‘The Wild Horse Is Us’

Rounding them up and selling them is not the answer; due to the high cost of gas, the price of hay and other horse feed has skyrocketed. People here in Idaho are giving their beloved horses away; as they can no longer afford to feed them. So that program would fail before it started!
Mustangs belong on the open range running free! That is their herritage! If you have never been privalaged to see them in the wild, running free, my friends you have missed out on one of the greatest sights an outdoorsman can witness. The Mustang and the open range are one and the same; you simply cannot, no, MUST NOT!, CONSIDER ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER!
THE MUSTANG BELONGS FREE ON THE OPEN RANGE!
This is all due to money of course. So it is time to tell the cattlemen and the stinking sheepherders to back off. It is past time they started paying what the land is worth for grazing; they have been getting a free ride for far too long.
If we can bring the wolf back into the Rocky Mountain States, a wolf that was not, and IS not in any danger; a useless critter that nobody wanted other than a handfull of loudmouthed tree huggers; we can sure as hell take care of the Mustang.
Call your elected representatives and start raising hell; if enuff of us call enuff times and keep on doing it, we will win! Too darn bad politicians are not threatened with extinction.
Written by a hunter,a horseman, a meat eater, and an outdoorsman; I believe in God; and I love women!

I certainly understand the concept of population control, but it seems to me that the population that needs controlling is the human population. I do not think we can blame the Mustangs or any other living creature besides human beings for things such as global warming, lead laden childrens products, BPA laden baby bottles, air pollution, tainted drinking water and so on and so forth. More or less, it is the humans who are causing the vast majority of problems on this Earth and I don't see anyone suggesting population control . As far as the government spending vast amounts of money to feed the Mustang population, perhaps it would not be such an issue if we were spending vast amounts times ten on a pointless "war against terror". Perhaps if some of that money was brought back home, we wouldn't need to consider population control for animals that have survived the many transitions their natural habitat has undergone.

Next time you take your horse viewing vacation, do it in the middle of winter. Get off the highway a quarter of a mile to see inbred and crippled wild horses starving to death because of overpopulation. you're worried about having them humanely euthenized? Do you know what happens when a horse gets down in the wild? They lay there and beat their head on the ground for about a week, until their eye is gone and they starve to death. How's that for a romantic view of the wild horse? If you want them left alone, you better come up with a better solution. By the way, without the cattle grazers, there would be no water developement for wild animals to drink from, no salt and minerals put out for their health, and they would die from poisonous weed overpopulation. And don't think for a second that the BLM pays for any of this.

With the economy being sunk, Gas prices out of reach for thousands of Americans, Two wars going on, Troops stuck in some hell hole, is killing Horses the best our Fine elected officials can come up with?

Dipchits, one and all!

Can we believe any part of an article that opens its first sentence with a falsehood? The native wild horses of North America DID NOT survive the ice age, but went extinct. Today's Mustangs are not descended from those horses, but are feral horses descended from domestic horses brought to North America by Europeans.

Horses stealing a little food from the cows is not a big deal. By the way, Cows are not native to America either. The horses are not over populated. They are one of the few naturally beautiful things left int his country and like everything beauttiful, people will end up ruining them too.
Hey "kwhorseluver" which you are obviously not, Speaking of controlling noxious weeds, can we please "cull the herds" of thugs, gangs, rapists, , drug dealers, thieves and other criminals who overpopulate this country? How about we throw in the folks who live off of our taxes because they are too high on crack and wont get up off thier butts and get a job. Now that makes real sense.

This is one of the MOST OUTRAGEOUS schemes that our government has devised! We CANNOT AND MUST NOT permit this to occur. Horses now in holding pens must either be immediately adopted out to good homes or returned to their native land to live their lives in peace and security.

We need to euthanize all the humans mooching off the land, government and taxpayers - not beautiful wild horses that are a part of the history of this country. People are sickening...

It seems to me that if we are going to kill the Wild Horses, then we ought to kill the deer, moose, elk, squirrels, birds and all the rest of the wild animals that graze grass and eat trees, etc. And while we're at it there are a few thousand PETA activists, and a whole bunch of environmentalists that deserve to be killed as they are at least as much of a nuisance as a Beautiful Wild Mustang will ever be.

Well this is just another example of something our Fedearl Govt should have no part in, just like steriods in Baseball or cheating in Football, it's not the role of our Govt. I don't want the Govt or my tax dollars being used for this, not because I don't love horses, but becaus the Fed Govt will do it all wrong. They need focus on Social Security, Healthcare and the War, after that we can talk horses. Let the states and local government, along with the land owners figure this out.

They should be put on protected land and left alone. It seems these days nothing can roam free without be hunted, exploited, or put on the endangered list.

Well this is just another example of something our Fedearl Govt should have no part in, just like steriods in Baseball or cheating in Football, it's not the role of our Govt. I don't want the Govt or my tax dollars being used for this, not because I don't love horses, but becaus the Fed Govt will do it all wrong. They need focus on Social Security, Healthcare and the War, after that we can talk horses. Let the states and local government, along with the land owners figure this out.

OK folks. You closed the sluaghterhouses. Infirm, unwanted horses no longer have a short end to a painful life. They are left to starve, unwanted and uncared for in pastures all over this country. By people who had a CHOICE in getting them. If people won't feed the race horses that can no longer (or ever) run what happens to them? MANY are euthanized right at the track. No one cries forthem and they're domesticated. If food is too expensive, what about vet care, hoof trimming? We have 5 horses (yes 1 adopted horse). If people won't adopt them, and they're too wild to get that vet care, trimming, etc. What happens. These are not farm animals. They are WILD ANIMALS. They don't even think like the horse next door or raised in someone's back yard. Some are unadoptable most are not. WHERE'S the BLEEDING HEARTS that scream about euthanasia being wrong? How many of them have adopted one of these horses? Not many I'll bet. Put your wallet where your mouth is and adopt one or stop cryin'!!!!

There seems to be a growing lack of respect for animals in general in this country but to suggest the killing of these beautiful wild horses is truly sickening. Child rapists get to roam free after serving time in jail (where they get three meals daily, recreation, free health care) but the horses are being threatened with euthanasia.

Just like everything else in this country...it's all disposable. If it gets in our way, mow it down. We deserve what we'll end up with if we keep letting the government make all of our important decisions for us. We elect them, not the other way around. We need to put pressure on BLM to make better decisions...not just good for the beef industry, but good for all.

Of course this is a big issue. It has been for many years now and it is interesting that the government has made no real move to figure out a plan to deal with the over population of the mustangs before this. I do not think that slaughter is the answer- but I also think that this issue should have been looked at 30 years ago.

Here is what I always thought might be a possible solution:
Every year they round up the mustangs for adoption. At this point in time they could humanely geld the new colts and most of the older stallions. They could leave how ever many (I have no idea what would be a good number) studs in their prime that exemplified the mustang breed for the next breeding season. Then each season they would (hopefully) have less foals born and could have a much more maneagable number of mustangs to adopt out and to keep out in the wild. If this did not help that might have to look at the option of actually removing the uterus from the mares to keep them from breeding as well. Both operations of course would have to be done by great vets that have the well being of the animals in mind firstly.

I think mustangs are an awesome part of our heritage, but it is definitely necessary to manage populations of animals (especially those that we are trying to conserve and have few natural enemies). Managing population growth and land is not a new issue, it should have been looked at long before now.

Just like everything else in this country...it's all disposable. If it gets in our way, mow it down. We deserve what we'll end up with if we keep letting the government make all of our important decisions for us. We elect them, not the other way around. We need to put pressure on BLM to make better decisions...not just good for the beef industry, but good for all.