Wild Horse Roundup - Challis, Idaho July 2009

On July 23- 28,2009, the BLM rounded up 364 wild horses in Idaho, known as The Challis Herd. Educate yourself http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/ and please take action . I've photographed this herd for over 5 years and I was there to take pictures of a brutal helicopter chase, round up & holding pens. What you don't know by watching this is that these horses were pushed 10+ miles in 100 degree heat. Some of these wild horses will be re-released, some will be adopted, but the majority will end up in government holding pens. And guess who's paying for it all? The American Taxpayer to the tune of $29 million a year. These are our horses, on our public land and from what I've witnessed, they were doing just fine on their own.
If you find this video disturbing, please take the time to speak out for them. With 33,000 wild horses in Government holding pens, why are we adding to this outrageous number, when they could be living for free, on public land designated to protect them by the Wild & Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act? There are better, kinder and more effective ways to manage these horses.
Please tell your Senators to support HR 1018 "Restore Our American Mustangs" (ROAM). It has already passed the House. It's too late for most of these horses... The intricate social dynamics of the Challis Herd have been crushed... Family bands broken up, foals orphaned, and 7 horses died needlessly.
Let's not let it happen to others. Ask your elected officials for a moratorium on all future round ups -there more are scheduled this month, including the Pryor Mountain Mustangs in Montana.

We can't let this happen again..

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated - Ghandi

All photos by Elissa Kline. Original Music by Paul Cox. Editing by Mat Gershater.
Special thanks to Kenny Bradshaw, rancher, (not retired rancher), for being willing to talk. Now... go make calls & write emails!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Wild horses
• round ups
• wild horse gathers
• animal rights
• helicopter round ups
• horses
• wild horse roundups
• Idaho round ups
• Idaho
• animal cruelty
• BLM gathers
• BLM
• roundups
• herd dynamics
• Salazar
• Mustangs
• Cloud 's Herd Roundup

[MsTaterdog]

I dont see many pictures of the wild horses starving because of over grazed ground because there are too many of them for the area. This does happen if they are not controlled in the numbers and the area they are in wont support them through the winters. Lets get down to the reality of it. There has to be some control on the herds sizes for this reason.

[watchingelk]

@MsTaterdog

Wild horse advocates are not opposed to management of the herds, but there are kinder ways to maintain herd size - bait trapping, PZP sterilization etc.

[watchingelk]

@MsTaterdog

Yes, but on 126,000 acres, with 400 horses and 4000 cattle? C;mon.

[watchingelk]

@MsTaterdog

Yes, but on 126,000 acres, with 400 horses and 4000 cattle? C;mon. Go to 3:39... Take it from Kenny.

[MsTaterdog]

But if these horses are not controlled they multiply, they have colts almost every year and in a couple of years the herd doubles in size, and keeps on growing in size.

Dont take me wrong I have loved horses all my life , but there has to be control on them to continue to let the herds run free. I have seen the wild horses domesticated. Many adopters let them run free in pastures even though they are contained to the smaller areas they do have the freedom of being a horse.

[watchingelk]

@MsTaterdog

There are management alternatives like bait trapping, PZP... No one is arguing that they need to be managed. It's HOW they are managed, with disregard to family systems, cruelty, and at ridiculous expense to the taxpayer. Go to awhpc.com and read the section on solutions. There are many.

[CDLver]

This roundup of wild horses is all about grass and which animals get to graze on it!

Wild horses have the right to roam the PUBLIC land of the Western ranges and they are being removed so that ranchers can graze their privately-owned livestock on PUBLIC lands!

2,700 horses in the Calico Mountain of northwestern Nevada will be rounded-up starting TODAY!

[anonymous915]

Why are our tax dollars being spent like this? If memory serves correctly, they have a hard time adopting these horses out; it's not as easy as it was in the '70's

[Victourios17]

When I`m older I think I`ll roundup as many wild horses as I can get a couple of acres or enough land,stables & paddoks for them all. The majority of them will stay wild horses and not be touched by any human.

[DomSubmissiveKitty]

@DomSubmissiveKitty on a added note, i done research, they don't adopt wild horses from round ups to rodeos, its against the animal rights act. The only way you see these beautiful animals in rodeos is because there is always a lying rancher that will lie on the papers to adopt these animals and then sale them secretively to rodeos for more then they had to pay to adopt them and i'm talkin about thousands...

[DomSubmissiveKitty]

They do round ups to 1) sale the horses 2) control the population and 3) vaccinate them, most of the time they do a round up it is to vaccinate them against equine diseases, google about it and u'll see that there was a case envolving the outbreak of a equine disease that wiped out a entire herd. The one's that are adopted out are broken in first to the pressence of humans and you HAVE TO meet the requirements to adopt one, you can't have animal abuse charges against you.

[xkabelbaan]

wild horses are much beautifull than tamed horses !

[Hightimezman]

My name is Lance Troy Jones, my grandfather Ward Jones, died 1923, my father Val Jones died 1989, his brother Verl Jones and Clay Jones all homesteaded the land the video was taken from...... It is our families ancestral land, and most importantly the BLM has been rounding up the wild horses for 100 years on and off. My father Val and his brother Verl even had a great cowboy armed standoff with the forestry and BLM after they both rode into town and re-rounded up all the horses to set them free.

[Hightimezman]

My name is Lance Troy Jones, my grandfather Ward Jones, died 1923, my father Val Jones died 1989, his brother Verl Jones and Clay Jones all homesteaded the land the video was taken from...... It is our families ancestral land, and most importantly the BLM has been rounding up the wild horses for 100 years on and off. My father Val and his brother Verl even had a great cowboy armed standoff with the forestry and BLM after they both rode into town and re-rounded up all the horses to set them free.

[wildmustangrobin]

Thank you for being a friend to the mustangs. Please check out my petition to save the wild mustangs on change.org/petitions/director-­of-the-bureau-of-land-manageme­nt-the-blm-is-not-exempt-from-­humane-treatment-of-mustangs

[brianszoo]

now im pissed off, get out of there and leave them alone.

[JSMCBuckweat]

100 degrees my ass challis high ever is 97 degrees in 89 and in the last 5 years the high has been 93.... i guarantee that wasnt on any of the round up days!!!

[JSMCBuckweat]

100 degrees my ass challis high ever is 97 degrees in 89 and in the last 5 years the high has been 93....