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Government Accused of Land Grab in Fight Over Rangeland in the West

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Cloud, was released from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) holding pens on September 09, 2009. Cloud’s family was ripped to pieces by the BLM leaving him with only half of his band’s population and all of the mares chemically sterilized with PZP. There is little hope that Cloud’s bloodline will be able to survive this brutal and unwarranted attack perpetrated by the very federal agency that is charged, by law, with protecting our wild horses and burros, the BLM. Cloud and almost all of the adult horses are footsore and lame from the brutal helicopter drive down the mountainside followed by the return climb back up. The foals are in worse condition and barely able to walk making them a prime target for predators.
Chasing horses, with a helicopter, down a mountainside in 95+ heat for over 10 miles is by no means humane treatment and reeks of lack of common sense.
More evidence that the BLM wants to destroy the wild horses.

AM of MD 8:40AM September 12, 2009

Just for the record: mthorserancher is a quarter horse breeder in Montana that is pro-slaughter.
He clearly does not understand the term inbreeding because inbreeding is encouraged when a herd gets thinned out. Survival is a strong animal instinct so when herds are "thinned" out, the animal has no choice but to inbreed with a close equine relative. The decision by the BLM to "thin" the Pryor Mountains herd is reckless and lacks any science. Noted equine geneticist, Dr. Gus Cothran, stated in writing that at least 250 horses were required in the Pryor herd to maintain genetic viability. The removal of 57 horses from the most recent roundup over Labor Day week-end resulting in a total number of less than 120 wild horses remaining greatly threatens genetic viability and will increase the likelihood of inbreeding. Inbreeding leads to increased miscarriages and genetic abnormalities because the DNA between male and female are very close. Inbreeding results in higher mortality and morbidity rates. Taken together, it seems clear that the BLM wants to exterminate the wild horses.

AM of MD 6:02PM September 10, 2009

ForTheHorses,
Why would I watch some video when I live with the mustangs in my back yard. I can see it real life not some video/movie that some one made that they could cut and paste and show things the way they want them to be seen.
I breed and raise horse for a living and have been for 50 years now. I run 3 studs and 50 mares. I know what happens when a stud gets in with a newborn colt that is not his.
BLM has done a fine job up to date taking care of the horses and the land they are on. They are the ones that tell everyone what is going to happen... as long as they do not try and wipe out the whole herd of horses they is just nothing no one can do.. they study this and its worked out a very long time before the gather is done.. its not a spur of the moment thing.
so now go get your check book out and get you some pony's from the wild.

mthorserancher of MT 10:35PM September 09, 2009

Mtrancher, have you not watched videos on animal behavior in the wild and for that matter domestic animals? There are offspring born everyday that have birth defects that don't necessarily mean they are inbred, the mother or the father often times will kill that offspring, that is nature.
And Yes, I have been to Montana in the winter! Had a blast, love it there, I also have horses and I know they eat all year round as do the others that are posting here, that is common sense, I'm sure you eat all year round too. Take a look at these horses, they are, with the exception of a few, in very good weight and healthy, so I would have to assume, they too, are eating all year round.
I have come to the conclusion that the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center is in like flyn with the BLM. If I'm wrong well then I am wrong, but that doesn't necessitate the removal of all these horses, to the point that it will jeopardize the integrity of the genetics of this lineage of horses. Manage them, yes, but there are far better methods to manage than this. Just check out the Chincautique (sp?) and Assatique ponies of Maryland. The volunteer fire department manages that herd every year by swimming the ponies across the sound in July, they sell the foals that should be sold and the rest, mares, stallions and young horses necessary to maintain the virility of the herd are then returned across the sound to the islands they have lived on for centuries. Boom, Management and guess what??? Its working! The foals sell for quite large sums of money and that money goes to the fire department, its a huge weekend and families from near and far come to ENJOY the occassion. I don't know of anyone that would want their families to see what is being done in the Pryors and the other ranges where these horses have the right to live.
I think you might want to do some research on some biological websites or perhaps just start with Animal Planet, they have shows on all the time on how the wild takes care of its own.

ForTheHorses of FL 4:17PM September 07, 2009

BLM is not the one that is picking what horses will go and what ones will stay.. its the Pryor Wild Mustang Center people that are doing it.. BLM is just doing the round up. You people need to stop and see the whole picture not just the one that you have in your minds. Most of you have never been here to montana and seen the winters.. horses eat in the winter as well as the summer.. just because there is grass up high in the summer does not mean that the horses can eat it when it is under 6+ feet of snow. And right now there is so many horses up there with the one blood line that they need to thin them out so the inbreeding does not start.. you all have seen the colt that could not get up and then the other stud come and kill it.. well that colt i am sure is from inbreeding.. i have seen it many times.
The stud killed it because it was not his colt..(they want to do away with all that are not there own). Leave the BLM alone... get your check books out... get you a mustang come the 26 and then you will not have to mow your yards no more.

mthorserancher of MT 3:34PM September 07, 2009

Afer reading the Blog and web site for the Pryor Wild Mustang Center, I do understand that their main goal is to preserve the gene pool. I have read that same fact in several places on the Pryor Wild Mustang Centers web site and also at the Pryor Mountain Mustang Breeders Association. I do see that they are "In cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, to protect, preserve, promote, and enhance the wild herd of mustangs which currently inhabit the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Refugee."
Apparently they weed out the weak ones and replace them at times with the better gene pools that they breed. This keeps the gene pool stronger and for me, makes them as bad if not worse than the BLM. I do not believe that they are FOR the HORSES!!!

Mary Adkins of OH 1:52PM September 07, 2009

Interesting to read that Skyline mines is set to mine the land beneath Cloud's range and they are funded by the United Emirates. People hold up your Protest signs via the internet. If we post LOUD enough in numbers " too large to be ignored" we won't be!

Ellieroo of WA 1:31PM September 07, 2009

The BLM has taken upon themselves to capture all the wild horses and decide who should be released, adopted or SOLD! Our heritage is at risk..they, the wild mustangs are part of our history. They belong to all Americans...they do not belong to the BLM or any government entity. Their rights, protection and that of the land they have lived on for centuries was sealed in: 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/documents/publiclaws/PDF/92-195.pdf.
These horses are being taken away from the only home they have known and thrived upon. They are being separated from their herd and classified. For those who will not be released their fate is uncertain.
Please help us save our tradition, our history our HERITAGE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qp_EXnlXxg
Visit the Cloud Foundation http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/ and read their blog http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/

Honortothehorses 1:19PM September 07, 2009

Their arrogance and sense of entitlement is un-American. BLM needs to be held accountable for their mismanagement.

Valerie Kennedy of IL 7:04PM August 28, 2009

Since the very beginning (post-Taylor Grazing Act) a grazing permit added to the value of the ranchers "base" property.....it actually gave the permit holder a "vested property interest" in the leased land and therefore added to the value of his own property. Today, the rancher does not even have to have any cows anymore, but can hold the land idle and sell, trade, lease or otherise transfer the permit.....it is no longer necessary to own any base property to get a lease, and these things are being brought up by welathy investors like Ted Turner and also,....foreigners.
The ranchers arent making any money off of their cows. Most are retiring from ranching but still holding on to the permits, of course, cause they are as good as gold on the market today. I say, use em or loose em, and make them non-transferable. Its only right. Why should a handful of ranchers have a lock on our public lands? This IS NOt the 1800's - I say if they want to keep on ranching, let them buy hay and grain like the other 98% of the Nations farmers and cattlemen do.

Christine A Jubic of NY 10:59PM August 25, 2009