America's wild horses may be the latest casualties of federal budget problems. Thirty-three thousand wild horses roam the West, well above the 27,000 target. Expensive holding facilities house another 30,000 rounded-up horses, making them available for adoption. The government says it can no longer afford to control the population with pricey housing. Thus, the US Bureau of Land Management wants to euthanaize part of the population to cut costs.
Horse activists are leading an opposition. One animal rights activist called the plan "killing pure and simple to balance the books for an agency whose reckless management has caused immeasurable harm to a national treasure at considerable cost to the American taxpayer."
Other opponents of the euthanasia proposal want lawmakers to promote horse birth control, and give landowners incentives to keep horses on their property, reports the New York Times.
Since horses compete with ranchers' needs, should the government put emotions aside and choose euthanasia as the effective solution? Or should these national treasures be protected from budget mismanagement?
Marni
Lee
Penhaligon
Well I've never seen a horse roaming so clearly this can't be that big of an issue.
1There's a hippie drum circle nearby, can we do the same thing with them? I mean as long as we're clearing out useless lives.
2There has to be a solution that doesnt include killing the poor beasts! breaks my heart really.
3If this country is so broke that we have to kill these horses, we probably all should start looking to move elsewhere.
4It is a big issue, but obviously not in San Fran.
There really are herds of wild
horses running around in the Rocky Mountain west. It's a pretty contentious issue out there. As a former horse owner, I don't want to see a bad thing happen to a single on of them. I had a
horse who couldn't be trained, and I took great pains to make sure she went to a home to retire, and not go to auction (aka the meat factory). I understand the desire to protect them, and the
connection that horse lovers have with them. But at the same time, there isn't a lot you can do with them, and there are only so many homes they can go to. It's not just like adopting a
kitty! Some can be trained, but some are just too wild. My friend adopted two of them, and it took months before they would even let her walk up to them. I have no idea how she even got them
on her property! It's really a super hard call for me. If I could afford it, I would have a thousand acres and they could all be lawn ornaments for me. 
5I do think they should above all consider measures other than euthanizing them. There has got to be something they can do. Just don't ask me to be the one to walk up and administer the birth control.
how would they do that anyway? you'd get kicked sky high in a heartbeat!
6I should add that if you're interested, donating to a horse rescue group is one of the best things you can do to save one at a time. It was a horse rescue group that placed my horse with a loving family. There are people out there who will adopt them, and just let them live happily in their pasture, it just takes a little effort to find them. If you'd like the information of the group that took care of my horse, just send me a PM! and that org knows a thousand others, and can direct you to one in your area.
7IMO if euthanizing a rancher is unacceptable than the same should go for the horse.
This program was mismanaged to an extent however in their defense the key to managing a healthy wild population in most cases can not be used here. That key is they're natural enemy, the wolf. The reason the wolf probably can not be introduced in most cases is because of the Rancher or more to the point what they're ranching; cattle, sheep etc.
I would take my chances with the wolf and just deal with the collateral damage.
8Never knew.
9Poor ponies
10i don't know what to say about controlling the population. But i am connected to several rescue groups, and i get an email almost every other day about some poor sweet horse who needs a home, or one that is horribly abused and we should all call the sherrif, etc. etc. the pictures and stories are gruesome and heartbreaking, esp for someone who loves horses! all I know is, for every dollar you give that dollar pays for hay and feed, vet care, gas to go rescue the horse, etc. It's a great cause and if you can help just one, it's worth it.
11Wow. I can't even believe that killing these horses is an option. And do yourself a favor raciccarone, think before you type - It should keep you from looking like an ass in the future.
12Oh you have to take Rac. with a grain of salt DukesUp. He always throws a curve ball.
13Oh HELL no! When I go camping, one of my favorite things to watch are the herds of wild horses that come down from the hills to drink at the River. They're not hurting ANYONE. They're grazing on Grass and things that are there anyway. If you want to control the population, fine, get hold of the stallions and geld them, but you DO NOT EUTHANIZE THESE ANIMALS. Omg, I'm gonna come unglued on this one. I have a trail club meeting this weekend and BELIEVE ME this will be a HUGE topic of conversation.
SAVE THE HORSES!
14First of all, just because we've never seen one of these horses doesn't mean it's not a problem.
Secondly, are 30,000 rounded up horses really a "national treasure"? I like horses and all, but I guess I feel like that's a bit of hyperbole.
Third of all, they're talking about euthanizing the ones that are currently rounded up, not the wild ones. (Not that that makes it better, but some of the comments seem to think the wild ones are going to get killed.)
Fourth of all, "you're going to come 'unglued'"? It's the horses that are going to become glue. Ha ha. Sorry.
And finally, I'm going to start a charity that hooks up every 9 year old girl with one of these horses. Seriously, I can't believe they can't find homes for them.
One more thing. Dukesup, Rac is usually sarcastic. The last thing I want is for Rac to think before he types. Life would be a little less amusing if that happened.
And for the record, I don't think they should kill the horses.
15I was at a national park (mesa verde) this weekend, and talked to a ranger about this. According to him, the wild horses in the park have to officially be called "trespass horses," meaning that the rangers reasonably believe they belong to someone else, or the state is required to take round them up and care of them, and that unfortunately means killing them - there isn't any money in the budget for the horses.
16This is pretty sad.
17i'd say the glue joke wasn't very kind at all.
18Sorry horsies! Didn't mean to offend you.
19Pop, yes it's the ones that are currently rounded up, but were they not wild at one time? Won't more be caught to replace the ones that are euthanized? Then what happens to them?
I don't think killing the horses is any better than clearing the Caribou out of Alaska so we can drill for oil. They refuse to kill THOSE animals, but the horses are ok?
And before anyone thinks differently, I don't agree with killing the Elk either.
20Crud! I mean Caribou in the last sentence. Dang keyboard, it has a mind of it's own!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
21Duke, thank you for your input. I have some pamphlets on how to save these beautiful hippie drum circles that are under attack by developers.
Oh, and lighten up.
22That's kinda lazy. We can't think of a solution so we are going to just kill the horses. Geez, try harder. What are you paid for?
23Oh and rac, please never think before you type.
24I'm speechless. And, well, there certainly is no easy solution.
25What about birth control for ranchers?
26The ranchers aren't the problem, it's the horses that are overpopulated!
27Dave, you've been hitting the brat bong a bit to hard lately.
28Well, I am drinking rather hard tonight. It's my last night on vacation, so I'm going at it. Looking at the radar, we are about to get nailed by a severe storm.
29Take cover, UnDave. Severe storms can be, well, severe. Our last round of severe storms had flooding in streets, fallen tree limbs and just general unpleasantness. Be safe!
30Well then, I suggest that you get out of the pool. For the horse's ass's sake.
31"It's my last night on vacation, so I'm going at it. Looking at the radar, we are about to get nailed"
LMAO! UnDave you kill me.
32Hypno,
As much as UnDave and I butt heads, we really did get nailed weather-wise in the Midwest tonight.
33The lights are now out, and yet I have a connection! Woo Hoo. I can't do anything else in the dark. might as well blog on Citizen.
34It's past your bed time anyway, go to bed.
35
36But I'm learning so much tonight...
Dave, the cookie monster is blue!
37Blue is my favorite color.
But deep down, I'm still team red
38This is horrible, those poor horses are going to die for no reason other than being a part of our world. I rarely cry however stories like this make me teary; If I was a billionare (heck even millionare) I would buy a huge piece of land and take in as many of those horses as possible. Then they could live out their life in peace.
39so is this what they are planning for us if those gigantic stimulus checks don't fix the human housing situation?
40What is sad is that there is 30,000 wild horse in BLM corrals and only around 33,000 left in the wild.They not only want to euthanize they horses in the corrals but also they ones still out in the wild. They want to cut down the population to 27,000 because they are regarded at pest while goverment study after goverment study has shown that livestock grazing does more damage to the land then the wild horses. How can you say that 30 something thousand horses do more damage then 4 MILLION cows not to mention the additions sheep too. Why should the horses suffer due to the BLM mismangagement who now claim "Overpopulation" problem, the only overpopulation problems and in the BLM because that number of horses never should have be removed from there home ranges.
41I do understand that overpopulation of these horses is a problem, but euthanasia? That should be a last resort as soon as ALL other measures are taken into account. I can't believe that euthanasia is the only option they have.
42I grew up with Arabian horses, reading stories like Misty of Chincoteague and and this kills me, I love horses more than any animal on earth (well, cats come close.)
Do people know how old the history of wild Mustangs is? The heritage of some of these horses can be traced back to the Spaniards who explored America hundreds of years ago, to the Native American tribes, etc. They are part of our country too.
And I quote from the site linked below:
"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."
And without any kind of regulation of this, WE created this problem. Can we not find a better solution to something we created? Jeez, its like letting your cat breed for 20 years then murdering all the offspring. This is bad.
This is tragic, SURELY they have some other solution. We have plenty of money to bail out banks and kill people and we can't save a little piece of natural history? I smell b.s. and it didn't come from the herd.
Here's a link for some history on the wild horses of the USA and the legislation proctecting them, for those interested.
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/facts_and_stats/Wi...
43*protecting
(meh.)
44*protecting
(meh.)
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