Wild horses rounded up- a humane event, or a horrible crime?
NBC news reports on the yearly wild horse (mustang) roundup. See the whole "story" here. I'm a horse owner (11 horses), and a horse rider. I like to watch my horses racing in the back field. I understand they are nowhere near as smart as some claim. But NBC reveals their absolute and total stupidity about horses. They claim the roundup "Breaks up families, separating fathers, mothers, and children". Okay, first things first. horse fathers are, pardon the vulgarity, "Find'em, fuck'em, forget'em." They are herd animals. The father, if not the herd stallion, snuck a quickie with a mare in heat before Big Daddy catches him poaching and kicks his ass. And SHE has no attachment to the father. now, I admit that in a farm setting, with one stallion and a mare, they hang together. Because that's what herds do. In the wild, ALL the horses hang together, because that's what herds do. But there is no Disney-like love between the sexual partners. First NBC lie.
Second, they do NOT break up mothers from foals during the round-ups. If the mare has milk in the udder, the foal stays. The mother will boot the foal when she either gets pregnant again or else decides junior needs to be weaned. In the wild, it can go to 12-14 months. On the farm, we tend to wean the foal as young as 6 months, but can go as long as 18 months of the mother is willing and unpregnant. During the round-up, the weaned foals are removed from mares. Unweaned foals stay with the mare. They are often adopted as a duo.
ALL the male horses are gelded ("fixed" or neutered) prior to adoption. A mustang stallioncan bea deadly creature, so gelding is a necessity. WHY are all these "Beautiful free wild horses" rounded up? because if they aren't, the ranchers in the area will have no choice but to shoot them to protect their cattle fields from pvergrazing andkeep their own horses from being attacked. In the harsh winter months, with almost no natural predators, the wild horses often starve to death in droves, and succumb to sickness caused by the weakness of starvation, combined withthe presence of dead horses.
Wild horses are NOT a natural part of the American West. they are all, each and every one, the offspring of escaped or freed domestic animals. They all trace their ancestry to horses brought from Spain, France, and England in the 1500s,1600s, 1700s, and even 1800s, combined with the regular escapees that occur each year. They are hard on the environment, eating fodder for both native wildlife (buffalo, dear, antelope, etc) and for domestic animals (cows, sheep, domestic horses,etc). Is the roundup scary for the wild horses? Yes. Do many of them wind up as domestic horses, well-fed, medically cared for, and living longer healthier lives? Yes. Are many of them slaughtered for meat products (dog food, mostly) or fertilize? Yes. Their only other option is to be shot by ranchers, starve to death, and diepainfully of cureable diseases. They are NOT Disney-like creatures living a life of humorous adventures combined with song and familial love. They are not sapient beings, cruelly enslaved, ground under the heels of a vicious slaver. as long as the adopters of these horses care for them properly, they are like any other domesticated animal. Property. Not to be abused, but definitely to be used.
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what say you?
Having adopted two, and having to wait through TWO roundups before they were available, I cannot attest to the number destroyed. Many feral animals cannot be tamed safely. It's a hard choice to make. Starvation and diseases (which can kill off wildlife and domestic animals when the diseases spread), a chance at adoption, or at least a relativley humane slaughter. Who's to say which is best? But I support the roundup.
The West just isn't as wide open as it used to be, at least not the areas that have enough feed to support large herds of livestock. Most of what is available is being used for domestic cattle. While there are still some predators out there that are big and tough enough to bring down a horse, they mostly go after the young ones because they're easier.
Especially since the "use" generally involves being ridden regularly and not much more. It's not as though horses are widely used as draft animals any more. These would be the wrong breed for that anyway. Also, the owners are very carefully selected; very seldom is one found to be abusing animals. It's too bad that so many have to be slaughtered, but animals have been slaughtered for their meat since they were first domesticated thousands of years ago. It's better than dying of starvation and disease.
Quite a few, actually. Ask any restaurant owner in France (where eating horse meat is legal).
Having lived in Nevada for 9 years, Nevada has the largest wild horse population of any state. There have been many stories regarding the BLM round up of the horses, and muchof it was video taped, showing some pretty bad techiques by the BLM. This is an on-going battle between the BLM and local groups. And yes, many are sold for slaughter.
The population of wild horses in the U.S. has declined by 15,000 since 2001...I'm going from memory on this, but if I remember the story and stats. At that rate wild horses will be extinct in the future.
We've done a great job at killing off what or trying to, what doesn't fit our wants and needs. Buffalo, Bald Eagles, Wolves, Bear etc etc. What the fuck are a a few wild horses./s
I am definitely in favor of the round up. I love animals. Love the idea of a horse running free - standing majestically in the sunset on a ridge, but the truth of it is they are totally destroying areas our natural lands, killing off already endangered plants and making it impossible for other species (flora and fauna) to recover or sustain themselves. They are domestic animals, not wild or native. They are like our dogs, our cats, cattle, sheep, chickens, etc... No one wants my dog running wild through their yard or their chicken pen. No one wants feral cats crapping in their flower bed, passing on diseases, destroying entire bird species. We brought the horses here, now we need to act responsible no matter how unpleasant that is.
Removing the horses releases the land for native wild species such as you mentioned. It has little to do with man, who will be pissed off no matter what is done.
You know, we have tons of empty land here in KY. Maybe they could ship them over here. I for one, would love to have them...
I find this nauseating-- even though there are good reasons for it, it makes me ill.
Poor horses! They're WILD, dammit-- leave 'em be!
I'm a horse lover. I hate the thought of the roundup from a horseperson's standpoint. But they are NOT indigenous to the Americas. I MUCH prefer to see a herd of horses to a herd of antelope (nasty tasting things, antelope). But antelope belong here. Horses, sadly, do not. I would love to see a herd of buffalo thundering across the plains, scaring up a flock or two of prairie hens, a pack of wolves taking down a slower old buffalo or a calf. There is little chance of this ever occurring, but there is literally NO chance if our escapees eat all the graze.
Kavika, I cannot, in all honesty, say what would be the ideal solution. But the roundup DOES free up areas for native wildlife. Even though it hurts to watch the symbol of freedom for so many peoples being rounded up like this. I would love to see the BLM eliminated. I would prefer that the roundup be done by people with the best interests of the horses in mind, and for every horse to be adopted into a nice situation. until that happens, it is better the roundup occurs than the horses starve to death in winter, get shot by irate ranchers (often to die in misery days later from sepsis), or succumb to disease. I hope I am right in my choice, my brother.
Although I hear your opinion, that's just it, the open KY land is not open, it's full of beautiful animals and life... creatures that should be there and that will die and suffer if feral horses are moved there.
All we have to do is look at a colony of feral cats or a pack of feral dogs to understand the suffering, disease and life quality of these horses.
Neale, horses are indigenous to north America, in fact this is where they originated and spread to eurasia and europe. They died out in north America and were re-introduced to America in the 1500's by Europeans. That said, I do understand what your saying but in Nevada, where the federal government owns or control over80 per cent of the state I find it difficult to believe that there isn't room for horses.
Of course they have to be managed so they don't over populate, at the present rate of capture they will be extint in the wild soon.
Waanakiwin niijii
Now that I didn't know..... I knew there had been wild horses (eohippus) in America, Asia, and Europe. It had toes rather than hooves, more teeth than modern horses, and did NOT eat grass so much as soft broad leafed plants. But in America, they had been hunted to extinction due to their small size (less than 22 inches at the shoulder. It was in Asia that they were first domesticated, and never returned to the Americas until the Spanish first lost a few in the early 1500s.