By BARBARA SIMPSON
Just this past week, in wandering through the Internet, I had occasion to see a couple of old Hollywood movies about the West — the Wild West days of cowboys. Aside from the fiction of the films, what I really enjoyed was seeing scenes of wild horses running freely across the plains. The strength and the beauty of those wild running creatures captured my heart and my imagination.
Then the movies ended, and I had time to reflect on the situation facing those horses today. The reality of it brought me to tears.
I suspect most people today don’t realize there still are wild horses on the plains in the Western states. We are so used to seeing development of businesses, housing, and roads and cars. The whole idea of a “wild west” in the minds of most city-folk is just an imaginary part of the past. But that isn’t so.
There are free-ranging wild horses and burros today, but their numbers are dwindling. While once there were hundreds of thousands of them, it’s estimated that today there are fewer than 86,000 left. But that’s just a guesstimate. No one knows the exact number, but it’s in the thousands and their future isn’t pretty. In fact, the wild horses and burros are in danger of not surviving at all.
There are these animals on federal land as well as on private, state, and tribal land across the West. The government alleges that the horses destroy federal land, but it discounts the damage to that same land by herds of privately owned cattle and other livestock. The government regards the horses as “pests” that must be removed.
The federal government is legally supposed to protect these animals. That’s according to the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 but in fact, it is engaging in cruel roundups of the animals. The intent is to eventually get all of them in captivity.
What happens to them after that is a subject of controversy and it’s not pretty.
If you think the “round-ups” you saw in Western movies is what is going on today — forget it. The feds have gone “high-tech” — sort of. They use planes and helicopters, swooping in close to the ground, frightening the herds, injuring many, and separating families and crowding them into holding pens.
Some of the animals are transferred to farms, back East, where they are literally put in “horse storage,” often until they die. Others can be purchased by people who supposedly, and hopefully, will give them good homes but many more are sent to auctions to be sold. Unfortunately, for many, after those auctions, they ultimately will be sent to slaughterhouses in Canada or Mexico for their meat.
So much for protecting our wild horses.
One of the biggest problems facing Western states and their wild horse herds is that there is no legal structure in place to enable them to control the animals. There are reports of horses wandering onto private property looking for food and water. Often the animals are injured. Area residents often feed the animals at their own expense but that is not a good solution to the problem.
New Mexico is one of the states dealing with a growing wild horse problem. As reported in Stateline.org, Democratic State Sen. Brenda McKenna is one of several legislators who are sponsoring a bill close the legal gap. It’s hoped it would be voted on next year. She added, that “the situation is simply not sustainable the way it is now.”
The measure would give the state and counties the power to manage the wild herds as well as setting up funding for food, veterinary care, birth control, and relocations of the animals. Potentially, it would be administered through a new state agency.
It’s not a sure thing, however. Republican State Sen. Pat Woods is also backing the legislation. But, he said, he’s been trying to change state law around the wild horses for six years to no avail. He noted, “When it comes to wild horses, opinions get heated.”
Somehow, I suspect that’s an understatement.
Previous proposals would have allowed the state to auction the horses, but animal rights advocates worried about the potential for them to be sent to slaughter.
Another area of disagreement is the definition of wild horses: Are they “livestock” or “nuisance animals”?
Then there’s the opposition from private landowners. Many of them feel the proposal would not keep the wild horses off their property or keep them off highways, where many get hit and killed by vehicle traffic.
These concerns are not just from New Mexico. Many Western states face the same issues and deal with the same objections to the various proposals as to dealing with the animals.
The head of the Bureau of Land Management is Tracy Stone-Manning, newly appointed by the Biden administration. How she will handle this problem remains to be seen. From what I have seen, she has a lot on her agenda — with no indication where the wild horse issue will be addressed.
There are ten Western states where wild horses can be found: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. The problems with the horses in each state are similar in many ways, but the attitude of local politicians varies.
Apparently, there is agreement on a couple of issues concerning the wild horses — that wild horse populations are continuing to grow and that fertility controls for them are needed.
Lawmakers in New Mexico have invited different groups to get together to try to hammer out a compromise to give local officials and organizations the authority and tools they need to do the job.
How that works out remains to be seen, but at least they are attempting to find a solution to the problem. In addition, there are several humane rescue groups dedicated to helping the horses.
All of that is good. According to Pat Woods, “These horses cannot survive here until we do something.”
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