Terri Farley

Monday, June 30, 2014

In Case of Emergency: Shuffle Wild Horses

On Sunday June 29, 2014 I drove by BLM's Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Center. It was closed to the public, but that's not why it looked deserted.

This morning I called Jeb Beck, temporary director of the Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Adoption center was that I saw so few horses.

6/29/14

I was told that although a few new horses had come in -- "nuisance" horses baited trapped in Ely -- and some horses were out of sight in corrals where there hooves were being trimmed -- I wasn't seeing things. There really were fewer mustangs.

Instead of the usual 1300 captives, the corrals held 950.

Beck told me that young horses were being moved around for adoptions and older mares (5-6 years old) were trucked to the corrals at the Carson City prison, "...in case we ended up with an emergency and we're full."

I hope there's no emergency, hope the horses head uphill, find water and safe haven where they can raise their foals in peace.

But if there is a summer emergency, I sure hope it's not heat-related.

I took this photo a few weeks ago when the horses were scrunched down in a low spot still damp from rain earlier that week.

Yesterday, I still didn't see shade for this week's 100+ temperature.

There's no where to get out of the sun.
Eyes open, all. The horses need our help.

6/29/14

Labels: 100 degree temperatures, adoption, gimme shelter, heat, Palomino Valley, wild horses

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 8:26 PM 2 comments

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

BLM ASKED YOU A QUESTION ABOUT WILD HORSES

ARE YOU HAPPY

about

HELICOPTER ROUNDUPS?

NEVADA & UTAH BLM
WANT TO KNOW
Send your emails:

blm_ut_biblesprings@blm.gov

blm_nv_whb_motorizedvehicleco@blm.gov

Dear BLM:

A helicopter round-up begins far out on the range.

If you sat on a butte with a crest flat as a table top, you’d still feel the helicopters, before you saw them.

Vibrations shudder down your bones and shiver your insides. You’d guess the feeling came from a far-off explosion, if it didn’t come in quick pulses like a heartbeat.

Wild horses which have never experienced a helicopter round-up wonder if a thunderstorm is on its way. But the pounding is closer than the sky, closer than a predator, unknown and terrible.

I've been present at a dozen helicopter roundups and each year the contractors get greedier and the roundups more cruel. No longer are family bands kept together for days or even hours. They are instantly split up and traumatized.

Wild Horse Annie said "People have different degrees of humaneness." That's true, but it's not the issue addressed by the National Academy of Sciences which said that roundups are backfiring --- triggering higher levels of reproduction among wild horses.

Roundups are costing Americans millions of dollars, and a valuable piece of their heritage. Stop now.

Sincerely,

Terri Farley

Need more ideas for you letter? Click here

Labels: BLM . utah, helicopter roundups, Nevada, wild horses

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 7:17 PM 2 comments