Last week was an incredibly heart-rending week for anyone who knows and loves wild horses..... it was an especially crushing week if you happen to know and love the McCullough Peaks wild horses.
Although the bait traps had been set in late November, it was not until last week that BLM was able to capture 10 horses in the trap, they ultimately released 6 of those 10 horses back onto the range, keeping 4 of the wild horses to be permanently removed from their wild home.
And then came news that one of those four horses had died while in the care of BLM staff.... a young mare that was barely a year old, closely bonded to her mother and her grandmother, suffered a head injury so severe she died in the BLM corral.
And then we learned that of the three wild horses remaining in BLM custody, two were young foals less than 6 months old - taken from their mothers while still of nursing age.
Wild horses in and around BLM bait trap eating alfalfa left by BLM staff as a lure to become used to and stay in the trap.
This roundup and removal of wild horses from the McCullough Peaks is a darker mark than usual on decisions made and acted out by BLM staff - you know that I do not condone threatening or demeaning of BLM staff, they are humans the same as you and me, but the Cody office is a failure at a level that brings shame on all of BLM to the very top of the agency, and its parent agency the Department of Interior.
The decision to remove young foals of nursing age is immoral and unethical, regardless of what the rules may allow, there is also discretion allowed, and this was a decision undoubtedly made in moments of frustration after weeks of failure to capture and remove any wild horses from this HMA.
Men impatient and desperate with the need to prove themselves competent in the face of a public hoping and praying against all odds for a miracle in a roundup that should not be happening at all - men more concerned with finishing a job than the heart of the horses they are charged with care of, and ensure that in this forever life altering thing, they are provided the least horrific experience possible, that they may be given a chance to transition into a life with humans - every single action taken with these horses while being captured, handled, and transported is remembered by them and will affect how those horses see humans and their future relationships with us.
Mare & foal in McCullough Peaks, August 2023
There is also the seeming failure to follow CAWP [Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program] practices and expectations..... look at the below image, with a corral full of wild horses, stallions rearing up in typical wild stallion behavior, now notice the metal bar above the gate several horses are underneath of in the front.
Bait Trap with Wild Horses
As per CAWP { https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2020-12/PIM2021-002 att1.pdf } Trap Site and Holding Facility:
8. Padding must be installed on the overhead bars of all gates and chutes used in single file alleys. (major)
Perhaps this was ignored as it is not in an alley that one normally sees in the typical helicopter drive trap - but - that metal bar should be padded! As you can see the horses are wandering around freely and there is no reason to not expect that in the midst of crowding and scrambling one may rear up and strike the unpadded metal bar with their head, and will result in either instant death, or an injury that requires being destroyed, either way the result is a death that could have been easily avoided by the staff practicing a little more effort of care for the horses that are their responsibility.
Empty trap showing unpadded metal bar over gate and t-posts at other end of trap.
The Cody office has been insistent that there is no public viewing of this bait trap operation, they have put up barriers on the 2-tracks that go to the traps, and have not offered any kind of observation visit to the public, they are not willing to go out with the public and show them the trap and how it works, and they have kept the location of temp holding under wraps, which only causes more public anxiety than if they would simply act like a publicly funded agency, doing publicly funded work, and do a simple show and tell day with the public.
With secrecy comes suspicion.... with the failure to go above and beyond in the safety of the horses at the bait trap visible from the main road, and no public attendance at temp holding after wild horses have been removed, there is a lot of suspicion!
Why did the yearling mare Kat Ballou think she could escape through what should have been a very secure fence?? Are they not following CAWP protocol and have up barriers such as snow fence or other visual barriers that prevent a wild horse from seeing a hole in the fence that they think they can jump or fight their way through?
I personally have several years of roundup and removal observation experience, I have seen the difference it makes when proper barriers are used, I have seen the difference there is when horses are treated with dignity and respect, it is never easy but it does not have to be as harsh as I have seen it at other times, and it does not have to result in deaths, and it very much feels that none of these things have been done here.
Wild horses in bait trap a week ago, one day before BLM trapped and removed four young wild horses.
And finally.... the drum I have been beating since the release of the draft EA for this roundup and removal of these wild horses.
The absolute failure of the Cody BLM office to provide grazing utilization data proving that there was range degradation done by the horses - the only reason per BLMs own written policy, that a removal of wild horses is to occur (outside of emergency situations), as stated that being in excess of a set AML is not reason enough for a removal of wild horses from their wild home.
I have requested this data via email and via comments to the draft EA (as did many of you who submitted comments), and this last week I was informed that in order to obtain this information - information that should have already been prepared and in a public document - I will be forced to do a FOIA request - I know I should not be shocked, but here I am still shocked, because there was a part of me hoping they had done their actual job... that they had proven at least somewhere that they were doing things according to BLM written policy.
But now all I can think is instead they failed.... they have not done the work, they do not have the proof that the horses have caused any range degradation, and now they are stalling like crazy, hoping I do not have the follow through to do a FOIA request, and very possibly faking the reports because they messed up - and they know it.
All of this is over-whelming, leaving so many of us despairing and angry, grief and sorrow weighing us down, but we must keep on.
We go to the horses for so many things.... their beauty, their spirit, the healing our souls find in their company, the wisdom and teachings many of us have learned in the hours, days, weeks, months, and years with them.
Now it is our turn to be there for them, we must raise our hope and faith, send our light of love and protection to them, for it is not done yet, there are miles to go and days to endure, and I am asking that each of you that has stopped to read this will stand with me in the gap for these wild ones.
One of the great stallions of McCullough Peaks HMA
** Some of you may be looking for actual real ways to help.... although WY elected officials are notoriously hard-nosed and anti-wild horse, this is not just WY, this is a federal thing happening on federal lands, and many of you may live in places where your elected representatives will listen with open hearts to your voice.
So raise your voice, call your elected representative and tell them that this removal is in direct contradiction to BLM written policy and tell them that it is being conducted in an unethical and immoral way, and that the agency needs to be held accountable and to do better by the horses and the tax paying public!
You can also write opinions into WY news or your local news sites, remember each voice raised is heard by at least one person, and this is a one person at a time, one miracle away from the miracle we are asking for kind of thing, so please know, whatever it is that you feel you need to do, it is enough and we are thankful for you doing whatever it is you do!