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Jul. 12, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Delay sought on proposal to euthanize wild horses

By MARTIN GRIFFITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO -- A House leader has come out against a federal proposal to euthanize wild horses and asked a federal agency to delay a decision on the animals' fate.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, urged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to refrain from action until after the scheduled September release of a General Accountability Office report on the agency's management of wild horses.

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The BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board in September is scheduled to consider alternatives to deal with horses' surplus numbers, including the euthanasia proposal.

Agency officials have said they're faced with tough choices because wild horses have overpopulated public lands in the West and they no longer can afford to care for the number of animals that have been rounded up.

"The BLM can, and should, do a better job with its entire wild horse and burro program, and should wait for the GAO to come forth with its report this fall before moving forward with a decision that will have a permanent effect on the lives of these creatures," Rahall said.

The agency, which had hoped to reach a decision by Sept. 30, has no exact timetable for one, spokeswoman Celia Boddington said Friday.

"We won't make a decision until we've discussed this issue fully with Chairman Rahall and humane groups," Boddington said.

The agency is considering different options such as efforts to step up birth control, but has not made any decisions yet, she added.

The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act gives the agency the authority to euthanize and sell wild horses if necessary.

Ranchers have said euthanasia might be necessary to keep horse numbers in check. Ranchers view the horses as competition for forage.

There are an estimated 33,000 wild horses in 10 Western states. About half of those are in Nevada.

The agency has set a target "appropriate management level" of horses at 27,000. About another 30,000 horses are in holding facilities, where most are made available for adoption.

Last year, about $22 million of the horse program's $39 million budget was spent on holding horses in agency pens. Next year the costs are projected to grow to $26 million with an overall budget that is being trimmed to $37 million.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Report abuse Tracy M. wrote on July 21, 2008 05:32 PM: The BLM has rounded up too many horses, and now that the budget needs to be cut, and the cost of holding all those horses is growing, their "solution" is to euthanize the horses to "fix" their mistake. The beef and other interests have the bucks behind them to influence the decision makers, (who most likely don't even own a horse - let alone a Mustang) into believing the horses are a problem out on the ranges. With 4 million plus cattle, an "extra" 6,000 horses aren't really going to affect the environment. It's ok for the government to subsidize the ranchers' FOR PROFIT businesses using PUBLIC land, but not the horses they remove to make room for those ranchers? Maybe those HMA studies need to be redone, and not by BLM. One solution: PRIVATIZE. Use non-profit organizations to handle the adoptions, getting the horses out of centralized holding pens (where no one goes) and into groups all around the country where they will be better cared for, haltered trained, and be seen. Also: gelding all/most of the stallions placed back out on the range, which could stabilize herd numbers (if that is really an issue). Mustangs are not really in competiton with older trained horses since they appeal to completely different markets. And if you are a breeder, you should take the responsibility of euthanizing your old brood mare. After years of making money for you, that is the least that you could do for that horse. I can't see that being trucked to a slaughter house is the way to "end their lives decently". ANY horse owner should count euthanasia as part of vet care. And I'd rather have a mustang any day over a "papered" horse. Better mind, conformation, temperament, and health. COST: PRICELESS Report abuse Elizabeth Jimenez wrote on July 17, 2008 03:55 PM: I have been a small breeder for 30 years. I do not have a 27 million dollar budget. I breed quality animals as a farm commodity, and I do not like it when the government then gives away for 125 dollars a horse they obtained in the "wild." Many of these horses are not wild, just neglected by serious owners who no longer can find buyers in CA when the public are being offered a farm commodity subsidized by the tax payer---with which we cannot compete. They are not able to give away hay as excess farm commodity or grain or vet services to help my business. I pay top dollar for everything that goes into production--stud fees, vet fees, housing. The county here (Solano Cty) has recently enacted a tax of 10,000 on anyone who rents barns and pastures to horsemen in my area. We no longer have any place to keep our farm commodity thanks to county greed --and if there are no boarding facilities then we are not going to find buyers. Many breeders are turning old broodmares loose to starve. Without the outlet of slaughter for horses for uses such as dog food we are left with huge animals that need alot of care and food, and stables, and no way to end their lives decently. We are forced to euthanize and this COSTS THE BREEDER AT LEAST 400 DOLLARS FOR VET FEES AND DISPOSAL OF THE CARCASS. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT HELPING BY GIVING AWAY ANIMALS RAISED AND MAINTAINED AT TAX PAYER'S EXPENSE, WHILE WE BREEDERS EUTHANIZE OLDER TRAINED HORSES THAT MIGHT HAVE A HOME---WERE IT NOT FOR THE WEEKLY GIVE AWAYS OF 70 TO 100 HORSES AT "SALES" PUBLISIZED BY THE BLM. Report abuse Jean Anderson wrote on July 17, 2008 12:39 PM: These horses ancestors help found this country. They pulled wagons and plows. They carried the cavalry and our firts mail carriers. They were an integral part of the settling of the west. They were considered important enough to be on display at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The Olympic Comittee invited the BLM to bring several Mustangs and Burros to show visitors from all over the world our "protected" wild horses and Burros in the old west display. Now because the BLM has not managed the wild horses well they want to eliminate thousands of them as an "easy out" for them. There are NOT too many horses--just poor management. Many good suggestions have been made for many years to deal with population growth and range management but BLM has been giving preferance the the cattle and oil/mineral interest on OUR federal land and there answer is to gather, gather, gather. Now they have more horses in long term holding than running free. If the general public does not get involved by contacting polititions and the BLM, we may some day have no free roaming wild horses to remind us about the qualities of strength, freedom and courage that this country was founded on. Report abuse K.O.-ing a Horse wrote on July 12, 2008 11:31 PM: Dear "Save The Horses," I understand your attachment to feral horses, not unlike some old ladies' attachment to feral cats: sometimes dozens of them per old lady. But generally, unlike "Save The Horses," the old ladies pay for their cats. "Save The Horses" wants you and me to do it for him / her. What a good person. We know why pothead Willie Nelson and "Save The Horses" feel as they do about feral horses. They spent childhood watching "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," "The Lone Ranger," "The Virginian," "The High Chapparal," "The Big Valley," "The Rifleman," and so many others shows that failed in the ratings. Those are cool shows to watch while smoking a joint. Plenty of violence and people getting blown-away in those sagas (but they always deserved it). Miraculously, no horse was ever harmed by catching a stray bullet, or otherwise. It took Mel Brooks (decades later) in the classic comedy movie "Blazing Saddles" to hilariously depict a human (kind-of: "Mongo") K.O.'ing a horse by punching it in the mouth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_RKPGS2vwM Yippee-kai-ya. Pay for the feral horses yourself. Report abuse mark wrote on July 12, 2008 08:53 AM: Release all the horses back into the desert , quit spending 27 million on what? food and water ? Just sit back and watch them slowly die off due to lack of water and food and when all the animal rights wackos start crying, just hand them a handfull of 7 mm rifle rounds and say you take care of it. Better yet I will do it today and a lot of horses wont suffer through another summer in Nevada. Plus I wont charge very much just the cost of gas. Report abuse You Pay for the Non-native, Feral Horses wrote on July 12, 2008 08:27 AM: "A Mustang is a free-roaming feral horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but the more correct term is feral horses." "Today, the only true wild horse is the Przewalski's Horse, native to Mongolia." "The first Mustangs descended from Iberian horses[6] brought to Mexico and Florida. Most of these horses were of Andalusian, Arabian and Barb ancestry. Some of these horses escaped or were stolen by Native Americans, and rapidly spread throughout western North America." " . . . there is a much larger pool of captured horses than of prospective adoptive owners . . ." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_(horse) Report abuse Save the horses wrote on July 12, 2008 07:37 AM: There is no reason the euthanize these animals. BLM rounded them up so, take care of them. It is a shame our wimpy Nevada delegation has not stepped up to the plate. Oh that's right they only protect the casinos. Report abuse Willie Nelson can Pay for it. wrote on July 12, 2008 03:15 AM: Euthanizing is our least-worst option. Let Willie Nelson and those who want to save the non-native horses figure out a way to pay for it themselves.

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