The Truth About the BLM's Myths and Facts

The truth about the BLM’s Myths and Facts page:

The BLM is aware of wild horse advocates' claims and has created a page on their website which is simply a counter-attack. However, much of their "myths and facts" page is more myth than fact. See for yourself.

These are the correct answers the so-called "myths" on the BLM website's Myths and Facts page. I copied the page, left the "myth" in, (labeled "BLM's claimed Myth #__" ), and gave an answer that has been researched over many years and that I believe to be correct (labeled "FACT" ).




BLM's claimed Myth #1: A report issued in June 2013 by a 14-member research committee of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommended that the BLM stop gathering wild horses and burros from Western public rangelands and let nature cull any excess herds.

FACT: The NAS issued a report in which they asserted that the BLM's current management tactics would be detrimental and unproductive. The BLM has once again done a masterful job of twisting words. Did the NAS say that all management efforts should cease? Of course not. But then, neither have wild horse advocates. Wild horse advocates also do not believe that the NAS said the BLM should cease management efforts.

The NAS said that the BLM's current management program was ineffective and damaging. This is the NAS's own words: "‘Business-as-Usual’ Practices Will Be Increasingly Expensive and Unproductive for BLM." I suggest that the reader take the time to read the report that the NAS issued seeing as the BLM has conveniently not provided it and has twisted its words.








BLM’s claimed Myth #2: “The BLM is selling or sending wild horses to slaughter.”

FACT: 

Wild Horse Education has this to say: 

BLM sells what they deem unadoptable horses (criteria undefined) for $10 each by the truckload with no compliance or follow up. The BLM long-term holding facilities that sell our horses by the truckload are “off limits” to the public. Nor can a member of the public enter to buy any of these horses. There are no records available to the public, and BLM says it is too hard to track horses for sales to the public from these facilities. BLM is supposed to find these horses good homes, instead they are almost certainly going to slaughter when they leave government “warehousing.”

I would like to add this: The BLM is correct in that this myth is technically false. The BLM itself does not contact slaughterhouses and ship Mustangs to them. However, the market for Mustangs – even saddle-broken ones – is rock-bottom, and the BLM is running out of room to house them. As they keep bringing in more, they're forced to sell them off to anyone who will buy them. The BLM sells Mustangs and burros to kill-buyers and often does not follow-up on the horses' well-being and whereabouts as they claim they do, and they routinely ignore public concern. As scrutiny and criticism of the agency increased after horrific images of conduct by roundup contractors escalated last year, Gus Warr (the Utah state lead of the program) intercepted two truckloads of 64 slaughter-bound Mustangs. Their buyers, Robert Wilford Capson and Dennis Kay Kunz, were indicted following an investigation. The men face charges of wire fraud and making false statements. In an interview with KSL TV in Salt Lake one of the accused men, Dennis Kunz said, “The BLM is only trying to make him look bad, and the entire operation was a set-up to make the BLM look good for future funding for the Wild Horse Program.” The BLM might not sell horses directly to slaughter, but they make no provision for the horses to be protected from slaughter.

Mustangs that go through their adoption program are fortunate to have a legal tie to the BLM until the BLM releases it. The owner can't sell the Mustang, he must meet certain regulations, and the BLM has the right to check up on the Mustang. This tends to rule out most bad owners.

Mustangs that go through the sales program, though, get none of these advantages. The horses are given to the highest bidder, and many go for dirt cheap, which makes them hot targets for the meat market. The owner only has to sign a contract promising that he won't sell the Mustang to slaughter. Promises are only as good as the person who makes them. 70% of all the Mustangs that go through the sales program are bought by one man, Tom Davis of Colorado. He wants more because the BLM is only selling him "mere hundreds at a time." So far Tom Davis has refused to reveal where he sells all those horses to. When asked, he replies "it's none of your **** business."  Since 2010, he has been seeking investors for a slaughterhouse of his own. Yet BLM continued to sell this man wild horses as it reassured the public it was doing “all it could” to ensure horses sold did not go to slaughter.

This year a private investigation by journalist Dave Philipps, assisted by Wild Horse Education, revealed more startling evidence that BLM may be knowingly selling to kill-buyers. The piece was published in ProPublica and an interview with Dave Philipps about the investigation on DemocracyNow can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AKEVdP4WRM

The first Mustang costs $125 to adopt. After that they only cost $25. If you spent $25 to get the horse, you get a dollar for each pound of meat from the horse, and the horse weighs 600 –1,000 lbs., you have a considerable profit. Recently the BLM has started a policy where one person cannot buy or adopt more than 4 Mustangs within a six-month period. It will be interesting to see how long and which facilities hold to this new policy. The down side of this policy is that the BLM is bringing in more horses each year (thanks to rising population growth rates caused by BLM roundups), but now they can’t get rid of them as quickly. Where will these extra horses go?

The BLM itself does not send horses to slaughter, but that does not guarantee Mustangs safety from slaughter.







BLM’s claimed Myth #3: “Horses are held in crowded 'holding pens.'”

FACT: The BLM is wrong, as this is not a myth. BLM captures horses on the range and utilizes a “temporary” holding corral near the trap sites to hold horses prior to shipping to a short-term holding facility.The trap and temporary facility can be very crowded. The BLM then ships the horses in cattle trucks to their semi-permanent (sometimes called "short term") homes (the pens they will live in until they are either bought, adopted, or die). Fortunately these pens are no exactly the same as the temporary holding pens. However, they are not the "spacious pastures" that the BLM speaks of. Instead, these pens are almost identical to feedlots.  A feedlot is a facility where domestic livestock are housed prior to shipment to slaughter. Those facilities “finish,” or “fatten,” animals for human consumption.

In short-term holding, all resemblance to life in the wild is removed. Mares and stallions are separated. Stallions are gelded. Youngsters are weaned at 3-5 months of age, much earlier than would occur naturally. Horses and burros from different ranges and states are mixed. Even the name "short term holding" is misleading. Short-term can literally means years.

Animals are then shipped to what BLM refers to as “long-term holding pastures.” These facilities are off-limits to public view and adoption. Not a good sales tactic, if you ask any businessman, and besides, what is the BLM hiding? Do they expect us to just "have faith" and take their word for it that Mustangs are living in thick green grass in BLM holding facilities?

The BLM claims to have spacious pastures, and yet we have not seen them. Instead, we see pictures like these:

The correct answer would be in-the-wild management, such as fertility control. Birth control methods wouldn't require roundups as horses can be darted from afar, and are also much less expensive. Another is ending/restricting predator hunting and/or possibly releasing existing native predators in the willd. This would benefit both the predators’ population and bring about a natural population control for Mustangs and other large herbivores. Other, more invasive options include bait-trapping, and horseback roundup options. However, invasive as these options may seem, they are far better than the helicopter roundup campaign currently in progress.

BLM’s claimed Myth #4: “Since 1971, the BLM has illegally or improperly taken away more than 20 million acres set aside for wild horses and burros (from 53.8 million acres to 31.6 million acres).”

FACT: The BLM is correct in that this is technically a myth. There was no specific amount of land set aside in the Wild Horse and Burro Act, but the land that the BLM had set aside solely wildlife (Mustangs and burros included) is fast being urbanized and sold off to cattle ranchers, and wildlife are being squeezed out.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

The Act directed the BLM to determine the areas where horses and burros were found roaming and to manage them “in a manner that is designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands.”  The law also stipulated in Section 1339 that “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the [Interior] Secretary to relocate wild free-roaming horses or burros to areas of the public lands where they do not presently exist.”

The BLM was given a transitional period from 1971-1974 where inventory and boundary lines were to  be assessed.

During this time the “public” was given opportunity to claim “private property” from the ranges. There have been interviews given where individuals claim personal knowledge of horses being moved or shot prior to assessments of the land “where presently found” as a tool to keep horses from being “found” on certain allotments. Range boundary lines were drawn that did not follow any scientific method. Boundaries were drawn where animals stood at the time of the assessment without any comprehension of seasonal movement in a population labeled as “free-roaming.” Note: All wildlife species on public land have seasonal habitat identified, wild horses and burros do not.

The result of such arbitrary boundaries has been a management nightmare. Wild horses and burros exist in areas that do not have seasonal waters, (with an area currently managed that has no real water source at any time of year). This creates a recurrent pattern in most areas where at one time or another horses cross the imaginary line and are “off-HMA” (Herd Management Area) occupying land “illegally.”

Instead of rectifying the errors the agency simply removed those areas as wild horse habitat.

BLM’s claimed Myth #5: “The BLM is managing wild horse herds to extinction.”

FACT: The BLM is wrong, as this is not a myth. There has been an estimated 98% drop in Mustang population since 1900. In 1971 there were 303 areas identified as “Herd Areas” containing wild horses and burros. Currently there are 179 Herd Management Areas (HMA) considered “managed” by the BLM. If you remove the areas that literally have no population, or populations of less than 10 animals, BLM manages 165 areas. Of the 165 herds that actually contain a population managed by the BLM, 105 exist with what BLM calls an “Appropriate Management Level” (AML) of less than 100 animals. Only 14 HMA’s managed by BLM have an AML over 200 animals.

On top of that, the BLM is causing genetic instability by unnaturally removing such massive numbers of horses and, therefore, all their genetic material. Genetic instability is the first step toward extinction. The BLM claims that animals can be introduced into a population if genetics get “too low.” This statement is unscientific and does not prevent extinction for two reasons. 1) It fails to recognize the unique genetic component of each herd directly related to the land where presently found. Each herd has adapted to the land it lives in. 2) Genetics that teeter on bankruptcy can not be fixed by the simple introduction of a “few animals.” If inbreeding occurs, then traits stabilize and anomalies appear. Even with the introduction of new material the anomaly continues in the population.

In 1900, over one million (1,000,000) Mustangs thrived in the wild. Now, there are fewer than twenty-five thousand (25,000) left in the wild, and the BLM continues to round them up instead considering other alternatives. The BLM claims to want to keep 26,600 horses in the wild, but only around 25,000 are left, and the roundups continue. In 1971, when the Wild Horse and Burro Act was signed, there were around 50,000 Mustangs roaming the West. Since then, that number has been slashed by about half, to fewer than 25,000 Mustangs. In the past nine years, 40% of the Mustang population has been removed by the BLM. That's an incredible and expensive feat, considering how the NAS has shown that roundups are causing Mustang population growth.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

In 1971 the Act was passed because wild horses and burros were “fast disappearing” from the American landscape. Wild horses and burros were disappearing from a landscape that Congressional mandate declared wild horses and burros an integral part of. To cite the number of horses in 1971 as somehow “appropriate” seems an intentional distortion of the statement “where presently found.” To use the numbers found in 1971 would sustain a population at a crisis point, the exact point that created impetus to pass an Act of Congress in the first place. Using population numbers from that time period as a representative of a healthy population defies all logic.






BLM’s claimed Myth #6: “The BLM removes wild horses to make room for more cattle grazing on public rangelands.”

FACT: Currently, over 66% of public lands are reserved for cattle grazing and less than 10% is available for use by Mustangs and burros. Even within this tiny 10%, the graze can be allotted so that 80% of it is used solely for cattle ranching and the remaining 20% is used for all other wildlife, with non-huntable species such as Mustangs and burros being allotted less than grazing game species. Mustangs and burros are allotted less than 10% of the graze on less than 10% of the public land.

 The BLM caters to the highest payer for the use of a given piece of land. Cattle grazing on public lands has decreased slightly since the 1950s but that is because other organizations will pay the BLM more. These organizations include, but are not limited to oil and gas, gold and silver mining, geothermal projects, and the hunting industry (tag sales and permits). It is worth noting that hunting is proving increasingly detrimental to wildlife in the Northwest because hunters rely on the government to tell them which animals to hunt. Hunters generally have no intention of hurting the environment, but the government, especially the BLM, generally doesn't care. If hunters will pay to hunt cougars, the BLM lets them hunt cougars. The BLM doesn't care that cougars are an integral part of the ecosystem and are also Mustangs' chief predator. Bighorn sheep are also falling in numbers due to hunting, and yet the BLM allows them to be hunted.

The BLM caters to the highest profit interests on public land and disregards interests of the horses and burros. The BLM references to this as a “Multiple Use” mandate and fails to create a valid viable standard of use for wild horses and burros.

The BLM is wrong, as this is not a myth. No, the BLM does not openly admit to clearing away Mustang for cattle, but the evidence points to that. The BLM earns money by leasing land to ranchers, but earns nothing from Mustangs. The BLM claims not to remove horses for cattle, but the number of cattle and sheep (around 3 to 4  million) grossly exceeds the number of horses (fewer than 25,000) and Mustang roundups continue. Historically, the BLM listens to the majority of rancher complaints, but turns a deaf ear to wild horse advocate complaints. The BLM was also the chief opponent to the passing of the Wild Horse and Burro Act in 1971.

Even worse, public lands ranchers consider their grazing on public lands to be an entitlement and see any action against them to accommodate wild horses and burros as an infringement of their rights.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

In fact the removal of horses and burros is a money making scheme; wild horse removals and holding pens make money. Tax payers are being bilked out of millions of dollars in this scheme and as the wild horses are being removed. 

Private livestock graze in numbers that far exceed wild horse populations. Livestock permits are issued at a fraction of the cost of livestock grazed on private property or feedlots. The fees paid by permittees are often not even enough to pay for the process of issuing the permit. This process has become known as “welfare ranching,” and exists on the back of the American taxpayer. Of note is that less than 4% of cattle utilized in industry comes from public land.








BLM’s Myth #7: “The BLM lacks the legal authority to gather animals from overpopulated herds or to use helicopters in doing so.”

FACT: Here, the BLM is stating the truth. This is a myth. The BLM is the government, therefore they have authority to round up, hold, release, sell, and kill the horses they wish. But their authority does not make it humane.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

Use of helicopters is based on a faulty premise that there are excess wild horses and burros on the range. BLM asserts but does not support claimed herd excesses. Further the minimum herd numbers for management levels, specified by BLM, will not produce a genetically healthy population. Therefore, the discretion of the Secretary is questionable, and by association the use of helicopters is not substantiated. 

In 1959 a law was passed that prohibited aircraft and motorized vehicles on a state level in Nevada. That law was rendered “moot” in 1974 when the Act was amended to include the use of helicopters on Federal land. The public wants helicopters to be prohibited once again, in all but emergency situations, based on the damage done using helicopters in roundups.








BLM’s claimed Myth #8: “Gathers of wild horses by helicopter are inhumane.”

FACT: The BLM is wrong, as this is not a myth. BLM roundups are very inhumane. The lie is that the horses are always herded slowly and gently, but the truth is that the BLM only allows the public to view a few roundups (carefully staged roundups). The BLM often restricts or denies the press and public access to roundups.

Luckily, a few people (many of whom are undercover BLM employees) are able to record and photograph most of these “unobserved” roundups and their aftermath.

 The BLM pays the roundup teams $350 for each horse they bring in (dead or alive), so the pilots often go to drastic measures to capture as many horses as possible during each gather. Horses are killed during the roundups. Foals are euthanized because they are driven so hard that their young hooves separate from the bone – an excruciatingly painful ordeal. Herds are driven across terrain deemed too rough for vehicles (including sharp rocks and vast lava beds). Anyone who knows anything about horses will know what this can do to a horse’s knees and hooves. During the Calico Roundup of 2009 and early 2010, over 140 Mustangs were killed before they even reached the holding pens. After the roundup, many Mustangs died later in the corrals, bringing a total of 150 deaths. Domesticated Mustangs have been known to react in complete, panicked terror at the sound of a helicopter passing overhead. Many suffer hearing loss.

Once they are penned, much of the time the horses don't have adequate healthcare, and many fall ill. The BLM openly admits to currently holding approximately 50,000 Mustangs in captivity (about double the wild population), and their money is running out. Last year alone, the cost for keeping the captive Mustangs alive was $29 million. It costs around $100,000 every day to feed the captive horses. The total cost (including helicopter fees) was $67 million.  Many captive Mustangs are in poorer condition than they were and would be in the wild, and some are starving. The panicked herd stallions often fight each other in the small spaces, desperately trying to keep their mares together, therefore hurting themselves and others. They’ve broken their necks in the attempt to keep their family groups together.

"I'm assured repeatedly [by BLM veterinarians] that these horses are cared for," said wild horse advocate Elyse Gardner. "So why does it seem that it is the public observers that continually need to bring so many overlooked injuries, illness or orphaned foals to the attention of the BLM?"

Foals born in the corrals are not counted in BLM records. So, if the foals die or are aborted, the BLM doesn’t record it. The BLM may record “Gather-related deaths: 0”, when in fact, many horses could have died, they were just foals.

During the Swasey Mountain (in Utah) roundup that started on February 11, 2013, the BLM began preparations for a roundup despite 16 inches of dense snow. On February 12, the temperature hovered just above zero degrees Fahrenheit. Later that day the wind picked up. Horses should never be worked hard in cold weather, as they can catch chills and suffer complications later. If things go wrong during a cold weather workout, your horse could very well end up dying. Still, even with the peak of the foaling season only two months away, the BLM insisted on running a roundup. The BLM barred the public and press access to the actual roundup the next day, February 13. The BLM told the public that the temperature was thirty-two degrees. Weather stations and channels broadcasted that the temperature was between fourteen and sixteen degrees. Thermometers read sixteen degrees in the roundup area. The BLM employees’ water bottles froze solid in their backpacks. Still, the BLM insisted that the temperature was thirty-two degrees or higher. Photographers were able to capture a few photographs of the horses after they were brought into the holding pens. The pens looked like they were on fire from the huge amounts of steam rising from the exhausted, sweaty horses. One cameraman said he thought his lens had fogged up before he realized that it was steam from the horses. The BLM told the public that the steam rising from the Mustangs in the capture corral did not relate to the amount they were sweating, but if it wasn’t the Mustangs, where was the water vapor coming from? On February 14, the wild horse herds had to cut their way through deep snow and ice (sometimes chest-deep or deeper) to flee the helicopter that ran them at a steady gallop. Thousands of horses were removed during the Swasey Mountain roundup, and almost none have any chance of being adopted. Their future is dim.

The BLM has also run many secret roundups. Most roundups, even if the press and public are denied access, are announced publically. But occasionally the BLM will perform a roundup with no announcement. Naturally, because these roundups are secret, we have no knowledge of how humane they are, but logic dictates that if one has nothing to hide, why keep it secret? These roundups usually take place during the foaling season when mares are heavily pregnant, giving birth, and tending to newborn foals. The BLM has stated that they will never run roundups during the foaling season, and yet they run roundups during the foaling season without letting the public know. Terri Farely, author of the Phantom Stallion series, has taken the BLM to court multiple times over secret roundups being performed in her area of Nevada (near the Calico Mountains).

Wild Horse Education elaborates: 

BLM has been served with two restraining orders and injunctions over their actions toward horses in the Triple B and Jackson roundups, including the apparent physical prodding of an exhausted horse using a helicopter. There is an active Federal case against BLM regarding inhumane conduct. BLM’s own team, set up to review the problems in the Triple B Roundup, concluded that there were instances when horses were not handled appropriately. The review team found the following problems: poorly designed trap site and unprofessional conduct by handlers at trap site. Horses were observed being: hit in the face and repeatedly shocked with an electric prod, sometimes in the face; caught in paneling or struck with the trailer gate, and, seen in the videos, one horse apparently being kicked in the head (by a Sun J employee), and a horse apparently being dragged to a trailer by a rope around its neck. A Federal Court Judge found BLM’s justifications for this conduct unacceptable and not credible. Whether the horses were hit by helicopters or not, helicopters operate consistently too close to horses. The BLM continues to allow: hotshot use on injured and pregnant animals, chasing horses in extreme temperatures (below freezing and above 90 degrees), chasing horses for extreme distances (no restrictions in place), close proximity of helicopters, and multiple runs at the trap.

The 1% statistic for animals that die during roundups represents animals that literally drop dead at the trap site. Any animal with any anomaly, though they were fit in the wild, will be killed and that death is not deemed roundup related. Foals run in high heat that come up with lameness issues are killed and their death is not deemed roundup related. Mares who have late term abortions after being stampeded, and horses that get respiratory illness after being run in sub-zero weather are not counted as dying from roundup related causes. Horses that get broken necks or limbs because of BLM handling during catch and transport are not counted either. When you factor in all these deaths, clearly related to BLM handling, the statistic for roundup related deaths can be as high as 14-16%, as was the case in the Calico Roundup in 2009/2010. 

BLMs assertions are false and the observers and experts that BLM uses and cites are not unbiased, they are horse slaughter proponents. To date no humane handling policy and protocol for violations have been adopted by the agency as the case in Federal court on these issues moves forward.

BLM’s claimed Myth #9: “If left alone, wild horses will limit their own population.”

FACT: This is neither a myth nor a fact. Of course the horses wouldn't limit their own population. The wild cats, wild dogs, and bears would, if they were not hunted. Unfortunately, Mustangs' natural predators are hunted by trophy hunters and by ranchers to protect their livestock, and thus they are less effective at controlling Mustang populations than they could be. While trophy hunting is pure selfishness (killing for pleasure), hunting to protect livestock at least has a purpose. However, there are other, non-lethal methods of protecting livestock from large predators. In Namibia, large dogs are trained to live with and protect sheep and cattle from cheetahs. 

Unfortunately, because cattle have blanketed most of the land, even though cattle are rotated seasonally, wildlife rarely venture back into the land left open, because cattle return a few months later. Wildlife, including both native animals and Mustangs, are being forced into areas where they did not originate. The sudden and unnatural appearance of large herbivores such as elk, horses, burros, and deer is endangering many native plants.

Recent discoveries made by the National Academy of Sciences has found that by removing so many wild horses in roundups, the BLM is actually causing population growth instead of reducing it. By lowering the population to such an unnaturally small number, the herds become smaller than the carrying limit of the lands (the limit of how many animals can graze on the land before food begins to run out).With so much extra space, the species springs back as it would after a natural disaster or plague. NAS studies show that Mustang populations have been increasing by around 10% to 15% each year. For the BLM to continue their current operation, they will have to remove more and more Mustangs each year. The answer is clearly not to step up roundups yet again, but to find alternative means by which to control the population and to prevent Mustangs from becoming problems on privately-owned land. 

Mustangs could overpopulate and starve if left entirely to their own devices, but there are better ways to care for them then brutally rounding up entire herds and stockpiling them. The Mustangs were thriving for hundreds of years until men took their land and fenced off their food and water for cattle.


Wild Horse Education elaborates:

The BLM premise that 60,000 was a peak number is faulty. The facts are that In 1971, when wild horses and burros were declared “fast disappearing” by Congress and the Act was unanimously passed in both houses, BLM cited the population at an “estimated” 25,300 animals. This estimate did not come from a ground count or accurate method (or consistent from district to district) of aerial survey. Keep in mind that this is the population was noted as so fragile it required an Act of Congress to protect. 

Whenever BLM failed management practices are questioned, BLM asserts that horse advocates do not “understand” and want wild horses to overpopulate and die. However, those advocating for change in the wild horse and burro program recognize that management of the population is a necessity and could include birth control and selective removal of animals appropriate for adoption. The problem is that BLM does not manage wild horses and burros to be genetically sound the way it manages wildlife species like Elk or Pronghorn antelope. Instead, wild horses and burros are managed as a “feral resource” that requires “harvesting” in order to produce a profit of jobs and income for holding facilities. Those practices are clearly reflected in the current holding facility crisis and overpopulation.

BLM’s claimed Myth #10: “The BLM overestimates the number of wild horses and burros on the range.”

FACT: The BLM is wrong, as this is not a myth. The BLM does overestimate. They claim to try to keep the herds managed at twenty-six thousand six hundred (26,600) horses altogether. Wildlife ecologists have only counted fewer than twenty-five thousand (25,000) horses on the range, and the BLM continues to round them up. The BLM estimates roughly 40,000 Mustangs on the range, which stands in stark contrast to biologists' estimates of fewer than 25,000.

Recent discoveries made by the National Academy of Sciences has found that by removing so many wild horses in roundups, the BLM is actually causing population growth instead of reducing it. By lowering the population to such an unnaturally small number, the herds become smaller than the carrying limit of the lands (the limit of how many animals can graze on the land before food begins to run out).With so much extra space, the species springs back as it would after a natural disaster or plague. NAS studies show that Mustang populations have been increasing by around 10% to 15% each year. For the BLM to continue their current operation, they will have to remove more and more Mustangs each year. The answer is clearly not to step up roundups yet again, but to find alternative means by which to control the population and to prevent Mustangs from becoming problems on privately-owned land.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

The BLM counting methodology is inadequate and is overestimating the population. Seasonal guidelines and concurrent counts must be mandated to ensure accurate count. If one part of a range is counted in November and the rest in December or January the same animals can be counted multiple times. Also “foal” counts repeatedly show inflated birth rates when compared to independent counts.

Most ranges reflect a 12-16% birth rate [different from a population growth rate] by outside observers and BLM insists on an average 20% birth rate. This can be explained if older foals are counted twice. This theory has been tested by averaging the number of foals that come in at any given roundup in comparison to younger foals from the year prior. Those calculations consistently give estimated birth rates closer to those utilized by BLM to justify an “excess.” 







BLM’s claimed Myth #11: “The Government Accountability Office, in a report issued in October 2008, found that the BLM has been mismanaging the wild horse and burro program.”

FACT: The BLM is wrong, as this is not a myth. The GAO was correct. They did find faults. Unfortunately, the GAO was no given enough information to come to a conclusion. As such, the report has gone largely ignored, and as it was from so many years ago, it may not be applicable now.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

BLM has many reports of mismanagement on record. Their own assessment document entitled “Assessment, Inventory and Management,” also created in 2008, gave them a self-assessed failing grade on data collection and interpretation. In reference to the GAO report, the data was incomplete for GAO to make a conclusion. BLM was asked by GAO for additional reports and information that were not supplied in a timely manner. It is interesting that this is the only report BLM cites and fails to even recognize their own findings on inappropriate conduct in the Triple B Team Review and continuing TRO’s and Injunctions to such conduct. 







BLM’s Myth #12: “Wild horses are native to the United States.”

FACT: The BLM is correct in that this is a myth. Mustangs are descended from horses that escaped from Spanish explorers. The Mustang breed originated in North America and is thus often referred to as "native," but horses as a whole are not native to North America.

There is evidence to indicate that there were "equines" in North America a very long time ago and but they have since gone extinct. Also, the said animals were multi-toed, so, even if they were horse ancestors, they bear no significance on the Mustangs as they were long extinct long before the time Mustangs arrived, and the ecological environment of North America has changed since their extinction. Mustangs are descended from horses brought to America by Europeans, particularly the Spanish. Many Mustangs still have Spanish characteristics. Horses from other settlers joined the wild herds as well, so the Mustang has become a real “melting pot”, with many characteristics from many breeds.

BLM’s Myth #13: “Two million wild horses roamed the United States in the late 1800s/early 1900s.”

FACT: The BLM is most likely correct, although this is neither myth nor fact. Although it is very possible, there is no actual scientific evidence to support the claim that 2,000,000 horses roamed the West in 1900. Evidence supports the idea that there were at least 1,000,000 horses roaming the United States. Since then the population has dropped alarmingly to a measly 25,000, with domestic cattle and sheep picking up the slack with a booming population of 4,000,000, the largest non-native herbivore population ever.

Mustang populations numbered roughly 1 million (there was no exact count, but that's the commonly accepted number) in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some historians believe there were over 2 million Mustangs in 1900, but that's doubtful. Most hold to the 1 million figure. Anti-Mustang groups will tell you that Mustang herds have remained stable at 40,000 for over 500 years (which, if that were true, how come those same people feel the need to "manage" current Mustang populations to keep them from "overpopulating"?). To keep a population steady for several centuries would require the capability to limit its own population, an idea which anti-Mustang groups vehemently oppose. This is what's known as a contradiction.

The argument that Mustangs have not exceeded 40,000 animals also directly contradicts the scientific fact that Mustangs' population growth rate is roughly 15% - 20% (www8.nationalacademies.org/onp…), an idea that anti-Mustang groups hold in high esteem. This means that the Mustangs' population will double in around four to five years if not managed. Now, it's worth noting that the National Academy of Sciences found that the BLM is actually causing this enormous population growth rate by removing so many horses during their helicopter roundups (see previous link). The horses thus spring back as they would after a natural disaster or a plague. (Wild horse advocates thus believe that Mustangs must be managed, just not by helicopter. Fertility drugs are a very viable solution, but the BLM only allots 6% of its budget to on-the-range management.) Now, anti-Mustang groups do not believe the National Academy of Sciences when they say that the growth rate is caused by roundups, although they do believe the NAS's proposed growth rate (selective beliefs.) Anti-Mustang people believe that the 20% population growth rate has always been in place. This would would mean that Mustangs have been increasing their population by 20% for the past 400 to 500 years. Even if we start with just two horses (which we know Mustangs didn't,) that's still a lot of horses. Thus, one would think that anti-Mustang groups would be the first to embrace the late 1800s/early 1900s 1 million population number, possibly wanting to jack it up by several million, but no, they believe Mustangs have never topped 40,000. Anti-Mustang groups are thus contradicting themselves.

In an anti-Mustang attempt to discredit the possibility that there were 2 million Mustangs in the wild in 1900, the BLM quotes Frank J. Dobie, an historian, from his book The Mustangs (1952). This is what Dobie has to say: "All guessed numbers are mournful to history.  My own guess is that at no time were there more than a million mustangs in Texas and no more than a million others scattered over the remainder of the West."  Personally, I fail to see the logic in the BLM's posting of this quotation. In his own words, Dobie says that there were no more than 1 million Mustangs in Texas alone and no more than 1 million Mustangs in the surrounding states. No more than 1 million + no more than 1 million = no more than roughly 2 million. 1 + 1 = 2. This isn't rocket science. If this is the best evidence that anti-Mustang groups can cough up to support their claim, science and history are obviously not on their side. In the end, no matter what angle you look at Dobie's writings, there can be no fewer than 1 million Mustangs roaming the United States in the late 1800s/early 1900s. (www.horse-breeds.net/mustangs.… , academickids.com/encyclopedia/… , www.masterliness.com/a/Mustang…)

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

This is irrelevant except that it again shows BLM using the number in 1971 that defined a fragile population [in a crisis number], and declaring it to be the appropriate population maximum.

BLM’s claimed Myth #14: “Under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, BLM-administered public lands where wild horses and burros were found roaming in 1971 are to be managed "principally but not necessarily exclusively" for the welfare of these animals.”

FACT: The BLM was not authorized to care for just the animals or just the land. They were authorized to care for both. The Wild Horse and Burro Act plainly states, however, that the BLM should pay special attention to the welfare of wildlife. From the introduction of the Wild Horse and Burro Act:
“To require the protection, management, and control of wild free-roaming horses and burros on public lands. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

The BLM has never managed the areas where horses were present in 1971 as “Wild Horse Ranges.” Through land use planning and changes in the CFR, BLM changed language and has only designated 4 areas, out of the 303 originally identified, as Wild Horse Ranges. 

Further, the horses in these ranges are not managed wild populations which must be present in genetically sustainable numbers, have natural seasonal migration routes, and enough resources set aside to ensure the health of the population. The concept that all ranges are currently managed as “principal but not exclusive” under law has been perpetuated. Land use plans must be addressed and revised to change the language to make that management concept of “principal” a legal definition. Or the implementation of the Act in the current manner must be challenged in a Court as in violation of the Intent of law. This is why the public’s continued comment is labeled as “not appropriate,” and therefore not considered, in an EA process.






BLM’s claimed Myth #15: “The Code of Federal Regulations (43 CFR) specifies that the BLM is to allocate forage to wild horses and burros in an amount "comparable" to that allocated to wildlife and cattle.”

FACT: This is neither myth nor fact. The BLM's claim that this is a myth relies solely on the idea that free-roaming Mustangs do not qualify as wildlife. However, the definition of wildlife does not require that the animals in question must be native to the area.

The Wild Horse and Burro Act did not state about the ratio of the forage for wildlife and cattle, but this is what it does say:

From Section 3 part A of the Wild Horse and Burro Act:
“All management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level and shall be carried out in consultation with the wildlife agency of the State wherein such lands are located in order to protect the natural ecological balance of all wildlife species which inhabit such lands, particularly endangered wildlife species. Any adjustments in forage allocations on any such lands shall take into consideration the needs of other wildlife species which inhabit such lands.”
The State (which is the BLM), was required to care for the wildlife as well as the land. Removing the wildlife completely is not caring for it. Also, the Act said that management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level. Obviously, the BLM has an extremely high minimal feasible level.

Wild Horse Education elaborates:

BLM is saying that the regulations allow them to allocate more to commercial land uses. This was never the intent of the law and is not an accurate interpretation of the code. BLM has just given itself a pass to throw comparability of forage for wild horses and burros out the window.