‘The Wild Horse Is Us’

The Wild Horses should be free, they are as much of a symbol of our Freedom as the Bald Eagle.

Liberals know all about consequences. We live with them everyday as a result of the self-centered decisions of right-wing conservatives

What a bunch of ignorant comments.
Bush policy has nothing to do with this.
This option for the culling of the herds was set up in 1973 and is written into the very law that gives them protection.
Where the Secretary determines on the basis of (i) the current inventory of lands within his jurisdiction; (ii) information contained in any land use planning completed pursuant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; (iii) information contained in court ordered environmental impact statements as defined in section 2 of the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978; and (iv) such additional information as becomes available to him from time to time, including that information developed in the research study mandated by this section, or in the absence of the information contained in (i-iv) above on the basis of all information currently available to him, that an overpopulation exists on a given area of the public lands and that action is necessary to remove excess animals, he shall immediately remove excess animals from the range so as to achieve appropriate management levels. Such action shall be taken, in the following order and priority, until all excess animals have been removed so as to restore a thriving natural ecological balance to the range, and protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation:


The Secretary shall order old, sick, or lame animals to be destroyed in the most humane manner possible;


The Secretary shall cause such number of additional excess wild free-roaming horses and burros to be humanely captured and removed for private maintenance and care for which he determines an adoption demand exists by qualified individuals, and for which he determines he can assure humane treatment and care (including proper transportation, feeding, and handling): Provided, That, not more than four animals may be adopted per year by any individual unless the Secretary determines in writing that such individual is capable of humanely caring for more than four animals, including the transportation of such animals by the adopting party; and [PRIA 10/25/1978]


The Secretary shall cause additional excess wild free roaming horses and burros for which an adoption demand by qualified individuals does not exist to be destroyed in the most humane and cost efficient manner possible.

What are we thinking! Oh we don't think.
We do and then think what did we do.
So Sad.

I have always had a solution for the "Endangered" creatures in the Rockie Mnt. Region. After a set population is reached, send the surplus to East and West coast, and Central government controled lands. Bears, wolves, and yes horses, as well as others, are just as native to Central Park, The Smokie Mnt's, and the Sierra's as they are to the Rockies. That way their population's can be brought up to the levels some think they should be.

Doesn???t this scenario sound frighteningly familiar?

Americans have a WELL-documented history of using ???natives??? for our own gain, then forcibly taking over their land, putting them in small little areas, killing those that are too hard to take care of, and telling all of them that they should be happy.

Does this sound any different from what was done to the native Indians that lived here before?

You would think since we are supposedly so ???civilized???, we would have tamed our barbaric natures by now. Obviously, the ???white man??? still speaks with a forked tongue and has not learned a damned thing.

We are not only running ourselves off the planet, but all wildlife and lvining species are in trouble. So this is the only answer the government can come up with. I think this is the thought process of rich bureaucrats who don't care and don't want to put forth any effort for a solution to anything. Let's stop the killing of our wildlife, pay attention to global warming and start acting with the sense and compassion God gave us.

Instead of complaining, why don't you put your money where your mouth(s) is(are) and adopt one yourself. It's not like going to local pound, and they are not like domesticated horses. Better yet, make a donation to a equine shelter, that's cleaner than actually gettting manure on your hands and it will go to someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

I understand that something needs to be done about these horses but I don't agree with having to kill them. It seems like an easy way out and not something that would be good in the long run.

What !! Is this for real ? Therse animals are not only part of the landscape but of the western US culture. I lived in he Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Gov't goes to great lengths to protect those animals , they have even jailed people for harm and harassment of the horses in these areas. Is it because they are a tourist attraction for the area and are money makers ? Or do they mean something for the communiies there. If we are truly looking to euthanize our home grown problems, why the issue of the death penalty

Wild horses were re-introduced in North America but were originally here and died out at some point. Horses do have natural predators. You've seen zebras in Africa, right? Those lions take them down. We have wolves, mountain lions, etc that would do the same thing. Of course we've kept their population in check because as man, we must kill things to get what we want. There must be a way to find a balance without losing this symbol. A viable number of animals must be left also. Even if the whole population isn't wiped out, if the genetic pool is too small, the population ultimately WILL get wiped out by the problems caused there.

Wow, we have TONS of unintelligent LIBERALS on here placing HUMAN EMOTIONS on ANIMALS. These animals are NOT HUMAN. They don't think like humans and to make idiotic statementsa like "if I were a horse..." shows a complete lack of knowledge on animals and their INSTINCTS drive their lives... NOT FEELINGS that drive LIBERALS LIVES/DECISONS, instead of facts and consequences...

Instead of complaining, why don't you put your money where your mouth(s) is(are) and go resuce one. They are not like domestic horses and often take years of care to be tamed. At the very least donate to a equine shelter. It's cleaner than actually getting manure on your hands, and provides the professionals the money they need to care for them.

What's your point?

50 million a year to corral horses taken from range land worth 20 million? Maybe it ain't even worth 20 million considering you have to have a whole lot of acreage to feed one cow. Get rid of domestic livestock. Nobody, including the economy will miss em when they are gone. If it's public land, those ranchers, the guys who chase range cows with a four wheeler while shooting coyotes, are leasing thousands of acres at a time for less than a 100 dollar bill a year. Seems just about every president got himself a ranch.

Euthanize the American Symbol of Freedome???!!! What a crock of cow manure!!! If the BLM cant manage its responsibilities better, then someone else can!! Wild horses have been here since the Conquistidors and before. THEY WERE HERE FIRST......but like so many "modern" thinkers, that just means more reason to get rid of them. The cattle ranchers that claim the horses destroy the grasslands had better take a better look at how cows/sheep graze vs how horses do. Horses dont pull up roots of the vegatation like cattle/sheep. They move constantly in order to NOT overgraze areas. Ranchers need to remember that this is PUBLIC land, not their own personal pasture. Lets see, we really do have too many politicians now adays, maybe euthanization would be a good way to control their numbers.......WHAT DO YA THINK OF THAT !!!! There are always better solutions than to just kill them, but of course, that would mean the money used for say, sterilization, wouldnt be going into politicians and special interest groups pockets.
Come BLM, get your act together!! This idea is ludacris and insane. Go outside, find your brains and come back when you can use them!!! There is a balance that can be found, so find it. There are alot of good ideas I found just reading comments on this issue.....USE SOME OF THEM! As for the currently held horses, adopt out as many as you can in the next few weeks, sterilize the majority of the rest and SET THEM FREE BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM. And stop rounding up group after group within weeks. I thought the roundup was only supposed to be used once a year or two.....what you dont adopt out that year, you set back free. They do it back east on Chincoteague Island and it has worked for YEARS. The ponys are considered a treasure and are managed quite well, last time I heard.

Wow, guess my initial comment got lost in the sign in/password thing. Anyway, I love Wild Mustangs! We adopted one 24 years ago - Amber was just a two year old, captured in southern NV. My wife trained her - slow & gentle - and even had an article published about training Amber, in Horse Woman magazine. Amber is very smart and lovable and children can easily ride her. I think the Adopt a Horse program should be more widely promoted - like out East. More people might adopt if they thought the end result would be so rewarding. We just watched a small herd of wild mustangs, grazing along side wild buffalo, in the Theo. Roosevelt National Grassland N. P. in N. Dakota. Fantastic sight and there was no sign of over grazing or impact to the land. Thanks to Roosevelts vision, these lands have been protected for more than one century. No ranchers or cowboys to complain about the wild horses, buffalo or wolf. I think more mustangs should be moved to our remaining wild places - like the National Buffalo Range in Moiese, MT. Maybe a better sterilization program but don't euthanize.