The Animals Voice: Stop The U.S. Government From Shooting Thousands of Wild Horses
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
Photo via teepoole
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: The Animals Voice
Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Subject: Stop The U.S. Government From Shooting Thousands of Wild Horses
Equine Plight | Proposed Wild Horse Shoot
The U.S. Government is considering a plan to shoot thousands of wild horses
We’ve been battling the issue for years: saving wild horses from death in one form or another. We are asked to believe they are starving to death on the public range and need to be managed and controlled for their own good. We are asked to believe they are dying of thirst due to drought conditions in the West (despite that cattle have no trouble finding water sources). We are asked to believe wild horses are competing with “native” wildlife or endangered species and must be removed from public lands to protect the ecosystems.
And now we’re being asked to believe that the high cost of taking care of unadoptable wild horses is just more than the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) can bear (in 2008, less than 5% of BLM’s wild horse and burro program budget was allocated to herd management on the range, with the remaining 95% allocated to captures, holding and placement).
But these have never been the core root of the wild horse problem. Unfortunately, the above reasons HAVE been the truths even wild horse defenders have come to believe — but they are not. They aren’t even close to the truth.
Here’s the truth in a nutshell: Only so many hooved animal are allowed on public land per acre. Wildlife species like deer, antelope, elk, etc., are allowed to remain on public lands because preserving and killing them (they’re often preserved so they CAN be killed) makes somebody somewhere lots of money; in this case, the U.S. government (hunting license fees, wildlife management programs, etc.). Cattle, sheep and other domestic livestock are allowed to remain on public lands because raising them there is cheap for livestock growers and it makes the U.S. government money in the form of public lands grazing fees, not to mention that it makes livestock growers money on livestock sales.
But the wild horse doesn’t make anyone anywhere a single dime to remain on public lands — and since there’s only so much room on public land for so many hooved animals, the ones not making money are to be removed — under any excuse the government can find to justify the removals.
Photo via teepoole
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: The Animals Voice
Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Subject: Stop The U.S. Government From Shooting Thousands of Wild Horses
Equine Plight | Proposed Wild Horse Shoot
The U.S. Government is considering a plan to shoot thousands of wild horses
We’ve been battling the issue for years: saving wild horses from death in one form or another. We are asked to believe they are starving to death on the public range and need to be managed and controlled for their own good. We are asked to believe they are dying of thirst due to drought conditions in the West (despite that cattle have no trouble finding water sources). We are asked to believe wild horses are competing with “native” wildlife or endangered species and must be removed from public lands to protect the ecosystems.
And now we’re being asked to believe that the high cost of taking care of unadoptable wild horses is just more than the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) can bear (in 2008, less than 5% of BLM’s wild horse and burro program budget was allocated to herd management on the range, with the remaining 95% allocated to captures, holding and placement).
But these have never been the core root of the wild horse problem. Unfortunately, the above reasons HAVE been the truths even wild horse defenders have come to believe — but they are not. They aren’t even close to the truth.
Here’s the truth in a nutshell: Only so many hooved animal are allowed on public land per acre. Wildlife species like deer, antelope, elk, etc., are allowed to remain on public lands because preserving and killing them (they’re often preserved so they CAN be killed) makes somebody somewhere lots of money; in this case, the U.S. government (hunting license fees, wildlife management programs, etc.). Cattle, sheep and other domestic livestock are allowed to remain on public lands because raising them there is cheap for livestock growers and it makes the U.S. government money in the form of public lands grazing fees, not to mention that it makes livestock growers money on livestock sales.
But the wild horse doesn’t make anyone anywhere a single dime to remain on public lands — and since there’s only so much room on public land for so many hooved animals, the ones not making money are to be removed — under any excuse the government can find to justify the removals.
