As with most complex problems with high emotions on both sides of the issue, the over population of Wild Horses and Burros, both on the range and in BLM holding pens, is not likely to be resolved just with birth control of existing bands of these animals. I am not an advocate of the Federal government owning so much of the western lands. The intent of the Framers of our Constitution was for the Federal government to actually own minimal land and then only through negotiations with the states. However, complete management of the land by the states and likely the selling of much if it for energy and agricultural purposes would no doubt result in a campaign to largely eradicate the Wild Horses and Burros who compete with cattle for grazing. I've received hate mail from both sides for my middle of the road approach to the Wild Horse issue...from rancher friends of mine which despise Mustangs and animal rights advocates who can't see the burden on ranching families. I like to think there are moderates on both sides, and hoping that a moderate solution would be come upon. Birth control has got to be part of that solution. The people not wanting birth control or sterilization to be used on a portion of the total numbers of Mustangs and Burros are not moderates in my book.
A federal agency is on a path to sterilize wild horses on U.S. rangeland to slow the growth of herds — a new
approach condemned by mustang advocates across the West. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management also continues to
resist calls from ranchers and western Republicans to euthanize or sell for slaughter the animals overflowing
holding pens so as to clear the way for more roundups.
Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Steve Ellis delivered those messages at an emotional congressional
hearing this week. He offered a glimpse of the challenges facing the agency that has been struggling for decades
with what it describes as a $1 billion problem.
Highlights of the hearing included Nevada's state veterinarian calling for the round-up and surgical sterilization
of virtually every mustang in overpopulated herds, a protester who briefly interrupted with shouts denouncing
"welfare ranchers" turning public lands into "feedlots," and an Arkansas congressman whose puppy is about to get
neutered.
Rep. Tom McClintock, chairman of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on public lands, took aim at those who
object to euthanizing mustangs "and yet seem perfectly willing to watch them succumb to excruciating death by
starvation, dehydration and disease." "That is the future we condemn these animals to if we don't intervene now,"
the California Republican said.
Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, emphasized the 1971 law protecting mustangs allows for their destruction if they go
unadopted. But since 2012, Congress has required horse purchasers to sign documents promising not to resell them
for slaughter, and the Bureau of Land Management opposes lifting those restrictions.
Ellis said the estimated 67,000 wild horses and burros on federal land in 10 states is 2.5 times more than the
range can support. However, there's no more room in government corals and leased pastures, where 47,000 horses cost
taxpayers about $50,000 per head over the course of their lifetime. "Quite frankly, we can't afford to feed any
more unadopted horses," Ellis said. "I understand your frustration. We are frustrated too."
Ellis said the agency's "roadmap to the future" includes use of temporary contraceptive vaccines as well as
sterilization. "We feel that before we can implement a spay-neuter program on the range, we've got to do the
research to make sure we can do it efficiently and safely," he said. "It is going to take a little time to do
that."
Rep. Rod Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said it's time to have "that real tough
conversation about something more permanent."
Other Republicans turned on the lone horse advocate called to testify — Ginger Kathrens, founder of The Cloud
Foundation based in Colorado Springs, Colorado and member of the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse advisory
committee. But Kathrens said most Americans want to see mustangs "roam freely on their native home ranges as
intended." "Castration, sterilization and long-term confinement of horses in holding facilities ... is
unnecessary, cruel, unhealthy and fiscally irresponsible," she said.
Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, noted, however, that "thousands of domesticated animals are spayed and neutered
every day." "I've got a new puppy and he's got his day coming soon," he said. That prompted an outburst from Edita
Birnkrant, campaigns director for Friends of Animals. "They are wild animals. They are not cats and dogs," she
shouted as McClintock banged the gavel and called for Capitol Police. "The solution is getting welfare ranchers off
of our public lands, which have been turned into feedlots."
J.J. Goicoechea, the Nevada Department of Agriculture's veterinarian and longtime rancher, urged the gathering of
"as close to 100 percent of horses as we can" in overpopulated herds for surgical sterilization before returning
some to the range. "Those of us who truly make a living caring for animals ... have a moral obligation to manage
populations in balance with natural resources," he said.
Mustangs are such a uniquely American treasure. At least the Border Patrol thinks so. This article is from NBC News by Hannah Rappleye
ALAMO, Texas — Three mustangs stand at the edge of a cabbage field just after nightfall, poised to run. Their riders, all Border Patrol agents, have received word that a group of migrants are trekking across a levee that runs alongside the Rio Grande.
It is difficult to see much aside from the blinking red sensors in the far distance. Except for the cries of killdeer that carry over the farmland in this rural part of the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest sector of the U.S.-Mexico border is quiet. Suddenly, the radio chirps and the horses lurch forward. They streak across the field until they reach a dirt road, where two young men kneel, their hands up.
Twenty and 30 years old, the men unpack their meager belongings — a strawberry soda, an MP3 player wrapped tightly in a plastic bag — and peel off the life preservers they used to swim across the river. The 20-year-old stands beside the horse, and as an agent takes down his information, he explains why he left Rio Bravo, Mexico. "We have no future where we're from," he says.
Were it not for the MP3 player, a similar scene could have played out 92 years ago, when agents on horseback formed the ranks of the newly created U.S. Border Patrol. Despite the rise of high-tech tools like drones and infrared sensors, horses have once again become a key tool in border enforcement.
But the herd that the Border Patrol uses to police the borders isn't made up of just any breed. Many of the mounts are wild horses, also known as mustangs, culled from the hardscrabble rangelands of the American West. And in an ironic twist, the wild horses-turned-law-enforcement agents are trained by an unlikely group: prisoners.
"Here is an opportunity to give something back to somebody who has either fallen on hard times or certainly found themselves in the crosshairs of the law," said Raul Ortiz, deputy chief patrol agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector, where a herd of about 40 horses, with 30 riders, made approximately 8,000 apprehensions last year. "It's not just a tool for us to use out there in the field. It's got bigger implications for the organization and for the country."
The unique program is part of a multi-million-dollar industry, where the captive labor of prisoners produces products from farmed tilapia to body armor. It is the result of a partnership between the nation's largest federal law enforcement agency, Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Land Management, and state correctional agencies from Colorado to Arizona. But rather than profit, the program was conceived as a way to humanely manage wild horse herds.
In addition to selling trained horses to the Border Patrol, prisoners also train horses for private adoption. The BLM estimates over 58,000 wild horses and burros roam public land from Nevada to Oregon, their lineage a mix of Spanish stock and domestic breeds. The federally protected herds remain a national treasure, a symbol of our wild past, but their numbers have to be carefully managed, as population growth has outpaced the ability of public rangeland to support herds.
The program wasn't necessarily conceived as a way to rehabilitate prisoners, said Randy Helm, the wild horse and burro inmate program supervisor for the Arizona Department of Corrections. But the nature of horsemanship, and of the wild horses themselves inevitably changes the lives of many prisoners who come through the program.
"Some of them come in with situations in life where I think they can connect a little more to where that horse is," Helm said. "That horse has to learn to adapt to an environment to be successful. That horse has to learn to deal with its past. The horse has to learn to deal with its fear….I'll try to emphasize to the guys out here, if you fail to learn from these horses, you're missing a great opportunity, because they can teach us a lot about ourselves."
As the dust settles in the shadow of concertina wire, Brian Tierce, 48, slowly brushes his palm down the neck of Justice, a colt born in the stables at Florence State Prison, in Florence, Arizona, about an hour and a half north of Tucson. Lanky and skittish, Justice doesn't quite yet trust Tierce, who is serving a seven-year sentence for aggravated assault. From drug possession to theft, Tierce has spent a cumulative 23 years behind bars. But just as Justice will eventually learn to trust him, Tierce has learned, finally, that he's good at something. "This is my silver lining," Tierce said. "I'm really good at this."
Like many of the prisoners in the program, Tierce's addiction to drugs -- methamphetamine in particular - led to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of incarceration. In 2011, he was convicted of assault after choking his girlfriend during a fight. Before he entered the program at Florence, he thought, "I'm going to be 50 years and four months when I get out this time. You know, it's like, 'Where do I go? What do I do?' I'm not skilled at anything except getting high."
But working with the horses gave him some faith, he said, and he became one of Helm's best trainers. "When I got locked up I had no belief in myself," he said. "I didn't think I could even go fill out an application to get a job…Now I actually have belief that when I get out of here, I can accomplish whatever I want to as long as I put the effort into it."
As Tierce ties Justice to a fence post to be groomed, men in orange jumpsuits work with the horses in pens and on obstacle courses, kicking up dust and, sometimes, tumbling into it. Prisoners working with more advanced horses toss water bottles and other objects their way, intentionally trying to spook them in order to replicate what the animals will experience in the field with the Border Patrol.
At least four other correctional agencies, including the Colorado and Nevada state corrections departments, have wild horse training programs. The first program began in Colorado about 30 years ago, while Arizona launched its program in 2012. Prisoners train and gentle hundreds of mustangs a year.
Supervising some 40 prisoners and more than 500 trained and still-wild horses is Helm, 61, a soft-spoken cowboy who took a few diversions in life. He served as an undercover narcotics officer in Texas, then became a chaplain, then went back to his ranching roots when he adopted a wild horse and became fascinated with the process of training. He began to devote his time to mastering the art of training wild horses, eventually running clinics at so-called "cowboy churches" and other events, and working with both horse and human victims of abuse.
He describes the methods he teaches not as horse whispering, but "natural horsemanship," or "low-resistance" training. A long way from the old ways of "breaking" a horse, Helm teaches prisoners to work with the nature of the horse, rather than against it. "What you're really doing is you're creating an atmosphere where the horse starts identifying you with peace," Helm said.
The wild horse is particularly suited for border enforcement, agents say. While horses were essential to the Border Patrol when it began in 1924 -- all recruits were required to own a horse and a gun -- over the decades advances in technology left the horse behind, and the number of horse patrol units declined.
But in the early 2000s, CBP began investing more money into its horse program. Today in the field, horse patrol units with wild and domestic horses work alongside helicopters, drones, sensors and other high-tech tools. Horse sense is an "old school" technology, said Bobbi Schad, operations director for the Tucson Sector. "Their sight's better, their hearing's better. They can travel further, a lot faster than we can."
The training doesn't stop once the Mustangs are received by a Sector, the individual agents sack their horses out based on their experience from enforcement operations on horseback. The short video below shows agents continuing training at a Station and just how fast a change can come in a Mustang.
Sure-footed and tough, wild horses are built to handle the harshest environments, from the rocky gulches and jumping cholla that cover the ranchland in Nogales, to the sweltering, thorny corridors of the Rio Grande Valley. "They'll give us 10 hours of good work in the south Texas heat," said Ruben Garcia Jr., horse patrol coordinator for the Rio Grande Valley. "And they won't skip a beat."
The horses work in an intense environment. On any given day or night, Border Patrol agents respond to a multitude of high-stress situations, from assisting sick migrants in the desert to apprehending frightened mothers and children, to facing armed and dangerous smugglers.
Agents can also find themselves galloping alongside screeching police cars in dense urban areas or careening through mesquite trees in the dark brush. "You have no idea the capability of these horses," said Joe Ghrist, an agent with the horse unit in Tucson, while sitting atop Geronimo, a product of the Florence program. "It's like the wild West out here."
On a recent Friday in the Rio Grande Valley, the horse unit was dispatched to the parking lot of Jack-in-The-Box in Hidalgo, Texas. A group of young men and teenage boys had been apprehended after scaling the levee with a ladder. They had traveled north for a month, from violent Central American countries like Honduras and El Salvador, before crossing into the U.S.
The group sat against a CBP van, their faces dejected. Helicopters swirled overhead. Without warning, agents galloped from the restaurant, down black tarmac, then cut toward a fenced lot full of semi-trucks. Flanked by horses, agents found another young man, hiding between the trucks.
Nostrils heaving, sweat rising off their flanks, the horses flattened their ears as he was led to a waiting van. "You simply can't replicate their natural instinct," said Garcia, Jr., "Pitch quiet, completely dark, and their heartbeat just accelerates."
If you have been in prison, in Mongolia for instance, for the last several years you may not know about Unbranded. Unbranded is a documentary style movie detailing the adventures of four young Texas cowboys. Ben Masters, Jonny Fitzsimons, Thomas Glover, and Ben Thamer who adopted and trained Bureau of Land Management Mustangs to embark on a five month, 3,000 mile pack trip from the Mexico border North through Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to reach the Canadian border.
The bottom line here is that you gotta go see this movie...if you are lucky enough for it to be in a movie house close to you. If not, you can order the DVD version and watch it at home. It will be worth it. Last night, my wife and I drove 30 miles to town to watch Unbranded on the big screen. It was a one night deal and tickets had to be pre-sold to meet a minimum number which was no problem as the theatre was close to sold out. This is a phenomenal movie.
Ben Masters, the instigator of this project acknowledged doing this project, in part, to bring attention to the plight of 50,000 unwanted wild horses and burros living in government-leased pens and pastures and in need of adoption. In the movie it is clear that Mustangs and Burros on public lands is a sensitive issue with people on both ends of the argument and fortunately many people in between. While there are many reasons for the plight of these wild horses and burros, including drought, wildlands fires, lack of forage, and fastly growing wild herds, the movie does not come out clearly on one side or the other, except that rapidly growing and over populated holding pens are not the ideal solution for these animals.
It is no accident that Masters chose Mustangs as his riding and packing stock. His experience from previous pack trips exposed him to the durability and reliability of Mustangs. Big boned, solid footed and with the ability to endure harsh conditions, it just likely wouldn't have been possible to complete the trip on today's highly bred performance horses.
Just from the scenery alone, this movie is worth the time. But you'll see the boys and their horses traverse some of the toughest terrain in North America; endure freezing rain and hail; chase loose horses; and likely the hardest tasks, pick cactus - Cholla in particular - out of horses. Cholla cactus is often called Jumping Cactus as it seemingly jumps out at you. In fact, of the four Cowboys explains this in the movie in a scene where one of the horses had Cholla patches stuck all over him.....and I mean ALL over him.
This pack train just didn't start out on the Mexican border and complete the trip all by their lonesomes. They had a cameraman and support along the way, sometimes to haul off horses that received significant enough injuries where they couldn't continue, which fortunately were only two - one bowed tendon and one torn muscle.
And you'll meet Val, an old cowboy who helped out in Arizona and then again in Wyoming, and who sings a song about the trip. Only one horse died along the way and that was from seemingly natural causes. Ben Masters said it was very sad to lose a horse, at least he died in the wild where he belonged as opposed to a holding pen.
Somewhere along the trail they picked up a burro, named Donquita. She almost stole the show. Apparently she did not pack any gear, but was along to be a camp guard in predator country.
After the completion of the ride, Ben Masters donated a horse named Luke to the Mustang Heritage Foundation, where he was auctioned for $25,000 dollars to support mustang adoptions. This will be the horse you see Ben fly fishing off of. The Mustang Heritage Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) public, charitable, nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating successful adoptions for America’s excess mustangs and burros and is the organization that hosts the Extreme Mustang Makeover competitions and Trainer Incentive Program.
If you are like me,...someone who does not like going to the movies, you should make an exception for this if there is a a screening near you. Otherwise, you'll want to buy the DVD and watch it at home. The below video is an older trailer for the project and worth watching to wet your appetite for the feature movie.
I am often the target of lectures by ranching friends of mine who advocate a drastic reduction of the Wild Horse population and total removal from Federals Lands so that more land is available for cattle grazing.
I also get taken to task by Wild Horse advocates for supporting the re-introduction of horse slaughter plants and m which demonstrates an less than "100%" support for Mustangs.
No matter what your opinion is, one thing is for sure.............the Wild Horse and Burro issue is a pretty complex problem:
~ Mustang herds are growing rapidly and competing for cattle for grazing which has been exacerbated by drought conditions in most western states;
~ The BLM conducting brutal roundups and sometimes the subsequent holding of Wild Horses are in terrible conditions;
~ People not understanding that ranchers actually pay the government to graze on federal lands, and in some cases this federal land was taken away from families, so some see it has paying for land they should be rightfully allowed to use.
~ The often adversarial relationship between federal land managers (BLM or USFS) and the cattle owners,.....remember the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada earlier this year?;
~ The extent of large Federal Government land holdings in western states from 22% in Washington State to 76% in Nevada - and sometimes the reality is that a distant federal landlord is not knowledgable about local problems nor fair in resolving some of the issues;
~ Animal rights activists using political pressure to keep horse slaughter plants from opening, preventing a final solution for unwanted horses.
In any extent there are so many factors in the larger issue that can't be solved by approaching them from a pure emotional angle. But one of the many potential solutions could be a contraceptive program - reducing the number of Mustang studs, gelding many of the studs and colts, and drugs to control the fertility of mares. Some this is coming true as the San Felipe Pueblo of New Mexican are moving forward with a vaccination program to reduce mares' abilities to reproduce. The below story came out of KRQE News 13 in Albuquerque.
A New Mexico pueblo is taking new steps to manage its wild horses. As of now, it’s the only group in the state doing it and they have got high hopes for their unique solution. “This is our first time doing it and so far, it’s been pretty good success,” said Ricardo Ortiz, a land management specialist with the pueblo.
That success has come in the form of a vaccination called PZP. Porcine zona pellucida (PZP), is a vaccine that stimulates the target animal to produce antibodies, which attach to its own glycoprotein membrane (ZP) that surrounds the female animal's eggs. This vaccine comes from pigs, hence the Porcine preceding the ZP.
“What it does it controls the birthing for the mares,” Ortiz said. Within the last week, Ortiz said they have given the PZP to 11 mares. “The mares have that birth control for two years,” he said.
Using a dart gun, trained specialists administer the vaccination. Mares would need the vaccine every two years to limit pregnancies. Ortiz had to go to Montana to become certified. “As we move along, we’ll start seeing how it affects the population,” he said.
As far as who foots the bill, it falls on the pueblo. Ortiz says it can get a little pricey with the training and equipment. “This is something also new to the pueblo in a way that is a humane way of taking care of the issue,” Ortiz said. The vaccine does not affect mares that are already pregnant.
The San Felipe Pueblo is also proposing a 3,000-acre horse sanctuary using federal land. PZP has also been used recently to control bison populations in California and on elephant reserves in Africa.
The San Felipe are one of 19 Pueblos of New Mexico which also include the Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and the Zuni.
The following video, from September 20th, 2014 shows the San Felipe Pueblo making their point on a strong stand for horses as wild life, for wild horse management utilizing PZP immune-contraception which is in line with Science and Nature also inline with the National Academy of Sciences report and advice to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The video, below, shows the darting process using PZP on adopted wild horse mares, from the Wild Love Preserve in the Central Idaho High Desert, who stated they darted 54 mares in one hour.
Marti asked "I don't know if you have seen the movie Hildago about the endurance racer in the old west. A couple of the ladies I ride with on weekends, one is a former endurance rider, were telling me that it is all false. Do you have an opinion about Hidalgo?"
Hi Marti, the man in question was Frank T. Hopkins. I'll leave it to you to determine how much, if any, of the legend of Hopkins and his primary horse, Hildago is true. The movie was certainly made for entertainment not as a historical docu-drama.
It does not surprise me that endurance riders don't believe any of the Hopkins legend. The Long Riders Guild which describe themselves an association of equestrian explorers, is a world wide organization and probably the most vocal group when it comes to calling Frank Hopkins a complete fraud. In fact, it looks to me they are vehemently anti-Hopkins. They have a tab on their website titled "The Hildago Hoax" with 30+ articles to convince readers why Hopkins was, in their words, a charlatan.
In a counter to Hopkins supporters, the Long Rider's Guild state that (most) of these authors did not do good enough research into Hopkins and his alleged endurance racing. Yet to be fair, most of the articles and links in the "Hildago Hoax" are written ny newspapers, educators and magazines from the non-horse world and it makes one think how much research they did.
One of the anti-Hopkins claims is that there are no photographs of Hopkins ever on horseback and no one exists to verify his claims. Yet on the Hopkins website, there are several!? This is the Frank T Hopkins website, sponsored by the Horse of the Americas registry and the Institute of Range and the American Mustang (IRAM), which are obviously Hopkins (and Hildago) believers and supporters.
On this website are some articles accredited to Hopkins, which support at the least the claims that he was very knowledgeable about horses, and particularly knowledgeable and supportive of the Mustang breed.
I remember when the movie came out and I mentioned I was taking my then 10 year old daughter to see it, a cowboy buddy of mine about had a fit telling me it was nonsense and I was wasting my time. I replied that "I did not have to believe in Santy Claus to put up a dang Christmas tree!"
Another one of the "false claims", in fact of the major claims by the anti-Hopkins crowd is concerning the long distance "Ocean of Fire" race in the Middle East. The majority of the movie "Hildago" was over this alleged race. There is a principal Arab Newspaper called "The Arab Times" which refuted these races. And why wouldn't they if Hopkins raced in one and won it?
In October 1993, I was in Taif, Saudi Arabia doing some work for the Crown Prince, HRH Abdullah bin Aziz al Saud, who is now the Saudi King. Taif is on the western escarpment at about 5,000 feet elevation, over looking Mecca and Medina on the coastal plains. I was invited to a Royal horse and camel race. We arrived just before the camel race and as the horse race had just started. One of the Saudi National Guard Captains told me, words to the effect that the horse race was a "far race" and we "would not know the winner for several days".
So Marti, the bottom line in my book, is that there is as much credible evidence that Frank Hopkins was as least somewhat legit as there is that he was somewhat of a fraud. Most of the writings surrounding Old West personalities,....gun fighters, lawmen, outlaws and soldiers,....took a lot of liberty in writing and publishing those stories. You are going to have to make up your own mind on Frank Hopkins......if he was a liar or legend. Regardless of either, his writings show that he knew horses. Good luck and safe journey.
The AWHPC is the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. I was recently sent a video of some Mustangs filmed at the Calico Complex this past April. The AWHPC reports that these wild horses are scheduled for another Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup in less than two years, which follows on the heels of the last roundup, one of the most deadliest in terms of dead horses,...a reported 200 dead Mustangs.
No matter what your perspective on the Wild Horse and Burro issue, I don't think any reasonable person could think that these Mustangs and Burro shouldn't be handled with compassion. Mainstays of our American heritage, these animals deserve a fair life and humane treatment from humans. Regardless, you should enjoy this video.
Functional Horsemanship received the following comment on the post concerning Mustangs,...."Anonymous said....The Ranchers get to use federal land for free or very cheap. The government is killing Mustangs just so the ranchers can get rich. We need to make it fairer for the Mustangs. - Cowgirl in Illionis"
See I told you this was an emotional issue. I seem to be squarely in the middle between the ranchers, who are friends of mine in many cases, and the Mustang lovers whose hearts are in the right place.
Here are some more facts:
The Ranchers do not get to use government grazing lands for free. They win a bid on them conducted publicly and openly and sometimes pay a great deal of money, per animal (cow), where in some cases I don't see how they can break even. The BLM controlled grazing units that I patrolled would cost the winning bidders anywhere from $7 to $17 per animal unit month. That is $7 to $17 per cow or cow-calf combo per month of use. Transportation costs to truck the cattle in; sending cowboys to check on them; and, extra feed in rough times all add up. It is not lucrative by any means. It's rough scrabble existence.
On the other side of the coin, it is Federal land and the BLM, or the US Forest Service in some cases, need to be good stewards and ensure fair worth for use is gained. And make no mistake about it, the Federal Government owns much too much land in the West and the current administration is trying to seize more,...and they can too, through use of imminent domain. I know some ranchers, only a generation of two removed from government confiscation of a historical homestead, and they have a bone to pick with the government.
Ranchers are good stewards of the land,..they have to be or otherwise they lose cattle, lose land and go under. Very few of them destroy the lands as the environmentalists would have people believe.
Some ranchers believe that when the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 was enacted and the Mustang herds became federally protected, sectioning off former grazing units for the Mustangs, the ranchers believe these wild horses belonged to them and were in effect confiscated by the federal government without due compensation. Well, that ain't necessarily right,.....those Mustangs belong to God, partner,.... .....nobody else.
With the Mustang lovers, you most often get people, like the letter writer from Illinois, who know nothing of the issues, and are often very misguided, thinking the land will support ten times what it really can. In some places a section (640 acres) is necessary for one horse to have feed. In their quest to provide a place for the Mustangs, even at the expense of long time ranching families, these people would end up providing a terrible life and death from starvation or colic. When there are too many Mustangs for the existing water to support, some of the Mustangs will die of dehydration. Horses dying of thirst will eat mud and that will colic them, dying a very painful death.
Much better to manage the herds, like they do in Oklahoma, through genetic testing, culling the herds, gelding most of the stallions based on genetic testing to reduce in breeding. Of course, that means many of the culled horses would have to be put down - however this would be much less torturous than starving or dying from a gut full of mud. Over grown Mustangs herds also have a negative impact on the other wildlife,...deer, antelope, etc.
The US Government must manage these herds through humane methods,...running mares and foals into the ground by helicopter ain't it. This may be the last I write on the subject, and nobody will be pleased with the other side of the issue, and I find myself in the middle.
Very little puts people at odds with each other out West than to have discussions about Wild Horses (Mustangs) and Burros. Ranchers hate them for the grass they consume, putting cattle operations and their livelihood at risk. Animal lovers, unrealistically sometimes, want the U.S. Government to go to great lengths to preserve each and every animal. This issue is closing in on us as between now and October, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to roundup and remove over 6,000 more wild horses and burros from six Western states.
I have friends who are ranchers. I want to see them thrive and maintain the western lifestyle that is often just hard work to just even get a month to month existence. However I’m not willing to support the cruel, and sometimes unnecessary death of Mustangs that are a national treasure. In fact I have had some very heated and emotional arguments with some ranchers wanting the vast majority of Mustangs put down to preserve or even expand grazing units for cattle.
Animals lovers on the other hand, thinking that horses should die of old age and not slaughter, are responsible for the closure of horse slaughter plants here in the U.S. which caused horses to be shipped horses to Mexico, by inhumane transport measures, for the un-regulated slaughter in Mexico to support the horse meat demand in Europe. Don’t have a problem with people eating horse meat. Do have a problem with the inhumane killing of any animals, particularly horses. Imagine a frantic horse being run into a chute, then stabbed in the neck-withers area until it is paralyzed, then hauled up by it’s back legs with chains and having his neck cut so he can bleed out.
There needs to be some give in both sides. Proponents of the Mustangs (and I count myself among them) must understand that ranchers’ concerns of: over grazing by herds of Mustangs destroying cattle land; and the inbreeding within these herds leading to unhealthy and diseased animals. Animal lovers should reflect on if they want horses humanely killed in the country under regulated conditions for transport and basic care; or do they want horses taken to Mexico in terrible conditions and killed in a very inhumane manner.
Open land in the West is diminishing. Everyone has got to be good stewards of not only the lands but also the wildlife so we can preserve these for generations to come. When people let emotions boil over on this issue, they often push people to the other side of argument.
Again, I am a Wild Horse supporter. I have contributed money to this cause and own a Mustang (or he owns me) that is just a people loving great little horse. I also have several friends that cowboy for the BLM - good hands and good people all.
Here is some information from The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, whose heart is in the right place, even those some of their facts may be a little off:
In 1971, an unprecedented public outcry moved Congress to unanimously pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, granting federal protection to America ’s wild horses and burros as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West […] that […] contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.”
From over 2 million in the 1800s, America ’s wild horse population has dwindled to fewer than 33,000. There are now more wild horses in government holding pens than remain in the wild, with many of the remaining herds managed at population levels that do not guarantee their long-term survival. Still, the round-ups continue. Yes true, but the West is much more populated than it was in the 1800’s. The demand for beef has grown.
Over the past forty years, federal law enacted by the people on behalf of their wild horses has been ignored. Largely ignored I would say. No strategic plan to keep viable herds of wild horses on public lands was ever developed. This is true.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots efforts are supported by a coalition of over forty organizations. I wholly support viable solutions to keep more of the animals living and ranging free in decent areas that provide forage and water.
The AWHPC Coalition is calling on Congress to suspend the government wild horse roundups in all but verifiable emergency situations while the entire BLM wild horse program undergoes objective and scientific review. I support this.
The AWHPC Coalition is also calling for implementation of in-the-wild management, which would keep wild horses on the range and save taxpayers millions annually by avoiding the mass removal and stockpiling wild horses in government holding facilities. I support this if it is done fairly.
The BLM uses helicopters for roundups, and while that may be a cost effective manner to push Mustangs to holding areas or corrals, it is often a brutal method causing stress and panic in the herds, separating foals from mares, and slow agonizing deaths from injuries. This should change. Pay some Cowboys a working wage to do this the old way.
The AWHPC states that beginning in August, the BLM intends to use helicopters to roundup and remove 480 wild horses living in the Confusion Mountains in Utah . The agency claims a 474,000-acre complex can sustain only 195 horses, even as it authorizes the equivalent of 3,300 cattle to graze the same public lands area! This just ain’t right. Cattle eat feed that horses won’t. In desert environments 200 horses for 500,000 acres would be close to being right.
The AWHPC further states that the BLM has the clear authority, under 43 C.F.R. 4710.5(a), to close livestock grazing on areas of public lands "if necessary to provide habitat for wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros, to implement herd management actions, or to protect wild horses or burros from disease, harassment or injury." The AWHPC is advocating the sustainment of Mustangs at the expense of grazing lands for Ranching families. Although the Federal Government, in it’s infinite wisdom, sometimes re-designates areas from grazing leases to wilderness areas which take away available grazing units for ranchers, I do not see the BLM closing livestock areas to provide for the Mustangs. Clearly every side is affected with any decision. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign website
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