include FifteenmileHMA in the subject line) or mailed to Wild Horse Specialist, BLM Worland Field Office, 101 South 23rd Street, Worland, WY 82401.

Spread the word

47 Comments

  1. Myra says:
    February 20, 2019 at 8:00 pm

    These horses should be left alone so they can be studied to see have no round ups in 10 yrs. Have impacted the herd. This is a great opportunity to learn about the management of herds. Do throw it away. Use this as a learning tool.

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 20, 2019 at 11:32 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
    • Myra says:
      February 28, 2019 at 1:34 am

      Please raise the AML to at least the 150 mark, which is needed to keep a viable gene pool. These horses have been here far longer than us and deserve to remain wild and free. Please adopt the use of humane birth control so the herds can be managed in a more constructive way.

      Reply
      • Carol Walker says:
        February 28, 2019 at 4:47 am

        Please send your comments to the BLM:
        Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

        blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

        Reply
  2. Candace Endres says:
    February 20, 2019 at 8:30 pm

    Please do the No Action Alternative and raise the AML from 150 to 300

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 20, 2019 at 11:32 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  3. Linda Rollins says:
    February 20, 2019 at 8:36 pm

    Please, please, please people, take 15 minutes to communicate the need to LEAVE THIS HERD ALONE! The BLM is the quintessential mismanaged government bureaucratic entity that lies about herd numbers, environmental impact and effective “management” of wild lands, AND horrifically cruel in their treatment of these historically valuable animals.

    Reply
  4. Suz Denniston says:
    February 20, 2019 at 9:13 pm

    Please leave wild horses be. Your going to make them extinct which will be a very sad day in USA. Get rid of cattle instead!!!!!!

    Reply
  5. Marcie Perskin says:
    February 20, 2019 at 9:40 pm

    Not understanding why
    Our Wild Horse Populations
    are being wiped out
    Horses & Burros maintain
    Sage Grass Dead Foliage &
    Plants that cause Wildfires
    Throughout our Country
    California is a perfect example of why we need horses
    Hundreds and thousands of acres of land were burnt because they were with no equids Hundreds and thousands of acres of land were burnt because they were no
    Horses or Burros to keep the foliage down
    They are theire for Good Reason
    2million roamed in 1950
    Keeping our Ranges free of
    Invadive plants
    They built our Country
    Are a Huge part of our
    Heritage -Wars Medicine
    Transport
    These are but a few of the
    reasons Our Wild Horses
    Need to be PROTECTED
    AT ANY COST
    Please Cease & Desist
    On All Further Roundups
    & Equid Intervention
    We need a 10 year
    Moratorium on horse
    gathers and round up’s

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 20, 2019 at 11:32 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  6. Cheryl Williams says:
    February 20, 2019 at 9:47 pm

    End Wild horse roundups. Taxpayer dollars wasted on expensive helicopter captures. Stress & Injuries with division of horse families harmful. Protected by Law on Public Lands. Disgrace to move or harm in any shape or form. Govt protects turtles, birds, fish, wolves, bears, wildcats, why not our countries wild mustang horses??? Set them all free !!!

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 20, 2019 at 11:31 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  7. Victoria smith says:
    February 20, 2019 at 9:50 pm

    I stand for the horse and burro they have maintained against Mother Nature and the elements only to b harassed by humans .What a sad world we live in when the greed of money replaces ones compassion and sensibilities . Please keep these animals free from round ups and slaughterhouses . Thank you

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 20, 2019 at 11:31 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  8. Deborah Rouse says:
    February 20, 2019 at 11:13 pm

    So, if 3,000 form letters are received signed by 3,000 different individuals, the BLM counts these as only ONE?!?
    HOW UNETHICAL!

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 20, 2019 at 11:27 pm

      Yes but they actually say that they do this – so when an organization asks you to sign onto their form letter it is not going to count – so that is why I ask people to please write comments in their own words.

      Reply
  9. Deborah Rouse says:
    February 20, 2019 at 11:33 pm

    Instead of form letters, perhaps a petition would be better since each individual signature counts. The form letters, each signed by different individual citizens, should be counted as a petition. How awful the BLM won’t count each citizen who signs a form letter. It means all of us are insignificant to them!

    Reply
  10. Linda McDowell says:
    February 21, 2019 at 3:07 am

    Will There Be a Healthy Future for Americas Wild Horses by Craig C Downer

    Will There Be a Healthy Future for America’s Wild Horses and Burros IN THE WILD?
    PZP or Reserve Design? You Decide!

    By Craig C. Downer, Wildlife Ecologist, https://thewildhorseconspiracy.org/2017/03/18/will-there-be-a-healthy-future-for-americas-wild-horses-by-craig-c-downer/

    Reply
  11. suzanne o'meara says:
    February 21, 2019 at 9:07 am

    cruelty abuse to slaughter & sacrifice & torture these divine beings in the wild

    Reply
  12. Deborah C Lashley says:
    February 21, 2019 at 3:13 pm

    The BLM has proven it is an agency working for cattle ranchers and not for the protection of our wild horses. This agency needs to be abolished as it takes true facts and turns them into their facts to suit their reasons for causing the deaths of our wild ones. Please stop these roundups. I don’t travel out west to see cattle, I want to see wild horses!

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 21, 2019 at 4:36 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  13. Art Van Kampen says:
    February 21, 2019 at 4:25 pm

    Please let these animals live free where and how they were intended to be.

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 21, 2019 at 4:35 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  14. Shirley Carnes says:
    February 21, 2019 at 4:44 pm

    It seems to me that the low number of these horses over an extended period is proof they need to be left alone! Roundups by helicopter are horrendous and expensive while birth control is very effective and does not cause the deaths and fear factor for the horses. Cattle ranchers are the nightmare of the ecosystem while wild horses are known to actually benefit the system and help with fire prevention due to their grazing habits. It seems that if this number has stayed low, that should be proof that natural deaths and predation has been effective in managing this herd. Too many wild horses are being rounded up to only be put in corrals or shipped to slaughter, never to be seen again, thus our history is forever changed for the negative. People come to these areas as travelers to see these beautiful animals and if they are gone, so is the moneys gotten from these tourists which is a detriment to the entire state.

    Reply
  15. AK says:
    February 21, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    284 is a very small number for 70,000 acres!! Why would you take 100???

    Reply
  16. Anne says:
    February 21, 2019 at 11:23 pm

    Leave these poor horses alone. Raise money to fix the horses and then turn them loose again. That will definitely stop the heads from growing. Horses are beautiful animals, and they’re part of the world’s history. They are used for so many wonderful things in our world. Let these horses stay alive and be free! Doesn’t the saying go…..”Land of the Free, Home of the Brave?” Well….there ya go! Let them be free and continue to be brave.

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 21, 2019 at 11:25 pm

      Actually it is the BLM’s policy for and management of wild horses that needs to be fixed, not the horses!

      Reply
  17. Katherine Palochak says:
    February 21, 2019 at 11:35 pm

    Keep up the work. A lot of people don’t understand the statistics, so you’ve done a good job putting the info in layman’s terms. More people need to see these animals and understand that they have a society that is just as structured as humans. They have so many wonderful attributes, but so many people have never had interaction with a domestic horse, let alone a wild one.

    Reply
  18. Craig C Downer says:
    February 22, 2019 at 8:54 pm

    This is an excellent analysis Carol has done and the trends in the population of the 15-mile HMA wild horses show they are self-stabilizing. So much of this can be attributed to their being allowed the time and space to establish mature social units, or bands, and, at the same time, mature herds that have worked out their differences. Yes, this herd must be left alone and studied as an example of how the naturally living horses allowed to wisely follow their own innate wisdom and natural propensities come to be in balance and to greatly benefit the natural life community. Remember they are a great complement to the whole ecosystem including the ruminant herbivores, they balance these, mending and building healthy soils, watersheds, dispersing viable seeds of many plant species. and munching down and controlling vegetation that in dry season can become tinder for catastrophic wildfires. Wake up, BLM & ranchers, and do not take these wonderful presences for granted! We should learn from them how to live harmoniously on the Earth, not continue to perversely thwart them in their great role to heal and restore this Living Earth!

    Reply
  19. Jan L Bangert says:
    February 23, 2019 at 3:18 am

    The BLM has proven it is an agency working for cattle ranchers and not for the protection of our wild horses. This agency needs to be abolished as it takes true facts and turns them into their facts to suit their reasons for causing the deaths of our wild ones. Please stop these roundups. If the BLM truly would live up to its name, these horses would still be there. Bureau of LAND MANAGEMENT! Cattle destroying the land is NOT management! When will you understand you are paid by taxpayers dollars! Cattle ranchers pay such a small fee its almost free and its a slap in the face to the people that want to enjoy our public lands along with all the wildlife and wild horses that are on those lands. If you really want to manage then kick the ranchers off the land and take your hands out of their pockets! The horses have been here for hundreds of years and in less than 5 years you are going to destroy them all. Leave them alone and quit sending these beautiful horses to slaughter!

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 23, 2019 at 4:53 am

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  20. Sarah Thomsen says:
    February 23, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    Leave the wild horses alone. This is their home and their land. Let them live wild and free forever!

    Reply
  21. DEe Gianno says:
    February 24, 2019 at 8:58 am

    Actually it is the BLM’s policy for and management of wild horses that needs to be fixed, not the horses!

    AGREED!

    Reply
  22. Dianne Schneider says:
    February 25, 2019 at 4:12 pm

    Why Why do you want to get rid of all the Wild Mustangs? I would like to know who really is in charge of the Roundups and why are they really happening. Any one out there that can explain the REAL TRUTH? Our Government is hiding something and I want to know why this is happening. Save our Wild Horses and Burros STOP Roundups

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 25, 2019 at 4:25 pm

      Follow our blog on http://www.wildhorsefreedomfederation.org – we have a series called The Truth.

      Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 25, 2019 at 8:58 pm

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  23. Rebecca Bimle says:
    March 1, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    Emailed the BLM the Fifteen Mile Herd Management Area with the facts you gave. Thank you

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      March 3, 2019 at 12:45 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  24. Eleanor Burke says:
    March 2, 2019 at 11:59 pm

    Please leave the Fifteen Mike Han to at least 150 to 200 horses. Study this herd for at least 5 years. In the 10 years since the last round up the population has not grown by the perceiyou stated. If your percent was correct the herd would be larger. These horses are on public land. They are not degrading the land.

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      March 3, 2019 at 12:46 am

      Please send your comments to the BLM:
      Comments should be received by March 4 at 4:30 MT and can be emailed to:

      blm_wy_fifteenmile_hma@blm.gov

      Reply
  25. sandra perry says:
    April 12, 2019 at 2:02 pm

    Please leave these horses alone they will not survive if you remove that many. And since the holding facilities are all full where will they go? They are not overpopulated, they are not destroying the range and they certainly are not affecting the sage grouse hapitatl. You r cattle and oil drilling are doing that. Leave them alone. YOu wonder why there are so many wildfires this is why removing all these horses that keep that flammable under brush at bay. Please just let them be. If not for the horses we would not have America and they sure do deserve way better. The roundups are cruel, inhumane and go against your oath to protect them as it says in the wild horse and protection act and you are doing a lousy job protecting them, They should change your name from the Bureau of Land Management to Bureau of Lies and Murder. How many have you sold to killbyers> why are all these BLM mustangs showing up in the killpens? Not by private owneres like you say I know better. America is watching God is also watching. Remember that they have just as much right to be there as the callte and sheep and dont get me started on the oil industry. YOu people are destroying what is left of the west…STOP IT signed the American People

    Reply
  26. On the Eve of the Fifteenmile Wild Horse Roundup in Wyoming - Wild Horse Freedom Federation says:
    October 15, 2019 at 5:45 pm

    […] https://www.wildhoofbeats.com/blog/please-comment-today-to-help-the-fifteenmile-wild-horse-herd-in-w… […]

    Reply
  27. Fifteenmile Roundup Leaves Dangerously Few Wild Horses in a Unique Herd - Wild Horse Freedom Federation says:
    October 29, 2019 at 1:33 am

    […] https://www.wildhoofbeats.com/blog/please-comment-today-to-help-the-fifteenmile-wild-horse-herd-in-w… […]

    Reply
  28. Christina says:
    January 8, 2020 at 4:44 pm

    What year was this picture taken? That baby is grown up now and at the rock springs corrals with her family which I know you know, but what you may not know is that many of the family members are still together.
    Do you remember which was the momma and which was the dad? They seem to be a pretty popular family. I’m trying to figure out if this now grown filly is the mother to the youngest pinto in the group or the sister.

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      January 8, 2020 at 5:03 pm

      The photo was taken in 2016, dad is the bay in the middle, the mom of the pinto baby is the bay mare on the left.
      Carol

      Reply
  29. Lorraine says:
    February 26, 2020 at 2:09 am

    Welp, I’m gonna go adopt one of these guys in a few weeks and he’s gonna be the spoiltest lil pony ever and never have to worry about having to find food or water or fight for his life for any reason and he’s gonna live a happy rest of his life instead of possibly starving to death or breaking a leg or getting his head kicked off while fighting.

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      February 26, 2020 at 2:21 am

      That is great you are adopting one of the rounded up horses, and much better adopted than sent to slaughter. None of the Fifteenmile horses were starving to death. They are much better off in their homes with their families and not being rounded up in the first place.

      Reply

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