America's Vanishing Heritage
Continued
May 21, 1997
Tighter Reins, But Will Horse
Slaughter Halt?
By Jillian Lloyd
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
After enduring a firestorm of criticism about its controversial adopt-a-horse program, the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is now fighting back.
During the past year, wild horse advocates and former BLM employees have accused the
organization of allowing many of the horses to be sold to slaughterhouses for a profit, and
have demanded congressional hearings and a moratorium on wild horse roundups and
adoptions.
While BLM program administrators insist the reports are "grossly exaggerated," they
have introduced a host of policy changes to diminish the controversy.
"Any federal program can be improved at any time. We are saying we want to do better,"
says Bob Johns, a BLM spokesman.
Since 1973, the BLM has gathered nearly 10,000 mustangs each year from 10 Western
states and offered them to the public for $125 each. Under the program, which aims to
balance wild horse populations with available forage and water, adopters wait one year
before obtaining legal title. During that time, adopted horses can't be sold for slaughter or
commercial gain - to deter profit-motivated adoptions.
But critics say BLM officials neither track the fate of adopted mustangs nor enforce laws
prohibiting their sale to slaughterhouses - which typically pay $700 per horse. Federal
wild horse managers now counter that they will boost random "home visits" to horse
adopters from 5 to 20 percent. They will contact all adopters by telephone within six
months of an adoption. And they will make unannounced visits to slaughterhouses.
The BLM's own research indicates that during 1995 and 1996, about 700 titled wild
horses were processed at US slaughterhouses. These figures represent a small percentage
of the thousands of wild horses adopted in those years, notes Mr. Johns.
But the BLM numbers refer only to wild horses slaughtered legally - meaning the adopter
fulfilled the one-year waiting period before making the sale. Johns admits that the BLM
cannot prevent adopters from selling a titled wild horse. Nor can it estimate how many
untitled wild horses went to slaughterhouses, he adds.
While some question whether horses, titled or not, should be used for commercial gain,
others find flaws in the fundamentals of the BLM program itself. "Thousands of horses a
year, far more than could be taken care of by legitimate adoptions, have to be moved off
the range," says Justice Department attorney Charles Brooks, who has investigated the
program. "The agency's approach to this was 'don't ask, don't tell.' " Moreover, wild-horse
advocates say the revised BLM policy will do little to protect wild horses, because legal
sanctions are insignificant: Prosecution is rare, and penalties are only probation or a $100
fine.
IN Nevada, home to most of the nation's 40,000 mustangs, Maxine Shane, BLM public
affairs director says convictions are unusual. "You're competing against all the other
cases the Justice Department has. It's difficult just to get the case to court."
And it doesn't help that selling an untitled wild horse is a misdemeanor under federal law,
adds Dale Tunnell, a former BLM special agent in New Mexico. "If you prosecute under
Title 18, 'theft of government property,' then it becomes a felony."
A Justice Department spokesman adds that the revisions to BLM's horse policy will not
affect how the government prosecutes horse-slaughter cases. Still they will cost taxpayers
$1.5 million a year.
For some, scrapping the horse-adoption program altogether seems preferable to throwing
more money at it. It already costs the government $1,100 to round up and adopt out a wild
horse - resulting in a net loss of $975 apiece. "Then the crook goes out and makes $500
on the horse," says Steve Sederwall, a retired BLM law enforcement agent who led a
major investigation. "This is just a scam that's costing the American taxpayer money.
Why not just go out on the range and shoot the horse? It only costs a dime for a
bullet."
July 18, 1998
Controversy surrounds Bureau of
Land Management's adoption
program
By Kristen Peterson
LAS VEGAS SUN
The overabundance of wild horses foraging for food on Nevada's range lands has left
some herds starving.
The Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro adoption program tries to find
homes for 8,000 horses a year, but some say the program is not enough.
Dave Tattum, a member of the National Wild Horse Association, says something needs to
be done to preserve wild horses.
"We (humans) put these horses on the range. We've introduced them, now we have to
manage them," Tattum said. "We should take the responsibility."
The solutions, which vary among ranchers, animal-rights groups and horse organizations,
are controversial. Maxine Shane, BLM spokeswoman said some groups think the horses
should be left alone, others say they should be slaughtered, and others advocate
euthanasia for sick or starving horses.
"It's not a simple matter," she said. "This has been going on for years."
The BLM collects horses, ages 9 and under, which leaves a lot of geriatric horses on the
range, Tattum said.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who attended a BLM hearing in Reno this week on the issue,
said the bureau has spent a quarter of a billion dollars and is still unable to manage the
herds.
"We may have to take legislative action to change the way they (BLM officials) manage
these herds or remove their authority," Gibbons said.
The BLM says it would change its methods if Congress would provide guidelines for the
change.
July 02, 1997
Panel OKs funds for bill that allows
possible slaughter of wild horses
By Martha Bellisle
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY (AP) - A bill requiring Nevada's Commission for the Preservation of
Wild Horses to kick in some cash to help get rid of the horses was approved Wednesday
by the Senate.
Only Sens. Dina Titus and Bob Coffin, both D-Las Vegas, voted against the measure.
SB211 requires the commission to use money in a trust fund started by the late Leo Heil -
specifically for wild horse preservation - "to provide financial assistance for the removal
and disposal of wild horses."
The bill has caused concern among mustang advocates who call it "the wild horse
slaughter bill," and say the Heil trust funds would be used to benefit livestock interests on
public lands.
Bobbi Royle of Wild Horse Spirit says a sister bill, SB293, "provides the administrative
job to carry out the execution of SB211 to remove and dispose of estray wild horses and
wild horses."
"By the end of 1999 there will be no wild horses - an outcome paid by Nevada citizens
through the general tax fund," Royle says. "The overwhelming majority of horses would
go to auction and slaughter for profit."
The Senate Finance Committee recently approved SB293, which provides $165,000 for a
new ombudsman position within the Division of Agriculture that will establish policies to
control wild horses.
The new staffer would manage the division's activities that relate to land use planning,
natural resources and the management and control of wild horses and estrays.
Senate Natural Resources Chairman Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, has argued that Nevada's
open ranges can't support the wild horse populations that currently roam on them.
The bill also moves the wild horse commission from the governors' office into the
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, under Director Pete Morros.
Commission Director Cathy Barcomb said she supports the move, adding that "Pete
Morros has years of experience on all these issues."
Morros says he plans to allow the commission to function independently - as he does with
the other agencies under his administration - but can't speak for the next person in line for
his job.
Lawmakers also plan to provide money within the department's budget for the
commission to use for travel and a much-needed staff person to work with Barcomb,
Rhoads said.
Although Nevada laws prohibit general fund money from going directly to the
commission, funds can go to it through Morros' department, Rhoads said.
This will allow Barcomb to visit rural counties and conduct public hearings to get more
input on the management of the wild horse herds, he said.
January 14, 1999
Elko ranches seek help from county
on wild horses
ELKO, Nev. (AP) - Elko County commissioners promised ranchers a solution to the
impending release back onto public lands of hundreds of wild horses rounded up by the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Commissioners met in special session on Tuesday to discuss the 1999 Nevada legislative
session with Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, and Assemblymen John Carpenter, R-Elko,
and John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, but news of the release of the horses pre-empted the
discussion.
Clover Valley rancher Von Sorenson complained that more than 300 horses rounded up
for adoption will be released back onto rangelands, the Elko Daily Free Press reported.
"For a number of years now, the BLM has not got the herd down to the AML
(Appropriate Management Level)," Sorenson said. "In a gather, they are supposed to
gather down below that number to allow for growth to the management level, but they've
never even got down to that number."
BLM Elko District Manager Helen Hankins said under a policy changed implemented by
officials in Washington, D.C., only animals that are adoptable are to be gathered.
"That means that instead of the 6,700 horses that we need to gather, that limit is now
5,500," Hankins said about national figures.
"The other factor in horse gathering is the budget," Hankins told commissioners. "The
BLM budgeted $18 million per year and only 10 percent of that comes to Nevada. I say
that because we have 50 percent of the horses."
Hankins said Bob Abbey, BLM state director, was able to secure removal of an additional
100 horses, bringing the number being removed to 720.
"We are very cognizant of our responsibilities under the federal act," Hankins said. "We
are doing the best we can within the agency to address your concerns."
Commission Chairman Tony Lesperance said the county would find a solution to the
ranchers' complaints.
"I, as chairman, promise you that this county will come to grips with this problem by
whatever means it takes," Lesperance told Hankins. "You've been losing ground on this
for 25 years, and I don't blame you personally because I understand your hands are tied by
the Washington decisions."
Carpenter warned county officials to expect opposition, no matter what action it decides
to take.
"This is an emotional issue and it will be very difficult to do what needs to be done,"
Carpenter said. "If you take them up to Twin Falls and try to sell them, there'll be 10,000
people trying to stop you. But there's no way the BLM will ever get the herds down to the
AML because there's not many people who want to adopt an inbred mustang."
The commission was to consider the matter again at its next meeting.
Hankins said the horses should be released back onto the range in about a week. She
offered to work with the county in any way allowed by her agency.
January 31, 1999
Artist rallies around Nevada's wild
horses
By Martin Griffith
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. - One of Nevada's premier wildlife painters is hoping good comes out of the
slaughter of 34 wild horses in Nevada.
Fred Boyce, 77, of Reno is donating 1,500 numbered prints of his oil painting "Mustangs"
to help ensure other free-roaming horses in the state lead better lives.
"The public outrage after the killings has shown there's a tremendous interest in these
animals," Boyce said Saturday while autographing prints at Meadowood Mall.
"They're an icon of the West and people love them. I'm doing this because of my close
relationship with the horses and love of nature. I hope it makes life a little safer for the
other horses."
Three young men who attended the same high school in Reno - two of them Marines
stationed in California - have been arrested in the Dec. 27 shootings of the 34 horses in
the Virginia Range east of Reno.
All proceeds from the sale of Boyce's prints will go to the Virginia Range Wildlife
Protection Association, which is working to protect the range's 300 to 500 other wild
horses.
Association president Lydia Hammack said she hopes to raise $150,000 through the sale
of the color prints. More than a third of the prints had been sold - for $100 each - as of
Saturday afternoon, she said.
The money will be used to help horses with safety fences, feeding stations, watering holes
and emergency medical care.
"Fred is so wonderful," Hammack said. "He's helping to raise awareness about the horses
and the need to protect them. Like us, he wants to make sure we have a survivable
herd."
Also appearing with Boyce on Saturday at Eagle Valley Frames was country singer Lacy
J. Dalton, who plans to donate proceeds from the sale of an upcoming compact disc to the
association.
Dalton said she moved to a home in the range's Virginia Highlands subdivision last year
partly because of her love of wild horses.
"They're in my yard every day and I love them," she said. "This grieves me. But I'm
optimistic some good can come out of it."
Dalton's CD, a tribute to wild horses that also will feature some local singers, is due out
later this year.
Boyce's dozens of landscape and wildlife paintings, including his "Mustangs" work done
three years ago, are based on Nevada subjects. They hang in museums and homes across
the West, and have appeared on state duck stamps.
Boyce said the slaughter of the 34 wild horses hit him even harder because he became
acquainted with the animals on hikes in the range.
"I felt such a terrible loss. It was like losing your own pet or son to a vicious person," he
said.
"We have to protect these animals. They're as much a part of Nevada as the beautiful
sunsets, the wind and the sage, and the shadows on the mountains in the morning and
evening."
Adopting may take a little horse
sense
By Kristen Peterson
LAS VEGAS SUN
As the sun sets over the Las Vegas Valley, 16-year-old Ethan Tattum kicks up dust at the
Atwood Stables as he rides Mijo, his 4-year-old mustang, in the small arena.
The recently brushed palomino mustang, galloping at a steady pace among the other
horses at the stables near Cheyenne Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard, is quite a change
from the same horse in his earlier days in the wild.
"Oh, he was a hairball," David Tattum, Ethan's father, said.
Mijo, Spanish for "my son," was adopted as a foal from the Bureau of Land
Management's Wild Horse and Burro Adoption program. Mijo not only is a trained
mustang, but has competed in the National Wild Horse Association's Mustang and Burro
Show that is held every October at Horseman's Park behind Sam's Town.
"He's won all sorts of ribbons and a couple of trophies," said Ethan, looking like a true
cowboy in his leather chaps and cowboy hat.
More than 165,000 horses have been adopted since the BLM began its program 25 years
ago. The bureau wanted manage the overabundance of wild horses foraging for limited
food and water in Nevada's range lands.
A foal and mother usually cost $250 a pair. Stallions and mares usually cost $125
each.
The horses, collected from herds mainly in Northern Nevada, have been inoculated,
vaccinated and freeze-marked or tagged, but are not trained.
People adopt horses for different reasons such as riding or as pets, the elder Tattum said.
There are more than 1,000 people in Las Vegas who own former wild horses.
George Condon, a member and former president of the National Wild Horse Association,
prefers mustangs.
"They're the best backyard horses," Condon said. "They're a much better trail horse, much
more sure-footed. A wild horse knows where he is going on the trails in the desert. They
are much more durable and their feeding habits are more flexible since they have survived
in the wild."
But those hoping to adopt a horse need to keep in mind that they are bringing home a wild
horse. Brenda Cloud, vocational and educational instructor for the Cooperative Extension,
said adopters should be prepared for the task involved with owning a wild horse.
"Many people who adopt a wild horse do so for a romantic notion rather than looking at
the practical aspects such as knowledge and means to care for it," Cloud said. "A wild
horse is not a puppy."
Cloud said the Cooperative Extension offers a "Back to Basics of Horsemanship" class.
The six-week course usually runs twice a year, depending on demand, and costs between
$30 and $50.
"Potential adopters sometimes learn from the class that they don't want the horse because
of the work and upkeep involved," she said.
Ethan said success with a wild horse depends entirely on the attitude of the person who
adopts it.
"The animals have never been touched by people before," he said. "It could be a month or
only day before you can handle it. You just need to know that they are truly afraid of you.
Most people who adopt mustangs know what they're doing."
"But we also get a lot of success with first-timers," Tattum said. "If there's a complaint at
all, it's that people don't know what they're getting into. With a wild horse, it just takes a
little bit more time to build up confidence and trust."
"I spent every day with Mijo," Ethan said.
Another option is to hire a trainer to gentle the horse.
Condon, who has adopted three horses and gentled 17, charges new owners $100 a month
for three months to train the horses. He keeps the horse and works with it daily.
"It's a whole process of getting them used to people. If they have a good relationship with
the first person (they encounter), they will accept other people just as easy," Condon
said.
Some trainers may charge up to $550 a month.
Those hoping to adopt a wild horse must have pre-approved facilities, including a
400-square-foot pen and a trailer to transport the animals. Those who choose studs may
have the animal gelded at no charge. Potential adopters are screened for any connections
to inhumane treatment of animals and informed of the commitment involved.
Owners can expect to spend $80 to $100 a month on shoeing, feed and veterinarian costs
for each horse, Tattum said.
Gary McFadden, BLM horse specialist for Las Vegas, said 80 percent of the horses put
up for adoption go to Eastern buyers and 90 percent go to families.
Maxine Shane, BLM spokeswoman, said the bureau prefers that the horses be adopted in
Nevada because transporting them takes its toll.
Out-of-state adoption also makes it more difficult to monitor the horse. Each horse
remains federal property for the first year after adoption. After that, the owner can apply
for a title if they have a signed statement from a veterinarian or representative from the
Wild Horse Association stating that the horse has been treated well.
"That's our way of knowing that we've found good homes," Shane said. "After a year, you
have put in a lot of time and money toward that animal."
America's Vanishing Heritage (prt.1)
