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ST. GEORGE — Although wild horse advocates find consensus that something has to be done to address the decadeslong debate on how to manage the species’ population growth on federally controlled rangeland, they often disagree on how to achieve the goal.
The schism centers on bringing all sides of the issue to the table to talk or to dig in and fight a political and legal battle.
As summer approaches, the Bureau of Land Management will renew its efforts to fulfill its legal responsibility under the 1971 Wild Horse and Burrow Act to “provide for the necessary management, protection, and control of wild horses and burros on public lands.”
For more than 50 years the issue of how to manage wild horses and burros has been waged in the courtroom, on the range and in public discourse.
The problem, as many agree, is that the battle intertwines the mix of bureaucratic red tape, a lack of funding in some areas of wild horse management and a growing dispute among equine advocates that seems to pull each group in a different direction.
Although advocacy groups share similar ideals to find logical solutions and scientific-based management techniques to control the horse and burro populations, achieving that goal has been difficult even among those with the same mindset.
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Neda DeMayo, president for Return to Freedom said while she is philosophically aligned with other wild horse advocates to stop the practice of roundups she admits her allies can be a mean-spirited group.
“The Senate has sent everyone a clear message that we need to sit down with the other stakeholders regarding public lands such as hunting organizations, the ranching community, and natural resource groups and we did that, but we got a lot of s— from other wild horse advocacy groups,” DeMayo said.
“The advocates are assuming what is happening now with the recent … increase in … roundups is the cause of actions to find consensus. They are wrong,” she added.
DeMayo agrees the topic of managing the wild horse and burro population is a gigantic political football, but her goal, along with others, is to halt invasive roundups and stockpiling the horses gathered in holding pens.
One hurdle, she adds, is to overcome the infighting within the wild horse advocacy community.
“I am finding the emotions of some advocates are misrepresenting our conversations,” DeMayo said. “It’s been very difficult to cut through the noise. We are all working for the same goal, but we are at the table in the discussion. When we walk out of the room we may not get everything we want, but we’ll get something.”
DeMayo, a self-avowed pragmatist, accepts that horse roundups and holding pens are going to continue no matter how many lawsuits are filed, but she pledges to fight the good fight that removals should not be the first step or the only step in good management practices.
“The argument against roundups has been used to raise money for advocacy groups and this is a problem,” she said. “Now we see new people coming on board who don’t understand and are knee jerk reacting to things happening right now.”
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To achieve a means to an end many advocate organizations would rather “dismantle good laws” to get what they want, DeMayo added.
“We’ve never stopped a roundup in 50 years,” DeMayo said. “It’s kind of naive in a way to attack people who are willing to sit through very difficult conversations … and organizations like ours to do the best we can to carve out a long-term sustainable effort towards management.”
The number of wild horses is growing on the range, DeMayo said, and the “crisis” continues.
“We have to decide if we want our wild horses dead or living,” she added. “One of the things that I have thought about over the last several months, after being attacked so viciously from other advocates, is that if we don’t do anything, not to have conversations or try to come up with some compromises, what might happen to the wild horses is going to be worse than what is happening today. We all need to be talking.”
Laura Leigh, president and founder of the non-profit Wild Horse Education is a passionate advocate.
While not directly contradicting the work of Return to Freedom, Leigh agrees the topic of wild horse management has become a political hot potato.
Wild Horse Education recently joined a lawsuit filed on behalf of other advocacy groups including Animal Wellness Action and the CANA Foundation.
The suit alleges that BLM has railed to conduct a herd management plan, as required by law prior to specific roundups. According to Animal Wellness Action, “BLM has failed to maintain a thriving ecological balance on the public lands.”
The suit centers on rounding up wild horses at the Pancake Complex, 30 miles west of Ely, Nevada.
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According to Animal Wellness Action, the roundup is targeting more than 2,000 wild horses on more than 1 million acres. The roundup began on Jan. 11, 2022.
“The (federal) act itself sets the framework for some of the controversy,” Leigh said. “And then there are the layers to the planning process for management … but the act itself, through negotiations in Congress, has determined horses need to be managed behind artificial boundaries.”
So, what has happened, Leigh added, is that BLM skips the planning process altogether and instead develops gather plans to round up wild horses and burros using a wildly unpopular technique of using helicopters to corral the animals.
“The problem is that we have to determine what are we protecting? Is it genetics? Is it the herd’s family structure? Is it fertility control – what kind and when – or is it to fulfill the wishes from lobbying groups such as the Utah Cattlemen’s Association to remove horses from the land because they are in direct competition for resources,” Leigh said. “What is the strategy? What are we protecting?
Contrary to Leigh’s assertions, BLM has developed several multi-year management plans, but where she is correct is that a portion of each plan deals with roundups.
On Jan. 24, 2022, the BLM Cedar City Field Office released a decision to gather wild horses in Iron, Beaver and Millard counties under a recently approved 10-year plan aimed at achieving proper horse populations in its Sulfur Herd Management Area – which consists of more than 265,000 acres – located approximately 50 miles west of Minersville, Utah, in the Mountain Home and Indian Peak mountain ranges.
In addition to the removal, BLM documentation indicates the plan also calls for fertility control, the collection of data on herd characteristics and methods to restore sustainable rangelands.
The heartburn for horse advocates is removal. For Leigh and others, this seems to be a knee-jerk, first reaction to management.
Under the 10-year Sulfur Herd Management Plan, there is “a necessity to remove excess wild horses … when the population of adult horses – those two years and older, reaches the upper level of 180 horses. If horses of all ages are included in the calculation, the appropriate management level for the Sulfur (herd) is 165 to 250 horses.”
Current estimates place the population at 497 wild horses. With virtually no natural predators, wild horse herds can double in size about every four years.
A growing population
Recent statistics, compiled by the United States Department of the Interior, suggest that the number of wild horse and burro populations is increasing at an alarming rate.
When the Wild Horse and Burro Act was passed, BLM became the federal agency responsible for managing approximately 25,000 wild horses and burros living on public land across the west.
By March 2015, the number of animals on public lands had more than doubled to 58,150.
Since then, and after four amendments to the law from 1976 – 2005, the number of wild horses has more than tripled. According to the latest government data, there are an estimated 86,000 to 90,000 animals living on rangeland in 10 western states.
Although there is some debate if overpopulation on the range really exists, prolonged drought and the deterioration of the land experts suggest that society may be at a bellwether moment, a warning that life on the range may become harder for all species including horses and burros.
Fertility control
In its 2013 report to the BLM, the National Academy of Sciences found that no highly effective, easily delivered and affordable fertility-control methods were currently available for use on wild horses and burros. The most promising vaccine, PZP, is limited in the duration of its effectiveness — one to two years.
PZP does not immediately begin reducing herd sizes or foaling rates. To reach full effectiveness and begin curbing populations, PZP must be administered repeatedly or annually. Leading research has indicated that it takes eight years of application to successfully reduce wild horse population growth.
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Wild horse advocacy groups such as The Cloud Foundation are disappointed and troubled with BLM’s continuing pursuit of what they see as a “destructive” path that would subject wild horses to only one path toward management, “invasive surgical” procedures.
A brief history
Wild horses, considered beautiful and noble animals by many, embody the pioneering spirit of the West. The modern-day lineage in the North American West dates back to Spanish explorers during the 1500s.
Yvette Running Horse Collin’s – Lakota/Nakota/Cheyenne scholar – has combed through countless natural history books in preparation for her recent dissertation. In an article printed in “Indian Country Today,” Collins focuses on the equine species’ historic footprint in America.
First Nation Tribes believe that horses originated in the Americas, but were later extinct because of large ice sheets that covered much of North America roughly 13,000 to 11,000 years ago.
In her dissertation, Collin compiled a list of fossil records and DNA evidence that states living ancient horses roamed and foraged for food after the “supposed “extinction period.”
To support this theory, scientists, in their respective fields, have found pockets of living horses that are genetically different than the Spanish lineage.
Through the Scared Way Sanctuary, Collin cares for more than 100 horses she claims to be descendants of the ancient horse of the Americas. Some have manes that grow down to the ground. Some have stripes on their legs. Some have spots, curly hair and are much smaller than most modern-day horses.
The Spanish lineage
Although experts agree that the horses on the range are majestic animals, they are not unique to other modern-day equine species.
“Columbus brought the first Spanish horse to the Caribbean in 1493,” Collin said.
The first documented (reintroduction) of horses on the mainland, was near Mexico City in 1519. The Spanish took meticulous records. The first recorded sighting of native people with horses was in 1521, in the Carolinas.
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