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Re: [RC] BLM okays Mustang Sale for Slaughter - heidiI agree this is a bad thing for the horses and as a horse lover, I abhor the idea of a horse going to slaughter. Maybe someone could fill us in on the details about range issues out west. Are the herds too big. Is there enough range to support all the horses? If the herds are growing exponentially, then i can see where something needs to be done. I'm not sure what, but I don't see enough people adopting mustangs to make a big dent in the free running population. I'm hoping that people from the western states will speak up and educate us on the problem chris OK, Chris, I'll give it a go. First off, the modern horse is NOT native to western range lands--he is a feral creature, and he is one that can reproduce most effectively, while outgrazing and out-browsing every nativ species out there. Unlike cattle, which are only allowed on public grazing lands during times when grasses are growing, and when grazing is a help in maintaining health of grasslands, the horses are out there 24/7, 365 days a year. This is not an issue when they are out there in small numbers--but because of their ability to reproduce and their ability to outcompete other species, they first of all impact game numbers substantially, and secondly, destroy the very grasslands if left unchecked. Most of us are not eager to see everything else diminish and see the health of the resource diminish, and then to see the horses simply die of starvation. Wisely, the BLM tries to manage horse numbers. The numbers that a particular area can carry without impacting game species or damaging the rangeland are determined, and the BLM attempts to keep the horse numbers down to those levels. Another poster mentioned Wild Horse Annie. In the early days, some ranchers practiced very inhumane means of roundup and disposal of the wild horses. Wild Horse Annie got her reputation for standing up to these practices and demanding humane treatment for the horses. Laterally, however, as people went to the "save-them-all" extreme, she was quite disillusioned about how her work had been hijacked and misportrayed. (If you want to get a better historical perspective on her era, she and her work are quite accurately cited and portrayed in the book THE WILD HORSE CONTROVERSY--it is out of print, but you can likely get it on interlibrary loan.) Annie was just as opposed to having the horses starve to death or die of thirst out on the range as she was of having them treated inhumanely during roundups--and as such, I suspect she would find humane slaughter preferable to having crippled horses live out their days locked up in dreary little pens. But back to the BLM issue--horses were rounded up and put out for public adoption. Some of the horses are amenable to adoption--some aren't. The taxpayers are footing the bill to maintain unadoptable surplus horses in holding facilities. While Maureen is right that these horses are not poorly treated, neither do many of them lead a particularly pleasant life. It is a necessity to dispose of some of them in some manner. The complications of euthanizing them are many--cost, disposal of bodies, etc. In some cases, when they are blind or crippled, shipping them to slaughter is not an option. But in other cases, it IS a viable option. The sad part is that by pushing the small local slaughter plants out of business, the truly cruel part of slaughter has gotten worse--which is the bunching of strange horses in holding facilities and the shipping of them many miles to the plants. As another poster stated, we are now sending them to Mexico where slaughter is not as well regulated as it is here. Slaughter is not a pleasant business--but it is a fact of life, and IMO it is far better to be done as close to the origins of the horses as possible, and to be done here in the USA where it can be watch-dogged and regulated--another issue entirely from the feral horses going to slaughter, but a related issue nonetheless. But back to the issue of the horses on the public lands--we have put them there, and it is our responsibility to see that they do not damage the land or threaten other species. Therefore it is our responsibility to control the numbers to a level where those things do not happen. And when the horses reproduce themselves to the point that damage is done, and that they threaten their own health (see the above book--it has some all-too-graphic pictures of feral horses in starvation conditions, and feral horses dying next to dried-up waterholes during drought years, etc.), then solutions have to be found. Burdening the taxpayer with the care and feeding of these animals is not right, either. So--all those who want to save these horses from slaughter, please take one home. Or several. Not talking about the rideable, trainable ones here--talking about the rogues, the unsound, the unfit. Move out one of your useful, rideable horses, and make room for one of these. That's the only other choice... Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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