3A
tCm: Isn’t there a law in place to protect these wild horses?
RT: There most certainly is. One that was passed into law in 1971, The
Wild Free-Roaming Horse &Burro Act. Over the course of the years, the
very agency tasked with protecting the wild ones, the BLM, has actually become the most contentious to them with a bent to eliminate the wild horses.
They bow to their major cattle interests, extraction interests and private interests. Two amendments and continued misinterpretation of the law by
the BLM has made them the most formidable enemy of the wild horses.
4A
tCm: So, you have been to a “gather”?
RT: We’ve been to several. They are cold, heartless stampedes. I must take
a stand on the word, “gather”. It is a public relations spin by the BLM because its pretty like “gathering” daisies, harmless. Not the case here with
what I call stampedes. At the stampedes it is the helicopter contractor who
runs the show, the Cattoors or Sun J. They are pretty aggressive folks and
they set up the traps and determine who can be in attendance, if anyone at
all. These animals are chased by whirling helicopters, they are terrified,
running at unsustainable speeds including babies and pregnant mares that
can’t possible keep up with the herd. They are covered in sweat, gasping for
air and some horses have even been clipped with helicopter blades. They are
run into traps and cramped pens. These stampedes are aggressive and inhumane. I was drained after watching this first hand. The BLM reps there are
very nonchalant about all of it.
5A
tCm: Have you ever felt physically threatened at these stampedes by BLM
staff there?
RT: The one time I did feel threatened was during the Twin Peaks round up
that I attended in August 2010. One of the BLM law enforcement people
gave us the rap that we should bend to the rules with his hand on his pistol.
I returned the next day with a video camera and asked him to repeat his previous statement and he would not. At this particular roundup, there were
twenty police cars there to protect the BLM from three advocates; myself,
my wife and the VP of WHFF, Laura Leigh. I feel they are more threatened
by us then we are by them. I’ve actually met some decent BLM ex-military
staff that are very disillusioned by all of this but are also at the lower end of
the food chain and ineffective to make change from within.