02/21/2025
Makes my blood boil
I was asked this question "Why, why, why is the BLM removing America's wild horses?
We as advocates, struggle with the removal of wild horses from the public lands. We feel strongly about witnessing the inhumane treatment the wild horses we cherish receive as helicopters arrive to chase, round up and remove the wild horses off of public lands. We struggle with the BLMs decision to euthanize otherwise healthy horses, who may have lost an eye, been injured and is lame or simply old. We all know they, just like humans, have good days and bad and are thriving in the wild just fine. Old horses are essential to the survival of the herd, as they are the professors. They hold the memories of where and when to go to survive. Even if they are blind in one eye or lame the rest of the band are their students and they are needed in the band.
But mostly we disagree with the reason they are being removed at all, the cost associated with the removal and outrageous cost of the ongoing care of the horses removed. Then the cruel loss of life in the process and terrible injuries. All this to benefit some corporate ranchers who feel entitled to be subsidized by the American public to graze their livestock on public lands, solely because it is the way it has been done. A program needed in 1934 to regulate grazing on public lands and prevent overgrazing, just might not be needed or be a benefit to the American taxpayer today. In 1934 it was needed, today we are just doing the same thing because the precedent was in place and that is the tradition and the people who benefit from the way it was then, feel they are entitled to continue receiving this benefit. Perhaps today It is an outdated program that is not the highest and best use of the land and not in the best interest in the citizens our government represents. Perhaps today someone needs to have the courage to end this antiquated program. But alas, what BLM employee or politician will have the courage to speak up and try to rock the boat or risk their pension, or worse, risk the rath of the agricultural community. Who has the courage to do that? Inquiring minds want to know.
Many people don't realize the heartbreaking truth about the plight of America's wild horses. It is difficult to get the story out to the general public who perhaps are not interested at first but might have real concerns if they understood and knew the truth. If they understood the brutal deaths, the pain and the orphaned foals, and then the thousands of our wild horses who have been transported over the border to be slaughtered. Young healthy horses slaughtered for profit and served for dinner. This has not been acceptable to Americans. They made this very clear in 1971.
It is not that people don't care, but rather that they are often unaware. We live in the information age and the average citizen is inundated with information about so many subjects on the 30 minutes to an hour when they watch the evening news. Politics, the Russian- Ukraine war, debt forgiveness for students loans, Elon Musk and his Trump relationship, the economy, Tariffs, fair playing fields for girls in sports and all those interesting celebrities doing naughty things like having s*x with teenagers. It is difficult at best to get the attention of the public on the plight of wild horses, especially since many people today have never even seen a wild horse, unless they saw them on Heartland or Yellowstone TV shows.
If the average American knew the exorbitant cost to taxpayers for using helicopters to chase down wild horses in brutal roundups, tearing apart equine families, and confining them in overcrowded facilities, they might be appalled. If they understood there is a less expensive way, they would be irritated to learn birth control is a method that will work to reduce the wild horse population, if only the Bureau of Land Management would make it a priority.. If they knew the cost to maintain the 63,000 wild horses held today in holding facilities across America, while they struggle to buy groceries, much less pay their taxes, they would at the very least be outraged. And then there is the question of political favors. Some ranchers house many wild horses and get paid a healthy fee for caring for them, not to mention the improvements to their ranch at BLM expense to make it acceptable for maintaining wild horses. It is rumored that the decision of where these horses are placed has become a very political issue Could it be that it is a favor to some special connected ranchers. Is it possible that like wild horse bands, who have ties and connection with the entire herd, there are also ties and connection between those that demand the removal of wild horses, those that financially benefit from their removal, after care and storage and those that are elected to office in that jurisdiction? Is it time for an unbiased investigation?
The way the message about the plight of wild horses is delivered can make a difference. If the public heard that 42 wild died in a recent roundup they might disapprove and seek additional information. However, when the manipulated message states, "The horses were removed due to a lack of forage to prevent starving horses," and then announce that the roundup was successful with less than a 2% loss, it might seem acceptable that 42 horses' lives were lost. But when you find a way to get to the public and find a way to tell them the whole story, that the 42 healthy horses died a painful death with broken legs, snapped at a gallop while being chased or as they tried to escape the fencing they were crowded into, broken necks as they were chased at a full run into a pipe corral panel or she aborted their foal as they were galloping across the desert being chased by a terrifying helicopter and then they collapsed from exhaustion. When they hear, that mares were just delivered to the holding facility with an udder full of milk, implying they recently had a foal, but no foal is with them, they might be concerned enough to want to know the rest of the story. They may be more empathetic to the plight of the wild horses when they know there is a 3-week-old c**t wandering alone out on the range, now orphaned with no family to protect him, because he was too small to keep up with the herd for the long chase. He will most likely lose his life to a predator tonight if he doesn't die of starvation.
But hey... the BLM was within the statistical guidelines. If this was a cattle drive and they lost 2%, would that be acceptable? Would chasing sheep or cows until they aborted be ok, if they only lost a few? The American public deserves to know what is happening to the wild horses they passionately created laws to protect in 1971 and congress UNANIMOUSLEY voted into law. It isn't that the information is being hidden, but is it being sugar coated? The story is delivered as data and written as reports. It reports it is deemed necessary to preserve the habitat the horses roam on due to overgrazing. But then shortly after the wild horses are removed, livestock is put in their place.
Our job as advocates is to let as many Americans know what is happening so the officials that are calling the shots can hear from the people they represent and perhaps alter the path they are taking. I have said for a few years, that there is huge risk that there will be budget cuts. It is only a matter of months there will be nearly 75,000 wild horses being held and maintained at a huge taxpayer's expense. Will it be deemed fiscally responsible to euthanize these many horses? That has been my prediction for the past few years. I can almost hear the voices saying, "let's move forward and remove them and then admit holding them is way too expensive." We have all heard it before, it is better to do and beg forgiveness, than to ask and be refused. I feel like we are being manipulated.
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