Wild Horses should be Wild
Anyone who knows anything about Wild Horses and Burros has heard the recent news that Madeleine Pickens has reported to garner agreement from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to move 1,000 captive wild horses from long term holding to an “Eco-Sanctuary” environment with the remaining 38,000+ to follow. Ms. Pickens should be applauded for her efforts but while she moves 1,000 altered Wild Horses to private land the BLM will strip from public land several thousand more and put them behind bars. Doesn’t speak highly of the BLM’s level of commitment to a solution, does it?
Although we want to see all of the horses out of their BLM prisons a declared moratorium on the process of using bad numbers, junk science and political motives as excuses to steal America’s mustangs from their rightful land should be a component to these negotiations and an eventual solution. Without a moratorium on the roundups, to give time for a full accounting of actual Wild Horse and Burro numbers, we are just pumping more horses into a cruel situation while gutting the taxpayer’s pocketbooks.
In reality, we are giving a spoon full of medicine to treat a symptom while the cancer continues to ravage the body; outside of giving a little comfort it does not change the inevitable outcome of the sickness’s progression and the “Eco-Sanctuary” will not stop the BLM’s decimation of the wild horses from their native homes.
Personally, I do not trust the management of the BLM as for decades they have been attempting to destroy the wild horses and burros of this great nation. It was just two short years ago when this same agency wanted to kill all of the horses that they had in long term holding; a leopard does not change his spots that quickly.
This is not an act of benevolence on the part of the BLM but an excuse and a device to distract the public outrage as the BLM “Wild Horse Harvesting Machine” continues its consumption of all of the wild horses from their rightful homes. 12,000 horses this year added to the existing 38,000 and 11,000 more stampeded into oblivion next year. Do the math and being that we do not have an accurate accounting of what is really out there, the end of the American Wild Horse draws nearer with each passing day.
Madeleine’s news will be good news to the horses that are in BLM concentration camps but it will do nothing to stop the BLM from continuing its assault upon our national icon. The only way to slow this down and stop the deadly stampedes is to chant the mantra of “Moratorium”; repeat it loud and often, the madness has to stop so that true science, compassion and ethical management can be applied to the saving of our last few, true, wild horses.
What we need, today, is a moratorium; that would be something to truly celebrate about.
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