Wild Mustangs Being Relocated from the Mid West
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I read an article in the CG Times the other day about how the government is trying to round up and relocate close to forty thousand wild mustang horses from the western states to the plains states. They are claiming that due to the herds doubling in size every four years that there will soon be a food shortage and the herds could start dying of mass starvation if they aren’t relocated eastward toward states with more wide open plains and grazing opportunities. Several animal rights groups and celebrities including Sheryl Crow and Ed Harris are against the rounding up and moving of the horses citing that the process could traumatize or injure the horses and they are challenging the government claims as false.
The government also has corrals and properties that these wild horses have migrated into and have reached near capacity, I personally don’t believe it is a bad thing to help “encourage” the herds to migrate to where there are more open fields and corrals to care for and protect the animals. Wild Mustang horses really don’t have natural predators in the West, and though a colt can be taken by a cougar on occasion their only natural enemy is disease and injury. When full grown they are faster and larger than most predatory animals can take down so their numbers will only continue to multiply.
I did learn that until 1971 it was legal for ranchers to shoot wild mustangs caught grazing on their property and this is why the numbers had depleted so low. Since the ban however their numbers have been increasing quickly and something will need to be done in the next decade to ensure the safety of the animals as well as the land around them from being overgrazed.
What are your thoughts? Should the herds be left alone to graze themselves into potential starvation and overpopulation, or should the be relocated as a preventative measure from what could happen? Know that the government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars caring for these wild animals when they are injured and encountered and when they wind up crossing over into government land and corrals.
-Justin Germino
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Ecologists and researchers estimate there are less than 20,000 horses remaining on the ranges. Compared to the millions and millions of privately owned livestock, that couldn’t be considered in any way, shape or form, as over populated. The 1971 law granted 50+ million acres to the wild horses and burros but over 20 million acres have been taken away. The very land that the BLM claims cannot support the horses, sustains over 7.5 million cattle, alone. That doesn’t count the millions of sheep and elk. Take a look at the horses being removed. Do they look like they’re starving to you? The proposed Salazoos in the East and Midwest are step one to extinction. The mares and stallions will be separated so the herds will die out. Who will pay to trim their hooves and float their teeth, something that happens naturally in the western ranges. No thought has been given to climate change or grazing. Who will pay to have vets on standby when they colic? In addition, the planned round-ups will remove another 12,000 horses leaving the remaining herds unviable. The upcoming Calico round-up has a price tag of $1.7M and climbing and that is only for the BLM and chopper. Another $900k to Cattoor – the chopper company that the BLM has made a multi-millionaire. They are on retainer and get paid whether they are working or not.
Contact the white house and your legislators or the wild horses and burros will soon be a closed chapter in American history. Salazar and the BLM are on a mission to exterminate the wild ones. Let your voice be heard before it’s too late.
Very thorough information, and thanks for sharing. I would think that they should be left alone and be free without being transported myself.
If you want to believe the BLM propaganda it’s your right. But the truth is OUR wild horses are being”managed for extinction” by constant roundups after which many are put into holding facilites. They do not migrate into them. THey were mandated to be protected and preserved in the areas of OUR public lands where they were ioriginally found by the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. The DOI/BLM/USFS/USF^W are breaking this law. Liss than 15,000 wild horses are now free in all the western states but millins of cattle are on our public lands. Visit http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com and look at the FY 2010 roundup schedule and you will see how many wild horses and burrois are being removed amd how few will remain if this robbery of our American heritage isn’t stopped immediately. All the free mares are being given PZP to prevent births and stallions in holding are being gelded. Few wild horses are able to bred so how can they possibably double in 4 years. The gene pool is already very low with 85% of the herds no longer genetically viable and sustainable. Please educate yourself. See http://www.theCloyudFoundation.org and http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com/ for more facts.
Not speaking to the issues raised by the other commenters, but if an animal is overpopulated in the wild, I don’t see why they shouldn’t allow a certain number of hunting licenses. Horse meat is actually supposed to be very healthy and tasty for you, although I don’t think it’s currently legal to sell in the US…?