Triple B, 2022
We get busy in field collecting data and documenting roundups, crafting comments/appeals/litigation and more. We can’t always answer questions we receive in our inbox; but we try to get to them as fast as we can.
Now captive, held off-limits to viewing at Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) in Fallon, NV.
Below are answers to a couple of repetitive questions we have received over the last few weeks:
CBS News did a story after attending the Twin Peaks roundup run by BLM California. No advocate perspective was included. Instead, CBS used Congresswoman Dina Titus and focused on a bill she introduced to “stop helicopter roundups.”
It bothered our readers that CBS did not include any commentary from advocates about the fight against abuse, habitat loss to industry, etc. But what seemed to create the most contention was that they implied that only 25 wild horses died from roundups in an entire year resulting in the following question: “How many wild horses and burros died at roundups in the last year?”
During the fiscal year, to date, 310 wild horses and burros have died during capture operations. The number that died in holding in the weeks after capture as a result of injury are statistics we are still compiling and have to find that information by filing multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests… several we are actually engaged in long-term appeals to obtain.
We wish media would fact check.
People are emailing us saying that BLM is doing an open meeting on wild horse and burro management called “FREES” on Oct 12 and urging us to go. NO, it is not a BLM meeting. We are not attending.
What is the Free Roaming Equid and EcoSystem Sustainability Network, FREES?
This “network” is the new name of what longtime advocates know as the “Summit of the Horse.” Back in 2011 it started as this: https://www.horsetalk.
Since 2020 “FREES” is the new name, same people, same agenda. The event is pricey and the groups that are a part of this are very well-funded and drove the “Path Forward” into the BLM 2020 Plan.
If you look at the 2010 line-up, the speakers are still pretty much the same bunch of pro-slaughter proponents.
THE actual BLM meeting
The National BLM Advisory Board is meeting on Oct 4-6 in Phoenix, AZ. You can participate FREE in person or online. CLICK HERE.
Where will winter roundups happen?
We don’t know yet. BLM runs on a fiscal year that ends Oct. 1. Congress has not passed a budget yet so that BLM can approve contracts for roundups. It looks like a continuing resolution (temporary spending bill) is being put together as a budget for the whole fiscal year 2023 cannot be agreed on. Once the budget is approved, BLM will create the schedule.
We expect BLM to hit the Antelope Complex (under the same plan as Triple B) this winter. We also expect BLM to rush the Roberts Mountain Complex from draft EA and onto the schedule. We expect BLM to continue down the Highway 50 corridor in Nevada (where Greenlinks North is proposed) and hit areas like New Pass Ravenswood and Clan Alpine. We have heard rumors that Great Divide Basin in Wyoming could be targeted again. But we do not know what BLM will prioritize.
We expect the budget to look just like the last budget: continue acceleration of removals/fertility control with no designated funding for actual management planning or revisions of animal welfare standards.
Several of you have asked us to read freezemarks to tell you where a horse you purchased at auction is from.
We used to be able to read a mark and tell you. BLM has changed the way they brand wild horses and burros; the brand is no longer the herd code, but a code for the facility where the horse or burro was branded. You can contact a BLM corral and they should be able to run the code. You can find facilities HERE.
What action items do you have now?
We have several action items. Here are few of the ones active now:
You can learn more about a bill that could stop choppers and gain a real review of capture methods, CLICK HERE.
You can help us gain a science-based review of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program, CLICK HERE.
We need your help to take the fight against abuse to the next level. CLICK HERE.
A WHE report that can help you address the inflated numbers game presented to Congress/media as you advocate for wild horses, CLICK HERE.
We will try to answer additional questions as fast as possible. Our teams are busy on-range, at roundups, at the table and in litigation.
We currently have roundup observers at Calico in NV and Cedar in Utah.
We have an outreach member meeting with several BLM offices trying to gain water improvements and habitat restoration in several areas. We will update when a public action item is needed.
To follow our work you can sign up for the mailing list or to follow the website by CLICKING HERE.
Help keep us in the fight.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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