Watch Newspapers - BLM Stays Wild Horse Removal From Pryor Mountains For Now

James Kleinert (on paint horse) with Douglas Spotted Eagle of the Northern Cheyenne and his family. (Photo by Carol Walker)

PRYOR MOUNTAIN RANGE, Montana – In the aftermath of an Honoring Ceremony for wild horses led by Douglas Spotted Eagle of the Northern Cheyenne and Mel Lonehill of the Lakota Nation on Saturday, Aug. 29, and a plea from U.S. Congressman Raul M. Grijalva (Ariz.), chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands to “suspend all roundups until the agency has adequately demonstrated to the American people and to Congress that it has addressed the outstanding problems and updated its program to reflect 21st century values,” Bureau of Land Management officials say they will cull just 17 animals, over a ten-year period, from the herd, and that only sick or lame horses will not be put up for adoption.

Grijalva, in his letter, cited the BLM’s “use of outdated methodology;” its “aggressive, poorly managed removals” of wild horses in Montana and elsewhere (including the western reaches of San Miguel and Montrose counties); and charged that “the BLM has not formally considered other possible solutions, such as contraception, sanctuaries, or aggressive adoptions programs to deal with the current number of wild horses in long-term holding other than one pilot project in Wyoming.”

Telluride filmmaker James Kleinert, a participant in the Honoring Ceremony, is working on a film about the systematic removal of entire horses from public lands where, as Grijalva charged in his letter, “they belong by law in order to benefit private livestock interests at a cost to taxpayers of more than $21 million in 2007. “Making matter worse, over 19 million acres, on which wild horses and burros roamed at the time of the passage of the 1971 Act” protecting wild free-roaming horses and burros.

For more information please email jameskleinert@mac.com or visit www.theamericanwildhorse.com

Comments

(4)

M. Kincaid

September 08, 2009

T. Gustafson: I don't blame you for missing the whole point here, since this article is riddled with inaccuracies and lacking important information, but these aren't just "horses people turned loose down there." The reason people are so interested in the Pryor herds is because their bloodlines are very Spanish, and the horses have a great history -- their ancestors were stolen from early American troops and explorers by the Crow. These horses have been repeatedly genetically tested, and they're some of the most genetically pure Spanish bloodlines in the country.

Claiming that these wild herds aren't truly "wild" is one way that interests opposed to the presence of horses have always tried to have them removed... by turning loose a few branded animals with wild horse herds, ranchers and mustangers were then able to claim that ALL of the animals were "escaped domestic stock." Are some wild horses the descendants of escapees or domestics intentionally turned loose? Of course. The US Army had a whole program of running wild horses for their remount program, and that's part of the nation's history that we're protecting when we protect *those* horses, too. If a few domestic ancestors make any wild horse worthless, are we then to remove all protection from every horse, because we have intentionally diluted their bloodlines, interbred them, interfered with their lives and "improved" the stock by releasing domestic stallions as so many early ranchers did?

These horses are a part of our history and legacy -- the good parts of it and the bad. We've always used them, exploited them, made them into remounts or meat or whatever suited us that week. We have a chance now to do right by them, to let them live in a land that really has no other use for us, and we're throwing that away to advance the BLM's agenda, which seems to have little purpose except to completely exterminate these horses. The herd in the Pryors has been there for hundreds of years. They should be there for hundreds more.

T. Gustafson

September 07, 2009

These are not mustangs. They are horses people turned loose down there. They weren't worth killing, so they turned them loose. Any horse can be wild if you leave them alone.

Charles Turner

September 04, 2009

In the uk the only widl horses we have are in the new forest, where there are problems with poachers removing them for horse meat. www.van-removals.com

mca1895

September 03, 2009

The adoption process for the Mustangs makes me sick as well. Of course I would rather see them adopted out then killed but they are MEANT to be FREE!! They are paying millions of our tax paying dollars to pen these horses that they have no right to take off the land in the first place. Money talks and they should be sued by someone that has the money to do so. It is a discrace and they should be ashamed. When Clouds Documentary airs on PBS in October, there is a good chance that he and his family will be dead or living in crowded pens. The Government including Obama has ignored the People and need to be voted out. WE CAN WE CAN BUT THEY DIDN'T!!!! Hey OBAMA can the horses get their bail out now??