January 24, 2017 – Paths I Walk

Once again, for the record. . .

ISPMB is circulating a rumor that Fleet of Angel and our partner organizations are trying to take the horses away from ISPMB. As we have said before, we have made no effort whatsoever to take the horses from ISPMB, and we don’t plan to. Our role in this massive mission is to protect the ISPMB horses from auction and probably slaughter IF the judge does remove them from ISPMB. It’s not fun in any way, it’s not easy in any way, and it’s not profitable for us to be involved in this effort. It’s quite the opposite, in fact.
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In order to stop the auction of the horses that was scheduled for Dec. 20, we had to pay the hay bill that the counties, which was approximately $78,000.00. We did that. We also had to agree to cover the cost of hay and care going forward. We agreed to do that. We also had to agree to take the horses IF the judge ruled that ISPMB could not keep the horses, and we have also agreed to do that.
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Fleet of Angels and our associates do NOT ‘want’ the horses. What we do want is to do whatever we can to prevent any of the ISPMB horses from suffering or dying IF they are taken from ISPMB because of their inability to meet the requirements laid out in the court order that turned responsibility for feeding and caring of the horses over the the two SD counties the ISPMB is in. It is a massive commitment to accept and care for these horses while they’re being adopted and transported, and we’d love to not need to- but we may need to, in order to save them.
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We do not get involved in efforts to remove horses from anyone, but we do try our best to provide a safety net for horses that are at-risk of suffering or going to slaughter if they are in need of homes. In this case, we are willing to be the safety net for the ISPMB horses for long enough to allow their adopters to arrange for transportation for them to new homes- IF they are no longer owned by ISPMB, and need homes to go to.

The hearing on this matter is scheduled for this Friday, Jan. 27. If asked by the judge to take on Phase II of this mission, we will rely on you to help us help these horses. Thank you all for your support in this effort.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ISPMB.Adoptable.Horses/permalink/1224558907634903/

Source: Failed Former Wild Horse Sanctuary Attempts to Derail Rescue Operations

Wild Horses in the North Lander Complex Herds in Danger of Extinction

The Bureau of Land Management’s Lander, Wyoming Field Office has released a Scoping Document for the North Lander Complex in Wyoming. The most current population count has the numbers of the wild horses in the North Lander Complex to be 1026. They do not differentiate between foals and adult horses in their number, they say 1016 “individuals,” so it is misleading – the BLM is not supposed to count the current year’s foal crop because mortality is high for foals in their first year.

Here are the four Herd Management Areas in the 368,000 acre Complex:
Conant Creek, Dishpan Butte, Muskrat Basin, Rock Creek Mountain
They call it a “complex” because “there is no geographic separation of the HMAs and the gates between them are left open a significant part of the year.”
This is the excuse given for bringing the numbers in 3 of the 4 herds down way below the level needed for genetic viability. However, if there is no separation at all, why are there four different herd management areas?
Horses tend to stay in familiar areas, areas they know where the waterholes, shelter and grazing are located. I would seriously doubt that there is very much intermixing of herds – when visiting the Red Desert Complex, where there are adjacent areas, the horses tend to stay in their range, and there is very little intermixing.

They plan to bring the herds down to these numbers:
Conant Creek 60
Dishpan Butte 50
Muskrat Basin 160
Rock Creek Mountain 50

and end up with a total number of horses for the North Lander Complex of 310.
According to Gus Cothran, the leading geneticist for wild horses, a herd needs a population of at least 150 adults to maintain genetic viability. This plan of the BLM’s which not only brings all but one of the herds down to dangerously low levels also includes giving birth control to all the mares that are released. If the herds are at dangerously low levels it makes absolutely no sens at all to give them birth control. Herds below the minimum number of wild horses for genetic viability should NOT be given any type of birth control. That is dooming them to extinction.
The other issue is that fall is the exact wrong time of year to give PZP to the mares – it should be done in January – March to ensure that it works – they are planning the roundup for the fall of 2017.

They are planning to use helicopters to round up the horses – using helicopters to terrify wild horses so that they run into traps and injure themselves is cruel and inhumane. If they need to round the horses up they should use the far more humane and far less costly method of bait trapping. And they need to keep the families of horses together – this is much less stressful for the horses.

Source: Wild Horses: Please Comment on BLM’s Plan to Reduce North Lander Complex in Wyoming Herds to Dangerously Low Numbers