WILD HORSES OF ALTO (W.H.O.A!) disclaimer: this blog is in no way associated with the group WHOA (Wild Horse Observers Association). This blog has actually become like a vertical file in the library where important past documents - like newspaper articles - are filed and kept for research when needed. It has become almost a lesson in librarianship for me.
WILD HORSES OF ALTO The herd of wild horses in Alto, N.M., are the offspring of estray horses that roamed Sierra Blanca on Mescalero and National Forest land. Today the herds roam the same territory as well as dropping in to visit some of the subdivisions, such as Enchanted Forest, Sierra Vista, Sun Valley, LaJunta, Little Creek and occasionally Alto Lakes Golf & Country Club. For the most part, the herds are loved and welcomed. But sometimes not.
At this time, it is being decided in a court of law whether the horses are wild or domesticated (and therefore estray). At present, the horses fall under the auspices of the N.M. Livestock Board. We are trying to save all members the herd and other herds that exist in the area. We do NOT want to deny the horses the freedom they have known in the past and the comradeship the herd provides them.
To institute change in the policy and protect the future of our magnificent Wild Horses of Alto herd, we have a petition at https://www.change.org/p/new-mexico-governor-save-alto-wild-horses, a fundraising site for lawyers and feed/care at https://www.gofundme.com/altohorses, an account set up at City Bank-Ruidoso for donations to the "Wild Horses of Lincoln County Trust Fund" and an ongoing facebook group "Bring Ruidoso Horse's Back". Click on the Stallion's photo to go directly there.
PLEASE SPEAK UP, sign petitions, give to the trust fund for the horses. Sign up to this blog to get continual updates and to also post your own comments.
Dianne L Stallings , Ruidoso News 8:21 a.m. MDT October 28, 2016
Mares are allowed to mingle again as a herd while waiting for an answer from the court
Alto
herd advocates continue to wait on the court system to grind out an
answer on the future of 13 horses that used to run wild, but were
rounded up by a resident as nuisances and hauled to Santa Fe by state
livestock board staff.
The horses were returned to
Lincoln County while a judge decides whether they are wild and do not
fall under livestock board rules or are estray livestock and must be put
up for sale. That decision could come by mid-November.
The
horses, mares with their foals, were kept in pens for 21 days of
isolation after their return, then the mares were released into a larger
area to meld back into a herd. However, the younger horses were weaned
and separated from the mares, although they can interact with each
other, Teeatta Lippert said.
"We took the gates of the
quarantine area, but the mares are pregnant and one colt was biting its
mother," she said. "When the new foals arrive, the colts would be mean
to the new babies. They had to be separated."
One mare, who has been estranged from the herd, also is kept separate, but in a spacious confinement, Lippert said.
Although
the stallion who led the herd has been spotted by many residents of the
area, he apparently has not yet located his returned mares.
The
signers (who are responsible for the horses in an agreement with the
livestock board worked out through the court) are doing everything under
instructions from the veterinarian (Becky Washburn), but I worry (the
colts) are being treated like domestic horses and will not know how to
be wild horses,” Bruna Campos, who has been involved with several wild
herds n Alto for more than two decades, said.
Some
supporters advocated for transporting the herd to a larger pasture off
Ski Run Road, but that area is the territory of another smaller group of
horses headed by a stallion, she pointed out. The road becomes icy and
clogged with traffic during ski season, presenting a danger to drivers
and horses, especially if the smaller group acted aggressively with the
invasion of its territory, she said. Lippert said the nine signers of
responsibility for the horses didn't feel it would be in the best
interests of anyone or the herd for the horses to be moved to Ski Run
Road.
Supporter Lorri Burnett said Patience O’Dowd was in
Ruidoso Monday and visited several classes under Ruidoso High School
art teacher Heather Kinney, to tell the story of the Alto herd and of
the fate of wild horses in Placitas and other areas. O’Dowd through the
Wild Horse Observers Association filed litigation against the livestock
board that stopped the sale of the Alto herd and threw the decision into
the lap of 12th Judicial District Judge Dan Bryant on whether the
horses meet the definition of “wild.”
“We spent the
entire day with all classes,” Burnett said, and a future art competition
is planned based on the story of the horses. “It was wonderful meeting
with them. Heather Kinney is the art teacher who invited us. The kids
will decide what projects they will be doing. We are looking forward to
working with them and are excited to see what they come up with.”
Robbie
Davis continues to head fundraising efforts for the horses through the
sale of calendars featuring their photographs and raffles for other
items, including a valuable custom saddle. Donations also can be dropped
off at City Bank NM for the Wild Horses of Lincoln County account or
submitted through gofundme.
"We sold out of the first
shipment of calendars in four or five days," she said. "They sell for
$10 if they are picked up and $12 if we have to mail them. We have a
double shipment coming in next week. We also have T-shirts with an
awesome logo and coffee mugs."
To
order items, call 315-0807 and leave a message. One of the fund raising
committee members will return the call. The items also will be
on display and for sale at the Capitan Country Christmas Bazaar the
first weekend in December.
Although supporters and
donations have paid for six to eight weeks of food for the herd,
supporters said the expenses will continue and more fencing panels are
needed to expand the area where the horses can roam within the
designated confines on Fort Stanton Road.
Several articles and television features aired recently favoring chemical fertility control
2013 photo
The public and news media are beginning to catch on that humane
fertility control is a better option than rounding up and killing wild
horses and urban deer, officials with the Animal Fertility Vaccine
Information Center said last week.
“This week saw a
detailed story in National Geographic, ‘Can Birth Control Save Our Wild
Horses?’ in which volunteer darter Nancy Kilian discussed how fertility
control helps keep these iconic animals "healthy and free,’" they noted
in a news release. “A video also recently aired on the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation filmed about a group of Alberta volunteers, who
are darting wild horses with the PZP vaccine to spare them from
roundups and death.”
The coverage follows a recent story on fertility control in the Wall Street Journal and a string of court and policy victories for wild horses across the West, they pointed out.
“Over the past several months, wild horse advocates stopped
a plan by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Oregon State
University to subject wild horses to cruel and dangerous fertility
control experiments; the BLM rejected
the advice of the agency's advisory council, which recommended
euthanizing thousands of horses now living in captivity; a federal court
ruled
that the Appropriate Management Levels the BLM uses to justify cruel,
costly roundups aren't valid; a coalition of 40 advocacy groups,
including the Humane Society of the United States, called on the BLM to increase use of humane fertility control vaccine as a way to reduce and end roundups.”
With
AMLs in dispute and dangerous sterilization procedures, euthanasia and
slaughter off the table, fertility control is the best tool we have to
preserve and manage wild horses on the range, center officials contend.
“As
we've noted, increased use of fertility control will help horses and
save taxpayers money. It's effective, safe and humane,” they stated.
Supporters
given update on the status of the wild horse herd rounded up by the
state but returned to the county pending the outcome of litigation to
determine their classification
Dianne L. Stallings, reporter
With
their mandatory period of isolation expired earlier this week, the
“wild” horses of Alto rounded up in August by the New Mexico Livestock
Board soon will be allowed to mingle again as a herd.
Their
numbers grew from the dozen originally picked up and then returned
three weeks ago to pens on Fort Stanton Road to 13, Lorri Burnett said.
One colt, who still is roaming free, will be added to the mix while the
court debate continues over whether the horses are wild and not under
the jurisdiction of the livestock board or if they are estray livestock
and fall under its rules.
“With quarantine over, we’re
waiting for the landowners to arrive back,” Burnett said. “The signers
of the (responsibility) for the horses then will decide when to release
them into the (fenced) field.”
Robbie Davis, who heads the fund raising effort to cover the
care and feeding of the horses, put together a report for supporters.
“The
horses are doing very well,” she said. “They are very curious about the
humans outside their pens, who are providing hay and filling their
water troughs twice a day. One of the mares seems to enjoy playing a
game of ‘I’m going to knock the hose out of my trough as soon as you
turn your back,’ every single time. But, how could you be aggravated
with her?”
Davis said she’s received inquiries about one of the other mares who lives on the fringes of the herd.
“Dr.
(Becky) Washburn examined them upon their return from Santa Fe and
discovered an old injury this particular mare suffered some time in her
very early life,” Davis said. “She believes this might be the reason for
the partial ‘shun,’ as she is most likely perceived as a weak one.”
The
horses will be released from the small corrals as soon as possible this
week. The owner of the property has been out of town and all of the
signers who accepted responsibility for the horses, must agree to the
move, which essentially will be to open the gates and allow the horses
to mingle in a larger fenced pasture area.
“We currently
have approximately eight weeks’ worth of hay for them,” Davis said. Fund
raising efforts continue with supporters able to drop a check off at
any City Bank of New Mexico office for the Wild Horses of Lincoln
County, or to contribute to the gofundme account.
“Another
shipment of the Wild Horses of Lincoln County calendars has been
ordered and will be here a little before Halloween,” Davis said. “Any of
the Fundraising Committee members can fulfill your order at that time.
We still are selling raffle tickets for the two original paintings by
Barbara Yates, and a gorgeous custom made saddle donated by Shawna Dobbs
Bradley, in honor of her late father, Aubrey Dobbs, who was a very
sweet man.”
The people to contact are: Sherry Snow
Turner, Sandy Tubb, Debra L Anderson, John Reiner, Kathleen Prewitt,
Jessica Valenzuela, Peggy Annen-Schoemann, Beverly Alexander, Pamela
Brink, Kim Elkins or Davis.
Burnett characterized the
legal side of the issue as being like “a herd of ants going through a
tub of molasses.” Patience O’Dowd through the Wild Horse Observers
Association is the plaintiff in the litigation that resulted in a
temporary injunction that stopped the sale of the members of the horse
herd while their classification is being determined. Burnett said the
New Mexico attorney general answered the complaint by WHOA, contending
the court should “deny everything.”
No date has been set for the next hearing, but Davis urged supporters to remain optimistic.
“As
we wait to hear about a date for our court case to be heard, there are
other cases being worked on that will affect our herds’ fight for
freedom,” Davis said. “As with all legal cases, it is more complex than
simple. But the march forward continues with great optimism. Don’t lose
heart. Much is being done in the background in preparation for the
anticipated day. The work is tedious and the waiting is excruciating for
us all.”
O’Dowd will be in Ruidoso Monday.
“We’ll
be working with the high school art teacher,” Burnett said. “Patience
will talk to classes all day long and give a little history about the
wild horses and what WHOA has done around the country to save wild
horses. Then the students are going to do some sort of an art project.”
Burnett
hopes to build on that beginning to develop a more elaborate art
competition with the goal of creating Christmas and note cards to
benefit the horses.
People who want to continue their support of the Wild Horses of Lincoln County can contribute to their care in many ways.
A
bank account is available for direct donations at any of the City Bank
of New Mexico offices and the GoFundMe account for the herd remains
open.
But Robbie Davis said several other opportunities also are available.
“In
about two weeks, calendars will be available with photographs of
members of the wild herd for each month,” she said. They will sell for
$10 each.
Raffle tickets are on sale for two original
works of art by local artist Barbara Yates, who donated the works to
benefit the herd returned to pens in the Alto area until the court
decides if they fit the definition of wild horses or estray livestock.
The
first drawing on Nov. 1, will be for “Fighting Spirit,” a portrait of a
herd member advocates say is no longer being spotted. The second
drawing will be for “Hilltop Grazing,” the portrait of a mare and her
foal. Tickets are $5 each or $20 for five.
Signed prints
also are being sold of horses in a field with the mountains in the
background by artist Victoria Mauldin, who formerly lived in Ruidoso.
The prints sell for $50 and Davis said only a few are left to purchase.
For
those who prefer experiencing horses, not just viewing them, a
custom-made saddle is being raffled Nov. 6, with tickets priced at $5
each or five for $20. The size 16 saddle comes with breast collar,
silver embellishments and was made by Canyon Rock American Tradition
Saddlery.
To purchase tickets or the signed prints, make
checks payable to Wild Horses of Lincoln County and mail to Robbie
Davis, P.O. Box 1854, Ruidoso, NM 88355.
One of two original works of art donated by artictt Barbara Yates to help the wild horses is entitled "Fighting Spirit." (Photo: Courtesy)
The Alto "wild" horse herd was delivered quietly back to Lincoln County Tuesday, ending a month’s battle to see them returned.
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Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News 4:26 p.m. MDT September 27, 2016
With no fanfare, the "wild" horse herd of Alto came home Tuesday
The Alto "wild" horse herd was delivered quietly back to Lincoln County Tuesday, ending a month’s battle between herd advocates and officials with the New Mexico Livestock Board.
The return of the horses to pens prepared on land owned by Shelley McAlister was arranged Monday, but advocates said the livestock board didn’t want a crowd waiting for the equines. They were told that the noise and commotion might upset the steeds, advocate Teeatta Lippert said.
McAlister said her notice wasn’t from board officials.
“Someone in Carrizozo saw the truck and asked if they were the horses going back to Alto,” she said. “They told a woman, who called me. We just happened to be here working on the security cameras and packing up the house.”
“I am really grateful for the way it worked out,” Lippert said. “Trying to sort them with people hollering or calling names or screaming would have made our job a lot harder and would have stressed them out.”
Unloading went swiftly over a 10 minute to 20-minute period, she said. None of the adult horses acted up, but some of the foals were frisky. The foals now are in pens with their mothers and one even began nursing immediately, she said.
“My biggest advice to the community is that our stance is that these horses are wild,” Lippert said. “They were born wild. They are wild, so we must keep our distance. If we brush them and pet them, and get them use to us, then our standing in court that they are wild goes out the window, because they are officially domesticated. And it would be inhumane at that point to release them back in the wild.”
The battle won’t really be over until a district judge decides whether the horses fall under a definition of wild or are estray livestock under the jurisdiction of the livestock board. Working under the latter assumption, board officials hauled away the 12 mares and foals after they were penned by a property owner as nuisances. The action spurred rallies and community meetings, as well as litigation by the Wild Horse Observers Association asking for a restraining order on the sale of the horses by the livestock board. The order was granted and while the court drama plays out, an agreement was reached to allow the horses to come back to Alto as the responsibility of nine volunteers. The horses must stay in isolation for 21 days and then, if the case remains undecided, could be transferred to larger secure pastures.
Lippert said she was impressed with how the community handled the issue in a peaceful manner.
“We achieved more than shootings and riots and bombings and fires,” she said. “And our children can see that a small town can make a difference. I was raised to have hope and that if you send it out there and you stand your ground and pray, it if it is meant to be, Jesus will answer you.”
But the executive director of the livestock board said not everyone exhibited stellar behavior. “I’d like to thank the staff of the New Mexico Livestock Board for their professionalism during this emotional issue,” William Bunce said Tuesday. “Their courtesy extended to others, while being maligned for holding to the letter of the law, is exemplary. Chapter 77 of the livestock code as well as the applicable Lincoln County Ordinances spell out very clearly that a legal process must take place. Those who expect this agency to operate otherwise, will continue to be disappointed. The vulgarity, insults and accusations thrown at our employees via telephone, email and various social media venues is nothing short of reprehensible. As this issue is currently in litigation, any further discussion should be limited to the legal counsels representing both sides.”
With Aspenfest parade scheduled for Saturday, Lippert and several others said they hope to celebrate the return of the horses with a banner.
Augie grown up
This big fellow should be happier one of these days
Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News 3:32 p.m. MDT September 22, 2016
Contracts signed covering responsibility for Alto wild horse herd while court case is decided
The return of 12-members of a horse herd hauled away from Alto last month by the New Mexico Livestock Board after being penned by a private landowner as nuisances seems down to a matter of days, advocate Mellisa Babcock said Thursday.
Nine people signed an agreement accepting responsibility for the horses on their return.
A hearing on litigation filed by the Wild Horse Observers Association against the livestock board was conducted on Sept. 8, and 12th Judicial District Judge Dan Bryant indicated he wanted the order to reflect his exact wording, attorney Freda McSwane said Thursday. McSwane and Steven K. Sanders represent WHOA, which received a restraining order banning the sale of the horses by the livestock board while the judge decides whether the horse are wild, and not under the board’s jurisdiction, or are estray livestock.
The day after the hearing, a Friday, McSwane requested a copy of the hearing tape with the offer to drive over and pick it up. However, the tape was mailed and when it had not arrived by the following Tuesday, she requested another copy and it was driven to her office after work hours, she said.
“So we got it late Tuesday night (Sept. 13) and we began transcribing the tape on Wednesday, getting it in the final form,” she said. “We presented it to the attorney general’s office last Friday (Sept. 16). We’ve been communicating back and forth, because in the meantime, the attorney general’s office and the livestock board worked out the language on the contract the way they believed it needed to be and submitted it to us.”
Minor revisions were made. Nine people accepted the responsibility jointly for all of the horses and she began last Friday securing the signatures of those people.
“We were able by the end of the day, Monday (Sept. 19), to get the last one,” McSwane said. “Those nine people also had to sign certificates to be filed with the court saying they would follow the court’s order.”
The contract was signed and sent back to the attorney general's office, where at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, it was approved and signed by Assistant Attorney Gen. Ari Biernoff, she said. As soon as she had word it was signed, her office filed the nine certificates the court requested. Each one contained an attachment of the contract entered into by the parties and the livestock board.
“This morning I received back from the attorney general’s office some requested revisions to the (court) order,” she said. “We’ve gone back and forth and have agreed to an order. I’m expecting an approval any moment and as soon as we get that, it will be electronically sent for the judge’s signature and filed with the court. Once filed, we are going to set up a communication between the livestock board and the attorney to discuss the logistics of how quickly they can transport the horses back down here and be received by those nine individuals on that property.”
The property consists of 10 acres with reinforced pens located on Fort Stanton Road to be used as an isolation area for a 21-day period.
“The livestock board I believe is as anxious for us to take responsibility for them as we are,” McSwane said. “All we’re waiting on at this particular moment is (Biernoff’s) signature on the court order. I don’t know his schedule today, but he has been good at being responsive, so I anticipate he’ll try to sign as quickly as possible and I’m hoping we can get it to the judge today.”
Biernoff indicated to her that the return of the horses should be a matter of days, not weeks, McSwane said.
“We anticipate a smooth return just as quickly as we can get the logistics worked out,” she said. “If we get the order signed, I will try to get a conference call this afternoon (Thursday) between the livestock board and the attorney. We are pressing as much as we can. We would love to get them returned tomorrow. We would certainly receive them even Saturday (if the livestock board was willing).”
Babcock said the nine people who signed to care for the horses primarily came from a sign-up list at a second town hall meeting on the plight of the mares and foals that were taken to Santa Fe in late August, but others came from Facebook.
“I want to stress the nine who stepped forward are not assigned to a particular horse, more of a group responsibility that will end when the court case is over,” Babcock said. “This is not an adoption.”
Wild herd advocates wait for word on equines return
Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News 3:38 p.m. MDT September 20, 2016
Advocates hope to hear Wednesday about the return of the Alto horse herd
Attorneys for the New Mexico Livestock Board and the Wild Horse Observers Association signed off Friday on documents connected to bringing the wild horse herd of Alto back to Lincoln County.
Advocate Melissa Babcock was in Taos Monday, then moved to Santa Fe Tuesday hoping to hear that the 12 mares and foals might be transported back home. She planned to follow the transport on its mission, if word about the trip arrived in time. It was her understanding that 12th Judicial District Court Judge Dan Bryant already had reviewed the mutually approved arrangement.
“I’m waiting for a call,” she said. “It’s definitely going to happen. They signed off on it, but it may be a matter of who draws the short straw and has to bring them back. I understand that there was one more person (on the livestock board side) they were waiting on to sign. We were hoping for (Tuesday), but I'm beginning to doubt it, because it is getting later in the day."
The horses will be isolated for 21 days in pens on Fort Stanton Road owned by advocate Shelley McAlister that were mowed and reinforced last week by volunteers. Later, they may be moved to pastures while waiting for a decision by the court on their designations as wild horses or estray livestock. That designation will spell out the jurisdiction of the livestock board over their fate and whether the board was correct in hauling them to Santa Fe last month after a private owner penned them as nuisances.
Advocates hope to see them turned loose as wild horses. The alternative is to sell them to private owners at auction. The 12 members were microchipped and now can be identified as coming from the herd, if they are rounded up in the future.
Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News 4:44 p.m. MDT September 15, 2016
Work
underway to prepare home for the Alto wild horse herd for a 21-day
isolation period while waiting for a court decision of their designation
About
a dozen volunteers showed up by mid-morning Wednesday at the 10-acre
site where 12 members of the Alto wild horse herd are expected to be
penned for a 21-day isolation period when they are returned to Lincoln
County while awaiting a court ruling.
Land
owner Shelley McAlister said she expected the pens to be ready with
extra fencing and water troughs added, and then the only addition needed
would be installation of multiple security cameras. The property should
be ready for its guests by Friday (Sept. 16), she said, pledging to
make sure the community is notified of their arrival time at 384 Fort
Stanton Road in Alto.
“They
(the New Mexico Livestock Board) want us to get them back in the next
few days,” McAlister told about 50 people attending a public meeting
Tuesday for updated news about the herd.
William Bunce, executive
director of the livestock board, said Wednesday that his agency’s
attorney as well as the attorney for the Wild Horse Observers
Association were contacted that morning by McAlister.
“I’ve not
seen any final documentation,” he said. “(But we were) made aware that
the volunteers were getting a site location ready to go. Everyone is
working intently to ensure a legal procedure and positive outcome.”
“This
has never been an isolated ‘group,’ this has always been a community
(fighting for the horses),” Teeatta Lippert said during the Tuesday
meeting. “Obviously, we are all here and are all concerned. This is all
of our effort, all of our hard work, all of our noise leading to the
judge granting the temporary restraining order at this point.”
That
order stopped the sale of the horses until a court decides their status
as wild horses or estray livestock, which also ties to whether the New
Mexico Livestock Board has jurisdiction.
“(The judge) said he saw
how if he did not grant this that the ball would just keep rolling down
the hill and without stopping it before these horses disappeared, there
would be no conflict and with no conflict, there’s no horses and with no
horses, no trial,” Lippert said. “There are a few things we have to
follow and one is that we have to stop calling the livestock board. They
have agreed to give them back. We have to stop harassing them, even
though they did what they did. They are complying with what the judge
told them to do and they got back to us as soon as possible.”
McAlister
was contacted at 3 p.m. Monday about the return of the horses, she
said. “So we will do everything as a community to make sure these
horses are safe and cared for,” Lippert said. “Everything the judge
signs off on, we are going to comply with 100 percent. We give (the
livestock board) absolutely no reason to ever come here and do this
again.”
McAlister said the livestock board offered to bring the
mares and foals back by transport truck. But they also left open for
volunteers to pick them up. A quick vote of those at the meeting
determined that the livestock board should bear that responsibility and
expense, because it took the horses away. They also voted to use
McAlister’s property for the isolation period and then evaluate any
offers of more land with pastures that could allow the horses to be less
dependent on human care and to feel more wild. The owner must be horse
savvy and there must be adequate fencing.
The isolation requires
fencing that will not allow “nose to nose” contact with other horses. A
veterinarian is on board to treat them, if anything is needed.
“The
money we raised will take care the vet bills,” Lippert said. “If people
want to volunteer to help take care of them, to feed them or do
whatever is needed, we have a sign up list and will set up a schedule.
Anyone who wants to be involved, can be.”
The stallion was spotted
that morning and reportedly visits some local homes every evening to
graze on overgrown grass. He cannot be allowed into the pens with the
herd. “The court order says he can be around them, but he cannot be let
in with him, because technically then, we are capturing him and he is
subjected to the same stuff,” McAlister said. "With a double fence, he
can come around and he will know they are there and be happy hanging
around them.”
That’s why using land in Alto is important, because
he probably will find them, she said. “When they bring them in, they are
going to start talking because they will know where they are,”
McAlister said. “He’s going to find them.”
The ultimate goal
is eventually to turn them loose as wild horses, she said. The case
brought by WHOA against the livestock board for taking possession of the
herd should require no more than 120 days to resolve, she said the
judge estimated. If the ruling is against release, then adopted homes
will be found for the horses, she said.
Seven people will be
needed to sign papers accepting responsibility for mare and foal pairs,
one mare and one filly. “At the end, if it turns out in our favor, that
goes away,” McAlister said. “If it doesn’t, the person signing takes
them home. If too many people want them, we can devise a selection
process.”
While they are responsible, those signing will bear the
liability that exists with having any horse, she said. The livestock
board was denied a request to have bonds posted covering the horses and
those signing will not be charged for the expense of caring for the herd
since it was taken to Santa Fe, McAlister said.
People who donate
fencing panels, water troughs and other equipment will be able to
reclaim the items after the time of isolation.
None of the colts
were gelded, they were too young, McAlister said. But all of the horses
have been microchipped and vaccinated. “When the livestock board or
anyone picks them up, those horses will show as wild horse, so it is not
a bad thing, it is a good thing,” McAlister said.
“They will know
they have to let them go and can’t do something silly as they did in
the past,” Lippert said, referring to a herd member two years ago that
may have been sold for slaughter after being picked up by a brand
inspector. “All of the numbers are there, so we will know who they are.”
The
horses are in good health, but one filly was run off by the stallion
two months ago and has to be kept away from the others, even in
transport, she said. That horse probably will have to be adopted,
because of her special mental issues and because the other horses abuse
her.
Some attending the meeting worried about the agency bothering
the stallion or two other wild herds in the area, but McAlister and
Lippert said they doubted livestock officials want to get mired in
another situation like the existing one.
The court decision in the Alto case should set a precedent for how other wild horses are handled in the future, she said.
“They
are following this in Montana, so what we do and how we act, how we
treat this, our community is the base for how they go forward with every
other case in the country,” Lippert said. “We will be referenced.
That’s why it is so important that we follow everything that this judge
is asking us to do. (The case) is a stepping stone for every other case
going forward. They are kind of holding us to a higher standard” with
other judges watching.
Everything decided at the meeting including
the isolation site and those who will sign for responsibility to care
for the horses must be submitted to the attorneys and the judge for
approval, McAlister said.
People who want to pay for or donate
feed for the horses can contact Harvey’s Feed, and donations also can be
submitted at any City Bank branch made out to the Wild Horses of
Lincoln County. Donations are tax exempt. To date, the fund sits at
about $27,000. Lippert said while the “gofundme” account has been good
for people to use from out of state, the entity takes a 7.9 percent cut
to cover its expenses and a transfer fee for when the money is moved to a
bank account. That cut can be avoided with direct donations to the
bank.
The attorney working on the Alto and Placitas cases, Steven K. Sanders, has been paid $5,000 from money collected, Lippert said.
If
the herd is returned to the wild, some additional attention may be
needed in the future to control its population, possibly darting mares
with birth control mixtures that will last one year, McAlister said.
Dianne Stallings, Ruidoso News
7:41 p.m. MDT September 13, 2016
Twelve members of a wild horse herd from Alto may be returned Lincoln
County and a temporary holding site on Fort Stanton Road as
early as Friday.
During
a community meeting Tuesday, about 50 people voted to use 10 acres
owned by advocate Shelley McAlister as a temporary site for a 21-day
quarantine period and supporters agreed to allow the New Mexico
Livestock Board to transport the horses back to the area where last
month they were penned and then hauled away to Santa Fe.
The horses
have been microchipped, but Teeatta Lippert and McAlister said that
will be a good thing for their future, if the court eventually declares
them wild. Then if any of the horses are picked up, they can be
identified as from the herd and returned.
McAlister, Lippert and
Melissa Babcock, who early in the situation managed to channel the
emotional response of supporters into positive actions, prepared signup
sheets for volunteers to help in various aspects of the care of the
horses until the court case that resulted in a temporary restraining
order against the sale of the equines is resolved. McAlister said she
will need volunteers at 9:30 a.m. today (Wednesday) at her property at
384 Fort Stanton Road to improve fencing, install water troughs and till
up the ground. She already has pens, which will make any dispensing of
medication easier. The horses will be fed, because there is no pasture.
But once the quarantine expires, advocates hope to move the animals to a
larger pasture area and and are looking for a suitable offer
of property with fencing.
District Court Judge Dan Bryant last
week issued a temporary restraining order to stop the sale of the horses
and urged a return of the herd to Lincoln County pending the outcome of
a lawsuit to determine their status as estray or wild.
“With
Judge Bryant’s ruling, the bid process has stopped,” William Bunce,
livestock board executive director, said Monday. “The horses are fine,
and discussions regarding acceptance of the horses by others are
occurring.”
We didn’t know if they would make contact with us
directly or through attorneys, but he called Shelley McAlister,” Babcock
said Monday. The two women were among the first to organize efforts to
save the horses and to focus attention on providing a safe refuge for
them, if needed. “Per the judge’s encouragement, they have agreed to
release the horses to someone in Ruidoso. There are some stipulations to
that agreement, which is kind of what we said at the beginning of the
(public) meeting (Aug. 29). They have to be kept together per the
judge’s order. But the livestock board’s conditions are obviously, we
can’t just let them loose.
“They have to remained penned. There is
a quarantine period. They are supposed to be faxing us the conditions,
but one is a quarantine. What we were wanting to do was let everyone
know that, and that the livestock board has asked people to stop
calling. We want to let people know that’s kind of where we are until it
goes through court.”
Group members find themselves almost at the
point they were with the horses and livestock board on Aug. 29, when
livestock board officials indicated McAlister or some other landowner
with appropriate property could take custody of the horses, she said.
“We
want people to feel the decision is everyone’s decision,” Babcock said.
“Shelley has 10 acres, but wherever we put them first, they definitely
have to stay for the quarantine period. Then if there is someone else in
the community with more land, but keep in mind, it is not just a matter
of saying you can use my land. You have to take legal responsibility
for them and it is a huge deal. One of the conditions from the livestock
board is that it can’t just be someone with land, it has to be someone
with land and experience with horses.”
Babcock and McAlister want to brief supporters and see who may step forward with an offer of land, she said.
“Shelley
is fine with them staying there, but she doesn’t want people to think
she’s the one who gets to make that decision,” Babcock said. “We don’t
want anyone to think it was just the committee of six that was making
all the decisions. We want to make sure people feel like they have a say
and opinion. There are some things we can’t change and their opinion
wouldn’t change, such as (the horses) must be kept. They cannot be
turned loose.”
Money still is being raised to cover veterinary
bills, food and other upkeep of the herd until the court renders a
decision. The livestock board didn’t mention a minimum acreage size, she
said.
“We’re open for people to make suggestions,” she said of
the move after quarantine. “Forty acres would be nice, because we need
as much secure space as possible to keep them in an environment that
feels wild, so when we win this, they will be ready to bring them back
to where they were picked up or close by and release them.”
Herd advocates don’t want to foster dependence on humans any more than absolutely necessary, she said.
One
of the advantages of staying on McAlister’s 10 acres is that it is in
Alto and there’s a possibility the stallion, Big Boss, may find his
mares, Babcock said. “We’ve had (offers of land) from Nogal and all
over,” she said. “That’s great, but being somewhat close would be nice
for feeding.”
News analysis: Lawyers to debate what makes a wild horse wild
Dave Tomlin, Ruidoso News
1:52 p.m. MDT September 13, 2016
As
the lawyer for the New Mexico Livestock Board stood before him last
week, District Judge Dan
Bryant asked what is sure to be a key question
if the lawsuit over the future of the wild horses of Alto goes to trial.
Photo by Lynda Blaney
“How
does the Livestock Board distinguish this herd from the Placitas herd
in the Court of Appeals case?” Bryant asked Asst. Atty. Gen. Ari
Biernoff.
The judge was referring to a case in which the appellate
court ruled last year that the Board shouldn’t have treated a
free-roaming herd of wild horses near Placitas as if they were “estray”
livestock, just as they tried to do with the Alto herd.
To those
who love Lincoln County’s free-roaming horses, the answer is
self-evident. There’s no difference at all between the Alto horses and
the Placitas horses, and the Livestock Board is wrong again.
The
horse advocates may be exactly right. But that doesn’t mean lawyers
won’t find plenty to argue about as they belabor what may look to
equine-loving eyes like the obvious, if and when Bryant takes the bench
to preside over Wild Horse Observers Association (WHOA) v. New Mexico
Livestock Board.
Here are some of the legal and factual points a trial may raise:
1.
The Court of Appeals opinion accepted WHOA’s claim that the Board “took
the auctioned Placitas horses directly from public land before
auctioning them.” But the Alto herd was penned up by a private landowner
who summoned the Livestock Board to collect them.
We’ll
discuss later why it might matter a lot where the Board picked up the
horses. But one side, or maybe both, may argue that the Court of Appeals
was misinformed about where the Placitas herd was picked up and by
whom.
Corrales attorney David G. Reynolds, an attorney for one of
the private landowners who intervened in the Placitas case on the
Livestock Board’s side, told the News last month that the herd was
actually captured on private property just like the Alto herd.
The
point was never hashed out in court because 2nd District Court Judge
Valerie Huling dismissed the case. The Court of Appeals sent it back to
her for trial, but last week Huling dismissed it again because the
Placitas horses are all gone and there’s no longer any herd to argue
over. As lawyers say, the case is “moot.”
But since Bryant may
have to decide whether the Court of Appeals ruling controls the outcome
of the Alto case, he might hear arguments or evidence that the relevance
of the appellate court opinion should be discounted because it was
based on incorrect facts.
2. The New Mexico Livestock Code defines a wild horse as “an unclaimed horse on public land that is not an estray.”
The
wording of this statute is the reason it might matter where the Board
picks up any given group of unclaimed horses. The Court of Appeals
ruling never says what an unclaimed horse on private land might be,
because it presumed the Placitas herd was on public land as the statute
appears to require.
Biernoff told Bryant last week that this is a
“critical” difference between the Placitas and Alto cases. But even if
the facts show that both herds were actually taken by the Board from
private land, the Board may still argue that the Court of Appeals ruling
doesn’t apply to the Alto herd.
Bryant could end up scratching
his head over how much the extensive reasoning in the Court of Appeals
decision depends on where the horses happened to be picked up.
He
also may be asked to consider whether the legislature really intended to
say that a wild horse suddenly stops being wild whenever it strays or
is lured or led from public land onto private land.
Reynolds told
the News a wild horse on public land turns instantly into “a large
packrat” on private land in the eyes of the law. Since neither the
statute nor the Court of Appeals ruling says anything about a
free-roaming unclaimed horse on private land, he said, such a beast has
no more legal standing or protection than a varmint.
But
Albuquerque attorney Steven K. Sanders, who has represented WHOA in both
cases, told the News last week before the hearing that this would be “a
travesty” and could not have been what the legislature meant the law to
say.
3.The Livestock Code says "public
land" does not include federal land controlled by the Bureau of Land
Management, the Forest Service or state trust land controlled by the
state land office.
When you take all that away, plus all
private property, an awful lot of Lincoln County is off the table as the
kind of land on which a free-ranging horse can be considered legally
wild, if the statute means exactly what it says.
Bryant ruminated
aloud about that in court last Friday, even though nobody had asked him
to. He seemed to conclude that in dealing with this case he will have to
decide whether the Alto herd could have spent significant time
on “public land” as the Livestock Code defines it.
It’s hard to
say how important that will be to the case. But if Bryant was already
thinking about it on his own in a preliminary hearing, a smart lawyer
would probably have to consider it very important.
4. The only
other definition in state law of a “wild horse” besides the one in the
Livestock Code doesn’t seem to fit the Placitas and Alto herds.
The
Court of Appeals opinion cited a New Mexico Administrative Code section
that said a wild horse is a feral horse in an “untamed state having
returned to a wild state from domestication.”
That doesn’t
describe the wild horses in these cases, which everyone seems to agree
have never been owned by anyone in their lives.
But it’s still possible the code section may come into play anyway. Read on.
5.
State law defines livestock as “domestic or domesticated animals.” WHOA
says that means the Placitas and Alto herds can’t be livestock. The
Livestock Board begs to differ.
Biernoff indicated in last week’s hearing that the Board may try to portray the Alto herd as domesticated.
“We’ll
have testimony about how this herd was living,” Biernoff told the
judge. “We believe that the horses were being fed, having social
interaction with people. We might need more evidence on this.”
Biernoff
questioned some of Sanders’s witnesses about the Alto horses’ docile
behavior. Then he called Caroline McCoy to the stand. McCoy is the
property owner who penned up the 12 Alto mares and foals for the
Livestock Board to take away. She described how she led them easily into
an enclosure while riding her all-terrain vehicle.
Finally
Biernoff called a Lincoln County rancher named Ashley Ivins to testify.
His main goal with Ivins seemed to be to have her describe her
familiarity with the kind of mustangs found on federal Bureau of Land
Management ranges and how different they are from the Alto horses.
“They’re true wild horses,” Ivins said. “They’re mean and wild. They won’t eat out of your hand or be near people.”
So
the definition of “domesticated” may be among the points Bryant will be
asked to consider. And even if he agrees with the Board that the Alto
horses have displayed domesticated behavior, he would have to weigh that
against the fact that they’re also unclaimed and free-roaming.
Not
many cases give a district judge the chance to address important gaps
in the law left by both the state’s legislature and its second highest
court. The novelty of the judicial opportunity could have been one
reason Bryant put a stop to the Livestock Board’s attempt to auction the
Alto herd.
But the judge was clearly troubled by the possibility
that the Livestock Board is finding it easier to win wild horse cases on
the auction block than in the courtroom, especially after the Placitas
judge concluded that if the herd is gone, the case goes away too.
Bryant
asked Biernoff during the hearing how a court could ever get a
chance to review the Livestock Board’s actions and decide the legal
issues surrounding New Mexico’s unclaimed, free-roaming horses if the
Board were allowed to keep selling them off as soon as it gets its hands
on them.
Biernoff uttered some words in reply to the judge’s
question, but they didn’t contain a good answer. That’s because there
probably isn’t any.
After
more than three hours of often emotional testimony, and what is a clear
victory for the Alto horses, Judge Daniel Bryant ruled that there was
sufficient cause to order a temporary restraining order against the
Livestock Board. In essence, the Judge has ordered the horses returned
to Alto, where they will be confined on private land in their original
"neighborhood", until their legal status can be established by the
court. He also questioned, without prejudice, the legality of the
Livestock Board's actions in this case (which will be investigated
during the upcoming proceedings).
All in all, it was an impressive
and well-run hearing; the judge seems knowledgeable, insightful, fair
and very competent. And it appears that there is sufficient legal
support of the horses to carry this effort through to the
YEY!! Photo by David Tremblay
final
determination of their legal status, which may result in their permanent release back into their home environment, and the prevention of this sort of action in the future.
It seems clear that the effort of the horses' advocates has given them a voice which is being heard by the justice system. Courtesy of Carrizozo Community News
get community news by sending your email to: zozocommunity@tularosa.net
