America’s wild horses are magnificent creatures, national treasures, and true symbols of the freedom and the strength that it took to build these United States. And they had freely roamed our American West for centuries.
But to our government today, these wild horses are now considered to be a costly and a growing nuisance, and many of our government leaders now want to kill thousands of them.
Opponents of this government slaughter plan say that our leaders are very callously siding with modern day ranchers, who are now demanding more and more space and forage for their cattle.
The Bureau of Land Management, which is the government agency supposedly in charge of their welfare, says there are simply too many wild horses today, filling government holding pens, and roaming freely on public lands in 10 Western states, including California. They now have a modern day proposal to reduce their numbers: Kill Thousands of Them.
And many of our nation's dedicated horse lovers, including singers Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson, are out to kill this government euthanasia plan.
But federal officials and other supporters of this slaughter plan say it must be considered because a wild horse birth-control program has not worked, and wild horse adoptions are rapidly declining, mainly due to rising fuel and feed costs.
"The bottom line is we've run out of things to do with these animals," said Tom Talbot, a veterinarian and president-elect of the Sacramento-based California Cattlemen's Association.
But remember, these are public lands we’re talking about – public lands on which modern day cattle ranchers get to graze their cattle – at government subsidized prices.
While the BLM has not yet decided on a method of euthanasia, a BLM spokesman says the top three possibilities would be shooting them, giving them a lethal dose of barbiturates, or killing them with a bolt to the head, a method commonly used in slaughtering.
The government estimates that there are about 33,000 horses and burros running wild in the West today, including 3,000 in California. Nearly half of them are in Nevada. And another 30,000 of them are already in government holding pens – awaiting slaughter.
Once upon a time, there were millions of them roaming our West – on our public lands. But our public lands aren’t very public anymore.
The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, a creation of the BLM, will take up this issue on Sept. 22nd. And the BLM will make a final decision later, but no date has been set.
A few members of Congress do want this wild horse slaughter plan put on hold.
"The potential for wholesale killing of thousands of healthy wild horses marks a complete turnaround in management policy," said Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Congress passed a law in 1971 protecting our wild horses that run free on public lands, declaring them "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."
But the BLM has already spent $22 million putting our wild horses in holding pens. That's nearly two-thirds of the program's entire budget.
And now, opponents of this wild horse slaughter plan say the BLM has mismanaged its budget, and is now trying to lower its costs by taking aim at our wild horses.
"To set the record straight, euthanasia is mercy killing – that's certainly not what's being proposed here by any stretch of the imagination," said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute. "It's killing pure and simple, to balance the books for an agency whose reckless management has caused immeasurable harm to a national treasure."
Rep. Rahall said he doesn't want the agency to proceed with its slaughter plan until the Government Accountability Office completes an investigation into the finances of the wild horse program. Its report is expected in September. Rahall said the agency's inability to manage its budget "is a long-standing concern, and must not be used as a death sentence" for our wild horses and burros.
And right now, horse advocates want to make the phones ring on Capitol Hill.
"Any time they talk about killing wild horses, it's disturbing," said Fred Sater, board member of the Wild Horse Sanctuary, home to 300 wild mustangs at its location near Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. "What it's going to take is a public outcry to hopefully reverse that kind of thinking. People need to contact their legislators."
Although our leaders rarely listen to us these very sad days, if you want to help save these national treasures, you just might want to write or call your legislators, yourself – before it’s too late.
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