Mustangs, the Federal Government and Poor Planning
Do you like horses? I have a real
soft spot for big horses: Clydesdales, Shires, Belgians, etc., but I’m frankly
afraid of them. They are big and stupid
and man or beast that is a bad combination.
Scientifically, there is a
legitimate debate about whether America North
America in the Eocene epoch and were widespread by the
Pleistocene, they left North American some 10,000 years ago. They were returned to these shores by the
Spanish explorers. Once lost, stolen or
strayed onto the grasslands of their ancestors, horses thrived. They were soon adopted for use by the Native
Americans, dramatically changing both their lives and social structure.
As the Great
Plains filled up with ranchers and farmers, the mystique of the
Mustangs dropped precipitously. These
horses were seen as a nuisance and competition for scarce resources. They were hunted, killed and frequently
abused. Hard times produce hard people
and hard treatment.
By 1971 the wild horses
that many people associated with our heritage were on the verge of
extinction. That was when Velma Johnson,
better known as, “Wild Horse Annie,” got involved. With a compelling story of lost freedom, she
got Congress to pass the, “Wild, Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of
1971.” The Bureau of Land Management was
given control of the mustangs and land was provided for the free range of these
animals.
This should be a happy ending, but, as with much
that the Federal government tries to do (why can’t they just stick to the
basics?), they didn’t think things through.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions—and Federal
bureaucrats. Good people saw a romantic
animal hunted to the brink of extinction and thought they could fix it by
stopping the hunt. People were so
focused on death they couldn’t spare a moment to think about birth. Horses are good breeders. And as it stands now, the predators that used
to keep them in check—bears, wolves, mountain lions—simple don’t exist on the
lands given to the horses.
The
BLM is now in charge of 40,000 wild horses ranging over 10 states where they
are facing increasing shortages of food and water. The sight of a mustang running free is one
thing; the sight of a starving, parasite infested, mangy squib is something else. Of course, there are the usual solutions and
they have been tried. Wild horses can be
adopted, but there are a finite number of adoptable families and that vein has
been mined out. The BLM has tried birth
control with very limited success. I
guess it is hard for a one toed ungulate to get those little pills out of the
container, and everyone knows you can not get a stallion to use a condom! The only practical solution is to shoot some
of them.
Enter
the nut squad, stage left. People who
can only see one side of the problem are positive wild horses should never,
ever be killed. They offer no solutions,
mind you. They don’t seem to mind having
the horses starve to death, but God forbid we give them a swift, humane death
and leave the carcass to refresh the land.
This
is what happens when people—well meaning people—don’t look at the big
picture. There is no action without a
reaction. There is no choice without a
consequence. There is no such thing as
micro-management, and you can NOT accomplish vast goals with half-vast plans.
Think
it through and keep the faith.
Comments