It appears someone at the Bureau of Land Management has come to the belated conclusion that keeping nearly 50,000 “wild” horses and burros in short-term corrals and long-term pastures, which results in the taxpayers feeding them at a cost of $50,000 apiece for their average 25-year life span, is not the best solution to the problem.
Earlier this month the BLM announced it will initiate 21 research projects with a goal of being able to properly maintain a sustainable population of wild horses and burros on the open range, which would be a relief to the horses, the rangeland, water resources, ranchers and other wildlife.
Because they have virtually no natural predators, wild horse herds can double in size in four years. But since Congress refuses to fund the slaughter of unadoptable horses and burros, which was the designated remedy for excess animals under the original Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, more than 60 percent of the BLM’s $70 million annual budget for managing wild horses and burros is consumed by warehousing the animals, one of the largest corral complexes is in Palomino Valley near Reno.
Back in 1971 there were about 25,000 wild horses and burros on the range, but since then the number of animals on public lands has more than doubled to 58,150 — 9,000 of those were born in the past year alone.
Of course, the BLM is pursuing this research endeavor in the manner it knows best — spending our money. It plans to spend $11 million over 5 years.
The BLM says it will spend that money on university and U.S. Geological Survey scientists, primarily to develop longer lasting fertility-control vaccines, as well as efficient methods for spaying and neutering wild horses.
“Given the cost of caring for horses off the range and the difficulty of finding qualified adopters, it is clear that this challenge must be solved by addressing population growth on the range,” Mike Tupper, BLM Deputy Assistant Director for Resources and Planning, was quoted as saying in the BLM announcement, showing a knack for the obvious. “The BLM is committed to developing new tools that allow us to manage this program sustainably and for the benefit of the animals and the land.”
The specifics of the research projects include:
— A one-year project that will aim to develop a minimally invasive surgical sterilization method for wild horse mares that requires no incisions.
— Two projects that aim during a two-year period to develop different surgical approaches for tubal ligation in mares.
— A six-month project that will determine whether an existing accepted surgical sterilization procedure commonly used for domestic mares can be safely conducted on wild horses.
— A two-year project will focus on further study of Gonocon, an approved and labeled contraceptive vaccine for equids.
— A two-year study to develop a new, permanent contraceptive vaccine for wild horse mares.
— A four-year project that will attempt to develop a new delivery vehicle for porcine zona pellucida (PZP) — a temporary contraceptive currently used in some wild horse herds – that would increase the duration of the vaccine’s effectiveness.
— A three-year project for the development of an injectable agent that would inactivate hormones and decrease female and male gonad viability.
Nowhere is there even a suggestion of one of the most practical means of mitigating the overpopulation of the herds — humane euthanasia of sick and injured animals with their carcasses sold commercially to defray the cost to taxpayers. But that would take an act of Congress, which is even slower to act than the BLM.
Meanwhile, in another rare display of logical decision making this summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that wild horses are not eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act, because they are not a distinct and native population. The decision came in response to a petition from two wild horse advocacy groups, who claimed the wild horse is threatened with extinction, even though the real problem is overabundance.
We welcome any effort by the federal land bureaucracies to save tax money and protect the open range.
— TM
The ’71 Wild Free Roaming Horses & Burros Act has had serious consequences. Unfortunately, there have been groups of people who have kept the horses from being managed as per that same law, and the amendments added to deal with the repercussions the law had…which was an out-of-control population of a non-native species (to the current ecosystem).
I hope this influx of another $11 million will get the population under control on the range,which is where the horses should be managed. No more horses should be born than the number needed for replacement…and horses have a long life-span…and there are only supposed to be a MAXIMUM of 26,600 on the range.
BLM horses are “just horses”. Advocates don’t like to hear that…but it is the truth. A few herds have phenotype of early Spanish Colonial horses…but they have been being bred in the private sector for many years, so it isn’t as though they are a unique breed that is exclusive to HMA’s.
Uncle Sam shouldn’t be in the “horse breeding” business…that should be left up to Private Enterprise where it belongs. If the horses can be spayed and gelded…as many as possible…not all will be able to be found anyway. I still don’t think it will be the whole answer. We are still feeding nearly 50,000 excess horses every year. They should be sold to the highest bidder and the money returned to the program to offset costs. (Any individuals or groups who disagree can buy those horses and be the ones to feed them for the rest of their lives…the rest of the taxpayers shouldn’t have to.)
https://americansagainsthorseslaughter.wordpress.com/information-sheets/horse-slaughter-background-history/
Susan, please read the info at the link above. Horse slaughter can never be humane. Also there are less than 20,000 wild horses still free and 2.2 million acres were taken from them. The NAS study found no over-population. 75% of the herds are not even genetically viable and sustainable. I don’t know why you want to kill our American wild horses but I hope you just don’t know any better. Americans do not eat horses and many are not even eating meat now. Shame on you.
Susan, the NAS study found no over-population of wild horses. There is NO EXCESS. The 50,000 in holding need to be returned to the 2.2 million acres of legal HMA’s where they cost nothing . They should never have been removed in the first place. &* % of the herds are not even genetically viable-that means 150 adult horses at least,. IMO the corruption in the DOI/BLM is causing the extinction of our American wild horses and burros. This is a disgrace..
Horses are definitely not an endangered species and I see no reason not to open the horse slaughter facilities beccause these “wild” horses would definiteely not have bute in them unles the BLM is pumping them full of it. There is no reason that the people who enjoy horsemeat should be kept from it. There is no reason why zoo animals should not have it.
Please read my comments above. NAS found no evidence of an over-population. Also for those who don’t know horse slaughter is nothing but cruelty. There is no humane way to slaughter horses. Also it’s not just bute that is harmful in meat. Dewormers also are harmful and are used on the wild horses when they’re rounded up-it states not to be used on horses meant for consumption on the container.
Some of you know nothing of horses–wild or domestic. I’m 76 ,have both domestic and wild ,and am still learning since childhood.
There are only about 20,000 wild horses still free in all the West. There are 50,000 or so wild horses in holding that should never have been removed from their lawful HMA’s . The BLM needs to give back the 2.2 million areas taken from them and return them to their HMA’s Already 75% of the herds are NOT genetically viable and sustainable. The NAS study proved the removals cause mares to reproduce more as they try to make up for lost members . It has also been proven that if their complex society is not disrupted wild horses will only reproduce at a 10% rate as the band stallion will not let other stallions breed with his mares. Also the 1990-91 GAO study found it’s the millions of cattle that cause range and riparian damage and not the few thousand wild horses left. Wasting 11 million of tax payers dollars for dangerous ways such as spaying mares to mismanage wild horses is atrocious and completely unnecessary.
Please get the facts and do some research.
Dear Readers: Please don’t “drink the Kool-Aid” — please don’t swallow BLM’s propaganda. There is no wild-horse overpopulation but only the illusion of one, invented by BLM through various ploys.
BLM’s mustang-population “data” is a fraud. It consists of … inflated estimates … based on extrapolations … employing assumptions … according to projections … derived from an obsolete computer-model. Reviews of BLM’s year-to-year population-estimates for various herds disclosed biologically-impossible birth-rates as high as 153%, 157%, and 249%. Just recently in Oregon, BLM claimed that the famous Kiger herd’s population grew from 21 horses to 156 horses in just four years — an increase of 643%. Stealthily inserting bogus birth-rates into the data is just one of the ways in which BLM creates the false impression of a population-explosion. The public also needs to know that an independent study found that 50% of foals perish in their first year of life. Given that high foal mortality-rate, a herd could not double in 4 years … even if no adult wild horses ever died.
Now BLM is distributing millions of dollars in grant-money to universities to study more ways of dealing with the phantom overpopulation. But surely there must be a problem — why else would BLM support so much research? Answer: Because BLM is a corrupt agency. It has invented a phony crisis to fool Congress into increasing its budget to “solve” a non-existent problem.
Thanks, Marybeth.
The true Mustang is gone! The true Mustang had an extra vertebra. I doubt if there is even one left. What is left are in-bred, injured and starving animals. Many of these horses have been turned out by city dwellers who just had to have a horse, but didn’t realize the responsibility, time and money that is required to raise one. Many “WILD ” horses are still sporting the halters that where left on. The rightous few think that returning a horse back into the wild is a wonderful thing, but don’t realize that domesticated horse cannot live on the range after living with people. They WILL suffer and die. They will not be adopted back into the herd.
What most people don’t realize is that the wild horse will destroy a spring or watering hole, which removes drinking water from every animal including deer, elk, antelope, cows and sheep. Horses and other animals will eat the food supply down to the ground if nothing else is available. And right now with the drought conditions, there isn’t much out there. All the animal are starving.
I see two options to the wild horse problem. Cull the existing herd down to 5,000 healthy animals and mantain that number like they do in Austraila. The other option is to dramaitically cut the horse numbers down and pay the ranchers to maintain individual herds. These ranchers could breed the mares to a well bred and good comformationed stallion and then have the opportunity to sell or keep the offspring. In this way there is a properly managed herd. When the numbers get too high, remove the stallion, geld the rest of the males and prevent reproduction for 2-4 years. This is a good way for everyone involved. The horses are safe, feed and free and so is our food supply (Cows and sheep).
I have several horses of my own, but I hate seeing the neglect and starvation caused byover-population. Spending $11million on re-production studies is not going to fix the problem. That’s like closing the gate after the dog’s gotten out of the yard.
For those rightous, holy Joes who’ve seen tooo many movies about the wild stallion who saves little Timmy, It just doesn’t happen that way. Get out, get the facts, really see with your own eyes how the wild horses truely live in the wild