Wild Horses Facing Slaughter By Bureau Of Land Management
BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 10 months ago
A wild mustang charging across an open plain is a symbol of the untamed majesty of nature. But the predators chasing these horses are anything but natural.
Controversy has broken out over the U.S. Bureau of Land Management‘s (BLM) practice of using helicopters to herd horses off public lands and sometimes permanently put them into holding facilities in an effort to control their population.
“Sometimes these horses get stampeded for miles and miles,” said Simone Netherlands, an animal rights activist and a spokesperson for the American Wild Horse Campaign.
Now the government is considering culling these animals for the first time in nearly 50 years, putting the lives of thousands of wild horses at stake.
Most of the U.S.’s estimated 75,000 wild horses live on public lands, usually vast expanses that the government controls in the American West.
Jim Schnepel, who knows Utah’s Onaqui Range and its horses well, works with a non-profit desperately trying to find a humane and effective way to control the wild horse population.
“Anybody who loves horses can tell you there’s this natural connection you can develop with them,” Schnepel said. “Certainly with specific members, you know, there’s no doubt that a few of them recognize me and I reckon I definitely recognize them.”
Although the land seems limitless, the BLM says the resources here only allow for the survival of a certain number.
“They’ve set what they call ‘appropriate management level,’ AML,” Schnepel said. “It would be about 75 percent reduction for what we have right now.”
Yea, that’s how I want my paycheck spent. I want idiot lawyers inside the beltway writing regulations for the management of herd size. In fact, that’s far better than, say, natural selection, or even capture and retraining the horses to work or pleasure ride by ranchers and others.
In fact, I want to buy a BLM sniper a brand new .300 Win Mag boltie and some high powered glass, maybe a Night Force scope. Maybe they can practice their sniping skills for future use on Americans. Maybe that will get their rocks off.
Where do I send my money. Oh, wait. They already take it.
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On January 25, 2018 at 12:06 am, TheAlaskan said:
What’s not natural is the horses themselves. What’s also not natural is bureaucrats in DC “managing States’ land in the west that they clearly have no Constitutional authority over. States rights are clearly violated in the west. Alaska too…60% federal. Sixty percent of Alaska is alot of real estate.
On January 25, 2018 at 12:38 am, Angus Mcthag said:
There is a program that lets you get yourself a wild mustang of your very own!
There was a 60 Minutes or 20/20 on it.
From the sound of it, the current population in the wild just happened while the two original mustangs were in the process of being adopted…
Natural selection only works on large herbivores when there’s predation. What predators are out there eatin’ mustang? Looking at the sheer numbers, not many.
What remains is to either introduce predators to thin the herd, or to do it ourselves. I’m willing to bet that there’s other interests in the areas that don’t want to see enough wolves and cougars introduced to control the mustang population.
If we just let it ride then we’re going to be having starving mustangs and lots of other fauna eliminated by the horses. Sub-optimal.
Pick the least worst option and proceed.
On January 25, 2018 at 6:18 am, Pat Hines said:
BLM has no Constitutional underpinning to exist. They never have.
They should be declared outlaws and hunted until there is no one willing to join them.
On January 25, 2018 at 9:16 am, Frank Clarke said:
“60% of Alaska…”
Once upon a time there was a conference of Democratic governors The governor of Texas, Mark White, wound up sitting next to the governor of Alaska, Bill Sheffield. At one point during the festivities, Sheffield leaned over and whispered to White “Mark, we’re thinking of splitting Alaska into two equal pieces and making Texas the third-largest state in the Union.” White, it is reported, was not amused, but it illustrates that 60% of Alaska is one humongous chunk of land.
The King family is said to own 0.2% of all the land in Texas. They typically have to fly from holding to holding and are reputedly the inspiration for the old TV series “Sky King”. They also own a humongous chunk of land…
On January 25, 2018 at 5:16 pm, scott s. said:
The BLM effectively pre-dates the Constitution. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 created the framework for land owned by the United States in Congress Assembled and all subsequent actions to wit:
“The legislatures of those districts or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and, in no case, shall nonresident proprietors be taxed higher than residents.”
On January 25, 2018 at 7:23 pm, ROFuher said:
The romantic notion of the wild Mustang is pretty false. Most herds would be more aptly labeled ‘feral’, descendants of the turnouts when tractors replaced the farmhorse.
I know specifically of a stock outfit in Nevada’s White county that simply turned out all it’s unbranded horses when they went bankrupt in ’07 or ’08.
one can be sure the practice
On January 25, 2018 at 7:25 pm, ROFuher said:
continues wherever a horse owner in hardship is close public land.
On January 28, 2018 at 11:07 am, Ned said:
It’s often trust-funders from bastions of leftism like San Francisco donating to their pet meddling charities that cause us in the west so much harm. I live in a county in AZ that has about 4% private land – the rest “managed” by Forest Service.
Their mismanagement along with lawsuits by coastal lefties have caused real damage to forest land these meddlers haven’t likely ever seen – except in Sierra Club photos. The whole meddlesome lot of them can toss off.
On February 10, 2018 at 5:48 am, PerryLane said:
If interested & able to adopt these animals start here:
An Act Of Congress
“Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; (and) that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people …” https://www.blm.gov/adoptahorse/
Bring Home a Wild Horse or Burro
‘Since 1973, the BLM has placed more than 235,000 of these “living legends” in approved homes across the country.’
https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro
Videos of horses up for adoption
https://www.blm.gov/adoptahorse/onlinegallery.php
If you observe or have factual information that a federally protected wild horse or wild burro has been treated inhumanely or sold to slaughter, please contact the BLM at wildhorse@blm.gov or at 866-468-7826
BTW: Who Owns The West? Map showing Federal government control of lands
http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/145203.jpg