Invasive Sterilization of Wild Herds on BLM Land Halted

Officials with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have notified representatives from The Cloud Foundation and the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) that they have canceled highly controversial sterilization experiments on wild mares. This decision follows extensive public opposition and three separate lawsuits, including a Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed by TCF and AWHC, seeking an injunction under the First Amendment to allow video recording of the proceedings.

Responding to BLM’s decision to drop the sterilization research, TCF and AWHC attorney Nick Lawton of Meyer, Glitzenstein and Eubanks stated that BLM's withdrawal of its invasive sterilization experiments reveals that the agency knows the public will not accept these inhumane practices.

“We sued to protect our clients' First Amendment right to document the BLM's actions and to hold them publicly accountable for their treatment of wild horses,” he said. “The litigation and advocacy efforts that led up to the lawsuits clearly demonstrate that surgically sterilizing wild horses is not socially acceptable, and we are glad the BLM acknowledged this and withdrew the entire Decision Record authorizing the experiments.”

The BLM stated that the decision, though not made lightly, was in response to litigation that could have put the wild horses, BLM staff, and research partners at risk by requiring unnecessary persons or equipment within the small confines of the procedure space.

BLM officials wanted to study three methods to determine their safety and effectiveness for controlling the wild horse population. Advocates were most concerned about a procedure involving the removal of ovaries from sedated, pregnant mares at various gestational stages. According to ABC News, the veterinarian reaches into the mare's abdomen through the vagina to sever and remove the ovaries.

Ginger Kathrens, TCF Volunteer Executive Director, stated that the sterilization research was a path to destroying wild horses by eradicating “the very essence of what makes them wild – their natural behaviors.” She emphasized the need to remain vigilant to ensure the agency does not pursue the 'euthanasia' of wild horses in holding or the castration of wild stallions, advocating instead for humane PZP fertility control programs as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.

Simultaneously, the BLM National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board passed a resolution urging the “euthanasia” of wild horses currently in government holding facilities. Currently, 45,000 wild horses and burros are held in short- and long-term holding facilities, according to officials from the two advocacy groups.

Holly Hazard, Senior Vice President of Programs & Innovations at the Humane Society of the United States, criticized the BLM advisory board's recommendation to destroy the 45,000 wild horses in holding facilities as a complete abdication of responsibility for their care. She noted that the agency's long-term mismanagement led to this situation and that alternatives have been ignored for over 20 years. The HSUS stands ready to implement these alternatives at any time.

The resolution is seen as the culmination of decades of BLM mismanagement of wild horses, burros, and public rangelands. Advocates argue that livestock has historically degraded public lands and that the BLM has created a crisis by continuing to use roundups and removals instead of humane fertility control, which has been available for nearly 30 years and is recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.

Kathrens was the sole dissenting vote against the Advisory Board resolution calling for the 'euthanasia' of horses in holding.

“While cancellation of the sterilization experiments is a major victory, Americans will not stand by and allow the killing of tens of thousands of wild horses in holding facilities,” Suzanne Roy, AWHC executive director, said. “If the agency thought the public was opposed to sterilization, wait until it sees what happens in response to the proposed mass killing of these American icons.”

On August 15, officials with TCF and AWHC filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction to stop the experiments unless the agency allowed public observation and videotaping of the invasive procedures. Government lawyers informed the groups that the agency did not intend to pursue the surgical sterilization of mares at this time, if ever, according to a news release from the two advocacy groups.

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on Western public lands, focusing on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana. Cloud is the subject of TCF Founder Ginger Kathrens' groundbreaking PBS/Nature documentaries. The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) is a national wild horse advocacy organization endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

Originally posted by Ruidoso News