CALICO ROUNDUP 2012 is over: SUN J SADDLE HORSE MAKES GREAT EFFORT TO ESCAPE ON THIS LAST DAY OF ROUNDUP; MOUNTAINS BEREFT WITH TOKEN, BROKEN HORSE & BURRO HERDS REMAINING

 (Photos and videos in this blog are for informational purposes only.  Do not use without express written consent from me.  Feel free to link or cross-post to this blog, however.  Thank you. -Elyse Gardner)


          THE BELOW PHOTO is not what you think...
©2012 Elyse Gardner

Sun J saddle horse makes valiant effort to escape

                  Although what you see above looks like helicopter-assisted roping of a wild horse, the fleeing horse is actually Sun J's own saddle horse.  

                  It was around 9:20 a.m. on Monday, January 9, 2012, when we arrived at the trap site.  We'd been driving since 6:40 a.m., and burro roundup operations were already under way.  I was anxious to get out to the observation area and anxious for Roger Oyler to get up to the trap pen to begin his advisory role.

                 As Mark Wilkening, Roger Oyler, and I were hiking up the dirt road — Mark and I to head out to the observation point, and Roger to head up to the trap pen to advise local BLM and Sun J on the characteristics of burros and how best to round them up -- when we all saw a horse running down the road away from the trap pen out into the vast open spaces.  

                 I was baffled for a moment since burros were targeted on this day (which turned out to be the last day of the roundup since BLM reached its inordinately high goal of  rounding up140 burros). 

                We all realized almost simultaneously what we were seeing, and as I took off my pack and quickly got out my video camera, Mark stated it:  "That's one of the saddle horses."  Wranglers had already mounted up and were in hot pursuit as I fired up my camera:

                  This would be humorous if it weren't so sad.  I'd already witnessed and filmed the "Judas horse" try to escape just a few days earlier, and that video will be up shortly (I will put the link here when it is available as well as post it on the blog about the Judas horse).  

                   Roger is BLM's knowledgeable Wild Burro and Horse Program Lead from Arizona. Roger puts the burro before the horse since he specializes in these amazing little animals and, in Arizona, they outnumber the wild horses.  His "official" title is "Wild Horse & Burro Program Lead.  After 20 minutes with him, I am impressed with this man and his knowledge and was glad he was there.

                  Mark Wilkening is BLM's Public Affairs Officer from Oregon.  Mark and I spent a lot of time together during the Twin Peaks roundup, also.  I was glad to see him again. 

                  After Ginger Kathren's had filmed and publicized the inhumane hotshotting of burros during this roundup, she pressed for remedial action to be taken, and Winnemucca District Manager Gene Seidlitz arranged to have BLM's burro expert from their Yuma, Arizona office, come to oversee and advise the contractors and BLM crew on burros and burro roundups.  We also saw no more of the COR present during that ugly abuse of the burros. 

                  I was also troubled that Gene Seidlitz went back on a commitment and did not wait the one day for Roger to arrive despite having initially arranged to do so, and had gone ahead and started the burro roundup the day before, without Roger.  Hmm.  Sigh.  But the effort was made, and Roger was present at least for the last day, and that's certainly better than a kick in the shins, and I'm certain this entire crew learned something from him they could take with them if they care to.

                 In terms of remedial actions taken in response to Ginger's eye-opening footage, even though the COR present during the hotshotting of the burros was removed, she was replaced with COR Melani Mirati who finds it acceptable to use a hotshot on an injured horse to make him stand up if he even could — which was unknown at the time — without having given him even five minutes to stand on his own — or even 10 seconds, for that matter.  I will be posting my interview with Melanie Marati where she acknowledges making the call to hotshot the injured stud who went down in the trailer.

                      The escape effort was made by this horse, who is one of Sun J's saddle horses.  

                  Here is our saddle horse escape-attempter after being roped and captured.  He sure gave a mighty effort.  Of course, once roped he was quite docile (though I suspect unrepentent).  

                  I have now witnessed two of Sun J's horses — their "Judas" horse, who no longer deserves that name since he tried to quit, and this horse they use as a saddle horse — make determined escape attempts to be free.  I will go into more detail when I get the videos up and posted.

CALICO BURRO ROUNDUP CONCLUDES

CALICO TRI-STATE BURRO NUMBERS REDUCED TO 39 in nearly 600,000 acre complex. 

©2012 Elyse Gardner

Two of the targeted 140 burros being rounded up and removed from Calico and the "Tri-State Complex"
                    Yes, that is not a misprint:  39 burros in 600,000 acres.  Sickening.  BLM is looking to reduce the wild burro population to a mere 3,000 in the entire west.  This would be listed as an endangered species were it anything else.
                    I must check out of this motel and get on the road, but I wanted to be faithful to provide updates to what is occurring in the Calico complex and wild horse program in general.
SOME FINAL COMMENTS 
                    I WANT TO MAKE ONE THING CLEAR:  I am glad BLM called Roger Oyler in to advise on the burro roundup even though they didn't use him at the start.  But this program, BLM's Wild Horse and Burro program, must have an actual Standard Operating Procedure, a legal code to which they can be held to account, e.g.:
                    There must be a distance certain/mile limit beyond which horses and/or burros may not be chased by helicopter or any other mechanized instrument;
                    There must be a distance the BLM and contractors can be held to account for, that the helicopter must keep between it and an animal unless an emergency exists, such as guiding an animal away from a ledge;
                    There must be temperature limits over which roundups must be called/postponed, both for heat and cold;
                    There must be tighter guidelines on the use of hotshots.  
                    These are just a few of the issues; this list is not complete by any stretch.  But I do have to check out of this motel (yes, I'm in another motel, heading for another holding facility to observe the horses and look to see if a particular black stallion has been captured, since I was precluded from being able to see all the horses coming off the range.)
                     Leaving these things up to the judgement of those involved isn't sufficient.  The experience and caring, or lack thereof,  of those involved is too variable; the cast of characters changes all the time.   It is time for a legal standard.
                     This is why the humane case Laura Leigh has filed is so important, and it comes before the Court on January 26, 2012.  Please stay tuned to Wild Horse Education (http://wildhorseeducation.org) for updates on this important litigation.
                    And if you haven't already done so, I urge you to contact respond to requests from The Cloud Foundation, AWHPC (American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign), Wild Horse Education, and me in terms of letters and calls to various lawmakers and BLM.  The wild horses and burros need our voices.
                    That's all I have time for right now.  I will be supplementing posts with video and photos and adding new posts and film from this roundup.
                    I hope to see you along the good trail...

CALICO ROUNDUP 2012: BURRO ROUNDUP PHASE TO BEGIN AS JUDAS HORSE CALLS IT QUITS AND TRIES TO JOIN HIS ESCAPING WILD KIN AS BLM *COR STEPS UP AND CALLS OFF THE FINAL RUN ON HORSES, WHO GO FREE

*(COR stands for Contracting Officer's Representative, i.e., the BLM person in charge on site. -EG)
 ©2012 Elyse Gardner

I watched this bravehearted member of the final five horses being rounded up by Sun J twice defy the helicopter until...

 ©2012 Elyse Gardner

... he finally is able to escape as the helicopter pilot chooses to continue to try to capture his remaining four friends.  

©2012 Elyse Gardner

The final four horses embarking on their hard-won freedom as the Sun J helicopter breaks off the chase. 

             After putting up a determined fight to remain free -- which impressed the Sun J Judas horse so much he tried to quit his job and join them (video soon to come) — the last five wild horses to be chased by the Sun J helicopter retained their freedom today.
©2012 Elyse Gardner

Sun J Judas horse being contained by two wranglers as he makes a break to follow the wild horses.

         
              BLM COR Melanie Mirati called off the final chase after these frightened, freedom loving wild mustangs put up a valiant fight, breaking away from the mouth of the trap and ignoring the Judas horse, refusing to be intimidated into running anywhere near the jute funnel again for a very long six-minute, full-speed face-off with the helicopter. After intense criticism over the previous day's events when the helicopter continued hazing and flying dangerously low at an 11-horse group of wild horses who at least three times failed to follow Sun J's unsuccessful Judas horse into the final trap pen, and which included a compromised stud who stood weakly apart and even flopped down for about 30 seconds while the chaotic, intense helicopter chase ensued all around him, the BLM finally stepped up to do its job and protect these horses from life-threatening harassment. (Video is being prepared and will be coming soon. ) That was one of the ugliest days I've seen in roundups.
              I am certain that it didn't hurt any that BLM's Winnemucca District Manager Gene Seidlitz was present at the trap site observation area today.  Mr. Seidlitz, who manages for multiple use and is not a horseman, nevertheless stated he "couldn't watch" the videos of Sun J's handling practices from Triple B, and told this reporter that he made it clear to his staff and the contractor that he does not want those types of practices happening on his watch.
              Those words seem to have fallen on deaf ears until today, with his CORs having been passive and nonassertive as hotshotting, overcrowding trailers, and long and fierce low-flying helicopter hazing of horses has persisted during this ugly Calico roundup, while Sun J's characteristic fracturing of bands being run long and hard and lathered up during the chase has continued.
               Things have gotten so bad during this roundup that Amy Lueders, the Nevada state lead of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, during Christmas week issued a stern directive to BLM field personnel that the best way to stop horse protection advocates from undermining BLM's roundup policies with video footage of the mistreatment of the animals, thereby making it harder for federal land managers to win the public trust, was to stop abuses when they saw them.  I am saddened that the stated reason for stopping abuses is about saving BLM's image, not about protecting the horses. Nevertheless, I'm all for BLM stopping abuses of wild horses and burros even if it's for self-serving reasons.
                District Manager Gene Seidlitz insisted to this reporter that he felt the Sun J contractors had improved, but he's been busy with other matters and hadn't been in the field much, apparently relying on reports from staff.
                His presence today was felt by staff.  I observed that the fierce struggle of the wild horses yesterday, including the compromised stallion in the middle of it all, was worse,  continued longer,  and was never called by the COR.  So today's calling off this intense, final face-off between helicopter and wild horses today was a smart move if this District office is to have any credibility.
              These five horses have been given a hard-won reprieve since the horse-roundup phase of this Calico Roundup is over, and the helicopter will now be looking for burros.   I am grateful to have been able to be present this last week.  I am grateful that the COR is acting with more leadership.
              I am told Burro roundups may start as early as Saturday, January 7.  God willing, I will be there.

YES, IT'S BAD ENOUGH FOR ME... TODAY THE HELICOPTER CHASES MORE HORSES AWAY FROM THAN INTO TRAP. WATCH A SAMPLE...

            I'm spent and preparing to get up early to witness the roundup continue but wanted to share a few images and a clip from today to keep us all aware of what is happening across the west to America's wild horses.

      Here's some of what I witnessed today.

UPDATED:       

             Today (Wednesday, January 4, 2012), the last frightened horse forced into the trailer went down just after being loaded.  He was observed immediately, so they backed the trailer up, and we watched people unload all the wild horses and struggle with the downed horse whose leg had gotten caught on something inside. It was pitiful and a bit nerve wracking. You can see in my footage, below,  that after unloading all the horses that had been crammed onto the trailer, they struggled to free his front leg — which had become wedged in the trailer and caused him to go down — and dragged him out. 

          [As soon as he was freed from the trailer, the crew immediately began flagging him and prodding him to stand.  He laid there,  an  injured prey animal in the presence of numerous predators, unquestionably thought he was going to die.  They wanted him to get up so they could reload the trailer with the horses and assess his condition.  The right thing to do would have been to remove as much pressure as possible from this frightened, injured horse by having all extraneous people step back as much as safely possible, turn their bodies away from staring, have all but absolutely necessary people step way out of range, and let unfortunate horse collect himself and stand up.  

             Instead, while the BLM COR ("Contracting Officer's Representative," meaning the BLM person in charge on site) and APHIS vet looked on, in efforts to get the horse to rise to his feet, the Sun J crew did a lot of ugly poking and prodding, and actually tied a rope around this poor stallion's neck and yanked on it, causing his face to bang on the trailer as he lay there.  I can't believe the COR and APHIS vet never extended a hand to say, "Hey, wait a minute, don't do that."  Instead, they just stood by watching.  The horse just meekly laid there with what looked to me like a broken spirit and did nothing to protect himself. (UPDATED:  The COR has acknowledged having ordered the hotshot).

             It appears very strongly that he was hot-shotted, not only from the wranglers' appearing to pass something to each other, but the way the horse suddenly stands is out of character with how a horse in that situation would finally arise.
             (SEE NEW BLOG POST OF JANUARY 14, 2012,  BLM COR MELANIE MARATI ADMITS ORDERING THE HOTSHOTTING OF THE INJURED WILD HORSE DURING CALICO TRI-STATE COMPLEX ROUNDUP)
              If they did in fact use a hotshot in this circumstance, there was no life-threatening situation; it was simply for expedience so they could hurry up and load the trailer.  Using a hotshot to see if a horse is well enough to stand because you are too impatient to exercise a modicum of compassion and wait for the animal to rise on his own is disgusting beyond measure.   The BLM COR and APHIS vet are standing right there.  If he was hotshotted as it appears, they went right along with it as did the COR and APHIS vet when the burros were liberally hotshotted repeatedly in front of them. 

             They got him up, reloaded him and the other horses, and made the trip to temporary holding.  I am reassured every day that he is "a little sore" but "doing fine."

              Here is my video from this day (January 4, 2012) on site.  

              Of course, we the public are not permitted to go to temporary holding except on Saturday, so I had no way to personally see or photograph or videotape (called "documenting") this horse's condition, and am relying solely on representations made by BLM.  This is not acceptable; we will only be able to see the horses captured on Friday since they ship continually to Palomino Valley Center in Sparks, Nevada.

              The trap site is moving tomorrow (Thursday, January 5).  Horses continue to be the focus this week. Burros will be rounded up in the following week.

              Saw these beauties along the road today.  They are so great, so right.  They animate the land so beautifully and quietly.  I will talk more about the numbers of burros soon.  Must get some sleep.

              Keep the faith...

HORSES DON'T LIE: WHAT THE GERLACH HORSES TELL US

               Here is an uncharacteristically short blog post.
               I just had to let some of the Gerlach wild horses tell their stories.  After being told by the BLM COR Melanie Mirati that their roundup was "easy as pie," and "a piece of cake," and, "They went right in" [into the trap pen], only to go and see them myself an hour later looking...well, please watch this short, informative video of what the horses have to say, and judge for yourselves.

              I had to bring this straight to you.  I am tired of the minimizing and marginalizing of these animals.
              I will probably get comments from naysayers saying to toughen up; the horses aren't made of china; the horses are fine.  My point:  this is about the horses' wellbeing, and about communication and credibility.  This was no "piece of cake."  BLM, let's develop some credibility, please.
              I could not ignore the misrepresentation, completely negating the obvious drama and major exertion these horses experienced.
              I will ask for an update on the Gerlach stallion tomorrow.  How much can I trust what I'm told?
              Getting ready for Calico roundup resuming in the morning.

BLM CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY OF WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSE AND BURRO ACT NEVADA-STYLE -- BY GAMBLING. ALSO, RECENT VIDEO BY ELYSE GARDNER OF CURRENT CALICO ROUNDUP with ADDITIONAL BEHIND-THE-SCENES FOOTAGE

            Laura Leigh and I light candles in front of the Gerlach Eight, a little eight-horse herd/band (seen behind us) beloved by the town of Gerlach, Nevada, joining the nationwide Candlelight Vigil commemorating the 40th anniversary of President Nixon's signing the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act into law. 

           These horses lived just outside of Gerlach, a town in the Calico Herd Management Area which is presently undergoing yet a second massive roundup of wild horses in less than two years.  BLM rounded up this iconic little band two days after these photos were taken.  

           §1331 (first paragraph) of the 1971 Act:

                      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.   (Section 1 of what has come to be commonly known as the historic 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which I will often refer to as The Act or the 1971 Act.)

Pryor Mountain wild horses:  Montana's last wild horse herd of under 160 horses, and BLM wants to round up more of them this year. 

                   NOTE:  In 1971, when The Act was passed, wild horses were found on approximately 53 million acres in the west.  Today that is down to approximately 26 million acres which BLM designates Herd Management Areas ("HMAs").  

////

             I'm back in the stark, beautiful Calico Herd Management Area of Nevada to share the Watch of another massive wild horse roundup by the Bureau of Land Management less than two years after the last massive and deadly Calico roundup.

             Here is a rare glimpse I was able to put together from the Twin Peaks roundup of 2010 of some of what goes on "behind the scenes" with the helicopter and the horses in the mountains during the hours before they reach the trap pen:

Here is the only time I was ever permitted close enough to document the respiration rate of  wild horses 35 minutes after a 10.8-mile (as the crow flies) helicopter chase:

                I would like to hear from some veterinarians concerning what we see here.  You can email me at elysegardner@me.com.  

HISTORY

            In January/February 2010, I witnessed the BLM peel 1,922 wild horses from their historic mountain homes, families, and freedom.  In the weeks following that ugly roundup in the dead of winter, over 100 mares spontaneously aborted, and we had a total of over 140 deaths during and after the helicopter chase.  

           Perhaps you recall Freedom, the black stallion who escaped from temporary holding at the trap site by jumping a six-foot fence and breaking through a barbed wire fence as they were "sorting" horses 10 minutes after capture.  Here are some of the stunning horses from Calico whose loss of freedom also means the end of  their genetic contribution to future generations.  Taking a quick trip down memory lane...

                              Tomahawk and Redman captured 1/16/10

                    Commander  (left) and General (right), captured 1/16/10, inseparable friends, both over 20 years old

                            Lightning and son, captured January 2010

PRESENT: 

           BLM is now looking to chase all 1300 horses they believe to be on the mountain into their capture pens, and,

         They say they plan to release up to 350 horses so as to permanently remove 950. 85 to 115 will be PZP treated mares, with a two-year infertility drug. 
          BLM has selected an "Appropriate Management Level" for what they've now expanded into a "Tri-State Complex" of nearly 600,000 acres:  572 to 952 wild horses and only 39-65 wild burros.  Sigh. 
           These are absurdly low figures on this large HMA, with wild horses vastly outnumbered by cattle even though cattle have 160 million acres of public land on which to graze. 
          The part I find particularly egregious, discredits BLM, and confirms to me that BLM has a callous disregard for these animals is this:  
          BLM plans to round up all the horses up first, breaking up every band as they come in, then release handpicked horses, a direct assault on the very core of the wild horse social structure because done in this way 
this plan will systematically, unnecessarily, decimate every single family band, creating social chaos.  Wild horses live in close-knit bands a stallion has spent his life building.  He wins and loses mares over time.  For the government agency tasked with this animal's protection and care to destroy this, by design, is the height of -- what? Pick one: Callousness, or ignorance? 
           Neither is acceptable, especially when BLM proved, in the Pryor Mountain wild horse roundup of 2009, it can round up wild horses and maintain the integrity of each family band through all phases of the process — meaning each band had its own pen; horses to be removed were removed, and then each band was released as a unit, with at least several minutes in between releases.  
           So BLM's current SOP (standard operating procedure) doesn't even begin to meet the Act's charge that: 
          §1333(a)  ...All management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level ... 

            BLM is implementing untested, radical methods whose effects on the wild horse and burro populations are unknown, in its determination to minimize wild horses and burros on the western public lands, without waiting for the results of a two-year National Academy of Sciences study that is just getting under way to assess the Wild Horse and Burro Program and BLM's methods (more on the study in a future edition). 

            One wonders:  what on earth is the frantic hurry?  Or what in earth, as in uranium, gold, silver, natural gas?  Geothermal projects? — two of which are on track for the Calico complex soon... 

            These unvetted methods have drawn lawsuits from wild horse and burro advocacy groups, joined by Western Watersheds, which is not traditionally a "wild horse advocacy" group. 

      Specifically, BLM is gambling with wild horse and burro futures because in efforts to slow or stop population growth: 

                  A) BLM is planning to geld 200 studs and return these castrated horses/geldings to the range and manage them as a "nonreproducing herd."  This will significantly alter wild horse social structure in some unknown way. There are no geldings in the natural order of wild horse social structure.  There are no studies of wild horse HMAs, nor bands, nor herds, nor groups, nor anything,  where this has been done that anyone has produced.

                       This has not been studied at all, yet BLM is planning this approach in nearly all its plans for the various Herd Management Areas across the west.   

                      BREAKING NEWS:  As of this writing and only after The Cloud Foundation, Western Watersheds Project, and others filed suit to stop BLM from carrying out this massive gelding release in the Pancake complex, BLM has backed down and removed this "alternative" from their plan in that HMA.  This gelding strategy, however, remains a key component in BLM's management plans, and wild horse advocates are required to sue the BLM in each individual HMA (Herd Management Area)  to stop its implementation to protect the integrity of the wild horse herd structure.  This was the second HMA where suit was filed and BLM backed down and abandoned the plan for the moment. 

                       BLM was also going to zero out — remove all wild horses from — the Jake's Wash region of the Pancake complex, as if 26 million acres down from 53 million wasn't low enough.  Thanks to the lawsuit, they have let go of this plan.   

                  B)  Again, despite the absence of any study of consequences to the horses or the environment, BLM continues to skew the gender ratios, i.e., returning 60 percent stallions and 40 percent mares to the wild, in virtually all the Herd Management Areas where it is rounding up and releasing horses.
                        They also skew the sex ratio in CTR ("Catch, Treat, Release") roundups after PZP is administered to mares, an infertility drug.  The PZP in use is a two-year infertility drug called  PZP-22. 

                        It's not rocket science to deduce that skewed gender ratios -- decreasing the number of mares available to already competitive studs -- alters the herd dynamic, but how much?  Can we get at least a five-year study first, please?
                 And PZP-22 does not alter a mare's hormones, so she continues to go into heat and be vigorously pursued by studs monthly.  (PZP creates a virtually impenetrable surface to the ovum thereby preventing sperm from fertilizing it.) 
                I am incredulous at how irresponsible it is of BLM to foist these radical practices on these simple yet highly sophisticated, social animals with no studies.   My trust in my government has plummeted since I've learned of these practices.  We can't click "undo," either,  once it's done.   

  Beautiful stud captured recently in current roundup.

Back on the grueling roundup schedule

                 Up at 3:30 a.m. to be on the road by 4:30 a.m.,  drive to Gerlach to meet at BLM's Black Rock Station at 7 a.m. ...

... then drive across the surreal Playa, the salt flats, our speeding tires filling the air with toxic alkali dust...

... then bouncing through miles into the mountains on accordian/waffled, jarring gravel roads that shake my sleepy brain almost awake to finally arrive, signaled to park on the side of the dirt “road” by my pleasant BLM ranger-escort, familiar from last Calico roundup, who now feels more like a distant cousin I’ve run into at the funeral of a mutual relative.  It’s nearly 9:00 a.m.

           Stepping out of the car, I feel we are trespassers in the middle of the silent majesty of the wild horses’ mountain home, particularly in view of what BLM is there to do.  Some members of the silent peace patrol, the majestic guardians of the mountains — the unsuspecting wild horses — are now taking their last mouthfuls of precious free-roaming forage.  I steel myself to stay focused, prepare my gear for the hike to the designated observation place.

            By the way, the little Gerlach band of wild horses BLM rounded up tell a different version of the events than BLM; it wasn't as pretty as BLM first led us to believe, i.e., "No problem; they went right in.  Piece of cake." 
            But this is more than enough for now.  It is Christmas, and I have another message to write to give you all, so I'm going to stop here.  
             I've been away from the computer with my mustang filly these few months, learning from her about mustangs in a whole new dimension, and I am profoundly moved by these individuals, more so than ever.  I've also been dealing with some medical issues and mustang matters  (not life threatening, just hampered my work) issues.  Soon I will share what the Gerlach horses told me directly, and they can tell you themselves. 
             I am glad for what little I am able to do, though, for these animals for whom we must never stop standing up.  They are very special, indeed.