Reveille, catch/treat/release 2023

BLM is doing it again as the eyes of the world look very closely at how BLM operates; “something old is new again” game has been happening a lot the last 4 years.

In the latest attempt by BLM leadership to sound like they are changing and “innovative,” BLM sent out a press release yesterday after a release of mares at Reveille:

Wild horses in the Reveille herd in southern Nevada were among the first to be part of a new initiative from the Bureau of Land Management aimed at expanding the use of fertility control vaccines to slow population growth and protect wild herds from overpopulation.

It’s called a “catch-treat-hold-release” operation, or CTHR, and its primary focus is to gather wild horses, treat them with a fertility control vaccine, hold them for a determined amount of time (approximately 30 days), provide a booster treatment and then release them back to the range. Twenty-nine mares were treated and released as part of the Reveille operation in August, the first CTHR gather.

It is important to note that people that observed the roundup (and the advocate public) were NOT notified by the BLM that the release of mares was happening and how to come out and see it in 2023. We were only allowed to see the release of studs at the end of the roundup.

Reveille roundup team reports 2023 (click text)

Wild horse released at Reveille after birth control treatment, 2014

Only 2 things changed at Reveille: the public was not invited to see mares released and BLM switched from PZP to GonaCon (a longer lasting hormonal fertility control agent that, when done using the 2 dose protocol BLM employed, has been known to cause permanent infertility). 

It appears BLM is trying to say they are “increasing the use of fertility control” to try to match messaging by some (Path Forward proponents) as the media hits hard due to abuse at Antelope Complex? We don’t really know why the recycle of decades old terminology this time, but it is a good guess.

Reveille has an aging population (due to catch/treat/release of older wild horses and removal of young ones) and PZP for over a decade. Reveille has a set “82-138” population level (where BLM will often remove to the low 70s) set in the 80s on 105,499 acres. BLM has never released how the population level was determined or forage allocation equation in this HMA (y’know, the data used to set those numbers).

Under current BLM leadership, BLM has spent a lot of time relabeling old processes and calling them “new innovations” like “catch/treat/release.”

After the Advisory Board meeting in June 2023, we published an article that illustrates how BLM is claiming they have a new assessment tool.

The assessment tool is called the “After Action Review” (AAR) and has been employed by BLM for over a decade. Originally they called it the AAR, then changed the name and have changed it back… BLM, that is NOT innovation, that is insanely inept and lazy bureaucracy.  click text to read. 

As an advocacy it is insanely frustrating to watch BLM recycle public relations material just because they might gain a new audience that may be truly unfamiliar with the history and terminology the agency uses.

They know it creates obstacles for those advocates that are informed. The new audience can be manipulated until the truth can actually break through the noise… and another 5-10 years can pass in the “status quo.”

An educated advocacy is the best line of defense our wild ones can have.

When BLM says they are doing something new? The extent of your education can simply involve using Google. BLM has done “catch/treat/release” for over a decade. In places like Antelope, where you are all watching the ongoing roundup, BLM has done catch/treat/release out there for over a decade as well.

Why didn’t BLM invite the public to watch the release? Were they selling this event privately to media to make it sound like they are innovative and did not want any voice that knew how to use Google around?

Onward.

We are tired of BLM dancing around.

We need to hit each layer of this program hard and smart. Each layer of the wild horse and burro program is distinct; from on-range, through capture and into holding, we must address each and every layer to gain protection for our treasured wild ones.

Direct Action in the layer of handling: Help us get an enforceable welfare rule (click text for more info)

Our team is in the field and working hards behind the scenes.

We will update you soon.

Thank you for keeping us in the fight!

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