Horses Next, Horses Next!
By Jennifer Hill
Last week the story of feral cattle gunned down by the US Forest Service in New Mexico made national headlines. The estray cattle, estimated at around 200 head, are living on USFS lands that no longer allow grazing. Anyone who has spent much time in the rugged federal lands of the west knows that wild cow herds happen and the desire to keep them under control is nothing new. When it was announced that contractors had been hired to gather in the cattle but were unsuccessful those of us who’ve spent decades fighting to save the range health from feral horses in the vast federal lands of the west nodded and understood. In fact, there’s many parallels to the origination and subsequent issues with these cattle and the feral horse herds of the west, which is why I find the ranching community’s hysterical outcry annoying. Instead we should be using the story to springboard into a conversation about feral horses.
Yes, gunning down 200 cows and leaving them to rot is a waste of meat, and yes, it would’ve been nice if area cowboys had been given an opportunity to gather those cattle in and make a little money. These are all valid points. But we are missing the forest for the trees. Perhaps there’s an opportunity to use this media coverage to push the envelope on getting some of the feral horse herd populations under control, opening up a wider discussion about grazing, horse management areas and the need for population control with the public and the Bureau of Land Management. Can the treatment of these cattle be used to pressure the BLM to make some real inroads on the feral horse population? I mean, if it’s acceptable to thin out cow herds with lethal force, why not the more pervasive and damaging horses? Ranchers and Conservation Districts should be forcing the BLM to answer that question publicly and shine a light on the issue.
Another reason ranchers seem to be upset about the removal of the cattle is because the need for action was pushed by The Center for Biological Diversity who expressed concerns about the area being overgrazed and damaged, limiting the sustainability of other wildlife populations. If the Center for Biological Diversity wants to discuss range and wildlife damage from unmanaged grazing populations let’s have that conversation, but don’t leave out the horse! If hardline environmental activist groups are so willing to remove cattle in a very public and ruthless way we should force them to take a stance on the feral horses and declare why there’s a difference.
Many ranchers and westerners are concerned that a precedent has been set, but maybe that’s not all bad. Instead of wringing my hands and gnashing my teeth I’ll just be over here shouting “Horses next! Horses next!”