note from LLeigh: I slammed out a fast press release on the BLM pushing spaying forward. I am in meetings and will update you soon on our work to protect NEPA (your voice) and our work on the Gold Bar mine that threatens the Pancake herd. 

I also have a lot of thoughts on the reason BLM is pushing this spay thing as the entire BLM program flounders. While BLM continues to spend time and money on this insanity of spaying, and the experiment itself is insanely expensive, they are spending NO money where we need it…. and decisions are still being made devoid of any sound reasoning that will have disastrous consequences.

I did not write a “victory lap” when Colorado State backed out… I know better. I know just how deep this goes and will share soon. 

I promise… I’ll write more soon.

added: we were asked “what is a press release?” A press release is something an organization sends to media when we uncover, witness, participate in an event or an event relevant to our work occurs. Media uses press release from all sources (government, orgs, lobby groups, etc) to craft news stories.

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IMMEDIATE RELESE August  22, 2018

web: PublicHorses.org  and WildHorseEducation.org

BLM Continues To Push Spaying Wild Horses as Entire Program Flounders

(Reno, NV) Today the Bureau of Land Management sent a revised Environmental Assessment (EA) out for public comment until September 2nd on their proposal to move forward with an experimental procedure on wild horses in the Warm Springs Herd Management Area (HMA) in Oregon.

On August 8th Colorado State University backed out of their participation in this highly dangerous study proposed by BLM. Colorado State did not release a reason for terminating their participation.

“BLM continues to mix messages as they push an expensive experimental procedure,” state Laura Leigh, President of Wild Horse Education. “They are pushing a highly dangerous and scientifically unjustified procedure under the guise of a need to manage populations at Warm Springs. Managing populations at Warm Springs is not reliant on tearing out the ovaries of wild horses.”

The proposed procedure is one only performed on domestic horses in a sterile environment. Most veterinarians will only perform the procedure if there is an underlying medical condition that warrants it due to risks. This procedure is one most Americans reject for their own horses and are outraged it is being proposed for wild horses.

“BLM likes to pretend it has all kinds of data to justify it’s actions and that advocates simply do not understand,” continued Leigh, “We understand. We are seeing BLM move massive mining projects forward with no more analysis than an outline of an HMA boundary and a population estimate as their analysis on massive devastating impacts to wild horses and their habitat. BLM has no more justification to perform a dangerous experiment pushed by pro-slaughter politicians than it has to rip up the earth wild horses need to thrive. BLM has management options. BLM refuses to use them because they prefer to whine that it’s just too hard.”

Wild horses throughout the West are dealing with fire, drought, failures in data and range monitoring. An understaffed BLM is spending way too much time on continuing to try to ram spaying down the publics throat. Wild horses are not dogs and cats in home, they are wild horses on the range. BLM should be spending more time addressing the severe deficits of data outlined by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report of 2013. Until they do that the program is simply continuing to create actions without justification.

Wild Horse Education and it’s members will continue to push back against this unjustified action.

The amended EA can be found here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage&currentPageId=158496

Adding a comment that addressed a faction attacking our position, without even understanding our position, through social media. This is an extremely common and frustrating reality today; make an accusation of a position, assert you are right because you read a social media spin and never look for a truth.

Adding this so people understand the root of our objection: They have no justification for any action on the range (NAS 1988-2013). What is so wrong is that instead of making a solid data foundation in the West a priority we move to creating one more tool that has an irreversible consequence prior to understanding any action long term. Money needs to go into data/temporary solutions that build a base. Wild horses are not about breeding horses for an adoption program, they are about integrated range management first… if that is not the basis, everything fails in the basic mandates. What we are doing here, one more time, is failing the foundation. We are going to a politically motivated “cowboy mythos” before dealing with integration of species. Every other animal out there has migratory patterns and a list of critical habitat and waters. Horses? you get an outline of an HMA and a population count. Creating an expensive, extreme, irreversible action prior to attaining the baseline first? It’s repeating the stupidity of the past, politics before reality. We do understand that there are two highly uneducated factions that polarize wild horse issues: one sees them as “do nothing” and another has a root in horse culture, ie the individual that may have a filly from a “spay futurity” cowboy culture event. BOTH of these factions are addressing wild horses as if they are domestics. Wild horses ARE land management, wild under law and require the same data baselines prior to any action.

We are simply creating one more massive expense, with no scientifically justified reason, creating one more irreversible action item…. because of political agenda. It’s that simple.

Spaying is a way to satisfy a very well funded political front group, avoid the actual work that would require enforcing laws (like trespass livestock) and then sit back and collect a pension off the tax-payer. BLM is lazy, make no mistake. The wild horses have suffered for it for nearly 50 years.

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You can add your name to our protest letter. We realize the public wants to engage simply due to a lack of time. If you do have the time you can read the EA linked above and send in your own comments.

Points of the letter:

• Not scientifically justified.
• The risk to the mares (infection, abortion) are not justified.
• The expense is not justified.
• BLM management of Warm Springs is not dependent on spaying; this EA is faulty.