Thousands of wild horses may be killed [link]

Federal officials said the West is overrun with wild horses.
The proposed solution: Kill a few thousand of them.

ROB HOTAKAINEN | AUG 10, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Californian Jean Anderson says wild horses are smart and beautiful animals, symbols of the freedom and strength it took to build the United States.

To the federal government, however, they're a costly and growing nuisance.

The Bureau of Land Management says there are too many of them, filling holding pens and roaming freely on public lands in 10 Western states. It has a proposal to reduce their numbers: Kill a few thousand of them.

Anderson, who owns five adopted mustangs, is horrified at the thought.

''Horses are supposed to be protected. If people don't pay attention, before they know it, there are not going to be any wild horses, and I think that'll be a great loss,'' said Anderson, a 59-year-old janitor from Dairyville, Calif., about 100 miles north of Sacramento.

Anderson and many of the nation's other horse lovers, including singers Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson, are out to kill the euthanasia plan. Federal officials and other supporters of the plan say it must be considered, however, because a birth-control program hasn't worked and adoptions are declining, mainly because of rising fuel and feed costs.

''The bottom line is we've run out of things to do with these animals,'' said Tom Talbot, a veterinarian and president-elect of the Sacramento-based California Cattlemen's Association. He nevertheless called it a difficult issue.

While the agency hasn't decided on a method of euthanasia, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said the top three possibilities would be shooting the horses, giving them a lethal dose of barbiturates or killing them with bolts to the head, a method commonly used in slaughtering cattle.

The government estimates that there are 33,000 horses and burros running wild in the West, nearly half of them in Nevada. Another 30,000 are in holding pens.

Either by adopting them out or selling or killing them, the agency would like to reduce the size of its herd to 27,300. The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, a creation of the BLM, will take up the issue Sept. 22. The BLM will make a final decision later, but no date has been set.

Some members of Congress want to put the plan on hold.

''The potential for wholesale killing of thousands of healthy wild horses marks a complete turnaround in management policy,'' said Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

For many years, the American Mustang has persevered on the remaining wild lands of this country. It has been "protected" by the government and hailed as a hardy ancient Spanish breed.

Others claim that the majority are nothing more than a feral nuisance, competing with indigenous wildlife (not to mention the beef industry) and destroying the environment. They dispute their heritage, claiming they descended mainly from domestic horses that were turned loose during the depression or broke free over the years.

For decades, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has herded up the wild horses and offered excess to the public for as little as $125 adoption fee. Horsefolk are divided on whether this is a good thing or bad for business. The mustangs were affordable enough for people with insufficient horse experience to buy, but some claim that many suffer neglect or even abuse at the hands of ignorant owners.

The latest news suggests that the BLM may begin to euthanize horses it deems unadoptable or otherwise unwanted.

BLM Confronts Challenges in the West's Wild Horse and Burro Program

The Bureau of Land Management is facing a number of difficult challenges in the National Wild Horse and Burro Program. Our goal in the West is to manage healthy, free-roaming herds on healthy rangelands; however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

Wild horses and burros in the West have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from Western public rangelands each year to ensure that herd sizes are consistent with the land's capacity to support them. As of June 2008, there are more than 30,000 wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term and long-term holding facilities. It is essential to keep the BLM's wild horse and burro program in balance. Right now, the cost of keeping these animals in holding facilities is spiraling out of control and preventing the agency from successfully managing other parts of the program. For example, this fiscal year, holding costs will exceed $26 million, more than three-fourths of the BLM's congressional appropriation of about $37 million for this program.

In addition, rising energy prices have increased costs. In one year alone, energy costs for transportation and feed have increased almost $4 million. It is clear the agency cannot continue current removal and holding practices under existing and projected budgets. Neither can the BLM allow horses to multiply unchecked on the range without causing an environmental disaster. That's why the BLM is exploring options to exercise its legal authority to (1) sell older and certain other unadopted animals "without limitation" to any willing buyers and (2) euthanize those wild horses and burros for which no adoption demand exists. We know this is not a popular option, but we are at a critical point where we must consider using the legal authorities allowed us.

Source: BLM, June 30, 2008

The younger BLM mustangs are in greater demand due to a general sense of "trainability" -- few people want to tackle a full grown mature horse that has never been handled. Much like the private market, the number looking for a horse that is six or older and has not been broke to ride is minimal.

It costs much more to keep a horse now than it did just a few years ago. Horse owners across the nation are lamenting an increase in hay and grain costs, fuel costs to run a farm, and their horses are selling very low -- if they sell at all -- in a depressed market.

Horse neglect is on the rise. People cannot afford to take care of the horses they have, much less take in more mouths to feed. Gentle, trained and registered horses can be found every week at auctions across the country for only a few hundred bucks. And a horse you can't ride costs just as much to feed as a horse you can.

The novelty of "owning a living legend" has worn off ... time to come up with a more feasible solution for the thousands of mustangs that our government is responsible for managing for the public.

"In years past [edit] the public would adopt anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 horses annually. This fiscal year, which ends in October, the agency has found homes for fewer than 3,000 horses." -- newsreview.com

Look at how simple it is for just about anyone to bring a wild horse home:

Adoptions

Federal protection and a lack of natural predators have resulted in significant increases in wild horse and burro herd populations. Each year, the BLM gathers excess wild horses and burros from areas where vegetation and water could become scarce if too many animals use the area.

These animals are offered for adoption to qualified people through the BLM's Adopt-a-Horse-or-Burro program. While the BLM faces a constant challenge in adopting out enough animals, the adoption program is a popular one.

Want a mustang? Here's what you need:

Qualifications to adopt:

• You must have $125 cash.
• You must be at least 18 years of age.
• You must have no prior conviction for inhumane treatment of animals.
• You must claim to have adequate feed and water to provide humane care.
• You must claim you have safe, strong facilities to contain the animal.

Keep it alive one year and it's all yours, no strings attached.

While there are specific minimum standards outlined, the BLM is not staffed adequately to check out each adopter's premises. Indeed, of the two different times I have adopted over the years, there was no inspection -- or even a threat of such a thing. But here are the standards to humor you:

1. A minimum of 144 square feet shall be provided for each animal if exercised daily; otherwise a minimum of 400 square feet shall be provided.
2. Adult horses shall be maintained in an enclosure at least 6 feet high; and horses less than 18 months old in an enclosure at least 5 feet high. Materials shall be protrusion-free and shall not include large-mesh woven or barbed wire.
3. Shelter shall be available to mitigate the effects of inclement weather and temperature extremes. The authorized officer may require that the shelter be a structure, which shall be well-drained and adequately ventilated.
4. Feed and water shall be adequate to meet the nutritional requirements of the animals, based on their age, physiological condition and level of activity.

Essentially, you can cobble together any manner of 20 x 20 foot enclosure so long as it is 6 feet high and there is some shade, throw hay in as needed and keep the water bucket wet. People have done this, and when the year is up and the government gives you title to the animal, you can do with it as you please, including sell it for meat ... IF you can get it in a trailer.

Wild Horse and Burro Population

The Bureau of Land Management estimates that about 33,000 wild horses and burros (approximately 29,500 horses and 3,500 burros) are roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states based on the latest data available, compiled as of February 29, 2008. Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to control herd sizes.

The estimated current free-roaming population exceeds by some 5,700 the number that the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. The appropriate management level is approximately 27,300.

Off the range, there are more than 30,000 other wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term (corral) and long-term (pasture) holding facilities. All wild horses and burros in holding, like those roaming the public rangelands, are protected by the BLM under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

Source: BLM, June 17, 2008

Dogs and cats that are deemed "unadoptable" are routinely euthanized at animal shelters across the country.

Even perfectly healthy kittens and puppies are killed every day due to overpopulation and careless breeding.

Why should the horse get special protection?

Living wild on the range is not the romantic dreamy movie scene that Hollywood feeds the masses.

Feral horses can break a leg and suffer for days, immobile, until they die of thirst. While most predators avoid healthy adult horses, some will attack and maim or kill young horses and old.

Without the routine care that a domestic horse receives, such as deworming, hoof trimming and dental work, these animals can suffer from painful hoof cracks or untreated parasite infestation, even starvation from inability to properly chew and digest their food.

In the wild, without assistance, mares can die while giving birth, or may abandon their young. If a foal survives its first weeks, the stallion can injure or kill it when the mare comes back into heat just a few weeks after birthing.

Is this the picturesque life of a Mustang herd that you envisioned when you imagined "Spirit" as a real live stallion?

BLM to Consider Abandoning Wild Horse Adoption Program

The nation's wire services report that the Bureau of Land Management agreed to study whether to suspend its wild horse adoption program. With a couple of members complaining that the program has been costly and ineffective, a proposal was advanced by the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Council to consider abandoning the Adopt-A-Wild Horse or Burro program for several years and concentrate on reducing the wild herds by shipping horses and burros to long term holding facilities.

One basis for this argument was a statement made by Jeff Rawson, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Group Manager, "that the cost to the BLM to arrange an adoption is equal to three years of holding a horse at a long-term facility." Rawson did also point out that over time the long-term holding costs may be greater.

Using BLM's published figures, gathering and processing wild horses for adoption costs an average of $1,400.00 per head, at which point the animal becomes the responsibility of the adopter.

Also using BLM's figures, placing a six year old horse in long term holding facility could cost an average of at least $9,000.00 over the life of the horse, and that amount is based upon today's costs which will most surely rise.

In fiscal year 2003, the BLM removed 10,091 horses from public lands of which it adopted 6,185 head.

Source: KBR Wild Horse and Burro News, November 2003

Wild Horse and Burro Budget

In FY 2007, the BLM spent $38.8 million on its wild horse and burro program. The cost for holding wild horses and burros in short- and long-term facilities was $21.9 million, meaning holding costs accounted for more than half of what the BLM spent in FY 2007 on its total wild horse and burro program.

Removing Wild Horses and Burros from the Range
and Placing Animals in Adoption

To ensure that herd sizes are in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses, the BLM removed 7,726 wild horses and burros from the range in FY 2007. Of the animals removed during that year and in previous years, the agency placed 4,772 into private care through adoption in FY 2007.

Sale Authority

About 8,400 wild horses and burros became eligible for sale under the December 2004 sale-authority law, which directs the BLM to sell "without limitation" animals that are either more than 10 years old or have been passed over for adoption at least three times.

Source: BLM, June 17, 2008

I was more than a bit surprised when I clicked a link to a Care2 petition to "save the wild horses" ...

Dear Director Caswell,

I am deeply disappointed with your proposal to kill or sell-off wild horses in confinement rather than develop a management plan to return these majestic animals to the range where they belong. ... { snipped for brevity } ... Please consider alternatives such as expanded birth control programs, working with the National Park Service to add land to the range in areas where the horses already currently reside, and limiting the number of permits granted for mountain lion hunting to allow natural predation to control the herd population.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]

I'm sorry ... what?!

Death by mountain lion is superior to euthanasia now?

Although horses evolved in North America there are many different opinions as to why no horses or burros existed on this continent at the time of European exploration.

Spanish explorers reintroduced horses to North America beginning in the late fifteenth century and Native Americans helped spread horses throughout the Great Plains and the West.

Until as recently as the mid-twentieth century, horses continued to be released onto public lands by the U.S. cavalry, farmers, ranchers, and miners.

Source: BLM

In the 1950s, Velma B. Johnston became aware of the ruthless and indiscriminate manner in which wild horses were being gathered from the rangelands. Ranchers, hunters and "mustangers" played a major role in harvesting wild horses for commercial purposes.

"Wild Horse Annie" led a grass roots campaign that outraged the public and got them engaged in the issue. Newspapers published articles about the exploitation of wild horses and burros.

"Seldom has an issue touched such a responsive chord."
Associated Press, July 15, 1959

In 1959, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses and burros on all public lands, the "Wild Horse Annie Act."

By 1971, the population of wild horses had diminished drastically. The Senate and House unanimously passed a bill to provide for the necessary management, protection and control of the wild horses and burros. The new law became Public Law 92-195, The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

Source: BLM

Donation Fund Established for Wild Horses and Burros

In response to the public's offers of donations to benefit wild horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established a national donation fund. The fund will help those animals that the BLM has removed from Western rangelands because of extreme drought and wildland fires.

Contributions will be used to purchase vaccines, antibiotics, milk for orphaned foals, and other items that will directly improve the health and well-being of wild horses and burros.

Donations may be submitted to:
4 Mustangs and Burros
ATTN: Business Manager
Bureau of Land Management
PO Box 12000
Reno NV 89520-0006

Also, the BLM has a national wild horse and burro toll-free number:
1-866-4MUSTANGS

Buy a few hundred acres out west, put up a fence, and turn 'em loose. (Now, you'll have to hire a professional to catch them periodically for routine care, or some other group will be after you for neglecting them.)

Private funding of the Wild Horse and Burro Program is its only hope for a future. Don't expect the American taxpayers to continue to support legislation that is a tremendous financial burden and fails miserably at providing suitable "safe" homes for the always-growing surplus.

Get started now!

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