BLM Rock Creek, Wyoming closed for months, now strangles

Closed facility since October? Strangles three full months after the roundup? This is not the first incident of strangles though the others have been minor. Also, the BLM spokesperson's reason for closing it .. evidently they don't have enough staff to operate the facility when horses are being vetted, tattoed, etc. is another byproduct of the Salazar's failed massive roundup plan. How are they going to be able to adopt out the horses if people can't come to view them beforehand? And how does a public facility remain closed for six months and no one complain?

I have talked to a few of these folks and they think they are doing a good job, however, they are too casual in their rationale that "horses get strangles all the time." There are usually specific reasons (either its in the facility from previous cases or it came in from the outside on something as innocuous as the boots the staff was wearing.) Something needs to be looked at there so there is no repeat outbreak in future roundups.

Here is a comment by Sandra from the STTH site. It sums up the situation better than I can ...

"Strangles is not naturally occuring in wild horses..it comes from overcrowding in small areas, like all animals pigs chickens cattle that are being held for slaughter, they are consantly doused with antibiotics.It is inherant, and strangles remains in the soil and on the fences awaiting the arrival of new victims..you can sterilize the metal chutes but not the rest…the foals who are undergoing weaning are at the greatest risk because of the stress..in domestic horses they are exposed to many things they build up antibodies to, mares pass that to their foals in the colostrum..wild horses live in a open environment and do not come in contact with anything other than ranchers cows and sheep, those cows and sheep have brought disease to deer elk and bison, chronic wasting disease..which is very simular to mad cow..you should not eat nor butcher any animal that exhibits those symptoms..It appears to be radiating out from Colorado to other states..Any number of viral diseases will sweep like wildfire thru the hundreds of unprotected horses in those crowded pens"

http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/news_room/2013/january/23hdd-AdoptPostpone.html

Release Date: 01/23/13
Contacts: Serena Baker, 307-212-0197 BLM Rock Springs Wild Horse Adoption and School Field Trips Postponed
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) High Desert District (HDD) is postponing this week’s scheduled Sweetwater County School District #1 and #2 fourth grade field trips, wild horse adoption and reopening of the Rock Springs Wild Horse Holding Facility (RSWHHF) in Rock Springs, Wyo. due to illness. Approximately 30-40 percent of the weanling wild horses were diagnosed with Strangles during yesterday morning’s routine veterinarian check-up prior to the adoption. Strangles is an upper respiratory infection in horses. The bacterial infection causes fever, runny nose, swollen or enlarged lymph nodes and even abscesses in the neck and throatlatch. BLM veterinarian Dr. Paul Zancanella, who examined the young colts, says, “This is the cold and flu season for all of us, even horses. There are s everal reported cases of Strangles in southern Wyoming and this type of infection is common any time a number of horses are together.”

Update on Tumbleweed from Terri Farley

Terri Farley, wild horse advocate and author, keeps a great blog on both subjects.  Here is a link to her story about Tumbleweed, the little mustang filly infamously roped and dragged onto a trailer by the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDOA).

http://terrifarley.blogspot.com/2013/01/tumbleweed-heart-mustang-fillys-first.html

I've seen this several times on the internet lately. Seems like words to live by as we start a New Year.

"You have done what you could - some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered by your old nonsense."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Foaling rates at recent Owyhee Roundup 2012

For the record:

During the first part of the Nov/December Owyhee roundup, 819 horses were removed.

Of those 819,  there were 287 stallions, 364 mares and 160 foals for a foaling rate of 20.5%. The population breakdown was omitted from the daily gather and facility reports because there is a new person doing the daily updates, not because the information wasn't provided from the field or holding facility.

I found it odd that no advocates seemed to be watching or looking for those daily numbers. Do we all have "gather fatigue?"

If you factor in death by natural causes (not by Cattoor and Sun J) estimated to be around 10% in the wild, this would make a population increase of closer to 10% per year than the 20% the BLM alleges. This number  is VERY manageable with the use of PZP.

The BLM plans to roundup 150 - 200 more in the second phase beginning January 4th, skew the sex ratio and apply PZP to less than 50 mares, removing 47 more horses.

Why not apply PZP to more mares and leave the rest of them on the range? They have already removed hundreds more than planned and to continue to remove horses when they have no place to put them (LTH facilities are full and STH, which house the horses in extremely bleak conditions will soon be full as well).

At a cost savings of over 10K per horse over a 20 year span, surely the application of PZP in the field achieves the results the BLM wants (even though it might not be instantaneous) and makes financial sense as well.

Certainly there are more issues surrounding the wild horses at Owyhee than I have addressed here. The patchwork access to public lands, the lack of available water to horses (though livestock has plenty) are all concerns but my worry is for a BLM that simply doesn't recognize, or care, the danger they put wild horses in with their continual reliance on outdated management practices. PZP is not without its detractors and side effects, but it is preferable to gelding, spaying, and the roundup and incarceration for life that provides the fuel for critics of the BLM program.

We have to stop removing horses at the rate they are being removed and "stored" in holding. It puts ALL the wild horses at risk.

This does not bode well for the mustangs.

Link to Cloud Foundation You Tube

At 4:25 in, here is what Salazar says about the Wild Horse and Burro program in response to Phillips' question about whether or not the BML is contemplating making changes to safeguard the horses:

" ... the fact is that there are huge issues with the Wild Horses and mustangs on the public domain and there is a major effort on the part of the Bureau of Land Management to make sure that a problem that has gone unaddressed for a very, long time does get addressed. And we're working on it very diligently."

A problem that has gone unaddressed. Really, what were the last four years of roundups about and why does he feel that the wild horses are a "problem."

You know, he really can't do much harm to Phillips in spite of his off camera threat (too bad the tape didn't role a little longer) but he can really harm the wild horses.

Let's find this Animal Abuser

Please post to your lists. Someone, somewhere will recognize this facility or animal abuser. Let's get this guy arrested!

Not for young children Click on this link

or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pJwqunCRUGA

Another must read article by Andrew Cohen

Probably timed to be published a few days before the October meeting of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board ..


Are We Leading Our Wild Horses to Slaughter?

"Saved by the Bell"

10/29: Latest update from Laura Bell at Starlight Sanctuary, Nevada. Please donate to her rescue if you can .. she's going to have one heck of a feed bill.

 

 The Starlight Sanctuary is a 501c3

October 29, 2012--9:24 AM-

Thank you to Janice for reminding me to update the Shasta Horses Fallon Feedlot rescue.....as everyone might imagine, it has been really stressful and hectic since I first saw these horses on October 5th over at the Fallon Livestock Exchange kill sale yard. There have been A LOT of major UP'S and DOWNS throughout....many times I thought we were doing great and they'd all be safe only to have my hopes dashed 1 hour later. You know it's pretty bad when you have a husband who always is telling you how beautiful you look (which I'm not, but it's still nice when he says it! lol) say "Laura, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you look like hell"....guess I was looking pretty worn out when he said that....:-(

Here's where we're at: They are all safe as of this morning and no one is leaving on the truck to Canada on Wednesday morning....in fact, there are other horses in the kill pen NOT associated with the Shasta Horses even as I write this and they may end up with a reprieve for a week of shipping because I don't think there is a full load to ship at this point....if that is the case, I'm going to ask the kill buyer about those horses and see if there are any that can be rescued (some good looking horses in the kill pen) and are only going because they need the weight for loads....maybe those horses can have a permanent reprieve from ever going to slaughter.....I'll keep everyone posted on this.....

 For a Facebook timeline of what has been going on, please visit the Facebook page that was begun by a super nice gal named Romney:

http://www.facebook.com/rescuethehorses

 Some of the info on the Facebook page is not correct in that some horses are not technically rescued by individuals and will be coming home with me and then I will find homes for them, however, none of the Shasta Horses will be shipping to slaughter.....thank you EVERYONE for all of your help and support.....

I'm starting what I call "the rescue after the rescue" phase because I believe that it often is over-looked that its not just all about rescuing horses from slaughter in the here-and-now, we also have to follow-through and follow up on what happens to the horses that are adopted out to folks who couldn't out-right pay for the horse, but can provide a good home and maintenance....this is where my 1 year feed lease contract comes in, so I will be sending that out to everyone that will be taking a horse that they didn't bail themselves and unless I get back a signed contract with very stringent rules to follow in terms of me receiving photos any time I ask for them, speaking with the peoples vet if I want to, stopping by to see the horse if I'm in the area, etc, then they will NOT get the horse.

I stopped taking donations thru PayPal from people who are actually taking a horse home and were paying bail because there is too much lag-time on transferring the money from PayPal to my bank, however, I would still greatly appreciate if people could donate through PayPal on my website for feed, gas money that I'm paying to people that are hauling horses to their new homes, dewormers for the ones I brought home, etc. 

Every little bit helps when we're dealing with this number of horses in the whole rescue, and also the 23 extra mouths to feed that I have/or will have here at the sanctuary until I can place more horses in local homes where I can monitor them.

Thanks again everyone and I will post more as the Shasta Horses start leaving for their wonderful new homes!

10/23 Update from Laura Bell below: these horses have been given another week ....  

 

 The Starlight Sanctuary is a 501c3

UPDATE: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 4:10 AM

This will be brief for right now so I can get a few hours sleep: the Shasta, CA horses, all of them (even the big, brown gelding who had been moved to the kill pen), are safe until next Monday, October 29th end of day.......I bought 7 more horses last night, and with those, and also so many people stepping-up and donating to rescue horses, and many people now seeing an opportunity to not only help these horses, but also take home a super nice horse or horses, the kill buyer sees we are trying our best from all over the country and kept these horses out of the kill pen (except the brown gelding who is being put back in the gelding pen this morning and is safe once again)....unfortunately, for every one of these horses that doesn't go, other horses do.....some that will go were horses that were dropped off over the weekend and yesterday as "slaughter only", which means that similar to a person dropping off a dog at the vets and saying "put them to sleep" even if relatively healthy, these horses may or may not have severe issues but the kill buyer ships them at the owners request.  I'll write more later, but I was told that the remainder of the Shasta, CA horses that are not sold/rescued by close of day next Monday will be examined by the vet and paperwork done next Tuesday and they will ship to Canada on Wednesday, October 31st.

We're doing great everyone, but there are still a lot more horses to rescue.....I did buy two horses yesterday that I feel would not find homes; one because of lameness, and the other one because of a wound that will take a long while to heal and will leave a lump of scar tissue on the horses joint; these horses will reside at The Starlight Sanctuary most likely permanently. Every, other horse is in fine condition and there are a lot of really nice horses to choose from. I'm also updating the photo section with descriptions and pricing for each horse in a photo, so check back this afternoon and more information will be available for individual horses.

Thank you to everyone who is networking, donating, buying/rescuing a horse or horses for themselves, etc.....WE are doing more than I thought would happen when this whole thing started on October 5th, the Friday preceeding the sale on October 9th and I'm becoming cautiously hopeful that between all of us, we WILL save all of these beautiful horses! :-)

No, this is not the movie, it's the real thing for a group of gorgeous, quarter horses that never got a chance to be "wanted." 

This entry and the previous one for Thursday the 18th are from Laura Bell of Starlight Sanctuary in Nevada. Please x-post to your lists and tell your friends that there are some great horses on a kill buyer's lot in Fallon, Nevada. Their owner's died, the killers bought them and they are going to be shipped to slaughter through no fault of their own starting on the 24th. They're not sick, lame, blind, starved or mean. They were  just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Hi Everyone,
We're still forging ahead on the rescue of all those horses off a ranch from near Shasta, CA who went through the Fallon Livestock Exchange kill sale after the owner died and the Estate sent them there to be autioned on October 9th.
These are beautiful quality QH, Paint Horse and Appaloosas.....there are mares with babies, mares without babies, handsome geldings, a awesome young stallion who would be a great ranch horse once gelded or even a wonderful dressage horse because he IS a beautiful mover, yearling and 2 year old fillies and colts, etc. 
A lot of really well built, colorful horses, with mellow dispositions STILL need rescuing before the end of the day on Monday, otherwise they are shipping to slaughter in Canada on Wednesday, October 24th.
 

Please visit our website at www.thestarlightsanctuary.org for a recent update last night which is that I’m going to the kill buyers place today (Saturday, October 20th) to begin making the really tough life and death decisions of which horses can be rescued with the funds we have had donated, and which ones I’ve done all I can do for them. I have enough donations that I can rescue several depending on if they are mares with foals, adult mares, weanlings, etc, but will put on an emphasis on the ones that no one wants because they are older, not as flashy as some of the others, might be difficult to handle, etc: those are the ones we usually take in here because no one else wants them but they don't deserve to die because of it :-

(Most Recent Videos taken 10-17-2012 of all available horses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p8-bsqGfwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cfzu-fKzRk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNF8cmt0WOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbOvElIlaIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLxWZU9QZ9U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRE9CobCzWY 

Also taken 10-17-2012 were still Photos and have been uploaded

http://thestarlightsanctuary.webs.com/apps/photos/ 

Please pass around and “Share” this post and our website address wherever you can because time is very short for many of these horses (a truck is leaving this Wednesday, October 24th with horses bound for slaughter in Canada)….with enough donations and also people who want a horse for themselves (and I am evaluating several horses today for people who want the horse to come home to them), I know we could have a miracle happen and we could rescue ALL of them…....I won't give up until the horses from Shasta are all gone; either to new homes or to slaughter.

Laura Bell

www.thestarlightsanctuary.org

www.starwoodfarm.com

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