McCullough Peaks Mustangs
We have failed them.... these are the words I hear over and again as I stare at the BLM press release announcing the beginning date of 11/27/2023 for the wild horse trap and removal from their wild home of McCullough Peaks.
This is the herd that has been held up as the gold standard for how a wild horse herd can be managed to stay wild and free in their wild home of sage and high desert.
A herd that is world famous with tens of thousands of dollars spent every year by tourists on hotels, fuel, dining, shopping, and licensed wild horse tours in the small tourist-driven town of Cody WY.
A herd with a highway passing along the southern border of their range renamed to Wild Horse Highway to honor their presence in this place.
A herd with an aging population that has seen deaths even in the easy months of summer... and that will unquestionably see yet more deaths of its seniors over the coming harsh months of winter.
A herd that many of us raised the alarm for months ago.... discussing with friends, reaching out to contacts, and telling anyone and everyone within earshot of us that this herd was being targeted for removal and likely slow attrition by introducing a risky fertility control, we said over and again that we needed to be prepared to challenge the EA if and when the BLM pushed forward to not only remove wild horses but to also change how this herd is managed.
But here we are.... the EA put forth for public comment and then published with no changes - despite a record number of public comments submitted, in spite of being one of the worst ever written EAs with poor grammar, no explanation of the bait trap plan, and a complete failure to follow their own rules by providing range measurement data proving that the wild horses were causing range degradation.
We advocates that are the boots on the ground tried everything we knew to try... and we failed. In the traditional sense... in all the ways we have learned to look for an answer or big try - no one willing to file a lawsuit, no politician in WY to fight for wild horses, no government shut down, no other possibilities or avenues.
So now what?
McCullough Peaks Wild Family
As I spoke with friends deep in the fray of trying to find a way to pause this planned removal and buy time for the wild horses, as they try things that make no sense in WY because nothing else has helped and there is nothing left to lose, as they work with people outside of their normal circle because the normal circle has no other helpful alternatives, and as all of those efforts circle back around with the same result of no change in the proposed plan, we each retreat and try to find the strength to face what is coming and we try to think of anything that has not been thought of yet to try.
McCullough Peaks Stallions
We have one thing left.... we can hold space for these magnificent wild horses.
What does that mean, exactly??
It is going to mean different things to each of us.... and - really, it may not be exactly the right term, but it is what keeps coming to me.
Holding space around the HMA, using Reiki to offer protection for those wild horses and asking them to not enter the trap, holding space that a miracle unknown unseen and unexplainable may yet happen, holding space that no matter what may happen or not happen, the wild horses of McCullough Peaks are held in love and kindness.
If you believe in God this is the time for prayers of strength for protection of these horses, if you know and practice Reiki now is the time to use a protective energy for the horses, whatever it is you know, believe, or practice - this is the time to go fully into it and hold whatever space you know how to hold for the horses of the McCullough Peaks.
This is the one last thing we can do for them.
Washakie of the McCullough Peaks