Comments due by Thursday, June 7, 2018
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a roundup and removal of 2,075 “excess” horses from the Eagle Complex over the next 10 years – once again to protect resources for livestock grazing at American taxpayers’ expense.
The Eagle Complex is located in Lincoln County, Nevada and Iron County, Utah. The BLM estimates that about 2,200 horses live in this 743,042-acre (1,160 square mile!) complex, which includes the Eagle, Chokecherry and Mt. Elinore Herd Management Areas (HMAs). The BLM has established “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) of just 145-265 wild horses. At the high end of AML, this translates into 2,804 acres per horse!
At the same time, the BLM authorizes the annual equivalent of more than 4,000 cow/calf pairs to graze in and around the Complex.
In addition to this drastic action, the BLM is proposing to remove all wild horses who have moved outside of the Eagle Complex and use PZP on returned mares only after low AML is reached and only if if between 90% – 95% of the horses have been removed from the Complex. Given that past roundups have historically removed about 80% of the horses, it seems highly unlikely that population control via PZP would ever be implemented.
The BLM’s plans for the Eagle Complex means that over 2,000 “excess” but healthy wild horses are in danger of being killed or sold for slaughter if Congress approves any of the BLM’s budget request to lift longstanding prohibitions on mass killing and slaughter of our nation’s wild horses and burros.
Please take a minute to personalize the EA comment letter below. Tell the BLM it needs to designate an alternative that prioritizes humane, cost-effective, and science-based fertility control in the form of PZP to manage herd populations without removing large numbers of horses from the range.