Wild horses rescued from BLM.

[Paul E Ester]

A herd of wild horses removed from an area off of Deer Run Road last month were purchased Saturday at a Bureau of Land Management adoption in Carson City.

The BLM-sanctioned silent bid adoption was held at Silver Saddle Ranch. The horses were bought for $850 by the Deer Run Preservation Group in a collaborative effort with the American Wildhorse Preservation Campaign.

About 100 people attended the auction, many of whom were supporting the group and its efforts to save the horses.

The horses will go to a 2,000-acre ranch in Northern California where they will live wild and free forever, said Annie Jantzen, spokeswoman for the group. Among the horses adopted are five adult mares, two males and two foals born recently at the Stewart Ranch.

"They will never see a pen, a saddle nor will they have to worry about their families being stripped away ever again," Jantzen said. "This is a huge victory for the horses."

http://carsonnow.org/story/03/23/2013/deer-run-group-adopts-carson-city-wild-horses-removed-blm

[MineralMan]

1. Good for them!

[Paul E Ester]

2. Nine horses for $850

You can see why the meat industry wants them. It's a nice story, the horses used to hang out on the edge of the city and were neighborhood regulars. Neighbors were very upset when BLM got them.



https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deer-Run-Wild-Horse-Preservation/502363039802644

[Drahthaardogs]

22. Horses are cheap these days.

If you are willing to drive a bit, you can get one for free or less than $100 bucks. Grain prices are sky high, people do not have money, breeders overbred, pastureland is all being farmed because $8/bushel corn is pretty freaking amazing.

To be honest, for mustangs, I am surprised they paid anything for them.

[Robb]

3. Is that enough animals for the "ranch" to qualify for the ag tax exemption?

Hell of an investment if so.

[kurtzapril4]

8. Probably exactly the reason it was done, if so. n/t

[hfojvt]

4. that's a pretty funny headline

considering that there is a DUer named BLM and there was a DUer named Wildhorses.

So the headline made me wonder what was BLM doing to her that she needed to be rescued?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. lol

[blm]

34. Hah!!!

and THAT is why it's blm, not BLM.

[LWolf]

6. I don't understand your thread title.

The BLM routinely manages wild herds, and rounds up some and auctions them off regularly to control the population.

The BLM does not round them up and turn them over to meat processors.

The only difference I see with this preservation group is that they are going to keep the horses feral on a preserve, rather than adopting them out to people who will train them for various domestic uses.

What, exactly, are they being rescued from?

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram.html

[kurtzapril4]

7. Bingo! If they are bought from the BLM

They CANNOT be sold for meat! You have to sign a contract, and that is one of the rules. And every single one of those horses is branded when it is brought in, and they do check up on them. There are hefty, hefty fines for violating the contract.

Wild horses are iconic and pretty, and all....but they are not native wildlife. In fact, they chase native wildlife away from watering holes, and good grazing areas. Like sheep and cattle, they were not meant to be there, and if too concentrated in numbers, effectively damage the range severely.

And what is wrong with people adopting them and training them to be ridden, anyway? I know one BLM mustang from the Black Rock desert herd, and he's very happy. healthy, gentle, and a darn good, though a bit stubborn, trail horse. Indestructable hooves!

[LWolf]

9. My first horse,

back in the 60s, was a mustang, gentled before I met her. She lived a long, healthy, sound life, and is still the best horse I've ever met.

She was friendly, sound, sure-footed, quick, patient, and willing. What else can you ask for?

She came to the pasture gate when called. I could lead her anywhere without a rope, and ride her with nothing. She would climb, descend, go over rocks, swim, and jump anything I asked her to. She was the best friend I ever had.

[kurtzapril4]

12. Yep. They make outstanding riding horses,

and all around best friends. And they're very smart, to boot!

[1monster]

13. If we are going to go on and on about cats and horses, et als, being invasive species that

shouldn't be where ever, then all human species in the western hemisphere should also be labeled as an invasive species also. repatriation should begin here and in Europe by having everyone tested for their mitochondrial DNA type so everyone can be placed respectively in Africa and Asia...

In the meantime, the horses have been in this hemisphere for over 500 years. The ecological and evolutionary systems have adjusted already.

[kurtzapril4]

17. "The ecological and evolutionary systems have adjusted already."

Ummmm...no. No they haven't. Evolution takes hundreds of thousands, or millions of years. About the same amount of time it takes for ecological systems to adjust. An animal or plant or insect or virus or fungus that has been here 500 years is a rank new-comer. Even homo-sapiens like creatures have been in this hemisphere 10,000+ years.

I guess you could label human species outside of Africa and Asia invasive species. Have ecological and evolutionary systems adjusted to us? I'd say no. Look at the BP oil spill in the gulf. Look at the rising CO2 levels...how's that adjusting working out for us? We control...we don't HAVE to adjust, we think. If we don't like something...we change it. Not saying this is good, or bad, but it is what it is. We evolved, over many, many millenia, bigger brains. Which gave us the ability to effect change in our environment. Something a mule deer who's been chased away from a watering hole for the tenth time today by a feral horse cannot do. The mule deer is native to this continent. The horse is not, but...it is bigger and stronger. So maybe ten million years from now, after all the mule deer have died out, the horse could be considered "native," but it will never be. It is naturalised, not native. It evolved elsewhere.

I love cats, I have 9 of them, indoor only. Which, IMO, is where cats belong...in houses, 24-7. My cats are not unhappy...they run, they play, they act a fool. They are all strays/dumps/descendants of strays. I give props to the folks who do Trap/Neuter/Release. They are trying to to do something about a bad problem. Feral cats, and cats left to roam kill 100's of millions, if not billions, of birds and small mammals every year. It is a severe problem, and one of the higher up jerks at the Audubon society is advocating poisoning feral cats with Tylenol.

Canids are native to this continent. Wolves, coyotes, etc. Horses and housecats...not so much.

Some sheep and cattle ranchers are now starting to do sustainable grazing, which is brilliant. Hats off to them.

[1monster]

18. Not true. Evolution can take thousands of years and can happen very quickly.

Adpatations can happen over a few generations and those adaptations can become evolutions in as few as ten generations. Evolution can be helped along by spontaneous mutations or by other means as shown in the video below.

&feature=player_embedded

[Cerridwen]

30. Look up geological evolution.

The desert southwest may evolve over generations, but those generations are geological; with smatterings of human hubris.

We still haven't figured out how to cheaply get water out here without stealing it from elsewhere. No water, no life. We don't belong here.

Before someone does the snarky "doh, why are you there?" I was born here and returned to take care of my mother who was also born here. I'm 3rd generation NVan and leaving here as soon as I can. The people here make some I've met on the internet look abso-fucking-lutely brilliant.

[catchnrelease]

23. Horses did evolve on the North American continent

From a dog sized mammal* to close to the modern horse of today. Here's a short summary from ask.com :


Speaking of Equus, this genus--which includes modern horses, zebras and donkeys--evolved in North America during the Pliocene epoch and then, like Hipparion*, migrated across the land bridge to Eurasia. The last Ice Age saw the extinction of both North and South American horses, which disappeared from both continents by about 10,000 B.C. Ironically, though, Equus continued to flourish on the plains of Eurasia, and was reintroduced to the Americas by the European colonizing expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries A.D.

[NickB79]

35. The problem is, their predators also went extinct

No more American lions or American cheetahs to chase them down like there were during the Ice Age (yes, there were lions and cheetahs native to the US at one point 10,000 yr ago). Cougars aren't highly effective in hunting them, and wolves have only recently been reintroduced to the Western US.

So, we have reintroduced a species that was native to the US until geologically recently, but then object to any means by which to control their population. Then the horses do what nature intended stallions and mares to do, the semi-arid landscape is denuded of vegetation, and we sit here on DU bitching about how it's inhumane to manage horse populations through round-ups and auctions.

[Paul E Ester]

14. All the Missing Horses: What Happened to 1,700 Wild Horses Tom Davis Bought From the Gov’t?

The Bureau of Land Management faced a crisis this spring.

The agency protects and manages herds of wild horses that still roam the American West, rounding up thousands of them each year to keep populations stable.

But by March, government pens and pastures were nearly full. Efforts to find new storage space had fallen flat. So had most attempts to persuade members of the public to adopt horses. Without a way to relieve the pressure, the agency faced a gridlock that would invite lawsuits and potentially cause long-term damage to the range.

So the BLM did something it has done increasingly over the last few years. It turned to a little-known Colorado livestock hauler named Tom Davis who was willing to buy hundreds of horses at a time, sight unseen, for $10 a head.

The BLM has sold Davis at least 1,700 wild horses and burros since 2009, agency records show -- 70 percent of the animals purchased through its sale program.

Like all buyers, Davis signs contracts promising that animals bought from the program will not be slaughtered and insists he finds them good homes.

But Davis is a longtime advocate of horse slaughter. By his own account, he has ducked Colorado law to move animals across state lines and will not say where they end up. He continues to buy wild horses for slaughter from Indian reservations, which are not protected by the same laws. And since 2010, he has been seeking investors for a slaughterhouse of his own.

http://www.propublica.org/article/missing-what-happened-to-wild-horses-tom-davis-bought-from-the-govt

Said Davis:

Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," he said. "What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?"

[LWolf]

21. Then get it more press.

<snip>

If you observe or have factual information that a federally protected wild horse or wild burro has been treated inhumanely or sold to slaughter, please contact the BLM at [e-mail] or at 866-4MUSTANGS (866-468-7826) with your name, contact information, and specific information about what you saw or know about. If possible, please include the freezemark. Federally protected horses and burros have a freezemark, which can be viewed here.

That's clearly in direct conflict with their stated policies.

I believe that there have been some trials with contraceptives, rounding up mares to give them a vaccination; I don't know how well that's worked. It's work intensive to round up, treat, and release the mares every year.

The populations have to be controlled somehow. I support almost any humane method that avoids slaughter.

[Cerridwen]

31. Criminals commit crimes. How is that the BLM's fault?

How is the the government's fault?

Perhaps we can fund the government in such a way they have enough people and resources to do their jobs?

Or maybe, you think government is too big and needs to be bath tub sized? Guess what?

It's been bath tub sized for about 20 years now.

Looks great, don't it?

Oh yeah, here's a present for the sarcasm impaired.....

[Nevernose]

19. Lately they are not "routinely managing"

They appear to be rounding up as many as possible, especially nearer towns and cities in Nevada (although, to be fair, 95% of North America's wild horses are in Nevada). Many of us believe it is because the BLM can't sell the land to developers if there are wild horses on it.

[LWolf]

20. It looks like

that can happen in Nevada because Nevada passed a law allowing the blm to sell public land. That in itself is problematic, to say the least.

According to the BLM, Nevada has about 59% of the feral horse population.

I believe Nevada has also had problems with people shooting mustangs.

With no problems, no developers, no shooters, the feral horse population still has to be managed to control numbers, and that still means rounding them up.

[Cerridwen]

26. See post #24. Do some research before people

realize you don't know what you're talking about.

[LWolf]

33. I don't need to read post # 24 to know what I'm talking about, thanks.

I'm pretty clear.

I'm not sure what your points in 24 have to do with the point here; that buying mustangs from the blm is not "rescuing" them from the blm; it's part of the necessary population control.

There is an overpopulation problem. That's why they are rounded up and sold. In reality, there probably shouldn't be any feral horses roaming loose at all. They aren't "wild;" as far as I know, Przewalski's horse is the only "wild" horse left on the planet since the Tarpan went extinct a century ago. They are feral domestic horses. They aren't just descendants of spanish and later escapees; feral herds have been managed and "improved" by turning various domestic breeds out to interbreed with them. As a matter of fact, you can find "mustangs" with clear draft horse blood in some places. I've seen them, and ridden with a friend who adopted one.

Then there is the actual "spanish mustang" breed; those feral horses rounded up with the characteristics of the early spanish horses, and bred in captivity.

My first horse was a "mustang," back in the 1960s. I've been following what's happening with them since then. I've already done my research, thanks.

[Cerridwen]

25. It's called drought. Read up on it. n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. Fail, for the completely misleading headline. that you wrote. n/t

[life long demo]

11. I read this as good news. Thank you

The BLM should stop rounding up wild horses IMHO.

[Cerridwen]

28. Yeah. Let 'em starve to death in the wild.

Hey, it's nature's way; not pretty; ugly; inhumane; but nature's way.

[redqueen]

15. K&R

[liberal_at_heart]

16. That's wonderful. It's a shame we don't have free roaming animals in this country anymore.

the most any wild animal can really hope for is to live in a national park.

[Kali]

27. don't get out of town much?

"It's a shame we don't have free roaming animals in this country anymore."

[Cerridwen]

24. Research drought in the southwest.

After you're finished researching drought, research what happens to wild animals as they slowly die from starvation and lack of water. Look at the pictures. It ain't pretty.

When you're finished there, research what happens when humans impinge on the animals' lands.

After that, learn about progress, civilization, and human growth.

Want to save wild horses; don't breed. Don't move to the west. Don't need a house and community to live in and surely, don't give some developer of lands your money to build a housing development in the wilderness.

Oh, and to whomever it was talking about NV selling public lands; read up and do your own research. Those would be public lands shit on by humans. They've dumped their mattresses, their motor oil, their old refrigerators, and their dead pets on it and then they've driven up and down it with their ATVs and destroyed any habitat for flora or fauna. Those are the public lands sold. But, hey, it's just desert and nothing lives in the desert, right?

You don't like horses rounded up? Don't breed. Don't move west. Don't breed your own mutt horses.

You think it's caused by ranchers of cattle? Don't eat beef; don't buy cow leather or its products.

Otherwise, STFU and go adopt a mustang and learn what wonderful horses they can be.

[Cerridwen]

29. Oh yeah, if you don't like the law; change it.

The BLM follows the law whether they want to or not.

See if you can gut-up and do the same.

Change the law; change the land; change progress; tell humans not to breed and take over the land.

Go for it. Send me a link. I'd like to watch.

[DreamGypsy]

32. Wild horses.

I watched you suffer...a dull aching pain.
Now you've decided to show me the same.