Above: During the Twin Peaks Roundup in California this year a band was pushed into the trap and then fought through fear and fled. No less than ten attempts were made to capture this band, yet they escaped. The sheer will to remain free demonstrated by these wild ones is truly inspiringThe photos that illustrate this piece are all from escapes made by wild horses during the latest roundups, which Colette documented via video.
Images below are from the most recent roundups in Nevada and California.
It took me a few years of searching, but then I found the complete content and the right fight for wild horses and burros. There is honest and fact-based content, which comes from knowledge and experience, and the courage to follow with actions.
Review of Wild Horse Education’s work immediately intrigued me, and I was increasingly drawn to it. Although small in size and budget, it consistently generates content that is often serious and intellectual. This is hard activism that opens eyes and doors and blazes trails. I started by offering to proof WHE’s articles. From that came a better understanding of core issues. It is important to me to have the knowledge to equip me to fight against the core issues that result in roundups, stockpiling, and inhumane treatment.
My involvement expanded because I trust WHE and have seen the progress. My first wild horse roundup brought home to me the value of their work from the ground up, which compelled me to keep going.
My hundreds of days at roundups across the West have translated to more progress. Documenting with a passion for truth, attending roundups from start to conclusion, knowing what questions to ask, getting data through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to tell the whole story and then detailed in my reports. It is also a cumulative story over years to show and speak about how outrageous incidents are not isolated. Every year I verbalize comments at BLM’s Motorized Vehicle Hearings (aka helicopter hearings) and often at National Advisory Board Meetings. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) claims it ensures the humane treatment of wild horses and burros during roundups and afterwards. My reports show they often do not even comply with their own inadequate welfare standards. WHE had to fight to see it, fight again, because it is a long story.
How do I convey what it is like being part of the welfare team, volunteers who bring their own valuable skillsets, are guided by WHE founder/president, Laura Leigh? Her enormous competence in humane treatment and all areas of wild horse advocacy is astounding. Our team receives ongoing training, support and dialogue as a team is free-flowing. The work can be hard, but the effort is truly dynamic and invigorating.
I do this because our wild herds are beloved and belong on our public lands. My search for understanding terms and topics kept taking me to WHE, content not found anywhere else and a complete connection to truth. It felt like taking a deep breath. I am filled with confidence and feel fulfilled by doing all I can to save the wild herds. And WHE writes more here.
A critical core issue is safeguarding wild herds’ habitats and countering habitat fragmentation. Otherwise, wild herds’ habitats and, inevitably, their populations will be increasingly reduced.
The federal government, BLM and the Forest Service, has jurisdiction to manage the wild herds on federal public lands in ten western states pursuant to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The agencies call management round up and remove. However, the federal court rulings this year were in our favor. BLM must adopt a formal herd management area plan (HMAP) for the long-term health of the herds and their rangeland. Plans will help provide more protection for herds in the West going forward. (AP article here)
BLM has been ordered by federal courts to develop plans, HMAPs, for the herds where WHE has won lawsuits, and there are active lawsuits for many more herds.
Wild herds are to be preserved and protected where they stand, or in designated herd management areas (HMAs). But other interests (livestock, mining, oil, gas, infrastructure) have continued to encroach and use public resources (forage and water) not to mention disrupting or fragmenting the contiguous landscapes with their infrastructure (roads and power supplies) without mitigating their impacts on the only areas where wild herds are allowed to roam.
Some of my published opinions: Reno Gazette Journal in 2022, and Nevada Independent in 2022 and 2023.
Myths that distract from identifying real issues and creating reform: Horses are the problem. Or horses are not native. Or pass a new law instead of fighting to enforce the 1971 Wild Horse Act. Or wild herds are overpopulated. Or the solution is to simply suppress their numbers.
My focus is on core issues. I remain committed to the welfare and protection of our wild ones, WHE IS A team that empowers each individual member to create the effort put forth in the collective body of work produced by WHE each year.
As a team member of WHE, I thank you for being a part of WHE and supporting this critical work another year.
Happy New Year.
Help us fight back. No matter how difficult the challenge may be, together we will stand strong. We won’t back down.
The last week of the year sets the most critical fundraising goal of the year. Funds raised now determine just how much we can carry into the coming year.
We must raise 10K to unlock a match that will be doubled dollar-for-dollar. If you make your contribution a monthly donation, another supporter will match your contribution tripling those funds.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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