Issue: Report on the legal action regarding Cloud's Herd (Part Four)
REBUTTAL: Ken McNabb Supports Pryor Mountain Round-Up
Horse trainer and clinician Ken McNabb weighed in on the Pryor Mountain issue and appears to have taken his talking points directly from ranchers, whom he quotes. While Mr. McNabb is certainly entitled to his opinion, his comments were disparaging to the thousands of field-experienced horse advocates and in several instances McNabb has lied to his audience.
Link to McNabb Supports Round-Up of Pryor Mountain Mustangs. (This link will open in a new window.)
Please note that this issue is not about whether these horses should be managed or whether Mr. McNabb is familiar with the Pryor Mountains region, but rather which management approaches are appropriate, whether the BLM should usurp the court's jurisdiction by disbursing these horses before the matter is decided, and exposing fiction that Mr. McNabb is representing to be facts.
- It is rather arrogant for McNabb to assert that he has more intimate knowledge of the Pryors than the various scientists, biologists, veterinarians, field people and other experts who may not wholly subscribe to his opinions.
- BLM public records show that the herd has not fallen below 120 animals "numerous times," as McNabb claimed. BLM's count dropped below that number in 1978 / 79, following a record winter snowfall period as recorded by the
Pryor weather station #246747, and only once again in 1994 following the largest round-up of Pryor horses ever conducted.
- BLM public records show that there have not been several "large die-offs" occurring in this herd as asserted by Mr. McNabb. The sole exception involved the 1978 record winter snows that also killed some domestic range livestock. This was an exceptional event. Fortunately the herd numbered around 145 animals when the snows struck, since 40% of the herd was lost. If the herd had been down to a "minimal population" when the weather struck, the results could have been devastating.
- The range is not devoid of forage nor are the horses starving. Anyone who spends significant time around wild free-roaming horse herds recognizes that these animals have a diverse diet and are well suited to thriving on the minimal vegetation found on most western ranges. Furthermore the average condition of the Pryor horses is better than that found in many of the herds that populate other arid western ranges.
- Mr. McNabb's dramatic predictions and concerns regarding potential events "ten years" from now is ludicrous as it falsely assumes no management of the herd will occur. This herd has been successful for nearly 40 years under less radical management than is currently being undertaken. The choice here isn't between a large removal and no removal as Mr. McNabb implies, but rather between a radical removal versus a more traditional, more conservative gather strategy.
While it is not appropriate to overpopulate a range and deplete range resources, it is appropriate to maintain a herd that can maintain viable populations when confronted with exceptional weather, introduced diseases (e.g., West Nile Virus) and other extraordinary influences. The most appropriate approach is to maintain a maximum appropriate population, provide resources (e.g., water) so that horses and other grazing animals can take maximum advantage of the available forage, and allow natural forces to ensure the survival of the strongest and fittest individuals. Mother Nature can be harsh, but culling weaker and unsuitable individuals is Nature's way of preserving robust populations of animals - provided sufficient numbers of those animals exist in order to reestablish healthy populations following extreme events.
The fundamental problem with large block gathers is that we humans have not developed the management expertise necessary to replicate Nature's culling process. Therefore, except for obvious cases, we could easily extract those individuals that carry the most important survival characteristics from the gene pool, either through removals or careless applications of sex ratio management and birth control. Horses do need to be managed, however a more minimalist and selective approach to costly horse removals is a more appropriate formula than what is occurring in the Pryor Mountains.
Ultimately this is a matter for the court to decide. The largest complaint being voiced by "horse advocates" is that BLM appears to be planning to disburse all the horses gathered prior to a decision being handed down by the court. Many Americans believed that we had moved past the point where Executive Branch agencies thumbed their noses at America's judicial process. Evidently the Bureau of Land Management is still interested in slipping through loopholes and disregarding the potential outcomes of lawful court hearings. How do we as a nation expect our children to behave responsibly and follow the intent of our laws when our own government agencies manipulate technicalities in order to do what they want? We need to be careful of the examples that we set.
Finally, what has been left out of this entire discussion is the influence of certain mineral interests wishing to extract mineral resources up in Carbon County. As the old adage goes, "Follow the money."
It has been suggested by some horse advocates that concerned horsemen and interested members of the public should know who actually finances Mr. McNabb's presentations. Here is a list of Mr. McNabb's sponsors. While Mr. McNabb is certainly within his right to express his opinions, consumers are within their right to consider the platforms provided by corporate sponsors when making their purchasing decisions.
Dr. E. Gus Cotherin's testimony.
Here is a link to a copy of the actual testimony of E. Gus Cotherin, Ph.D. on the negative impact of this gather on the herd's genetic viability. Click
HERE to view Dr. Cotherin's testimony in a new window.
Here is a link to a reproduction of a statement published last December by Peter Holter of HMI on land benefits produced by properly managed wild free-roaming horses. Click
HERE to view the statement in a new window.
SFHH Report.
Here is a link to
Cattleman Ken McNabb in bed with the BLM, by R. T. Fitch.
Videos
View VIDEO CLIPS of lame horses being released.
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