Tuesday, July 08, 2008
OVERRUN U.S. FEDERAL AGENCY SAYS EUTHANASIA AN OPTION
Overrun U. S. federal agency says euthanasia an option
By MARY VALLIS, National Post Published: Tuesday, July 08, 2008
The spirit of America has long been symbolized by the wild horses that
gallop across its plains, so much so that the federal government enacted
legislation to protect them back in the ‘70s.
But now, the very agency charged with protecting wild horses is threatening
to kill them, saying an overpopulation of horses and a lack of funds are
making its task nearly impossible.
The U. S. Bureau of Land Management says rising fuel and hay costs are
making it nearly impossible to round up and care for mustangs that would not
otherwise survive on public land. The agency says it is now “exploring
options” to address the problem, including selling the horses to any and all
willing buyers - and, for the first time, euthanizing the ones no one wants.
“Frankly, we’re desperate,” said JoLynn Worley, a bureau spokeswoman in
Nevada, which has more wild horses than any other state. Euthanization is
not a popular option, but the agency is looking at all available means to
solve its problems, she added. The agency’s National Wild Horse and Burro
Advisory Board is expected to weigh its options at an meeting this fall.
Wild horse advocates are outraged, saying the land management bureau is
proving to be the horses’ greatest threat. Animal protection groups met in
Washington, D. C., yesterday to discuss their legal and political options,
as well as a public campaign to save the horses.
“These horses are living symbols of this country,” said Virginie Parant of
the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. She alleges that the bureau
is using euthanization as a threat to strong-arm Congress into giving it
more money.
“They’re holding our horses hostage . They have a gun pointed to the horses’
heads, saying, ‘We need more money or else.’ “
According to the national Bureau of Land Management, about 33,000 wild
horses and burros roam the federal lands it manages in the western United
States - nearly 6,000 more than it claims the land can sustain. Ongoing
droughts in the West make it difficult for wild horses to survive on their
own because they cannot find enough food or water.
In 1971, the United States introduced the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and
Burros Act, which declared the animals “living symbols of the historic and
pioneering spirit of the West” that should be protected from “harassment or
death.” The Bureau of Land Management took over responsibility for
protecting the horses. The agency now routinely rounds up wild horses and
takes them to pastures in Kansas and Oklahoma, where they wait for adoption
or live out their days, sometimes spending as much as 25 years at the
federally funded holding facilities. As of last month, the federal bureau
was paying for more than 30,000 “excess” wild horses to be cared for and
fed.
Some horse lovers take in mustangs and train them as work or riding horses,
while others are turned loose on private ranges. The agency also donates
horses to a national competition called Extreme Mustang Makeover, in which
they have 100 days to train mustangs and then compete for a US$50,000 prize
in Texas. Some trainers adopt their animals afterwards.
In 1971, the United States declared wild horses “living symbols of the
historic and pioneering spirit of the West” that should be protected.
____________ _________ ____
But adoption rates were down 16% in 2007 from 2005, while its transportation
and feeding costs have increased US$4-million in the last year. Horses that
are not adopted have been living indefinitely on the taxpayers’ dime. The
agency predicts it will need US$44-million for its wild horse program;
Congress has only allocated US$37-million. By 2012, costs could spiral as
high as US$77-million, the Bureau of Land Management warns.
Wild horse advocates say the problem is largely of the agency’s own making
through bad management. They argue the federal bureau panders to private
interests by loaning out too much public land to private ranchers, who let
livestock roam where wild horses could run free.
“If they think they can get away with slaughtering all these horses to help
private ranchers overgraze the public land, they’re sadly mistaken,” warned
Dr. John Grandy, senior vice-president for wildlife and habitat protection
with the Humane Society of the United States.
The best way to manage wild horses is no management at all, others say.
“The Bureau of Land Management has been very good at misleading the American
people over the last decade on this issue,” said Chris Heyde, deputy
director of government and legal affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute.
“These are wild animals that have survived magnificently in the wild on
their own. They don’t need human intervention, “ he said.
With virtually no natural predators, herds of wild horses can double in size
every four years, according to the land management bureau. The animals
reproduce so quickly that they can quickly outstrip the natural resources
available to them, said Bob Conrad, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of
Conservation.
“They are magnificent animals,” he said. “It’s also devastating on the other
end when you go to one of these sites and you see these horses - some just
literally falling over right in front of you because of lack of forage, or
lack of water. It’s a fairly common occurrence if they’re not rounded up.”
Ms. Worley, the bureau spokeswoman in Nevada, said the federal agency
carefully factors in the influence of livestock permits and other land uses,
including mining and recreation, when calculating how many wild horses its
land can sustain.
The agency is also considering selling off wild horses “without limitation,”
another available option. Under the proposed rule change, however, the
federal bureau could sell hundreds of horses at a time without asking any
questions about where they will wind up. (Until now, the agency has sold
larger groups of 20 or 50 wild horses to single buyers - but first making
sure they sign a document promising they will not sell the horses for
slaughter.)
That means the United States’ wild horses could wind up at Canadian
slaughterhouses. Court cases shut down the last three U. S. abattoirs last
year, so thousands of horses are purchased by “kill buyers” and shipped to
Canada and Mexico for slaughter.
Yet Ms. Worley was quick to point out the measures being considered do not
apply to all wild horses.
“There will always be wild horses on public lands managed by the Bureau of
Land Management,” she stressed.
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Posted by Debra Lopez on 07/08 at 01:52 PM
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