Above: Blue-eyed paint mare in pregnant mare pen. Captured in the area where wild horses move back and forth between Clan Alpine and New Pass/Ravenswood. (More HERE on the Clan Alpine mess where BLM knows about exchange both east and north into East Pershing, but does not include that information when setting appropriate stocking numbers, what BLM references as “AML,” and removals).
She is now “just a number” in inventory. Her foal will be born and labelled “born in a facility.” When “weaned” between 3-6 months of age, the foal will go to an adoption event somewhere and be eligible for the Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) at risk of becoming another statistic that was resold into the slaughter pipeline. She will probably be labelled “Sale Authority,” a very active program where horses can be purchased for as little as $5. and by the truckload. In 2023, 1,798 wild horses and burros were simply sold, not tracked, and we know from past investigations that this is the highest risk category for landing in a kill pen and not a long term holding facility.
Stallions have been gelded and are awaiting their fate: Sale Authority or long term holding.
Pigeon fever was confirmed in wild horses captured at Clan Alpine in November. It takes a horse about 3 weeks to recover from this highly infectious illness. BLM wasted no time gelding and beginning to ship them out.
Above: This little guy was stuck in the stud pen and looks a bit rough since capture 2 months ago.
Clan Alpine is just south of the East Pershing Complex. BLM has run back-to-back roundups in this stretch between Highway 80 and Highway 50. Completing Clan Alpine BLM released unmarked stallions in the north of the Clan Alpine (and mares treated with GonaCon that BLM denied any public access to witness) before beginning East Pershing, targeting known winter grounds where horses in the north of Clan Alpine travel. The combined acreage of Clan Alpine and East Pershing is 2.5 million acres. BLM wants to get the population down to 957 horses left in the entire area from north to south. In just the last 4 months, BLM will have removed 4,480 wild horses. A clear indication that their target AML is way off; the range can sustain a lot more horses.
Livestock grazing is intensive in these areas. Rapidly expanding mining and energy transmission lines are also encroaching. It is interesting to remember the high incidence of cancer BLM cited as they euthanized horses at the beginning of the roundup… in the same area a lot of livestock grazes.
Mares
Stallions (Geldings)
As we look at the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program we see one of the most neglected programs run by land management agencies. We see abysmal failures to collect data and practically no actual on-range management planning. We see roundups being done the same way they were 50 years ago (can you thing of anything that has stayed the same in 50 years besides your Grandma’s cookie recipe?). The agency does not even have a formal and enforceable welfare policy.
But on the eyes of the no-name wild one we see a consequence that tells the story of failures on the range and those yet to come. Last week, BLM released its “top stories of 2023.” In that piece the agency brags about offloading over 8,000 wild horses to “good homes” claiming a savings of $181 million. We all know at least half did not land in a good home through AIP or Sales. We also know that math is wrong. Of the 8045 off-loaded to adopters, BLM says 36% went into the subsidized AIP program where adopters receive tax payer money; using 36%, that would equal nearly 3 million spent just on the subsidy without adding the money used to facilitate the program. BLM has not set up any program to help rescue the horses immediately resold into slaughter.
We all know a horse left free costs nothing. BLM has not spent any money doing transparent management planning that would actually disclose how they come up with the number of horses and burros they say the land can sustain. Although BLM currently has the authority to repatriate a Herd Area (habitat designated for their use, but not managed for it) and has never exercised that authority and put one horse back on land taken from them (nearly 26 million acres is currently designated for horse and burro use but BLM simply refuses to address this issue).
As we left the facility we promised to never forget them… and to never stop speaking their truth.
The Clan Alpine horses can be seen at Palomino Valley Center north of Reno.
The East Pershing horses are being sent into an off-limits to viewing facility north of Winnemucca that was built in a flood zone.
We need your support to remain on the frontline; on the range and in the courts.
Thank you for keeping us running for our wild ones.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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