BLM Short-Term Facilities June 2013 (compilation and comments, Bonnie Kohleriter)
STATE FACILITY CAPACITY EST. NO. OF ANIMALS
Arizona Arizona State Prison at Florence
Narrative: This prison is developing a facility to house wild horses and burros. It is not yet in operation.
Lichfield Holding facility CA
California Litchfield in No. CA 1000 700
800-545-4256
Narrative: Litchfield has 19 large pens with no shelters.
Horse skull photographed in pen at Litchfield during Twin Peaks of 2010) note: you would think whomever removed the carcass would have noticed they were missing something?
California Ridgecrest in So. CA 1000 600
800-951-8720
Narrative: Ridgecrest has 5 canopies over 5 of 17 pens. The canopies are on poles. They are situated to provide continuous shade as the sun moves during the day. The other pens have no shelter. This is a desert facility. Additional canopies and pens are being requested.
Colorado Canon City WH Inmate Program 3000 2400
719-269-8539
Narrative: Canon City has 43 pens of different sizes and 15 shipping pens that hold 15. It has some mature trees. It planted fast growing trees 1 and 2 years ago with a goal to have shade in every pen.
Idaho Boise Wild Horse and Burro Facility 150 50
208-384-3454 or 208-830-4522
Narrative: Boise has 6, one acre pens with no shelter. This facility may be expanded to be more cost effective. Steve Leonard, the facilities’ manager has a successful 4H Club training program wherein 100 horses have been trained and adopted.
Kansas Hutchinson Correctional Facility 499 329
620-728-3296 or 620-662-2321
Narrative: Hutchison has 10 pens, an arena, 2 corrals, 30 stables for horses in training, and no shelter.
Mississippi Piney Woods for SE Adoptions 150 100
601-715-9711 or 601-317-3815
Narrative: Piney Woods is part of a cooperative with Piney Woods Boarding School where the horses are housed. It has pastures and pens with no shelter. The horses are constantly moved to adoption sites in 11 different states.
Nebraska Elm Creek WHB Center or Mid 499 430
Continent WHB Center for Adoptions in NE & SE
308-856-4498
Narrative: Elm Creek has 9 big pens of 5000 acres with no shelter but with wind breaks and 12 loading pens.
Strangles, ringworm and papiloma virus are regular visitors to Palomino Valley
Nevada Palomino Valley in No. NV 1850 1835
775-475-2222
Narrative: Palomino has 10 large pens on the perimeter and 30-40 pens in the center of the facility of different sizes. The pens have no shelter. It is felt by a wrangler at the facility shelter is not important as the animals are not being worked during the middle part of the day. Shelters could be a safety issue as the wranglers on horseback go into the pens to gather up horses and the sun kills the bacteria in the facilities. Shelters with moisture retention beneath them could enhance the growth of bacteria such as the strangles bacteria.
Nevada Broken Arrow in Fallon NV 2500 2400
Overflow from Palomino
No telephone number as BLM claims
It is a private facility
Narrative: 30-40 pens with no shelter with feedlot feeders. The public is denied access except for well-planned visits during ideal weather about twice a year.
The number of injured, ill or dying animals documented at Broken Arrow caused BLM to shut the doors due to an “image problem”
Nevada Stewart Conservation Camp 1400
Northern NV Correctional Center
775-887-9331 Hank Curry
Narrative: This correctional facility has 8 large pens 400 by 400 feet and 12 small pens. The 1400 horses are crowded into these pens with no shelter. They are the overflow from Palomino Valley. Of the 1400 approximately 60-100 yearly are picked to gentle, halter and saddle in 120 days in preparation for adoption. The question is how many are injured as prisoners try to settle these 75-100 horses. The other horses are not seen in prison so have no chance of being taken to a good home. The lack of transparency for the wild horses and burros in prison and in privately contracted facilities is abhorrent defying our rights as citizens.
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Oklahoma Paul’s Valley Staging Site for SW Adoptions 590 400
405-794-9624 or 405-238-7138
Narrative: Paul’s Valley has some pens and 12 green pastures with ponds on 400 acres.. The USGS is conducting research on some of the animals at this facility. You can drive the perimeter and through the middle of this facility to observe the horses. Cemetery Road cuts though the middle of the facility. Adoptions are the 2nd Tuesday of every month.
Click Image to see the last horses taken from Barren Valley and the Burns Corral
Oregon Wild Horse Corral Facility Burns District 600 650
541-573-4400 or 541-573-2748 or 542-573-2749
Narrative: Burns has about 45 pens of varying sizes. It has no shelters.
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Utah Delta Wild Horse and Burro Facility 300 260
801-419-9609 or 435-743-3100
Narrative: Delta has no shade.
The knee deep mud at Butterfield, now closed facility in Utah
Utah Axtell Utah Burro Facility 500 500
Narrative: Axtell is a private contract, temporary holding facility for burros. Kerry Despain has a one year contract terminating in October, 2013. Most of the burros are from Ridgecrest, California. The facility has irrigated pastures on 15-20 acres and corrals.
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Utah Gunnison Central Utah Correctional Facility 1500 1318
435-528-6063 or801-538-4057 or 435-896-1538
Narrative: Gunnison has 10 pens or runs of different sizes, 10 sort pens, no shelter and rubber belting on some panels that serve as wind breaks.
Wyoming Rock Springs Corrals 800 671
307-352-0302
Narrative: Rock Springs has 19 pens some of which can act as pairs to open to give the horses more space to roam. It has no shelters but some plywood site boards that act as wind breaks.
BLM adoption at Correctional Facility
Wyoming Riverton Honey Farm Correctional Facility 375 204
307-856-9578
Narrative: Riverton is a training facility for 2-3 year old geldings. It has 15-20 pens, 8 round pens, and a covered arena. It has no shelters. Adoptions are in May and in August.
Wyoming Mantle Wild Horse Training and Adoptions 100-150 100-150
Center
307-322-5799 Steve Mantle, owner
Narrative:
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This is a stock trailer taking horses into Gunnison prison. Right after this Laura Leigh had her truck searched, all bags searched. camera and cell phone taken before she could see horses.
Summary: The BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program has 19 short-term facilities plus a few with nominal numbers of animals like 0-20. Of the 19, five appear to be in prisons and four in privately contracted facilities. The animals in these facilities are rarely seen decreasing their opportunity for possible adoption. Transparency is questionable and possibly a violation of the constitution. Almost none of the facilities have shelter. Canon City is trying to develop shelter with the planting of fast growing trees. Ridgecrest has 5 canopies, 2 with canvass tops and 3 with metal, and they appear to be safe for the horses and the wranglers. These structures do not appear to impede the movement of the horses or the wranglers when they have to go into the pens. There’s been a concern for the safety of the horses and burros should shelters be constructed. A construction engineer could design safe shelters such as in Ridgecrest should the BLM fund it. Given horses are now spending time up to three years and beyond in these supposed short-term facilities, it appears only humane to provide them with shelter particularly in Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi and California when the heat is over 100 degrees. Paul’s Valley in Oklahoma, Axtell in Utah, and Mantle in Wyoming have pastures where the horses and burros can stretch their muscles. Nevada’s Correctional Facility, Stewart Camp, and Oregon’s Burns facility are of particular concern at this time as the animals are living in an overcrowded condition. While Nevada’s correctional facility provides a good training program for adoptable horses and a place for the overflow of animals from Palomino Valley, it should not be allowed to provide overcrowding because of its out of sight operation.
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