CNN debuts four-part series on wild horse controversy

Captured paint mare and her foal
at Broken Arrow holding facility
Photo: Cat Kindsfather
No use without express written permission

In today's first segment of "Mustang Roundup: Taking the wild out of the West," a four-part series to be aired on CNN's American Morning, the cable network thrust the controversy over wild horse roundups into renewed national prominence, with a piece about the recent Lahontan "Gather," during which more than 100 mustangs were captured from the 11,000-acre Lahontan Herd Management Area (HMA) east of Carson City, Nevada.  

The one-day Lahontan roundup was held on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010, and CNN reporters Kim Segal andJohn Zarrella were there, along with videographer Carl Mrozac, and several independent observers, including Richard Couto of Animal Recovery Mission, Lacy Dalton of Let 'Em Run Foundation, Bonnie Matton of the Wild Horse Preservation League, and Simone Netherlands of Respect 4 Horses.  They witnessed the chase and entrapment of 117 wild horses, and it's the graphic footage of what happened there that CNN unveiled today.

"In their eyes, you see who they are," intones the narrator of the powerful two-minute piece, "rugged, powerful, independent:  they are the wild mustangs of the American west."

Part of the footage depicts a horrifying sequence in which the helicopter contractor seems to attack a lone burro with the skids of his vehicle, while the voiceover says, "Here, a helicopter chases one single burro, eventually knocking it over.  It staggers off."  The reporters quote Simone Netherlands, who characterizes the helicopter chases as "brutal," adding, "It's barbaric and it does not need to be done this way."

The BLM ultimately determined that two of the "wild" horses it had chased from the Lahontan HMA were privately owned, identifying a mare and her foal who had "domestic brands."  Another yearling colt was euthanized by Dr. Richard Sanford at the Palomino Valley holding facility because he "had an old healed fracture or dislocation involving his right hind fetlock joint.  He was noticeably lame (Grade III) and in much worse body condition (Body Condition II) than his herd mates.  His foot was severely deformed from the injury."

Only seven horses (two stallions and five mares) were released back into the Lahontan HMA a day after their capture, on Thursday, November 18th.

CNN will air Part II of "Mustang Roundup: Taking the wild out of the West" on Tuesday, January 4th, on American Morning.

A second chance for Chon-Teh

It was the night of Thursday, December 2nd, 2010, and Carol Poole couldn't sleep.  The Facebook image of a frightened black mustang mare who had landed in the "kill pen" at the New Holland auction haunted her.  The forlorn mare, whose neck brand identified her as one the BLM had taken from the wild, was destined for a one-way trip to a slaughterhouse unless someone stepped in to save her.  When nobody else did, Carol realized it was up to her.

Even though she wasn't really thinking about adding another horse to her band of three at her 10-acre Almosta Farm in Oakham, Mass., Carol knew she had to intervene to save the mare's life.  Carol is a devoted wild horse advocate who has been working passionately to end the relentless spate of BLM roundups.  With fundraising help from a bevy of like-minded supporters on the PA Kill Broker Owned Facebook page, a chunk of the $595 "bail" money was chipped in to cover the costs of the mare's purchase price, as well as the coggins certificateand health exam that she would need to make the interstate journey from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts.  And by the morning of Tuesday, December 7th, the mare was home free.

But how in the world did she find herself in harm's way?  Carol made it her mission to find out.  She contacted the BLM's Steve Meyers, who looked up the brand and discovered that this horse had been trapped and removed from the 65,000-acre Three Fingers Herd Management Area in eastern Oregon back in 2002.  She had been adopted in 2004 by a person who was identified by Meyers as Amish.  We don't know what happened to her in the interim, but we do know that the New Holland auction is often used as a dumping ground for horses owned by members of the local Amish community.  According to the BLM's records, the mare is 10 years old.

When she walked off the trailer onto Carol Poole's farm in early December, the little mustang mare appeared to be sweet, serene, and surprisingly easy to handle.  But her eyes were "glassy and watery," Carol recalled, signaling that all was not well.  And within a day or so, the mare's demeanor changed so dramatically that Carol is convinced she had been drugged prior to the sale.  By the day before Christmas, Carol admitted that "we still can't get near her" to touch her, pet her, or to remove her halter, which has obviously been attached to the mare's head for a long time.  "She doesn't want anything to do with humans," Carol said, sadly, and "she shies away if you move your hands.  I think she's been abused."

But Carol has no intention of giving up on this shy, gentle creature whose fearfulness cannot hide a quiet dignity and nobility of spirit.  To honor her, Carol determined that the mare should have a name befitting her wild heritage, and after consulting with William Firecloud, Jr., she has chosen to call the mare, "Wash-Ah-Kah Chon-Teh," which is Dakota Teton dialect for "Strong Heart."

For now, "Chon Teh" (pronounced "Shon Tay") has a roomy paddock across from three other horses (including another mustang), access to a run-in shed, fresh water, and as much hay as she can eat.  Slowly, she is allowing herself to get closer to people, and she seems to understand that she is finally in the arms of people who have no wish to harm her.  

Carol dreams that she will one day be able to return Chon Teh to a western reserve where she can roam in wide open spaces with other mustangs.  "I personally don't think any wild horse belongs to any person," Ms. Poole emphasized.  "The only reason we took her was to save her life."  And in doing so, she has given Chon Teh the most precious gift of all: a second chance.

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Laura Leigh seeks injunction to immediately halt wild horse roundups

Barely 18 hours before BLM-hired helicopters are scheduled to lift off in pursuit of almost 600 wild horses in the Silver King Herd Management Area south of Ely, Nevada, advocate and journalist Laura Leigh went to federal court in Reno yesterday in an effort to ground them.

And Ms. Leigh's far-ranging motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) wouldn't stop there.  She seeks nothing less than an injunction to cause the immediate cessation of "all helicopter operations wherever situated," all "transporting, whever situated or intended, of captured wild horses, feral horses," and other BLM-managed horses, and all "bulk shipment of horses from long-term holding facilities, short-term holding facilities, or sale horses outside the regular BLM adoption program."  Ms. Leigh wants to impose these prohibitions not just on the proposed Silver King Gather, but on all ongoing and planned roundups under BLM jurisdiction in every state in which they are occurring or are expected to occur.

The implications of Ms. Leigh's suit are huge, and potentially ground-breaking.  If successful, her motion would not only halt--at least temporarily--the anticipated BLM roundup at Silver King, in Nevada, but a host of other previously scheduled roundups, including the controversial Wyoming gather of almost 2000 wild horses in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek HMAs, which is due to start at the end of next week.
Ultimately, when these roundups resume, Ms. Leigh wants access, and she wants transparency.  In the wake of the disastrous Calico Complex roundup earlier this year, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 100 horses, the BLM has gone to extreme lengths to restrict public observers from witnessing its wild horse chases, entrapment methods, and stress-filled holding sites, hoping that by hiding what actually happens when wild horses are forcefully wrenched from their ranges, it would silence the outrage of an impassioned American public.

Instead, the voices of protest have only grown louder.

Read the rest of the story on Examiner.com

Who is the BLM Kidding?

The BLM has just announced that it intends to pay $1.5 million to the National Academy of Sciences for a two-year study that would purportedly determine how best to count, control, collect, and ultimately manage America's wild horses. The agency claims it wants to use "the best science available" in managing wild horses and burros on public lands. Who are they kidding?

How can we possibly take this initiative seriously while the BLM is moving at literally breakneck speed to round up every wild horse it can find? It doesn't want a study, it wants a mandate. I don't buy it, and neither should anyone who truly cares about the future of the wild horses who are still roaming free on their appointed ranges.

The BLM's sudden interest in science is nothing more than an attempt to placate the Inspector General, whose office recently reported that the Department of Interior "has no comprehensive scientific integrity policy." Heck, wild horse advocates could have told them that.

Calls for a comprehensive scientific review are meaningless in the absence of a concurrent agreement to suspend the wild horse roundups pending the results of the investigation. If the BLM is so concerned about the need for an updated evaluation of how it calculates wild horse numbers and determines herd management areas, why is it in such a hurry to grab every horse in sight before such a study is even conducted, much less made available?

But if the National Academy of Sciences is to conduct a review, it should seek the answers to some hard questions. For example. . .

Read the rest of the story on Examiner.com