Mustang roundups fuel deepening debate as drought grips West

APNews.com - Full Article

August 18 2021
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and JAMES ANDERSON

TOOELE, Utah (AP) — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine’s approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into the dry air.

That helicopter roundup in the mountains of western Utah removed hundreds of free-roaming wild horses, shortly before the Biden administration announced it would sharply increase the number of mustangs removed across the region. It’s an emergency step land managers say is essential to preserving the ecosystem and the horses as a megadrought worsened by climate change grips the region.

“What were seeing here in the West gives some insight into a new norm,” Terry Messmer, a professor at Utah State University who studies wild horse management.

The removals are adding fuel to longstanding conflicts with activists for the animals whose beauty and power make them an enduring emblem of the American West. They say the U.S. government is using the drought as an excuse to take out horses in favor of cattle grazing...

Read more here:
https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-and-nature-c04b8841a82dfc1adb86562c7e1092b3

Colorado: BLM to conduct emergency roundup of wild horse herd

GJSentinel.com - Full Article

By SENTINEL STAFF
Jul 25, 2021

The West Douglas Herd Area, which is about 20 miles south of Rangely in Rio Blanco County, has around 450 wild horses.

To protect the health of wild horses and rangelands, the Bureau of Land Management will start an emergency wild horse gather Monday on the West Douglas Herd Area about 20 miles south of Rangely in Rio Blanco County.

The BLM plans to remove the entire estimated population of 450 wild horses from the herd area, on state and private land.

The extreme drought conditions have limited forage production and water resources for wild horses, and the nearby Oil Springs Fire has also created problems for the herd since it’s burned critical summer habitat and limited access to water sources.

Read more at:
https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/blm-to-conduct-emergency-roundup-of-wild-horse-herd/article_a9203802-ec0e-11eb-acec-3f1705c94593.html

86,000 wild mustangs that roam the West are at the center of raging controversy

NationalGeographic.com - Full Article

Activists condemned the government’s recent capture of nearly 350 mustangs, but for those tasked with managing a booming wild horse population in a drought-stricken West, it’s complicated.

By Natasha Daly
Published July 29, 2021

Just off the historic Pony Express Road in western Utah lies a picture-perfect vista of the American West: miles of sagebrush grasslands set against the foothills of the Onaqui Mountains. And, until early July, nearly 500 mustangs grazed and galloped through it. It’s one of the most well-known populations of free-roaming horses in the United States—a draw for tourists, photographers, and horse lovers.

On July 13, the helicopters showed up. Operated by private contractors commissioned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the low-flying helicopters drove hundreds of startled horses off the public lands and into holding pens. On a hillside nearby, activists opposed to the roundup protested and documented the event.

From July 13 to July 18, BLM rounded up 435 stallions, mares, and foals from the Onaqui Mountain Herd Management Area, one of 19 it manages in Utah. One young mare suffered a broken ankle in the frenzy and had to be euthanized. The agency gave fertility control injections to just over a hundred mares and stallions before releasing them back to the wild. The rest—about 350 horses—were sent to holding facilities, to enter permanent captivity...

Read more here:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/86000-wild-mustangs-that-roam-the-west-are-at-the-center-of-raging-controversy

Wild horse and burro populations decrease in past year

Wildlife.org - Full Article

Posted on July 14, 2021
by Laura Bies

The number of wild horses and burros on public lands has decreased for the first time in almost a decade, according to a new report from the Bureau of Land Management.

The reduction appears to indicate that the recent uptick in the removal of animals from public lands is having the desired effect.

The report estimates that 86,189 wild horses and burros currently range across 27 million acres of BLM-managed public lands in the western United States. Those numbers are down 9% from last year’s count. However, the current population of the ecologically feral animals is still far above the agency’s established appropriate management level of 26,785 animals — the maximum numbers that those public lands can sustain without damage to vegetation, soils and other resources...

Read more here:
https://wildlife.org/wild-horse-and-burro-populations-decrease-in-past-year/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=getresponse&utm_content=This+Week%27s+eWildlifer+%26+TWS+Talks&utm_campaign=

Can Wild Horses Help Prevent Wildfires in the West?

Horse-Canada.com - Full Article

California naturalist and mustang advocate William Simpson sees a solution in the Wild Horse Fire Brigade.

By: Kim Izzo | July 14, 2021

Many Canadians were shaken by recent wildfires in BC following a historic heat wave. The entire town of Lytton was turned to ash and lives and livelihoods tragically lost. The effect of climate change on our forests cannot be overstated. Year after year we watch south of the border as the catastrophic wildfires destroy millions of acres in California with substantial loss of life and property, as well as economic impacts on business and real estate values. Then there’s the human cost as smoke damages lungs, causing short- and long-term health issues for residents.

An out-of-the-box solution is gaining traction and it involves horses. Called the Wild Horse Fire Brigade Plan, it calls for wild horses (a.k.a. mustangs), to be reintroduced to American forest land to graze away the grass and brush that fuels much of the forest fires. Another benefit to the plan is the reduction of conflict between advocates of wild horses and ranchers, whose cattle compete with the horses for grassland...

Read more here:
https://horse-canada.com/magazine/equine-welfare/can-wild-horses-help-prevent-wildfires-west/

Can Horse Owners Absorb the Surplus of Wild Horses?

TheHorse.com - Full Article

Study: If 4-5% of horse-owning households adopted one animal, the current surplus of wild horses and burros could be eliminated.

Posted by Alexandra Beckstett, The Horse Managing Editor | Jun 24, 2021

As of March 1, 2020, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimated that approximately 95,000 wild horses and burros reside on federal lands in the Western United States, with nearly 50,000 more housed in holding facilities. This figure is more than triple the appropriate management level. The BLM says more private adoptions are key to combatting overpopulation, but is this tactic truly feasible? Are enough people willing and interested in taking these horses in to absorb the excess?

Jill Stowe, PhD, associate professor in agricultural economics at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, and her student and co-author Hannah White surveyed horse owners via social media to find out. She presented their findings at the 2021 Equine Science Society’s virtual symposium...

Read more here:
https://thehorse.com/1101138/can-horse-owners-absorb-the-surplus-of-wild-horses/

Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West, New Documentary

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

Wild Beauty Foundation and Animal Wellness Action have teamed up to produce a feature film focusing on the issues facing America’s mustangs.

By: Kim Izzo | June 9, 2021

Last November, Horse-Canada wrote about the reboot of the classic story Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. In the latest Disney version, the setting was changed to the American west and Beauty was a Mustang mare.

Ashley Avis, the writer/director of Black Beauty, is also the president of the Wild Beauty Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection of wild mustangs and burros. This week, Avis, alongside Marty Irby, the executive director at Animal Wellness Action who has been recognized by Queen Elizabeth II for his work to protect horses, announced a joint venture to produce Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West, a feature documentary that focuses on the issues facing America’s iconic wild mustangs that have long faced eradication by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The film is currently in production and promises to be a sweeping cinematic epic, while also not holding back on the controversial decisions made by the BLM such as paying $1,000 to people to adopt a mustang only to have them sold on to the slaughterhouse, as well the ongoing fight with ranchers over land use and grazing rights...

Read more and see promo video here:
https://horse-canada.com/horse-news/wild-beauty-mustang-spirit-west-documentary/