From about 1959 until June, 2002, the wild (estray) horses found in the Virginia and
Flowery Ranges in Nevada were managed by a consortium of state, local and
non-profit entities. Horse populations were also controlled by mustangers. In 1971
primary field responsibility fell to the Virginia Range Wildlife Protection Association, a
non-profit organization that managed the horses under an agreement with Storey County.
Horses on Geiger Grade, popular with tourists before they were rounded up.
In July, 2002, Paul Iverson and the Nevada Department of Agriculture asserted its ultimate
authority over the Virginia Range horses. Upon winning a decision in a court case brought
about by Storey County, the Department scheduled a helicopter round-up of the horses in
spite of a county ordinance banning it.
Citation:
Helicopter round up proceeds, Nevada Appeal, July 6, 2002.
The Nevada Department of Agriculture took custody of the aerial gathered horses along
with others that were captured in bait traps. Then the Department precipitated what was
perhaps the most serious modern incident of horse abuse in the United States. Under
published procedures the Department was supposed to place gathered horses with a
network of non-profit adoption cooperators. Volunteer coordinator Shirley Allen had
already received commitments for groups to take at least 40 of the gathered horses when
the Department violated its own procedures and administratively decided to give the horses
to a California man named Slick Gardner.
The Department's public explanation was that the horses would be placed on Gardner's
property into what the Department described was a "sanctuary" in Santa Barbara County.
Citation:
Horses being rounded up by the state, Nevada Appeal, August 14, 2002.
Advocates had conducted some on-line research regarding Mr. Gardner and had
uncovered some disturbing facts about him, not the least of which was that Gardner didn't
own the property where the Department was sending the horses. On November 1, 2002,
advocates met with Acting Director of Agriculture Don Henderson and warned him about
turning so many horses over to Mr. Gardner, particularly since Mr. Gardner seemed to be
accumulating unusually large numbers of horses from multiple sources. Acting Director
Henderson dismissed advocates' concerns, assured them that the Department had checked
out Mr. Gardner and that the situation was fine.
Typical scene at the Gardner's "sanctuary." Photo source - Santa Barbara Animal Svcs.
The so-called sanctuary turned out to be a nightmare where hundreds of horses were found
in various states of starvation and untold numbers had died. Gardner was later convicted on several counts including felony animal cruelty and grand theft. The horses were turned over to the Ojai non-profit group, Wild Horses in Need.
Citation:
Gardner gets year in jail; plans appeal, Santa Maria Times, October 14, 2004.
In 2003 Gardner also abandoned over 150 horses in rural Eureka County. Again the wild
horse groups stepped in and took custody of the animals. The event became newsworthy
when the carcasses of 48 dead horses from this lot were discovered dumped on nearby
BLM land.
Citation:
Officials ponder charges over dead horses, Elko Daily Free Press, July 18, 2003.
The condition of some of the horses found still standing in Eureka County
It should be noted that while this incident was likely the most significant case of horse abuse in the Nevada's modern history, officials in Nevada declined to prosecute Mr. Gardner.
By this time the non-profit horse groups were inundated with hundreds of Nevada horses,
many of them in extremely poor condition and requiring rehabilitation. The aggregate costs to the groups approached a half million dollars. These were costs incurred to a great degree because the Nevada Department of Agriculture failed to follow its own procedures and failed to conduct the most basic background checks on a private individual to which they turned over large numbers of horses.
The ability for the cooperating adoption groups to take and place Virginia Range horses was severely hampered by the costs and logistics involved with the Slick Gardner rescues. The Department continued to gather horses and they began to accumulate in the state holding corrals. Director of Agriculture Don Henderson published a hands-wringing account of the problems caused by the backlog of unadopted horses and tested the notion of selling the horses outright. The concept was met with resounding negative feedback.
On April 18, 2006, advocates sent a letter to Director Henderson that specifically reminded him of the chain of events that the Department undertook that led to the "over supply" of gathered horses and suggested reasonable and low cost alternatives to the Department's present policies. Director Henderson declined to respond.
Two additional causal factors should be noted.
Department of Agriculture eventually positioned itself as the regional problem solver for developers in wild horse ranges who fail to provide boundary fencing necessary to exclude horses from their projects, planners who insist upon planting grass medians on roadways that run through horse country, and "newcomer" rural property owners who fail to accept that Nevada is a fence-out state. If horses became a nuisance, no problem! The Department would go out and trap the horses and solve everyone's dilemma. It didn't take an accounting degree to figure out that spending taxpayer money to alleviate the need for private property owners to provide due diligence and fence their property would ultimately lead to an abundance of horses accumulating in the state corrals at escalating taxpayer costs. In spite of continuing public support that landowners be held responsible for fencing, the Department chose to continue to gather horses as requested and wring its hands over the costs.
The Department of Agriculture holds most of its horses in a set of corrals virtually hidden from public view in the back of the Stewart Dairy portion of the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in southern Carson City. This is a Department of Corrections facility and it is not easy for a private citizen who might be motivated to adopt a horse to get to actually see horses available for adoption. Except for the horses that go to the prison training program at the Warm Springs Correctional Center, the Department doesn't post photographs and descriptions or take any other practical steps to "market" these horses. It relies upon the non profit groups who, for the most part, are still dealing with horses left over from the twin Slick Gardner fiascoes. In the meanwhile the Department did send loads of horses to another individual of dubious character who had been banned from BLM's
adoption program by the US Attorney.
Condition of some Virginia Range horses in Field's care.
It should be noted that in 2000 the Virginia Range Wildlife Protection Association helped
start the prison horse training program at Warm Springs, providing seed money and
administering the "Inmate Scholarship Fund." The purpose for forming the training program
was to help facilitate adoption placement of Virginia Range horses. The program now
primarily serves BLM's interests.
The Department's financial problem with respect to holding horses is principally derived
from the fact that it actually boards the horses it rounds up. Silver State Industries, the state's prison industries program, charges daily board for each horse kept at its Stewart facility. The Department has never developed any cohesive marketing strategy to facilitate placement for these horses. For years we have encouraged the Department to modify its policy and pay the same fees to board the horses with the cooperating adoption groups where the animals could actually be seen and placed with the adopting public. Such an arrangement would allow some of the groups still feeding and caring for Slick Gardner
horses to take on additional animals without incurring unreasonable financial burdens and the horses would have a reasonable chance of being placed in permanent private homes. The
Department has to date been unresponsive to this proposal.
Typical horses held at the state corrals.
In late 2006 the wild horse groups that had been most actively involved in field work and
the major "rescue" operations involving Nevada horses began discussing a concept for more
formally cooperatively managing the many horses that range on private property and talks
had begun with cooperative landowners. Everyone understood that future development will
further reduce the open range and the groups clearly recognized the need to keep the horse
population in balance with available range in order to avert future "crisis gathers." The
Tahoe Reno Industrial Center accepted 55 horses from the state corrals on February 15th,
2008 however the prospect of developing details of a management plan died when Director
Donna Rise left the Department.
Horses being released.
It should be noted that had it not been for bungling on the part of the Department of
Agriculture, those horses that were being held at taxpayer expense could have been
released as early as November, 2007 at which time the wild horse groups had agreed to
assume legal responsibility for the horses had the Department been willing to agree to
develop a Virginia Range Herd - Balanced Population Project.
The proposed project planned to focus on developing alternatives to removing horses such
as expanded birth control, reseeding eroded areas, repairing natural springs and evaluating the effectiveness of the approaches employed in order to improve the overall management practices involving the Virginia Range herd. The coalition of resources, similar to how things worked prior to the complete state takeover in 2002, would bring private funds, expertise and manpower needed to get the Virginia Range herd back in balance with its diminishing habitat and reduce the frequency and number of needed horse removals.
Volunteers cataloging horses near the proposed USA Parkway.
The Nevada Department of Agriculture instead chose to fabricate a crisis, obtain funds
under false pretenses at a time the state is struggling to fund essential services, and appears to be run by a Director who seems to have no problem lying to legislators and the public.
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