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Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 | 8:55 a.m.
The Bureau of Land Management faced a crisis this spring.The agency protects and manages herds of wild horses that still roam the American West, rounding up thousands of them each year to keep populations stable.But by March, government pens and pastures were nearly full. Efforts to find new storage space had fallen flat. So had most attempts to persuade members of the public to adopt horses. Without a way to relieve the pressure, the agency faced a gridlock that would invite lawsuits and potentially cause long-term damage to the range.So the BLM did something it has done increasingly over the ...
We really need to stop calling these wild horses and call them what they are feral horses, just like feral cats and feral pigs. These are all non native speices and are invasive. These horses are destroying the range they live on, with no natural preditors, no open hunting season and no real use except to tug at heart strings.
The BLM could knock out a chunk of their budget and realize a windfall by making a one time sale of the 47,000 feral horses on the slaughter market.
Don't like the idea, then adot 10 or 15 or hush up.
Question: What happened to the wild horses Tom Davis bought from the government?
Answer: My dog found them delicious!
Sorry, I just watched "The Misfits" again.
There is nothing wrong with the HUMANE slaughter of horses. (whether wild or domestic) There must be guidelines and verification of such. Outlawing horse slaughter has led to abandonment and starvation. Many horses are taken to Mexico for slaughter, you can only imagine the methods used.
The BLM needs to be investigated by the FBI as no agency should be allowed to investigate itself ! We treasure our wild horses and they are not being protected by this agency whatsoever !
It actually doesnt matter what all you horse haters have to say on this, the Mustang is a Federally Protected Wild Animal, it has an entire act of congress protecting it and it is high time that the BLM is held accountable for the abuse and atrocities that it has carried out against these animals and that it has knowingly allowed others to carry out after they have left their care.
Glenn it's a shame you lost your Webster's Dictionary.
Definition of FERAL
1: of, relating to, or suggestive of a wild beast <feral teeth> <feral instincts>
2 a: not domesticated or cultivated : wild
b: having escaped from domestication and become wild <feral cats>
Most likely what you're referring to is 2b: having escaped... But this only refers to the escapee not it's offspring who are born in the wild.
They are not invasive because they in fact are native...
Definition of NATIVE
1: one born or reared in a particular place
2 a: an original or indigenous inhabitant
b: something indigenous to a particular locality
Science has proven the horse evolved on the North American Continent and developed here. That is native.
There are natural predators number 1 is MAN. Number 2 are mountain lions 3 is environment. So man is the main enemy mostly due to ill informed people who believe the horse is responsible for the damage done to the public lands. They do not know a horses curved hoof helps to aeriate the soil unlike cows who flat hoove packs the ground making new growth nearly impossible. A recent report has concluded 33% of our public range has been dealt a serious blow for future growth due to lack of management of the cattle grazing (cows outnumber horses near 50 to 1)of course man owns the cattle. Man has also caused the demise of the mountian lion population. God forbid a cat kill a cow now and then to survive but in fact they prefer young horses but because of the 2 legged species and their closed minded attempts to trump Mother Nature by posting rewards (bountys) the cats are nearly gone as well.
Now as to the environment,and drought. forage and water are very important (duh)Horses by nature are a roaming nomad capable of fending for themselves as they have for thousands of years. If they can roam they can find food and water. But the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 restricted where they could roam and still be protected under the law. If the springs or creeks dry up they go find it. The horse (equus) is the most sucessful prey animal on the face of the planet. They have natural increases and decreases in population just like their very close cousin, the zebra. But man once again in all his wisdom decided the horses couldn't roam as much as they would normally in an emergency situation so to keep the public happy and not seeing skin and bone horses they pick them up but have to take care of them by law. We the taxpayer are paying nearly $100,000,000.00 a year when they could be left alone on the range. Let nature take it's course. It was designed to work that way. We are stewards. We are to protect and preserve not demonize and destroy God's creatures.
So I guess when you get right down to it MAN is the only predator they truly have to worry about.