Editorial Opinion: BLM's Slippery Slope

Willis Lamm

December 3, 2009

The old adage goes, if you've dug yourself into a hole, your first step should be to throw away the shovel. The BLM apparently doesn't see the logic in this bit of wisdom and instead of throwing away the shovel, they've called for a backhoe.

BLM's handling of the Pryor Mountains (Cloud) gather on the heels of the West Douglas court decision started BLM's slide down the slippery slope to disaster. The agency's handling of their proposed Calico Mountains Complex roundup of some 2,700 horses will only add speed to BLM's downward plunge.

While the Pryor Mountains gather brought BLM's activities into the media spotlight, the Calico Mountains Complex may very well bring to the forefront the incredible levels of incompetence and arrogance involved in the agency's overall wild horse management policies, priorities and activities. BLM's announcement that the 10,000 plus comments it received from the public are irrelevant and that BLM District Manager Gene Seidlitz will sign a finding of "no significant impact" with respect to BLM's roundup plans is pure political lunacy.

While some of the animosity towards the agency may be based on perception, BLM is nonetheless responsible for projecting the image that it is little more than a massive roundup machine on a never ending obsessive path of gobbling up horses in an operation fueled by huge amounts of our tax dollars. Instead of working with the various parties of interest and seeking some form of practical compromise, BLM's arrogance has motivated thousands of American citizens, through the groups that these citizens support, to drag BLM into court and expose every flaw and act of misconduct that they can. If the Obama administration and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar won't straighten things out, very likely the public will as the groundswell of outrage continues to grow.

The unfortunate side to all of this is that some adjustment to the horse populations in the Calico Mountains Complex may be warranted. However BLM's range data appears to be so unreliable and contradictory that the public has no confidence that they know what they are doing, or that the number of horses scheduled to be removed is justified. When BLM conducts itself as it recently has, the conflicts produced can be harmful to the horses, the range, other range users and the taxpayers.

In a previous editorial I called for the replacement of Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar. I did so because I perceived that he would entrench his agencies in a battle against the American public. This is exactly what appears to be happening. Such conduct is un-American and an embarrassment to the Obama Administration. However if Mr. Salazar and Mr. Obama don't get it, the citizens and advocacy groups may just get their points across.

This is a completely unnecessary battle. However BLM created this situation and it's up to BLM to take a new track and try to create a more cooperative range management environment. The agency's first positive step would be to cancel the order for the backhoe.

 

 

The BLM Slaughter Conspiracy

By John Holland and Valerie James-Patton

December 20, 2009

 

“Pure propaganda” was Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokesperson Tom Gorey’s reaction in a recent AP interview when asked about the growing accusations that his agency is in the process of virtually exterminating the very herds of wild horses and burros that it is supposed to protect.

 

However, Gorey’s denial of the BLM’s intentions rings false in the light of recently uncovered documents from the BLM itself and of its own published plans and estimates. It is not possible to interpret these in any way other than a plan to virtually eradicate the wild herds.

 

Two internal-use BLM reports were obtained earlier this year through the Freedom of Information Act; Alternative Management Options Plans from October 2008 and the Team Conference Calls Report from July - September 2008. In these documents, BLM members presented, analyzed and discussed several management plans aimed at reducing the population of the wild horses on the range as well as those in holding facilities.

 

Proposals for reducing the populations included adjusting herd sex ratios with some of the horses returned being gelded, and an increased use of the contraceptive PZP, the use of other unauthorized fertility drugs called Gonacon and SpayVac and even surgical sterilization of mares (a process that has resulted in 10% mortality).

Also found in the Team Conference Calls report were these notes submitted by Don Glenn:

 

"Sally had an e-mail from a person in Canada who wants 10,000 horses that he would slaughter the horses and send them to a third world country. Don is going to send the email. Jim said he has a demand for horses going to Denmark, but they are having a problem getting titled horses." 

Adding further to the plan for sending wild horses to foreign countries, the following recommendations were submitted to BLM from BLM's advisory board members at the June 15th, 2009, Advisory Board Meeting held in Sacramento, Ca: 

"that BLM advertise and market sale eligible animals (with the intent clause) in foreign countries with known good homes by offering "select sales" for sale eligible animals 11 years of age and over, and for younger animals that have been offered for adoption three times during a 90 day period and that BLM continue to explore opportunities to foster foreign aid by providing sale eligible animals (with the intent clause) to foreign countries for agricultural (nonfood) use."

 

The BLM's response to these recommendations was that it is considering these plans as part of a 5 year strategy plan.

Clearly, the BLM has already been corresponding with foreign countries to market the wild horses with the intent to send the horses to slaughter. The board recommendation that the sales include the “intent clause” was clearly a fig leaf. The BLM is well aware that it would be impossible to enforce the intent clause in foreign countries.

But if that were not an obvious enough fig leaf, then the reference to “countries with known good homes” is a laughable one. It comes as no surprise that the notes from Don Glenn, who is also a member of the advisory board, were not mentioned at the advisory board meeting.

 

While Tom Gorey may continue to claim that it's pure propaganda that the BLM is in the process of eliminating the wild horses, the notes regarding the slaughter of our wild horses in foreign countries, combined with the advisory board recommendation to sell the horses to foreign countries proves otherwise.

 

The BLM’s plan is now clear. They will first ignore the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act and gather virtually all the wild herds, working year-round until only a few small, sterile bands remain free. If delayed in one place, they will simply shift their schedule and gather at another as they did with Buckhorn when Calico was delayed.

 

The cost of feeding these captured horses, along with the 37,000 already in holding, will then precipitate an enormous financial crisis. This will leave the BLM with no option but to euthanize or ship to slaughter most of the horses in holding.

 

 

 

 

Lawsuit Update from In Defense of Animals

December 20, 2009 by thecloudfoundation

From IDA’s blog  http://www.idablog.org/

Our lead attorney, William J. Spriggs, delivered a very effective oral argument summarizing our case. Cleverly, he began by telling the judge all the problems with the government’s wild horse and burro management program that we were NOT there to discuss, reciting a litany of BLM’s transgressions resulting from its 30-year history of mismanagement.  Mr. Spriggs said those issues were for another day, then launched into very effective arguments about our case, specifically why the indiscriminate roundup of thousands of horses off of the Calico range was illegal and the mass warehousing of wild horses in holding facilities in Kansas and other non-Western states was never authorized by Congress.

The Justice Department attorney defending BLM countered by attacking our standing, claiming that the plaintiffs would not be harmed by the removal of 80-90 percent of the horses in the Calico range because there would still be horses left in the Complex. He likened helicopters used in roundups to sheep-herding dogs, and said that individualized, on-the-range determinations of the horses’ conditions could not be made because BLM could not get within a mile of them. The DOJ

attorney then claimed that the overriding mandate of the 1971 Act was the maintenance of a healthy range for multiple purposes, and that the BLM was mandated by law to remove horses.  (Mr. Spriggs later remarked to the judge that he wasn’t sure what law the DOJ attorney was referring to, but we were talking about the WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSE and BURRO Act!)

The Honorable Judge Paul Friedman was friendly and engaged throughout the hearing. He asked many excellent questions, and observed that this was an interesting case.

This lawsuit lays bare what we believe are these indisputable facts:

The BLM is authorized only to round up horses who are both excess and adoptable.

Congress intended for on-the-range management of the horses, with removal as a last resort, only after other methods of population control have been tried and failed. Yet the BLM has thumbed its nose at this mandate, spending three-quarters of its resources to remove and stockpile horses from their home ranges, and less than 3 percent of its budget on range management activities such as water enhancement and field studies to understand wild horse behavior, biology and social dynamics.

The long-term holding facilities in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota are patently illegal, because the Secretary of Interior is not authorized to relocate horses to private lands or to lands where they were not found in 1971. The horses in these warehouses have not lost their designation as wild horses nor the federal protections that come with it.

Judge Friedman asked for some additional information on case law, which has been submitted to him, and a decision is expected next week.  The threshold for a preliminary injunction is very high, and even if we don’t succeed on this motion, this hugely important case will likely still go forward (we are seeking both a preliminary and a permanent injunction of the Calico roundup).

Excellent coverage of the hearing was provided  in an Associated Press story and a superb piece on Channel 8 TV in Las Vegas by stellar investigative reporter George Knapp, whose investigative series, Stampede to Oblivion, is a masterpiece exposing the BLM’s 30-year history of malfeasance, mismanagement and cruelty to our nation’s wild horses.

We are deeply grateful to the Herculean effort of our brilliant legal team from Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney — Mr. Spriggs, his partner David Taylor, Ibie Falcuson, Katie Allen, Katie Flood and Marty Scully — launched on behalf of the horses.

We will keep you posted on what happens, and meanwhile — keep your fingers crossed and pray for a good ruling for the wild horses next week!

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

BLM lacks information on wild horse plan- roundups continue

December 14, 8:57 AMLA Equine Policy ExaminerCarrol Abel

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                                                                                                                    photo by Carrol Abel

Last week's Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting near Reno, Nevada, ended with no inkling of a recommendation regarding the current plan for managing our nations wild horses.  The plan in question was announced in October by newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.  His strategy includes the creation of non-producing herds on pasture land in the east and the restructuring of free roaming herds by manipulating male/female ratios and injecting a large percentage of mares with the immunocontraceptive PZP.

Opponents are calling the plan a recipe for disaster and have united in their call for an immediate moratorium on the BLM's escalated roundup schedule already under way.  Representative from around the country voiced their opposition to  board members.  At the end of the day, no decision was made.

Robyn Lohnes, Advisory Board Chairman, referenced the lack of sufficient information as the cause. "We had hoped for more information from the [ BLM ] implementation team." said Lohnes.  Though board members requested more information for their upcoming February meeting, Lohnes stated, "I can't speak for the others but I don't expect to have enough information then to make a recommendation."  The board has formed a three member sub-committee to serve as liaisons to the implementation team.

Board members may have a long wait for the information they seek.  According to Don Glenn, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Division Chief, there is no implementation team. "We have the leaders but the team is not formed yet." said Glenn.  "The information will be complete by the end of the year... Congress requires a plan by end of FY 2010."

BLM has contracted with the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, whose involvement is to facilitate a resolution to the conflict between all stakeholders. "Our role has just begun." said Larry Fisher, Institute representative. "This is a timely moment.  There is a strong and renewed political commitment to address the issue."  The contract will end in late May or early June.

Meanwhile, the wild horse roundups continue at an escalated rate.

BLM's Surprise Field Office ended a roundup of 217 horses along the Nevada/California border the day before the meeting.  The unannounced move was certainly a surprise to animal advocates.  It was scheduled to take place in August of next year.  Many are calling it a sneak attack which allowed no opportunity to file an appeal to stop the action. One mare died due to round up activities and foals are reported to be in poor condition.   A lawsuit has been filed to stop the  roundup and  removal of 2,700 wild horses in the nearby Calico Complex  scheduled to begin December 28. 

When asked to comment on the 33,000 horses corralled in BLM holding facilities and the projected removal of an additional 25,000 in the next two years, Robyn Lohnes replied, "The arithmetic does not work for me."   

That thought appears to be shared by many.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

American Equines a National Treasure

Whereas equines are a living link to the history of the United States; 

A Congressional Proposal 

111 CONGRESS

2d Session

Encouraging citizens to be mindful of the contribution of equines to the economy, history, and character of the United States and expressing the sense of Congress & The American people that our American Equines should be declared a National Treasure. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 20, 2009

Supporters & Co-Sponsors; ________________________,___________________________,______________________________,_________________________,________________________,_________________________,_________________________,___________________________. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Encouraging citizens to be mindful of the contribution of horses to the economy, history, and character of the United States and expressing the sense of Congress and the American People that American Equines should be established as a National Treasure.

Whereas equines are a living link to the history of the United States; 

Whereas, without equines, the economy, history, and character of the United States would be profoundly different; 

Whereas equines continue to permeate the society of the United States, as witnessed on movie screens, on open land, and in our own backyards; 

Whereas equines are a vital part of the collective experience of the United States and deserve protection and compassion; 

Whereas, because of increasing pressure from modern society, wild and domestic equines rely on humans for adequate food, water, and shelter; and 

Whereas the Congressional Horse Caucus estimates that the horse industry contributes well over $100,000,000,000 each year to the economy of the United States, and that our National Herds of Wild Equines are fast disappearing from our public lands and in danger of extinction: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) encourages all citizens to be mindful of the contribution of equines to the economy, history, and character of the United States;

(2) expresses its sense that American Equines are a uniquely American National Treasure and should be recognized as same for the importance they played and continue to play in the Nation's security, economy, recreation, and heritage; and

(3) urges the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States and interested organizations to declare American Equines a National Historical and Cultural Treasure and to design and implement appropriate programs and activities in celebration of same.

Posted by Mz.Many Names at 11:51 AM  

Was last years Bureau of Land Management announcement of plans to euthanize 33,000 wild horses a prelude to the BLM program's swan song?  A clamor of voices rapidly growing in number has brought the wild horse and burro program under the spotlight of mainstream press. Conducting business as usual is no longer acceptable to the American public.

The BLM has been operating the program with an omnipotent mind set for so many years they can't seem to function otherwise. Evidence that detail of program policies will not hold up under scrutiny is popping up from all directions.  Can it stand the final test of President Obama's promise of transparency in government.

There seems to be little connection between the left and right hands of upper management. Don Glenn, head of the national program, stated to this examiner, "Wild horses are not starving.  The press repeatedly gets that wrong.  We don't know of any that are starving right now.  The range is in good condition."  Apparently, Glenn did not communicate that to his boss, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"One of the first things he said was something must be done because the horses are starving." said singer Sheryl Crow of her conversation with Salazar in a recent interview with AP reporter Martin Griffith.

The Surprise Field Office recently conducted an unscheduled removal of  over 200 wild  horses near the Nevada/ California border giving advocates no opportunity for legal filing to stop the action. Apparently, Glenn was not aware.  Either Glenn is hiding the truth or management has no idea what the field offices are doing.  Any way one chooses to look at it, this makes a huge statement.

Even Department of Justice lawyers seem to be tripping over their tongues.  Erick Petersen defended BLM's position in a district court hearing to determine the merits of a request for injunction to stop the Calico Complex roundup.  "Removing the animals also will help preserve the endangered and rapidly disappearing rangeland where they live." Petersen said.  Maybe Glenn didn't tell him "The range is in good condition."

Petersen also said "The 1971 law requires removal of excess horses to ensure they are treated humanely." He was joking wasn't he?

Animal welfare groups have been frustrated with BLM contradictions and inconsistencies for some time.  The program istelf would seem to be a contradiction.

District Court Judge Rosemary M Collyer ruled against a Colorado roundup in August of this year saying,

 "It would be anomalous to infer that by authorizing the custodian of the wild free roaming horses to 'manage' them, Congress intended to permit the animals' custodian to subvert  the primary policy of the statute by capturing and removing from the wild the very animals that Congress sought to protect from being captured and removed from the wild."

Celebrities, scientists, Animal welfare and Wild Horse Advocate organizations along with private citizens are supported by members of Congress in their call for an immediate moratorium on wild horse roundups pending Congressional investigation.  And yet the roundups continue at an escalated pace.  By all appearances, it's a last ditch attempt at the annihilation of America's wild horse herds.

A call is growing to remove the wild horse and burro program from the BLM altogether..... a movement also supported by some members of congress.

In all fairness to Ken Salazar, he has been on the job for less than a year.  He inherited the problem.  Corralling the BLM herd of management dinosaurs in that period of time is an unrealistic expectation.  A anonymous source stated to this examiner," This is a timely moment.  For the first time in history, this has gotten the Secretary's attention."  The statement is pleasant to the ears.  But the questions remain.  Can Ken Salazar bring the program into the 21st century?  Will the program be removed from the BLM before America's symbol of freedom is no longer free?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FWefEkv85Q&feature=player_embedded ;

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western

Comments

Barbara says:

The head of the BLM is Bob Abbey. He was apponted by Salazar and had been the NV state head.I don't agree that Salazar inherited the program and has been at it only a year as an excuse. He knows what the BLM is doing and is responsible . He is also from a ranching family in Colorado. Don Glen has been with the BLM for years. IMO all of them should be replaced with those who have the best intersts of our wild horses and burros. The BLM needs to be investigated by Congress. The Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act is being broken.

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  December 18, 2009

                                                  Robert and Kathleen Hayden

                                             Coyote Canyon Caballos d’ Anza Inc.

                                                  POB 236,  Santa Ysabel Ca. 92070

                                                       ..

Dept. of the Interior, BLM

Ca. State Office

2800 Cottage Way, Suite W1834

Sacramento, Ca. 95825

Attn Karen Barnette, James Wesley Abbott

RE 6500 (P) Ca-910

Dear Mr. Abbott,

Thank you for your correspondence of Nov 25, 2009 regarding the Coyote Canyon Herd Management area.  Your letter fails to address the issues of the fatally flawed management plan that resulted in the oversights that removed an entire herd. This Heritage Herd  constituted a distinct population segment of  wild horses that are necessary and imperative to our local historic cultural landscape. 

Please provide me with documentation that San Diego and Riverside counties, local reservations, ranchers, miners, various landowners, Ca. Fish and Game and USFWS were consulted at the time BLM was required to inventory the 1971 ranges of the Coyote Canyon horses.  Isn’t is true that herd areas are critical habitat for the survival of genetically viable herds?  Isn’t that the reason why herd areas were established in perpetuity?   Is it any wonder that the recent court ruled that BLM had no jurisdiction to remove non-excess wild horses and burros?   Please provide me with documentation that BLM used to determine that the entire tiny herd of Coyote Canyon horses could be “zeroed out.”   

Please provide me with documentation that BLM complied with Sec 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act application to the cultural relation of the Coyote Canyon Herd to Spanish settlement and expeditions, Indian Ranching and western settlement in San Diego and Riverside counties.

Please provide me with documentation that Ca. Fish and Game was consulted as a provision of the Wild Horse and Burro Act. 

 

Please explain how BLM intends to correct the deficiencies addressed by  HYPERLINK "mailto:Alex_Neibergs@ca.blm.gov" Alex_Neibergs@ca.blm.gov on April 11, 2003 

“ I do have a copy of the California Strategic Plan for Management of Wild
Horses and Burros on Public Lands date April 1994.  However, many changes
have occurred since this time and this document needs to be updated.
The coordinated management plans demonstrates a publication for input and
partnerships with public/local/and state agencies.  However with all the
changes brought about to the California Desert District HMAs by the 1994
California Desert Protection Act and the two coordinated management plans,
all the herd area management plans (HMAPS) are outdated and no revised
HMAPS have been written.”

 

Please provide documentation that BLM complied with 16  USC 1332 c  which defines range as the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild free roaming horses and burros, which does not exceed their known territorial limits and which is devoted principally to their welfare but not necessarily exclusively, in keeping with the multiple use management concept for the public lands. 

I have been assured that the remedy for restitution can be done again as was done in the 2004 Resource Management Plan for the Nevada WildHorse Range (NWHR). According to BLM in their 2004 Resource Management Plan, they completely came out of left field and stated that the original Herd Area was never properly identified for the NWHR at the passage of the Act and 30 years later, they were attempting to remedy this error.
After an interpretation of data that had everyone involved in the RMP up in arms, BLM went ahead and expanded the NWHR acreage to 1.3 million acres based on this new assessment (this is three times what the original Range was established at and twice as much as what the National Program Office statistics. One of BLMs leading arguments for this massive increase in acreage was, just because WH&Bs had not been documented in the areas did not mean that they weren't there when the Act was passed.

Director Abbot, I appreciate your encouragement to stay engaged with BLM in finding solutions to the long-term management of these animals as you stated in your letter.  Director Mike Pool similarly assured Senator Morrow when and BLM offered to partnership with us to restore the Coyote Canyon Herd.  We have lived up to our part of the bargain and its time for BLM to do the same.

Yours very truly, and may you and yours have a blessed Christmas.

Kathleen Hayden

   

Wonderful New Video, Photos by Craig Downer and put together by Laura Leigh. There is no reason these horses have to be moved, not even for Alternative Energy projects which should be paying them for the use of their land!

DC Judge Holds Lives of Thousands of Wild Horses in his Hands

December 17, 2009R.T. Fitch6 comments

Image via Wikipedia

by Steven Long, Publisher/Editor of Horseback Magazine

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A longtime federal judge will decide whether the Bureau of Land Management may go ahead with its planned “gather” of tens of thousands of wild horses in the desert lands of Nevada.

Judge Paul L. Friedman, a 1994 appointee of President Bill Clinton served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Assistant U.S. Solicitor General of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Solicitor General represents the government before federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court. Immediately prior to taking the bench vacated by Judge Gerhard Gesell, he was in private practice with the Washington law firm, White and Case for 18 years.

The 65-year-old judge, born in Buffalo, NY, says he will decide before Christmas if the BLM can proceed with the roundup. Plaintiffs claim the federal agency wants to rid the West of wild horses.

The suit was filed by the respected animal welfare group, In Defense of Animals based in California. Joining as a plaintiff is Ecologist Craig Downer, a wildlife biologist. Also joining the suit as a plaintiff Monday was author Terri Farley.

They claim that the use of helicopters in the gathers is inhumane and traumatizes horses to the point of injury and even death.

Such claims appear to have a solid foundation in fact according to records released to Horseback Magazine last month by the BLM.

The Bureau of Land Management’s concerted effort to thin the herds of wild horses on land it manages has repeatedly proven deadly, so deadly in fact, that for each of the last two years (and this year’s not over yet) there have been fatalities on almost half of the “gathers” the agency has conducted.

And last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the roundups will continue as herds across the West will be reduced as horses are moved from their natural habitat to artificial refuges in the Midwest and East – this despite the 256 million acres potentially available to the animals on BLM lands.

In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on one in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals last year.

The percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups this year is slightly worse at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. In July, a Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses. To date this year, 79 horses have died as the agency rushes to clear wild horses from the West.

Over the last two years a total of 205 horses have died at the agency’s hands during its gathers to thin the herds despite the vastness of the lands managed by BLM..

In BLM roundups, horses are often driven down miles of rocky slops by a roaring helicopter. Such was the case in Wyoming this year when 11 horses died at Coconut Creek when 349 horses were caught.

Equine geneticists have told Horseback Magazine that the massive roundups are leaving the western wild horse herds genetically bankrupt. And chemical sterilization is taking its toll as well, they say.

Although helicopter induced stampedes often result in fatalities, the agency is reluctant to classify a limping horse as injured.

The bureau classifies equine deaths two ways, according to national spokesman Tom Gorey of the agency’s Washington office.

It classifies horse deaths directly related to a gather as “the number of animals that died or were euthanized because of acute injuries or medical conditions brought about by the gather and removal process, including those that occurred during capture, sorting, and herding at the gather site. This category includes all animals euthanized for reasons related to gather activities.”

All other deaths are lumped together in one group for “reasons related to chronic or pre-existing conditions such as body condition, lameness, and serious physical defects. This category includes all animals euthanized for reasons not related to gather activities.”

Gory classifies as myth reports that the agency views a 1 percent death rate as acceptable.

“There is no fatality rate that is considered acceptable to the BLM,” he said. “Our goal is zero percent fatalities in connection with gathers.”

Gory said a non-gather percentage of deaths in 2008 was unusually high because they were “primarily related to Nevada horses that suffered serious health issues resulting from shortage of water and poor forage conditions because of drought and wildfire”

He said these horse deaths occurred at the Nevada Wild Horse Range, Roberts Mountain, New Pass/Ravenswood, and Augusta Herd Management Areas.

In fact, the agency reported that of the 126 deaths attributed to gathers last year, 106 of them fall into the latter category.