Blog

“Government agencies are to be held responsible for their conduct, their integrity, and their moral compass of activity. Without holding them responsible, We then find corruption and certainly an agency that neither represents the American Taxpayer, nor is it representative of the Integrity all Americans demand to be upheld and within high regard.” — John Cox, Veteran, Animal Advocate

Conflict does not always lead toward resolution. Although, it is the opposing position that generates better policy, better laws, and better management. In this case, and the subject of this writing, is the Wild Horse Herds that roam our Public Lands.

The Wild Horses on Public Lands situation can be described within a context of ineptness, irresponsible behavior, criminality, abuse, fraud, and tawdry name calling from the BLM and DOI employees and toward American citizens concerned about the Wild Horses — as well, taxpayers being forced to pay for illegal activities; which all definitions highlight the inappropriate and often irresponsible behavior of the Bureau of Land Management as well as its supervisory agency, the Department of the Interior.

A Government Agency Gone Bad

But first allow a little history. This is where the mainline media would displace the wild horses into historical escapades of government rhetoric. Yes, misinformation is plenty about the Wild Horses and their situation. The term: . . . what you do not know will not hurt you, is in error within this portion of America’s Wild Horses and their ongoing history; as it is precisely hurting them, and in extreme proportions — costly in both animal-life and money, and BLM / DOI allows extreme abuse and cruelty by management operations — taxpayer supported.

Within a Report Document (White Paper) entitled Horses to Slaughter, we discover overwhelming criminality and cover-up within the Bureau of Land Management. This particular undercover investigation was as far back as the late 1980’s thru 1991.

“The report is not as much about horses as it is about human integrity. The documents in this report detail the inability of the Department of the Interior to Police its own misconduct. Consequently, the failings reported . . . but are those of the Bureau of Land management (BLM) Law Enforcement program, the Department of the Interior Inspector General and the Office of the Solicitor and Secretary of the Interior, himself.” 1997 April, Horses to Slaughter, Anatomy of a Cover-up within the Wild Horse and Burro Program of the Bureau of Land Management, PEER White Paper Number 14.

The problem? This continues, due to this particular investigation being canceled before many Felony and Misdemeanor Arrest Warrants issued, as a matter of fact the very night before — called off by “. . . someone in high office, as the word leaked out eventually.” And many of those people, named on the Arrest Warrants, eventually assumed Management Positions within the BLM and DOI, and work there presently. And yes, the criminality continued over the past decades, and as outlined below.

This particular White Paper, aforementioned above, was prepared by current and former Special Agents and Investigators at that time. Several were witnesses and participants to the events described in this report. They represent more than a century of Law Enforcement experience.

“The authors of this report remain anonymous in order to avoid further retaliation from the Department of the Interior . . .” (Ibid)

The BLM is responsible for the management of America’s Public Lands, and America’s Wild Horses as well (a very bad Conflict of Interest situation right from the start). Set-asides, called Horse Management Areas, and paid for through taxpayer money, as well as its administration and management virtues, is a regulatory situation governed by Federal Laws. With this in mind, the BLM tolerates, and often facilitates the illegal trafficking and slaughter of America’s Icon — the Wild Horses. This is wiping out not only a provable indigenous species, but of historical and iconic proportions a superior and dignified Western legend – the Horse. The majorities of American’s have, and currently do – other than the BLM and welfare ranchers — respect this heritage.

The BLM has obstructed efforts by its own law enforcement officers to expose commercial theft of Wild Horses, fraudulent adoption schemes, and fictitious “sanctuary” herds, not only to avoid embarrassment, but to also maintain the flow of Wild Horses off the range.

Why should America be concerned?

Our government’s basis, the integrity of our Union, is indeed its beneficial laws of and for the people – ALL the people, to govern our nation. If we, Americans all and include government personnel as well, do not respect these laws, then how indeed is America going to function as a nation, as a people of this world?

So we enter into the current criminal behavior within the BLM, which is quite obvious as well. We can discuss, for example, the where about of $662,000 dollars spent on Gift Cards in 2014, going to fellow BLM employees and others. We can assume, without a stretch of the imagination, Payoffs, bribes, and political contributions were part of this?

The vouchers for this large theft of government money apparently used and within the government voucher computer system, were available at one time; that is, until the BLM started an investigation, and only after the situation published in newspapers. Shortly thereafter, and not so ironic, the vouchers – all of them – disappeared.

“Yes — evidence disappeared. There must not be any crime then,” says Secretary Jewell over at the DOI,” as American’s look on in a “. . . what the hell just happened here . . .” confusion!

Or, we can also go to the Wild Horse Roundups and the Bait and Trap methodology in Oregon, for example. The Bait and Trap methods are used at Murderer’s Creek, and assumed very functional. And yet, at $1000 per horse caught and paid to contractors in 2013, via the BLM/Forestry Inventory of Wild Horses caught, we find in one instance, of many, 29 Dead ($1,000 x 29 = $29,000 spent). We speak with a Government Supervisor there and find the horses did not make it to the Burns Corral, and he did not know of the horses dead, so he says. The fact is they apparently disappeared between the Capture Site and the Burns Corrals.

Oh, the Supervisor was also asked, “. . .well, if your people there, standing at the trap site, and watching them load from the trap site to the trailers, and taking Inventory, how could these 29 Wild Horses possibly disappear from the face of the earth?” In another words, how could the trailers with the Wild Horses make it a few miles down the road, to the Burns Corrals from Murderer’s Creek, without being lost? Well, the answer to this and many more questions like this below.

We can also point out the 199 Wild Horses that died at the Burns Corrals, within a 2 year time period (i.e. $1,000 x 199 = $199,000 spent). Collaborated and confirmed by a documentary video on the Burns Corrals as the subject, and done by the Oregon Public Broadcasting System.

The fact is the BLM is one of the worst – the most corrupt and criminal agency that has ever existed in American History. It has far surpassed all-time lows with extreme lack of integrity, and more sad, morally corrupt.
Further articles within the near future will be completed and will break-down further the criminal aspects and how the BLM/DOI go about their behavior — becoming even much more precise. And our American Justice system and the BLM or DOI Police and Inspector General’s Office does nothing.

Criminality these illegal and unethical situations remain ongoing in the BLM:

1. Theft of Wild Horses during BLM planned or sponsored Roundups and gathers;

2. “Black Booking” of phony Double-Branding of Horses so duplicate branded horses can disappear without a trace;

3. Manipulation of Wild Horse adoptions where one person holds the proxies for a group of supposedly separate adopters, and the horses ALL end up at slaughter;

4. Use of Satellite Ranches to hold Wild Horses for days or weeks and as stopping points on their way to slaughter;

5. Fraudulent use of Wild Horse Sanctuaries’ – ranches subsidized by the Federal Government to care for unadoptable Wild Horses deemed excess and removed from the range – as fronts for commercial exploitation;

6. The fraudulent behavior of “Seeding” satellite and other horse storage facilities with a “Horses in Transit” transport across several western states, to establish Head-Counts for false budgets, with large non-profits involved as well as satellite corrals for very temporary, i.e. often over-night capacity of Wild Horses stolen from Public Lands;

7. The inappropriate use of PZP, defined simply as an experimental drug and pesticide, and used experimentally on America’s Wild Horses, with several organization promoting the use, via conflict of interest as well as violation of many government contracting laws while contracting with government agencies, and operate without regulatory oversight or any legal parameters or boundaries’ what so ever.

Costing America a Fortune in Taxpayer money spent

James Sebastian, accountant/CPA, generated the following from a perusal of BLM expenditure, precisely the Wild Horse Roundups, holding corrals, and shipping:

1. $2.6 Billion Dollars BLM Horse Herd Management of Taxpayer Money Spent;
2. Benefits to Taxpayers while spending taxpayer money = $0;
3. Benefits to Local Area Ranchers/politicians/oil industry accumulative, pay-offs and continuing profit = $12.4 billion dollars and rising.

A small example of Cost to Taxpayers of Contracted Roundups:

The abuse of Wild Horses and actual “Kill” percentage is extremely high for roundups in general, near the value of anywhere from 4% to 16% and left under a covered-up shroud of questionable conduct, with no excuse from the Private Contractor or BLM Supervisory staff, other than a “Go to Hell” attitude when questioned about the over-kill rates. To clarify the situation further as to why they hurry, it is to get the job done, at the horses’ expense or death, as they are paid per horse, and as shown further, incorrect horse counts in their favor. The faster they get done, the more profit they make. Your taxpayer money at work!

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, if that, of roundup; etc.

Note: These Roundups occur several times monthly, and throughout the year. . . Conclusively what is found within BLM documents is not any “Real” reason to gather Wild Horses through a roundup and management methodology, and then take them to holding corrals. The unnecessary cost, within a cavalier and frivolous spending frenzy of taxpayer money, becomes more obvious. Not included within this document are the theft/stealing of horses for slaughter and private use without adoption; although, it has been stated by several informants that every 6 out of 10, or 12 out of every twenty horses in holding corrals are stolen. (i.e. via White Paper and Undercover Investigation aforementioned)

CONCLUSION

I will leave you with this interview and reference, from the early 1990 Undercover Investigation on Wild Horse Herd Theft – Interview with a BLM / DOI approved government private contractor, and works for them still, to this very day as outlined above on what they make per Roundup:

The illegal activity continues to this day. Below is one of many questions answered by an informant, questioned by one of very few honest BLM Agents. This particular discussion outlines how the BLM’s Private Contractors steal horses, in this portion the Agent asks the informant who is involved in the illegal activity:

“Agent: Is this a pretty good organization? This sounds like something that’s pretty well planned out, it’s a big organization.

Informant: Well, its very well set up, you know. There’s nobody that participates in it that isn’t well known and don’t know what’s going on.

Agent: Do you feel like there’s people inside the BLM that know about this practice, that are a part of this practice?

Informant: Sure. We can’t operate unless they’re standing there.”

(For the entire informative packet and interview see Horses Led To Slaughter, Anatomy of a Cover Up in the Wild Horse and Burro Program, PEER White Paper, Number 14, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Washington D.C. 20009-1125, http://www.peer.org/pubs/whitepapers/1997_horses_to_slaughter.pdf , 1997.)
_________________________________________

For addresses, FAX numbers, and listings go to:
Senators of the Congress:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Contacting the Congress:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

“The fact is the BLM and Welfare Ranchers are now stooping to levels of coercion and bully tactics to keep functioning as they have in the past. But the truth has an odd way of seeking power over misinformation, lies, and criminality. . .” — John Cox, Horse Advocate

Many people assume, since most of the western landscape is given over to livestock production, that ranching must be economically important. But, as economist Thomas Power points out “. . . the livestock industry contributes almost nothing to western economies, even at the local level.”

The western rancher is dependent on what can be classified as no more than a welfare program. Not so ironic, the low fees paid by ranchers to graze upon federal lands only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

“Other subsidies include taxpayer-supported research at western land grant universities, as well as agricultural exemptions that lower property taxes paid by ranchers. Most often Welfare Ranchers pay no tax at all on their subsidies, even though nothing more than profit. There are handouts to help with nearly every problem: drought relief, low-interest agricultural loans, emergency livestock feed programs, emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program lands, to name a few.

Even many of the fences crisscrossing the West’s “open” spaces are paid for by American taxpayers, and not so surprising, the maintaining of those fences costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year in subsidies, going directly to the Welfare Rancher Grazing Permit Holder. Scam!

Seeing the actual Welfare Rancher invoices and budgets simply makes one’s head spin, with a big neon-sign in the brain that screams — SCAM – SCAM – SCAM.

Bureau of Land Management and Welfare Ranchers

If this is not enough to make one’s disappointment in our government and welfare ranching programs questionable as authentic-necessity, the big lie, it goes much further. Ranchers are literally mortgaging the public’s resources for their private benefit. There exists a connection between the banking industry and public lands ranching, and ranchers are able to take out loans based on the “value” of their grazing permits. This certainly questionable arrangement forces government officials to consider the status of a rancher’s debt when making range management decisions, rather than focusing on what is best for the land.

Beyond the economic subsidies are the health, social, and environmental costs of the animal agriculture industry in general – the larger context within which public lands livestock grazing is properly viewed, but awkwardly at best. Welfare Ranching’s non-essential aspects sticks-out definitively.

Situations such as loss of arable land, wild horse assassination and evacuation, wildlife killed, ecosystems destroyed, land desertification, tropical deforestation, simply add to urban overcrowding, and poverty, may appear unconnected to problems of ecosystem degradation in the arid West – but in reality — it is all connected.

It is all enshrined into the chaos of government mismanagement and awkward loop-holes in law, which is not confronted by our lawmakers in Congress at present. One has to wonder why this is, so obvious and yet ignored so much – and costing taxpayers billions of dollars – SCAM!

“The important situation here is a disgusting fact that all these difficulties are linked-directly or indirectly to an international system of meat production and an increasingly global pattern of meat consumption.” Welfare Ranching is simply a part of these destructive worldwide trends. But the despicable fact that taxpayers should be especially attentive toward, is the unqualified and unproductive resource of Welfare Ranching itself and on Public Lands, especially in the west.”

In reality it is and remains today and as stated earlier, simply a Welfare Program, or what many refer to as a Monetary-Scam, to obtain taxpayer money. The fact is Welfare Rancher’s, as well as the Bureau of Land management, do not want taxpayer’s to know or acknowledge that they would not exist in the commercial world of ranching, and for several legitimate reasons. And that indeed, their entire scheme or rancher landscape virtues, are based on acquiring a Grazing Permit for what one can term, pretending to be a rancher, but in reality they are not at all. They are simply profitable-posers, based on misinformation and lies – Yes, this simple.

Burdensome to the Bureau of Land management, as well as Welfare Ranchers, is the fact their less than 1% of domestic sales figures, more than demonstrate the unnecessary need for Welfare Ranching. And yet, American Taxpayer’s subsidies this supposed non-industry in the $$$Billions. The latest estimated figure of one pound of not so good hamburger from these Welfare Rancher’s in the west would cost in excess of $942.00 per pound. Wrap your mind around that figure (GAO Report)

Burdensome as well, is the fact this situation requires a tremendous amount of lies, innuendo, misinformation, intimidation and coercion, and throw in many facets of criminal conduct in the pile as well, and we have a situation that actually disrespects’ the American Public and Taxpayers tremendously.

Scenario

It becomes very obvious to many of us who endeavor into the research and writing about Public Lands and Wild Horses that Welfare Ranching is simply an unneeded necessity in America.

The fact is, if a rancher has 10 acres near Public Lands, perhaps running 10 AUM Units of cattle – 1 Unit = 1 cow/1 calf, and obtains a Grazing Permit, that another millionaire is made purely from taxpayer subsidies. We can also make the statement another way, and simply state what it really is = Welfare.

A very common example: Just as quick as a rancher receives a Grazing Permit, he then receives a loan substantial enough to purchase 3,000 AUM Units of cattle, in order to graze his cattle on America’s Public Lands, and within his allotment of several hundred thousand acres. Often another problem does arise, and the land-issue and ecological system, most often will not support this amount of cattle – so as mentioned above many circumstances develop, and also quite costly to taxpayers.

The misinformation and lies remains substantial, to keep cattle on Public Lands, which overburden the entire Environmental System. Good science also references this quite abundantly — except BLM, who demanded cattle be taken out of any research data that they may fund — so they can blame wild horses and other hooved animals for the tremendous ecosystem-destruction that cattle indeed do …

Now the Bureau of Land Management, because the Grazing Permit has secured this situation of the loan, their land management perspective changes entirely. Now this incompetent government agency’s paradigm, toward this also incompetent Welfare Rancher, has changed, and has to make sure the rancher does not default on their loan. And worse, this non-ending funnel of extravagance and very profitable to Welfare Ranchers, this fellow can also purchase a water well within his allotment – yes, Public lands. And it gets worse . . .

Need we not forget this is on Public Lands, and the Grazing Permit gives them the right to purchase the water-well within their Grazing Permit allotment (i.e. By Policy). This rancher, in this scenario and very true of most Welfare Ranchers, now have control of water, an extravagance in the desert arid areas, that they also sell-back to the government.

Ironically, this rancher will invoice and charge taxpayers, within the realm of subsidies, the amount of gallons used from their purchased water-well to water his own cattle. No one is there to monitor the water used, so an unethical situation turns into an even Large and unmonitored, unchecked, and unregulated money-stream for the Welfare Rancher.

The above is often in the amount of several hundred thousands of dollars to the Welfare Rancher. In Oregon, for example, one Welfare Rancher receives $638,000.00 dollars in subsidies yearly – simply from maintaining a fence-line, that taxpayers subsidized as well, and in total; and also he had purchased a water-well, on Public Lands, and sells it back to himself to water his cattle and pasture lands within his Grazing Permit allotment – his mortgage, which is subsidized through the Grazing Permit as Security to the bank, is $22.4 million dollars, and he had purchased not just a ranch home, but new equipment every few years, a plane, a helicopter, and lord knows how many extravagant vacations and much more.

Conclusion

So it is of no surprise that during a Public meeting in Reno, Nevada the other night, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) personnel blocked any attempt from Wild Horse Advocates to speak. This was a Public Meeting, and “Open” to the Public at large — specifically to question and make suggestions to the BLM in regard to future plans of America’s Public Lands Use.

Welfare Ranchers spoke, Bureau of Land Management personnel spoke and controlled the meeting, and even BLM advocates spoke, as they spoke within the contrived-situation of supporting BLM and Welfare Ranchers.

But the American taxpayers of this land was not represented what so ever and never has been in such meeting as this – and in truth one can say the American Taxpayer was coerced, even bullied off the stage when an attempt was made. So one can honestly can make the statement that BLM, as a government agency, as well as Welfare Ranchers, are out-of-line in total – Both remain a waste of taxpayer money – and both out-of-control and need to be scrutinized as too their necessity and any benefit what so ever to America. From those of us who have studied Public Lands for years now, find no benefit to America’s Public Lands for either the Bureau of Land Management of Welfare Ranching on Public Lands.

We are now confronted with not only misinformation, but bully tactics and coercion tactics from a government agency, and toward the very American Public that pays their tax money yearly, and honestly, and are finally questioning the use of that money. Truthfully, it is about time American’s start questioning the BLM about how frivolous and misguided our tax money is being used!

Just from the fraud, and waste, and misinformation, we are speaking about $-billions upon $-billions of dollars – perhaps why it existed for so long – but now is the time to stop enabling such activity, such criminal behavior, and such unethical actions taking place on America’s Public Lands and by BLM and Welfare Ranching.

The things we have to look at is the necessity — and that can be measured easily — Would America be better off without both the Bureau of Land Management and Welfare Ranching on Public Lands? I posed this question to many biologists, blue-collar workers, veterans, and many other American Taxpayers alike — After discovering the truth — UNEQUVICALLY THE RESPONSE WAS ABOSULTELY YES — AMERICA WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITH BOTH GONE IN TOTAL — American’s have had enough!