Approximately 40 Horses Adopted on Day 1 of Devil's Garden Event
On November 17, 2018, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) attended the adoption and sale event for older Devils Garden wild horses. These horses were captured in last month’s roundup in the Modoc National Forest.
Approximately 40 of the estimated 260 horses in the Double Devil holding pens were adopted or sold. These are the horses the Forest Service intends to sell without limitation on slaughter for $1 each in less than two months. Adopters and purchasers at the event appeared to be a mix of rescues and trainers, with no large purchases of horses made. The Forest Service was selling horses for $25 each, with up to 24 horses allowed to be purchased at a time.
The horses being offered for sale or adoption are primarily aged 10 and over, with some elder horses in their late teens and twenties. The horses are a colorful group with roans, greys, blacks, pintos, buckskins, and bays. The Forest Service told us of one group of senior stallions in their 20s they call the Hollywood herd, named after actors like Robert Redford. Most of the horses appeared healthy, but some were elderly and thin. Two stallions are suffering from a skin condition that has caused strange hair loss on their face and torso. Some of the gelded stallions appeared to have been very recently castrated and were not yet fully recovered.
It’s always sad to see formerly wild horses in pens, but especially heartbreaking to see these noble older mustangs, once running proud and free, now languishing in feedlot pens. The stress of the capture and captivity is obvious in the mares who, according to the Forest Service, are “dropping foals every day” but delivering stillborns. Only one foal has survived so far.
Mares whose foals survive will be moved to a “nursery pen” where the mare/foal pairs will be offered together for sale until the foals are weaning age. After that, they will be separated, but the Forest Service isn’t sure whether they will be sent to the BLM's Litchfield Corrals or kept in the corrals on the Modoc.
On the way to the sale/adoption event, we stopped to see the over 600 younger horses captured in this roundup who were sent to the BLM's Litchfield Corrals, where they will be offered for adoption. Again, we saw pens full of beautiful, colorful, innocent horses who face an uncertain future. Those who are unadopted after three tries and become sale authority may be sent back to the Forest Service corrals where they will be offered for sale, possibly for slaughter.
The ability of the Forest Service to sell these horses will depend on space availability at the corrals on the Modoc Forest, i.e., how quickly they can place the older horses. The same goes for the Forest Service plans for a 1,000 horse roundup next year. The FS ability to round up more horses depends on their ability to place horses captured in this roundup. They do not plan on providing long-term care for the horses, thus their sale without limitation on slaughter plan.
The Forest Service claims that all this is necessary because the horses are destroying the range. They also claim that the horses on the range are starving. The credibility of this claim is undermined significantly by the fact that the vast majority of horses observed both on the range and when captured in the last month appear to be fit and healthy. It’s also undermined by the fact that the Forest refuses to acknowledge the role of massive tax-subsidized livestock grazing has played in damaging the public lands in the area. Over 5,000 cattle and 2,900 sheep are authorized to graze six months a year in Devils Garden, including during the critical growth period in spring. The Forest Service says the cattle are “managed” and have less impact, but the destructive impacts of intensive seasonal livestock grazing are well established.
AWHC is focusing our efforts on stopping the Forest Service from selling horses for slaughter via our litigation, grassroots advocacy, and political action. Our lawsuit, filed by our excellent legal team at Meyer Glitzenstein and Eubanks (who is 12 for 12 in winning our wild horse cases), is proceeding and we expect to win, given that the sale-for-slaughter plan is illegal, especially in California where the sale of horses for slaughter is a felony. And our elected officials continue to speak up. Last week, Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Assemblymember Todd Gloria and 22 of his colleagues in speaking out against the plan.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Devils Garden wild horses are in need of safe placement. If you would like to give one of these beautiful wild horses a good home, you can find out more information here and here.