The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced a virtual public hearing regarding the use of motorized vehicles in the management of wild horses and burros. Instead of running local hearings (as required under current regulations) BLM has decided that these annual Zoom hearings will replace the traditional state level hearings.
The 2024 hearing is scheduled for May 23, 2024, from 3-5 p.m. MT, and will be held using Zoom video and live-streamed at BLM.gov/live.
BLM is required to hold these hearings after motorized vehicle use was reinstated under law in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (after the initial ban in the original 1971 Act). Before helicopters or motorized vehicles can be used, a public hearing is required in order to comply with Section 404 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA, 1976). The approval of the use of motorized vehicles to capture wild horses and burros is only one of the ways erosion of protections afforded in the 1971 Act happened almost immediately (you can learn more HERE).
Above: BLM has not even adopted Air Index standards for smoke blowing in from wildfire or Heat Index standards used in basic veterinary practices to keep our wild ones safe.
Advocates knew issues would arise when helicopters and trucks began capturing wild horses and burros. They pushed for annual (localized) hearings to address these issues. Instead of addressing issues raised during these hearings, BLM has simply run them as a repository for public comments they have never responded to in any format. It took years of litigation from WHE leadership just to gain the first internal standards that BLM named the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP). That program was never taken through the formal process called “rulemaking” to become enforceable policy. WHE is back in court again to gain the enforceable policy needed to comply with the law: wild horses and burros are to be managed and handled humanely.
If you wish to make a comment during the Hearing, we ask that you consider joining WHE members in pointing out that the current structure of these hearings has proven no more than a farce and BLM must begin rulemaking to create enforceable welfare rules that includes the use of motorized vehicles.
Above: BLM is prohibited from using helicopters to capture during foaling season, but BLM fails to create a data-based metric for actual foaling season. On top of the fact that they have no baseline, BLM has been manipulating the time of year of peak foaling season through the use of various forms of fertility control without changing the time of year helicopters are prohibited. This inexcusable failure has led to numerous deaths and injuries of tiny babies.
The Hearing will cover all motorized vehicle use (and protocols suurounding them) from roundup operations, population surveys, and transport of wild horses and burros animals to/from corrals, pastures, and adoption, sale, and transfer events.
To provide a comment during the virtual public hearing, members of the public must register in advance by May 22. Written comments may also be sent by 5 p.m. MT on May 23 to BLM_HQ_MotorizedVehicleHearing@blm.gov.
For additional information regarding the public hearing, please contact the Wild Horse and Burro National Information Center at 866-468-7826 or wildhorse@blm.gov. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) at 711 to reach the National Information Center during normal business hours.
Above: BLM continues to use unsafe trap locations.
We hope to hear you speak out at the hearing.
Our teams are out in the field and working hard on the backside doing outreach and briefing active litigation.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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