The public is discouraged or not allowed to be out on the HMA during the round ups and are guarded by law enforcement agents.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nThese\npoints are simple fact. There is no significant, or across the board categorization\nand sorting of wild horses prior to a helicopter round up. Wild Mares can and\ndo give birth year-round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given\nthe above first 7 points alone, Helicopter roundups are by definition, and in\npractice, inhumane, harassing and extreme animal cruelty as they generally\nutilize stampede under terror of wild horses and their families over rough\nterrain for miles. They can and do cause deaths during and after round ups.\nMany of these deaths are not documented or discovered, and many are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nare no cameras, no transparency, and no post roundup discovery over or near the\nroute taken to look for injured or dead horses or their young and aborted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only\nthe Secretary of the Interior can authorize a round up by helicopter as\nclearly, this is a very dangerous situation for the wild horses. However, there\nis no legal right to condone extreme animal cruelty, harassment and death as\nwild horses are not livestock and Congress has not allowed treatment as\nlivestock or even less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the availability of feasible and scientifically recommended alternatives per the NAS Report (contraception) which can be utilized proactively, there is little excuse for the unfeasible and highly probable unbridled harassment and death against the intent of the 1971 Act and the will of the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a preponderance of evidence of use of motorized vehicles and closed gates, water removals, spikes, cover-ups etc. which tend to show that the remaining wild horses at the Price HMA at Muddy Creek are in imminent danger of death by imposed lack of water and by irresponsible and illegal management actions, as shown in our memberships affidavits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wild\nhorses are flight animals but that means only that they spook easily, it means\nin fact that they are not comfortable with aircraft swooping down on them and\nterrorizing them for long periods over long distances over various terrains at\nspeed essentially on a crowded and dangerous unimproved highway situation with\nyoung and old etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nmyself have taken the class on darting wild horses (and other mammals) with\nnative Porcine Zona Pelucida (PZP) (now registered as Zona Stat H, by the EPA),\nat the Science and Conservation Center in Billings Montana from the late Dr.\nJay Kirkpatrick himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wild\nhorses are easily herded or lure trapped for darting one family at a time<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and\nthey can be darted without trapping up to 50 meters away. The usual\nexcuse given for not utilizing native PZP is basically, how can we cover all\nthe remote areas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Importantly,\nwildlife is very often darted from helicopter for a variety of reasons.\n This is often done by a veterinarian or a biologist etc. This is done\nthroughout the United States as well as across the continent of Africa for\ndecades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have also\nbeen a trainer of Veterinarians at the USDA and am familiar with slaughtering\nissues. I am profoundly against horse slaughter for humane reasons as horse\nslaughter also cannot be accomplished humanely. I mention this because it is\nalso illegal to slaughter a pregnant mare even in Mexico, hence, pregnant mares\nare rejected at the border for slaughter for human consumption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, wild horses often\npregnant are therefore not suitable or legal in either wild horse slaughter or\nfor a helicopter round up. Both are extreme animal cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A helicopter can be more\nhumanely and feasibly used for darting of immunocontraception which is brief,\nfeasible, and the helicopter does not swoop down on the horses as seen here in\nAttachment I at Muddy Creek and all other helicopter roundups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are big differences between darting wild horses from a helicopter with contraception and then leaving them on the range to live out their lives, versus a helicopter stampede round-up and managing the HMAs as breeding grounds akin to Puppy Mills while torturing them and complaining about their birth rate, ignoring the will of the people, the law, and wasting the taxpayers money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
COMPARISON<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Darting from Helicopter vs\nHelicopter round up.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DARTING-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. A mare will only be chased for seconds to\nminutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. A family can stay together and be darted together for the most part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. The family does not have to leave their home and can live out their life in the wild on the range, and feasibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. The helicopter does not need to swoop down to within 20 ft or less to harass and turn the horses, it can just follow them from above at their same speed and can dart from 50 meters away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. This distance will be less harassing, less traumatic and will not be causing\/throwing the thick dust plumes full of debris at the wild horses as happened at the recent muddy creek round up. Video available by Laurie McKline. See screen shots attached. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. It is highly unlikely that wild horses will develop a cough with this brief Protocol of darting by helicopter and he\/she will subsequently remain on the range. Given GPS and cameras, darts can also be retrieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While it would seem that the coughing at the holding facility nine days after roundup might be due to the round itself, it is more likely that the coughing is due the wild horses being penned in a contaminated facility where bacteria and virus likely abound due to a constant flow of horses both owned and wild. Wild horses can and do suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7. Darting will not\ncause a loss of genetics as wild horses can live out their lives on the range\nas intended, and no genetics will be removed. They will just take some years\noff from reproduction here and there as planned\/needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have\nbeen a race track vet and understand the injuries of stampede running of\ntwo-year old and older horses. Out on the range, there is no transparency\ncurrently with no cameras on the helicopter until they come into view at the\nvery end of the miles long run. There is admittedly no documentation of\nall the injuries or horses and foals which did not make it the miles to the\ngather-site. There is no documentation of the foals born on the run and no one\nto welcome them into the world, remove their placenta, and provide critically\nneeded sustenance, colostrum as well as protection and familial companionship.\nOf the pregnant mares who foal in the few days after the round up, their foals\nare likely to be born dead or die shortly after birth due to\nthe extreme stress put on their mothers in this terrifying stampede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wild\nhorses live in a harem structure or in bachelor bands. They are a herd animal\nand live in family bands with a very hierarchical structure. These wild horses\nknow their families and depend on them for survival, companionship, grooming,\netc. The stallions spend 24×7 working to keep other stallions and danger away\nfrom his harem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is\nwhat the Stallion lives for. A Stallion usually follows behind his family\nband and ensures that the very young keep up with the herd and don’t get separated.\nThe young learn from him as they do from the hierarchy of mares and the lead\nmare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of this is documented in the USGS Ethology of Feral Horses: Quantifying Equid Behavior A Research Ethogram for Free-Roaming Feral Horses by the USGS and Department of Interior. See attachment 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nreviewing the video\/screenshots of the Muddy Creek gather recently, it is clear\nthat these horses may have long term health issues now due to the dust and the\nmiles traveled in the dryness and temperatures in the nineties during the round\nup. One horse that will definitely not recover from this round up was shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Per the\nBLM’s own report, a stallion kicked a young horse and it had to be put down.\nUnder the stress of the stampede roundup this is no surprise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Horses don’t usually run this far 5 miles plus switch backing, under such stress. This is completely unnatural and cruel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See\nAttachment 2 Pictures with statements: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While\nwild horses can also be easily lured trapped peacefully as is done routinely at\nthe Socorro Herd in New Mexico see BLM’s youtube video and even in the\nremote and treeless areas of Nevada and Utah etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153helicopter darting would still be better than removals in terms of humaneness, , because the harassment is a matter of seconds to minutes, not like the misery of removals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Helicopter darting would and does suffice in the remote and essentially treeless areas being used as an excuse for the BLM to continue treating the BLM HMAs like a Puppy Mill and then brutally ripping them from their homes, families, in an extremely cruel and unnatural procedure, the helicopter round up, pregnant, old, sick, injured, and young. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/whoanm.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Lester-1_n-1-150x150.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/whoanm.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WHOA-helicopter-round-up-with-baby-6_n_LI.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n