TAKE ACTION! Oppose Roundup of 580 Wild Horses in Wyoming

Still Time to Oppose Gov’t Plan to Roundup & Remove 580 Wild Horses and Test a Dangerous Anti-Fertility Drug in Wyoming Herds

We have until August 7, 2012 to generate citizen opposition to the federal government’s plan to roundup and remove nearly 600 wild horses from the North Lander Complex in Wyoming. Just 750 wild horses are believed to currently live in the 586-square-mile complex, where the government allows the annual equivalent of more than 3,700 cows to graze!

In addition, the government plans test an experimental anti-fertility drug, SpayVac, on captured mares who will be returned to the range. This drug may have serious side effects, including permanent sterilization and serious health problems in horses. Already, we have generated nearly 4,000 letters opposing this inhumane plan – let’s double that by August 7! If you have not done so already, you can take action at

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11366

Oppose Removal of 580 Wild Horses and Testing of Dangerous Drug in Wyoming’s North Lander Complex

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lander Field Office in Wyoming is seeking public input for a proposed removal of 580 wild horses in and around the North Lander Complex and the testing of a drug, SpayVac, that may result in permanent sterlization of mares. Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee received information from experts which revealed that SpayVac appears to cause perpetual (possibly permanently) sterilization and serious health problems in horses.

The 586-square-mile Complex includes four Herd Management Areas (HMAs): Muskrat Basin, Rock Creek Mountain, Conant Creek and Dishpan Butte.

The agency allows just 536 wild horses to live in this vast public lands area, while authorizing the annual equivalent of more than over 3,400 privately-owned cows and thousands of sheep to graze there at rock bottom, taxpayer-subsidized rates. AWHPC opposes the removal of any horses from this large Complex – especially given that the BLM permits more than seven times more livestock than wild horses in the same area. 

Please take easy action below to demand that the BLM forgo the removal of horses from and the testing of the SpayVac drug in the North Lander Complex.

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to:

Oppose Removal of 580 Wild Horses and Testing of Dangerous Drug in Wyoming’s North Lander Complex

Comments must be received by August 7, 2012.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lander Field Office in Wyoming is seeking public input for a proposed removal of 580 wild horses in and around the North Lander Complex and the testing of a drug, SpayVac, that may result in permanent sterlization of mares. Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee received information from experts which revealed that SpayVac appears to cause perpetual (possibly permanently) sterilization and serious health problems in horses.

The 586-square-mile Complex includes four Herd Management Areas (HMAs): Muskrat Basin, Rock Creek Mountain, Conant Creek and Dishpan Butte.

The agency allows just 536 wild horses to live in this vast public lands area, while authorizing the annual equivalent of more than over 3,400 privately-owned cows and thousands of sheep to graze there at rock bottom, taxpayer-subsidized rates. AWHPC opposes the removal of any horses from this large Complex – especially given that the BLM permits more than seven times more livestock than wild horses in the same area. 

Please take easy action below to demand that the BLM forgo the removal of horses from and the testing of the SpayVac drug in the North Lander Complex.

When you click the “Send Your Message” button below, an individual email will be sent to the BLM.

I strongly oppose the BLM’s proposed action to remove 580 wild horses from and to test SpayVac in the North Lander Complex.

The Environmental Assessment (EA) outlines the BLM’s disproportionate allocation of resources within the Complex — allocating more than seven times more Animal Unit Months (AUMs) for livestock than wild horses in the Complex. Therefore, based on the BLM’s failure to uphold the intent of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to consider wild horses as “an integral part of the natural system of the public lands” and allocate resources accordingly, it is incumbent upon the agency to utilize its authority pursuant to CFR 43 C.F.R. 4710.5(a) to accommodate the current wild horse population by reducing livestock grazing in the Complex.

In addition, I specifically object to the testing of SpayVac in the North Lander Complex. Due to the vastness of the 580-square-mile Complex, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to adequately and accurately collect sufficient information regarding the behavioral changes resulting from the use of SpayVac and the long-term tracking of mares to determine the rate which SpayVac permanently sterilizes the majority of animals who are administered the infertility drug.

I further oppose all alternatives that include the skewing of natural sex ratios on the range and/or permanent sterilization of horses via castration of stallions. The alternatives are proposed, but the EA fails to provide any scientific documentation to support implementation of these actions, nor does it analyze the potentially devastating impacts of such actions on individual wild horses and the wild horse herds in this area.

I strongly urge the BLM to forgo the removal of horses from the Complex and to implement the administration of PZP-22 on as many mares as possible in order to safely and humanely suppress population growth.

Finally, the EA must include an economic analysis of each of the proposed alternatives. As the captive mustang population in BLM holding facilities approaches 50,000, it is clear that the agency cannot continue the fiscally-unsustainable and inhumane cycle of removing wild horses from the range as its primary management strategy.

Sincerely,