Don't Let a Few Dead Horses End Feral Gathers

By Jen Hill

Last week it was reported that well over 100 feral horses which had been removed from the range they had decimated and placed in holding in Canyon City, CO have died from Equine Flu. It’s not terribly surprising, as they weren’t properly vaccinated before being placed into a confinement setting. Any group of animals, feral of domestic, would eventually experience a similar outbreak. While I’ll never shed a single tear for these horses (I reserve those for the ranchers whose generational grounds have been completely destroyed by the invasive species) it does induce high levels of anxiety when considering the impact the flu might have on future gathers.

The horses impacted were initially gathered from the Sand Wash Basin and West Douglas herds in Colorado. I cannot call them Herd Management Areas because the West Douglas herd is not in one. Those horses were initially designated for total removal in the 1980, but that’s a story for another day.

Area ranchers, hunters and anyone with a shred of logic had been begging the BLM to gather excess horses for decades, continuously failing when the BLM is either stopped in court proceedings or only allowed to gather so few horses it makes no meaningful, lasting impact on rangeland health. Herd areas impacted by years of drought and fire finally created desperate enough circumstances in which the BLM was allowed to remove a sizeable number of horses last fall. By this spring’s growing season the range was already showing signs of marginal improvement, a success that local ranchers hoped could be magnified and expanded upon through future gathers and long term, meaningful horse population management. Unfortunately, it seems likely that the outcry of a mass of uninformed people over the loss of a few horses to the flu will create a culture that officially takes a zero gather stance.

What’s been truly disheartening in this story are the comments coming from within the rural community in support of unfettered wild horse populations running amuck on federal lands. Typically we see a decent level of understanding from rural Americans about this issue, but for unknown reasons that appears to be shifting. So, for those that haven’t had much exposure to the issue of feral horses, allow me to provide a little needed background.

The Wild and Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act was passed in 1971 designating specific areas of rangeland as Horse Management Areas. The Act also made it illegal to euthanize any wild horses or burros. The BLM estimates appropriate management level on the range to be 26,500 horses, however, there are now more than 80,000 wild horses on the range. Many of the management areas are incredibly rugged, making sterilization or birth control efforts almost impossible and with no natural predators the population continues to grow, despite the fact that the range cannot sustain them. Consequently the range has sustained sizeable damage.

Every other species on public lands is managed for population and grazing control; wildlife via hunting seasons and livestock via rotational grazing. Both are adjusted continuously in response to available resources. But the feral horses are a stand-alone, they have no population control and do not graze across large areas. As a result ranchers near or in HMA areas have lost a lot of grazing in the last few decades, either through the BLM reducing rates or simple common sense telling them there’s no point taking cows there because there’s just no grass. Of course, they still have to pay full price for those grazing permits as they are typically tied into a much larger agreement.

Wild horse advocates often argue that the feral horses are of Spanish Mustang decent, making them special. However, even that point has been proven false. DNA expert Dr. Cothran of Texas A&M studied the West Douglas herd, where some of these horses were gathered from, more than a decade ago and found no Spanish bloodlines present. Instead they come from ranch stock that escaped over the years, eventually breeding into their own herd. They are inbred with low genetic variety, and frankly not much to look at. The pictures you occasionally see of wild mustangs running across a green landscape, mane a-flowing are not these horses.

It’s well established that invasive species on any rangeland must be managed, especially one with no natural population controls. While it’s sad that some horses got the flu and didn’t survive it’s vital that we don’t fall prey to emotional claims about these horses. Instead we must support the BLM in any effort they make to gather horses and save the range. If there are concerns about what happens to those horses post gather then consider supporting a movement to lessen regulations on that very issue, allowing more adoption and humane slaughter in an effort to prevent needless suffering. But disallowing gathers and completely sacrificing rangeland health is certainly not a viable option for moving forward.