Regarding wild horses dying at Muddy Creek Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah: The Bureau of Land Management stated they can’t intervene with natural systems by trucking in water for the horses. The reality is BLM and ranchers have completely subverted the system at Muddy Creek and everywhere else there is livestock grazing, by overtaxing extremely limited resources with thousands of non-native, for-profit cattle.
BLM cannot now go back and say they’ve got to leave the horses to fend for themselves, because it’s no longer a natural system. Thanks to an overburdened ecosystem, where livestock outnumber wild horses on average 30:1, temporary interventions, in this case bringing in water, are now critical.
It’s unconscionable to allow these horses to continue to die. More horses have been seen lingering at the mudhole because they don’t have the strength to make it to the next water source. Advocates who are offering to haul water have been ignored, and they cannot legally do it without permits issued by BLM.
This very sad situation should not have happened. Livestock have millions of additional acres of public lands on which to graze. The designated wild horse HMAs are mandated to be managed “principally” for wild horses (see “range” (c) in WFRHBA).
Per the Code of Federal Regulations, 4710.5 a) “If necessary...to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury, the authorized officer may close appropriate areas of the public lands to grazing use by all or a particular kind of livestock.”
Private corporate entities and their bottom lines should not take precedence over the birds, deer, bears, wild horses, and all other wildlife that live on our public lands. The deaths of these innocent, federally protected animals are on you, BLM.
It’s time to act on behalf of Americans and our public lands.
Linda Wallace, Eugene, Oregon
