More Details on That 30K Horse Adoption Plan
The Washington Post has published more details about Mrs. T. Boone Pickens' plan to take responsibility for the 30,000 BLM horses currently being held and fed in pens, at taxpayers' expense.
Read the followup story here.
Labels: Pickens
posted by Juli Thorson @ 10:29 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Well good for them!
Seems like they do have a sensible plan, sterilize them and send them out to live out their natural days. I think that is a good plan...
I am glad to hear that they actually have leads on land for the horses and a plan for managing them.
Much better than what the article seemed indicate yesterday which was they were getting the horses first and finding the land would come second.
I am glad the horses are being helped, they are part of our history and should be preserved. I hope the BLM can come up with a sensible plan that is fair to the mustangs (who were there first!) for the future.
wriOkay - Love the idea of further possible adoption and of course sterilization. Something the BLM should be doing themselves to the ones in the wild to control the population so they don't have to round up the horses and adopt them out. IS there some real reason why they can't do this?? It would save millions upon millions of dollars.
Don't know if I like the "horses will live out their lives naturally part." Part of a horse living it's life out naturally means starving to death when their teeth become too sharp to eat. Being eaten alive by a Mountain lion after breaking a leg and dragging that around for a week. Wouldn't that be a sight to see by tourists? "Look Mommy that one is being followed by the big kitty!" It's alot of reality for the public to stomach.
If its natural for a horse to starve to death how can we hold hoarders responsible for "accidentally" doing to it their horses? When there is a bad year and the range grass dries up and 15,000 starve to death how is that any better than Miss "I need another horse" not buying a truck load of feed for them? Just because they are "wild" that makes it ok? Because those horses are turned out on way more land? They are not deer, we have had a hand in their fate for 25,000 years now...
(for this topic I am mainly referring to US Mustangs - don't blast me on how well wild herds of Icelandic Ponies do - that's another breed [one more adapted to living in the wild I might add] , another country, and another issue for a different day)
I'm not trying to go all PeTA nuts on ya all - I'm just saying its not as simple as "we'll let the horse live out their lives naturally". People hear that, think all is good and fine and never give those horses a second thought. 5 years later you hear 15,000 horses starved to death from a bad Nevada winter and the entire country is up in arms! That's why exactly why the BLM rounds horses up tries to adopt them out. So they don't starve death out on the range.
This way if the worst happens the government can say "It's not my fault." If it never happens and she cares for the horses, trims their feet, vaccinates them, floats their teeth and feeds them through bad winters - well then I guess I am concerned for nothing.
My only question is does she really think that the older horses will die at the same rate to be replaced by incoming new ones? If they are being well cared for, I would imagine that they would live long, healthy lives and then they would end up with more horses than they originally imagined. I would like to see more research into decreasing fertility of the wild ones so they aren't producing lots of foals that don't have anywhere to go.
As usual, good intentions usually pave the way to hell. The problem is so vast, that I think the solution now will end up being just a band-aid. There are many variables that haven't been addressed- I would love to see something like this work, but I am doubtful. Pie in the sky is usually just that- unreachable.
In any outcome the horses are going to suffer- some quickly, some slowly. And it still won't ever be enough.
just be happy someone is doing something. just think positive thoughts and believe in the possibilities
yes we can
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