Richard Shell English 1010 Issue Exploration Project Dr.

Ashley Argyle November 29, 2013 The subject that I have chosen for my Issue Exploration Project is the wild horses of the West. The research for this work was extremely compelling, and shocking to me. As I sifted through the numerous opinions and facts, I was surprised to see how much political influence had on the fate of these horses. As with most political issues, the corruption runs deep with no oversight to keep it in check. My research involved following the money. This helped get to the core issues a great deal. The emotional roller coaster that this project set me on was disturbing. The reality for these animals is that many will be butchered and sent overseas for human consumption or cat food. When I read about this, I investigated public opinion in Europe and the far east about horse meat. This lead me to the discovery that in most counties I checked with, the consumption of horse meat was considered desirable. Our country seems to be in the minority when it comes to attitudes concerning eating horse meat. During my research, I found a recipe in an early Time magazine (1950,s) for preparing horse meat. When I interviewed other students, I discovered the opinions on this matter were extreme. Several people I talked to were shocked with the prospect of eating horses. Of the people I spoke with, several had no awareness of the plight of the Mustang. It reminded me of the when the U.S. government voted to tax Social Security. The people had no opportunity to vote on the issue. We now pay taxes on money that has already been taxed. I will start with the Bureau of land management which I will refer to as the BLM. This organization receives upwards of 74,000,000.00 in federal funds each year to manage wild horses and burros in the United States. The bureau has identified that 60% of these funds were used to herd, corral, and pen these animals. There are approximately 45 to 50 thousand of these animals in captivity being fed. The horse population has grown abnormally

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large, somewhat due to the government putting a bounty on the mountain lion. Beside man, the lion is the only natural predator for wild horses. This bounty was enacted to protect cattle and sheep which are allowed to graze on our public land. These large corporate ranchers have a great deal of influence on the political machine, due to financial contributions and other graft. The ranchers will earn approximately $1.37 per animal each month. The grass they eat on open range is free to them even though it belongs to us. The 20lbs. of grass a wild horse consumes each day is cutting into the food source for cattle and sheep. This reduces the rancher,s profit margin. Conversely, we have the animal rights activists and many other organizations too numerous to list, that are appalled at the way these horses are being treated. They talk of adoption, birth control and possibly creating a sanctuary for the horses on public land. Cheryl Asa, of the St. Louis Zoo in Missouri, stated that the best solution would be to round up the horses and treat them with contraceptives like PZP (Porcine zona pellucida). This requires forcing them into pens for injection, traumatizing them, only to require the process to be repeated again in 2yrs. According to a National Academy of Sciences report, only 500 to 1000 horses are treated and Released each year. It is essentially a token effort say NAS study co-author, Robert Garrot Of the University of Montana in Bozeman. Sale for slaughter is legal largely due to a bill in 2004 which essentially gutted protections. Don Glenn, head of the BLMs horse program, stated that the agencies best hope is to find the animals were adopted homes. This policy has had a lackluster success since 1979 when the policy was enacted. The number of adoptions dropped nearly 50% in the last 2 years. The director of the Mustang Heritage Foundation, Patti Colbert, said this was largely due to the newer generation of children wanting Nintendo instead of the horse. There is a general consensus that every year over 100,000 horses go unwanted. The American Association of Equine Practitioners have come out in favor of selling these horses into slaughter. They are basing it on the fact that its more humane because these animals would be otherwise neglected or abandoned. His organization opposed a federal ban on butchering horses for export. Until last year, the US accounted for

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exporting 26,000,000 pounds of horse meat equaling $40 million in sales. This made the US the 5th largest exporter of edible equine for that year. The wild Mustangs greatest hope for survival seems to be public awareness. When these animals were brought to the Americas in the 15th century by Spanish explorer, Cortez, no one could imagine that by 1900 they would be 2 million strong. History has proven that the horse was in the Americas before man. Now the Mustang seems to share the same fate as the American Buffalo if nothing is done to protect them. In India, the Cow is sacred and wanders the streets oblivious to any sort of danger while others of his species are regularly on the dinner table in other cultures. We Americans generally hold equines in high regard. Horses have played a key role in the settlement of the Western territories. Our culture romanticizes things like the pony express, the Indian pony, and the horses that pulled the plows to grow our food. Many authors have elevated the Mustang to an almost Regal status in the West. Movies like Dances with wolves, Open range, and other Westerns, elevated the horse to mans best friend status. The responsibility that the BLM is saddled with is Paramount. They are the brunt of the public outcry to save resources. One of the realities in our country is that many people go hungry in the United States even today. The Mustangs of the West have an uncertain future, but I cant help thinking that the hunger of our people should be taken as seriously. I am not saying that we should use these horses to help feed our people, but to see $40 million dollars of horse meat exported for-profit to some company or corporation seems ludicrous. Many say the horse symbolizes freedom, power, and beauty. The BLM is stuck in the middle trying to serve all masters. At a Roundup in September 1994 at least 5 horses died, several colts were separated from their mothers, and sick and injured animals were left to die. This is the kind of news that seems to negate all of the good work done by the BLM. They were looked on as cruel and murderous while at the same time they had over 40,000 Mustangs and burros being fed and cared for in their organization. There is not much argument over the lands ability to

Shell page 4 support these wild animals, but the cattle and sheep of greedy ranch corporations are deemed more important. In 1971, when the BLM suddenly found itself in charge of what some people called the largest horse breeding operation, they became responsible for the welfare and management of well over 100,000 animals. Like all government agencies, they have been scrutinized, criticized, and labeled by some as an evil uncaring organization. Through its painful inception, special interest groups of all shapes and forms have taken potshots at its efforts. With any agency, there is going to be a learning curve. When I 1st started researching this subject, a great deal of the information was criticism of the BLM. As I started to wade through great amounts of information, I found a lot of the criticism had little or no foundation. Several of the organizations that were crying Wolf! panned out to be special interest groups with some form of financial investment in the outcome of the BLM policy. Like the Rosebud Sioux tribe, many of the buyers of these Mustangs are not stating the exact nature of what they plan to do with these animals. In many of my resources this tribe was pointed out as less than forthcoming about what they planned to do with the horses. It is public record the majority of the horses bought by the Sioux tribe were sold to slaughter. My opinion of what has been done with these horses over the years has changed several times during the process of writing this paper. I remember when the federal government reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone Park in an effort to let nature balance in itself. Perhaps the mountain lion will share the fate of the wolves. We humans are always attempting to fix things and every time we have interfered with nature it has been disastrous. Our sense of entitlement was the downfall of the great American Buffalo. With what we have learned, the wild Mustangs of the West may not need to share a similar fate. In conclusion, I think humanity is running slightly ahead of greed with the mustangs. The BLM has had to write the rule book as they go, being the first organization of its kind. The grazing leases given to big business would be my first target to help the horses and all the indigenous animals of these areas. They deserve at least a level playing field to compete for the forage. One of the benefits that I will keep, after writing the mustangs story, is now I will

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keep this issue in my sight and monitor the progress made for the mustangs. With public awareness growing, these beautiful horses will be around for years to come.

Shell page 6 Works Cited Dokoupil, Tony. They Shoot Horses, Dont they? Newsweek 15 Oct. 2007: 86. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Oct. 2013

Bama, Lynne. Wild Horses: Do They Belong in the West? High Country News 1+. March 2nd 1998. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Oct. 2013

Sara Reardon. Whoa, How to rein in the US,s wild horses New Scientist, Reed Business Information, UK, LTD. 2013 EBSCO host

Moors,Debbie. Wild Horse Adoption. Computer Network Resources United States. Bureau of Land Management ISSN: 0018-5159

Feldman, Hilary. Not Everyone Loves Wild Horses. Odyssey. May/June2010, Vol. 19. Issue 5, p18-21

Carroll, James R. Killings of Wild Horses spark Outrage, Legislation. Courier/Journal Louisville, Kentucky. April 27, 2005

McLaren, Leah. Endangered U.S. Horses avoid slaughter: How the mustangs were saved: Canada welcomes equine refugees. Globe and Mail. Toronto, Canada. 29April 2005 Opposing Viewpoints in context Web. 28 Oct. 2013