WHEATLAND – The rehoming project of the Bureau of Land Management has been for the most successful part in removing wild horses who are prone to starvation with overpopulation. In a recent article put out by American Wild Horse Campaign, the AWHC has made some allegations against the BLM and its rehoming project that affects Wyoming. In a letter from BLM’s Richard Packer, he rebuts and reiterates the purpose and plans of BLM.
AWHC REPORT: Bureau of Land Management’s unprecedented wild horse roundup plan will cost US taxpayers millions and benefit special interests
Private livestock industry makes huge profits rounding up and removing protected horses from the range, new analysis shows
The US Bureau of Land Management announced this week that it plans to round up more wild horses than ever before. But how much will this cost US taxpayers? The answer is “a lot,” a new analysis by the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) shows.
Publicly available contract documents show that BLM has spent:
$332,537,529 on long-term holding pastures for wild horses since 2004.
$87,005,461 on short-term holding corrals since 2005.
$53,199,199,065 on helicopter and bait-trapping roundups since 2006.
In fact, the AWHC’s analysis shows that, for the last 10 years, livestock operators have received 89% of contract funds ($361,089,585 out of $405,734,931) paid out through the BLM’s “Wild Horse/Burro Control Services” budget.
The documents show private livestock companies making millions via their roundup contracts with the BLM. Examples include:
Cattoor Livestock Roundup Company of Nephi, Utah, awarded
$26,196,838 from 153 contracts with the BLM and $2,410,617 from 5 contracts with the USFS,
including contracts that extend through 2025.
Sun J Livestock of Vernal, Utah
$9,993,939 from 34 contracts with the BLM and $574,342 from 1 contract with the USFS
since 2010, including contracts that extend through 2025.
Shayne F. Sampson of Meadow, Utah, awarded
$4,927,430 from 37 contracts with the BLM and $39,529 from 1 contract with the USFS
since 2012, including contracts that extend through 2025.
Private businesses that provide short-term holding corrals for wild horses removed from the range also make millions, the report shows. Examples include:
Indian Lakes Holding Facility, in Fallon, Nevada, operated by Broken Arrow Horse & Cattle Company,
Awarded $39,166,063 from 11 contracts with the BLM since 2010.
Axtell Off-Range Corrals in Axtell, Utah, operated by Kerry M. Despain, awarded
$17,482,062 from 13 contracts with the BLM since 2012.
Simplot Livestock, Bruneau Off-Range Corrals, in Bruneau, Idaho, operated by JR Simplot, awarded
$16,410,175 from 7 contracts with the BLM since 2015.
Sutherland Off-Range Corral in Sutherland, Utah, operated by G&R Livestock Inc., awarded
$3,770,200 from 3 contracts with the BLM since 2020.
Of the 18,891 horses and burros in short-term corrals as of November 2021, 5,571 are stored in these private facilities.
Conditions at these short-term holding facilities are notoriously harsh: crowded feedlot pens that offer little to no shelter from extreme summer heat or winter winds, snow and cold.
In addition to these short-term corrals, the BLM ships horses to 42 privately owned long-term holding corrals, including:
Drummond Land & Cattle Co. ($33,871,726; 19 contracts);
20 West LLC ($25,068,980; 11 contracts);
Grand Eagle Summit, LLC ($22,983,343; 14 contracts);
Tadpole Cattle Co Inc. ($22,175,928; 7 contracts); other
Hughes Cattle Company ($18,221,663; 13 contracts).
The same person—Robert S. Hughes II—owns both Tadpole Cattle Co Inc. and Hughes Cattle Company, thus collectively earning $39,964,983 from 19 contracts.
Roundups also benefit private livestock operators who graze their cattle on leased public lands where horses also roam, the AWHC says. The ranchers get cheap access to this public land, thanks to government subsidies. For example, the cost of grazing a single cow-calf pair on private land in the West is about $23 per month. But the grazing fee for a cow-calf pair on leased public land is $1.35 per month. As a result, the BLM’s grazing program loses millions of dollars each year. In fiscal year 2017, the bureau spent $79 million on the grazing program but took in only $18.3 million in grazing fees.
The livestock industry uses this big money to press the BLM for further roundups, ballooning the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program budget from $19.8 million in 2001 to $116 million in 2021, despite critical reports from the National Academy of Sciences, General Accountability Office, and the Office of Inspector General that have labeled the program as costly, inefficient and ineffective.
In addition to the wild horse program, the livestock industry benefits from a $133 million predator control program within the USDA that lethally removes mountain lions, wolves, coyotes and other animals for the benefit of cattle and sheep grazers.
“This giant federal entitlement program is funneling hundreds of millions of our tax dollars annually to the livestock industry at the expense of wild horses, burros, other wildlife and our public lands,” said Suzanne Roy, executive director of the AWHC. “It’s time to end this government waste and require humane, cost-effective and scientific management of our federally-protected wild horses and burros, which 80% of Americans want to protect.”
The National Academy of Sciences in a BLM-commissioned report noted that the bureau doesn’t use science when determining how many wild horses should be allowed to roam the range, and it called on the BLM to use humane fertility control to manage horse populations instead of roundups. The cost to dart a mare with the safe and effective PZP vaccine to prevent pregnancy according to the BLM is $220, while the agency states that the cost to round up a horse from the range and warehouse it for life is up to $50,000.
Please contact AWHC for further information on these findings. You can see more information from AWHC’s analysis here.
About the American Wild Horse Campaign: The American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.
Grace Kuhn [email protected]
Rebuttal and response from the BLM:
The Bureau of Land Management’s goal is to ensure healthy herds of wild horses and burros and a healthy landscape. With no natural predators that can control population growth, a wild horse or burro herd can double in size every 4-5 years and quickly overpopulate its habitat. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act directs the BLM to manage wild horses and burros to achieve a “thriving natural ecological balance” and, when an overpopulation exists, to gather and remove excess animals and make them available for private care. This mission is even more critical as the West continues to face extreme drought conditions that can put overpopulated wild horse and burro herds at even higher risk for starvation, thirst and habitat degradation. Just last year the BLM conducted emergency actions to save nearly 7,000 drought-knitting animals. As of March 1, 2021, there were an estimated 86,000 wild horses and burros on public lands, which is more than three times the appropriate management level.
the BLM strives to place animals gathered from overpopulated herds into good, private care through adoptions or sales. Wild horses that are not adopted or sold are placed in a contracted pasture designed to mimic their natural habitat and allow the animals to graze and live out the rest of their lives in a non-corral setting that is also more cost-effective for taxpayers. the BLM Procures contracts for wild horse and burro off-range facilities and gather services through an open solicitation process that invites bids from all qualified applicants. All facilities must adhere to required standards designed to prioritize animal welfare, including providing ample space and shelter based on the location and needs of the animals.
the BLM continues to work to improve the Wild Horse and Burro Program, including measures to reduce costs to taxpayers. thanks to BLM‘s partners and innovative programs like the Adoption Incentive Program and the Online Corral, the BLM placed more animals into private care in Fiscal Year 2021 than has been done in over 20 years. the BLM also continues to expand its fertility control efforts to help control herd growth and reduce the need for removing excess animals from overpopulated herds. the BLM completed a record number of fertility control treatments last year and plans to double that this year. the BLM‘s goal is to gradually reduce overpopulation and achieve healthy herds of wild horses and burros on healthy public lands through a combination of gathers, fertility control, adoptions and off-range pastures.
-Richard Packer [email protected] BLM communication
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