‘The Wild Horse Is Us’

darcyfraney, you are an idiot. This article is about managing wildlife. Immigration has nothing to do with it in the modern sense, although, if you were better educated, you might realize that these 'wild' horses were brought here by the 'original' immigrants from Spain, etc. Most likely YOUR immigrant ancestors. Leave your misguided and inhumane comments to yourself, and speak only on the subject at hand, if you must speak at all.

I can't understand why a country so dedicated to freedom could even think of euthanizing these beautiful, wild symbols of the American West. The BLM and our government have their priorities all screwed up!!!

These animals are continually being offered up for adoption. Thus when you have too many left what do you suggest they do? Do they consider them to be a "farm" animal like a cow or sheep and send them to slaughter for meat? Do you consider them to be like a game animal? If so do you have a hunting season for them? Or do you treat them like a pet? When they are not adopted you put them down? Everyday cat's and dogs are put down due to lack of owners, cow's, sheep and buffalo are slaughtered for meat and wild game animals are hunted. Why such concern over a horse and none of these others? We undertand that these other animals have to die due to over population or to feed our country and others. Yet we do not comprehend this single animal having to undergo the same types of management. Stop to think who is paying for these horses. We as tax paying citizens do, thus unless you would like to see a tax hike for this and every other new spending request we may have to see some horses go down to keep them managable. My last thought is, if you are so concerned about the welfare of these beautiful horses adopt one!

Those that even recommend this kind of thing, let alone carry it out; hopefully, will burn long, hard, and eternally in hell.

Horses are not native to North or South America they came over with the European explores. So your comment at the beginning about surviving the ice age is incorrect.

How did the American Mustang horse "surviv[e] the ice age" if the breed came about through the mixing of feral horses originally introduced into the New World by Europeans?

Horses are not native to North or South America they came over with the European explores. So your comment at the beginning about surviving the ice age is incorrect.

How did the American Mustang horse "surviv[e] the ice age" if the breed came about through the mixing of feral horses originally introduced into the New World by Europeans?

Um, what Ice Age did America's wild horses survive? Horses were brought to North America by the Spanish explorers. Native Americans stole them from the Spanish and the wild horses of this continent are the descendants of horses who escaped from captivity. Minor point, but you'd think the author would've known. We should be able to find a better solution.

Do not euthanize the horses and burros. This is caused by the livestock lobby. It's the cattle that cause more of the damage. This seems a lot like when hunters in Canada wanted the government to trap/poison/shoot the wolves because hunters said the wolves were killing all the caribou. Farley Mowat was sent to observe the wolves in the hunting areas, with cameras, etc. He was to prove that the wolves were killing large numbers of caribou and thus should be killed. What Farley found out was that the wolves subsisted largely on rodents, and less on caribou. He also saw abuses...hunters brought in by plane and helicopter to shoot the caribou. (Very lucrative for those flying in the "hunters.") You can still read about this in a book by Farley Mowat called "Never Cry Wolf," or see the movie that was made from the book. It seems that powerful interests and lobbyists are behind so much of what's wrong with our country.

The horses should stay. They have been here longer than us. Lets get rid of the immigrants. I think they should cut everyone's salary on capitol hill and use the money to pay for the horses.

Kill, Kill, Kill..............that's our answer to everything lately......let's just drop all the bombs that exist today, and kill everything on the planet.....and if we're lucky, maybe we can kill the planet too!!!?!?!?!?!

If this article isn't a crock, then I don't know what is. No one (except maybe ranchers) can deny the beauty of the wild ones. There are ways to control breeding. There's a ranch in either Oregon or Washington that has a herd of Mustangs they manage with gelding of most of the males and birth-control for the mares. It can be done! Culling of the sick might be acceptable but most of these horses are healthy. There is no kind way to eliminate what already exists!

That being said, these horses are not truly wild creatures. They are Feral, whether escapees or releases, it doesn't really matter

However, "euthanizing" to cull is not the answer.

We humans cant even take care of oueselves and our only planet in a orderly way,what give us the right to control wild horses,they were here before man. Wealthy welfare ranchers are just too greedy on our public lands.Just look at these photos ( http://www.rangenet.org/projects/wplgalbum/page2/index.htm ) of cattle pooping and urinating on the shores of Lake Tahoe.Millions of dollars are being spent by UC Davis trying to figure out why Lake Tahoe is turning green.There are cattle by the thousands within the lake Tahoe Basin, pooping and urinating in the water ways feeding Tahoe. Wild horses need to be left alone.They will be here long after we do ourselves in.

I have owned a few mustangs over time , and i can tell you that they are sweet sturdy and smart horses,i would rather have them then most regestered horses for trail and in some cases search and rescue. they are more sure footed then most other horses. and there are other options then euthanasia, instead of killing them try checking with people that want them , and have room for tham like reservations, and lower that cost of buying them granted $125.00 is not much but maybe 75.00 would be better at lest they would get some money, in return and the horses can live they how much will i cost to kill them , and the government will pay that , and say its for a good cause , and they do need to let them run free it is a beautiful sight to watch. like every other thing the government has tryed to control it ends up dead the BLM has to many rules to go by some are good but some are bad too , get some one who knows and cares and let them revamp the rules and maybe they can do it with pride

Another lamb brain idea! Have you heard of NAIS( national animal identification system)? it it will require ranchers/livestock/horse owners to be under more surveillance than illegals, drug dealers or child molesters. All those who own even one cow, pig, horse, chicken or other farm animal will be required to register their premises, microchip each critter, no matter if it is a pet or potential food. Then they must, under threat of huge fines, file birth, death and movement reports (within 24 hours) on every last critter on the place. If animal disease is even suspected in an area, the USDA can go in and kill all the animals. The purpose of this oh-so-wonderful-thanks-for-protecting-us program is to provide 48 hour traceback should a disease be suspected. The only problem with this program is that e-coli happens after the cow is slaughtered, which is when NAIS tracking stops. The beef is most vulnerable to being tainted in those processing plants. And the fact the majority of beef is raised by corporate agriculture, who will not be required to tag and track each animal because they raise them in lots, they they get only ONE number per groups of animals. Any one of those critters in that group could be diseased and who would know. But as long as there are appearances of something being done, the city dwellers will eat in peace, while granny and her few egg hens will be tracked closer than the illegals everybody is making such a fuss about and that will make our beef supply oh so safe. See nonais dot org for more info on the true impact NAIS will have on all of us who eat!

Horses evolved here in the Americas. They were native here until around 10,000 years ago when they were wiped out by who knows what, maybe a meteor... Then humans reintroduced them 500 years ago. Horses are very picky eaters and don't always eat the same stuff other animals do. I love horses and have several as pets and ride too. But their numbers do need to be kept in control. Maybe my idea is dumb... but what about capturing some roving stallions and giving them Vasectomies? This way they'd still act like stallions, but wouldn't be able to impregnate mares, yet would still compete with intact males. Maybe this would be cheaper than the Gov keeping 30,000 wild horses in pens etc? Just a thought.

Considering the threat from criminals vs. horses, perhaps the same solution should be considered for the strained budgets of our prison systems.

The overpopulation is in the government offices, not the western plains. Send the Bureaucrats to the glue factory--pronto!! This ranks right up there with the Ethanol scam.