Wild Horses: An Absolute Mess
Wild horses, although beautiful and intriguing, are a problem — that’s a simple, unarguable fact. So, here’s what you need to know about the issue of wild horses.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees wild horse and burro management in the United States. The BLM is a government organization who answers to the Department of the Interior.
Per the BLM website, a wild horse or burro is defined by federal law as unbranded, unclaimed, free-roaming horses or burros found on public lands in the United States. These animals can be found across 10 of the western states.
“Wild horses and burros are known for their sure-footedness, strength, intelligence and endurance. With kindness and patience, these animals can be trained for many uses,” the website reads.
Following this statement, the BLM links another web page regarding information about adopting a wild horse or burro.
The big, simple problem with wild horses and burros is that their population is struggling to stay alive. A true-blue wild horse or burro isn’t beautiful or majestic, it’s skin and bones and suffering beyond measure. Of course, that’s not what you see when you do a Google Image search for wild horses. In these photos you see silhouettes of strong, radiant mustangs with their front hooves kicked in the air. You don’t see the scraped-up legs, the matted manes, or the barely covered rib bones.
The BLM started managing wild horses, officially, in 1971 under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act which reads, “congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”
That’s all fine and dandy, I agree they’re symbols of the American West and no, people shouldn’t be able to just haul a trailer onto public land and load up an unbranded horse because who knows what they would do with it…but cmon, something needs to be done.
Wild horses and burros are less than thriving, they’re dying. They aren’t cared for (because they’re wild) and they are continuing to breed, meaning they’re just bringing more and more animals into this mess. And who’s to blame them? They’re wild animals…that’s what they do.
The bigger, slightly more difficult problem to address is the issue of “what the heck do we do?”
Everyone wants to point the finger at the BLM, but what do you want the BLM to do? I get it, the entire Wild Horse and Burro Management Program is messy, but what can be done? What’s the solution?
The BLM tries to sterilize or euthanize the wild horses and burros, the animal rights activists come for their heads. And no, maybe killing a wild horse isn’t the easiest topic to discuss or even think about, but something must be done and at this point, euthanization is a far better option than starving to death.
The flip side, however, is that although the BLM offers the option to adopt a wild horse or burro — and will pay someone to do it — but, logically, someone with existing ranching or farming structures are about the only ones who can meet the adoption requirements…and do these types of people typically have time? I mean, most of you reading this have ties to agriculture, do you have the time or resources to nurse a on-the-verge of death wild horse or burro back to health then train them?
Last week, an animal activists went semi viral among my Facebook groups for talking about wild horses and burros with Tucker Carlson which led me down a rabbit hole I fell into a few years ago when I watched the documentary, “Unbranded.”
Side note: Unbranded is a great film I highly recommend you watch if you want to understand the entire wild horse and burro fiasco while being entertained and, most likely, a little fired up.
This clip from Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight brings me to the biggest, most complex problem with wild horses and burros: the thought that animals should be treated as humans when, they are, in fact, animals.
There’s a reason “they were acting like an animal!” is such a common phrase to describe someone who’s acting wild. It’s because humans and animals are not on the same level mentally, physically, or civilly.
Animal welfare is crucial for our ecosystem, and it’s second nature to someone with even the smallest amount of a conscience. Animal welfare is defined by American Veterinary Medical Association as how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives.
“An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to express innate behavior, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress,” the Association’s website continues.
Wild horses and burros are coping with an awful situation brought on by years of neglect and mismanagement. From the evidence I’ve seen, they don’t look healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, or free of distress. But what can we do about it? Anytime the BLM tries to do anything about the problem, they’re attacked by animal activist extremists, so how can we even begin to find a solution?
Wild horse populations often increase at high rates on U.S. western rangelands, which in turn can lead to habitat degradation. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land Management are cooperating on studies investigating the potential of fertility control drugs to reduce foaling rates. In addition, because nearly every management issue concerning wild horses depends on accurate herd counts, USGS and BLM are testing several techniques that could improve population estimates and provide defensible error estimates (confidence limits).
