Rounding up wild horses in Montana

Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2009 1:55 PM

By Petra Cahill, msnbc.com

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will round up about 190 wild horses in the Pryor Mountains along the Montana-Wyoming state line on Thursday – much to the chagrin of horse advocates.

A federal judge rejected a request by two Colorado-based advocacy groups, the Cloud Foundation and Front Range Equine Rescue, to halt the action.

The wild horse advocacy groups argued that gathering the herd could end up ruining one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the country.

VIDEO: Horse lovers gather to offer a prayer to preserve wild horses right to run free

But the Bureau of Land Management, which operates the 38,000-acre Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, says there are too many horses on the range. The agency’s Web site says that it is necessary gather the herd of wild horses and reduce their numbers in order to "achieve a thriving natural ecological balance" in the Pryor range.

The roundup had been delayed while U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan considered an injunction, but he denied the request Wednesday.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was created in 1968 to protect an icon of the American West – the wild mustang.

But while the herd has grown to approximately 190 horses, the Bureau of Land Management says that the ideal number of horses for the range is about 120. The BLM has culled the herd before, in 1997, 2001 and 2003.

The horse advocacy groups opposed the roundup this year because they say the action is "unprecedented in size and scope."

The BLM will use a helicopter and wranglers on horseback to drive the horses into corrals Thursday. They plan to capture the range’s entire population, with 70 adult horses and their foals to be put up for adoption and sale on Sept. 26.

The remaining 120 horses would be returned to the range and freed after some of the mares are given a contraceptive vaccine.

Watch the video link above to see NBC News’ Charles Hadlock report on a recent prayer vigil and group ride held by advocates from the Cloud Foundation for the mustangs in the Pryor Mountain range.

And see NBC News’ Kerry Sanders report on the roundup of wild mustangs on the Today Show on Friday morning.

Click here for more information about how to adopt one of the horses.

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Comments

Another example of goverment control. What happened in the early days when there was no population control-things just survived on their own and nature was actually able to take it's course. Can't we just leave anything alone?

Andrea (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 2:41 PM)

This is why the old west died. Stupid people got involved.

Laura (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 2:56 PM)

Whatever happened to the 30,000 horses/burros the BLM has in holding to slaughter? What's 50 more when they kill horses evey year? Who is playing God now? It's a sad state of affairs of the American Heritage- again. So sad.

Heartfelt Horse lover, Virginia (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 2:57 PM)

Please contact your Congressman about this, this is horrible. Some geneticists maintain that 150-200 are needed for genetic viability, how sad if this herd becomes extinct.

Lisa, Farmington HIlls, MI (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 2:59 PM)

Hmm - is it a surprise that a government agency would want to restrict and control one of the last symbols of freedom? They wouldn't want us subjects getting any ideas that this is a free country....

kathy, milwaukee wi (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:00 PM)

Do any members of the advocacy group ever adopt any of the horses and take care of them. I think it is great that they are captured and adopted by people who can take care of them.

Billie Daniel, Jackson, Ms. (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:03 PM)

Any thought of extending the range and sites for these animals (horses)

Ronald DeLange (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:11 PM)

That is absurd! At 38,000/190 horses is over 200 acres per horse! At our small farm we have 5 acres per horse and they do just fine. I vote to leave the heard alone till the numbers are more reasonable for culling the herd to preserve the land.

R. Hughes Gainesville, Florida (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:15 PM)

let the wild ones go....i live in Mi and there are many, many horses avilable that people cannot afford to feed...adopt them.

luann williams (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:20 PM)

I'm confused. Who the hell is the Bureau of Land Management to decide the number of horses that shuld be in the herd. As long as there is food for them all and there not starving to death it should be fine. This is crazy.

Stacey K. White Plains, NY (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:22 PM)

When westerners are done killing the last wolf and rounding up the last wild horse the west will be about as "wild" as walmart.
Good job "cowboys".

Richard, Kansas city, MO (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:35 PM)

Why can't we humans leave well enough alone. Our species puts a strain on this planet. What next, are we to be rounded up and sold or worse.

florence miller woodland park co (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:37 PM)

Once again people who do not understand the reasons behind this decision are butting in. The BLM has personnel, who through their education and experience are knowledgeable in the best way to manage the land. Just let them do their job!

Ilah, Rhinelander, WI (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:37 PM)

Poor horses, hard to tell what is rally given in vaccines---Govt has nasty habit of giving shots before side effects are truly learned ,

Aloma Tampa Fl (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:38 PM)

Not sure wht contraception or sterilization wasnt used before??? Is it that hard to figure out???

m.tomasello williams bay WI (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:44 PM)

This absolutely infuriates me. Having owned and cared for horses, anyone familiar with raising them and even those whom aren't should readily realize that each horse does not require 200 acres apiece to thrive. How is this being justified? Not to mention the costs involved to reduce the heard by 70 animals.

I've rented Helicopters. At a cost of no less than about 1000.00 per hour how much will be wasted on this and everything else needed to accomplish this silly task? This in an economy that is already bursting at the seams? If the Bureau of Land Management has money to waste perhaps they should just give it to the President to help reduce the growing DEFICIT he's creating daily.

And yet they want to control our health care costs? Come on folks, am I the only one that sees the silliness in this? No other word than absurd. This is a PRIME example of government waste, period.

And then they intend to vaccinate the mares to keep the herd down... I'm just out of words for what a ridiculous waste of our tax dollars this is. Leave the darn horses alone... they deserve to be free...their lineage was here before us!

JohnNMo (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:47 PM)

It's just sad, heartbreaking really, to see BLM and the US government continue to mismanage this nation's wilderness areas and the wild life within them through the continued removal and then "disposal" (many of these horses wind up in Mexican and Canadian slaughter facilities) of the few remaining herds of wild horses throughout the country. The cost in tax dollars, the brutality of the methods, the insensitivity to the national heritage and the corruption of the intent of both legislative and political initiatives and wills have been and are being repeatedly abused by this agency while alternatives to the practices presented to them are continuously negated by politics and egos. A better solution must be sought and found.

2manyequinesinneed, OK (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:51 PM)

Once again, let's mess with Mother Nature, by giving the mares a contraceptive vaccine. Why, when the goal is to preserve the animals and their bloodline, in their natural habitat, do we continue to be so arrogant?

Rene' Appell (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:53 PM)

190 horses for 38,000 acres is luxury - this roundup is pushed by the cattle industry - "save the grass for their profit machines" I personally know Front Range Equine Rescue and they do great work on domestic and wild horses, and helping owners better take care of their personal animals.

Deborah Thomas Colo Springs, CO (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:54 PM)

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to Aprils breeze unfurled
There the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world"

Patrick Henry Boston Ma. (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:57 PM)

I don't see why this group is having a problem with this. The intent is not to cull the herd by putting any of the horses to sleep (although, if they find significantly ill horses, that could be necessary, sadly). The intent appears to be to take some horses and home them, leaving an appropriate, ecologically-balanced number on the range. If they do not do the culling the entire herd could be in jeopardy, as it can cause many negative things to occur such as disease, wasting, etc. Mother Nature does her best, but, at times, she needs a bit of help. This is the same concept I have seen with groups protesting deer hunting--they can't seem to grasp the fact that deer hunting is necessary. If the deer are not culled through hunting, the resulting overpopulation results in the deer suffering and dying from wasting, starvation and/or disease. I do not hunt myself (no way I could shoot at an animal!), but my husband and sons do, and I, as a rational person, see the absolute necessity for it.

Michelle Schumacher, Fargo, ND (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:58 PM)

To Ilah: who says "Once again people who do not understand the reasons behind this decision are butting in. The BLM has personnel, who through their education and experience are knowledgeable in the best way to manage the land. Just let them do their job!"
What a laugh and a half. THE "educated" BLM doing their job amounts to running off any wildlife so business interests can rent and use the land for domestic livestock. The BLM is just about as useful as the BIA - Bureau of Indian Affairs. Just look up Project Rosebud to see an example of government deceit. Write to your congressmen,and write to the President. They will listen. But do it fast. If the BLM removes the mares and foals, and then sterilizes the remaining mares, the herd will die out on its own. How obvious (and devious)can the BLM be?

Helen Downs (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:59 PM)

Another STUPID government intervention that causes more harm than good.

carmen springfield MO (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:02 PM)

JohnNMo says: ...their lineage was here before us!

Maybe they were here before you, John, but the Spaniards brought the horses to America. There were no horses here before.

CBVilleneuve (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:03 PM)

When I was in 8th grade in 1968 it was my impassioned letter, along with others, sent to the BLM that helped establish the protected Prior Mountain Wild Horse Range. I am now a grown horse-owner and resident of the West. No one is more sympathetic to the plight of wild horses than I.

With that in mind, people must understand that these horses don't exist in a vacuum. The must CO-exist within a habitat that is limited in resources and space. The roundups are not designed to end the presence of wild herds, but to preserve them.

Too many people have a fantasy image of life in nature. They envision noble steeds running free and imagine their life to be carefree and perfect. The reality is, when these herds get too large, the animals suffer greatly, both from loss of forage and from human predation. I have seen first hand horses sick and starving on overgrazed public lands. I have seen the dead carcasses of horses shot because they were competing with ranchers' grazing right-of-ways. I do not agree with this treatment of them but I know that it happens. That's the reality.

It is our obligation to be good stewards of our heritage. The fact is, the BLM's management of these herds is incredibly successful - hence the blossoming population. Excess animals are randomly selected for adoption, ensuring a healthy gene pool for the remaining herd. These roundups do not damage the viability of our wild mustang herds.

If you really care about these animals and want to do something to help them, then support the adoption program. Mustangs make wonderful mounts and companion animals.

Annice Laws, Phoenix, AZ (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:03 PM)

There should be no problem with this plan. The horses are not native the U.S. anyhow. Regardless of how people feel, they do not belong in the range in the first place.

Jay, Buffalo NY (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:05 PM)

These horses are an exotic species and tend to be destructive to vegetation as well as native species. These are not pets. The only mistake is not culling the entire herd.

David Omaha, NE (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:07 PM)

Some people don't seem to realize that these horses are not native to the range they now inhabit. They arrived after escaping or being left by Spanish explorers. If the range belongs to any animal, it would be those who lived there before the horses came. The ecological balance has been permanently altered by the impact of man, with or without the horses. Also, most land out west cannot support anywhere near the numbers of horses as eastern pasture. Please don't try to compare them as equals. This land (and it's wildlife) is NOT a pristine wilderness, untouched by human hands. It's much more complicated than that, and this is a job for the biologists.

Walter Bailey, Springfield, TN (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:08 PM)

I have been emailing and calling Obama, Pelosi, Boxer, Feinstein and Issa, as well as the head of the BLM to stop this cruel and unnecessary round-up of this herd. The wild mustangs should be treated like a national treasure and it is insane that they are not. The range is more than adequate to support this herd, but the BLM has it's policies, which have been called into question by the GAO, but the round-ups continue. Stupid.

ConnieC (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:08 PM)

Would we be upset if the gov't in Africa did the same thing to the elephants and giraffe?
Our gov't would probably send militia over to stop it.
Why do they eliminate a few horses that are on the land?
The "high" population does not make sense, there has to be more to this story...the land is too vast for such a few horses.
Does the gov't test in the area scientifically?

jen,Plantation, FL (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:08 PM)

Duh-OH - Hey Gainsville, ever been to the high Rocky ranges?
Lesse, Lovell has an average rainfall running between ZERO inches to a whoopee high of 1.25 inches of rain per month...
Gainsville is dang near equtorial by comparison at an AVERAGE rainfall of 2 to SEVEN inches of rain per month. Grass needs rain and they ain't got much up there. I am concerned about maintaining a viable genetic basis for this particular breeding herd, but if they all die - no one wins....

Mustang Owner (put yer money where yer mouth is!) (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:10 PM)

they just need left alone. if its free the government needs to have some kind of control over it.
this is turning into a SAD COUNTRY when governments need to just control everything. THIS IS NOT A FREE COUNTRY ANYMORE.

Cindy, Tacoma, Washington (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:10 PM)

I'd like to give the U.S. Bureau of Land Management a contraceptive vaccine, and let them die out naturally, because that's what's going to happen to these herds if they give them contraceptives. No new foals means no new adult horses!

Deborah, Alta Loma, CA (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:11 PM)

It's not the horses that should be rounded up - it's the BLM. These magnificent animals have survived just fine without the interference of the BLM. How many is too many? Nature and the environment should decide how many is too many, not the BLM.

Connie Brady, Las Vegas, NV (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:11 PM)

Main reason we just can't leave things alone is because we havent left them alone for such a long time that we have to continously disturb things in order to try to fix stuff that got broken because we messed with it in the first place. Unfortunately, if we let the horse population continue to grow, many would die of disease and starvation. Diseases then could infect the entire heard and eventually wipe it out completely. This would be the worst case senario and it is best to try to avoid it. It's not like they're going to kill em and sell em for dog food like they used to. I'm not much a fan of what they are doing but I do agree it's necessary.

whatever21 (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:13 PM)

I have an idea. Instead of rounding up wild horse herds, let's round up the human herds who can't seem to feed themselves and inject THEM with contraceptives. The uneducated and uncivilized humans of the world are doing alot more damage to the planet, not to mention our wallets, than these 200 beautiful horses could ever begin to do.

Fed Up With Stupidity Chesapeake, VA (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:13 PM)

There is no uglier, arrogant or ignorant government establishment in the USA than BLM..

Pudbert_Savannah GA (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:13 PM)

whatever21 (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:13 PM)

It's easy to say "leave them alone" unless you are there in the winter time and they aren't being brought feed as your domesticated and sheltered horses are. I know, because I've owned horses too. Those horses out next to your farm or ranch are not dealing with the same forces and lack of food that wild horses are. These herds are maintained because of what happened to them when they are not. It is not the wild west anymore people. Free range land is being bought up everyday by more and more private citizens who are not interested in preserving or protecting anything except the barbed wire around their property. Try to imagine your horses out in a field in the middle of a fierce winter, starving and with no protection. The only reason these horses are doing as well as they are is because of government agencies like BLM, who unlike many government agencies are only trying to help and who work with an incredibly limited budget thanks to many years of budget cuts by republican administrations.

Laurie Fraser (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:14 PM)

All the horses that were here before us died long before we came here. The wild horses now were originally brought over by the Spanish and released into the wilds so they can reproduce and allow the Spanish to just capture them, instead of shipping them over from Europe. The did the same thing with pigs.

Rich Borskie, Owensboro, Kentucky (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:15 PM)

These horses are not indidinous to north America They are feral animals just like ferel cats, rats, carp and other critters WE brought here and now unbalance the natural balance

Bill Bob (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:16 PM)

Sorry . . . this isn't about horses(which the BLM doesn't give a rat's ass about) it's about cows and money. Hamburger to be specific. And to the enlightened person who suggested we "horse advocates" go out and adopt one . . . I have two that barely survived their BLM ordeal. So sad . . .

susan aste (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:16 PM)

Horses are not native animals to the united states - You whiners are so caught up in symbolism that you refuse to understand that science, not emotion is responsible for trying to get nature back in balance. These escaped exotic domestic animals diminish the habitat for true wild animals.
Kill em with no regrets.

Bob_m, Portland, Oregon (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:16 PM)

I am disgusted by this. What have we become. Our country is falling apart at the seams. As shepherds, we are doing a terrible job and will suffer for our bad acts.
Does this judge have a conscience?

Linda Hernandez, Cape Coral, FL (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:17 PM)

Hey IALH, do you really think those government people are so well qualified? If they were any good at all they wouldn't be working for the government. Seems like the only thing you can be sure of about the government is that they will screw up almost anything they get involved in.

Ray Dinnerville, Plano, TX (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:17 PM)

Wow, what blatant ignorance abounds on the internet. Yes you have 1 horse to 5 acres, but I bet you don't live in Wyoming..DUH. The BLM regularly works to maintain herds, they are trained to do this. They usually have a pretty good idea of what the land can support. And what used to happen in the old days is the freaking horses starved or froze to death due to lack of adequate food and water. What would you prefer, adoption or death?

The wisest comment was this is a waste of government money. Put this out for contract and let someone pay the government to cull the herd and sell the extras.

John T., Dallas, Texas (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:17 PM)

No people, the ranchers want the land for themselves. It is because of them that our wildlife is persecuted. they want all the land to themselves ! Wyoming is no place for cows, there is no grass! I know, I lived there.

Deedee France (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:18 PM)

I will agree to this only if we can start "rounding up" all the SUV driving, emission emitting, Hummer drivers. I assume they are causing much more stress on the environment.

Joe, St. Louis, Mo (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:18 PM)

This is totally unreasonable. Leave the horses alone! What special interest groups are helping the BLM decide on what the size of the herd should be? The people making these decisions probably haven't a clue about horses and their needs. I am sick of folks sitting in offices deciding for US. Yes, I agree with others here, just one more way to get rid of things that are precious to us. The west will soon die and our grandchildren will not have the honor of seeing these wonderful creatures! What is next?

Charlene Smith, Olympia, WA (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:19 PM)

I understand the concept of keeping population under control to try to keep animals from starving, particularly if humans have taken land from the animals for themselves. However, I would question the numbers, the group(s) that come up with these numbers and the way they come up with these numbers.

MT Ohio (Sent Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:19 PM)

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