Trashed Again

The Coyote Canyon wild horses, the last remaining herd in Southern California, were abruptly removed in 2003. Their federally protected habitat encompassed 23,260 acres (1) that was transferred from BLM to the California State Park systems and all previously guaranteed legal reservations were withdrawn; the horses were left to the mercy of the State and what mercy California has showed.

Hiring a group of UC Davis veterinarians whose paychecks are dependent on government funding, they lined up to testified to the poor conditions and inevitability of starvation of the centuries old wild horse herd, citing that to continue to allow these wild horses in the area would be “inhumane”. (2)

Yet while the wild horses were being captured, the cameras captured the truth and the wild horses of Coyote Canyon were gleaming, fat and healthy as they were loaded into the trucks for their final journey.

The National Historic Registry (NHR) recently denied a nomination for the Coyote Canyon wild horses to be officially listed as a cultural and historic value in the area despite testimony from a variety of experts that supported the nomination, including Dr. Thomas King, considered one of the leading authorities on the subject both in America and abroad, and has written much of the NHR policies that are in place today. (3)

Mark Jorgenson, Superintendent of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, was quoted in an article by Deanne Stillman and published by the LA Times Weekly as saying; “We wanted to get rid of them since the ‘70s.” (4)

Mr. Jorgenson was present at the NHR hearing with a battery of well-rehearsed sidekicks that successfully opposed the Coyote Canyon Wild Horses nomination through more official testimony.

The “expert” testimony that the Coyote Canyon wild horses were threatening the Endangered Peninsular bighorn population turned out to be false when DNA testing revealed that the bighorn were just plain old Nelsons; of course, this testing was only completed after all the horses were removed. (5)

The “expert” testimony that claimed the Coyote Canyon wild horses were merely leftovers from a rancher in the mid-nineteenth century also turned out to be false after genetic tests showed strong Spanish Mustang ancestry in the Coyote Canyon wild horses, a lineage that is now extinct in Spain itself. (6)

At the February 2007 National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, Don Glen, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Division Chief gave a brief history of the Coyote Canyon issues and advised the Board that “this is a State of California issue and beyond the scope of the BLM jurisdiction and the Advisory Board’s responsibilities.” (7)

This is the Advisory Board that is in charge of overseeing wild horse and burro preservation across the Nation due to laws and federal protection granted to our wild horses and burro that firmly established their historical and cultural significance to the American people.

It is not the Boards “responsibility” to investigate or support the preservation of the last remaining wild horse herd in Southern California based on their historical and cultural significance or their documented lineage of the now rare Spanish mustang.

Taxpayer funded, BLM appointed positions only, these are the experts and advisors that rubberstamp the hidden agenda of “managing ” wild horses and burros into extinction.


References

(1) BLM National Herd Statistics, Fiscal Year 2004 available at www.blm.gov
(2) UC Davis Veterinarian Reports available at:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whatsnew/article2.cfm?id=1228
(3) State Historical Resource Commission Meeting, Department of Parks and Recreation
Approved Minutes – May 3, 2007 Available at:
http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1067/files/Approved_Minutes_May07.pdf
(4) http://www.borregopublishing.com/Webcam/index.htm
Kellys Weblog and Favorite Websites: The Wild Horses of Coyote Canyon that Once
Were….(February 22, 2006) LA Weekly, February 01, 2006, Of Rocks, Creeks and
Broom-Tail Horses, Deanne Stillman © www.deannestillman.com
(5) Personal Email Communication, February 7, 2007
Mark Jorgensen, Superintendent of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park,
(6) http://www.borregopublishing.com/Webcam/index.htm
Kellys Weblog and Favorite Websites: The Wild Horses of Coyote Canyon that Once
Were….(February 22, 2006) LA Weekly, February 01, 2006, Of Rocks, Creeks and
Broom-Tail Horses, Deanne Stillman © www.deannestillman.com
(7) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting Minutes, February 26, 2007
Washington, D.C. Available at:
http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/ab_recommendations/070226_minutes.pdf

Photo taken from Kellys Weblog and Favorite Websites: The Wild Horses of Coyote Canyon that Once Were….(February 22, 2006) Not included in original article published in LA Weekly, February 01, 2006, Of Rocks, Creeks and Broom-Tail Horses, Deanne Stillman © www.deannestillman.com