At approximately 12:45 PM April 17, 2008, I called the Governor's office and spoke to a lady by the name of Jodi Protopappas and had asked what all these newspaper articles were all about. Jodi said that the media prints things that are sometimes not true.

She did say that there were excess horses on the range and that some were sickly and starving to death. She said that some are up for adoption. She did say the adoption process was very costly. When I asked how much it costs the state for the adoption she said that another lady by the name of Jody Stevens had just come up with the numbers this morning, and that Stevens said it costs the state about $2,000 a horse but gets reimbursed $200 from the federal government. Protopappas also said that there is a plan in the works to study what is best for the wild horses all other wildlife and the range and that it will probably take up to six months to come up with a solution. When I asked again about the federal government giving the state $200 per horse I was then referred to Jody Stevens who said that "we" in fact receive some money from the federal government but did not know the exact amount. So I asked why would the state receive money from the federal government if these are state horses? Stevens became irate and asked why I was being difficult and cantankerous. I said I was not just wanted to know why they were receiving federal money? I was then referred to Edward Foster of the Dept of Agriculture as he could possibly help me more.

I called Foster who was out of the office for the day, so the receptionist referred me to the state Veterinarian, Phil LaRussa, the department's point man on wild horses. I asked him what the stories in the paper were all about. Dr. LaRussa said that unfortunately things get printed in the paper that are not true or get twisted around. He then went on to say that he had no knowledge of the state removing or depopulating the Virginia Range herds. I then asked about the paper stating that the state Director said the horses were starving. LaRussa replied that the Director had actually gone to the Interim Finance Committee and asked for additional money to help take care of these horses out on the range.

I then called the Dept of Agriculture Director Tony Lesperance and asked him how much it costs the state for the adoption process he said he was not sure on the exact amount but would call me and let me know. He also said that he was not aware that the state received federal money. I did ask him if what he said in the papers was true he replied that his statements were a little stretched. He said that he was asked by the Interim Finance Committee if the state needed extra money to care for the horses. He replied that there were way too many horses on the range, that they were overgrazing and hurting the range and he needed to get their numbers down to a manageable level. Mr. Lesperance said that there was a survey conducted by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service that resulted that the proper management level of the wild horses would be about 250 to 400 head. Tony said that right now there are about 1200 head on the range and that is way too many.

Let's look at the facts. (These facts are supported by official public records or or other documents accessible by the public.)

• The horses are sickly and starving to death.

  The number of horse carcasses found are relatively rare. Other than horses having accidents, the others pretty much died of old age or other natural causes. The last deceased horse we had aged by a veterinarian was a nursing mare in her mid 20s, considered a pretty good life span for a free-roaming horse.

• The adoption process was very costly - $2,000.00 a horse.

  The figures offered make absolutely no sense leading advocates to speculate whether the numbers were made up on the fly.

  Excess Virginia range horses are adopted either through cooperating horse groups or through the prison training program. The state does absorb some preparation costs for horses turned over to adoption groups such as vaccinating, freezebranding and microchipping. However when one calculates the number of horses that go through the facility against the program's total budget, and after subtracting the program's other expenses, the costs to bring in and place horses can't be much more than $200.00 per head, if that.

  Silver State Industries takes responsibility over all horses brought into the prison training program. Silver State Industries also keeps all the adoption money for prison trained Virginia Range horses.

  Silver State Industries also trains horses for BLM. BLM says it pays Silver State Industries $850.00 per horse, plus daily board, for the training and BLM keeps the adoption money.

• The stories in the paper weren't necessarily true.

  OK, then what about the TV news? Was someone impersonating Director Lesperance when he made his statements?

• The appropriate manageable level would be about 250 to 400 head.

  Director Lesperance quoted findings from the NRCS study of only an 85,000 acre portion of the more than 200,000 acres of wild horse range, yet the population figures he complains about involve the entire range. This is a clear case of slight-of-hand mathematics. Where a lot of people have a problem with this is that apparently these are the kinds "facts" presented to lawmakers who are trying to make intelligent and sometimes difficult budget decisions.

Nevada Department of Agriculture:  775-688-1180

Note: If you prefer to write Governor Gibbons to express your opinion, the address is:

Governor Jim Gibbons
Capitol Building
Carson City, NV 89701

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Speaking of how things are going in the Gibbons Administration, here's a snapshot from today's NoisyRoom.net, the capitol city's state government scuttlebutt site.

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The Reno Gazette-Journal devoted a huge amount of space on its opinion page to the wild horse issue that can be read here.

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Continue to Part Eight - Dr. Larussa Part of the "Game"

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