Our country was built on the backs of mustangs and burros.
Literally.
Soldiers rode them into battle. Native Americans honored them. They ploughed farmers' fields, hauled wagons to all corners of the country, laid our train tracks, carried precious resources, and so much more. All the while, providing companionship, safety and security to their humans–regardless of how they were treated in return.
But as the wars ended and the industrial revolution took hold, mustangs and burros were no longer needed, their jobs replaced by cars, trains and men running machines on factory assembly lines. Wild equines no longer served as beasts of burden–they served no purpose to man at all–so they were abandoned on the range.
THE PLIGHT OF THE WILD HORSES AND BURROS
As they were no longer being captured for war and work, their populations surged, and they quickly found themselves facing yet another dark fate at the hands of man–slaughter.
‘Mustanging’ became a lucrative business, with mustangs and burros being rounded up by any means necessary and sold to the highest bidder, only to be killed for dog food, fertilizer and leather.
They were brutally chased down by trucks and airplanes, trapped in valleys, tricked into drinking from poisoned water holes, tied to one another, dragged—whatever it took to get them loaded onto trailers and shipped to the slaughterhouse for processing. It was horrific, malicious, and inhumane.
THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT
And the majority of Americans agreed, which is why in 1971 the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed. The Act was created to protect wild equines from abuse, capture and slaughter and permanently recognize them as, “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”
It requires they be managed humanely on public lands in ecological balance.
“All management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level, and shall be designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation, and shall be carried out in the most humane manner possible.”
-Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, Public Law 92-195, Section 3(b).
Unfortunately, the Act did not define “minimal feasible level” or “ecological balance” or “humane” or anything for that matter. This has allowed for vast misinterpretation of when or how wild equine numbers should be managed.
That vagueness left room for multiple interpretations, later defined by federal regulations, agency policies, and court rulings. This is why the current methods used by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) can legally persist even though many believe they violate the spirit the Act intended.
You may also note the language referencing “deterioration” of the land. This is key to the wild horse and burro dilemma as the most commonly cited reason for a roundup is lack of forage and/or water.
The BLM will claim that these wild equines are at risk for starvation or dehydration, and hope the public believe they are actually protecting these animals by capturing them and placing them in holding corrals. That the loss of their freedom is the cost for access to food and water.
This is not the whole truth though, as mustangs and burros are outnumbered by livestock on public lands by more than 20–1. There are roughly 1.5 to 2 million cattle and sheep grazing the same federal lands as about only 73,000 wild equids.
How can it be the horses and burros fault that forage it low? Simple math and common sense say otherwise.
In fact, many range ecologists, government auditors, and even former BLM employees have acknowledged that private livestock grazing accounts for the vast majority of forage use and range degradation on public lands.
The BLM’s own data show that wild equines occupy less than 12% of all Federal rangelands where livestock are permitted, yet they are blamed disproportionately for overgrazing. It is simply not true, and hence, not fair.
A VICIOUS CYCLE
Even so, these are the excuses used to justify wild horse and burro removals. Population numbers are managed mostly by brutal helicopter roundups, where even foals and the elderly are run for hours in hot weather, cruelly separated from their families and hauled to government holding facilities. Once wild and free, now forever locked behind fences and at the will of humans. It is a tragedy and a disgrace, and most definitely not what the 1971 Act intended.
What we have seen over the past 50 years is a cascade of bad decisions, poor budgeting and an inability to try something new, which has led to a cyclical mess with no real solution in sight.
Because, while roundups bring populations down for a time, the lack of focus on fertility control means the numbers will rebound. Larger populations lead to more roundups, roundups lead to overcrowding in government facilities and failed adoptions, and eventually, for some, lead to the slaughter pipeline.
Without thoughtful Congressional intervention, this cycle will continue indefinitely, sacrificing our beloved mustangs and burros.
This is why our long-term mandate at MMBS is to educate the public to advocate for real change at the Federal level.
This is where we can have the most lasting impact for the future welfare of wild equines.
VIOLENT HELICOPTER ROUNDUPS
Cruelly run for hours in summer heat, they are terrified and exhausted, many are injured, foals can't keep up, and there are inevitable deaths.
WILD EQUINES ARE BEING CHASED OFF THEIR LAND
The land promised to wild horses and burros has shrunk by 41% (more than 15 million acres). Amendments to the 1971 Act allow the government to remove wild horses deemed ‘excess’ in the name of 'population control.'
LOADING AND TRANSPORT TO SHORT-TERM CORRALS
Forced into tightly packed trailers, something they have never experienced, leading to more desperation and more injuries.
Death rates post-capture are an average of 12%.
TRAP PEN AND SORTING
Driven into small pens, they are separated from family and deprived of food and water. Panic and terror set in - and injuries result.
TEMPORARY HOLDING FACILITIES
Families are torn apart, and freedom is lost.
If they survive injury, illness and death, one of three things happens next...
1.
2.
Entails one year of federal oversight often yielding good results, but after one year they are titled and become private property, and then anything is possible...
They made it to a good home!
Many mustangs and burros do hit
the jackpot and live out their days in wonderful homes.
SALE AUTHORITY
Horses older than 10 or with 3 failed adoption opportunities (and recently even some yearlings) can be sold with no oversight for $25, immediately becoming private property and almost always funneled into the auction system which, for untrained horses, usually leads to the slaughter pipeline.
Sadly, this is the fate of too many of our wild horses and burros who were supposedly protected by Federal law.
The reality is that since wild equines are not domesticated, many well-intended people are not equipped to house them safely, which can be difficult or dangerous, for both horse and human; and they end up rehomed, sold, or sent to auction.
TO CONFINE RATHER THAN CONSERVE
It costs $50,000 to warehouse each horse for life–that is a staggering $3 billion in taxpayer dollars.
3.
Moved to pasture without their family in often over crowded pens with minimal vet care and zero stimulation, invisible to the public yet funded by taxpayers, there is no chance of getting out, they will die here.
There are over 60,000 wild equines languishing in long-term holding.
THE END.
