Author: Photographer — Journalist

Article written by John Cox, Cascade Mountains (03-27-2012)

When we, as advocates, speak of abuse, we speak of some extremely serious situations.  We speak of legitimate animal abuse, in this case horses, which the abuse is not acceptable what so ever.  The BLM (i.e. Bureau of Land Management) would like to make us believe there is such a thing as “acceptable abuse.”  There is no such thing, situation, or attitude that makes an “acceptable abuse” situation legitimate what so ever.

Acceptable Abuse?

Government Speak: “After reviewing instances of alleged animal abuse during the recently completed Triple B wild horse gather in Nevada, a Bureau of Land Management team has found that helicopter contractor Sun J Livestock generally demonstrated appropriate, humane handling of wild horses over the course of the six-week gather that ended August 31. . .”  This is what BLM employees consider acceptable abuse?  But oh, there is so much more and this tale continues below. . .

Let’s Investigate This

Of course as we discover later as outlined within their “own” document, “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s internal review of a wild horse roundup in Nevada found some animals were whipped in the face, kicked in the head, dragged by a rope around the neck and repeatedly shocked with electrical prods, but agency officials concluded none of the mistreatment rose to the level of being inhumane.”  As recorded within a BLM document, by eye witness testimony, and further covered in the Las Vegas Review Journal, and posted on the Internet March 26, 2012.

“Outlandish and irresponsible” is most often the advocates’ response within this situation.  There is no such thing as an “Acceptable Abuse” of animals, and this is what the supposed internal BLM investigation wants us to accept, conclusively.  Why?  The only assumptive thought on this matter is that BLM employees, because they are a government agency, assumes it is okay to abuse animals.

The BLM demonstrates this obvious and obscene and uncalled for rhetoric on every occasion, and yet the BLM PR person states that we, meaning Advocates — “. . . advocates are dishonest” and claim a “. . . sky is falling” attitude.  Therefore, we can assume as well that if the public, or American’s speak out on abuse by BLM and government officials toward animals, then we are called names, harassed, threatened and outright felonies by BLM employees and private contractors are overlooked.  Then we are led to believe these actions are okay?  They are not okay!

Keep in mind that this is the Sun J Livestock company which is an acceptable private contractor with the BLM; and yet, has a vast history within a small amount of time of animal abuse and activity that one can consider of a questionable nature.  They have made millions in tax payer money, as a private contractor, and for what?  Abusing our wild horse herds!  And appallingly getting away with it, under the guise of “acceptable abuse” of the horses!

Also ignored is the illegal actions, that consistently ignore FAA Laws.  The law is FAA   PART 91—GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES § 91.13 – Careless or reckless operation.  The law is quite clear, yet ignored.  This Journalist says “ignored” because there exists video taped evidence, in abundance, on the Internet, which is not edited what so ever.  This is a felony, and as outlined in FAA Part 91–#91.13, as well as within many state and federal jurisdictions on Vehicular Assault upon people or animals.

“Officials for Sun J Livestock in Vernal, Utah, the contractor for the Triple B Roundup between Elko and Ely, did not return messages seeking comment,” as the reporter at the Las Vegas Review Journal states in the article when asking them about the obvious abuse within the BLM report.

In this Journalist’s opinion there is guilt written all over this situation, and why?  Because those abusive situations did happen, and will happen again because these people get away with the abuse, supported by the BLM administrators!  And, I might add, get paid with tax payer dollars quite well, for abusing the horses.  Ignoring this situation, outright felonies, simply escalates the problem.

Using/Misusing Taxpayer Money for Abuse!

It is appalling for me to assume that my tax money is paying for what is termed “acceptable abuse” what so ever.  Within the research of this same appalling situation are the facts, we as taxpayers have supported this same “acceptable abuse” on many occasions, unwillingly and certainly unknowingly.

Here is a brief list of payments to this same Sun J Livestock company, as reported on the Government’s BLM “Contracts for Wildhorse/Burro Control Services (FY 2000-2009)” i.e. 2010, 2011, and 2012 not included, but their behavior far worse as witnessed and logged abuses accumulated ten-fold:

February 23, 2011 – Sun J Livestock received $82,648.20 for not even an entire weeks worth of roundup;

September 13, 2010 — Sun J Livestock received $82,966.00 for a little short of a weeks worth of roundup;

December 6, 2010 — Sun J Livestock received $649,850.20 for a little over a weeks worth of roundup;

January 10, 2011 — Sun J Livestock received $1,221,767.90 for about two weeks of roundup; etc. . . .

Exploring further we find even more appalling situations, and payment by all of us as tax payers, in the amount of $116,744,281 million dollars between the same period of i.e. 2000-2009, per their “Contracts for Wildhorse/Burro Control Services.”

Not so surprising is the fact that the abuse has indeed escalated due to lack of qualifications, inexperience of the roundup personnel, the cover-up of bad conduct by BLM employees, and the all around bad attitude and the Tribal Mentality of the BLM. It has indeed become a situation of employees and the private contractors versus the presence of the general public and witnesses at each of the roundups.

Why Does This Abuse Take Place?

BLM employees and Ranchers and other groups say the roundups are needed to protect fragile grazing lands that are used by cattle, bighorn sheep, and other wildlife.”  But the fact is this has been conclusively found to be a lie.  For one, the Bighorn Sheep have been extinct within that landscape for quite some time, run-out by the overgrazing and lack of proper management by BLM and the Ranchers in the area of their cattle.

Then we consider just how harsh are the wild horses to the environment.  “None what so ever,” states NSA retired Research Scientist James Culver, “. . . and the overwhelming fact is that horses are docile within their environment, and the horses are the least contributing factor to any of the change developing within that terrestrial biosphere.”  This is only one of several dozens of similar opinion and given by many Terrestrial and Range specific Research scientists.  For further discussion you can read research and studies of grasslands at a very good and informative Internet site, www.peer.org and made up of government researchers and previous scientists.

Sun J Livestock – Example of Questionable Conduct

Then we can go to several other roundups, and find more significant abuse, and by those same people, which only a couple are given here, but assuredly there exist many more examples that could fill a book, and of other companies who contracted with the BLM:

“November 11, 2010 “BLM Roundup in Oregon Claims Lives of 9 Wild Horses in First Week.”

“The tragic death of the stallion we call Braveheart in the BLM’s Silver King, NV roundup.”

“RENO, Nev. (Dec. 13, 2011) – During the helicopter roundup of wild horses and burros in the Calico Complex of northwestern Nevada last Thursday, Ginger Kathrens, director of the Cloud Foundation, filmed the hotshotting of a group of 10 burros that had been captured and were being loaded into a stock trailer by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contractors, Sun J Livestock.”

Or facts such as Contractor Qualifications, that are written for safety and competence standards – to qualify for government contracts:

“WASHINGTON (Jan. 20, 2012) – The Cloud Foundation (TCF) of Colorado Springs, CO has requested an investigation into the contracting process which led to Sun J Livestock of Vernal, Utah, receiving millions of dollars in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracts to round up wild horses and burros in the West since the Fall of 2010.”

“. . . filed a protest with the U.S. Department of Interior in 2010 regarding the awarding of the contract to Sun J. The mandatory qualifications include “1,500 hours of flying experience… in similar projects” as well as 3,000 hours of “humanely capturing wild horses and or burros… while utilizing helicopter drive trapping,” The Cloud Foundation .

“When Kathrens questioned BLM about the experience of the Sun J crew, she was told that they had worked with Cook Livestock, also of Vernal,Utah.  Kathrens contacted the owner of Cook Livestock and former BLM roundup contractor, asking about Sun J’s work experience with her company.”

“Josh Hellyer was never on our payroll,” Kathrens was told. “And it’s seriously questionable whether the Sun J ground crew had the hours of prior experience required.” The Cloud Foundation .

But this goes much further, and you can read about more questionable conduct on The Could Foundations Internet site.  As well, you can read about much more of the “acceptable abuse” by BLM and their private contractors at their site, and find out how this entire advocacy began, and for what reasons.  Very interesting stories are there.

All requests for further information, FOIA requests, and anything else in regard to Sun J Livestock was denied by BLM administrators, even though the facts directly relate to Sun J Livestock indeed lied about their qualifications submitted to the BLM for private contract work.  As well, Public scrutiny of private contractors remains standard policy within every government agency, unless “government classified” issues involved, which there exist no issues involved in this private contractor situation, just a cover-up.

The Filing of a False Claim is Illegal

Make no doubt to the seriousness of this situation. The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733, also called the “Lincoln Law“) is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs.  It is quite obvious there is an illegal act committed by Sun J Livestock, continuously – then why has BLM administrators ignored this?

Not to be ignored is the illegal activity that transpired here, in regard to false information given to the government, but as usual the BLM employees ignored, and at the expense of many horses being crippled and killed as well.  This is unacceptable, and there is just no excuse for this type of incompetence and/or attitude within our government agencies and their employees.  To actually allow felonies to occur, and being paid for the felonies, is beyond doubt an unscrupulous and uncalled for situation.

“In the war of words over the plan to round up thousands of wild horses on federal lands, it’s the images that speak loudest. Even as the Bureau of Land Management argues that the thinning of herds is for their own good, critics of the program keep coming up with damning footage showing abuse of the animals by BLM contractors,” Video: Wild horse roundups featuring burros being “hotshotted” are kinder, gentler?, Denver Westward Blogs, Internet site January 26, 2012.

The resolution is very apparent and source-specific – that there does exist felonies, and ongoing for quite some time that need to be approached by BLM and legal entities within the government.  More illegal activities with concerns toward destruction and theft of government property, horse theft, horse records in permanent management facilities, felony filings of false documentation and horse herd counts, private contractor qualifications, payment toward non-authorized purchases, false job-categories filed, and other BLM’s daily occurrences are all covered by Federal Law, and make no doubt many are serious Felonies.

There exist many more felonies, by BLM and private contractors too numerous to mention here.  Arrests need to be made, and the culmination of the roundups needs to happen immediately.  Then the wild horses need to be placed back onto public lands, and the ranchers and BLM need to leave them alone.  There is no such thing as “acceptable abuse”! Another agency must be appointed for the management of our Wild Horse Herds here in America.  The taxpayers “Buck” that is being thrown away on useless horse herd roundups – must stop Right Here, Right Now.

We’ve become so numb of our government agencies betraying our trust, that suddenly we awake one morning and realize the devastation it has caused.  Shortly the feelings of wanting to do something follow.  But what? (see link below to sign petition)

This conflicts and then dominates our soul and inner spirit because of the seriousness of the occasion.  In this case it is the useless slaughter, and what the BLM wants us to believe is “acceptable abuse” of animals and of our wild horse herds.

BLM Researchers Speak Out

Here is what BLM’s own scientists have said about their Grasslands Research and information.  Grasslands research and availability is part of the very basis of what the “other” more dishonest BLM employees’ state, without a doubt, the reasoning for removing the wild horse herds from public lands.

This is not meant to fulfill a complete and in-depth explanation, rather simply a brief perusal of information available in many documents. Previous BLM Researchers speak:

1. BLM remains committed to maximizing livestock use levels, yet exempt them from any type of research data, and have done so for many years. This is just now coming to the forefront of the many issues and mismanagement principles the BLM continues to generate, irregardless of the consequences, i.e. the extermination of wild horse herds under false data presented;
2. BLM’s refusal to ignore the premise of the “total landscape” and failure to admit such, has serious consequences – which are — the consideration toward a reduction in grazing allotments is unacceptable to BLM administrators, at the sacrifice of our public lands as well as taxpayer dollars. BLM scientists have suggested, but were ignored, the fact that environmental and economic resources would best be served by a reduction in BLM issued grazing permits;
3. Industry domination of BLM has led to disastrous results, for example, “During a severe six-week drought in the West, BLM actually allowed grazing to increase. Meanwhile, BLM has fostered the destruction of thousands of natural springs and wetlands by encouraging grazers to construct troughs, pipelines and reservoirs as “range improvement facilities.”  Overgrazing (cattle only) has also led to the systematic extermination of wildlife, like the bighorn sheep, and now the wild horse herds, that were said to compete with livestock for resources on the range;
4. BLM Grazing Fee incentive proposal is a shell game. They reward supposed “good” rangeland practices (but realistically create negative environmental impact), by offering up to 75% grazing fee reductions, and shown time and time again to be counterproductive, as well at a heavy cost to taxpayers, who receive nothing in return;
5. BLM has no ability to monitor range practices, and the best example being livestock trespass, which is common on public lands, create overabundance of cattle in one area, and totally devastate the area. This is hidden by BLM employees and from their BLM management information, and the ranchers hide it from the public as well, which in both situations can be considered a crime in regard to falsification of filings of federal document laws;
6. Worse yet, BLM lacks reliable rangeland condition data needed to measure range deterioration or improvement. All BLM administrators make it impossible for the BLM to collect stocking rate and carrying capacity data, yet quote this type of data in public documents. Again, falsification of necessary information, being an illegal activity, and only made by a “pretense” of being legal by using constructed and manipulated phrasing within the technical reports;
7. Incentives proposed by BLM encourage those holding permits to construct rangeland improvement facilities, thereby creating an equity interest on public lands and fueling the political and legal attempts of ranchers to secure private property rights in order to redeem their economic investment. Again, falsification of documents, and only a “pretense” of being legal due to key word phrasing, that when broken-down into proper grammar usage would undeniably be of an illegal nature, and false.

Many Questions Unanswered

Overall, this information tells us that not only are significant issues being ignored, and information is manipulated to show false information as being correct, but we also find mismangement and incompetance.  This situation, or lack of, being leading factors quite costly to taxpayer money as well as destruction and slaughter of wild horses.  This is unforgivable, irresposible conduct, and just plain bad people running this government agency.  Because of the “Acceptable Abuse” and death standard, may God have mercy on their souls because the public will not!

Small Special Interest Groups

As usual, very small special interest groups win here, and taxpayers continue to receive nothing. The money goes into the ranchers’ pockets, who just happen to be friends of local and federal legislators, who also receive vast amounts of taxpayer dollars.  The fact is this region produces less than .012% to the beef industry in the United States, but will give the public erroneous information, as being a 3% contribution.

The problem also is they do not attempt to cover this up, and it is obvious this 3% figure is fraudulent, but due to lobby efforts or money-oriented belief systems, remains overlooked.  “Acceptable Abuse” toward our wild horse herds then becomes the norm, rather than the exception, but exemplifies how obscure and how far-off in responsibility and judgment both the BLM and this situation indeed is.

Information and the Truth

False information, especially when dispersed and given to the public by a government agency, leads to this information becoming referenced, then somewhere along the information highway it becomes real; That is, unless “Open Debate” exposes this type of fraudulent information for what it is, extremely destructive!

The fact is Horses from the wild horse herds die from this type of government agencies betrayal to the Public Trust.  It needs to STOP – NOW!

Wrong Information Leads to Destruction

The fact is these falsehoods from uncaring and irresponsible BLM employees and Department of the Interior employees, to include management and administrators, is just Wrong and on many levels.

The fact is the premise of horses being detrimental to this same environment is false.  This is proven time and time again, and yet, ignored and even demanded by BLM management and administrators too indeed leave this information out of “all” technical data and reference materials.

Need for Open Debate

If you have followed any of this Journalist’s previous articles, then understanding the need for “Open Debate” remains first and foremost of significance in order to change this deplorable situation of unneeded sacrifice and greed.  No balanced-debate of the issues exist, or have for quite sometime, due to the lack of correct information being given to the public.

The fact is the BLM favors the cattle industry, and at a heavy cost to the taxpayers, to wild horses, and everything that is of significance in America.  The lobby efforts of this industry place a lot of money in legislators pockets, and not only BLM employees but the Department of the Interior employees alike.  Make no doubt conflicts exist, and have been shown over the decades to exist, but covered up.  This situation continues, make no doubt.

These violations toward Public Interests can either be resolved, and illegal and certain questionable activity stopped, or simply another agency needs to take the management of our public lands over, with far more responsibility toward the Public Interest and toward wild life and horses, than has been the outcome so far.  It is irresponsible of our legislators as well, to allow this group to continue these questionable activities.

Conclusively, the general Public would rather spend $3 or $4 million dollars to investigate and punish this irresponsible conduct, rather than put $3 or $4 million dollars in the pocket of a friend of a legislator or BLM executive, and for nothing much more than being their neighbor, all the while killing our wild horse herds.

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A White Paper by BLM Researchers titled, “Public Trust Betrayed: Employee Critique of Land Management Rangeland Management.  This can be obtained: http://www.peer.org, for your further consideration if interested.

http://www.veteran-journalist.com – Articles exploring other questionable practices and management principles of BLM’s lack of Public Trust and betrayal to America.