Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Horses AGAIN.

"Wild" horses are back at it making our lives miserable. There is currently a gather going on South of here. They are scheduled to remove 2000 head from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area. The area is only supposed to have ~500 head of "wild" horses and burros in it. People are throwing a fit!

Lets not let out smart our common sense here. As I have said before- I love horses. BUT! There are three times as many out there that are supposed to be. If I as a rancher turned out 3x as many cattle as what was supposed to be in my allotment- there would be court battles, fines, and prosecution. The agency is able to do it because the "public" that small majority that is loud enough to be heard wants them there. The "public" doesn't know anything about range and tend to live in a metropolis where they can go to Wal-Mart without driving 2 hours.

I don't understand how the agencies can let "public" dictate there decisions, until I talked with the Natural Resources consultant from this area. He spoke with our senator. She said she has meeting at least twice a week with wild horse advocates. Since last year she has only had two meetings with people that are in favor of removing "wild" horses to maintain Herd Management Levels. Those numbers which were scientifically researched to determine the carrying capacity of the range.

Science vs. Emotion rears it's ugly head again. Thanks Walt Disney. You just made it harder to feed this country.

2 comments:

  1. I love horses, currently own 3 and have had up to 10, but I don't understand all the emotional attachment to FERAL horses??????? They are not WILD (indigenous) and are quite often inbred and destructive to the environment that they tend to overpopulate.

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  2. Exactly Nowhere. But movies like Spirit and Wild Horse Annie have memorialized these jug heads.

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