Call to Action: Comments on HMAP due on Friday, July 11th

 

July 8, 2008

Dear Cloud Friends;

The deadline for comments on the BLM’s drastic Pryor Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) is this Friday, July 11th. Let me summarize the key talking points to include in your message to Jared Bybee, wild horse specialist.

  1. Work to expand the legal wild horse range boundaries to include the historic use areas in the Custer National Forest. This will allow for a truly viable herd of 200-300 mustangs.

  2. Keep the population at a viable number of at least 150 adults until range expansion is achieved. This will allow for the preservation of the rare Spanish genetics of the herd. Bringing in horses from other herds is ill advised, unnecessary and costly.

  3. Work to protect the mountain lions that have kept the herd at zero population growth in years past. This is natural management which should be the goal.

  4. Avoid manipulating the population to favor males 60-40% over females. This ratio would increase stallion competition for mares, putting more stress on all the horses.

  5. Stop field darting mares with infertility drugs that have resulted in abscesses and out-of-season births on the Pryors.  

BLM’s plan would bring the herd to just 90 animals, continue infertility drugs and ignore the possibility of range expansion into the Custer National Forest. This is unacceptable.

The main reason BLM cites for gutting the herd is the lack of adequate forage in the legal range. This is a bogus argument because:
1. The Pryor wild horses don’t use just the designated range, but an area far larger in the Custer National Forest.
2. The range appears to be in great condition and with the continuing abundant moisture, local residents are saying that the range has never looked better.

Removing horses this year exposes them to a greater than normal risk due to the lack of buyers. People are unable to sell trained, young horses. Wild horses could end up going to Canada and Mexico to slaughter. The safest place for our mustangs is on the range.

To protect Cloud’s herd, please make your voice heard by writing, faxing, or e-mailing Jared Bybee by this Friday, July 11th:

Jared Bybee, State Wild Horse and Burro Specialist
BLM -Billings Field Office
5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101
phone (406) 896-5223, fax (406) 896-5281.
Or email him at MT_WildHorse@blm.gov
The subject line must contain “Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range/Territory Preliminary Environmental Assessment and Draft HMAP”
(The subject line must contain "Pryor Mountain Wild Horse
Range/Territory Preliminary Environmental Assessment and Draft HMAP")

Click here for a complete Contact Directory on who to call and write to prevent the extinction of Cloud’s herd and all our wild horses.

The risks have skyrocketed for all wild horses since BLM announced plans to consider killing off thousands of wild horses to balance their budget. We don’t know if this would include horses yet to be rounded up. If so, this would then directly impact Cloud’s herd and even Cloud himself. HR 249, the Bill which would put protections back in the Wild Horse and Burro Act, has been stuck in the Senate Energy and House Resources Committee for over a year, even though it flew through the House. Pressure needs to be placed on these committee members. Click here for a sample letter to the committee.

Thanks for all your phone calls and letters. Your efforts are making a difference! Let’s keep up the pressure to ensure the survival of our wild horses.

Happy Trails!

Ginger Kathrens
Volunteer Executive Director
The Cloud Foundation