BLM Wild Horse Roundup at Calico Ends
February 5th, 2010 | 
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Horse struggling in trap pen at Calico on January 2, 2010. photo credit Craig Downer.
The BLM announced today that it has ended the Calico roundup, with 1,922 horses captured. This is 600 fewer horses than the BLM had targeted in its capture plan, which had estimated the horse population in the five Herd Management Areas (HMA’s) at Calico to be 3,040.
According to its press release, the BLM now estimates that 600 horses are left in the Calico Mountains Complex. If correct, this means that the BLM’s original population count was off by over 500 horses, raising serious questions about the validity of the horse census data upon which the agency is basing its management decisions.
The death toll from the roundup is 39 horses and counting, as the fatality rate at the Fallon holding facility has risen sharply in the past two weeks. Deaths not reported before in this blog include a four-year old sorrel mare who was kicked in the head while being transported from the trap pen. According to the BLM gather activity updates, her “eye globe was ruptured with complete prolapse of the iris. This eye could not be saved and would remain a serious physical defect. She was euthanized as an act of mercy.” Other deaths include mares euthanized at Fallon due to injuries to spine and pelvis, and failure to adjust to feed.
An additional 20-30 pregnant mares spontaneously aborted. Although the BLM has claimed that poor nutritional condition of the mares led to these miscarriages, equine veterinary sources disagree.
“Nutritional deficiencies have not been associated with abortion in mares. In general, if mares are in good condition (body condition of greater than 2 on a scale of 0 to 5, where 5 is very fat), they will carry a foal. Mares that are too thin, however, will not cycle or conceive.”
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/05-061.htm
Equine veterinarian Don Hoglund states: “20-25 abortions in captivity are not likely due to range conditions. Infections, vaccination reaction, but most likely stress is the cause. In fact, that many abortions are cause for concern, anywhere.”
Thanks to the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign for these resources.
The Calico roundup has taken a terrible toll on the horses who have lost their lives due to the trauma of the helicopter stampede and capture, and on the horses who survived the capture but have forever lost their freedom. The legal case over the illegality of the Calico roundup continues in federal court, and the Department of Justice has agreed that the Calico horses will not be moved from the Fallon holding facility until the case is resolved. In addition, lead counsel William J. Spriggs of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney has notified the Department of Justice that he is ready to sue again if the BLM proceeds with plans to round up 495 mustangs living in the Eagle Herd Management Area in eastern Nevada. Stay tuned.
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I am NOT at all surprised that OBAMA is not coming through with this issue as well as many others!
I however am trying to do my part contributing to help the mustangs that brought the pioneers west and are now being forced back on ranges, and that they are receiving such horrible treatment from the BLM…again our most wonderful government at their finest…..Perhaps less money building plans that sit and more money focused on the hungry both horses and humans would benefit….and help this situation….I fail to see how someone can sit back and watch the last of a dying breed, heritage and tradition for the VERY thing we PLEDGE to PROTECT….become an endangered and then extinct species….My God what kind of people are we electing up there in the White House? Makes you wonder if they can’t cope or get a grip on the problem here in the homeland, why in the world would they be putting us farther in debt helping out other countries? If someone cannot have the common sense, decency and compasion for an animal let alone a animal that was directly responsible for the government in the first place. How can one expect them to help these horses of misfortune at their hands? Its a crying shame that this has even come to an issue. Congress and the BLM should of had this under wraps BEFORE it came to such an extent and problem of overcrowding and over population…..Shakes my faith in these individuals and I hang my head in SHAME that they RUN our country let alone the fate of these beautiful creatures in their hands….
Let me begin by saying I have been a longtime fan, first time commenter. I thought I should probably say thanks for posting this piece (and all your others), and I’ll be back!
Dr. Katz, thank you and In Defense of Animals for taking on this tough fight. Many of us are very concerned about the 1922 Calico horses that have been taken to the Fallon holding site. Your article, “BLM Roundup at Calico Ends” says, “. . .the Department of Justice has agreed that the Calico horses will not be moved from the Fallon holding facility until the case is resolved.” However, it as if the horses have disappeared down a black hole, because no visitors will be allowed at Fallon. You can understand that this makes everyone very nervous, after witnessing the destructive roundup just concluded by the BLM. We all want these horses returned to their homes, where obviously they were getting along just fine, considering the good condition of the majority of the horses gathered. WE DO NOT WANT THE STALLIONS GELDED! Who knows what precious bloodlines might be destroyed? In nature they would stay in bachelor groups until they collected a few mares of their own. As geldings, where would they belong? The BLM, if undeterred, will proceed processing these horses as if they were going into long term holding, into “adoption”, as if they did not already have more than 30,000 horses processed and waiting endlessly for that very thing to occur! If Mr. Spriggs was able to get the Department of Justice to agree to hold the horses at Fallon until the case is resolved, can he also insist that they not be processed for long term holding in the meantime? Can he ask for Humane Observers to be assigned to Fallon to watch over our horses and burros? I have also asked Mr. Pacelle at HMUS for help in these same two areas – leave our stallions alone and send in the Humane Observers!
Bush talked to us like children and now BLM is doing the same thing. What? you don’t think we have an ounce of sense. Well, guess what we know more than you do about what happened. BLM and wranglers are the idiots.
Sometime,somewhere this is going to stop. We are educating the public. There is strength in numbers.
How long must this go on?! The BLM is totally mismanaging our wild horses and they can’t seem to do it fast enough! Do they really believe that the 20-30 mares aborted because the lack of nutrition? Where is their common sense? Oh, that’s right, they don’t have any, because if they did, done of this would be happening! It has to stop, if we want to preserve our most precious icon of the American West.
Thanks IDA for everything you do, in protecting all of God’s creatures.
Obama is not going to stop these cruel roundups. The fate of our mustangs and burros is in the hands of Mr. Spriggs , and I thank him and IDA for all there work.Some of our senators will be asking for your vote this year. I will not be voting for anyone that has ignored my letters, and calls to call for a moratium on these roundups I wish I could get to Vegas, when Obama is there Feb 18,
THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO GIVE UP ON THE FIGHT FOR AMERICAS WILD EQUINE AND ALL ANIMALS THAT SHOULD HAVE A PLACE TO CALL HOME.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF BEING LIED TO ABOUT THE HORSES, WE ARE BEING PLAYED FOR FOOLS.
GET INVOLVED PEOPLE, THE BLM DOESN’T CARE ABOUT OUR HORSES. A GOOD HORSE IS A DEAD HORSE.
WE HAVE TO MAKE CHANGES FOR A BETTER TOMORROW. PEACE ON EARTH ITS UP TO US.
MANAGED HERDS NOT SLAUGHTERED HERDS
Thank you to IDA and Mr. Spriggs for everything you are doing for America’s wild horses!