Wild Horse and Mustang Roundup by BLM
Here is the latest news in the struggle to keep the wild horses and mustangs on the open public land in the West. In the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, BLM just rounded up 124 wild horses in one day. Once it is all over, more than 400 wild horses and mustangs will be removed and this is the end of wild horses in the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Please read the report below published by Return to Freedom, a wild horse and mustang refuge in California.
Here is how the US Fish and Wildlife Services summarize the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge as follows: [http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/sheldon/]
The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, protects more than half a million acres of high desert habitat for large wintering herds of pronghorn antelope, scattered bands of bighorn sheep, and a rich assortment of other wildlife. The landscape is vast, rugged, and punctuated with waterfalls, narrow gorges, and lush springs among rolling hills and expansive tablelands of sagebrush and mountain mahogany. Elevations on the refuge range from 4,100 to 7,200 feet. Annual precipitation rarely amounts to more than a dozen inches, creating a harsh environment where a wide variety of wildlife manages to thrive. Although established for the protection of wildlife and habitat, the refuge encompasses other interesting features. The remains of old homesteads and ranches intrigue visitors. The lure of fire opals draws miners and rock collectors to the Virgin Valley mining district. Geothermal hot springs create a refreshing oasis in the heart of the refuge. The refuge's mosaic of resources and public interests generates significant management challenges.
Latest update: July 14, 2014 -
I wonder whether the update already took out the wild horses in anticipation of this cruel roundup? |
photo: Steve Paige
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"This wild horse was put down at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge on Aug 11, 2014 after being rounded from beyond the distant horizon. It was then pushed for miles by a team of helicopters on a injured leg."
- Steve Paige, reporting from the Sheldon Roundup
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August 14, 2014
Return to Freedom Wild Horse Ranger Steve Paige is on site to bear witness to the Sheldon Roundup. The end of an era is ushered out by the deafening sound of the helicopter and the thundering hooves of panicked horses.
In the first two days, 124 horses were rounded up and chased into traps to be sorted and separated, the beginning of the end of for these horses. Before its over, over 400 wild horses -- all that remain on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge -- will be gone.
"Sheldon FWS managers have for years experimented with permanent sterilization on the horses there - they could have let those horses live out their lives on the Refuge. At one point they had decided to manage 150 horses there. Now none . . . all gone, another vital link to our living history wiped out" laments Return to Freedom Founder Neda DeMayo. "I look at our Sheldon herd - the 50 horses we took from the 2000 roundup - and I know that they are safe because of our work, but their wild relatives are not and that breaks my heart" DeMayo continues.
Here we see a noble bay stallion on the outside, trying to keep his family in tact in the midst of the chaos. His effort will be futile in the end. And though we worked to make sure that unscrupulous horse traders would not get their hands on the Sheldon horses, we cannot be certain of their fate.
This cruel disposal of our wildlife has to end! Please stand with us and help us fight these senseless roundups.
Become a Member and help us feed and care for the horses we've rescued from past roundups.
P.S.
Return to Freedom is dedicated to protecting the freedom, diversity and habitat of America's wild horses through sanctuary, education, and conservation while enriching the human spirit through direct connection with the natural world.
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It saddens me to file this report and to see the demise of the beautiful wild horses
in yet another area of the West.
Meggi
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