This Helicopter Round Up has already begun, September 1, 2021  Many of these horses are "Favorites" of photographers, & visitors from around the Globe. Horses are injured, foals are easily separated & many times do not survive. Wild Horses held in pens, & many doomed to slaughter. These horses have family members & mates that have lived together for many years. Many are famous, such as Picasso. See their stories & photos,   https://www.sandwashbasin.com

These horses deserve the life of freedom, they are Wild Horses.      They are a National Treasure.                                                            

Governor Polis asked Interior Secretary Haaland to give the state and advocacy groups a role in herd management. He called for further study of the drought’s impacts on the local ecosystem, citing the BLM’s different figures for a sustainable population of Sand Wash Basin mustangs. And he urged a slowing of roundups to make them more humane; 10 horses were euthanized during a just-concluded roundup of 457 horses in a nearby range.

Polis also pledged his support of Interior funding requests before Congress to accelerate research into long-lasting fertility control that could reduce the need for future roundups.

The Democratic governor urged Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday to postpone the roundup, scheduled to begin Wednesday, for at least six months. Polis cited concern over the fate of captured horses and questioned the Bureau of Land Management’s argument that the drought afflicting the U.S. West has dramatically reduced water and food to the extent that the survival of the 900-horse herd and other wildlife are in jeopardy.

“There remain legitimate concerns about the fate of gathered horses, and I believe that better cooperation with the state and advocates could improve assurances about their long-term well-being and the avoidance of any potential slaughter,” Polis wrote.

An Interior Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was unauthorized to speak publicly said the roundup in the barren, 250-square-mile (648-square-kilometer) Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area in northwestern Colorado will proceed as planned.

          ACTION ALERT: Urge Haaland to change Sand Wash Basin roundup plan        follow link

    https://returntofreedom.org/action-alert-urge-haaland-to-change-sand-wash-basin-roundup-plan/  

HORSE NEWS Sand Wash Basin Wild Horse Emergency Roundup is Not really an Emergency
BY R.T. FITCH ON AUGUST 17, 2021 • 
by Carol Walker as published on Wild Hoofbeats

The Sand Wash Basin Herd in Colorado faces an “emergency” roundup as Bureau of Land Management avoids NEPA

The Bureau of Land Management announced that an additional 6000 wild horses would be rounded up in 2021 due to drought, and using the emergency designation to push full steam ahead without fulfilling its National Environmental Policy Act regulations, allowing them to go in without public input, with very little notice, and leaving less wild horses than the Appropriate Management Level for these herds. But the Bureau of Land Management’s own handbook does not classify drought as a reason for an emergency roundup.

In April, the Bureau of Land Management announced its plan to remove wild horses from Sand Wash Basin with a 30 day period for the public to review and comment upon this plan:

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2012689/570

The next step would be to publish a Decision Record with the final Environmental Assessment with another 30:days for the public to comment. But they did not do this. They announced an emergency roundup, starting September 1, saying they will roundup 683 horses within the Herd Management Area and 100 outside, for a total of 783 wild horses to be removed using a helicopter roundup, and the goal is to leave 163 wild horses which is the low Appropriate Management Level. There was a flyover count done about a month ago, but those figures have not been released to the public.

Very young foals should not be subjected to being chased by helicopters
The monsoon rains filled many of the waterholes and new grass is coming up in the basin. When I visited four days ago I was happy to see the water in many waterholes. I am not an expert on range conditions but it is very dry and the horses are spread out and hard to find as they look for forage. The horses I saw were in good condition, I did not see any starving horses. I am always of the opinion that wild horses are better off and safer on the range in their homes than rounded up becoming some of the over 60,000 wild horses in holding facilities, and with the Adoption Incentive Program continuing, at risk of being sold to slaughter.

There are over 10 new foals as of last week, and with the roundup starting in 2 weeks there is no question that using bait in traps to capture the horses would be so much safer and more humane for the horses especially the foals, instead of using a helicopter to stampede the horses.

I would like to see this roundup changed from an emergency roundup and the Decision Record and final EA published and available to the public, with the flyover count numbers included.  The population should be managed using humane birth control. The livestock grazing leases for sheep should be retired and sheep grazing should never be allowed in Sand Wash Basin.                                                                                                                                                           Please Help...                                                                                         Contact:                                                                                                  Interior Secretary Haaland       202-208-3100                             Sign letter:    Go to                                                                                           returntofreedom.org                                                ACTION ALERT: Urge Haaland to change Sand Wash Basin roundup plan        follow link

    https://returntofreedom.org/action-alert-urge-haaland-to-change-sand-wash-basin-roundup-plan/                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Call or Email    Governor Jared  Polis                   Governorpolis@state.co.us                                                                 

Governor's Office, Front Desk: (303) 866-2471

State Capitol Building
200 E. Colfax Ave., Rm. 136
Denver, CO 80203 

Call the Bureau of Land Management State Office: https://www.blm.gov/office/colorado-state-office

Call the Little Snake Field Office: https://www.blm.gov/office/little- snake-field-office

Contact Senator Michael Bennet’s   303-455-7600 office: https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Senator John Hickenlooper:  303-244-1628
 
SHARE THIS ON BEHALF OF THE HORSES AND BURROS::
Email
Print
Facebook
Tumblr
Pinterest1
WhatsApp
Skype
Reddit
Twitter
LinkedIn
Telegram
Pocket