Friday, November 05, 2010

Sanctuary and slaughter are options for states with too many wild horses

What does a state do when it has too many wild horses? The horses eat grass that cattlemen want for their herds. As the horse herds continue to increase in number, the plains can't provide enough grass for the horses either, causing them to starve to death. Two western states are pursuing two different options: (Photo New Mexico Mustang & Burro Association)

In Wyoming, the Bureau of Land Management has tried to cull the herds, but the number of feral horses has nearly tripled. Currently, the U.S. has nowhere to slaughter horses since Congress blocked inspection of horse meat in 2007. State Rep. Sue Wallis wants to license a slaughterhouse in Wyoming, Mckay Coppins of Newsweek reports. While horse advocates call slaughter inhumane, Wallis anticipates enough local demand for horse meat to sustain a factory. Besides, she says, for a horse on overgrazed land, slaughter beats starvation. (Read more)

Meanwhile, in New Mexico the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro Program is supporting a plan for a mustang sanctuary near Cerrillos Hills State Park. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department is hoping to purchase a former ranch near the park by using funds from the federal stimulus. Staci Matlock of The New Mexican reports the purchase will expand the park tenfold and will be the location of the proposed mustang ranch. Proponents of the plan say the expansion of Cerrillos Hills State Park would generate up to a half-dozen state jobs and possibly spur more tourism-related employment. Opponents say the money could be better spent elsewhere. The sanctuary would also be a center where the horses can be trained, then offered for adoption. (Read more)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so much BS. I have never seen even one wild horse photo where a single horse looked underfed and I don't know even one person who would eat horse meat. I have seen much evidence that BLM makes up reasons to round up horses such as saying there is not enough water for them when it is a bald faced lie.

flamefightress said...

Oh come on! Killng our iconic American Mustangs because some people (and gov't beauracracy- *cough, cough* -the BLM) are too greedy and want the horses' protected land and resources thereon and the Mustangs removed is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. Kiling them because we've removed them from the habitats they had the lawful (not to mention, inalienable) right to remain on where they were perfectly fine and healthy on (unlike what the BLM will falsely try to tell the public) is notthe answer to this situation and crossroads we have created. Removing them at all is unnacceptable. We claim to have the superior brains and intellect of all species.. so why not satrt to use them and think "outside" the box to come up with alterntive and creative solutions, instead of reapeating the harmful, deestructive practices of destroying, murdering, and leading to the annihilation of our panet and the animal and plant speices and diversity we require to survive on the is Earth? It;s time to evolve, which requires a new way of acting and thinking, not repeating an archaic and outdated, and proven unsussessful multipl times over way of being and doing!