Wild and free: Protest focuses on BLM wild horse roundup concerns

"Let them be wild and free" was one of the rallying cries of protestors who gathered on Monday morning to speak out against wild horse roundups and management practices by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 

Approximately 30 protestors met up at the Rock Springs Wild Horse Holding Facility, then made their way to the BLM Rock Springs Field Office where they shared speeches, chanted slogans, and held up signs with messages like "Free our wild horses, "Stop wild horse roundups," and "Stop taxpayer funded cruelty."  

"I think anything wild needs to be protected," Larry Hamilton said. 

Larry and his wife Linda were some of the Green River residents who participated in the protest to show their support for protecting wild horses. 

Linda explained that they go out every week, even going in winter as much as they can, to watch the wild horse herds. Larry said it's gotten to the point that they have favorite horses, and they're able to get close to them, take photographs, and peacefully observe. 

"It's good therapy," Larry said. 

"Boy is it therapeutic," Linda agreed. "It got me through two major surgeries."

They're not the only ones who enjoy seeing the horses, either. 

"Linda and I have had friends come over from London, we've had friends from France, who come over here specifically to see wild horses," Larry explained. "So as far as the local economy, I think it helps."

Larry has also experienced the other side of the issue, and has talked with - and gotten into arguments with - ranchers who support wild horse management practices. 

"I ranched all my life, and so I get both sides of the fence," he said. "But I think anything wild should be left alone and protected." 

Other concerns Larry has are connected to roundup techniques and what he perceives to be misinformation coming from the BLM. He noted that he has been following the issue for many years and attended some of the roundups himself. 

"At two weeks old, these little babies can't keep up, and then the mares get separated," he explained. "I've seen mares try to jump these fences trying to get to their foals. And the babies, the foals, run up and down the fence. It's just not ethical."

The BLM seems to want to decimate the wild horse system and close off access to land, according to Larry, but he questioned who would benefit from it. 

"It's our country, our land, our tax dollars," he said. 

The issue of misusing taxpayer dollars by funding roundups and wild horse holding was one of the major concerns brought up during the protest, along with issues like the need for updated studies, questions over how public lands are used and which animals do the most damage, and concerns over animal cruelty. 

"If they're on the range, they cost the taxpayers zero," Gail Bumstead said of the wild horses.

Gail, a co-founder of Advocates for Wild Equines (AWE), was one of the organizers of the protest, along with Jackie Oliveri, a co-founder of Nationwide Wild Horse Freedom Rally, who was the main event organizer. While Jackie is from New York and Gail is from Pennsylvania, they have traveled all over the country to address the issue of protecting wild horses on both a national and local level.

Gail explained that wild horses don't cost anything when left on their wild lands, but roundups and holding end up costing taxpayers millions to billions of dollars over time. She pointed out that horses that are rounded up are put into either short-term or long-term holding. 

"Long-term holding is especially egregious," she said. 

At a cost of $303.53 per day per horse, with 70,000 horses gathered by the end of this year's roundup, doing the math gives you a total of $247,000 per day, which is over $90 million after one year, Gail explained. For horses that can live up to 25 years, you could be looking at over $2 billion, she said. 

Another concern with conducting roundups in the first place is the BLM working with outdated information, according to the protestors. 

Jackie explained that the National Academy of Sciences did a study on the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program in 2013, and recommended doing another study every 10 years. However, another study has not been conducted since. 

"We want roundups to stop until they can evaluate the program again," Jackie said.  

Gail also pointed out that the purpose of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 was to protect wild horses and burros and allow them to stay on public land. Since then, however, the amount of land they are allowed to stay on has decreased significantly. 

"Their lands have been cut by more than two thirds and given over to other interests - mining and livestock," Gail explained. "They only have a little smidgen."

While the issue of overpopulation is often used to justify horse roundups, Gail said that roundups often don't help address it. 

"You're working against yourself," she said, explaining that "the more horses you take away, the more they're going to breed." 

She also expressed her belief that there would be plenty of space for wild horse populations if they were allowed more public land to be on, especially if cattle and sheep were taken off the land. 

Using so much public land for grazing has also damaged the land itself, according to Gail. She said that BLM data shows that most of the damage on public lands comes from cattle and sheep, as well as some mining operations, while only about 1% of the damage comes from the wild horses, "but the horses get blamed for it." 

Another concern for many of the protestors was the animal cruelty they associate with horse roundups, from separating family groups of horses to horses being injured and killed during roundups, especially those done by helicopter. 

Advocates for Wild Equines is currently working on two bills to protect wild horses, according to Gail. One is the SAFE (Save America's Forgotten Equines) Act, which would outlaw transporting horses to slaughter. The other is House Bill 3656, which would outlaw helicopter roundups. 

"We want these roundups to stop," Gail said to the group of protestors. "All the science is on our side." 

Others who attended and spoke during the protest included Eastern Shoshone members Bobbi Shongutsie and Austin Hill. 

Bobbi and Austin are from the Wind River Reservation, and they traveled to support the protest because of concerns with how the BLM and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have managed horses on the reservation. 

"The BIA and BLM rounded up a lot of our horses too, illegally," Bobbi said. "There is a process that's supposed to be done through our government, and the state and other government didn't recognize that and just came in and stole all of our horses."

Austin explained that the reservation had approximately 70,000 horses, which was cut down to about 6,000 in the winter, and the expressed goal is to get the population to under 2,000. 

Bobbi and Austin explained that this loss was even more devastating because they had been doing their own roundups in order to create a program for youth on the reservation, who struggle with suicide as well as alcohol and drug addiction. 

"Part of the Shoshone horse culture is the healing and the connection back with the horses and the land and the people," Bobbi explained. 

She pointed out that the Shoshone youth are currently disconnected and lost, but working with the horses was bringing healing for everyone. Then the government put a stop to it and began taking the horses away. 

"When they deplete our horses they're depleting our culture and they're depleting further generations' knowledge," Austin said. 

Madhu Anderson with Wyoming Wildlife Protection and Dagny Signorelli with Western Watersheds Project also spoke during the protest, emphasizing the need for updated data and transparency and the ability of the BLM to save taxpayer money and protect wild horses by changing livestock grazing practices. 

"Today we stand united to defend wild horses of the White Mountain Herd," Madhu said. "Their freedom, their very existence, is at risk, because the upcoming roundup threatens their future on the lands they call home." 

The BLM is currently scheduled to begin a wild horse gather in southwest Wyoming's White Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) on or after August 15.

"The gather is being conducted to prevent further deterioration of land health due to wild horse overpopulation in the area," the BLM said.

The BLM is aiming to gather approximately 586 wild horses to bring the herd numbers, which are estimated at around 791 animals, down to the "appropriate management level" of 205-300 horses, according to a BLM press release.

All removed horses will be transported to the Rock Springs Wild Horse Holding Facility or the Wheatland Off-Range Corral, the press release explained.

BLM Public Affairs Specialist Micky Fisher from Cheyenne traveled to attend Monday's protest, explaining he wanted to be there to help answer people's questions, and thanking everyone involved for being kind and gracious as they made their voices heard. 

"I do appreciate the dialogue," he said. "When we stop talking, that's when we stop finding solutions."