Members of the Missouri Wild Horse League are noticing a big influx of domesticated horses roaming with the state's only wild horse herd, all of which descended from horses set free during the Great Depression when owners couldn't care for them. The same thing is happening now, with the Great Recession. They are dumping them in the Ozarks National Scenic Riverways, "apparently thinking they will be warmly received" by the wild herd. The reality, though, it much different, reports Donald Bradley of The Kansas City Star. (Star photo by Keith Myers)
Wild Horse League member Bill Smith said wild stallions will fight former domestic horses, adding that old pets and saddle horses don't know how to forage for food, and are easy targets for coyotes. Rescuers have found dumped horses starving and near death. One horse was hit by a truck. Smith said he and his cousin recently pulled 25 dumped horses from the wild. The League tries to save orphaned horses and adopt them out, but lately it finds it can't keep up with the large number of dumped horses. The group's secretary Carolyn Dryer said domestic horses "don't belong out here." (Read more)
Texas rancher Tom Heck is rescuing abandoned horses from the Mexico border, where they have been abandoned in the desert, reports Robert Gray of El Paso Inc. Heck plans to rehabilitate them, then sell gentle ones to dude ranches and wild ones to area rodeos. If they're too far gone, he'll send them to Mexican slaughterhouses. He views it as a business venture. "If we have the medication, the hay, the minerals and such, we can rehabilitate them and sell them," Heck said. "We think this can be a very viable business because nobody has done this before."
Wild Horse League member Bill Smith said wild stallions will fight former domestic horses, adding that old pets and saddle horses don't know how to forage for food, and are easy targets for coyotes. Rescuers have found dumped horses starving and near death. One horse was hit by a truck. Smith said he and his cousin recently pulled 25 dumped horses from the wild. The League tries to save orphaned horses and adopt them out, but lately it finds it can't keep up with the large number of dumped horses. The group's secretary Carolyn Dryer said domestic horses "don't belong out here." (Read more)Texas rancher Tom Heck is rescuing abandoned horses from the Mexico border, where they have been abandoned in the desert, reports Robert Gray of El Paso Inc. Heck plans to rehabilitate them, then sell gentle ones to dude ranches and wild ones to area rodeos. If they're too far gone, he'll send them to Mexican slaughterhouses. He views it as a business venture. "If we have the medication, the hay, the minerals and such, we can rehabilitate them and sell them," Heck said. "We think this can be a very viable business because nobody has done this before."
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