Colorado State University Vice President for Research, Dr. Alan Rudolph, released a statement in response to their disappointing decision to pull out of the partnership with the BLM in the Warm Springs, Oregon, mare spay project. The 30-day public comment period ended on July 31st , and had over 12,000 total comments. Over 8,000 comments, sent in disagreement, were an auto-response form letter organized by a wild horse extremist group that is well-known for throwing up roadblocks to the BLM’s ability to properly manage the numbers of horses on American rangelands as outlined by Congress in the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.
In their statement, they reiterated the need to solve wild horse and burro overpopulation through “objective, collaborative and transparent research.” However, they seemed to fall into the traps of those in the community that are against the study, disregarding the massive amount of support from powerful organizations.
100 national organizations commented in support of the study, each with a large following in membership- such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation that boasts over 222,325 members. Most importantly, the study was supported by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) representing 9,300 equine veterinarians.
Considering that Colorado State University was supportive of this program previous to the public comments, there is more to the story that drove them to ignore these influential organizations. Further proving that college entities are not equipped with enough grit to handle menacing advocates, despite their heavy research and expertise in the spay study program.
Just a small portion of organizations in support of the Spay Study, and their current membership, are as follows:
American Association of Equine Practitioners- 9,300
Harney county, Oregon- 7,289
Beaver county, Utah- 6,386
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation- 222,325
Arizona Farm Bureau- 24,000
Nevada Farm Bureau- 17,000
Oregon Cattlemen’s Association- 1,576
Wyoming Stock Growers Board- over 1,200
Wyoming Farm Bureau- 12,600
National Horse and Burro Rangeland Management Coalition- 17 national organizations, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Support came from these organizations as well:
Western Landowners Alliance
Colorado Department of Agriculture
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
White River and Douglass Creek Conservation Districts
