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Celebrities Oppose US Government Plan to Move 25,000 Mustangs East
US government plans to round up as many as 25,000 mustangs and move the horses, symbol of the Wild West, further east have prompted a bitter row with an alliance of conservationists and celebrities.
Federal officials claim mustang numbers are growing so rapidly that there could be mass starvation due to a shortage of forage in the drought-plagued region.
In this Sunday, July 13, 2009 photo, a helicopter pilot rounds up wild horses from the Fox & Lake Herd Management Area in Washoe County, Nev. Dozens of wild horse advocates plan to go before a federal advisory panel here on Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 to try to persuade public land managers to change their plan to relocate thousands of free-roaming mustangs from the West to preserves elsewhere.
(AP Photo/Brad Horn) Having rejected a mass cull, Ken Salazar, the US Interior Secretary, favours a plan to move thousands of wild horses and burros, or feral donkeys, to the Midwest and eastern United States.
In a hearing this week near Reno, Nevada, members of the US Bureau of Land Management clashed with dozens of wild horse advocates who say the proposal is cruel and unnecessary.
The roundup - which would use helicopters to drive the mustangs towards and cowboys wielding lassos - has been attacked by a string of Hollywood stars including the singer Sheryl Crow, actors Ed Harris and Lily Tomlin, and the comedian Bill Maher.
The government's opponents claim officials have inflated mustang numbers so they can open up public land in the 10 affected states to development.
They argue that the mustangs are an integral part of the west's ecosystem and that using helicopters to round them up - before they can be lassoed - could traumatise, injure and even kill the animals.
At the Reno hearing, campaigners asked the bureau's national horse and burro advisory board to impose a moratorium on roundups pending an independent audit of mustang numbers.
Crow, who owns mustangs, said she had spoken to Mr Salazar about the roundup plans.
"One of the first things he said was something must be done because the horses are starving. We don't believe it," she said.
Mustangs have been a deeply controversial issue in the American West for decades.
Ranchers have long seen them as a menace to their land and were allowed to kill them until 1971 when it was made illegal.
Prompted by a public outcry, Congress granted mustangs federal protection as "living symbols of the historical and pioneer spirit of the West".
Federal officials say there are nearly 37,000 mustangs and burros on public land in the west, half of them in Nevada and 10,000 more than they feel is sustainable.
A further 34,000 live in government corrals and pastures which are nearly full.
Left unchecked, mustang herds can double in size every four years. The government has tried using a contraceptive vaccine but injecting individual mares proved too expensive.
Robin Lohse, the board's chairman, said it would make a recommendation next year but at least two of his colleagues expressed support for Mr Salazar's plan, saying it was cost-effective and efficient.
"We are concerned about the numbers. Time is not on our side," said Mr Lohse.
Terri Farley, the author of a popular series of children's books about mustangs, claimed the Salazar plan could lead to them becoming extinct in the wild.
"Children will grow up to believe wild horses were like unicorns, existing only in stories," she said.
17 Comments so far
Show AllSalazar Lies Lies Lies.
The horses are fat and healthy here and the government is reducing the herds to such small sizes ( as in less than 100) even on lands set aside just for the Mustangs, that they will no longer be viable as breeding herds.
Even in this picture you can see the horses are not thin
The contraceptive darts are cheap.
To contact people darting and saving these healthy horses go to www.skymountainwild.org
Its all about cattle and oil and gas leases.
The government needs to totally destroy the Mustang herds so nothing can prevent the fossil fuel fools from drilling.
A continuation of the total plundering of the USA by corporations.
Happy Holy Days
The Wild Horse is an interesting case. While horses roamed North America long ago, they went extinct. The mention that they are an integral part of the ecosystem ignores the fact that they are an introduced species and rarely does an introduced species not create havoc.
The Horse IMHO is one of those exceptions and ideally suited to the ecosystem in the West.
Now Americans do not eat horsemeat so there no "Profit" in allowing them to roam. I find it interesting that they can be concerned about forage and the ecosystem while on one hand there some 80 million cattle and feedlots scattered across the west and where tens of thousands of acres of land are plowed up just to make fodder for those same cattle on the other.
There an interesting dynamic at play here. The reason there 80 million cattle in the USA is because people eat them. Their future as a species guaranteed. There only room enough for 37000 horses because the people will not eat them. The problem once again, is we can not see the use of a species if it does not provide a benefit to the species called MAN. So we get rid of it.
As Glenn Ford suggests Salazar LIES when he claims this to ensure the horses do not starve . I do wish a Government would just be honest about the reasons they enact a given policy. It seems this something that beyond their capabilities.
Let them be. There land aplenty and they are a beautiful creature in the Wilds.
Well Said GWNorth:...here is something else to look at the cattle that is bred in this country is not indigenous to North America, they are breeds that came over from the European nations.
The breed that was indigenous was the Buffalo. But in order to get the indigenous people{Native Americans}under control they took away their food source.
Ken Salazar is an abomination as Interior Secretary. He advocates killing any animal just for the asking for corporate interests.
Wolves, bobcats, coyotes, bears, horses, anything and everything at all.
Now brace yourself. Apparently he's considering trapping and gassing cats in several US metro areas because they allegedly go after songbirds and he's concerned about the drop in songbird populations. Frankly, this has to be a ruse for killing off feral cats instead of promoting trap, neuter, and release programs. He just
wants to kill them off, period. There was little info on this when it was first announced about three months ago, but now it's impossible to find anything out. His decision will surely be made in secret. That weasel doesn't want to deal with any public outcry.
Salazar has zero compassion or respect for animals of every kind.
He's the Sarah Palin of the lower 48.
BYW, the reason songbird populations are in delince is not becasue of cats. It's from habitat loss, over devlopment, and industry pollution. Maybe Salazar should get off his greedy blood drenched knees and read "Silent Spring", for starters.
Considering SAlazar is a member of "The Family" he considers himself superior to most people, so he certainly feels he has a right to kill any animal he wants. Another Fascist pick by Obama.
I would venture that feral cats are not the main enemies of songbirds. Deforestation and habitat destruction, use of herbicides and insecticides, and the ascendency of hardy and aggressive species such as cowbirds probably contribute far more to songbird devasation than feral cats. So let's trap and gas lumberjacks, Monsanto executives, suburban developers.
As far as the horses go, I completely support an independent audit of their numbers and hunger issues. It's sad to say that I have little confidence in information from the government. There are so often hidden agendas to serve contributors.
Joe
Glass surfaces kill huge numbers of birds, think glass skyscaper.
"Apparently he's considering trapping and gassing cats in several US metro areas"
He's just trying to create more jobs. Get rid of the majority of feral cats in the cities and you'll create a bunch of jobs - for rat catchers.
This is nothing but an attempted landgrab - by the state for the benefit of ranchers, developers and corporations. That's not exactly new in American history - but we get to see it in action now. As glenn ford said below, it's just a "continuation of the total plundering of the USA by corporations". GwNorth points to the other factor: "The problem once again, is we cannot see the use of a species if it does not provide a benefit to the species called MAN." Not only that, certain species that have always lived on these lands are actually viewed as a hindrance to the other species - MAN - starting with the buffalo (kill the buffalo, wipe out the native Indian), the wolf - because the ranchers saw them as a competitor, and so on. It's really a miracle to have even whatever 'wilderness' there is.
These greedy "corporate cowboys" manipulate the government to get rid of animals that impede the growth of their industry, be it the mustang, the wolf, etc. But then when the price of their livestock meat or dairy cows' milk suddenly drops, they resort to killing the very livestock they are supposed to "protect."
In this case it is more about getting oil and gas leases on protected Mustang range.
But, you are correct, only the more enlightened cattlemen share the range.
This is stealing power. The power of wild things, the truth. That power is within you and you recognize it when you see it.
"The government has tried using a contraceptive vaccine but injecting individual mares proved too expensive."
have they considered condoms?
My friends are darting them, it is inexpensive.
People protecting the Mustangs can be found at www.skymountainwild.org
One thing I noticed with this thread is that the coasts need to bridge the gap with the interior west in order to build a strong populist movement.
Uniting, farmers, ranchers and bluecollar workers has always been the heart of a USA populist movement
What I notice here is that people are so far removed from the natural world that they no longer think outside of thier ideological world. Until this is more than a theoretical pre-extinction event it will remove people from another aspect of thier nature. It is the animal spirit that has the answer. People protect what they care about.
Nations and people should learn to mind their own goddamn business.
Yet another example of how inhumane and immoral the thirst for profit and Corporations are.
When a culture only respects money and power this is the result.
Disgusting.