Last Friday, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board decided to utilize euthanasia to kill 45,000 wild horses currently captive in federal government holding centers throughout the US. The choice has come under extreme criticism by organizations who argue for utilizing contraception to minimize population growth, as an alternative.
Over the last Twenty Years, the BLM has actually been assembling and removing wild horses from their natural environment in the interest of allowing privately owned livestocks to graze on the land. What they have experienced ever since is the unsustainable financial problem of keeping the horses alive in their facilities- $49 million in 2015, alone- and the job of coming up with an alternative option.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released a declaration condemning the decision, expressing, “The decision of the BLM advisory board to recommend the destruction of the 45,000 wild horses presently in holding centers is a complete abdication of obligation for their care. The firm would not remain in this situation however for their long-lasting mis-management. Alternatives to this proposition have actually been overlooked for over Twenty Years.”
In June, a conference for the house Subcommittee on Federal Lands spoke with California Congressman Tom McClintock (R), who suggested that wild horses are overpopulated. Ginger Kathrens, director of The Cloud Foundation, explained, “Present management practices of round-up, elimination and warehousing … trigger offsetting recreation- a boost in populations as an outcome of decreased competition for forage.” To puts it simply, there would not be a rise in wild horses if the BLM had not removed most of them from their land, in the very first place.
The HSUS is requiring alternative fertility control programs to decrease population development. According to Ms. Kathrens, “Livestock outnumber horses and burros 47 to 1, and livestock are assigned 82 percent of the forage,” recommending the genuine issue lies with the choice to use the land for raising cattle and calling into question the requirement for continuing the practice.
Source : http://deprogramyourself.org