NOWHERE TO HIDE: CALLING FOR A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION OF BLM AS THEY SEND AT LEAST 1,700 WILD HORSES STRAIGHT TO -- WHERE?

    produced with DreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary

For two decades many have known that somethings smells funny about the Bureau of Land Management ‘s “long-term holding” aspect of the wild horse program, and the foul odor isn’t coming from the horses.

The spiriting away of up to 11,000 captured wild horses yearly, who have been rounded up and sent east into leased long-term holding pastures on private ranches behind locked gates where no private citizen is permitted to visit or verify unless a "public tour" has been arranged, has long aroused deep concern about the longterm holding program. Questions became suspicions about whether all the wild horses who arrived there were safely grazing away, living happily-ever-after, idyllic lives on rolling hills of green among their same-sex wild horse friends as BLM officials staunchly claim.

BLM’s Lili Thomas admitted that BLM did indeed sell wild horses straight out of longterm holding at a national public meeting in June 2010, stating they would not sort out and sell or adopt out an individual horse; rather, horses were sold by the truckload/trailer load to appropriate buyers.  Who would buy mature wild horses by the truckload, we asked?  BLM assured us buyers were appropriately screened. No answer was satisfactory or really made sense – until now.  Seriously, of what value of possible use are 10 to 30 wild, untouched horses unless someone is a known sanctuary?  We can reasonably assume such quantities of horses would be sold to slaughterhouses across the Mexican and Canadian borders. 

When I called BLM concerned about a shipment of wild horses intercepted on their way to (Mexican) slaughter in 2011, BLM'S Sally Spencer, Supervising Marketing Specialist in charge of BLM's adoption program, acknowledged she had approved that sale and told me we needed to have Congress change the law if we wanted to change how BLM does business.  Well, I'm writing to Congress to change the way Ms. Spencer does business for BLM.

Reading the article, the signs point to destination-slaughter:   Mr. President, Congress: Where are YOU with this?

This article reveals that the way Ms. Spencer has been conducting business for BLM is contrary to the public position BLM has consistently taken, i.e., that they do not sell horses to slaughter although they legally can do just that, which is why we need to press our Congressional representatives to change the law. 

I am personally sickened by the reality that Ms. Spencer, whose hand I have shaken, appears to be keeping her eyes wide shut to the virtually certain gruesome fate of at least 1,700 horses that we know about.

Even more eye-widening, most of these horses didn't even make it to longterm holding behind closed gates: these big, older horses were authorized by Ms. Spenser to be sold in trailer loads straight out of "short-term" pens, i.e., fresh off the range.  

IT IS TIME FOR A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION.   60 Minutes, Diane Sawyer, you want a story of intrigue and corruption evidently spanning decades?  Working with Wild Horse Education, journalist Dave Philipps has connected the dots, and we find that decades-old BLM duplicity and -- ?  We need a real investigation.

U P D A T E:  

Criticism  has been voiced by some about the timing of this story (since a parallel investigation into these issues was apparently ongoing), and it has confused some people.  I'm asked: "What should we do?"

Bring it back to the issue:  Look at the terrified, freshly captured horses in the photo above.

In the trap pen, lathered and steaming in below-freezing cold

From a practical reality position, the issue for us, the public, is clear:  the facts that we do have are now public, this story is now public, and we must not hesitate to voice our outrage and concern to our representatives.  We are responsible for the information we do have, which is not disputed, and debating about the story's timing is something we can and should do privately.  The facts are that while BLM is running out of places to put wild horses they keep removing, a pro-slaughter person (Calli Hendrickson) was appointed to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, and the public needs to be speaking up because the pro-slaughter forces are moving in.

We are calling for a Congressional investigation of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program and Ms. Spencer's administrative leave immediately effective while she is investigated.  Even more troubling is BLM will likely say she was just doing her job as she approved the sales of  animals under the circumstances you are about to read in Dave Philipps' groundbreaking work, All the Missing Horses: What Happened to Wild Horses Tom Davis Bought from the BLM?

When you have finished reading and are ready to take action, click here to easily find your Senators' phone number and email address, and if you don't know who your representatives are, then click here to easily find your Congressional representatives and their phone and email information.

Read on...
All the Missing Horses: What Happened to the Wild Horses Tom Davis Bought From the Gov’t? 

A lone mustang who escaped the helicopters watches a Bureau of Land Management roundup in the Stone Cabin Valley in Nevada during the winter of 2012. (Dave Philipps)

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.

Click here to read full story

HSUS VET GETS A PEEK AT THE CALICO WILD HORSES BEHIND BROKEN ARROW'S CLOSED DOORS

Last Friday's Indian Lakes Updates were posted as follows:

Indian Lakes Weekly Update (June 26 thru July 2)

Nearly all horses have gained weight and regained their health.  Nursing mares and yearlings are on a high nutrition diet while all other horses in adequate body condition are on a maintenance diet.  A few of the 2010 foals are noted with minimal levels of upper respiratory disease.  They are being monitored and treated as necessary (see previous attached Upper Respiratory Veterinary Report).  Gelding of the five years and older stallions continued this week.  Dr. Eric Davis from the Humane Society of the United States visited the facility on Thursday, July 1, to observe the castration process.  One death occurred this week: 15 yr old gelding (1442) was found dead.  Death reason unknown.  No necropsy was performed.  Mares are still foaling, but births are fewer and intermittent.  No miscarriages occurred.

Facility Death: 1, Cumulative Death total: 102

Dr. Eric Davis is the head veterinarian for the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States).  He previously visited Broken Arrow on two occasions.  His previous reports were based on what he saw and was told by BLM staff during those brief visits.  He got another peek this last week.

I spoke with Dr. Davis, and he was emailed information, including photographs and links to videos, earlier last week before this visit to Broken Arrow.  BLM had announced a month earlier their invitation to Dr. Davis to view their castration procedure.  BLM has been unwilling to allow anyone else to view these horses except U.C. Davis, but I've not heard whether the vet from U.C. Davis followed through.
Having an outside veterinarian view their procedures is always a good idea, but public concern for the Calico horses hasn't been only with the castration procedure itself; concern is also high regarding BLM's post-gelding policy of no-pain-management for horses experiencing complications and acute pain (such as evidenced by Legacy).    

The wild horses at Broken Arrow are grappling with many other serious issues, and I sent Dr. Davis information so he would have these things in mind as he spent time at Broken Arrow. Spot-checking a facility like Broken Arrow will not reveal a history of most ongoing issues unless it is volunteered, and his previous reports simply did not address many of these things.
       Here are things I've raised with Dr. Davis. We are looking forward to his report.
©Photograph by Elyse Gardner

     1)  THE CASTRATION COMPLICATIONS
           I asked him to revisit BLM's pain management policy for newly castrated horses since BLM's policy does not provide for any medical pain interventions. I provided links to my videos of Legacy laying down and Legacy standing up in obvious pain. In his previous report, Dr. Davis had apparently been misinformed since his report stated:

When these complications [re castration] occur they are treated with analgesics and antibiotics, as would be the case in any veterinary practice. The outcomes described were as good or better than published results.”   [Emphasis added.]

(In our conversation, Dr. Davis confirmed to me that were he present with a horse presenting as Legacy did, he would have brought Legacy in for exam and intervention, and he has suggested to BLM the use of Banamine post castration. He will discuss this more in his report.)

      2)  SICK FOALS
          Making use of the hospital pens to quarantine sick foals with their mothers instead of leaving them in the general population such as those pictured below.

©Photos by Cat Kindsfeather

 

      Upper respiratory illness is an acknowledged issue and a known contagion.  Dr. Sanford's necropsy of one dead foal revealed pneumonia.  Foals around eight weeks old lose their maternally transmitted immunities, and they are more likely to get sick.
      Why not put them with their mothers into the sick pens so staff doesn't disrupt the rest of the horses in order to examine and to medicate them?
      An important related concern is every time people enter the pens, all the horses are at risk of injury.  Several horses have died from neck and spinal injuries due to colliding with pens and troughs during sorting.  Additionally, the crowded pens necessarily create more stress.
     Have foals'  nasal discharge been swabbed and tested?  What do they reveal?
     Is leaving these sick foals in the general population acceptable by HSUS standards?

      3.  DOCUMENTATION AND OVERSIGHT OF FOALS and GENERAL POPULATION
        a)  Does BLM have any numbers re foal deaths?  Will they begin to chart the foals?
                                                           ©Photo by Craig Downer

Sorro, emaciated foal euthanized by Dr. Sanford.  (Click on link to see video.) 

       Many are convinced Sorro could have been stolen by his "mother" Wishful, this beautiful but dry Kiger/buckskin mare, and that he starved to death.  Or was she just dry?  Or did Sorro have nursing problems? Did simple lack of oversight allow Sorro to starve? We will never know.  Apparently no close exam was done.
     Has Dr. Davis requested a vet report?  What, if any examination was done?
     Is this level of oversight acceptable by HSUS standards?

©Photo by Elyse Gardner

This orphaned foal, pointed out by advocates and adopted as a 

second foal by the generous mare Cream Pie, went at least 11 days

 before BLM transferred him to Shirley Allen.

    ©Photo by Cat Kindsfather

19 days following Sorro's death, "Wishful," believed by BLM to be Sorro's mother (see above), was a foal-less mare left for weeks in this nursery pen, seen here stealing another foal.  The baby was re-united with her actual mother (the mare here with the  placenta still hanging) with the help of Broken Arrow and BLM staff after public observers pointed her situation out.





©Photo by Elyse Gardner

Another foal-less mare in a nursery attempting to steal a foal. The foal's mother is kicking the wanna-be mom.




      







          (a)  Accounting of foals and their mothers: births, deaths, orphaned, sick, etc.
     Current BLM policy is that foals are not documented at all until they are tagged and/or branded.  Therefore, BLM does not report or account to anyone the numbers of births, deaths, illnesses, euthanizations, baby thefts, etc.  How many "Sorros" were there?  Is this acceptable by HSUS standards?
          (b) Broken Arrow's contract requires a once-daily walk-through of these pens containing over 2,000 horses.
          (c) Dr. Sanford is the only vet for Broken Arrow and Palomino Valley holding facilities.
          Is the current level of oversight acceptable by HSUS standards?

     4.  WINDBREAKS AND OVERHEAD PROTECTION
          The horses have no windbreaks or overhead protection.
©Photographs by Elyse Gardner         Sunburned mare

    




  











Only two pens contain hills that have any topography at all.   The rest are like the ones depicted below.
©Photographs by Elyse Gardner  

Nevada's summer temperatures are often between 90F to 100F-plus degrees, and winter is often well below freezing with the icy Pogonip ("White Death") fog. BLM adoption requirements specify that two-sided shelters must be provided for horses by adopters, yet none is provided at this holding facility except in hospital pens.
      Is this acceptable by HSUS standards?

5)  NECROPSY AND VET REPORTS
     We are now getting reports of horses found dead post castration.  Has HSUS reviewed necropsy reports?
     As in last week's "Indian Lakes Weekly Update (June 26 thru July 2)," often no necropsy is performed when the announcement is made that a horse was found dead.
     Since recently these are deaths that closely follow castration, would HSUS recommend necropsy to determine cause?
   In any event, the public would also like to know what is happening to the horses. Over 100 horses have died, and while deaths will occur in any population, these numbers are generally agreed to be excessive.
     What would HSUS recommend in terms of necropsy and criteria for performing same?


 6)  SLOUGHED HOOF FOALS:
©Photos by Laura Leigh



      Regarding the foal whose sloughed hooves required his euthaniziation:  Dr. Davis was provided with information and available vet reports with no intake dates and indicating that bute was given to this foal  once every five days.
       By HSUS standards, is this an acceptable standard of care under these circumstances?
       In view of the imminent roundups at this time of year, where numerous foals younger than the "Calico colt" and sloughed-hoof foals face multi-mile marathon runs on rocky terrain, the horses and public are looking to HSUS for some recommendation and relief.
       Are these planned roundups at this time of year acceptable by HSUS standards?
       The public is wondering what HSUS thinks of BLM's practice of handpicking to whom it will be accountable.  We would like to see greater public access to our horses.
        In the meantime, thank you to Dr. Davis for what we hope was a thorough, penetrating visit to Broken Arrow.
I remain
For the wild horses, captive and free, and their humble burro friends,
Elyse Gardner