Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Sadly, Burgum is about Money for Ranchers and is mismanaging American wild horses, which are a protected by law, "native species" in North America. Cattle are invasive and destroying the landscape... they caused the great dust bowls during the 1930s. Anyone telling the truth and has a token understanding of science knows: ALL horses in the world came from those that evolved here in America according to a plentiful fossil record, starting 55-Million Years ago, with E. Caballus, the modern horse, being 2-Million years on the continent. There is NOT A SINGLE COW FOSSIL in America... they call came over from Africa and Europe. So, the science says Sec. Burgum failed science, or he's mouthing a predetermined narrative that benefits his rancher friends Sorry Doug, you know we are 100% correct, and so did the award-winning journalist who wrote this factual article: theepochtimes.com/article/ca… #WildHorses @SecretaryBurgum @DougBurgum @SecKennedy @RobertKennedyJc @RobertKennedyJr @grok @bot @elonmusk @POTUS @azritnede

🐴 A BAN ON A SLAUGHTERHOUSE THAT DOESN’T EXIST Newsom’s horse bill, the export loophole, Mono Lake — and the cultural-heritage herd still on the mountain at Wild Horse Ranch 👇 Read every section. This is the record. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE POINT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ A governor can sign a bill that sounds like a rescue and still leave the pipeline open. That is the difference between protecting horses and posing with them. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT THE “BAN” ACTUALLY DOES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ California already made it a felony to possess or sell a horse knowing the carcass would be used for HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Voters did that in 1998 (Proposition 6). There has been NO USDA-inspected horse slaughter plant on U.S. soil since 2007, when Congress stopped funding inspections. So a new Sacramento headline that “bans horse slaughter in California” is, in practice, a ban on something that is already illegal here and already gone from American packing plants. What still happens is the part a press release never leads with: horses leave the state. They go to auctions, kill buyers, and plants in Mexico and Canada. The federal SAFE Act — still not the law of the land — is written around slaughter FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Ship the same animal as “animal feed,” “byproduct,” or a $25 “sale” that strips Wild Horse Act status, and the moral vocabulary changes while the truck still rolls. If Newsom wanted a law that matched the rhetoric, he would have banned EXPORT of California horses for slaughter or rendering of ANY kind, including the feed loophole. He did not. That is gamesmanship: take the applause, leave the loophole. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MONO LAKE IS THE TELL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ While Sacramento sold a slaughter story, the Forest Service and BLM ran a helicopter gather on the Montgomery Pass / Mono Lake horses in July 2026. Official tally: 461 CAPTURED. Destination: off-range corrals in Modoc County, then the adoption-and-sale machinery. Inyo National Forest’s own daily sheet listed deaths during the operation (three listed as chronic on July 9). Tribes with ancestral claim to that ground sued and were not allowed to stop it. That is not a rumor. That is the federal record. Advocates have alleged worse disposal — including mass burial dug with heavy equipment. That allegation has not been established in the public documents reviewed here. What IS established is the pattern: California will pose as the state that “saved horses from slaughter” in the same season it green-lit, or at least did not fight, a gather that took hundreds of free-roaming animals off a landscape tribes call kinship and tourists call Mono Lake. A ban that does not stop the trailer is a campaign prop. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ A CULTURAL-HERITAGE HERD STILL ON THE LAND — WILD HORSE RANCH ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ There is another California herd that was not put on a truck this summer. It lives on and around WILD HORSE RANCH, the wilderness research site of Wild Horse Fire Brigade on the California–Oregon border in Siskiyou County, in the Hornbrook / Copco / Soda Mountain country. William Simpson and Michelle Gough have lived with that band for more than a decade — continuous, close-range observation, not a weekend count. Siskiyou County recognized their ownership and management of the local cultural-heritage herd in 2022. The herd is not a BLM HMA remnant held at a few dozen head. It is a functioning social system: • Family bands • Bachelor competition • Foals • The natural selection that only happens when enough stallions still contest breeding rights ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DRAKE, 1579 — AND WHY THIS HERD IS ARGUABLY CALIFORNIA’S MOST IMPORTANT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Yvette Running Horse Collin’s 2017 University of Alaska Fairbanks dissertation argues that the official story — horses vanished from North America after the Ice Age and returned only with the Spanish — is a Eurocentric compression of Indigenous knowledge. In that thesis she cites early European observers, including SIR FRANCIS DRAKE’S 1579 VOYAGE along what is now the California and Oregon coast, recording horses among Native peoples at a date that undercuts the “no horses until the conquistadors” classroom version. WHFB treats the Siskiyou herd as a living piece of that older lineage — a cultural-heritage population on the same general coast Drake’s men saw. Mainstream 2023 archaeology (the Science collaboration that included Collin) is more cautious: it shows Indigenous horse cultures flourishing in the West by the early 1600s, earlier than many textbooks allowed, while still tracing those animals to Spanish-introduced stock. Honest writing holds both: • The Collin / Drake claim is the heritage argument this herd is managed under • The genetic last-word is not settled in a press release What is not in dispute is that this is one of the last INTACT, NATURALLY BREEDING, UNDOCUMENTED-BY-ROUNDUP herds left in California. That is why it matters more than a bill that bans a plant that does not exist. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT THIS HERD DOES THAT A STATUTE CANNOT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ On the ranch and the adjoining wilderness these horses graze 1-HOUR FINE FUELS — the grass and brush that carry fire into timber. That is work, not scenery. It is the same logic Elko County and the Six Rivers pilot letter put in front of the Cabinet: a horse on the right landscape is cheaper than a horse in a Midwestern pen and more useful than a horse in a press conference. Hornbrook is a small border town. People come for the Klamath country, the lakes, the horses on the skyline. Local advocates put the tourism value of that living herd above $100,000 a year to the Hornbrook area — gas, rooms, guides, the simple fact that visitors still want to see wild horses that were not just loaded out. Whether an economist would audit that figure to the dollar is beside the point. The point is the herd is an asset ON THE LAND, not a liability to be gathered because a management plan wrote down a number. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE POLITICAL CONTRAST, IN ONE LINE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Newsom can sign a slaughter bill that California voters already passed in spirit in 1998, ignore the export and feed loopholes the SAFE Act still leaves, and stay quiet while 461 Mono Lake horses leave the basin — then ask to be remembered as the horse governor. That is not conservation. That is a cut for the next campaign. The cultural-heritage herd at Wild Horse Ranch is the opposite of that performance. It is still free. It is still breeding under natural selection. It is still cutting fine fuels. It is still drawing people to Hornbrook. It is still standing as the argument Yvette Running Horse Collin and Drake’s log put on the table: These animals are not a 20th-century feral accident. They are a California treasure that the state could protect by leaving them on the mountain and shutting the REAL pipeline — the trailer out of state — instead of announcing a ban on a slaughterhouse that is already gone. 🔗 wildhorsefirebrigade.org SHARE this so a press-release “ban” is not the only story California hears. #WildHorseFireBrigade #KeepWildHorsesWild #StopTheRoundups #MonoLake #Hornbrook #WHFB #CulturalHeritageHerd ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ REFERENCES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1998 California Proposition 6 — Prohibition on slaughter of horses and sale of horsemeat for human consumption (Penal Code §§ 598c–598d). Archived ballot / statute summary: web.archive.org/web/20251117… Return to Freedom. “California governor signs anti-horse slaughter bill” (AB 128, signed Oct. 12, 2019 — auction branding/records; Prop. 6 already banned slaughter for human consumption). returntofreedom.org/californ… LegalClarity. “Can You Buy Horse Meat in the US? Federal and State Rules” (no USDA-inspected horse slaughter plants; inspection-funding rider since FY2006; plants closed 2007; SAFE Act framed as human-consumption ban). legalclarity.org/can-you-leg… ASPCA. “Animal Welfare Groups Celebrate Committee Passage of the Van Drew-Titus Amendment to Ban Horse Slaughter” (May 22, 2026 — export to foreign plants still the live pipeline; SAFE Act H.R.1661 / S.775 aimed at slaughter for human consumption). aspca.org/about-us/press-rel… Horses for Life Foundation. “History of Horse Slaughter” (SAFE / Safeguard American Food Exports language: U.S. soil and export for human consumption). horsesforlife.org/history-of… The New York Times. “Under Trump, Protected Wild Horses Are Going to Slaughter” (Aug. 20, 2026 — cheap BLM sales, loss of 1971 Act status, suspected slaughter trail). nytimes.com/2026/08/20/us/tr… Snopes. “Is Trump admin allowing sale of protected wild horses to slaughterhouses? What we know” (updated Aug. 31, 2026). snopes.com/news/2026/08/21/t… U.S. Forest Service — Inyo National Forest. “Wild Horses” / 2026 gather daily numbers (July 8–10, 2026: 461 gathered at Montgomery Pass; 3 chronic deaths listed July 9; destination adoption/sale pipeline). fs.usda.gov/r05/inyo/natural… San Francisco Chronicle. Kurtis Alexander. “Feds round up hundreds of wild horses by California’s Mono Lake” (July 15, 2026 — 461 captured; herd estimated ~700 in 2024; AML 138–230). sfchronicle.com/california/a… San Francisco Chronicle. Kurtis Alexander. “Federal officials to remove hundreds of wild horses near Mono Lake” (June 25, 2026 — USFS/BLM plan; helicopters and trucks; off-site pens / adoption). sfchronicle.com/california/a… Los Angeles Times. Lila Seidman. “450 wild horses face relocation in Eastern Sierra, reigniting a clash” (June 30, 2026 — tribal and advocate opposition; gather set July 8). latimes.com/environment/stor… Bureau of Land Management. “BLM and USFS approve plan to remove wild horses near Mono Lake” (March 7, 2025 — 300–500 authorized; horses outside Montgomery Pass WHT; FS corrals then adoption/sale). blm.gov/press-release/blm-an… Las Vegas Sun. “Tribe’s lawsuit seeks to block federal agencies from removing wild horses near California-Nevada border” (July 4, 2026 — Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute; cultural-relative claim). lasvegassun.com/news/2026/ju… Suzanne Roy. “Heartbreak At Mono Lake Part 2: The Montgomery Pass Wild Horse Roundup Begins” (July 7–8, 2026 — TRO denied; gather starts). suzanneroy.substack.com/p/he… Bighorn County News. “‘They’re raping the land.’ Massive Wild Horse Round Up Proceeds on Ancestral Native Lands” (July 21–22, 2026 — Ronda Kauk / Indigenous Wild Horse Society; contractor C.D. Warner Livestock; Modoc corrals). bighorncountynews.com/news/t… Yvette Running Horse Collin. The relationship between the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the horse: deconstructing a Eurocentric myth. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017. Internet Archive: archive.org/details/collin-y… Sierra Nevada Ally. “The American Heritage of Wild Horses” (April 4, 2022 — quotes Collin on Drake, 1579, horses observed on the Northern California / Southern Oregon coast). sierranevadaally.org/2022/04… Science / ScienceDaily. “New, exhaustive study probes hidden history of horses in the American West” (March 30–31, 2023 — Taylor, Orlando, Running Horse Collin et al.; Indigenous horse cultures in the West by early 1600s; Spanish-introduced stock still the genetic frame of that paper). sciencedaily.com/releases/20… Science News. “Native Americans corralled Spanish horses decades before Europeans arrived” (March 30, 2023 — same collaboration). sciencenews.org/article/nati… Wild Horse Fire Brigade — organization and ranch context: wildhorsefirebrigade.org Siskiyou County recognition of WHFB / Simpson-Gough cultural-heritage herd (2022) — county record and contemporaneous coverage as cited in WHFB materials and CapRadio field reporting on the Soda Mountain / Hornbrook herd. #WildHorses #WildHorseRanch #WilliameSimpsonII #WildfirePrevention #PoliticalKabuki #TomFoolery #GavinNewsom #CaliforniaCon #StopRoundups #StoptheRoundup #StoptheGrift #SaveWildHorses #SaveOurWildHorses #WildHorseFireBrigade #WHFB @CalMatters @grok @bot @elonmusk @SecKennedy @RobertKennedyJr @RobertKennedyJc @NancyMace @ShawnRyan762 @ShawnRyanShow @SRS_Producer @MichaelJaco9 @joerogan @joeroganhq @TruthTrumpPost @realDonaldTrump @Trump @POTUS @EricTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr

SHARE - SHARE THIS Great Story From Oregon Public Broadcasting 'OPB' Sometimes, we have so much news about our nonprofit happening stories get passed-up or missed, even by us! This one is worth covering again... and sharing again! opb.org/article/2022/10/30/p… #WildHorses #Wildfires #Wildfire #WildfirePrevention #WildHorseManagement #HorseSlaughter #OPB #PBS #NEWS #WildHorseSlaughter #WildHorseResearch #WildHorseEcology #WilliameSimpsonII #WildHorseFireBrigade #WildHorseRanch @grok @bot @OPB @PBS @BBCBreaking @WestermanAR @SecKennedy @RobertKennedyJr @RobertKennedyJc @SecretaryBurgum @TruthTrumpPost @TrumpTruthOnX @EpochTimes @EpochInspired @TIME @Discover @nytimes @WSJopinion @WashPost @seattletimes @latimes

SHARE-SHARE-SHARE: WANTED: The published science on PZP’s adverse impacts on wild horses - PZP Snake-Oil Business is booming! And Wild Horses Are Being Decimated Via Roundups & Slaughter! A field brief you can post, save, and hand to anyone who says “PZP is harmless.” Porcine zona pellucida (PZP) is not a single “all adverse” or “all safe” literature. Proponents report low rates of debilitating illness and good contraceptive efficacy. Independent and later studies document real secondary effects, especially with repeated doses: ovarian shutdown, delayed or year-round foaling, band-switching, and injection-site trauma from remote darts. On the specific Marberg and Kreager item: there is no peer-reviewed journal paper under that exact spelling on PZP. The closest match to “broken bones, hematoma and bleeding from syringe impacts” is the classic Cap-Chur paper by Jack Ward Thomas and Rodney G. Marburger (1964) — Mortality in Deer Shot in the Thoracic Area with the Cap-Chur Gun, Journal of Wildlife Management 28: 173–175. Field notes referring to “Marburg and Kreager” appear to point at that dart-trauma lineage, not an indexed PZP-only horse paper. The closest published wild-horse dart-trauma science remains Roelle & Ransom 2009, which records darts hitting bone and broken needles. The five dart-welfare papers listed below now sit in the trauma section. 1. Dart / syringe trauma — hematoma, swelling, bone strike, cavity penetration, hemorrhage Roelle, J.E. & Ransom, J.I. 2009. Injection-Site Reactions in Wild Horses Receiving an Immunocontraceptive Vaccine. USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5038. This is the main published field study of PZP dart trauma in western wild horses. • Hand injection (100 shots): almost no reactions (1 nodule, 2 swellings, no abscesses). • Remote darting: abscesses ~1–6%; nodules ~25%; swelling 11–33%; stiffness 1–12%, depending on herd. • “Abnormal dart trauma” = the dart hit bone or the needle broke off. • Abnormal trauma was associated with higher nodule formation (odds ratio ~8.7, P = 0.07). • Blowgun delivery had higher odds of swelling than rifle delivery. That paper does not quantify “broken bones” as fractures of the horse’s skeleton. It documents bone strikes by the dart and needle breakage. Those events can produce hematoma, swelling, and local tissue injury. Catastrophic fracture from a 1 cc PZP dart is not described in the indexed horse-PZP literature. Other published injection-site data: • Kirkpatrick and coauthors: among hundreds of Assateague dartings, abscess rate about 0.2–1%; sterile granulomas (~10–25 mm) are common. • Virginia Range field program (native PZP, 2019–2022): visible granulomas and abscesses uncommon but recorded (~0.6–1.3% of administrations in the highest year). • Freund’s complete / modified adjuvant is repeatedly cited as the driver of abscesses and granulomas, worse with dart trauma than with hand injection. Wound-ballistics papers (the delivery system, not the zona protein) These papers are not PZP pharmacology papers. They are the published science on what a projectile syringe does to tissue. They apply to any remote PZP dart, because PZP in the field is delivered by the same class of CO₂ and powder projectors. Thomas, J.W. & Marburger, R.G. 1964. Mortality in deer shot in the thoracic area with the Cap-Chur gun. Journal of Wildlife Management 28: 173–175. Twenty adult white-tailed bucks were shot in the thorax with standard 1-cc Cap-Chur projectile-syringes. Seven of 20 (35%) were killed by the dart itself — the syringe penetrated the lung cavity. Necropsy showed massive hemorrhage or heart damage, not drug overdose. There was no external evidence of that penetration. This is the published report of syringe-impact bleeding and internal trauma. Beckmann et al. (2025) still cite this paper as the upper-end dart-mortality case (up to 35% when placement is thoracic). Cattet, M.R.L., Bourque, A., Elkin, B.T., Powley, K.D., Dahlstrom, D.B. & Caulkett, N.A. 2006. Evaluation of the potential for injury with remote drug-delivery systems. Wildlife Society Bulletin 34: 741–749. They measured dart velocity with Doppler radar and fired dye-filled darts into elk-hide-covered gelatin and calf thighs. • Rapid-injection darts with end-ported needles consistently: (1) forced hair and skin beneath the hide; (2) formed a permanent wound cavity 2–3× the needle length; (3) pulled the hide off the gelatin before the payload finished injecting. • Heavy darts and some light rapid-injection darts often hit at >50 m/s. • Drop of repeated shots exceeded 10 cm in 28 of 90 trials; heavy-mass darts were least precise. • Conclusion: injury is minimized only with lightweight, slow-injection darts, side-ported needles, broad needle seals, and 40–50 m/s impact with high precision. • They recommend against rapid-injection / end-ported darts because they produce deep, chronic wounds. Pneu-Dart-style PZP darts used on western mares are typically explosive/rapid-injection devices. That is exactly the class Cattet flagged. Hampton, J.O., Arnemo, J.M. et al. 2021. Animal welfare testing for shooting and darting free-ranging wildlife: a review and recommendations. Wildlife Research 48: 577–589. Ballistic injury is inherent to all darting, by two mechanisms: Collision of the dart with the animal (Valkenburg et al. 1999). Expulsion of the dart’s contents into tissue (Cattet et al. 2006). Excess kinetic energy (Eₖ = ½mv²) produces: • broken bones (Tribe et al. 2014; Colgan et al. 2019) • penetration of thorax or abdomen (Tsuruga et al. 1999) • excessive tissue trauma (Cattet et al. 2006) • deep wounds that seed subcutaneous infection They note darting welfare risks are often under-recognised by agencies that permit operations, and that new dart types (including marker/contraceptive darts) are being fielded without the four-step welfare testing used for kill-traps: (1) range/ballistic testing, (2) cadaver wound assessment, (3) small live pilots with pass/fail thresholds, (4) operational use with mandatory reporting of adverse outcomes. Most wild-horse PZP programs have not published that sequence. Beckmann, J., Wölfel, H. & Neumann, S. 2025/2026. Ballistics and wound ballistics of CO₂-powered dart guns in relation to ungulate dart injury and animal welfare. Wildlife Biology e01490. (ResearchGate: researchgate.net/.../3958873…... Full text: nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wi…) Opening finding: “Darting is invasive and associated with risks of trauma, and severe and fatal dart injuries have been reported.” CO₂ guns are safer than powder guns, but not harmless. Ballistics they measured on three commercial CO₂ projectors (the same family used for PZP): • Velocity and impact energy rise with distance and with every 1 bar of pressure (~5 m/s and ~3 J per bar). • Dan-Inject at 40 m: 65.5 m/s, 23.4 J. • TeleDart at 1 m / 10 bar: 79.8 m/s, 34.9 J. • Some manufacturer-recommended settings already put darts above 50 m/s and 19 J, the injury threshold cited from Hector & Wiesner (1996) and Cattet. Wound-ballistic tests on fresh hides + gelatin (red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, wild boar): • Each species has a different penetration risk. Shoulder is more vulnerable than thigh. Juveniles penetrate at lower energy than adults. • Juvenile roe-deer shoulder penetrated at 44.6 m/s (10.9 J). • Adult red-deer hide needed ~67 m/s (24.6 J). • The old “19 J is safe for all species” rule failed in 6 of 14 trials — the dart went through the skin. • When a dart fully penetrates, it drags hair into the wound cavity, contaminating the track. Literature they compile on severe and fatal dart injury (the list that belongs next to Marburger): • Pneumothorax, heart trauma, head/abdomen trauma (Thomas & Marburger 1964; Tsuruga et al. 1999; Arnemo et al. 2006; Cunningham et al. 2015) • Complete dart penetration and muscle destruction (Smith & Huse 1980; Spurlock & Spurlock 1988) • Abdominal infection from a misplaced dart (Kenny et al. 2008) • Spine injury and femur fracture requiring euthanasia (Van Ballenberghe 1984; Tribe et al. 2014) • Unspecified dart-trauma deaths (Arnemo et al. 2006; Tribe et al. 2014; Wimpenny & Hinds 2018) • Published dart-injury mortality: 0.04–0.53% in moose, 4.03% in eastern grey kangaroos, up to 35% in white-tailed deer when the thorax is the target (Thomas & Marburger 1964) Beckmann’s welfare conclusion is conditional: darting is “only minimally invasive when done properly and with pertinent ballistic data.” They say manufacturers must publish velocity/energy tables, and operators must match pressure and distance to species, age, and body part. That is the opposite of volunteer PZP darting at unknown range on moving mares. What this means for wild-horse PZP darting. None of these five papers measured ZonaStat-H chemistry. They measured the delivery system. A western mare darted in the glute is in the “larger ungulate / thigh” class Beckmann found more resistant. A mare darted in the flank, abdomen, shoulder, or neck — the misplaced-dart problem already photographed in the field — is in the class Thomas & Marburger, Tsuruga, Kenny, Tribe, and Colgan documented as hemorrhage, cavity penetration, fracture, and death. Cattet’s rapid-injection / end-port wound cavity is the mechanism that produces hematoma and a contaminated track even when the horse walks away. So: hematoma, bleeding, nodules, abscesses, stiffness, darts striking bone, wound cavities several times needle length, hair driven under the hide, thoracic/abdominal penetration, and, in the wider ungulate literature, broken bones and fatal hemorrhage are in the published record. A standalone “Marberg and Kreager PZP horse fracture” journal article is still not indexed; Thomas & Marburger 1964 is the published syringe-impact hemorrhage paper that name is pointing at. Hampton review: connectsci.au/.../Animal-wel…... Cattet 2006: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../…... 2. Ovarian damage, ovulatory failure, and long-term infertility These are the strongest horse-specific laboratory and field findings. Kirkpatrick, J.F., Liu, I.K.M., Turner, J.W., Naugle, R. & Keiper, R. 1992. Long-term effects of porcine zonae pellucidae immunocontraception on ovarian function in feral horses. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 94: 437–444. After three consecutive annual PZP treatments, several mares showed no ovulation and markedly depressed urinary estrogen. Contraceptive efficacy was >90% that year. Joonè, C.J. et al. 2017. Ovarian function and pregnancy outcome in pony mares following immunocontraception with native and recombinant porcine zona pellucida vaccines. Equine Veterinary Journal 49: 189–195. 6 of 7 native-PZP mares (86%) entered extended anoestrus with small, inactive ovaries and basal estradiol/progesterone. Cyclicity resumed by ~10 months in that short protocol. Pregnancy: 0/7 PZP vs 7/7 controls. Related work from the same group (Joonè, Schulman, Nolan, Bertschinger): anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) dropped to undetectable during ovarian shutdown, consistent with loss or malfunction of small antral follicles—not only a zona-block at fertilization. Nuñez, C.M.V. et al. 2010, 2017. Lingering effects after treatment stops. • Mares with 4+ PZP applications did not show a clear rebound in foaling as time since last shot increased. • Mares with 1–3 shots showed some recovery, then a later decline around ~6 years. • Previously treated mares still conceived later than untreated mares. • Permanent or long-term sterility after 5–7 consecutive years is reported in this line of work. Knight, C.M. 2014 (Princeton thesis, widely cited in BLM reviews): as few as three to four years, or a first dose before puberty, may trigger longer-term infertility. Feh, C. 2012: long-term infertility in Przewalski’s horses after as little as one booster in some animals (cited in BLM literature reviews). BLM’s own fertility-control literature reviews now state that the chance of long-term or permanent sterility rises with number of doses, and that PZP can have direct ovarian effects. That is the opposite of the older “pure zona-block, fully reversible, ovaries untouched” description. 3. Behavior, band structure, and extended breeding season Nuñez, C.M.V. et al. 2009 and related Shackleford Banks papers. Treated mares were up to 10 times more likely to change bands than untreated mares. Effects scaled with total and consecutive doses. Madosky, J.M. et al. 2010 and Ransom, J.I. et al. 2010: more reproductive behavior directed at treated mares; reduced harem stability. Nuñez 2018 (Human–Wildlife Interactions): synthesis across Shackleford Banks plus Little Book Cliffs, McCullough Peaks, and Pryor Mountains. Compared with never-treated mares: • lower fidelity to the band stallion • increased and prolonged reproductive behavior • cycling into fall/winter Effects persisted years after shots stopped in heavily treated mares, and can alter stallion behavior and stress physiology. NAS (2013) judged serious welfare harm from harem-changing “low” given how many mares have been treated, but did not deny the behavioral change. 4. Shifted foaling dates and possible foal-season mismatch Ransom, J.I., Hobbs, N.T. & Bruemmer, J. 2013. Contraception can lead to trophic asynchrony between birth pulse and resources. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54972. PZP-associated births were later and more spread out. Foal mortality risk rose about 1.4% per 10 days after peak forage; a mid-winter birth would carry a substantially higher risk in that model. Nuñez et al. 2010 and Ransom et al. 2014 similarly document a longer foaling window (in some herds approaching much of the year). Counter-finding (important): Kane / Rutberg and coauthors, 2024. Animals 14: 3550. Eight-year study at Cedar Mountain (UT) and Sand Wash Basin (CO). Births to recently treated mares were delayed and spread out, but foal mortality through year 2 was low and not different from untreated mares. Body condition improved because treated mares were not nursing, not from a direct PZP metabolic effect. So delayed/spread foaling is well documented. Whether that kills foals depends on climate, forage, and herd. Ransom’s paper says it can; the 2024 western HMA paper says it did not in those two herds. 5. Broader reviews and mixed-species concerns often cited against PZP Nettles, V.F. 1997. Potential consequences and problems with wildlife contraceptives. Reproduction, Fertility and Development 9: 137–143. Literature review across species (including horses). Flags: stillbirths, altered ovarian structure/cyclicity, permanent ovarian damage, autoimmune oophoritis, sex-ratio shifts, injection abscesses, possible selection on disease resistance. PZP advocates (e.g. Rutberg) argue Nettles’ stillbirth citation traces to a contaminated PZP prep in caged monkeys, not clean native PZP in free-roaming horses. That dispute is unresolved in the horse field data. Gray, M.E. & Cameron, E.Z. 2010. Does contraceptive treatment in wildlife result in side effects? Reproduction 139: 45–55. Reviews ovarian cysts/oophoritis across taxa and raises the immune-selection issue: PZP works best in strong immune responders, so those mares are the ones removed from the breeding pool. Over generations that can theoretically weaken herd immunocompetence. This is a mechanistic argument, not a completed multi-generation horse experiment. Kaur, K. & Prabha, V. 2014. Immunocontraceptives: new approaches to fertility control. BioMed Research International 2014: 868196. Reviews ZP vaccines inducing autoimmune oophoritis in experimental systems. ISPMB / Karen Sussman field notes (not a journal article) reported high stillbirth rates in a small set of mares that conceived after PZP was stopped. That is frequently cited in comments to EPA/BLM; it is not a controlled published study. 6. What the “PZP is safe” papers actually claim Fairness requires stating the other side’s published position: • Kirkpatrick, Turner, Lyda, and SCC materials: after decades of Assateague and sanctuary use they report no debilitating systemic disease, pregnancies in progress not aborted, foals of treated mares surviving normally, abscesses rare, granulomas mostly cosmetic. • EPA registration materials for ZonaStat-H waived many tox studies on the basis of limited environmental release and a history of use; they do list injection-site reactions. • The 2024 Cedar Mountain / Sand Wash paper concludes PZP changed breeding timing but not mare or foal survival at those sites. Those papers generally do not refute Nuñez/Joonè/Ransom on ovarian suppression, band-switching, or late births. They argue those changes are not “debilitating” or not lethal in the herds they measured. They also do not refute Cattet, Hampton, Beckmann, or Thomas & Marburger on projectile-syringe trauma. Those are a different injury pathway: the dart, not the zona protein. Practical reading of the science Dart can hit bone, break a needle, cause hematoma/swelling/abscess Support: Roelle & Ransom 2009; multiple darting tallies. Caveat: Horse-PZP papers rarely X-ray for fracture. Rapid-injection / end-port darts drive hair under hide and cut a wound cavity 2–3× needle length Support: Cattet et al. 2006. Caveat: Applies to common PZP field darts. Excess dart energy → cavity penetration, hemorrhage, broken bone, death Support: Thomas & Marburger 1964; Hampton et al. 2021; Beckmann et al. 2025; Tribe 2014; Colgan 2019; Van Ballenberghe 1984. Caveat: Most extreme numbers are thoracic shots or other species; horse field rates unpublished at that resolution. CO₂-gun energy at routine settings can exceed published “safe” limits (40–50 m/s, ~19 J), especially as distance or pressure rises Support: Beckmann et al. 2025. Caveat: Horse hide not in that trial; thigh of a large ungulate is more resistant than shoulder of a juvenile. Repeated PZP can shut ovaries down (not only block sperm) Support: Kirkpatrick 1992; Joonè 2017; Nolan 2018. Caveat: Often reversible after short protocols; less so after many consecutive years. Multi-year use can leave mares subfertile for years or permanently Support: Nuñez 2010/2017; Knight 2014; BLM reviews. Caveat: Rate for any given mare is hard to predict. Treated mares change bands and keep cycling late Support: Nuñez, Madosky, Ransom. Caveat: Welfare impact is disputed. Foals born late may face higher mortality Support: Ransom 2013. Caveat: Not seen in Kane/Rutberg 2024 at two western HMAs. Stillbirths / genetic decline from PZP Support: Nettles 1997; Gray & Cameron 2010; small field reports. Caveat: Horse-specific, controlled stillbirth data are thin. If a PDF or first names surface that are not Thomas & Marburger 1964, they can be slotted the same way. The five links requested are in this article: Beckmann (ResearchGate + Wildlife Biology PDF), Hampton 2021, and Cattet 2006. The JSTOR item that carries the syringe-hemorrhage finding is Thomas & Marburger 1964. Seeking $5-Million Donation (we are an IRS accredited 501-c-3 public benefit nonprofit) to assist in independent work on wild horse ecology, ethology, mass rewilding into appropriate wilderness, and the genetic cost of sterilizing free-roaming herds. #WildHorses #PZP #PZPkills #WildHorseGenetics #Genocide #WildHorseGenocide #WildHorseResearch #WildHorseRoundups #StopWildHorseRoundups #Stoptheroundups #WildHorseGrift #StoptheGrift #WildHorseLivesMatter #BrumbyLivesMatter #WildHorseSlaughter #HorseSlaughter @grok @bot @ScienceNews @ScienceMagazine @ScienceChannel @NPR @npratc @nprscience @OPB @PBS @EquusOnlineUni @SecRollins @SecKennedy @POTUS @NewYorker @nytimes @seattletimes @latimes @NEWSMAX @thehorse @thehorsemag @paulickreport @jaredpolis @JoeNeguse @VernBuchanan @JuanCiscomani @RepCohen @RepBoice @BarbaraJWalters @KatiWeis

SHARE-SHARE-SHARE - VIDEO — NAYA’S RECOVERY What actually 'saving wild horses' looks like. By: William Simpson II © Sept. 29, 2026 We do more than some people think. Research. Education. Years and dollars into Wild Horse Ranch and Wild Horse Fire Brigade. Ownership of this native cultural-heritage herd so the bands cannot be trucked off. And when a horse or foal is hurt and we know it, we act. Mid-July 2026 a landowner three miles down the mountain called in an injured filly. Naya was about a year and a half old. Legacy barbwire from failed ranches — posts that rotted out 50 to 150 years ago, wire left in the grass and wrapped on trees — had cut her right hind leg to the bone. We trapped her, moved her to the research site, and documented the wound. By September 26 she was sound enough to go back. She is healed. She will be rewilded to her family band. That is not a sympathy story. It is a genetics statement. Naya comes from a family that still carries hardiness domestic breeding did not keep. Fast closure of a wound to bone, on a mountain, without a hospital, is the kind of trait population genetics treats as functional variation — alleles we have not sequenced in this herd, or in most free-roaming herds. Comparative wound work already shows healing is not the same across equids. Ponies, with less intense artificial selection and more remaining wild reserve, close deep wounds faster than highly selected horses. Domestication genomes show modern managed lines piled up deleterious mutations their wild ancestors did not carry. You do not find which alleles still sit in a living band by darting the mares first. Arizona is being told to manage the other way. The Salt River herd has been under PZP since 2018. The contractor’s own numbers: more than 100 foals in 2019, then 15, then 13, then a handful. They call that success. Population genetics calls it closed gene flow. Foals are how alleles move. Silence most of the mares for years inside a small, isolated herd and rare variants — healing, heat, forage, whatever Naya’s line still holds — leak out at about $1/(2N_e)$ per generation. Arizona finally paused removals and ordered a genetic study. That pause is the minimum. It is not a license to keep sterilizing an unread genome down to a political number. AML is that number. BLM’s own handbook says about 150–200 animals, roughly 50 effective breeders, to hold variation loss near 1 percent a generation. Many AMLs sit below that floor. The National Academies already said AML-setting is not transparent science. Pair a low cap with ZonaStat-H or GonaCon-Equine and you shrink who actually reproduces. Those products are not FDA-registered veterinary vaccines. ZonaStat-H is EPA Reg. No. 86833-1, a restricted-use pesticide under FIFRA. GonaCon-Equine is on an EPA pesticide label. The immune mechanism does not change the legal class. Repeat darting decides which lineages copy forward. For GonaCon, duration of infertility has already been mapped to immune-response DNA on ECA18. Exterminating gene flow in horses that still heal like Naya, before the herds are sequenced, is not “humane management.” It is deletion in the dark. Watch the video. Look at July 15 and September 26. Then say plainly: no more AML-plus-pesticide programs on unsequenced American wild horses. Condemn the sterilization cult. Sequence first. Leave the family bands intact. Images: Naya, July 15, 2026 and September 26, 2026. William E. Simpson II © 2026. References U.S. EPA. ZonaStat-H, EPA Reg. No. 86833-1 (restricted-use pesticide). Label/registration: www3.epa.gov/.../ppls/086833… Bureau of Land Management. Wild Horses and Burros Management Handbook H-4700-1 (2010), §4.4.6.3 (150–200 animals / ~50 effective breeders). blm.gov/.../Media_Library_BL…... National Research Council. Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward (2013). nap.nationalacademies.org/ca… Wright S. Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics. 1931;16:97–159. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article… Gross JE. A dynamic simulation model for evaluating effects of removal and contraception on genetic variation and demography of Pryor Mountain wild horses. Biological Conservation. 2000;96:319–330. doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(0… Roelle JE, Oyler-McCance SJ. Potential demographic and genetic effects of a sterilant applied to wild horse mares. USGS OFR 2015-1045. doi.org/10.3133/ofr20151045 Cooper DW, Larsen E. Immunocontraception of mammalian wildlife: ecological and immunogenetic issues. Reproduction. 2006;132:821–828. doi.org/10.1530/REP-06-0037 Thompson MA, et al. Major locus on ECA18 influences effectiveness of GonaCon vaccine in feral horses. Journal of Reproductive Immunology. 2023;155:103779. doi.org/10.1016/j.jri.2022.1… Wilmink JM, et al. Differences in second-intention wound healing between horses and ponies: macroscopic aspects. Equine Veterinary Journal. 1999;31:93–99. doi.org/10.1111/j.2042-3306.… Wilmink JM, van Weeren PR. Differences in wound healing between horses and ponies: application of research results to the clinical approach of equine wounds. Clinical Techniques in Equine Practice. 2004;3:274–280. doi.org/10.1053/j.ctep.2004.… Schubert M, et al. / Orlando L. Prehistoric genomes reveal the genetic foundation and cost of horse domestication. PNAS (reported in Science, 2014). science.org/doi/10.1126/scie… Kirkpatrick JF, et al. Long-term effects of porcine zonae pellucidae immunocontraception on ovarian function of feral horses. J Reprod Fertil. 1992;94:437–444. doi.org/10.1530/jrf.0.094043… Salt River Wild Horse Management Group. Fertility-control results (2019: 100+ foals; subsequent collapse under PZP). saltriverwildhorsemanagement… Office of the Arizona Governor. Hobbs pause on Salt River removals and genetic viability study (Aug. 18, 2026). azgovernor.gov/.../governor-…... Arizona House. Rep. Cody Reim on SB 1199: moratorium until effective population size, allelic diversity, and inbreeding are measured. azleg.gov/.../2R/260819REIMS… #WildHorses #WildHorseGenetics #Genetics #GeneticsMatter #WildHorseResearch #WildHorseFireBrigade #WilliameSimpsonII #WildHorseRanch #WHFB #Stoptheroundups #WildHorseLivesMatter #BrumbyLivesMatter @SecKennedy @JaneGoodallInst @theNASciences @IUCN @IUCNRedList @IUCN_forests @IUCNsos @IUCNssc @POTUS @NPR @npratc @grok @bot

𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲-𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐆𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐭 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐈𝐧 𝐁𝐋𝐌 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝-𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝑨 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟏 𝒕𝒐 𝑶𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 By: William E. Simpson II - © Oct. 5, 2026 𝑬𝒙𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: 𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬. 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟏 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮’𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝟑𝟎𝟐,𝟐𝟎𝟒 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐦 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓-𝟏𝟓𝟑 𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐈𝐌 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑-𝟎𝟐𝟖 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭. 𝐀 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝. 𝐎𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝟎 𝐭𝐨 𝟓𝟎, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐮𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐁𝐗𝟑 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬. 𝐀 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭. 𝐆𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐦, 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟒, 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐀 𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐅𝐃𝐀-𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. 𝐙𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭-𝐇 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐏𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐨. 𝟖𝟔𝟖𝟑𝟑-𝟏. 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐂𝐨𝐧-𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐏𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐨. 𝟓𝟔𝟐𝟐𝟖-𝟒𝟏. 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬. 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟐𝟏,𝟗𝟗𝟖 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟏,𝟐𝟎𝟗 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐃𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐦𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔, 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝-𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐁𝐗𝟑. 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐮𝐧𝟐 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝟏,𝟔𝟏𝟕-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞-𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭. 𝐃𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐮𝐧𝟏 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐍𝐀. 𝐀 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐨. 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫: 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟-𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥-𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞. 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐨𝐟𝐟-𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧: 𝟔𝟒,𝟐𝟎𝟓 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨-𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟-𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟑𝟎𝟐,𝟐𝟎𝟒, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟒𝟕 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝟏,𝟖𝟎𝟖 𝐏𝐙𝐏-𝟐𝟐 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟖𝟕 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟓,𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭. ---- The Deep Dive The U.S. Bureau of Land Management does not publish a single ledger of every herd, every stallion removed, and every mare injected since the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The numbers that do exist are enough to describe the genetic result. From fiscal 1971 through fiscal 2021, the Bureau’s own Public Land Statistics count 302,204 horses and burros removed. From fiscal 2012 through fiscal 2025, it removed 121,998 more and applied 11,209 fertility-control treatments. Removed males are gelded as policy and do not return as breeding animals. The products used on mares are not FDA-approved veterinary vaccines. They are EPA-registered pesticides. The National Academies told the Bureau in 2013 that an effective population size of 50 does not protect fitness. Frankham, Bradshaw, and Brook, in the 2014 revision tied to IUCN Red List criteria, put the short-term floor at an effective size of at least 100 and the long-term floor at an effective size of at least 1,000. Most appropriate-management levels sit under the census number those floors require. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐅𝐃𝐀 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 ZonaStat-H, the native porcine zona pellucida product, is EPA Registration No. 86833-1, first registered January 30, 2012, to the Humane Society of the United States. The active ingredients are listed as glycoprotein ZP3 and PZP at 0.1 percent. The signal word is Caution. The product type is contraceptive. It has been a restricted-use pesticide. It is not an FDA-approved veterinary biologic or animal drug for horses. GonaCon-Equine is EPA Registration No. 56228-41, first registered January 3, 2013, to USDA APHIS. The active ingredient is gonadotropin-releasing hormone at 0.03 percent. The signal word is Caution. The product type is contraceptive. It is not an FDA-approved veterinary vaccine for horses. PZP-22 is a pelleted PZP formulation the Bureau hand-injects after capture. It is not a separate FDA-approved horse vaccine. The Bureau cites the EPA ZonaStat-H label for liquid PZP. Intrauterine devices used in small trials are devices, not vaccines: 8 treatments in fiscal 2021, 31 in fiscal 2022, 10 in fiscal 2024, and none in fiscal 2025. Gelding is surgery. Calling any of these an FDA-approved horse vaccine is false. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 Genetic flow here means the passage of breeding animals and their offspring into the next generation: who remains on the range, who is allowed to breed, and whether isolated herds exchange animals. Removal cuts the breeding population directly. A pesticide that blocks foaling cuts a mare’s contribution for the life of the effect. Gelding a stallion and shipping him to holding removes him permanently. Gelding him and turning him back, as at Conger, leaves a non-breeding male on the range in the place of a sire. A skewed sex ratio changes who gets to breed. The National Academies of Sciences, in Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward (2013), defined genetic effective population size, Ne, as the size of an idealized population that would experience the same random genetic drift as the herd in question. The committee wrote that an effective size of at least 50 had been thought necessary to avoid short-term inbreeding depression, and that empirical work shows effective sizes much larger than 50 are necessary if maintenance of fitness matters. It reported that the lowest allelic diversity and heterozygosity in Bureau herds matched small, isolated, endangered horse populations, including the Sorraia. The Bureau’s own handbook goal, which the Academies quoted, was only to keep observed heterozygosity no lower than one standard deviation below the mean of Bureau herds: a 2012 mean of 0.716, standard deviation 0.056, and a critical-risk line of 0.66. That is a floor against the Bureau’s own average. It is not a viability standard. Frankham, Bradshaw, and Brook, Biological Conservation 170:56–63 (2014), revised the old 50/500 rules. An effective size of 50 does not prevent inbreeding depression. An effective size of at least 100 is required to limit loss of total fitness to 10 percent over five generations. An effective size of 500 is too low to retain evolutionary potential. At least 1,000 is the better approximation. They wrote that the genetically derived IUCN Red List population-size thresholds for Criterion C need to be doubled. Typical Ne/N ratios in the meta-analyses they cite run about 0.1 to 0.2. A census of 50, the upper appropriate-management level on herds such as Pokegama, implies an effective size on the order of 5 to 15 if the herd is closed, and lower still under harem breeding. A census of 150 to 200, the figure often loosely cited from Bureau handbook practice, still fails the 2014 short-term Ne of 100 once the ratio is applied, and it fails the long-term Ne of 1,000 by an order of magnitude. 📷 Photo: William E. Simpson 1 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 Dun is the part that is already published, and it is not a color story. Imsland, Andersson, and colleagues mapped the dilution and the primitive markings to TBX3 in Nature Genetics in 2016. Pigment is laid on one side of the growing hair because TBX3 is expressed in only part of the follicle. That is the dorsal stripe, the leg bars, and the mask. Dun is the wild-type. Non-dun2 is a 1,617-base-pair deletion that impairs TBX3 and erases the pattern. It is a domestication allele. Most closed domestic breeds are non-dun2. Dun and non-dun1 are older. Both are in ancient horse DNA. The polymorphism predates the barn. A free-roaming band that still throws a clean stripe into the tail, leg bars, and a mask is carrying the ancestral switch. That is the visible flag. It is not the cargo. The cargo has not been sequenced. Wound closure, disease resistance, skeletal and muscular capacity, and the intelligence of a horse that still lives in a family band are field observations and domestication contrasts. They are not a completed comparison of a herd management area against a barn breed. Horses as a species carry a prion-protein residue, S167, that stabilizes the protein in experimental systems. That is species-level biology. It is not a sequenced difference between a Bureau herd and a Quarter Horse. Nobody has made that measurement. The recklessness is the order of operations. The Bureau removed 302,204 horses and burros through fiscal 2021, gelded the stallions, and injected mares with EPA-registered pesticides, before it sequenced the herds it was reducing. Rare alleles drop first under drift: a dun or TBX3 haplotype, a Spanish-remnant marker, a local lineage. A closed herd held at 30 to 50 cannot keep them. You cannot read a bloodline after the carrier is gone. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟏 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 Public Land Statistics 2021, Table 5-13b, is the Bureau’s cumulative removal table. Forest Service removals are folded into the administrative-state totals. Mules are counted as burros. The table does not split stallions from mares. Fiscal 1971 through fiscal 2020, then fiscal 2021: Nevada: 156,790 through fiscal 2020, plus 4,964 in fiscal 2021. Total 161,754. Wyoming: 41,141, plus 1,789. Total 42,930. California: 28,823, plus 690. Total 29,513. Oregon: 19,797, plus 2,482. Total 22,279. Utah: 17,942, plus 1,031. Total 18,973. Arizona: 14,341, plus 1,374. Total 15,715. Colorado: 4,603, plus 1,121. Total 5,724. Idaho: 3,881, plus 215. Total 4,096. New Mexico: 720, plus 0. Total 720. Montana: 500, plus 0. Total 500. National total through fiscal 2021: 302,204. Nevada alone is more than half. Montana’s 500 over half a century is the Pryor Mountain pattern: a small herd, repeated small removals, and, after 2001, pesticide darting instead of large gathers. The Bureau states that since 1971 it has placed more than 290,000 animals into private care. Placement is not return to the breeding herd. An adopted stallion is gelded before title transfers, with narrow exceptions. 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐-𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 The Bureau’s program-data tables supply both series only from fiscal 2012. 2012: 8,255 removed, 1,045 treated (162 PZP, 883 PZP-22). 2013: 4,176 removed, 509 treated. 2014: 1,857 removed, 384 treated. 2015: 3,819 removed, 469 treated. 2016: 3,320 removed, 467 treated. First year GonaCon appears in the national table, with 15. 2017: 4,209 removed, 777 treated. 2018: 11,472 removed, 702 treated. 2019: 7,979 removed, 660 treated. 2020: 10,824 removed, 735 treated. 2021: 13,666 removed, 1,160 treated, including 8 IUDs. 2022: 20,193 removed, 1,622 treated, including 31 IUDs. Peak treatment year. 2023: 5,335 removed, 720 treated. 2024: 16,140 removed, 1,038 treated, including 10 IUDs. 2025: 7,853 removed, 921 treated. Summed: 121,998 removed and 11,209 treated. About ten removals for each treatment. Treatments are mares. Removals are both sexes. On March 1, 2025, the Bureau estimated 73,130 horses and burros on the range against a high appropriate-management level of 25,556. Its later 2026 estimate was 85,466 against 25,592. Off-range holding was reported at 64,205 animals as of August 2025. 𝐍𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 From 1971 through 1998 the Bureau ran no range fertility-control program on its herds. Immunocontraception research in that period was captive, or it was National Park Service. Assateague Island is not a Bureau herd. Devil’s Garden and Sheldon are not Bureau herd management areas. The first Bureau field trial named in its own instruction memorandum is Clan Alpine, Nevada, in 1999, a 22-month PZP formulation. USGS Open-File Report 2004-1264 records the first range treatments after that. Pryor Mountain, September 2001: five mares, with 13 having received both injections by the end of 2002. Little Book Cliffs, July 2002: 23 mares, with 11 boosted by the end of 2002. McCullough Peaks was added to the same study in 2003. The Cody Field Office’s annual darting program there began in 2011. Instruction Memorandum 2009-090 states that the 22-month PZP vaccine had been given to 1,808 mares in 47 herd management areas since fiscal 2004. The memorandum does not name the 47. A Bureau figure reported by American Wild Horse Campaign on July 30, 2013, said 5,400 mares in 87 herd management areas over the prior decade. The named examples were Sand Wash, Spring Creek, Pryor, McCullough Peaks, and Cedar Mountain. The other names were not published. Those two aggregates overlap. They are not a herd list. The same 2009 memorandum made it policy to apply fertility control as a component of gathers unless there was a compelling reason not to. The fiscal 2018 final gather schedule shows many gathers with zero animals treated. A policy sentence is not a treatment. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 Standing darting programs on the fiscal 2024 through May 15, 2026 schedules: Pryor Mountain, PZP, 80 planned. Little Book Cliffs, PZP and GonaCon, 20. McCullough Peaks, PZP since 2011, 45, plus a GonaCon/PZP catch-treat-release in fiscal 2024. Stewart Creek, PZP, 50. Sand Wash Basin, PZP, 150. Spring Creek Basin, PZP, 18. Piceance-East Douglas, GonaCon, 100. Challis, PZP and GonaCon, 15. Hog Creek, GonaCon, 15. Cold Springs, GonaCon, 30. Sand Springs, GonaCon, 60. Coyote Lake/Alvord-Tule Springs, GonaCon, 60. Pine Nut Mountains, PZP, 50. Onaqui Mountain, PZP and GonaCon, 70. Cedar Mountain, PZP, 50. Range Creek, GonaCon, 15. Planned darting total on that schedule: 828. The Bureau’s own program page says darting is not practical for most herds. Gather or catch-treat-release, drug named in a schedule or release: Clan Alpine, GonaCon, 81 planned in November 2023, after the 1999 trial. Calico complex: Black Rock Range, Calico Mountains, Granite Range, and Warm Springs Canyon. GonaCon, 172 planned in October 2023, with five IUD retreatments noted. Triple B and Maverick-Medicine: 28 GonaCon treatments in fiscal 2018, and up to 50 mares released in fall 2024. Buffalo Hills, GonaCon, 57 planned. Fish Creek, PZP, 26 planned. Roberts Mountain and Whistler Mountain, GonaCon/PZP, 19 planned in the complex gather. Nevada Wild Horse Range, GonaCon, 106 planned. Silver King: 25 mares on GonaCon released March 12, 2021. Reveille: 22 mares on PZP-22 released February 12, 2020, and later GonaCon. Twin Peaks horses, GonaCon, 30 planned. The burro portion of that gather was removal only. South Steens, GonaCon/PZP, 19 planned. Stinkingwater: treated mares released in fiscal 2022. Agent not on the schedule line. Bordo Atravesado, GonaCon, 10 planned. Sulphur and Swasey: GonaCon primer in September 2020 and a booster before release. Eagle: primer in January 2021. Those three are the herds in the Bureau’s cited booster study. Antelope, Water Canyon: GonaCon pilot in fiscal 2018, 12 actually treated. Cedar Mountain: about 200 mares on PZP-22 in February 2017, separate from later darting. Black Mountain, Arizona: a ZonaStat-H pilot on female burros authorized in 2017, proposed for 165 jennies. Saylor Creek was named for catch-treat-release in the fiscal 2025 plan. The March 1, 2025 Herd Area and Herd Management Area Statistics parse to 139 herd-management-area rows and 105 herd-area rows with a last-gather month. The Bureau’s summary of that file says 177 herd management areas. The difference is extraction loss from the published tables, not evidence that the missing rows were never gathered. Last gather is a date. It is not a headcount. Animal-removed totals by herd for the whole period were not published. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 Instruction Memorandum 2015-153, carried forward in IM 2023-028, tells offices to geld every male permanently removed, and every male born in holding, once he is a weanling. Exceptions are for an adopter who wants an intact horse. Horses sent to long-term pasture are gelded before they arrive. Cryptorchid males that cannot be fully castrated are euthanized under the same policy. That rule has applied, in narrower form, since 2006 for animals four and older, and since 2009 for weanlings. Every removal since those dates has taken breeding stallions out of the herd and, as policy, sterilized them before adoption or pasture. The Bureau has never published the stallion share of the 302,204. Release of geldings back onto a herd management area is a different act. The Bureau’s March 18, 2022 account says it has usually not done this except in a few herds, and it documents one. At Conger, Utah, about 40 percent of males were gelded after the 2017 gather and released. Frisco was the intact control. Sarah King and U.S. Geological Survey coauthors found a moderate drop in mare fertility in the first year only. Geldings that held harems tended to lose them. Garrott and Siniff, in 1992, estimated that about 80 percent or more of a herd’s stallions would have to be gelded before growth fell substantially. Conger did not reach that fraction. The Bureau did not name the other herds. There is no operational program of GonaCon in males or of chemical vasectomy. Sex-ratio skew is not gelding. At Fifteenmile, Wyoming, in September 2026, the Bureau released 61 stallions, 45 mares, and 3 foals, described as intact, at about 60 percent male. Jackson Mountains, Nevada, is an authorization, not a completed sterilization. The August 6, 2026 herd management area plan opens sterilization of mares and stallions up to one-third of the low appropriate management level of 130. Counsel told Wild Horse Education that the September 2026 removal would not include sterilization or fertility-control treatment. The authority remains in the plan. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝 A herd held at 30 to 50, the Pokegama appropriate management level, cannot meet either genetic standard above if it is managed as a closed population. The fiscal 2026 schedule lists Pokegama as an emergency bait-trap removal of 30, with zero fertility-control treatments. Removal without a drug is still a genetic-flow cut. The Bureau’s proposed fix on other small herds, stated in its own AML papers, is to import a mare every decade and to contracept or geld the animals returned. That is a breeding program imposed on a remnant. It is the opposite of a self-sustaining free-roaming population. The Academies were asked what population-control decisions do to genetic diversity, social behavior, and herd health. The record since 2013 is that removals remained the dominant tool by an order of magnitude, that pesticide use expanded from a few dartable herds to a still-small set of herds and to mares released after gathers, and that gelding of removed stallions continued as uncounted policy. The Bureau’s March 1, 2025 estimate of 73,130 on the range, against a high appropriate-management level of 25,556, is not evidence that the breeding populations inside those appropriate-management levels are genetically viable. The appropriate-management level is the number the Bureau manages toward. On the herds managed at a few dozen animals, that number fails the 2013 Academies warning and the 2014 revision of the IUCN-linked thresholds. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐱, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝 Sterilizing horses does not settle a grazing conflict. It ends the breeding population that was supposed to be managed. A pesticide that blocks foaling, or a surgery that gelds the stallion, decides who copies alleles forward. On a herd already held at 30 to 50, that is the genetic cut. The forage question remains. A sanctuary does not repair it. A sanctuary saves the individual after the cut. Removed stallions are gelded and do not return as sires. Mares placed in private care do not return their alleles to the band. Placement of more than 290,000 animals since 1971 is not a return to the herd. A pen of a few dozen mares and no intact stallion is a captive remnant. It is not a wild population. The genetic requirement is an intact breeding population on the range, large enough to keep rare alleles, not a contraceptive schedule and not an off-range archive. That is the distinction Wild Horse Fire Brigade is built on. #WildHorses @grok @JaneGoodallInst

"Saving American Wild Horses" is a genetic statement! And in order to honestly and factually make that statement requires; naturally-living, free-roaming, breeding wild horses in a herd of at least 150 genetically intact horses, made up of many family bands in a naturally operating wilderness area. Wild Horse Fire Brigade is the ONLY nonprofit doing that! youtube.com/watch?v=lsu2NhHc… #WildHorses #WildHorseGenetics #WildHorseResearch #WildHorseConservation @IUCN @IUCN_forests @IUCNsos @IUCNssc

SHARE-SHARE-SHARE: Wild Horse EcoTourism Works! It's Proven! "There is no substitute for ecotourism programs that uniquely provide actual immersion into nature and the experience of the wonders that exist therein, first hand.” ~ William E Simpson II ecotourism.org/news/ecotouri… #WildHorses #WildHorseConservation #WildHorseGenetics #WildHorseResearch #WilliameSimpsonII

READ, LEARN & REPOST! pitchstonewaters.com/why-wil… #WildHorses #WHFB #WildHorseResearch

Did you know wild horses HELP trees survive? #SaveWildHorses #WildHorseFireBrigade #WHFB #WildHorses #WildHorse #WildFire #ReWilding

Because--- Your PZP Program Does NOT stop Roundups.. It does harm horses, and cause genetic decline... Stop Grifting! LISTEN to William Simpson's new country-western song via YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=sWBdiMRf… #WildHorses #WildHorseGrift #Stoptheroundups #NewCountryMusic #AWHC #WHFB #PZPkills #SterilizationCult @grok @FoxNews @rexjonesnewz @VernBuchanan @NancyMace @RepCohen @LaraLeaTrump @MichaelJaco9

SHARE! 📷 The Cost of the Myth: How BLM’s Misinformation on Wild Horses Fuels Catastrophe - The Bug and Stallion Fires! By: William Simpson II © 2026 For more than five decades, the Bureau of Land Management has managed America’s free-roaming wild horses under a framework built on selective science, legal contortion, and institutional habit. The results are visible this week in the smoke rising over the Dogskin Mountains north of Reno. The Bug and Stallion fires, human-caused and wind-driven, have already scorched more than 134,000 acres of tall grass, brush, and pinyon-juniper. BLM closed the entire North Reno Recreation Area—including the Dogskin Mountains, Hungry Valley, and Moon Rocks—because the northern finger of the Bug Fire is still burning in the rugged terrain of the very range whose wild horse herd the agency was preparing to reduce again. This is not an isolated coincidence. It is the predictable outcome of a management system that systematically undervalues the ecological role of wild horses while overvaluing the presence of livestock. THE FOUNDATIONAL MISREPRESENTATIONS Two claims appear so routinely in BLM Environmental Assessments, public websites, and reports to Congress that they function as doctrine: First, that wild horses “have no natural predators.” Second, that the Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) the agency sets are the scientifically determined number that the land can support in a “thriving natural ecological balance.” Both are false. Peer-reviewed research has demonstrated for years that mountain lions prey heavily on wild horses where the two species overlap. The 2021 Journal of Wildlife Management study by Andreasen and colleagues, using GPS collars and investigation of more than 1,300 kill sites in Nevada’s Great Basin, found horses comprised nearly 60 percent of the documented prey items for collared lions. Some lions specialized almost entirely on horses. Earlier work in the 1990s already showed mountain lion predation capable of holding foal survival to roughly 27 percent in some populations. The agency’s continued assertion that horses lack predators is not an oversight—it is a rhetorical necessity. Without it, the justification for aggressive, repeated removals weakens. On genetics, the agency’s own long-time expert, E. Gus Cothran, and the 2013 National Academies of Sciences review established clear standards: monitor observed heterozygosity and allelic diversity, sample herds regularly, and act when diversity falls more than one standard deviation below the feral mean. The BLM Handbook incorporates these principles. In practice, sampling is sporadic, studbooks do not exist for free-roaming herds, and the low AMLs imposed on many Herd Management Areas make long-term retention of genetic variation structurally difficult. Small, isolated populations are managed toward numbers that virtually guarantee progressive loss of rare alleles. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act’s preamble declares these animals “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” that “enrich the lives of the American people” and are to be protected in their natural state. The agency’s operational AMLs frequently reduce herds to levels that contradict both the spirit of the Act and the genetic guidance in its own handbook. GRAZING ECOLOGY: HORSES ARE NOT CATTLE The difference in foraging behavior is not subtle. Cattle and sheep are selective ruminants that prefer green, higher-protein forage and tend to avoid cured fine fuels once grasses dry. Horses, as hindgut fermenters with different dentition and digestive physiology, continue to consume dry grasses, cured cheatgrass, and lower-quality material later into the season—precisely the fine fuels that carry fast-moving rangeland fire. This is not theoretical advocacy. Comparative studies, field observations from land managers who have lived with both species, and European research on feral and semi-feral horses all point in the same direction: horses reduce the continuity and volume of the fine fuels that drive grassland and shrubland fire behavior in ways that seasonal livestock grazing often does not. When horses are removed en masse and livestock remain (or are increased), the landscape loses a year-round consumer of the very material that becomes most dangerous in late summer. BLM’s own recent EAs quietly concede the short-term consequence. Standard language across multiple 2024–2025 documents (Pancake Complex, Lahontan, Carter Reservoir/Buckhorn/Coppersmith, and others) states that reducing horses to AML “would result in a short-term increase in the volume of fine fuels” and “could result in a theoretical increase in wildfires.” The agency then pivots to claim long-term benefits through reduced dominance of invasive annuals. The empirical record after major gathers frequently shows the short-term effect materializing while the long-term benefit remains aspirational. THE PATTERN ON THE GROUND Observers who track specific Herd Management Areas have documented a recurring sequence: aggressive gather, reduction to or below low AML, followed within a few years by large, fast-moving fires in the same landscape. The mechanism is straightforward. Continuous, year-round horse grazing creates a mosaic of reduced fine-fuel continuity. Sudden removal allows cured grasses and annuals to accumulate. When ignition arrives under hot, dry, windy conditions, the fire has continuous fuel that was previously interrupted. The Dogskin Mountains and surrounding North Complex (Flanigan, Granite Peak) fit the pattern. These are small HMAs with extremely low AMLs—Dogskin at 10–15 animals on roughly 6,500 acres. Populations have been repeatedly reduced. In August 2026, while the agency was advancing another North Complex gather decision, the Bug Fire’s northern edge pushed into the Dogskin terrain. The same public lands the BLM manages for both horses and multiple use are now closed because of active wildfire. This is not proof that every post-gather fire is caused solely by horse removal. Drought, invasive annuals, climate, ignition sources, and livestock grazing all interact. But the consistent refusal to treat wild horses as a potential fuels-management asset—while simultaneously documenting the short-term fuel increase that follows their removal—reveals a management philosophy that prioritizes livestock AUMs and low horse numbers over landscape resilience. WHAT THE RECORD ACTUALLY SHOWS The 1971 Act did not authorize the BLM to manage wild horses as pests to be minimized. It required their protection as an integral part of the public lands. The agency’s own genetic advisors and the National Academies told it how to maintain viable populations. Independent wildlife biologists documented meaningful predation. Comparative grazing ecology shows horses continue to consume the cured fine fuels that cattle largely abandon. Yet the operational reality remains: low AMLs that undermine genetic security, repeated gathers that create short-term fuel pulses, public messaging that denies predation, and a growing list of landscapes that burn hard after the horses are gone. The smoke over the Dogskin Mountains this week is not an abstraction. It is the physical consequence of a decades-long preference for narrative over evidence. Until the agency is forced to align its practices with the Act’s preamble, its own handbook, and the peer-reviewed literature on predation and foraging ecology, the cycle will continue: remove the horses, watch the fine fuels rebuild, and then fight the fires that follow. #wildhorses #bugfire #thebugfire #StallionFire #wildfires #wildfire #wildfirescience #WildHorseFireBrigade #newsfeed #RenoNews #NevadaNews #WildfireNews News.Net @MichaelJaco9 @renonewsnet @AP @AP_Oddities @News4Reno @grok @realDonaldTrump @LaraLeaTrump @SecKennedy @RobertKennedyJr @ShawnRyan762 @ShawnRyanShow @SRS_Producer @DougBurgum @VernBuchanan @RepCourtBoice

Some Wild Horse Nonprofits are working both sides of the fence... Blood Money in one hand, Donations in the other! Some wild horse nonprofits take blood money from the Bureau of Land Management 'BLM' and then, pivot to criticize the BLM as they ask wild horse advocates for Donations! Genocide (PZP) is NOT a Solution! It helps the BLM's planned extermination of wild horses! FACTS spelled-out in this eye-opening article: echoesfromtheedge.substack.c… #WildHorses #WildHorseNonprofits #WildHorseGrift #AWHC #AmericanWildHorseConservation #WildHorseGenocide #Genocide #PZPkills #PZP #WildHorseSlaughter #WildHorseRoundups #Stoptheroundup #Stoptheroundups #StoptheGrift #WildHorseLivesmatter #Brumby @IUCN @IUCNRedList @IUCN_forests

𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲-𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗔𝗻 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶-𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 BY: William E. Simpson II & MIchelle Gough - © Oct. 24, 2026 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀, 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲-𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Abstract This dissertation presents a detailed synthesis of the landscape-scale ecological functions of free-roaming wild horses when managed according to principles that preserve naturally-living intact family bands, natural selective pressures, and placement in appropriate remote wilderness or forested landscapes free from intensive commercial livestock competition and chemical fertility control. The core empirical foundation is William E. Simpson II’s continuous, close-range observational research (exceeding 25,000 hours over twelve-plus years) at Wild Horse Ranch, documented in the 2019 Impact of Wild Horses on Wilderness Landscape and Wildfire – Preliminary Findings Report, the Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan (Wild Horse Fire Brigade), and subsequent writings on genetics, reseeding, and fire behavior. These observations are contextualized and strengthened by peer-reviewed literature, including Ripple et al. (2015) on the collapse of large herbivores and resulting changes in fire regimes; recent studies of equid grazing in Mediterranean and Iberian landscapes demonstrating fuel reduction; research on endozoochorous seed dispersal by equids; and genetic studies of the TBX3 locus and Dun alleles documenting retention of ancestral camouflage traits. The analysis concludes that properly sited free-roaming horses can reduce fine-fuel continuity, facilitate native plant reseeding, maintain genetic diversity under natural selection, and provide these services at low public cost relative to mechanical treatment or long-term holding. Current federal practices of repeated removal and chemical contraception risk forgoing these functions and reducing gene flow. pitchstonewaters.com/landsca… #wildhorses #WildHorseResearch #WildHorseEcology #WithHorseEthology #WildHorseConservation #ReWilding @IUCN @IUCNRedList @IUCN_forests @IUCN_Water @IUCN_PA @IUCNsos @IUCNssc @theNASciences @Nature @EPA @thehorse @EquusOnlineUni @EquusEngland @thehorsemag @paulickreport

𝗗𝗢𝗜 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗴 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲' 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 - 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱-𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗶𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽.' On October 27, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed Secretary’s Order No. 3454, “Supporting America’s Ranchers through Resilient Rangelands.” Framed as support for rural economies and wildfire mitigation, the Order is a systematic expansion of livestock grazing priority across Department of the Interior lands. It accelerates permit renewals, reinstates suspended Animal Unit Months (AUMs), opens additional lands, eases constraints on predator control, and explicitly targets wild horses and burros for reduction to free forage for cattle and sheep. The cumulative effect is a transfer of public rangelands from multi-species ecological function to industrial livestock production, with severe consequences for native predators, bison, and free-roaming equines. Expanding Livestock at the Expense of Native Systems The Order establishes a Department-wide Rangeland Health Initiative whose primary purpose is to facilitate livestock use. Within 30 days, BLM, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service must identify lands for long-term or emergency grazing. Within 120 days they must outline steps to issue permits. A goal of “no net loss of AUMs” is set, and BLM must inventory and evaluate reinstatement of suspended AUMs. Vacant and ungrazed allotments are to receive streamlined application processes, with preference for full 10-year terms for local livestock operators under the Taylor Grazing Act. Technology (“super intelligence”) is directed to clear permit backlogs and draft environmental documents for no-change renewals. These directives lock in higher livestock densities on more acres for longer periods. Cattle and sheep are non-native, production-oriented herbivores whose grazing, trampling, and selective feeding have documented effects on western rangelands: destruction of biological soil crusts, soil compaction and erosion, reduction of native perennial grasses, and facilitation of invasive annuals such as cheatgrass. Peer-reviewed analyses show livestock on public lands in the western United States are significant greenhouse-gas sources and shift ecosystems toward warmer, drier conditions that favor fire-prone invasives. A 1991 GAO report and subsequent studies found livestock grazing among the leading causes of species endangerment on public lands, particularly plants, with long recovery times in arid systems. The Order’s emphasis on reinstating AUMs and opening new lands occurs without equivalent requirements to reduce livestock where rangeland health standards are already failing due to current grazing. Predators and Other Wildlife Lose Protections Section 5(f) and 6(b) require bureaus to identify and recommend changes to regulations, policies, and guidance that limit protection of livestock from predators. FWS must, within 90 days, review Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act processes affecting avian depredation and recommend changes to maximize livestock protection. Within 15 days, FWS must review the ESA section 10(j) rule and the Colorado gray-wolf reintroduction Memorandum of Understanding for greater responsiveness to livestock depredation, including criteria for lethal removal. FWS is also directed to initiate compatibility determinations for grazing in National Wildlife Refuge System units, including both temporary and 10-year authorizations. These provisions tilt management toward increased lethal control of wolves, mountain lions, bears, coyotes, and other predators when they prey on livestock. Reduced native prey bases (deer, elk) from forage competition and habitat alteration already drive predators toward livestock; expanded grazing intensifies that dynamic. Refuge grazing expansions risk degrading habitat used by bison, predators, and their prey. The Order’s wildfire and “rangeland health” framing prioritizes livestock return after fire over recovery of native cover and structure needed by wildlife. Direct Assault on Wild Horses and Sustainable Preservation Section 6(a)(7) instructs BLM, “to the maximum extent practicable,” to reduce impacts on rangeland health from wild horses and burros. It requires improved tracking of fertility-control treatments, data collection on impacts to allotments, and a plan to reach and maintain Appropriate Management Levels (AML) “to ensure cessation of the destruction of rangelands by excess wild horses and burros.” This accelerates roundups, fertility control (including EPA-registered pesticides), and population suppression in service of livestock AUMs. The Order’s background cites wild-horse “overpopulation” as a cause of reduced forage, reinforcing the narrative that horses must be reduced to free capacity for cattle and sheep. Free-roaming horses, managed as wild, function as ecosystem engineers in appropriate wilderness: year-round grazing reduces fine fuels, creates firebreaks, and can promote plant diversity and heterogeneity relative to sheep grazing. European rewilding studies (Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley; Iberian and Mediterranean systems) show semi-wild horses reduce grass height and biomass, lowering wildfire risk while favoring forbs. In contrast, cattle and sheep are seasonally managed, concentrate impacts near water and fences, and have been linked to cheatgrass expansion and loss of soil crusts. The Order ignores this distinction and treats horses as the problem to be solved for livestock. Cattle and Sheep as Destructive Invasive Herbivores Cattle and sheep are Eurasian domesticates introduced to North America. On arid and semi-arid public lands they differ fundamentally from native large herbivores or free-roaming equines. Their heavy hoof action destroys biological soil crusts that stabilize soils and fix nitrogen. Selective grazing reduces native bunchgrasses, creating openings for invasive annuals. Trampling and nutrient redistribution alter plant communities, increase erosion, and degrade riparian zones. Multiple studies document livestock as a primary driver of plant endangerment and landscape conversion on western public lands. While targeted grazing can sometimes reduce fuels, the Order’s expansionist approach—no-net-loss AUMs, reinstatement of suspended capacity, and opening of new lands—does not require the careful intensity, timing, or rest that even proponents of strategic grazing acknowledge as necessary. The result is further conversion of native systems toward livestock forage, at the expense of predators, bison, wild horses, and the biodiversity that depends on intact plant communities. Institutional Momentum Against Multi-Use Balance Tight timelines (30–180 days), preference for local livestock operators, coordination with USDA/Forest Service, and the Rangeland Health Initiative’s focus on livestock production create lasting institutional bias. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, FLPMA’s multiple-use mandate, and refuge purposes are cited, yet implementation prioritizes livestock expansion and predator control over the ecological roles of free-roaming equines or the prey base for native carnivores. Existing failures of rangeland health standards due to livestock are not addressed with equivalent urgency. Order 3454 is not neutral range management. It is a deliberate shift that expands the footprint and legal priority of non-native livestock, reduces constraints on lethal predator control, and accelerates suppression of wild horses to free forage. The ecological record shows cattle and sheep as agents of soil crust destruction, native-plant decline, and invasive-grass expansion. Treating them as the solution while targeting free-roaming horses and native predators is a policy of landscape conversion, not resilience. References Secretary’s Order No. 3454, Supporting America’s Ranchers through Resilient Rangelands (signed Oct. 27, 2026): doi.gov/.../so-3454-supporti…... BLM press release on the Order: blm.gov/.../secretary-burgum…... Western Watersheds Project analysis of the Order: westernwatersheds.org/.../ne… Livestock Use on Public Lands in the Western USA Exacerbates Climate Change (Environmental Management, 2022): link.springer.com/article/10… Managed as wild, horses influence grassland vegetation differently than domestic herds (Biological Conservation, 2024): sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S0… New paper highlights the benefits of grazing with wild horses (Rewilding Europe, Greater Côa Valley study): rewildingeurope.com/.../new-… Landscape-Scale Ecological Benefits of Properly Managed Free-Roaming Wild Horses (Pitchstone Waters synthesis): pitchstonewaters.com/landsca… #WildHorses #EPA #SierraClub #WelfareRanching #PublicLands #InvasiveSpecies @AP @cnnbrk @BBCBreaking @BBCWorld @FoxNews @NEWS @ABC @BBCNews @grok @IUCN @IUCNRedList @IUCN_forests @IUCN_Water @IUCN_PA @IUCNsos @IUCNssc @RewildingB @MichaelJaco9 @ShawnRyan762