The point was made yesterday that while grants for more permanent solutions are fine, these are the tools in the toolbox NOW. USE THEM. DON’T WAIT! The most important element is FOLLOW THROUGH. If there is no follow through with PZP, the past will just repeat itself. I support the above actions with the understanding that healthy genetics shall be maintained.

Restoring Trust

What I realized during my “tour” of the Fish Creek HMA with the Eureka County Natural Resources Advisory Committee is how deeply trust has been broken trust with the locals. Straight, “top down” administration is a remnant of the past. In order for contraception programs to work, it needs the support of the local community. Who better to tally observation of wild horses than the ranchers and miners who work the land every day, when the field office may be 150 miles away? Nevada and Wyoming pose particularly difficult challenges in both distance and sheer numbers of horses. Trust building in those communities, so that they feel they are part of the process would be good for horses. And people. And be more in line with how we need to live in our present world. That comes back to Dr. Cope’s comments on stakeholder coalition.

Compliance

(Note: This references compliance to the newly established regulations for humane gathering and handling, not adopter compliance.)

I applaud the Board’s efforts to create humane handling and gather regulations, however it concerns me that there is no protocol for enforcement. Regulations need teeth. I suggest monetary and/or other real consequences for disregard of humane handling regulations and that they actually be enforced. Otherwise it’s business as usual.

Slaughter

I think we are all in agreement that we are in crisis as far as numbers go. Banning slaughter for horses in the US has not been good for horses. Though I am not pro- slaughter, I expect we will see it reinstated in the US in the next few years. The best thing we can do for wild horses is to stabilize populations. The best thing we can do for horses, when and if it comes, is ensure that highly humane standards are strictly enforced.

Top Down is Dead

The thing that has negatively impressed me the most is the dysfunction within the bureaucracy itself. The disconnect between ground level specialists, mid level bureaucrats and upper level politicians is not serving some of BLM’s hardest working people, or the horses and citizens they serve. Mr. Tupper asked us to remember that BLM is an organization of 10,000 people and responds slowly. Horses are not slow. I’m not a bureaucrat, so I don’t know the answer to this one. I do know that for people to do good work, they need to feel supported by their organization which often isn’t happening. BLM simply following its own regulations and creating an atmosphere of consistency would go far, all the way around.