The fate of wild horses and burros, icons of the American frontier, continues to darken as their numbers dwindle and a proposal is considered that might move tens of thousands of them to Canada or Mexico where animal advocates say they are at even greater risk of sale to slaughter houses -- a risk they also face in the United States.
Karen Sussman, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, based in Lantry, S.D. said in 1974, there 68,000 wild horses roaming the Great Plains. "Now we have less than 30,000 and we expect in another ten years there will be even less," Sussman told United Press International.
"We have less horses now than we have in 1971 when the act was passed and that's pretty frightening," Sussman said.
That act is the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which gave the BLM jurisdiction over protecting these animals. Prior to 1971, wild horses and burros were killed indiscriminately. Animal advocates say the BLM has failed to guard the horses, and in fact, claim the agency is making the problem worse. Numerous lawsuits have been filed over the years challenging BLM's actions, including its horse adoption program and a report stating the BLM had given false information to Congress back in 1997.
The animals are protected on public lands, which are maintained by federal tax dollars, but BLM agents conduct sweeps throughout the Western states, rounding up wild horses to control the population and prevent overcrowding. Ranchers have complained the animals compromise the environment by leaving little vegetation for roaming cattle to eat.
"They believe the horses and burros have a negative impact on the range lands," Michael Markarian, executive vice president for the Fund for Animals, told UPI. "They allow millions of cattle to graze on these lands. With millions of cattle on these lands, we certainly have room for these horses. We believe it's largely pressure from the livestock industry. They want to be able to graze their cattle at cheap prices at the expense of the government."
"Our responsibilities cover so many diverse activities," BLM spokeswoman Celia Boddington told UPI. "It's our job to provide balanced use of the land."
Thousands of these horses and burros end up being penned on BLM-managed holding facilities. To offset the cost of maintaining all of these restrained wild animals, the BLM offered individuals the chance to adopt them. Boddington says from 1972 to 2000, over 175,000 horses were placed into adoption. "That's a success story by any measure," she said.
However, some individuals took those adopted animals, horse advocates say, and sold them to slaughter at a profit. How many were slaughtered is unknown.
"Many of them end up in slaughterhouses," Markarian said. "The BLM adoption program has just been fraught with abuses since its inception."
Steve Sederwall, currently the mayor of Capitan, N.M. and a federal agent for the BLM until 1995, said the agency "just wanted to move those horses" and even claimed BLM employees would adopt animals that were then sent to slaughter. Sederwall says people could adopt a horse for $125 and get paid 90 cents per pound by a slaughterhouse on a 1,000-pound animal or $900.
"That's a pretty good return on your money," Sederwall told UPI.
Not all wild horse activists believe the adoption program is a totally wrong approach. Sussman said she believes in the adoption program if it is carried out properly so that the horse is indeed protected and able to live out its natural life under the care of those who initiated the adoption. "
"It has tremendous good potential to be a superb program, it's just that I think the BLM really have to believe in the program," Sussman said. "But I think the upper echelons in the BLM, the people in Washington, I don't think they have the concern for the adoption program as those in the fields."
In 1997, animal advocates fought successfully to get the BLM adoption papers to include language that would prohibit animals being sold to slaughter. Despite placing this barrier between the horses and the slaughterhouse, these wild creatures are still in jeopardy and could end up being butchered in Canada or Mexico, said Andrea Lococo, the Rocky Mountain Coordinator for the Fund for Animals.
A proposal to move 10,0000 horses and burros to Mexico circulated at an August 2002 BLM advisory board meeting Lococo attended in Denver.
Merle Edsall, an American rancher living in Sonora, Mexico is pushing for adoption of what's known as the Sonora Wild Horse Project.
"The BLM requested we provide a sanctuary which would pasture 10,000 horses after attempts to provide a facility of this size in the States proved futile," Edsall told UPI. "We have identified a pristine area which has ample land and water for such a large project. Mexico provides the setting for an economically viable project which will have no long term costs to the taxpayer." A decision on the Wild Horse Sonora Project is still pending.
While Edsall said this project would serve as a sanctuary and even be open to tourists, animal welfare activists worry the horses will fall prey to Mexico's lax slaughtering laws.
Once those animals cross the border, Lococo explained, the BLM has no authority over their well-being.
"We know Mexico has a very active slaughter industry as does Canada," Lococo said. She added that moving the horses is not necessary.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out here we are talking about removing a few thousand of wild horses and burros...and here on the same land we have millions of cattle and sheep," Lococo told UPI livestock consume up to 90 percent of the forage on public lands.
Congress is looking to do something to protect the horses and burros. When new members of the 108th Congress reconvene in January, legislators are expected to take up the issue of wild horses and how best to prevent a grisly fate both here in the U.S. and internationally. In February 2002, Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md. introduced the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, but she lost her seat in the November elections. A few key lawmakers -- Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is also considering a run for the presidency in 2004, and Senators Peter Fitzgerald,R-Ill, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., -- have voiced interest in resurrecting the bill, according to Chris Heyde, policy analyst for the Society for Animal Protective Legislation in Washington, D.C.
During times of ever-spreading drought and urban development, animal advocates argue the wild horses are in need of more protection. A decreasing population means a weaker gene pool, which could place the animals at greater risk for disease. Some question whether the wild horse will fade from icon to myth as its numbers continue to drop.
Sussman said she's cautiously optimistic. "I still hold hope," she said. Eventually, people "will wake up to the absolute magnificence of these wild horses."
