The freedom of the wild horses of the Bible Springs Complex in Iron County, Utah is on the chopping block once again. The Bible Springs Complex is located in western Iron and Beaver counties, Utah, and is approximately 30 miles west of Minersville, Utah. The Complex is home to an estimated 830 wild horses and is made up of three Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and one Herd Area (HA)—Bible Springs, Four Mile, and Tilly Creek HMAs, and the Blawn Wash HA.
The BLM plans to use helicopters to brutally round up and remove approximately 750 wild horses to achieve the unscientifically low appropriate management level (AML) of just 80 wild horses on 215,000 acres of land. This represents an average of 1 horse per every 2,700 acres while the agency permits thousands of privately-owned cows and sheep to graze this area every year.
What's worse, 17 of the 19 grazing allotments that overlap with this wild horse habitat are failing the BLM's land health standards and, according to the agency, they're failing because of livestock grazing.
1. The BLM is accepting public comments through its ePlanning site. Please take a moment to personalize and send a comment considering the below recommendations:
Prioritize the use of the scientifically-proven and humane PZP fertility control vaccine, where necessary within the Complex, to stabilize wild herds at sustainable levels.
Eliminate the use of IUDs as more research on the safety of this method for wild and free-roaming mares and their welfare is necessary before this option would be appropriate for broad use as a management tool.
Eliminate the use of GonaCon for wild mares because research on its impacts and long-term effects is limited. More research on GonaCon in wild horses is necessary before this vaccine would be appropriate for broad use as a management tool. If the agencies wish to continue with GonaCon in this Complex, they should do so in the context of a research study and abide by the requisite animal welfare protocols for such a study.
Abandon plans to skew the sex ratios. This method is not scientifically supported and not effective in reducing population growth rates in wild horse populations. The BLM has rejected this alternative in herd management plans for other areas, and should do the same in the Bible Springs Complex.
Attach a buyout provision allowing livestock permittees to voluntarily retire their grazing permit in exchange for direct or third-party compensation.
2. Then, add your name below to our public comments.