The 2024 North Lander Complex Roundup
July 10, 2024
One of my wild horse advocate friends Chad Hanson was quoted in a new article: “Viewers were not allowed to observe the management activities that took place in the sorting pen, but even at a distance of half a mile, we could hear the horses screaming as they were separated from their families,” he said. “That is a sound that I will not forget.”
I experienced that sound when I attended the Cedar Mountain roundup in Utah in Sept 2022. At temporary holding I watched as a stallion stood as close to his mare as he could, even though they were separated by corral panels and a walkway. He would chase away any stallions who came near him. As the livestock trucks were loaded up and pulled away, the horses called to each other. That was nearly two years ago and it still brings me to tears today.
Action Item:
• Print out the article below that I have put into PDF form with highlighted sentences and photographs from this current roundup (courtesy of Lynn Hanson).
• Include a hand written or typed letter with it that includes this statement and the following facts:
Ask your US Representative (and state reps if you live in CO, AZ, NV, WY, ID, OR, CA, or NM) for an immediate moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups until Congress can investigate the BLM's lack of transparency, mismanagement of the Wild Horse & Burro Program, and lies to the American public and Congress about the true cause of degradation to OUR public lands: livestock.
• Be courteous and professional in your writing. No ALL CAPS, no profanity, no repetitive exclamation points !!!!! If we want them to listen, we need to sound calm, professional, and knowledgeable.
• Mail the letter to your US Reps DC office and their local state office (it will arrive to the local state office much faster). Then call your Rep's office and get an email address to send the letter to. Ask if you can attach a PDF to the email. If not, copy and paste the link to the article in the email, then include all of your talking points. The link to the letter is below and the link to the article is here: https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/horse-roundup-kicking-up-controversy-in-wyoming/article_cdfb1824-3d76-11ef-a1ae-7389c84c19b7.html
Things in the article that need mentioning:
'They have no natural predators out in the sagebrush sea'
• Why are there no predators? Because BLM, the USDA, Wildlife Services, and the ranchers have killed them all.
'If all goes according to plan, there will be 320 remaining by the end of the month.'
• 320 wild horses spread across four HMAs that are divided by fencing and geological formations, are not genetically viable herds.
'According to BLM Wyoming, if left unchecked, these herds will irreparably damage important resources and fragile ecosystems, putting one of the nation’s largest swaths of priority sage-grouse habitat, along with vital mule deer and pronghorn range, at risk.'
• The livestock, including both cattle and sheep, far outnumber the number of wild horses in the area. Cattle especially, graze in a far different manner than wild horses, trampling bushes and pulling out grass by the roots. Wild horses are a native, keystone species who are used for conservation around the world and that is because wild horses grazing patterns are beneficial to the land.
'The agency said it’s keeping tabs on diversity by testing the genetic material of horse hair follicles. If gene pools dwindle too much, they introduce specimens from outside herds.'
• Why not allow a genetically viable herd to exist on the HMAs? Introducing wild horses from other herds interrupts the unique genetic viability of each herd.
One of my wild horse advocate friends Chad Hanson was quoted in a new article: “Viewers were not allowed to observe the management activities that took place in the sorting pen, but even at a distance of half a mile, we could hear the horses screaming as they were separated from their families,” he said. “That is a sound that I will not forget.”
I experienced that sound when I attended the Cedar Mountain roundup in Utah in Sept 2022. At temporary holding I watched as a stallion stood as close to his mare as he could, even though they were separated by corral panels and a walkway. He would chase away any stallions who came near him. As the livestock trucks were loaded up and pulled away, the horses called to each other. That was nearly two years ago and it still brings me to tears today.
Action Item:
• Print out the article below that I have put into PDF form with highlighted sentences and photographs from this current roundup (courtesy of Lynn Hanson).
• Include a hand written or typed letter with it that includes this statement and the following facts:
Ask your US Representative (and state reps if you live in CO, AZ, NV, WY, ID, OR, CA, or NM) for an immediate moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups until Congress can investigate the BLM's lack of transparency, mismanagement of the Wild Horse & Burro Program, and lies to the American public and Congress about the true cause of degradation to OUR public lands: livestock.
• Be courteous and professional in your writing. No ALL CAPS, no profanity, no repetitive exclamation points !!!!! If we want them to listen, we need to sound calm, professional, and knowledgeable.
• Mail the letter to your US Reps DC office and their local state office (it will arrive to the local state office much faster). Then call your Rep's office and get an email address to send the letter to. Ask if you can attach a PDF to the email. If not, copy and paste the link to the article in the email, then include all of your talking points. The link to the letter is below and the link to the article is here: https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/horse-roundup-kicking-up-controversy-in-wyoming/article_cdfb1824-3d76-11ef-a1ae-7389c84c19b7.html
Things in the article that need mentioning:
'They have no natural predators out in the sagebrush sea'
• Why are there no predators? Because BLM, the USDA, Wildlife Services, and the ranchers have killed them all.
'If all goes according to plan, there will be 320 remaining by the end of the month.'
• 320 wild horses spread across four HMAs that are divided by fencing and geological formations, are not genetically viable herds.
'According to BLM Wyoming, if left unchecked, these herds will irreparably damage important resources and fragile ecosystems, putting one of the nation’s largest swaths of priority sage-grouse habitat, along with vital mule deer and pronghorn range, at risk.'
• The livestock, including both cattle and sheep, far outnumber the number of wild horses in the area. Cattle especially, graze in a far different manner than wild horses, trampling bushes and pulling out grass by the roots. Wild horses are a native, keystone species who are used for conservation around the world and that is because wild horses grazing patterns are beneficial to the land.
'The agency said it’s keeping tabs on diversity by testing the genetic material of horse hair follicles. If gene pools dwindle too much, they introduce specimens from outside herds.'
• Why not allow a genetically viable herd to exist on the HMAs? Introducing wild horses from other herds interrupts the unique genetic viability of each herd.
| article_by_zak_sonntag.pdf |
Click on the file above to download the pdf. File sample is below.
