“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
― Plato, The Republic
We have several situations ongoing between those who disfavor PZP, and those who favor PZP, within Horse Advocacy and sound Ecological Practices. So let’s start with an often quoted situation – From the East Coast and Assateague. This brought to light after perusing those scientists involved in the also often quoted NRC paper from the National Academy of Science, or as many legitimate research scientists phrase it — AKA Bogus Science and Profiteering Stampeding Their Way into Wild Horse Country!
What we are finding is the scientists involved, most of them, academic and from CPSU units within a college environment, directly attached to government grants on a consistent basis, and most at colleges that cater to ranching and Big AG agriculture support dynamics, did have conflict of interest motives – ALL!
“Because the “limits” put upon the NRC committee by the wild horse law are what they are, and because these are basically mainstream scientists drawn out of academia, it is entirely logical that they would recommend regulating wild horse and burro populations, in their words, “with science”.
But what kind of science, one might ask? Well, the fact is, it’s the same brand of science, and scientific
minds in today’s academia, that has failed the domesticated horse.”
“We’re talking about scientists who serve the special interests of government and its lobbyists, the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, and so forth, that have given us drugs and feeds and management practices that cause laminitis and other metabolic breakdowns of the horse. Indeed, it is all profitable for the very community that has created this “science based” disaster for horses. I’m not just spewing words here without foundation, horses truly suffer for it, and it is this bad science and corresponding harmful equine management practices that have given birth to and fueled the internationally burgeoning NHC movement spearheaded by the AANHCP. That is a fact — and it is a fact also that these scientists, and the special interests that fund them, refuse to embrace NHC because what we do and advocate for gets directly to the bottom of their — ethics –- profiteering — and slavish academic close-minded-ness.”
Then we go to the so often quoted and ironic “positive situation of “. . . Assateague, in fact, was not good science, any more than what has happened to those horses long before the government’s study. It catered to the drug industry and the same eugenics science that the U.S. and British governments sanctioned and used against their own people during the greater part of the 20th century (up to the 1960s and 70s), and that was astutely “borrowed” from by Nazi Germany for its extermination campaigns to rid the world of “undesirables”. Just as tactfully, and just as predictably, the NRC authors stated that predation behavior was not viable, ignoring Dr. John Turner’s mountain lion predation studies referenced in many books, and one very prominent “The Natural Horse and Paddock Paradise”, and which proved the viability of natural predation on wild horse herds. Of course, the reason that natural mountain lion (and wolf) predation “won’t work”, and which the NRC report fails to explain, is because BLM management practices have provided for their extermination and/or removal under welfare ranching pressure that deflects the truth of what’s happening within their grandfathered land leases born of the Taylor Grazing Act and the BLM’s conception.”
“I also gleaned the biographies of each scientist to see if there were personal conflicts of interest, what kind of understanding they would bring to the table regarding horse care based on their education and training, and if they seemed like “clear minded” people who could think outside the box in the best interest of any horse, wild or domesticated. My opinion is that our wild horses are in trouble if their recommendations are followed.”
“The reader should know, it is the science community that has recently aided and abetted the government (the EPA) in reclassifying wild horses legally as “pests” so that the pesticide PZP can be used on them for birth control purposes. You see, the NRC report is no surprise, as its convoluted “commandments” have been systematically orchestrated and colluded with by just about everyone in sight, including — and I am sad to say — nearly every purported “wild horse protection” group and sanctuary in the United States. Many of these groups stand to “gain” from this collusion, including the HSUS that co-owns patent rights to PZP.”
“Tax payers can expect to pay more, not less, as they watch the wild horse herds deteriorate genetically
under the government’s eugenics program of selective sterilization and contraception,
which will be driven by profit and the corporate land/resource grab that wants no protected wild
horses in the way. In fact, the report cautions that “public confidence” and trust will be an important
part of any solution. Inundating tax payers with scientific “word salad” that few can understand,
is understood. Clearly, the public does not understand the underlying issues, except what
they hear in the news. From that vantage point, this does not bode well for our wild horses either.”
One thing is certain here, the fact that the BLM is attempting to cover up their mess, by once again making another mess – this time with support from a few Advocates and other supporters with good intention in mind, but have indeed been deceived! A white paper will follow this, and references quoted that have been used here – The fact is, the PZP should have been rejected long ago, and the natural process developed and managed properly, would by now be well on the way to positive attribute to Wild Horses and our Environment Systems – but BLM and DOI, and other profiteering individuals would have been reduced in personnel, and methodology of cloaking and covering up monetary scams ripping taxpayer money off would have disappeared altogether.
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Reference: “Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward (2013)
Report of the National Resource Council of the National Academy of Sciences” AKA Bogus Science and Profiteering Stampeding Their Way into Wild Horse Country by Jaime Jackson, AANHCP Executive Director, June 9, 2013.
Preservation of America's Wildlife 