Pickens Plans to Overstock Horse Ranch

Pickens named Horsewoman of the Year


Herald-Leader Staff Report

Anti-horse slaughter activist Madeleine Pickens was named "Horsewoman of the Year" by the Humane Society of the United States at the annual Sound Horse Conference in Louisville on Friday.

Pickens, who also raced Thoroughbreds with her late husband, Allen Paulson, was given the honor for her efforts to establish a sanctuary for wild horses.

Pickens, who is married to oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens, last month bought a 14,000-acre ranch in Nevada to take in thousands of wild horses that have been removed from public lands by the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is reviewing the proposal for the Mustang Monument preserve.

Madeleine Pickens "is one of those rare individuals who puts her passion, time and money where her heart is," Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society president and CEO, said in announcing the honor   Link

If Pickens is truly planning on putting thousands of horses on her newly acquired ranch then she and Wayne Pacelle both have a few things to learn about range management.  Doing that would put a quick end to her ranch and it’s ability to be grazed.  This ranch could probably support a few hundred horses but certainly not “thousands”.  These are generally the types of things that people who are unfamiliar with livestock overlook.  It will be interesting to see how many she does put out there and if she’s really willing to buy never-ending supplies of hay to feed that many.  Hopefully the ignorance of Pickens and the HSUS won't result in the destruction of this rangeland. 

NV Feral Horse Roundup Lawsuit Dismissed

Federal judge dismisses Nevada horse roundup suit
Associated Press
Monday, May 24, 2010 4:53 p.m.

A federal judge Monday officially dismissed a lawsuit brought by animal rights activists over a big wild horse roundup in northern Nevada, saying the case was moot and plaintiffs lacked standing.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington, D.C., who in December denied an injunction to prevent the roundup, said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has already gathered 1,922 horses from the Calico Mountains Complex north of Reno, therefore challenging the use of helicopters was moot.

The group In Defense of Animals, wildlife ecologist Craig Downer and children's author Terri Farley also claimed in their suit that shipping horses removed from the range to long-term holding corrals in the Midwest is not permitted under the Wild Horse and Burro Act.

But Friedman said the plaintiffs failed to show how sending the horses to other facilities would cause harm to themselves. Read More

Here’s an update on the lawsuit that was attempting to stop BLM from being able to manage the feral horse population in Nevada. Feral horse numbers are greatly exceeding the capacity of the rangeland to accommodate them. Nobody wants to completely eliminate them, however, like all animal species their population needs to be managed. If we don’t do it then disease or starvation will do it for us. ~Troy

Feral Horses Damaging Rangelands

December 26, 2009
Ranchers, activists at odds over mustang roundup
By Frank X. Mullen Jr.
fmullen@rgj.com
RGJ.com


Bob Depauli, whose family has been ranching in Nevada for four generations, remembers a wild horse he saw in the Nevada desert one drought-parched year in the late 1970s.

“The herds were really poor that year, starved,” he said. “I saw (a mustang carcass) whose two hind legs had quit working and it had use of only its forelegs. It had walked in circles and dug a hole in the ground with its hindquarters.”

It dug its own grave.

Depauli runs cattle on federal allotments, including one about 30 miles north of Gerlach in the area where the federal government plans to start Monday rounding up 2,500 wild horses of the more than 3,000 in the area.

The government says the roundup is necessary to check overpopulation. Opponents say the land mangers exaggerate the number of mustangs and the damage they do to the range and that gathering horses using helicopters traumatizes, injures or kills the animals.

About 32,000 wild horses are in government holding pens waiting for adoptions that, for most, will never come. Range managers plan to remove another 10,000 from ranges in Nevada and elsewhere in the West next year.

The government, Depauli and others see the wild horse gathers as necessary to ensure the health of the rangeland, water supplies and native species. Opponents say the horses are a symbol of America and are being swept aside for the benefit of cattlemen like Depauli.

“I’m basing my position on years of experience,” said Depauli, who runs about 300 head a year.

“I’m in business to stay in business, not to overgraze. I move my cattle around. Horses stay in the same areas 24, seven, 365 days a year. Right now, we’ve got four to five times the number of wild horses that the land can support. Cattle are manageable. We need to manage the horses, too.

“Overpopulation of horses impacts everything: cows, wildlife, the horses themselves, everything. If this continues, we’ll all be in a mess.” Read More

The destruction being caused by the overpopulation of feral horses is significant to say the least. It’s interesting that they debate turns basically turns into those who are stewards of the rangeland versus those who want an unchecked population of horses. When activists do simple comparisons of the numbers of cattle versus horses and use that as their reasoning to stop the roundups, they show their ignorance of the issue. There is so much more to the issue. Ranchers spend a lifetime caring for the land, it’s unfortunate that more people don’t care as much.

Barbi Twins Talk About Feral Horse Issue

The Barbi Twins speak out against BLM wild horse roundup
December 5, 11:53 PM Animal Welfare Examiner Reedu Taha

The Barbi Twins are joining others such as Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson, in calling on the federal government to halt roundups of wild horses in the West, insisting they are cruel and unnecessary.

The identical twin models turned animal rights activists have asked President Barack Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to permanently stop the roundup of over 2,500 wild horses in northwestern Nevada.

“We grew up on a ranch with thoroughbred horses that we raised, and before we rose to fame in the 90’s, we used to train horses and teach riding at Malibu Riding Club,” said Shane and Sia Barbi, talking about their infinite love for the animal. “Horses have been native to the wild west for 10,000 years. It is so important that people be proactive and call the Interior State Department and tell them we want the land back for what it was intended for, the wild horses.”

According to In Defense of Animals, a non-profit animal rights organization founded by a veterinarian, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the government agency within the Department of the Interior responsible for administering and enforcing the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. Read More

It seems as though the Barbi twins are a little confused about the story they are trying to tell here. The horses we are dealing with are not wild horses, they are feral horses. Horses did not exist here until humans brought them. Anytime you hear the term “wild horses” that is an incorrect description. The idea that we can just leave these feral horses alone and everything will be fine is naïve at best. Their populations are way too high for their environment. Either we will be seeing thousands of starving horses very soon, or a massive disease will knock the population way down. That is how Mother Nature will manage them if we don’t.

Large Bison Range Proposed

September 16, 2009

Ranchers criticize plans for bison herds at BLM meeting

By KARL PUCKETT

Tribune Staff Writer



HAVRE — Ranching interests sharply criticized a private grassland preserve in northeastern Montana as well as a new federal initiative in which new free-roaming bison herds could be established in the West.



The criticism came Tuesday at a meeting of the Bureau of Land Management's Central Montana Resource Advisory Committee.



The 60,000-acre American Prairie Reserve in Phillips County, launched by the not-for-profit American Prairie Foundation in 2006, includes about 100 bison. The reserve consists of private land and property leased from the BLM for grazing.



In a separate bison project, last year the U.S. Department of the Interior, under the Bush administration, called for federal agencies to coordinate management of existing bison herds on federal land, research bison genetics and disease, and study partnerships to increase existing herds or establish new ones.



Both bison efforts were discussed for 90 minutes Tuesday in Havre, with ranchers and some RAC members raising concerns over the spread of disease, loss of public lands for cattle grazing and lack of local input.



"People shouldn't have to drive five hours to testify for three minutes," Malta rancher Dale Veseth said, adding he believed the meeting should have been conducted in Malta, where most of the people affected by bison live.



Ron Poertner, a RAC member from Winifred, said he did not see any difference between the fenced bison in the private reserve and free-roaming animals that can be introduced under the public conservation initiative.



"We are not anti-cattle," Scott Laird, APF's director of field operations, told the crowd.



The reserve is a grassland conservation project, not a bison project, Laird added. He said APF has worked hard to be a good neighbor and has done a good job managing the bison. Read More



There have been plans even bigger than this that have been tossed around in the past. Years ago, the Buffalo Commons project proposed turning entire states into large bison pastures. The purpose of these projects is never very clear and there are some real concerns. It’s not a matter of population because the bison are no longer threatened with extinction by any means. These projects take land out of food production as well. Ranchers can manage grasslands quite well with cattle and it’s quite insulting and uninformed to suggest that just turning bison out into a pasture is better for the grass than the intensive management ranchers utilize.