Why Wild Horses? Back to the Peaks.

Why Wild Horses? Why not remove all of them from our public lands and keep them in "Salazoos" in the Midwest and East Coast? Why not geld all the stallions and stop their populations from growing? And then in 15 years, there will be no more wild horse problem. Well, I say we cannot do this because we need them.

This weekend I have been spending time with the horses in the McCullough Peaks Herd near Cody in northern Wyoming. Last October almost half of the herd was removed in a roundup because the BLM contended that 225 horses were too many for 110,000 acres. I have found most of my favorite horses that were left on the range, but both Washakie and Indigo now have 2 mares each in their bands. Before the roundup there were over 30 horses in those 2 bands. I was delighted to see the young pinto stallion Tecumseh who had just won a family band this year back with his mares. But two gorgeous palomino mares, probably mother and daughter, and favorites of people in the area who come to see the horses, have been split up, in bands in very different areas.



And two of my favorite horses, two lovely creamy colored two year old colts in Indigo's band, Crispy Creme and White Lightning were removed, never to play together again, never to grow to their full strength and vie for mares.
But there are many horses left and soon there will be new foals.



When I go out with the horses, I usually go alone. It is quiet, peaceful, and I often sit and just watch for hours. It is the most peaceful time I get to spend. Spring is here, and this morning there was sparring going on between stallions. When I first arrived near several bands, the horses took off running and bucking in the cold morning air, just for the joy of being alive and free. This afternoon, it is warmer, and the horses have spread out grazing, some are snoozing, and they look up briefly as I take my camera out of my car, but do not move.



One stallion looks up periodically to check if I have moved (I haven't). I see a band a long way off making its way toward the other horses. A striking grey stallion, a ridiculously beautiful black and white pinto foal, the latest foal of last year, and a pinto mare with a blue eye and very long ears are slowly moving this way. I relax and wait. The magnificent Bighorn Mountains, still capped with snow form a wonderful backdrop.



As the band gets closer, the grey stallion snorts at me, a long abrupt breath. He lifts his head. We are not familiar with each other. I am absolutely delighted as he moves toward me at a stiff legged, alert trot. He is so beautiful. He stops again, then starts to move at a trot then a gallop as he runs past me, mare and foal following behind him. It is the most gorgeous stirring sight, and my heart is full of joy. As he reaches the other bands of horses, he stops and snorts again, looking at me. I say "thank you" quietly and consider myself the luckiest of people. The horses touch something in my soul. Their joy in life, their beauty, their sense of family, their strength, their wildness - these qualities are unique to wild horses. And it is one of the very best parts of my life to be able to witness this and to share it.




We need wild horses. They speak to the very best part of all of us and preserving their right to roam free is essential.
The wild horses normally don't need anything from us - except now they need our help so that they can remain free.
In Defense of Animals has an online form that you can end comments on the proposed Adobe Town and Salt Wells roundups where the BLM plans to remove 1000 horses from 1.5 million acres. Comments are due by April 2: http://bit.ly/chE8Ko

WildHorses: BLM Targets Wyoming next - Adobe Town and Salt Wells

Now that the BLM has been halted in its massive roundups in NV it naturally follows they would set their sites on the state with the second largest wild horse population, Wyoming. The Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek Herds are the largest herds left in Wyoming. The Bureau of Land Management began managing the two herd areas as a "complex" because there are no fences or barriers to prevent the herds from ranging over a total area of over 1.5 million acres.



With miles upon miles of sagebrush, buttes, harsh but beautiful landscapes with no man made sights other than oil wells, it is hard to believe that there is not room for the wild horses that have roamed this land for so many years.



The BLM has announced plans to remove over 1000 horses from the two herd areas this year. They say that there are currently 1950 horses roaming free in the two area. The problem is that the BLM can't seem to get its numbers straight. In an article by C. R. MacDonald "The Wild Horses of Wyoming, AdobeTown/Salt Wells - A Tale of Tallies" spans the intricacies of the BLM's convoluted estimation process: http://bit.ly/AdobeNumbers

In the last 4 years, BLM estimates for the two wild horse populations have gone from 300 to 3000 horses with no rhyme or reason.
So my questions are: 1. how many horses are REALLY out there, and
2. How many horses can 1.5 million acres support? I think these are really the only relevant questions. And the BLM does not have real answers for these questions. They will tell you they are doing this for the horses' own good, that the horses are starving, that the range is degraded, and that the Wyoming Consent Decree of 2003 requires them to remove horses in WY Herd Management Areas that are over AML.

I began observing and photographing the horses of Adobe Town in 2004. At that time, the BLM estimated 1200 horses were in the herd area. I spent time with 8 bands of wild horses over several years, and developed a relationship with them that allowed me to come close enough to observe their relationships and behavior over time. My book "Wild Hoofbeats: America's Vanishing Wild Horses" is the story of the Adobe Town Herd. There have been two roundups in those herd areas since then, and my current observation from driving the areas and looking for horses is that there are many less horses than the BLM suggests left in these herd areas. I have never seen starving horses - I have seen and photographed large, healthy horses on healthy range. You can see a YouTube video of the Adobe Town wild horses at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSwvUMt_rI

The BLM posted its scoping notice for the two areas: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2010/february/19rsfo-gather.html

Comments from the public are due by mail and email by April 2, 2010. The Environmental Assessment will be posted approximately July 1 and the roundup is scheduled to begin on October 1 , 2010:

"Please submit written comments by April 2, 2010. Comments may be mailed or hand delivered to: 280 Hwy 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyo. 82901. Comments may also be email to Rock_Springs_WYMail@blm.gov. Please include “Adobe Town & Salt Wells Creek HMAs Scoping Comments” in the subject line. The scoping notice, map and all other future documents corresponding with this action will be posted at: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/rfodocs/at-sw2010.html ."



In 1999 the BLM estimated that over 11,000 wild horses roamed free on these lands. Now there are probably less than 1000, depending upon whom you ask.
Please send your comments in and help stop the destruction of one of the last large herds in our country, on our public lands - these are OUR wild horses.

Wild Horses: The Winter of Our Discontent - Protests Around the Country

It's a cold winter this year, made even colder by the unresponsiveness of our government to the plight of our wild horses. Right now, at the coldest time of the year, the BLM is rounding up over 2700 horses in northern Nevada, and horses are being injured and are dying in the harsh winter conditions. Despite a U.S. District Court Judge's recommendation, and despite protests by wild horse advocates around the country and even internationally, the BLM is proceeding with this roundup at a cost of almost 2 million dollars to the American taxpayer.

Never before has the public turned out to protest the actions of the Bureau of Land Management, but of course never before has that agencies abuses in managing wild horse been so blatant. When lawsuits fail and thousands upon thousands of letters, phone calls, faxes and emails fall on deaf ears, then all that is left is our freedom of speech, and protests have a way of attracting media attention that all those letters and phone calls and emails have failed to do.

Yesterday over thirty wild horse advocates assembled in Denver in spite of the bitterly cold weather. We gathered in front of Senator Mark Udall's office building in downtown Denver. Senator Udall is on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Senate, and this is the committee where the ROAM Act languishes. Senator Udall has not come out in support of the ROAM Act and wild horses - neither has he come out against it. Ginger Kathrens, Makendra Silverman and I met with Kate Zimmerly in Senator Udall's office to discuss our concerns and to ask for Senator Udall's support after the protest.

Protests continue as the roundup in Nevada continues, and we continue to call and write and email. This is the time to stand strong - something has got to give.
Thank you to all of you who are protesting, writing and calling and emailing - you DO make a difference.

For a list of upcoming protests go here:

http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/events

Wild Horses: A Christmas Wish

As the Holidays are fast approaching, I am thinking about what is closest to my heart and most important to me - the continued freedom of our wild horses. I also am thinking about wild horse supporters and advocates all over the country and all over the world who care about these horses and have been working hard to help them this year. I am deeply greatful for each and every one of them.

Yesterday In Defense of Animals, Craig Downer and Terry Farley brought a suit in federal courst against the BLM to stop the roundup of the Calico Complex Herd in norther Nevada, a roundup of over 2700 wild horses scheduled in the harshest, coldest time of the year, and over the holidays as well. No ruling was made by the judge yet, but one is anticipated in the next week.
Here is a link to the George Knapp Reoprt on the hearing:

http://bit.ly/KnappCalico

If the judge rules in favor of wild horse advocates, this would be a huge victory, and would be a big step on the way to stopping the BLM's desperate attempt to decimate wild horse herds this year.

After observing two roundups of wild horse herds I have been closely following this year, and seeing families torn apart, horses lamed from running over miles of rocky ground, and horses terrified by the helicopters, I would like to see this brutality stopped. There is a huge difference between the horses living in the wild, with their families, in tune with the land which they find home, free and noble and proud, and the dispirited creatures ripped from homes and families, with that spark of wildness, of a wild horses's soul, gone from their eyes forever.

My Christmas wish is for a moratorium on all wild horse roundups, and Congressional Hearings on the misconduct of the Bureau of Land Management in managing wild horses that belong to all of us.
For the Wild Horses.

Carol Walker

Wild Horses: The Fight for Their Freedom

This weekend wild horse supporters have something to be thankful for.
On 11/23 In Defense of Animals and Craig Downer brought a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management to stop the Calico Complex Roundup in Nevada, scheduled to start 12/1. The Department of Justice delayed the start of the roundup until December 28, granting time for the lawsuit to have an effect, unlike the too short 2 day hold on the Pryor Mountain Roundup earlier this fall. Read here for more on this: http://bit.ly/stopCalico



Also, now more than 155 organizations, scientists and celebrities have signed the new Unified Letter calling for a moratorium on all wild horses roundups. You can go the the Cloud Foundation page and send a letter to your representatives and to President Obama.

http://bit.ly/Moratoriumletter

Here is a petition you can sign online to support the moratoriums on roundups:

http://bit.ly/MoratoriumPetition

All of this seems to be coming to a peak of activity here as we enter the last few weeks of the year. With the BLM rounding up 12,000 horses this year, already having taken 1000 wild horses from Wyoming last month, continuing the pressure on our representatives is vital. The BLM is like a juggernaut and at this point, legal action and legislation seems the only way to stop their destructive trend. With Secretary of the Interior issuing new plans for sterilized "salazoos" and removing more and more horses, the demise of the free roaming wild herds that represent all that is best in our Western Heritage may soon be a thing of the past if we do not continue to act.

This Thanksgiving weekend, I am so grateful for all of the wild horses advocates who are fighting daily on the front lines to save our wild horses. I am also grateful to all of you who love the wild horses and take precious time from your busy days to keep writing, emailing and calling.

Thank you very much and remember your efforts DO make a big difference.

Carol Walker

Wild Horses: Call for a Moratorium on Roundups

On October 7, Ken Salazar announced a disastrous new plan for managing wild horses while admitting the deficiencies in the current management of the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro Program. His new plan, heralded as salvation for wild horses by some, would actually spell the complete destruction of wild horses in this country. It would continue the removal of wild horses from the lands that were set aside for their use in 1971 with the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

With already 37,000 wild horses in holding facilities, more than are left in the wild, the Bureau of Land Management began an aggressive roundup campaign with their new funding on October 1, planning to in one year remove 12,000 more horses from their homes and families, zeroing out herd areas and bringing the numbers down in many others to impossible to sustain as genetically viable. Salazar's plan includes sterilized herds, moving horses in holding to the East and Midwest, despite having 19 million acres here in the West that are already public lands designated by Congress as protected wild horse habitat.

Part of his plan would also reduce the requirements for adopters of wild horse, thus increasing the likelihood of their purchase by killer buyers.


Shortsighted people who have endorsed this plan fail to see that removing horses from the wild, destroying their families and creating sterilized herds in captive parks is taking the very essence that we revere and admire about the wild horse - his Independence, freedom and very wildness. With no more horses left on public lands, in 20 years we shall see the end of this American Icon.

Having spent time over the past six years following wild horse herds in CO, WY and MT, and also bearing witness to the roundups and their cruel aftermaths, I would like to see the wild horses roaming free on our public lands, under new management. Instead of being targeted for extinction, these precious living symbols of our heritage deserve to be protected, and allowed to live out their lives in their homes in the West.












In Defense of Animals has an action plan with a web form for contacting President Obama, to impose a moratorium on roundups and to return the horses in holding to the range as well as a form letter to send to your Senators in support of the Roam Act: http://bit.ly/ActionPlan















The Cloud Foundation has an online petition for a moratorium on roundups that you can sign and pass along to others to sign:
http://bit.ly/3ps4wW


This is a critical time in our history for wild horses, so please take action now.

Wild Horses - The Roundup of the McCullough Peaks Herd in WY

I have been following and photographing the wild horses in the McCullough Peaks Herd Area near Cody, WY for the past 5 years. This herd is one of the most easily access able of the herds, and also one of the most colorful, with gorgeous pintos, palominos, cremellos, buckskins, greys, bays, black and chestnuts color the landscape.

The herd was scheduled to be rounded up last year but due to a lack of money, the BLM held off until this year. 110,000 acres to roam on sounds like plenty for 220 horses, but the BLM claimed that the range was becoming "degraded," probably their favorite cop-out term this year. The horses in this area have had a very good year and some are positively fat - so that explanation does not wash with me.
I heard that one of my favorite stallions, a black and white pinto I call Washakie (know as Rerun by the BLM) was possibly going to be removed, so I made plans to attend the roundup with a great deal of trepidation.

The atmosphere at this roundup was 180 degrees different than the Pryors roundup where so many of the National BLM officials participated. Here, the BLM people from Wyoming were friendly, helpful, and actually answered questions and requests. Still, a roundup is not anything other than a horrible event. Families of horses who have been together for many years are ripped apart, probably forever. Unlike at the Pryors roundup, the horses are not brought in in bands and kept together - instead they are all brought in in large or small groups as they come bunched together by the helicopter, and immediately mares and stallions and older youngsters are separated from each other. The younger foals were kept with their mothers.

On the first day the largest groups were brought in. In this area many bands will stay close to other bands in relatively peaceful groups I call "megabands" sometimes numbering 40 or more. I anxiously waited to see a certain black and white stallion, and he came in with another band with another favorite stallion of mine, a grey named Indigo. His band includes buckskin mares and two gorgeous 2 year old cremello colt that I have watched grow up - I know they will be removed, with their beautiful coloring they are good candidates for adoption.

It is so cold, and the horses are hot from running, so when they arrive in the corrals, they steam in the early morning air.

Band follows band, and it is an awe inspiring, although sad sight to see so many horses running together. Three of the megabands came in, from Red Point, Coon Creek and Dry Creek.

The most excitement we had the first day was when a bay stallion poorly named Snoodle defied the helicopter. He had a black mare and a lighter foal, the helicopter must have spent a good half an hour trying to drive him in, and finally he split from his mare and in a moment of breathtaking bravery, stood still facing off with the helicopter.


Then he ran full speed and got away. The contractor sent a wrangler out to capture the foal who had been left behind, and another couple of wranglers after the mare, as the foal was too small to be weaned. The mare and foal were scheduled to be released, so hopefully Snoodle would be able to find them after the roundup.

The next morning, there had been a stallion hanging out near the corrals, and we wondered if it had been Snoodle, looking for his mare and foal.

The first group which came in also gave the helicopter a merry chase, and one stallion got away, named Olathe. I was of course cheering under my breath.
However, one humorous note for the day - earlier this summer I photographed a mule who had been tagging along first with one band, then with a bachelor. He led one group into the corrals.

Once the smaller groups that were easy to find had been brought in, the decision was made to move to a smaller trap site in another area so that they could catch some of the more elusive horses from Coon Creek and the Badlands. I followed the horse trailers carrying trap materials and the wrangler's horses. After some time spend figuring out the perfect spot for the trap, they set it up very quickly. The Cattoors are very efficient, and the contractors who have worked with the BLM the longest they have the most experience working with wild horses, which paid off this roundup with no injuries. In fact, as a stark contrast to the Cooks whom I have seen drive horses directly into a trailer with no regard for safety, they separated out a young foal so that he would not be injured when transported back to the main trap site.

My favorite band to watch come in was Stage's band, with the most gorgeous pintos and one grey mare.



After bringing in as many horses as they could fine, the rounding up was over - 193 captured,93 removed and sent to Rock Springs Holding Facility, and roughly 120 left in the wild - this was much better than the planned 100 left in the wild. This is however below the minimum number of 150 adulst that the herd needs to remain genetically viable. There were no injuries and no deaths - this is exactly the way ALL roundups should be - istead teh BLM has reported 206 wild horse deaths during roundups over the past 2 years.
I was extremely relieved to see may favorite stallions in the pen slated for release - Washakie, Indigo, and Warbonnet (Medicine Boy to the BLM).
The part of this that made no sense at all was instead of having an adoption planned in a couple of weeks there in Cody, the horses being removed were shipped to Rock Springs to be gelded, branded, and some trained, and an adoption to be planned in the spring. Perhaps some of the horses would be shipped all the way back to Cody for an adoption - a much better place for it - but meanwhile we taxpayers are paying top dollar for the horses to stay at a holding facility for 6 months!

I returned the next day to see the releases of the horses. This would take place after blood samples were drawn and each of the mares to be released received a shot of birth control primer and a freeze brand. The BLM will determine which mares will receive a second shot in the field of PZP 1 year birth control this spring.
The wild horse expert Tricia Hatle had decided she wanted to release the horses back roughly into the areas they lived in, 4 different area, instead of releasing them all in one group to hopefully prevent them all from staying in one small section of the horse range. This required several trailers, with mares and stallions separated, driving to different areas. I followed a group of stallions into the Badlands.

They seemed bewildered at first, then ran off happily. I returned to the main trap site in time to see the Red Point mares released. They strolled out, grazing casually and looking curiously at the observers.


One buckskin mare from Indigo's band stopped and looked back at the corrals, perhaps looking for her lost sisters and foal, who she would never see again.

Next the stallions were released. I knew that they would not stroll! Washakie was first out with the other stallions hot on his heels,

and they ran and ran and ran until they were out of site. I was so happy to see them go. May they remain forever free.


The ROAM Act was not passed in time to save this herd from being rounded up, nor the other almost 1000 horses in WY being removed this month, as well as the thousands being removed from Nevada. However we still have time before the end of the year to get this vital legislation passed in the Senate.
Here are some great action steps to take from the Cloud Foundation:
http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/