It is an abusive and illegal RUSE against the 86% and NM’s Protected Wild Horses for a Highway.
By Patience O’Dowd, president, Wild Horse Observers Association (WHOA) 9/27/2023
The Ordinance 5-24-23.1 to BAN assistance to “FREE ROAMING HORSES” does not apply to Wild Horses. WHY? Because Sandoval County did not want to be sued, it is a RUSE for a Highway Developement Crime Ring folks, counties do not have jurisdiction over wildlife AND it is not codefied in Sandoval County Animal Control Ordinance. Not there even after September 1st, 2023. Please continue to live your lives without fear of criminalization.
Placitans have been terrorized all year by draconian threats to criminalize and jail elderly Placitans (to selectively harm Wild Horses and their advocates) and more, ALL with no legal basis beyond our ill-placed-trust in our local government as Americans.
My goal for this article is to relieve some of the REAL STRESS caused by the Sandoval County government, in this instant case, nothing less than a Developement/Developer Crime Ringagainst 86% of Placitans. Law abiding, tax paying Placitans with an average age of 60 have been harrassed all year by our small time thugs County Manager Wayne Johnson, County Attorney Michael Eshleman, and County Sheriff Jessie James Casaus and their fellow thugs on the County Commision. They picked up the shovel of dirt that our State “representatives” Senator Brenda McKenna and Representative Matthew McQueen could not pass at legislature, (Senate Bill 301) this year and pounded us with a faux Ordinance, in police state manner. A three ring circus CON, harming the innocent, and their innocent constituents.
Our NM media from the Albuquerque Journal, to the NM TV News, to the local Sandoval Signpost keep this information well hidden with false storiesabout wild hores by professional writers that convincingly imply these horses are not legally protected, that they are starving, that their population is not managed, that they are causing all/many accidents, and each story implies that Our NM Media, really cares! Sorry. They lie meticulously and repeatedly. See below: Who and what caused 4 seperate vehicle and road rage human fatlities in Placitas.Hint: Not the wild horses!
Twenty Twenty Three (2023), the year our government which is under oath to serve us, without bias, pursuant to NM Article XX, Section 1, has instead, endangered, and all but detroyed some of their contituent’s lives. One good citizen’s son sold her house right out from under her to protect her by getting her out of here, essentially against her will. I am sorry and I hope she will move back. I know her, and the commune with nature here, in this willdlife corridor and the mountains is what she has joyously and bravely lived for.
This is the beautiful Sandia Mountain Wildlife Corridor. During drought, compassionate citizens of Placitas, La Madera, Puertecito, and San Pedro Creek Estates, and around the mountain are literally asked and expected to water wildlife, including Bears, etc. However, Placitans are being terrorized and tricked against their personal and community morals into not helping the Wild Horses they enjoy and co-exist with so that the state and Sandoval County can move forward with the non-transparent developement-ring’s plans and the illegal lack of due process on the Buffalo Tract. Note: The UDA FS appear to have been a party to wiping out wildife at the Sandia Mountain through intent and negligence regarding upkeep of springs and provisions for drinkers/guzzlers.
Our sheriff Jessie James Casaus has conflicts of interest that he has not mentioned. Was Sheriff Casaus setting up another woman in her sixties when he told her to go ahead on the D.L. (Down Low.) and ignore the Ordinance? This is recorded. Or, does just Sheriif Casaus realize that this Ordinance is naught but a HOAX? Of coure, and it is.
Thanks largely to NON-TRANSPARENT and Out of State Developers trying to DESTROY the Sandia Wildlife Corridor, with no due process, virtually every new Senator and/or Representative for this area works (outside the law) to find a Wild Horse “solution.” Solution for what? These Wild Horses are already under contraceptive population management (due natural predator wipe-out) under the proactive preservation law. This law understands and navigated the rampant Conflicts of Interest in NM. The law which WHOA passed with Senator Komadina in 2007.
What they mean by “solution” is a “look good” way to get rid of them by downgrading them from Wild Horse to “Free Roaming Horses,” or to “Dumped Horses.” This, to illegally deny preservation and to allow jurisdiction (and wipe out) by any political subdivision of the State with a Conflict of Interest who can hire a “look good” “equine expert” for political cover. They claim Saftey reasons against these peaceful herbivores or “range management” issues of private property yards!
SANDOVAL COUNTY – ADMITTS They have no jurisdiction over Protected wildlife. See 2019 planned Sandoval County Animal Control Ordinance See section 4.9 Prohibited Activites below. a) They admitt that prohibitions against “running at large” do not apply to Protected Wildlife. c) They admitt that prohibitions against animals disturbing the peace do not apply to Proyecyed Wildlife. e) They further admitt that impounding Protected Wildlife is illegal.
This is after they admitt they should have updated their animal contol section in 2007 when WHOA and Senator Komadina passed the Wild Horse Protection and Preservation law. This is the law whether they update their Animal Ordinance or not and they are not above thi law which they fully undertand as upheld in the courts and on the books since 2007.
They also admitt to th definition of a Wild Horse.
SANDOVAL COUNTY OFFICIALS ALSO KNEW AND CRIED OFTEN ABOUT THE FACT THAT Bad Bill Senate Bill 301 (SB301) (2023) by Representative McQueen and Senator Brenda McKenna was TABLED 6 to 2 on March 7, 2023. It would have illegally recharacterized WILD HORSES to “Free ROAMING HORSES” without preservation capability and more and was therefore TABLED.
However, Sandoval County went ahead and tricked, abused, and harassed their consituents with the fux ORDINANCE regarding “Free Roaming Horses. It was all revoltingly coreographed by both parties led by former NM STATE AUDITOR WAYNE JOHNSON(D) and PUSHED BYCOUNTY COMMISIONERS KATHLEEN BRUCH(D) AND LUJAN GRISHAM APPOINTEE JOSHUA JONES(D).
SENATOR MCKENNA AND REPRESENTATIVE MCKENNA have both been working to wipe out the PLacitas horses from the moment they each won in our District.
Senator McKenna in like fashion claims to be a Director in Wildlife For ALL but admitts she knows nothing about Wild Horses, however claimed they were dumped here in Placitas in 2007, (she was apparently stating that for County Zoning purposes) however that is untrue and documented in federal court as well. Senator McKenna also stated the Wild Horses are not native.
She herself was also surprisingly abusive to citizens (Recording Available.)
STEFANIE GARCIA RICHARDS STATE LANDS COMMISIONER was also part of the many plot to change the PLacitas BLM lands to State Land and Develope them with SENIOR WAREHOUSING.
CLAIMS OF “SAFETY ISSUES” BY OUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES and by Sandoval County and Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office stating Wild Horses are the cause or center of all traffic accidents PALE in comparison to REALITY.
Placitans have suffered four (4) tragic traffic deaths in the last 5 years.
1) In 2020 a Sndoval County Sheriff’s officer tradgically backed over a Placitas female property owner while on call at her home.
2) Attorney Paul S. Livingston who was advocating against Gravel Mining on th Buffalo Tract was killed by a driver under th influence of Alcohol in 2018.
3) One man driving a motorcycle at night, no helmet, speed involved.
4) A stabbing death in the Historic Village of Placitas due to, percieved speeding and road rage on a road marked 10 mile and hour.
No deaths due to Wild Horses since the writer has lived in Placitas since 1987. However, if it ever happen it will be due to these government
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOK LIKE ACROSS THE STATE AND SANDOVAL COUNTY
PLACITANS DON’T EVEN HAVE CATTLE GUARDS AT I-25 and RT-165!
Virtually ALL the exits long I-25 with Wild Horses have cattle GUards at I-25. NMDOT aid in 2018 that Placits should have fencing and start with a public meeting. Instead they wait in hopes of a human death to blame on the horses in order to get rid of them. W have AMPL proof of this including NO CATTLE GUARDS at I-25 where PLacita has DEER Hits!!! USDA FS has worked to caue the wildlife on Sandia Mountain to Die of Thirst apparently a the precaution. Works best for DEVELOPMENT? No!
OUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES who also KNOW here is plenty of Funding for Wildlife Corridor.
IF a Wild Horse, Deer, Bear, Coyote, Cougar gets on I-25 from this official WILDLIFE CORRIDOR through Placitas, it will be due to NEGLIGENCE with intent of the NMDOT and Sandoval County for disallowing standard safety equipment (cattle guards) for the protection of all.
(2)PASSED — ORDINANCE NO. 5-24-23.10 Free Roaming Horses – LIVESTOCK: This Ordinance that Placitans and their Wild Hoss in this special Wildlife Corridor are being endangered and harassed and this faux Ordinance is not even included in their codified Ordinances online. https://library.municode.com/nm/sandoval_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=SUHITA
“At the same time perennial springs of Placitas are literally being destroyed, and stream catchments or acequias and perennial springs are being fenced away from wildlife. This Proposed Ordinance attempts to inhumanly take control over water for wildlife and on private property.”
Deer are hit from the Sandia Mountain all the way to I25 near exit 242. Wild horses are not near I 25.
M.L.G.S., also at legislatue to oppose SB301 (2023)
To: Sandoval County Commissioners, Wayne Johnson Mgr. S.C., Mitchico Martin USDA FS
From: M.L.G.S.
Re: I oppose the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Proposed Ordinance against feeding and WATERING wildlife. The sheriff’s office cannot control speeding, so now they are going to control wildlife and people’s private property rights and give out wildlife feed and water permits here and there, monthly?
At the same time perennial springs of Placitas are literally being destroyed, and stream catchments or acequias and perennial springs are being fenced away from wildlife. This Proposed Ordinance attempts to inhumanly take control over water for wildlife and on private property.
Date: 2/22/2023
Dear Sandoval County Commissioners, Wayne Johnson, Mitchico Martin USDA FS
I am the living Matriarch of the Gonzales family of La Madera NM on the East side of the Sandia Mountains in Sandoval County. La Madera Rd intersects Gonzales Rd where we were raised on the La Aguapa Ranch, still there today and where Sandoval County considers putting a highway connecting Rt14 to I25.
I was literally born there in Sandoval County at La Madera by mid-wife on May 14th 1938 along with most of my 15 siblings who also were born there, and not in a hospital.
We have run cattle, horses, goats and pigs on the East side of the mountain. My family still has some of the land there. Our family members that we have lost are ALL buried in the La Madera Cemetery nearby. My Dad and his brothers were also born there at La Madera on the ranch. Some are buried on the ranch.
We walked to Puertecito to grade school a round trip of 9 miles per day. My Dad later drove us to Algodonas to school for eighth grade and to Bernalillo to get our groceries. That is to say, I know this area, la gente, and the wildlife.
The wild horses have ALWAYS been here on both sides of the mountain throughout my lifetime, and including to this date.
There were ALWAYS deer, wild horses, cows, Mt. Lions, Jack Rabbits, coyotes, drinking from our water in La Madera and from the Ojito on our property. We used to cover a spot in Ojito Spring to have clean water for the family but allowed the water to run out for the wildlife. ALL the wildlife, including the wild horses. (I don’t recall any bears.)
We kids carried the water from the Ojito to our home every other day.
We regularly sold fire wood to the San Felipe Pueblo and enjoyed the wild horses along the way there.
My grandchildren live in Placitas and I spend many happy days there every year often 6 to 12 stays per year enjoying family, horse riding (used to ride all the way to the back-side), the mountains, and the wild horses and I have done so since about 1987.
I am sad to say that the local Placitas Land Grant – San Antonio De Las Huertas and the local Acequias are fencing Wildlife out of acequias and perennial waters in the national forest and Placitas.
There is a huge holding tank acequia up the mountain in the national forest blocking waters from flowing to Placitas where the wild horses have always roamed along with other wildlife. (See below)
Perennial springs and stream catchments in Placitas are being fenced AWAY from wildlife and even destroyed. See pictures below. There are those that stand to gain from commercial activity on the Buffalo Tract BLM lands, and therefore stand to gain from creating a humanitarian issue for wildlife in order to cause the removal of the wild horses.
In seeming unison, Sandoval County Sheriff’s Proposed Ordinance attempts to inhumanely control homeowner’s personal rights and generosity to share water with wildlife.
This is not how to improve road Safety, this is how to create a humanitarian issue only.
Picture 1: October 2020 Extreme Deepening this water evaporation pit that most didn’t even know was there has removed waters from ALL wildlife and also reduced the amount of water that makes it to Placitas just 1500ft away.Picture 2: All this water that was trapped just evaporates. No wildlife except the birds can use it. This is also stopping water from going down the Las Huertas Creek to Placitas unless there is a tremendous storm.Picture 3: Fuller on Dec 8th 2022 but, all it did was evaporate…. You can see on the left side how high the water line has to reach to flow out of this evaporation tank.
How much money was spent on this in our National Forest, a wilderness area? For a picture of water?
Picture 4: This is a Wildlife Corridor. Rt 165 – The Sandia Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountain wildlife corridor. There is little farming from the acequias in Placitas. Basically a few apple and fruit trees.
“Si haces mal, bien no esperes.”
Picture 5: Placitas is not a big agricultural community, mostly it grows houses in recent decades and the vineyards behind this scene are not on an acequia. The apples may be…
Creating a road hazard This is already illegal, see the police cleaning up this lure trap of apparently local apples on RT165?
These are the things that intentionally and unlawfully cause a Safety Hazard, not the wild horses.
Picture 6: This is a spring along Camino de La Rosa Castilla Road and may be reduced due to the holding pen or water evaporation tank up the mountain of Pictures 1,2, and 3. It may also be reduced due to homes pumping ground water. It is only fair to share the water of the springs, of the acequias, and of the ground water we pump, with wildlife.Picture 7: Here is another perennial spring fenced away from wildlife and also perhaps suffering due to the same reasons as the spring above.Picture 8: The Springs here at El Osos are fenced away from Wildlife in Placitas. This seems to be the standard practice here in the Village of Placitas.
There are other perennial springs in Placitas out along Tecolote and San Francisco Rd and some there have also been destroyed too, but there is at least one left that is not destroyed, reduced, or fenced.
TUNNEL SPRINGS?
The famous year-round spring at Tunnel Springs at Placitas in a WILDERNESS AREA is blocked off, literally PLUGGED as I now understand. An act against wildlife roaming in this wildlife corridor? Now to be called, just TUNNEL?
FIRE HAZARD
I also have to say a short note about the fire hazards caused by the acequia just 1500ft past the houses of Placitas in the Sandia National Forest. There are all kinds of cut dead branches and dead trees that were cut along this acequia and or caused by this acequia changing the water flow, JUST WAITING for a fire. If it was allowed for people to CUT trees in a Wilderness Area, or remove their water source, it should be allowed to remove them. Both Placitans and the wildlife deserve better.
POOR ROADS for ingress and egress up the back of the mountain IF and WHEN there is a FIRE add to the danger. I have a close-relative who is a professional in this area who is very concerned.
Picture 9, 10: Sandia National Forest near Acequia behind Placitas Dec 8th 2022
FIRE HAZARD REDUCTION IN PLACITAS
Is also reduced by wild horses grazing between homes, reducing spread of fire that can spread due to dry yellow grasses. Remember Wild Horses and Deer do not compete as wild horses are grazers and Deer are browsers (leaves and Forbes.)
Deer stay nearer to the mountains than horses. They are not grazers, and would not move far from the mountain into Placitas in any case. I understand that two Deer were recently hit on 165 in Placitas near Tunnel Springs Rd and the Library.
OVER ALL
Some folks want a constitutional “right to hunt” on public lands, but Sandoval County and Sheriff Jesse James Casaus want to take away our “right to water” on our own private property. Instead, I’d rather they just do their job of traffic control. Water is life!
It is sad that this has to be said, and I am sorry it had to be said.
M.L.G.S, address redacted.
Posted inUncategorized|TaggedDeer hits, Placitas, wild horse|Comments Off on Opposition to Sandoval County NM Proposed Ordinance to Ban Feeding or Watering of Wild Horses in Placitas to “improve road safety”. “Cattle” Guards for Safety are prevalent across NM and US, but NONE in Placitas.
Re: OPEN LETTER; Please postpone SB301 and SB271 3/5/2023 and replace with discussions for Wild Equine Board under the NM Parks Department. See WHOAnm.org
To: Dear Senator Brenda McKenna, Representative Matthew McQueen, cc Senator Carrie Hamblen,
Thank you for your response in the email string (See Attachment 1) which I will address herein.
To: Dear Citizens of New Mexico,
From: Patience O’Dowd for WHOA, Wildlife Protection of New Mexico(WHOA-Voters), PO Box 932, Placitas, NM 87043
THIS IS PLACITAS.
This is where we live on Wild Horse Mesa in Placitas. 86% or more of Placitas is all about Wild Horses as was the San Antonio De Las Huertas (SADLH) Land Grant in 2007 prior to pressures in the form of rewards of BLM lands. It was old Spanish families of New Mexico who wanted all Spanish Colonial Horses to be specially preserved and not adopted out, however, only, if necessary, to put them on a preserve with their families.
The NMLB’s own DNA result from UC Davies on the Placitas Wild Horses (that Nancy Henry of New Mexico for Equine Rights and Open Government, a Dixon Award Winner, obtained by inspection of public records) confirmed the special bloodlines of the Placitas Wild Horses. This DNA test was done on horses that had been illegally rounded up by a Placitan and taken for public auction by the NMLB. WHOA responded with court action and won in the NM Appellate Court. 86% of Placitans want the horses to remain, and this is the lowest poll result of 4 polls in 20 years. https://whoanm.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/South-West-Planning-Poll-Placitas-Horses.pdf
THIS IS ALTO/RUIDOSO OF LINCOLN COUNTY
There are similar stories in Alto/Ruidoso including a petition with 95,000 signatures in support of the Wild Horses there. These horses roam amongst thousands of Deer and Elk there. Together, these wildlife thrill visitors who keep coming back, spread the word, and create a tourism economy for New Mexico.
MY RESPONSE TO EMAIL
I will respectfully address the points made in the email below regarding the current Safety and Welfare of the wild horses in detail. Senators, Representative, please, let me know what I am not understanding or what I have missed in your next response.
SAFETY ISSUE FROM SENATOR PAT WOODS
Senator Pat Woods’ family is a $3 Million Big-AG FARM Bill Recipient and pays no property taxes on approx. 8200 acres in Curry County, NM where there is no wildlife corridor, and there are no wild horses bothering his crops for livestock. He has worked legislatively since 2017 to wipe out OUR NM Wild Horses. WHY? His expert witnesses have been the NMLB, Animal Protection Voters, and Mount Taylor Mustangs. (Don’t judge a book by its title, ever again!)
Under current law NMSA 77-18-5 wild horses are already protected from slaughter because they are wildlife, not livestock, and not estray, and therefore subject to the Animal Cruelty Laws of the state.
NO IMMINENT SAFETY ISSUES
There are no imminent Safety Issues for, or caused by, the Wild horses in Placitas, Alto, Ruidoso, or anywhere in NM that would preclude us from working together towards a Wild Equine Board and our proposed amendment of SB301/SB271 (See Attachment 2).
This Proposed Sandoval County Ordinance is an attempt to offset the recent WHOA win in court stating that the fence-out laws of New Mexico apply equally to Wild Horses as well as cattle and all other animals. Meaning, if one does not want wild horses on their property, they can fence them out. In fact, the Proposed Ordinance does NOT apply to ranchers and others who own more than 24 acres. If passed, this will be animal cruelty toward a protected animal, as well as unequal protection under the law, and retaliation.
This may well be a conspiracy or a “collaboration” between the federal BLM, NM State Legislature, and political subdivisions (Sandoval County, Land Grant, and Acequias) to retaliate against the fence out ruling of the courts and to commit a TAKING of our native NM Wild Horses under color of law.
Traffic Data state and local show relatively NO Wild Horse safety issue (outside staged hits). Is this why we not addressing road safety improvements?
New Mexico Animal Crash Statistics, 2016 – 2021. (Raw Data from Public Records Request) This shows Placitas had 8 animal accidents in 6 years: 3 Deer/1 Coyote/4 Wild Horses.Totaling 1.3 hits/yr., or about 0.13 hits/mile/yr. including Deer, Coyote, Horse. Nearby 550 has 10 hits/mile/year. See No. 3 below.
Pages 6-187 to 6-194 showing the GAME hits on Rt. 550 at 10 hits/mile/year. Santa Ana Pueblo waters ALL the wildlife and provides cameras for viewing Cougars, Bear, etc. Are you suggesting they stop sharing water with wildlife?
UNCONSTITUTIONAL SB301 and SB271
Senator McKenna has declared that the Placitas Wild Horses are “not wild,” which is contrary to the long-term DNA studies, contrary to the science of Domestication, contrary to the Wild Horse Experts who the courts relied upon, and contrary to the NM Attorney General Opine regarding the White Sands Wild Horses. We ask that she please provide her scientific basis, as Domestication is well understood for decades to be a genetic change, not simply habituation or taming.
Senator McKenna has written that the Placitas horses were dumped here in 2006 and 2007. We ask that she please provide her documentation. I have asked and am asking again that Horse Dumping be outlawed in New Mexico. It is only utilized by Kill Buyers and a Retaliatory Federal Government.
We offer again our Wild Equine Board proposed in 2019 and placed under the State Parks Department by our current respectfully proposed Amendment to SB301/SB271. This would provide an avenue to address any of your perceived or potential short comings of the current law NMSA 77-18-5.
They may have been gone for about 7000 years max, though certain First Peoples say they were never gone. In any case, they were self-domesticated long before any modern human or Neanderthal could have domesticated them. There is proof of self-domestication, and no genetic proof otherwise, only presumption.
They have never lost their natural wild family structure that is also still seen in two of three zebra species in Africa. (By the way, all equines evolved here in North America, including zebras.) Self-Domestication made horses less reactive and gave them their varied coloration prior to their migration back and forth over the
Federally-Wild-Horse Wipe-out
Thanks to the NMLB, NM went from almost 8000 federally protected wild horses and burros in the first census of 1974 to only 563 wild horses and zero (0) burros in 1978, just 4 short years later. At the same time, the NMLB wiped out the legally Wild Donkeys NM had in Lincoln County. The NMLB took them as estray livestock in rebellion against the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. The feds took the NMLB to court for breaking the law and won.
This case is detailed even in Wikipedia under Kleppe v New Mexico where the NMLB lost in the Supreme Court of the United States.
To this day you can hear Justice Thurgood Marshall delivering the verdict. No other western state flushed their wild horses out of existence once the law was passed, even though other states had more wild horses than NM.
Shameful lawless legacy of Wild Donkey wipe-out remains The NMLB lost but claimed the Donkeys had been in a corral too long during the court case to let them go (which was incorrect). Tragically, the Wild Donkeys were not released. The only Donkeys we have left in Billy the Kid’s famous Lincoln County of NM, are painted STATUES of Donkeys, literally all over Carrizozo; on roofs, in buildings, on side-walks, and in court yards.
THE HIDDEN AGENDA Motivating The “Wild Horse Crisis” Story Line
There have been no public meetings regarding the unconstitutional plan to wipe out our natural resource, our state’s native Wild Horses. There have been many false testimonies in committee and on the Senate floor.
The powers that be: BLM, Gov. Lujan Grisham, and Sandoval County would like to have the following projects on the 3000-acre BLM Lands called the Buffalo Tract. The BLM denied Placitans due process in their planning regarding the Wild Horses and the Highway, and perhaps the Energy Corridor.
Mr. Miles and I Met in person with in Santa Fe Round House per my request of Feb 11, 2023 https://whoanm.org/wordpress/?p=1201 . For our meeting of 2/14/2023 I provided a printout of the information below for discussion. This information clearly showed a governmental map of the Energy Corridor plans in NM (See Below).
Discussed: Energy Corridor; Mining; and the NE Corridor (LOOP ROAD) and attempted to have real dialogue regarding areas where we/WHOA could be negotiable.
Representative McQueen denied or side stepped the Energy Corridor was coming though Placitas though I communicated: 1).That clearly it could not go through high density Albuquerque. 2) It could not go over th Sandia as it was a protected Wilderness Area. 3) We/WHOA would not oppose it since it did not need to be so wide as it had been originally planned in 2008.
Representative McQueen was dismissive and and condescending and said it was being discussed to cross somewhere SOUTH of Albuquerque. (Recorded)
ON March 3rd, 2023 THE SANDOVAL SIGNPOST (Government Rag) ANNOUNCED THE ENERGY CORRIDOR just 2.5 weeks later.
WHEN will Sandoval County and our State and Fedral Representatives communicate to us in person rather than through their government media, after the fact?
2023 Legislative Session
Patience O’Dowd
SUMMARY
2/14/2023
I. ISSUES
CONSPIRACY of SPECIAL INTEREST GOVERNMENT to EXTIRPATE WILD HORSES:
The last x hundreds of iconic native wild horses of NM that remain from the mere approx. 10,000 that lived and roamed in NM in 1971 and many more prior to that. (HB33, SB271, SB301, HJR04, SJR06 & Sandoval Co. Draft Ord.)
This is not REPRESENTATION of the will of the people, nor balanced.
This is not being done openly.
This a taking.
This is against the public trust.
A few hundred Wild Horses is too few, versus 1.4 million cattle; 115,000 deer; 90,000 sheep; 70,000 Elk; 40,000 antelope; 4,000 non-native; 5 to 6,000 Oryx, non-native Barbary Sheep; 400 non-native IBEX.
This is unequal protection under the law.
This is against the animal cruelty laws of the state and others under color of law.
ROOT CAUSES for PLACITAS – Transparency Lacking & Required
ENERGY CORRIDOR
NE EAST COORIDOR – LOOP RD HWY – Connection of I25 to I40 – Development
CRIME, Destruction of Wildlife Corridor
GRAVEL MINING
WATER
POLITICS OF A LIVESTOCK STATE – Education Regarding Sustainability Needed
Votes, Farm Bill, Land Grants
PLACITAS HORSES ARE ENDANGERED SPANISH COLONIAL HORSES
ROOT CAUSES for the rest of New Mexico
LIVESTOCK Competition
HUNTING competition
PREDJUDICE AND FEAR of overpopulation, as Wild Horses are not managed as game animals/hunted.
EXTIRPATION OF NATIVE NON-RUMINANT – AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE and PRESERVATION OF BIO-DIVERSITY
WILD HORSES ARE A FAVORED NATIVE SPECIES IN USA, UNLESS ONE HAS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST
UNEQUAL PROTECTION OF AMERICANS WHO OVERWHEMINGLY WANT TO ENJOY OUR NATIVE WILD HORSES versus of the MEAT INDUSTRY WHICH ALREADY RECEIVES $86 BILLION/YR FROM THE FARM BILL.
II. WHOA ALTERNATIVES TO Wild Horse Extirpation
NM EQUINE BOARD – Bill HB445 2019, Memorial HM93 2019 NM & Placitas WILD HORSE STATE PARK – FOR PLACITAS/SPANISH C., SJM16 & SM26 2008 Placitas TRAIN CONNECTION EAST WEST — I25 to I40 Placitas WHOA NATIONAL PLAN & Population Modelling by POD NM/US ALLOW THE ENERGY CORRIDOR THROUGH PLACITAS NM & Placitas AMEND WILDLIFE CORRIDOR LAW- TO INCLUDE WILD HORSES NM/Placitas AGREE NM WILL KEEP WILD HORSES IN CERTAIN & EXISTING AREAS NM & Placitas
ENERGY CORRDOR – Necessary – Not Exclusive of Horses – Add (Horse Symbol)Fencing
Note: Sandia – Wilderness Area, Alb – Dense, San Felipe has I25 and Train, up to them.
NE CORRIDOR – Not Necessary or Update BLM RMP – Amend NM Wildlife Corridor Law
Even the Sign Post finally admitted to the LOOP Road HIGHWAY to Connect I25 to I40 through the Placitas BLM here on page 7 in May of 2019. Buried in the article. Where they misrepresent the Pueblos as well.
GRAVEL MINING No MAS! AIR Pollution Water Table Loss Watershed Destruction
Two cars stop respectfully, a third car refuses to stop, crosses double yellow line and swings out into oncoming traffic. Road Rageand law breaking, which our Sandoval County government encourages.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on WHOA’s proactive and respectful road safety suggestions to NMDOT in 2019 and to Sandoval County Manager NM in 2021. (However, neither interested. . . clearly rather risk people, rather than protect wild horses.)
NM Representative Matthew McQueen matthew.mcqueen@nmlegis.gov
Re: Request for Audience Date 2/11/2023
Good Afternnoon Representative McQueen,
I have provided a number of compromise bills, mediations, alternatives, etc. The state seems rabid to continue their 52-year grinder for NM’s wild horse wipe out.
I have sucessfully worked with ranchers using this plan: The WHOA National Plan. Would you please take a few minutes to read it? I could design another for Developers, etc. Along with this, I have also developed mathmatical modelling for the USDA FS and the BLM at no cost.
Undeniably, I and mine are the experts of the state, as proven in court, WHOA v. NMLB I and II, wherein NM called on their state’s experts Dr. Smallidge (NMSU), Dr. Washburn DVM (Veterinary Board Chair), and Dr. Zimmerman DVM (State Veterinarian) but fell short under the science and the law. Not once, but twice.
I have always managed to remain civil because I am a humanitarian. That is a choice I make. I neither set myself up to profit or to harm.
However, Representative McQueen, although I avoid “you” statements like the plague, you and Senator Brenda McKenna went straight after OUR wild horses the minute you were elected to “represent” us, the stupid masses who don’t know what is good for us in Placitas.
Wrong there Matthew, Placitans are a highly educated crew and many moved here BECAUSE of the wild horses.
So why discuss anything with me?
I am now your consitutent.
In all the years you have seen me at legislature, you have never seen me be anything but respectful.
I am representative of 86% of Placitans by independant poll. 90% PLUS by many other polls in the last twenty some years.
Instead, you act on behalf of the monority: 16% of Placitans (including about 100 or less of the SADLH Land Grant), MINING, DEVELOPEMENT/HWY.
The MINING has already taken our water and clean air for years. Those few Placitans that were intervenors in court against the horses and the people, were told NO — due to equal protection under the law, it’s a fence out state, these horses are native wildlife, etc., etc., etc.
We Placitans have been orderly, used the legislative process, and the courts openly and honestly. We have won in the Appellate Court twice. We have paid the court bills against a THUG state whose law enforcement agencies break the law and claim then they are IGNORANT of the law on their $90K/yr. salaries we tax payers pay.
Moreover, our special interest media HIDES the legislative protections and our hard-fought, citizen-paid-for Court Wins for the Wild Ones. The state of NM works like bees at legislature to KILL what the people want, and have fought and paid for, our NATIVE HORSE. Additionally, legislature intentionally left them OUT of the new wildlife corridor laws which tally only accidents for Game Animals and PRIVATELY OWNED CATTLE to determine where to put their corridors.
Wild Horses are not included just because 83% of the people of the US don’t want to shoot or slaughter and eat them. However, the people have compromised with dartable immuno-contraceptioves legislatively in NM for population management because the state has wiped out their native predators. Still, only meat can cross the street in NM. Importantly, and luckily there are very few collisions with wild horses in the state as they are almost non-existant.
Our government has clearly abused its power and continues to: 2023 proposed non-transparent legislation — HB33, HJR04, SJR06, SB301, SB271.
When the wild horses are in remote areas, the government allows them to be shot by the ranchers and hunters. “Shoot-shovel-shut-up” is the motto. If we have them in a community where they can be protected, where there is no Big Ag., then comes special interest government. This will not stand, Representative Mcqueen. It is not necessary, and it will not stand. Just sayin’.
What is the REAL issue? Please meet with your constituent Patience O’Dowd, in Good Faith, Mr. McQueen. If you cannot meet this civil servant and humanitarian in Good Faith, then please let me know and I’ll thank you for your honesty.
Thank you,
Patience O’Dowd – Chemical Engineer
Wildlife Protection of NM – WHOA Voters
Wild Horse Observers Association
PO Box 932
Placitas, NM 87043
whoanm.org
505-610-7644
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on REQUEST FOR NEGOTIATION
Pictures of our Legally Protected Wild Horses of Placitas family of Bay Mare Placitans call Coral at Center, hit for a cause. (Collage of pictures taken by Placitans who knew this mare and her family.)
AFFIDAVIT
I, Patience O’Dowd of Sandoval County NM, do swear under penalty of perjury that the following statements are true to the best of my understanding and recollection.
On 1/19/23, I arrived at the scene of an alleged accident or crash site near the library in Placitas on rt 165 at about 8:20 AM. Upon information and belief, I believe that the vehicle that hit the horse was a dually truck and that it was a hit and run. (Dually: Double tires in the back.)
The police report and pics appear to show that either they were mis-led or that they were complicit in a false report.
The following data is pictorial documentation.
A WILD HORSE WAS HIT ON RT 165 1/19/2023
This is the scene which I arrived to at 8:20M after receiving a call from Mr. Gary Miles AT 7:52 AM on 1/19/23.
Gary Miles stated to me that he had received a number of calls that morning. Two of which were from the County and he was asked to come and pick up a dead wild horse.
Gary did come and pick up the mare.
NMDOT public records state they picked up the mare. See Exhibits after signature from inspection of public records requests to NMDOT.
The wild horse, a mare, was allegedly hit at 12 or 12:30AM 1/19/23.
Blacked our Wild Mare out od respect.
I blacked out the wild horse out of respect.
THE VEHICLE THAT HIT THE HORSE PER THE TIRE MARKS WAS A DUALLY TRUCK.
THIS AREA HAS GREAT VISIBILITY AT NIGHT DUE TO BEING SLIGHTLY UPHILL WITH MUCH REFLECTIVE GUARDRAILS AND SIGNAGE (NEAR THE LIBRARY) AS BACK DROP AT NIGHT. SEE BELOW.
THE DUALLY WAS HEADING EAST. ITS LEFT SIDE TIRES HAD CROSSED THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE AND HIT THE HORSE.
THE TIRE MARKS ARE NINETYONE (91) FEET LONG BETWEEN THE HORSE’S BODY AND THE RADIATOR FLUID.
THIS GIVES AN INDICATION THAT SPEED WAS LIKELY INVOLVED.
SUPPLEMENTAL CALCULATION BY HAND CONFIRMS (SEE BOTTOM) SHOWS A SPEED OF 65mph in a 45mph. (More accurate than possible speed from online calculator.)
IT IS NOTABLE THAT THERE ARE NO SKID MARKS PRIOR TO HITTING THE HORSE.
The wild horse was just to the left off the road next to the blood marks shown here.
THIS IS WHAT THE TRACKS LOOKED LIKE AT NIGHT.
Dually skid mark night view
– AGAIN, GREAT VISIBILITY HERE
– THIS HORSE RUNS IN A EASILY VISIBLE AND COLORFUL HERD, THOUGH IT IS BROWN.
– THERE ARE BOTH WILDLIFE AND WILD HORSE CAUTION SIGNAGE ON RT165.
These horses are protcted wildlife, a natural resource of Placitas New Mexico, per 2007 legislation NMSA 77-18-5 (and therefore also the NM Animal Cruelty Law), passed by Senator Komadina with the Wild Horse Observers Association unanimous minus 1.
It is a crime to intentionally harm a protected wild horse, a NM state’s natural resource.
GARY MILES LOADED THE HORSE OFF THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AT ABOUT 8:30AM 1/19/23 SEEN HERE.
Radiator/fluids were tracked down the street by traffic. Not well cleaned up by NMDOT and Sandoval County though antifreeze is lethal for animals.
THE MARE HAD BEEN EUTHANIZED AS SHOWN BY THE AFFECTS AT THE SCENE.
THE POLICE ALSO STATE THAT IN THEIR REPORT THAT THEY EUTHANIZED THE MARE.
THE DUALLY LEFT THE SCENE WHICH IS ILLEGAL BUT MADE IT ONLY 1.6 MILES TO THE 35MPH SPEED LIMIT SIGN ENTERING THE VILLAGE OF PLACITAS BEFORE PULLING OFF THE ROAD IN A SPOT FOLKS DO NOT NORMALLY PULL OVER AND PARK.
THE DUALLY TRUCK PULLED OFF THE ROAD, ITS RIGHT REAR TIRES LOCKING UP AGAIN AS SEEN BY TIRE MARKS ABOVE.
POSSIBLY OVER HEATING DUE TO THE CRASH.
HERE THE DUALLY TRUCK WENT INTO THE MUD OFF THE ROAD
THE TRACKS SHOW UP WELL WITHOUT TREE SHADOWS AT NIGHT. THIS WAS THE BACK RIGHT TIRES ALSO AS CONFIRMED WITH THE LEFT REAR TIRES SHOWING UP IN THE DIRT BUT NOT LOCKING UP.
THE DUALLY CAME TO A STOP WITH BACK RIGHT TIRES STILL LOCKING UP IN THE SECOND MUD PATCH OFF THE ROAD.
THE EVIDENCE DOES NOT SUPPORT THE POLICE REPORT:
I. THE CAR APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN PRE-STAGED. IT MAY HAVE ACCIDENTALLY HIT AN UNGULATE ELSEWHERE (COW, ELK, ETC.) AND PLACED THERE AFTER THE DUALLY TRUCK PROVIDED A SAFER WAY TO HIT A HORSE FOR LEGISLATIVE PURPOSES. THIS IS HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE GIVEN THAT OTHER ACTUAL ACCIDENTS IN PLACITAS WITHOUT A HORSE INVOLVED HAVE BEEN UTILIZED BY THE LAND GRANT, AFTER THE FACT, TO BLAME THE WILD HORSES.):
THE PHOTO OF THE CAR IN THE POLICE REPORT WAS IN FACT NOT IN-LINE WITH ANY TIRE MARKS.
THE ONLY TIRE MARKS ARE FROM THE DUALLY TRUCK.
HOWEVER, THE POLICE REPORT STATES (Crash no. 710496477, Case no. 23000097):
“THE DAMAGE TO THE VEHICLE AND THE TIRE MARKINGS PRESENT ON THEGROUND WERE CONSISTENT WITH (Name Redacted) STORY OF THE INCIDENT.”
DUALLY MARKS NOT EVIDENT AT THE START BUT ARE CLEAR AT THE END AND ARE UNDERNEATH THE CAR.
THIS CAR A 2022, LIKELY HAS ABS BRAKES WHICH SUPPOSEDLY SHORTEN STOPPING DISTANCE.
SPEED WAS VERY LIKELY INVOLVED PER THE LENGTH OF THE TIRE MARKS VERSUS (NAME REDACTED) STATED SHE WAS DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY 50 MILES PER HOUR AND ATTEMPTED TO BREAK BEFORE STRIKING THEHORSE.
I ALSO DO NOT BELIEVE THE DRIVER OF THE DUALLY TRUCK HIT THE BRAKES BEFORE HITTING THE HORSE THERE IS NO SIGN OF THAT IN THE ROAD, CONSISTENT WITH IT BEING A PURPOSEFUL ACT.
THE PLACEMENT OR LOCATION, SIZE, AND REMOVAL OF THE DEBRIS, AND THE DEBRIS FROM THE CAR ITSELF, ALSO DO NOT MAKE SENSE, (OF WHICH I HAVE VIDEO AND PICTURES) THOUGH MUCH OF IT HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED.
I BELIEVE IT IS LIKELY INSTEAD THAT THE TRUCK SPED UP TO HIT THE HORSE, AND AFTER HITTING THE HORSE TRIED TO SLOW DOWN TO KEEP CONTROL OF THE TRUCK.
THE COUNTY DID CALL GARY MILES, BUT NOT UNTIL MORNING.
THE DRIVER OF THE CAR HAD NO INJURIES PER THE POLICE RPORT.
THE DRIVER OF THE CAR LIVES ON THE LAND GRANT, PER THE POLICE REPORT.
II.THE NMDOT REPORT TOOK CREDIT FOR PICKING UP THE HORSE, THOUGH GARY MILES PICKED HER UP AND TOOK HER TO THE LANDFILL AS HE USUALLY DOES. HE PICKS THEM UP NO MATTER WHAT TIME AND THIS IS WELL KNOWN AS HE IS USUALLY THE ONE THAT PUTS THEM DOWN WITH POLICE PERMISSION; AGAIN NO MATTER WHAT TIME, AND I HAVE BEEN A WITNESS. See the two NMDOT Exhibits after my signature.
I BELIEVE THAT A CERTAIN FEW OF THE SANDOVAL COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE AND THE NMDOT MAY BE A PARTY TO THIS, GIVEN THEIR COVER UP REGARDING INSPECTION OF PUBLIC RECORDS SINCE THE 7/27/2022 COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING AND VOTES. THE COVER UP IS REGARDING THE COUNTY COMMISSION VOTES ON 7/27/2022 AND INITIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE FUTURE HIGHWAY CONNECTING I25 TO RT 14 AND I40.
I ALSO BELIEVE SOME AT THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE MAY BE A PARTY DUE TO THE CLEAR FACT THAT SPEED WAS INVOLVED NO MATTER WHAT VEHICLE HIT THAT HORSE IN A 45MPH AREA TO HAVE A 91 FT MARK OR COME TO A STOP 91 FEET AWAY. ANY CRASH REPORT SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED THIS FACT.
BACKGROUND
III.THE LAND GRANT STANDS TO GAIN WHEN THE WILD HORSES ARE GONE FROM THE “Buffalo Tract” BLM LANDS OF PLACITAS. (Bureau of Land Management (BLM)). VERY QUESTIONABLE BUSINESS HERE INCLUDING OUR FEDERAL AND STATE REPS AND LEGISSLATURE.
IV. THERE HAS BEEN WELL DOCUMENTED FALSE TESTIMONY BY THE LAND GRANT TO THE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AT LEGISLATURE, REGARDING THE BLM LANDS AND BY STATE AND THE LAND GRANT REGARDING ALLEGED WILD HORSE ACCIDENTS.
V. THERE HAVE BEEN MULTIPLE WELL DOCUMENTED FALSE WRITTEN REPORTS (NMLB ANNUAL REPORT BY TH STATE VET) BY THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO TO BOTH THE GOVERNOR OF NM AND TO THE LEGISLATURE REGARDING WILD HORSE ACCIDENTS AND THE PLACITAS LAND GRANT. THIS IS A FORTH DEGREE FELONY.
VI. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME A HORSE WAS APPARENTLY INTENTIONALLY HIT (AT 70 TO 90MPH) AND THERE WAS FALSE TESTIMONY REGARDING THE MOTOR VEHICLE AND THE HORSE HIT IN THE ATTEMPT FOR INSURANCE PURPOSES. THAT PERSON WAS ALSO LIVING WITH LAND GRANT.
VII. THERE HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS FALSE STATEMENTS BY LEGISLATORS AND THE STATE AT LEGISLATURE REGARDING THE DNA TESTING OF THE PLACITAS WILD HORSES, AND THEY ARE AGAIN WORKING TO DELETE SECTION 21 OF OUR NM CONSTITUTION UNDER FALSE PRETENSES, AND FALSE ADVERTISING, SAME AS LAST SESSION AND WERE DEFEATED.
VIII. LEGISLATURE IS REPEATEDLY COMPLICIT IN ATTEMPTING TO REDEFINE WILD HORSES IN NM OUT OF EXISTENCE IN A FRAUDULENT AND CORRUPT MANNER.
THIS CRASH HAPPENED THE FIRST WEEK OF LEGISLATURE.
THE BUFFALO TRACT PROTECTION ACT VERSUS MINING ON THE PLACITAS BLM HAS NOT PASSED.
THE BLM AND THE STATE OF NM BOTH WANT GRAVEL MINING $$$ AND A HIGHWAY CONNECTING I25 AND I40 THROUGH THE PLACITAS BLM (NE CORRIDOR/LOOP RD).
THE HORSES BLOCK BOTH THE MINING AND THE HIGHWAY BECAUSE OF LACK OF DUE PROCESS BY THE BLM IN THEIR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE FOR THE “Buffalo Tract” BLM LANDS IN PLACITAS INITIATED IN 2008.
SANDOVAL COUNTY VOTED TO START WORK ON THIS HIGHWAY ON JULY 27TH 2022 AND DID START THIS CONSTRUCTION. THE NMDOT AND SANDOVAL COUNTY HAVE BOTH WORKED TO HIDE THIS FROM THE COMMUNITY OF PLACITAS.
See Exhibits below. Further documentation mentioned above is available upon request. There is more information but I have attempted to be a brief as possible.
written 1/27/2023, updated with links 1/28/2023NMDOT states here that they picked up the carcas and disposed of it and apparently charged tax payers three hours.
Patience O’Dowd 1/27/2023
After I asked the NMDOT to re-check their records, they then admitt that they did not dispose of the horse.
THIS IS ALSO WRITTEN FOR THE SANDOVAL COUNTY WATCHDOG NEWS.INC
SUPPLEMENTAL CALCULATION of Speed – uploaded 2/20/2023 => If this was a car, which I do not believe, then the car was going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit of 45mph. If it was the Dually truck, the speed was 9.6 miles per hour over the speed limit. (Note: Only the back rt was skidding so the other wheels had good traction.)
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on GOVERNMENTAL PROTECTED WILD HORSE SABOTAGE IN PLACITAS NM
Hiding his cruelty behind “Indian Washing” and Green Washing.
FEDERAL WILD HORSE AND BURRO ACT was passed BECAUSE the states could not be trusted to manage the Wild Horses and Burros as Wildlife due to their GREED-driven CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
The Alpine Horses are up for bid as horses for slaughter
No one can see them in advance of a Public Auction BID.
The 1971 Federal WH&B Act was passed BUT, now the FEDS are doing the same things the states were.
Each Presidential administration has had CONFLICTS OF INTEREST and has selected Secretaries of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture with CONFLICTS OF INTEREST to the Nation’s Native Wild Horse. We believe largely due to the FARM Bill Kickbacks since 1933.
They have, in turn, brutally and negligently mis-managed the wild horses and burros they were requiredto protect from Conflicts of INTERESTS.
Adding insult to INJURY, in the last decade two state’s Governors, of Utah (since 2017) and New Mexico (since 2013), have worked with the federal government to SCAPEGOAT FIRST PEOPLES, especially Navajos, for the eradication and slaughter of the nation’s native Wild Horses.
Why? Because no US politician wants it known that they are acting against the will of 80% of Americans. This way they can blame and proclaim that “First Peoples are Sovereign,” so, “it’s out of my hands!” but, “I Love Horses!”
Now comes Arizona’s second term Governor Ducey. He refuses to protect the Alpine horses unlike his protection of the Salt River horses. He too joins the blame game.
He has the fiduciary responsibility to protect as Az state’s wildlife (17-101,17-102 and more). Instead, he colluded with the feds to round them upillegally as trespass livestock.
But the Alpine Wild Horses DO NOT meet the Federal Definition’s criteria for “Livestock.” 29 CFR Section 780.328
These wild horses have been illegally rounded up and are at risk, or are being sent, to cruel and illegal shipment and slaughter through Mexico, right down route Az Rt191, to LIVE shipments around the globe (per United Nations data obtained by WHOA).
JUSTIFYING THE SLAUGHTER
Governor Ducey and the Forest Service are apparently hiding behind the stamp of approval from both the USDA FS Region 3 Veterinarian, who hails from the Laguna Pueblo and the Center for Biologic Diversity.
INDIAN WASHING
“A SAVAGE IS NOT ONE THAT LIVES IN THE FOREST, A SAVAGE IS THE ONE THAT DESTROYS IT” Unknown, quoted by Ron Toahani Jackson (Navajo)
However, sadly, Governor Ducey, USDA FS Region 3, and the Department of Interior, are hiding behind the faces of a few First Peoples, (notably women) attempting to scapegoat all Sovereigns for the massive round ups, eradication, and slaughter, of our nation’s native wild horses, including the Az state’s Alpine Wild Horses.
We are calling it “Indian-Washing,” it’s just like “Green-Washing!”
Meet Dr. Tolani Francisco DVM (Laguna Pueblo) wild horse and burro coordinator for the U.S.D.A. Forest Service Region 3.
She took this position so she could “properly represent the horses!”
However, during the UTAH Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting of 2018, https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/wildhorse_2018AdvBrdMtgSLC_roughcuttranscripts.pdf,
and in her current “coming out” video at: 2022 Alumni Fellow – Dr. Tolani Francisco, DVM 1990.,Dr. Francisco advocates for using “ALL THE TOOLS” (meaning lethal ones) for “managing” wild horses and burros and blames the “tribes”.
Dr. Francisco strongly implies that on this matter she is speaking for all the tribes, but she names no names!(See minutes 34 – 39.)
Ms. Francisco does not speak for the Navajo or any other Nation. She is a USDA FS veterinarian, and that is the entire extent of her authority.
Whatever the case, no one is stopping Sovereigns from wildlife management as they see fit on their Sovereign lands.
WHOA does not endorse grouping Sovereigns and throwing them all under the bus. Nor are we interested in wild horse laundering, or false-drought-engineered disaster events, such as Cameron of which WHOA has proof, and of which Dr. Francisco also refers to at the Advisory Board meeting, apparently for use as PR to push people toward slaughter, and ALL THE TOOLS.)
“We don’t have a lethal outlet for horses owned or unowned.”
“. . . we started working with New Mexico State University, Dr. Sam Smalage . . . we want to really engage the tribes in New Mexico and Arizona. . . .” There is too much here for this post but we will discuss it in another.
“We’re not able to implement all the tools in our
tool box. . . because we don’t have slaughter in
the United States any more.”
Indian Washing Alert!
Wait for it . . .
“Other tribes, I will be honest with you, are probably
doing things that people don’t want to talk about.”
From 2018 Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting Transcripts in Utah.
“…these are tough decisions
that have to be made.”
“I wanted to make sure these horses were
being properly represented.”
Dr Francisco also states she is also studying the laws and that advocates and their lawsuits make this job hard.
WHOA has notified Governor Ducey and the USDA FS in two open letters that these Alpine Horses don’t meet the federal definition of Livestock so their categorical exclusion impoundment is not legal. We’ll re-send personally and ensure Dr. Francisco gets the letter.
We are reasonably sure per our Veterinarian Dr. Lester Friedlander a former USDA Veterinarian that these horses are in a line up for unspeakable cruelty with nothing formal safeguarding them thanks to Governor Ducey.
GREEN Washing the Slaughter of the Alpine Wild Horses
THE USDA FS is also apparently GREEN-Washing sale/slaughter of the ALPINE WILD horses behind the Center for Biologic Diversity (CBD) claims of harm to an endangered mouse.
Scapegoating Alpine Wild Horses as harming an endangered mouse that already has exclosures (that they use for CATTLE) near the habitat streams.
Simple exclosures protect riparian areas and endangered mouse but allow cattle to the streams in various locations. It’s ONLY OK for CATTLE
These exclosures are ONLY OK for CATTLE who push through fences, or Elk and Deer that jump them? Unlike horses?
“Below are images of just some of the water gaps/lanes near exclosures on the Lincoln and Santa Fe National Forests where livestock have full access to water. Livestock have been utilizing these gaps extensively with no apparent difficulties.”
ALPINE Az Wild Horse illegally rounded up for slaughter as livestock, courtesy of Governor Ducey.
Dr. Francisco DVM does not speak for the Navajo Nation; they have a Tribal Council.
According to section 5 under natural law of the fundamental laws passed by the Navajo Tribal Council:
All Life Forms have rights
Per Ron Toahani Jackson (Navajo) 10/2/2022
The Nohooka Dine’ (Navajo Elders and Medicine People) Oppose the Navajo Roundups and horse slaughter. The Nohooka’ Dine’ Resolution states:
“The Horse is our medicine and has helped us survive many hardships, they must be given respect and honored for their sacred place within the Creation, as they possess the same fundamental right to Life as we, Five Fingered Ones do, “states the Resolution of the Nahooka Dine’, traditional Navajo medicine people opposing the slaughter of the horse.
The Resolution states, “the capture, imprisonment and proposed execution of these horses represents a forced assimilation and destruction of our spiritual and cultural way of life.”
“We recognize that the capture, imprisonment and proposed execution of these horses is the same destructive cycle of actions that Our Ancestors endured, equal in destructive impact to our cultural way of life as the slaughter of the bison.”
Nahooka Dine’ state, “The Navajo Nation of our fundamental belief and understanding of K’é. The Navajo Nation’s proposed mass execution of horses erodes this basic fundamental belief and understanding that (Peaceably) Unites Us to One Another and to All Creation.”
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires both the Navajo Nation and United States governments to consult with Indigenous Peoples who are guaranteed the right to free, prior and informed consent.
The Navajo Nation government’s support and involvement in horse slaughter has been described as cruel, barbaric and reckless. The practice of capturing, removing and killing horses and burros from their native lands is considered by many – a continuance of the unspeakable assimilation of children into so-called “boarding schools” when Navajo children’s hair was cut and they were forbidden to speak their Dine’ language. Those opposed to the roundups and the killing have expressed grave concern for the impact these violent activities have on Navajo children, as they promote behaviors that lead to hate, domestic violence and drug abuse. It is the view of many people that the Navajo tribal government destruction of horses is a repeat of the gruesome mass killing of wild buffalo in North America as conducted by the U.S. government and commercial hunters that resulted in the near extinction of the American bison.
“We see this mass execution of our relatives, the horses, as the rotten fruit of a bad seed that was planted in the minds of our children in the earlier days,” states the Resolution.
“Our children must be taught to value life, otherwise they will treat their own lives recklessly and be drawn toward substance abuse, domestic violence, suicide and other behaviors that are not in accordance with Our Way of Life.”
Special Thank you to Pia Gallegos Repeat Super Attorney of NM and Jordan Beckett Attorney of Oregon
Special Thank you to NM State Senator Steve Komadina MD and Governor Richardson
The Appellate Court Decision
“CONCLUSION We hold that wild horses whose habitat includes public lands do not lose their wild status when captured on private lands. We, therefore, affirm the district court’s order to the extent that it correctly determined that the subject horses are wild horses, and may not be treated as estray…”
Hence, no to public auction and slaughter!
Posted inUncategorized|TaggedWild Horse Observers Association|Comments Off on PRESS RELEASE: The Wild Horse Observers Association (WHOA) WINS Again v. STATE OF NEW MEXICO in the NM APPELLATE COURT. NM State’s WILD HORSES Firmly Established in 2007 by WHOA and continuosly LEGALLY PROTECTED in the courts and at legislature!
I Dr. Lester Castro Friedlander, DVM., of Bradford County Pennsylvania do swear under penalty of perjury that the following statements are true to the best of my knowledge:
I am the president of Citizens Against Equine Slaughter (CAES) a national 501c3 non-profit based in Oregon.
The purpose of CAES is as follows: MISSION STATEMENT
Stop the practice of equine slaughter and protect equines from cruel and harmful practices;
Monitor the government’s land use and resource management activities, as well as the impacts of agency decisions on equines;
Inform and educate the public about the decisions and activities of government agencies affecting equines; Work with the government, the public, and all interested parties to promote sound policies and laws that protect equines.
This is prominently displayed at our website at citizensagainstequineslaughter.org
I was a veterinarian for the New York State Racing and Wagering Board in the racehorse industry for 2.5 years as well as for the USDA for 10.5 years after that. And as such I am concerned about the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) diagnosis and euthanasia of horses as having pre-existing conditions that are both questionable and unlikely, as well as inadequately diagnosed in the absence of standard diagnostic tools.
BLM reports and documentation of injury and death after and during helicopter roundups shows extreme animal cruelty as well as is inconsistent. BLM does separate web pages for each gather. Each of these pages have links to click for the Daily Gather Reports. The daily gather reports include information on how many animals are gathered, shipped, injured, and.or dead. Some webpages have a second link or tab for veterinary reports significant to that gather, while yet other pages have no tab for veterinary reports. Even pages that report deaths often have a tab for these veterinary reports, but when you click on them no reports are available.
Another recent helicopter round up was done at Warm Springs Oregon with multiple deaths also lacking information. Concurrently, CAES submitted a FOIA request for the veterinary reports on these recent deaths. Because the FOIA process takes a good length of time we do not have those reports back so I can only give my professional opinion of extreme animal cruelty based on the information provided by BLM this far.
BLM Helicopter Roundups: Extreme Animal Cruelty and Transparency Issues.
Consistency and Transparency
Example 1. & 2. Shows a tab to click for the Daily Gather Reports, as well as a Tab for Veterinary Reports. Even though there are deaths reported there are no veterinary reports provided.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3 Shows the same District Office, but a different HMA wild horse gather, with a tab for Daily Gather Reports, but no tab for Veterinary Reports, even though at the time of this affidavit that ongoing gather is at a 3.8% death rate.
Example 4 Shows, from a different district office, a tab to click for the Daily Gather Reports, Facility Reports (which outline the condition of the horse upon and immediately after arrival of the horses from the gather to the holding facility), and it shows the tab for Veterinary Reports, and in this example there are 4 of them with necropsy reports.
In these 4 examples I believe it is important to note that one district office does not provide veterinary reports at all, while another provides all reports, including facility reports. So our concerns about the transparency surrounding the deaths is further supported by this inconsistent reporting.
Extreme Animal Cruelty
There are a very large proportion of what BLM calls “pre-existing conditions” mentioned in these gather reports as determined AFTER the round ups. I question many of these determinations based on the lack of medical testing to determine the injury, or the age of the injury. Without those tests BLM cannot make a determination that an injury, such as bone fracture was pre-existing, unless that horse was documented as lame before the helicopter gather began, in which case stampeding it with a helicopter over long distances and varied terrains for extended periods would be extreme, painful, animal torture and cruelty and which would only make a condition worse.
In a video “North America’s Wild Horses” BLM contractors, who perform this and many gathers, Cattoor Livestock Roundup Company used a helicopter pilot named Jim Hicks who talks about some of the difficulties he encountered during a gather such as maneuvering to get horses to come out of the trees, and the statement that concerns me most because it is still an issue 12 years after this documentary came out, is the helicopter getting very close to the horses and as this documentary said “Jim has had to get close to the ground, pushing the stallions with the helicopter skids…” The narrator explains that Hicks feels stallions are the most difficult to drive into the traps and said “They are not as easily frightened by the helicopter (as mares or foals).
Pushing the animals with the skids, if taken literally is not allowed per law, and in this Muddy Creek gather the pilot flew so low that the pilot is seen less than 100 feet from a human, a clear FAA violation
Other conditions listed as pre-existing or chronic are simply medically impossible, some of those conditions include vaginal/rectal prolapse, colic and cervical injury resulting in loss of hind limb control. These are emergency situations where a horse would not survive for days, let alone months to be labelled a pre-existing condition. One must ask what BLM deems the length of time a horse must have had an illness or condition for it to be considered chronic/pre-existing. And if they can prove they were pre-existing again why were they inhumanely stampeded long distance over 5 – 10 minutes, with a helicopter?
I go into some of these in greater detail below. In my professional opinion, BLM is causing many of these injuries during the stampede, trapping, and transporting and again, if not, they should not be included in a stampede round up by helicopter over differing terrain and long distances. In the 2002 documentary BLM Wild Horse & Burro Specialist Bob Brown acknowledged that the gather put stallions together that have long been competing with each other. He stated: “Some of these stallions, they absolutely hate each other and uhm, I’ve seen them where they fight coming into the wings at the end of the trap, fighting going onto the trailer. They fight in the trailer and when we turn them into the stallion pen and they fight there until they ship. They fight on the truck when we ship them to Palomino Valley.” Dr. Lennart Curt Østblom, DVM comments he’s seen that behavior too and says they are mean. Bob Brown then says “They are. They can kill a mare, they can kill a foal really easily.”
This supports my claims that BLM is knowingly breaking the animal cruelty laws both state and federally. Animal fighting and promoting it are so serious that the FBI tracks these types of individuals.
Pre-existing Conditions Listed on BLM Daily Gather Reports Resulting in Euthanasia of Wild Equines That Are Medically and Scientifically Questionable
BILATERAL RUPTURED SES(A)MOIDS Listed on the Warm Springs Wild Horse Gather, Daily Report dated 10/16/201
The first incidence is one I have only seen BLM use one time and that is “bilateral ruptured ses(a)moids”.
Sesamoid ruptures/fractures are an injury common in the race industry. The distal sesamoidean ligaments, suspensory ligament and sesamoid bones make up the suspensory apparatus and hold the fetlock in correct position. Injury of any of these leads to a failure of support of the fetlock joint (one of the common catastrophic injuries in the racehorse).
It is an injury caused by exposing the animal to high speeds that are unnatural to the ligamentory and skeletal load an equine is able to handle without such damage to the suspensory system.
The New York Sun explained that because “thoroughbreds are bred for flashy speed and to look good in the sales ring … the animal itself has become more fragile” This statement is in stark contrast to the well known hardiness and physical strength and stamina of a wild mustangs.
According to a study done on 269 deceased Thoroughbred racehorses (Ref. 1) results showed that sesamoid bone fractures occur more often in horses that were sexually intact males, spent more time in active training and racing, completed more events, train and race longer and have higher exercise intensities.
From BLM Warm Springs Daily Gather Report (below) you can see that this was a mare, which in a wild horse also makes it less likely for natural activity of the magnitude typical for these fractures to have occurred, unless they occurred during the stampede by helicopter.
”10/16/18: A 7 year old sorrel mare (BCS 3) captured 10/15/18 was humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070 due to pre-existing bilateral ruptured sesamoids in her hind legs, which caused severe lameness.” -BLM Warm Springs Wild Horse Gather, Daily Reports
The other note on this statement of BLM is that this was a mare with a Henneke Body Condition Score (BCS) of 3 which is below average, meaning the horse was below average weight. On the occasion that a horse that is not a racehorse suffers ligament or bone issues of the sesamoid structures it is likely to be a horse that is overweight, thus putting additional weight on the suspensory system and exacerbating the injury itself. If the horse was thin due to the injury itself and BLM claims they could visually diagnosis sesamoid rupture of the ligament then the horse would have showed lameness and it was intentional cruelty and extreme animal abuse to stampede her with a helicopter.
These injuries can be tricky to spot. Even with severe injury, the signs can be confusing. Bruising, infections and injuries to tendons can produce similar heat and swelling. A veterinarian cannot diagnosis this with a visual observation. It involves a hands-on exam, flexion tests and local nerve blocks. An ultrasound or MRI scan can help pin down the location and reveal the extent of damage to the ligament, and X-rays will show if bone is involved.
The sesamoid bones are maintained in position by the branches of the suspensory ligament proximally and by a number of sesamoidean ligaments distally. Because of the great stress placed on the fetlock during fast exercise, the abaxial portion of the proximal sesamoid bones is susceptible to stress-related injury. Sesamoiditis is a clinically distinctive condition; however, it is poorly characterized pathologically.
The clinical signs are similar to, but less severe than, those resulting from sesamoid fracture. Depending on the extent of the damage, there are varying degrees of lameness and swelling. Pain and heat are evident on palpation and flexion of the fetlock joint. Radiographic evidence of sesamoiditis involves periarticular osteophytes, entheseophytes, focal osteolysis, and enlarged vascular channels (or linear defects in the abaxial margin of the proximal sesamoid bones). Grading scales for sesamoiditis exist and particularly note the vascular channels on radiographs. Severity of sesamoiditis on radiographs has been linked to a decrease in racing performance in one study. In another study, when radiographic signs of significant sesamoiditis were present, horses had a 5 times greater risk of developing clinical signs of suspensory ligament branch injury with onset of training.
Sesamoid fractures occur (Fig 9) in the area of attachment of the suspensory ligament. Horses will present with lameness and synovial effusion. There is commonly thickening over the branch of the suspensory that attaches to the sesamoid fracture. The diagnosis is confirmed by radiography.
During early training of racehorses skeletal changes are seen. Previous studies (Reference 2) found a decrease in the mineral content of the third metacarpal bone during the first months after a young horse enters race training. As the intensity of training increased, in activity and speed required of the animals studied there were marked increases in bone mineral content as well as increased calcium, phosphorus and osteocalcin levels in the blood. “To explore the skeletal adaptations involved in early race training, bone density and morphometry were tracked in 15 Thoroughbred yearlings as they began training at a facility… During training, dorsopalmar radiographs of the third metacarpal bone were taken on a monthly basis and an aluminum step wedge was exposed simultaneously as a reference standard. Plasma concentrations of calcium, phosphorus, and osteocalcin were also measured monthly.”
These injuries would be highly unlikely to occur in wild horses unless the horse has been repeatedly stampeded at high speeds, and as shown above the diagnosis cannot be made by simply observing the horse. The diagnosis must be made with a minimum of radiographs. Other methods of diagnosis are more accurate because a sesamoid fracture is often difficult to see on a radiograph..Standing MRI scans can be used to detect a sesamoid fracture soon after it occurs.
Fractures of the proximal sesamoid bones involve the apex, body or basilar portions of the bone. A radiograph in addition to showing the location of the fracture (which determines the treatment to be employed), provides additional information of value to the clinician. The extent of fragmentation and separation is an indication of the severity of soft tissue injury which may have a significant influence on prognosis. In addition to the presence or absence of new bone the appearance of the margins of the fracture is of value in estimating the interval which has elapsed since the fracture occurred. Which would determine whether the injury was in fact pre-existing or a fracturing caused by the recently completed helicopter stampede.
Radiographs taken soon after the trauma illustrate sharp edges of the fracture line with bone of uniform density on either side. In contrast a fracture 14 days old appears wider and its margins less easily identified (Figs 2a and b).
It has not been the standard procedure of BLM to have radiographs done, and never to my knowledge a standing MRI, on a horse exhibiting any level of lameness, therefore, I question the statement made on the BLM daily gather (death) report of a bilateral rupture of the sesamoids. And it is my opinion that absent the minimal diagnostic radiographs there is no possible authenticity to a claim that determines this as a pre-existing injury, if in fact there is a bilateral ruptured sesamoid injury. Therefore again, if this was pre-existing, this horse should not have been in a helicopter round up.
II. ANGULAR LIMB DEFORMITIES (ALD)
From one gather alone, the Warm Springs Herd Management Area (HMA) in Oregon, on one day alone (Friday, October 5, 2018) the BLM listed 11 horses as euthanized due to ALD. (Per Daily Gather Report)
The following animals were humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070 due to angular limb deformities (ALD) in one or multiple limbs and feet. Because these angular limb deformities appear to have a genetic component and because the severity of these deformities were causing severe lameness, these animals were not suited to return to the range or placement in off-range holding or adoption. These conditions were indicated by club feet, severely overgrown hoof walls, collapsed heals, limb deformity, arthritic joints, toes pointed out at the fetlock, and lameness: A 3 year old pinto mare (BCS 3): Bi-lateral ALD A 3 year old appaloosa mare (BCS 3): Severe club foot, left front A 5 year old appaloosa stud (BCS 5): Bi-lateral ALD A 7 year old bay stud (BCS 4): Bi-lateral ALD A 2 year old bay stud (BCS 3): Bi-lateral ALD A 5 year old appaloosa stud (BCS 5): Bi-lateral ALD A 3 year old sorrel mare (BCS 3): Left front ALD and severe knee arthritis A 7 year old bay mare (BCS 5): Severe club foot, right front A 2 year old palomino mare (BCS 3): Bi-lateral ALD A 3 year old dun stud (BCS 3.5): Left front ALD An 11 year old pinto stud (BCS 4): Bi-lateral ALD
BLM states ALD is indicative of “genetics” There needs to be a complete genetic analysis done, and every horse chosen for removal should be chosen because of the genetics they would not want to continue in the herd. If this level of congenital anomaly is being seen then one must question the overall genetic health of the herd. Are they inbreeding, is this why there is this extremely high incidence of what BLM considers a “genetic component”?
ALD is common in foals for domestic horses, however there are no studies on the survivability or pain levels of an adult with ALD because it is corrected when the foal is young and abled to be molded. I question the statement that a horse with clubfoot, overgrown hoof walls, and many other foot issues,is not a good candidate for an adoption program (per BLM above statement). These are all conditions that can be, and regularly are, treated in domestic horses often with the aid of a good farrier.
Performance Equine Veterinary Services stated the importance an exam for a proper diagnosis. “There are genetic reasons for the development of this condition of the digit joints (clubfeet) (photo below). Other factors involved are diet and exercise. Clubfoot also can be associated to pain in other region of the limb therefore is very important a complete lameness exam in order to discard a lesion elsewhere in the limb. Clinical signs of a clubfoot are a prominent bulge at the coronary band, increase in length of the heel relative to the toe, and failure of the heel to touch the ground after trimming. As the hoof growths it develops a boxy shape and a dish shape at the level of the toe.”
BLM has not done the proper tests to determine the cause of these ALD type issues to know if they are genetic or congenital. They are merely guessing. A guess is not good enough when they are the agency tasked with the health of the not only the individual horse, but also the herd as a whole, self-sustaining and thriving unit. If there are genetic problems at this level of occurrence then BLM needs to be addressing that issue, and not planning to go willy nilly into removing them to satisfy AMLs that have been proven to be arbitrary. (national Academy of Sciences, A Way Forward)
These 11 deaths and 2 additional listed as ALD, 2 additional listed as clubfoot (not ALD), 1 bilateral stifle injury (knee), and 3 additional limb fractures (from one gather) prove not only that the herd health is insignificant to BLM, but it also proves that there is NO mechanism in place to observe the herd for these lameness issues before the gather happens and as such these horses that are so lame that BLM claims the need to euthanize them, are brutally and cruelly chased at stampede speeds with a helicopter. Then after that torture they are simply shot. This is not management, it is government sanctioned, illegal and sadistic torture of animals.
III. CERVICAL/SPINAL INJURY
Is there any clinical examination of spinal cord function to make this determination? I do not believe it would be possible with wild horses as most of the tests (listed below) routinely done to diagnose spinal injury are done with hands on testing
General Examination of the Neck, Trunk, and Limbs
Slap Test
Cervicofacial Reflex
Cutaneous Trunci Reflex (“Panniculus”)
Back Reflexes
Tests for Limb Strength – hopping test, tail-pull test,
Wild and excited, anxious horses cannot be accurately examined, and even weak horses may test as normal if not relaxed, this is a problem for domestic horse diagnostics which would make it even more difficult to accurately perform testing of wild animals.
Additional to these initial hands on tests there of course are radiographs and myelography that would show these injuries, but as I mentioned above those are not tests used to determine issues of lameness, injury etc of wild horses. Absent these tests BLM is again guessing at the diagnosis, and therefore could be euthanizing a horse that could be treated with steroids or anti-inflammatory medications that would correct the what is an appearance of paralysis or lack of control caused by a cervical injury..
Again I must reiterate my feelings of how utterly irresponsible, illegal and inhumane it is to have chased one such horse with “loss of control of rear legs” with a helicopter. This loss of control of the limbs again would be something that is easily observed. The horse should have been noted before gather operations began, and should not have been cruelly chased down with a helicopter. If pre-gather observation does not happen then this is normal behavior of the BLM, and it is willful, and knowingly committing extreme animal abuse and cruelty. Obviously the BLM has the capability for observation of horses pre-gather because the same gather on the same day, BLM posts daily:
10/4/18: A 5 year roan stud (BCS 4) was humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070 due to a pre-existing cervical spinal injury that had resulted in severe lameness and lack of control of rear legs.
10/4/18: A 4 year old black stud was humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070 in the field due to a pre-existing cervical spinal injury that had resulted in severe lameness and lack of control of all legs. This stud had been observed the previous 2 days showing complete loss of body control.
One horse, the first listed was apparently gathered after being chased with loss of control of rear limbs, while the other was euthanized in the field. However, BLM doesn’t necessarily say that the field doesn’t mean at the trap site, but because “at the trap site” is terminology they use elsewhere in these gather/death reports I feel it is fair to infer that this second horse was euthanized before being gathered into the trap site.
IV. VAGINAL/RECTAL PROLAPSE
Vaginal or rectal prolapse is a dire emergency situation. It can not be called a pre-existing condition.
Uterine or rectal prolapse is not common in equines, however if happens within days, if not immediately after foaling. This diagnosis is a huge red flag that either this mare delivered her foal, or aborted it while being chased by helicopter. Recent gather’s have been video recorded of a mare being chased as she was delivering a fetus, it is unknown if she aborted or delivered a full term fetus, or if that fetus was ever located. Was this foal located? If, as BLM claims it was a tear from foaling then where is the foal that cannot be more than days old, if not just hours old when this report was made. Again…helicopter gathered are not safe and result in incidents like this where a mare that either aborted, or needed immediate medical attention if she was to care for her foal was simply ignored. A rectal or uterine (vaginal) prolapse is visible, it is an organ hanging out of the mare, and no helicopter pilot should EVER be chasing an animal such as this.
This is the post from BLM Warm Springs Daily Gather Reports on this mare:
10/4/18: A 16 year old palomino mare (BCS 2.5) was humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070 due to a pre-existing vaginal/rectal tear from foaling, resulting in a chronic partial rectal prolapse with a poor prognosis for recovery.
V. SWAYBACK
Again looking at the Warm Springs gather BLM posted this on the Daily Gather/Death Reports:
“10/8/18: A 3 year old blue roan mare (BCS 4) was humanely euthanized in accordance with IM 2015-070 due to a severe sway back condition.”
Swayback or lordosis is weakening of a horse’s supporting ligaments along the spine. Causes of lordosis include genetics, pregnancy, age, conformation, excessive strain on the back and lack of exercise.
In this case where the horse is very young, and is not domestic, therefore not subject to excessive strain of being ridden, or not subject to a lack of exercise, the cause would likely be genetic.
According to E. Bailey, of the Department of Veterinary Science, MH Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky “congenital lordosis has been reported to be associated with incomplete development of the upper thoracic vertebrae in the area of T5-T10. This causes overextension of the vertebral joints in the area and leads to this conformational problem.”
Radiographs of the area could confirm the diagnosis and would help determine that this was in fact a genetic issue. Again what is going on with the genetic health of this herd is a big question with all of the listed conditions that are more commonly congenital than not.
I do not disagree that this condition is pre-existing, but I do disagree with the necessity of euthanasia due to the condition. While horses with lordosis are more prone to back pain, many domestic horses are able to be ridden, and some even compete. I have seen some horses being ridden into their 20s with significant lordosis and without pain.
VI. COLIC
Colic is not a pre-existing medical condition it is an urgent, immediate, call the veterinarian condition, according to the Dick Vet Equine Practice Fact Sheet: Colic, the instructions listed if you believe your horse has colic are “Call your vet immediately – colic is a true veterinary emergency and time is of the essence.” And having been around horses for all these years I could not agree more with that statement.
Given the extreme urgency associated with colic in a horse, it stands to reason that the colic is a clinical sign of another issue that needed to be investigated. But it could not have been pre-existing because the horse would have been dead before it got to the holding facilities to be euthanized.
“Colic in horses is defined as abdominal pain, but it is a clinical sign rather than a diagnosis. … The most common forms of colic are gastrointestinal in nature and are most often related to colonic disturbance. There are a variety of different causes of colic, some of which can prove fatal without surgical intervention.” – Horse colic – Wikipedia
The biggest cause of colic is is a sudden abundance of fresh grasses, or inappropriate types of hay, things a wild horse may not be accustomed to that cause a sudden change for the digestive system. I believe if colic was present it was due to human error at the holding facilities or in the trap site.
VII. BLINDNESS
The Warm Springs gather reports only list one horse euthanized for being blind, which is low compared to other gathers. The horse listed in this instance was a 14 year old. The horse is also listed with a BCS of 3 which is within an acceptable range for a wild horse, who is 14 and has a disability. However, he was surviving and managing out there, and there is no need to kill him just for being blind. This happens very commonly. I do not believe that BLM should be selecting what horses survive as part of a management plan. Blindness is not painful, it is not contagious, and old horses who are blind but healthy possess much knowledge the herd depends on.
Selecting horses that are allowed to live out their lives on the range based on their ability or possible desirability (which is the case with the Kiger mustangs in 2 Herd Management Areas in Oregon) to collector/breeders is not management of wildlife. It is interfering with wildlife in an unnatural way.
Other Pre existing Conditions that are questionable but that I am not going to go into in such depth as I have above are 3 horses listed as having a pre-existing condition of a broken back, (different from those previously discussed as they are not listed as cervical which was discussed above), water deprivation or toxicity, emaciation, heavy parasite load, lip tumor, pneumonia, and several that do not even list the pre-existing condition.
The statistics on euthanasia of gathered horses in gather reports I analysed from 2015 to present show that most horses euthanized are a result of previous injuries which may have subsequently resulted in ALD and lameness, or ALD that is believed to be congenital resulting in lameness. Without proper use of diagnostic tools there is no way for BLM to determine if these were in fact pre-existing in many cases.
Inspection of the daily gather reports from BLM’s wild horse gather pages daily reports (See Reference 52) which were still online, from 2015 to 2018 we found the following results:
ConditionNumber Euthanized ALD, Lameness or Old injury 92
(included clubfoot) (29)
Unlisted Pre-existing Condition 28 Blindness 25
Age Related (Tooth, Arthritis, Low BCS etc.) 19
Body Condition Score (BCS)
Non Age Related low BCS 13
Illnesses (Colic, Pneumonia, lip tumor) 7
Water Deprivation or Toxicity 3
The Horses that BLM admitted were euthanized due to the gather from injuries (mostly broken necks) were 37. And 3 foals that were orphaned.
A horse so frantic that it runs into panels and breaks its neck is a terrified horse. This is unacceptable and it cannot be categorized as management, but rather planned, intentional murder.
Helicopter gathers have proven to have much higher death rates than BLM has stated to the public, many times in many places, for example Rob Sharpe, the Wild Horse and Burro Specialist for Burns District Office BLM in Oregon, stated that the death rate from helicopter gathers was less than 1%. As of October 26, 2018 (the gather has not yet been listed as completed) the gather of the Warm Springs herd, of which he is overseeing has a death toll of 3.8% or nearly 4 times what he told the public.
Summary
In summary helicopter roundups are extreme animal cruelty, running wild horses in a stampede with previous injuries and also causing serious injuries during and after this unnatural ordeal.
These issues are specifically hidden by the BLM (Red Rock Utah Gathers) in an arbitrary and capricious manner. The BLM is only as transparent as they choose on a case by case basis.
Moreover, Helicopter round-ups are fraudulent. The BLM is hiding the facts that:
1. Wild horses do not need to be rounded up first,
2. Wild horses do not need to be transported to holding for darting
3. Wild horses do not need to be branded for darting
4. Wild horses do not need to be transported back for release.
This is because with PZP (Zona stat H) as registered by the EPA as a non-experimental vaccine, no further data is required per the registration.
Therefore:
Wild horses can be darted without being branded, on the range, with no holding, no handling by helicopter (over 100 meters high), by lure trap, or on foot.
Hence, the BLM falsely inflates the cost of PZP darting by including the cost of round ups, transport, feeding, holding, branding, foot trimming etc However they are not transparent and instead they SAY that it is not practical because the contraceptive has to be darted yearly or every two years. Evenso, this is feasible y comparison. (See Attachment I)
BLM is choosing to hide that these horses could be feasibly darted on the range by helicopter, or by lure trap. This is again on a case by case basis in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Here at Muddy Creek, there is no valid cost analysis. showing that simple on range darting by helicopter in this wide open HMA could keep the population below the higher AML while BLM’s extreme bias against these sentient beings that is at issue as shown unnecessary they are unnecessary, they are fraudulent based on fraudulent cost analysis versus using PZP without round ups, handling, and holding, and can be darted on the range and since 2012 when the EPA registered Zona Stat H (PZP) for use on wild horses as a contraceptive versus
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