Wild Horses: Analysis Of Issues And Novel Science-Supported Solution

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Is there a holistic solution for the plight of American wild horses that is both economically and ecologically sensible, and acceptable to a majority of stakeholders?

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A recent article at Reason , titled 'Predictably, Wild Horses Are Still Suffering Due to Federal Slaughter Ban' stated that,“Turns out that basing animal rights policy on the strong feelings of animal rights activists is not working out so well for the animals themselves”.

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While the title of the article seems to imply that America's wild horses would be better off if there was no ban on slaughter, the statement about the failure of emotionally driven efforts of activists is debatably correct.

The economic argument against slaughter is straight forward and compelling; each wild horse in worth $72,000.00 in a wildfire abatement role. And that thesis is clearly made in a 2-part feature series in the Medford Mail Tribune titled: 'What is the value of a wild horse'; Part-1, and Part-2

This leaves us with the arguments around the obsolete and misguided policies driving the mismanagement of American wild horses.

After decades of emotionally-driven efforts and tens of $-millions of donation dollars spent, America's wild horses are arguably worse-off today than anytime in the past 30-years.

A small band of native species American wild horses in a remote wilderness area. Photo courtesy William E. Simpson II

It's is truly sad to see the current plight of America's wild horses and burros today, which have suffered setback after setback since they were protected in 1971 by the Wild Burro & Horse Protection Act.

In the preamble to the Act, Congress states: 

“Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”

As we examine the history of wild horse management since the Act was codified by Congress, we clearly find that there has been government malfeasance in the caring for wild horses and burros under the Act. 

Some of the most important intentions of the Act were stated with these words:

“wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death”, as well as;

"as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands."

Wild horse advocates chasing horses around the landscape with compressed-gas-powered firearms and shooting them with heavy darts filled with chemicals is technically 'harassing' wild horses and arguably illegal under the 1971 Act!

Condoning such conduct against wild horses, even as a so-called band-aid, is engaging in willful ignorance and ignoring the solution that is truly the best one for the horses.

It's also shocking to learn that people working for and at the Bureau of Land Management ('BLM') and United States Forest Service ('USFS') have either condoned (by inaction) or participated in deeds that are diametrically opposed to the foregoing law, and have allowed or engaged in the 'capture, branding, harassment and death' of wild horses and burros . The evidence is staggeringly clear and would convict anyone of such violations in any just court of law.

During roundups, wild horses (and burros) are driven beyond their physical abilities, in many cases, some are dying from stress during or after the roundups. Foals literally run their hooves off, and some can't keep up and are lost, left behind for predators. Pregnant mares abort their unborn, some die from shock out on the range, some of these atrocities are concealed from the public.

Some atrocities are not, such as this BLM contractor helicopter ramming a fleeing burro, and a BLM contractor beating and punching a helpless little burro (the contractor was never prosecuted); VIDEO EVIDENCE :

Having seen just this one video of many available, it's no wonder that many people become emotionally driven to stop what may now be widespread abusive tactics in wild horse and burro management.

Clearly, today there are diametrically opposed forces that have faced-off in what some folks see as a type of 'war' , which has been and continues to be composed of many battles. Individual advocates and non-profit groups have faced-off against the government and each other at times. For instance, there are heated divides between pro-PZP and anti-PZP birth control measure for wild horses.

In another example, the wild horse and burro advocacy is aggressively opposing the advocacy for the livestock industry, which also has many supporting organizations who would like more cheap grazing rights on public lands. In the world of business, who could blame them? All businesses strive and compete to reduce the cost of goods produced, and in this instance, meat for the markets.

The competition for all land uses, both public and private has increased due to consumerism, and will continue in years to come. So, the future for wild horses and burros is under pressure, regardless of the 1971 Act. The government on the other hand has to answer (to some extent) to the people for how tax dollars are used, while also balancing demands on public resources and industry; not an easy task by any means, even in a perfect system, which we do not have.

Of course, then there is the competition for donation-dollars by non-profit organizations in regard to the wild horse and burro dilemma and controversy. It's just a fact that there are only so many donation-dollars available, and non-profits compete, at times quite aggressively, for that money. This alone creates divides in the advocacy, where each organization tries to create and maintain a higher 'status' in the eyes of potential and existing donors, which at times is done at the expense of other groups or people who are seen as possibly diverting, diluting or eliminating the need for funding. And there is an important distinction that needs to be made clear; there is a difference between non-profit activists, whose costs are not used for the direct rescue and long-term sanctuary for wild horses, and sanctuaries that have fixed costs for the long-term care for rescued wild horses and burros.

Some non-profit activists have a business model that includes keeping a token number of wild horses off the range in so-called sanctuaries, which are arguably window dressing for media opportunities and fund-raising purposes. Practically speaking; when thousands of wild horses are being cruelly rounded-up and at risk of slaughter, the other approximate 1-2% that are 'rescued' really isn't a game changer for wild horses, which are wildlife, and belong unfettered, wild and free on American wilderness landscapes.

It's important to note that thousands of jobs have evolved around the myriad of non-profits that address the wild horse and burro controversy, either directly or indirectly.

One important question that may be weighing-on some of these non-profits is; what happens if a holistic solution for all of the wild horses and burros was enacted tomorrow?

What happens to these non-profits and all the jobs that are based solely on the continuing plight of wild horses and burros? If such a holistic solution began tomorrow, do all these non-profit organizations happily declare the 'war is over' and go home like soldiers from a war?

If so, how do the people at these numerous organizations pay their own personal bills if they lose their employment, noble or not?

Making matters even more complicated; some non-profit organizations play both sides of the street, arguably to maintain cash-flow for their very survival.

Case in point; the non-profit wild horse organization Return To Freedom, which might be more aptly named 'return to confinement'…

According to an article by Debbie Coffey, V.P. & Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation:

“Sadly, as many of you know, Return to Freedom , ASPCA, HSUS , Humane Society Legislative Fund , and the little known American Mustang Foundation (formed by lobbyists in 2016), threw their hats in the ring with many pro-horse slaughter livestock industry organizations, including the National Cattlemen's Association, on a proposal titled “The Path Forward for Management of BLM's Wild Horses & Burros” that is really a road to extinction for America's wild horses & burros on public lands.”

And it seems that as the saying goes, a leopard never changes its spots, there is a public record showing that Return To Freedom has in the past been paid ($440,000.00) to roundup American wild horses, as evidenced in the online document below:

Even some ranchers who once raised cattle are cashing-in on the plight of American wild horses and are now making a very good living off the BLM by warehousing wild horses off-range, costing taxpayers $100-million annually!

The BLM is paying ranchers more than $100-million annually to house wild horses off-range, and is a serious waste of American tax dollars (one ranching family alone, the Drummond family , has already been paid $24-million by the BLM!).

What happens to these profiteers if a holistic solution were to be enacted tomorrow? Could they even go back to raising beef from scratch? Maybe not.

This herd of native wild horses in an alpine wilderness area on the Oregon-California border have lived harmoniously and symbiotically within the ecosystem for hundreds of years. The area nevertheless remains pristine. Photo courtesy William E. Simpson II

Roundups that use helicopters and other vehicles, force wild horses to flee for their lives randomly (abnormal behavioral in response to motorized roundups) across the landscape, and in the process of their desperately fleeing, they inadvertently trample threatened and endangered species of flora and fauna, as do other fleeing wildlife (deer, elk, etc.)

Caused by the BLM & USFS roundups, the trampling-damage affects the nests, crushing eggs of ground birds (sage grouse, quail, etc.)) and sometime the birds themselves, as well as numerous small mammals and reptiles (lizards, turtles, snakes, etc.), which are all crushed by the thundering hooves of escaping wild horses and other wildlife, all of which are running for their lives as helicopters (and motorized vehicles) disrupt the normal tranquility of the ecosystems subjected to what could be called a monetary-biased War on Nature.

These wide-scale roundups by the BLM and USFS are coupled with the systematic implementation of a combination of diabolical methods that are arguably designed to lead to genetic erosion and loss of genetic diversity, leading to the ultimate extinction of free-roaming native species American wild horses...

The draconian methods currently being used by the BLM, USFS and their cronies, include these;

1) Reducing breeding populations so low (less than 200 breeding adults in a herd) as to induce in-breeding and loss of genetic vigor.

Just one of many examples: Mr. Shane Jefferies, Forest Supervisor for the Ochoco National Forest (USFS) in Oregon claimed that the 'appropriate management level' ('AML') for native-species American wild horses in the Big Summit Wild Horse Territory of the Ochoco National Forest is about “12 - 57 wild horses ”.

“The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recommends that wild horse herds should contain a minimum of 150–200 animals.” (BLM Handbook at 22).

The foregoing BLM herd management information was confirmed in a comprehensive report (page 28 ) presented to the National Academy of Sciences Committee to 'Review the Management of Wild Horses and Burros', by Animal Welfare Institute.

So, as we see, the USFS (and the BLM) are managing wild horses in conflict with their own guidelines. In fact, in over half of the Herd Management Areas (HMAs), wild horses are intentionally being managed with populations of 50 or less wild horses, thus assuring inbreeding and ultimate genetic failure. Such management is inconsistent with the 1971 Act; and,

2) Castration of stallions , which results in the loss of genetic diversity (we don't even know which alleles are responsible for the resistance that wild horses have to Chronic Wasting Disease), and this also interferes with evolved evolutionary competition for breeding rights (survival of the fittest); and,

3) Chemical interventions (PZP & GonaCon) which interrupt critical social structures in family bands (matriarch mares lose status and their intuitive knowledge for survival is lost to family bands; some mares become infertile, etc. Darting wild horses with chemical contraceptives , as some of wild horse organizations lobbying legislators want to do, is not ecologically correct and it disintermediates evolutionary processes.

4) Wild horses are being shot to death by people now embolden by what seems to be an 'open season' on wild horses by the BLM and USFS, resulting from what the public sees as a total disregard for the value of these sentient beings by these government agencies.

5) The BLM even has the audacity to propose using an outdated procedure known as“ ovariectomy via colpotomy ,” where a metal rod-like tool is blindly inserted through a vaginal incision in order to sever and remove the ovaries of wild mares while they remain conscious!

The government agencies (DOI, BLM, USDA, USFS) which are arguably influenced by money and politics around public land livestock grazing, are devastating the remaining populations of the relatively few (based on genetic diversity) remaining American wild horses....

The BLM is still engaged in an ongoing campaign of 'willful ignorance' and 'campaign of misinformation' via their ongoing propagation of manifestly false statements, including but not limited to:

"Wild horses have no natural predators..." This is a false statement promoted by the BLM (and now widely repeated).

This false and misleading statement appears on Page 1, Executive Summary, paragraph 5 in the so-called management plan presented to Congress; 'Report To Congress - Management Options For A Sustainable Wild Horse And Burro Program'.

Only a corrupted agency would manage a wildlife resource with a fabrication as the core premise for radical arbitrary population reductions.

It's a well-known scientific and common-knowledge fact that: All north American apex predators (mountain lions, bears, wolves and coyotes) are the evolved natural predators of wild horses and burros.

We need to restore ecological-balance and the trophic cascades in areas where that is still possible in the remaining remote wilderness areas, where the American wild horse is a critical keystone-species large-herbivore, as is the case in many ecosystems.

In business, when any solution to any issue is contemplated, the process involves analyzing the current state of the art, pointing out (criticizing) the weaknesses or places where improvement can be made, and finally, offering a potentially better solution or product.

History shows anyone who will look; after 46-years since the passage of the Act to protect the wild horses and burros in America, the advocacy, as it is, has not achieved what is needed; a final holistic solution acceptable to a majority of all stakeholders that works for the livestock industry, and also saves wild horses and burros from mismanagement and the resulting atrocities we have all witnessed over the few past decades.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems with that documented history leading to where we are today with horses in America facing slaughter, advocates would surely embrace any solution that offered hope for the horses and burros? Shockingly and sadly, there are some non-profit activists and their supporters who are more about the fight and process, than a final positive result.

There is a proven, natural method for managing America's wild horses, that is cash-positive for taxpayers .

A family band of native wild horses symbiotically grazed-in a fire-break and reduced wildfire fuels, protecting a remote old-growth wilderness forest. Photo courtesy William E. Simpson II

The solution is called the Natural Wildfire Abatement And Forest Protection Plan (aka: Wild Horse Fire Brigade).

The Wild Horse Fire Brigade plan basically works by rewilding (currently confined wild horses) and humanely relocating wild horses as family bands from areas where they are in conflict with livestock interests, and into economically and ecologically appropriate wilderness areas, where they symbiotically reduce critical levels of wildfire fuels and in the process, reseed native species flora, benefiting both the flora and coevolved fauna that are dependent upon such native flora.

A family of wild horses cleaning wildfire fuels off the floor of a remote wilderness forest. Photo courtesy William E. Simpson II

One adult wild horse eats about 30-35 pounds of dry grass and brush daily. So, for instance; if 40,000 horses were released into carefully selected wilderness areas that would not conflict with grazing permits, those areas would without any doubt have less ground fuel (grasses and brush), with a reduction rate of 1.2-million pounds of fuels abated daily.

Wild horses can traverse the most rugged terrain and symbiotically reduce wildfire fuels in such areas. Photo: courtesy William E. Simpson II

Less fuel means less fire, and less fire means less fire suppression and related costs. This is the essence of the Wild Horse Fire Brigade concept as described further in this article : 'Fighting wildfires with wild horses – an untapped equine fire brigade'.

In the Pagosa Daily Press article, I discuss a most interesting connection that I stumbled upon when studying the decline of deer populations in western states in relation to the increase in catastrophic wildfires. The decline of large-bodied herbivores and resulting evolution of catastrophic wildfire is presented in a peer-reviewed published study by Dr. William J. Ripple (et. al.), professor of forestry, Oregon State University, titled; Collapse of the world's largest herbivores:

"By altering the quantity and distribution of fuel supplies, large herbivores can shape the frequency, intensity, and spatial distribution of fires across a landscape”.

The mismanagement of apex predators combined with the prion-based Chronic Wasting Disease ('CWD') is likely involved in the plummeting deer population of California. This thesis and the plan to solve the dilemma (Wild Horse Fire Brigade) are supported in a Letter from the Prion Research Center in Fort Collins Colorado.

And unlike cattle, sheep and cervids (deer, elk and moose), native species American wild horses are conveniently immune to prions (CWD), which are believed to be transmitted into cervids via contaminated grass and brush, causing CWD. And when these prions manifest in cattle, it is called 'mad-cow' disease.

As we begin to see, excess grass and brush is the genesis for much more than just catastrophic wildfire.

Could it be that wild horses, which evolved in North America , developed their immunity through an evolutionary process as a part of their mutualism with grasses and other animals? I think this could explain their natural immunity. And since prions are a toxin, it is believed their ability to infect cervids (and potentially cattle) may be dose related.

Did pre-industrial equid (wild horses) evolutionary mutualisms play a role in limiting excess grasses and brush? That much seems very likely.

If we are being objective and even-handed in our critical observations; the record proves that in addition to being an invasive species , cattle and sheep have over the past two centuries done extensive damage to our American range and forest lands.

Here's an excerpt from one article on grazing rights by Thomas L. Fleischner, Ph.D.

“The most severe vegetation changes of the last 5400 years occurred during the past 200 years. The nature and timing of these changes suggest that they were primarily caused by 19th-century open-land sheep and cattle ranching.”

My revelation about mitigating the potential spread of CWD using wild horses and burros benefits the $10-billion annual hunting industry in America. And when combined with the Wild Horse Fire Brigade plan, the monetary savings to the BLM and the insurance industry provides benefits to many stakeholders. The list of benefits is worth repeating!

BLM Medford Oregon District Manager Elizabeth Berghard (right) and Lauren Brown (left) manager Cascade Siskiyou National Monument standing by a lightening struck snag that burned furiously, yet the fire didn't spread to other fuels thanks to fuels reduction by grazing wild horses. Photo courtesy William E. Simpson II

Harnessing the natural abilities of wild horses to once again serve nature and mankind, instead of killing them as the BLM and USFS is doing, is the smart move.

Features and benefits of appropriate rewilding and relocation of wild horses and burros:

Reduce losses due to catastrophic wildfire, including but not limited to;

The losses due to catastrophic wildfire are facilitated via the reduction of prodigious grass and brush wildfire fuels in wilderness areas that are economically and ecologically appropriate for wild horse and burro grazing, but are economically unsuited for livestock grazing due to increased livestock production costs related to logistics of livestock transportation and management in remote and rugged terrain (motorized vehicles are prohibited in Wilderness Areas) combined with substantial apex predator populations; and,

(2) Increase grazing allotments in HMAs for livestock production via the elimination wild horses and burros from many existing HMAs, ending grazing conflicts; and,

(3) Reduce the need for prescribed burning and mechanized fuel abatement in remote wilderness areas; and,

(4) Reduce costs for aerial and ground fire attack in remote wilderness areas, thereby increasing available fire suppression assets for other areas; and,

(5) Reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from catastrophic wildfire and prescribed burning; and,

(6) Reduce costs related to particulate pollution from wildfires and prescribed burning into atmosphere and subsequent additional health impacts and costs added to those of catastrophic wildfire; and,

(7) Reduce costs related to rounding up and storing American native wild horses and related litigation costs; and,

(8) Reduce insured and uninsured losses due to catastrophic wildfire and increased costs for homeowner's wildfire insurance; and,

(9) Immediately begin mitigating the massive depletion of megafauna (deer and elk) in the western United States over the last five decades which has caused the excessive overgrowth of ground fuels by employing available native species large-bodied herbivore (E. Caballus – American wild horse); and,

(10) Help reduce prion pathogens found on forage that's causing the spread of CWD (chronic wasting disease) and death in cervids (elk, deer, moose) by grazing wild horses. The wild horse is the only large mammal/herbivore left in the U.S. that is resistant to prion disease, which is known as 'mad-cow' or BSE in cattle , scrapies in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) disease in humans; and

(11) Add valuable humus to forest and fire damaged soils and disperse the undigested seeds of native flora for re-germination by grazing wild horses; and,

(12) Reduce the billions of tons of cabon-monoxide greenhouse gases that are now produced annually from catastrophic wildfires in America by wilderness grazing of prodigious wildfire fuels, thereby preventing the combustion of those vegetative fuels and instead, sequestering carbon compounds back into the soils . This process helps to slow climate change.

The current American wild horse management paradigm is an economic and ecological failure. And the wild horse advocacy has had virtually no meaningful effect on the plight of American wild horses, and they have offered no plan that is genetically, ecologically or economically sustainable that allows wild horses to truly be 'wild and free' as is the intention of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Burro And Horse Protection Act.

There is proven plan called the Wild Horse Fire Brigade that can provide a naturally sustainable, cost-effective solution to a majority of all the stakeholders that is beneficial and humane for wild horses (and burros) and the wilderness ecosystems that can be assigned to them.

About the author:

William E. Simpson II is a naturalist/rancher living among and studying native species American wild horses. He is recognized expert on wild horses and their management by numerous county and federal officials. Mr. Simpson is the author of two published books and more than 100 published articles on subjects related to wild horses, wildlife, wildfire, and public land (forest) management. He has appeared on NBC NEWS, ABC NEWS, theDoveTV and has been a guest on numerous talk radio shows including the Lars Larson Show, the Bill Meyer Show, and on NPR Jefferson Public Radio.

Updated on Aug 22, 2021, 1:38 pm

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