A group dedicated to the welfare of United States wild horses has
slammed the management of wild
horses in Nevada.
"Today, the Cattlemen's
Association has a stranglehold on
the rangelands for a mere $US1.35
per animal unit, which is around 25
to 30 acres per animal," said Ray
Field, executive director of the
Wild Horse Foundation.
"Wild horses can no longer
roam the wild and free land that
once was the wild west and
rightfully their territory," he
said.
"Big business has run the wild
horses into the ground where no
longer you can see them unless
you're in a private facility like
the Wild Horse Foundation."
The group was to this week
receive what it said could be the
last wild horses removed the
Virginia Range in Nevada.
The horses are quickly
vanishing off the Nevada horizon
with the help of agriculture
officials, he said.
More than 30,000 wild horses
and burros are now held in
containment facilities, roughly
equivalent to the number still
estimated to roam the western
rangelands.
The number of captive horses
is threatening to overwhelm the
Bureau of Land Management's (BLM)
budget and there has been serious
discussion about euthanizing animals
considered unadoptable, or easing
sale limitations which would open
the door to slaughter buyers.
Seventy-two per cent all wild
horses live in Nevada.
Field was critical of the
threat now posed to the wild horses
and said horses had historically
been blamed unfairly for diminishing
vegetation and had "suffered
tremendously as a result".
Cattlemen illegally grazing on
federal lands without permits were
more likely responsible.
"Under the current plan, the
state of Nevada and BLM have totally
disregarded the obligations of the
law in its Wild Horse and Burro Act
to protect the wild horses.
"Only the wild horses are
counted on these range lands; not
elk, caribou, sheep, cattle or any
other natural grazer," he said.
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