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by FOX35News-Mornings from Lake Mary, FL

Last Post 15 hours Ago


Attention animal lovers ... this will pull at your heart strings.

Faced with too many wild horses on the range and in holding facilities, federal officials are considering drastic policy changes that include ending roundups and euthanizing animals.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Henri Bisson said Monday there is an overpopulation of wild horses on public lands and the agency can no longer afford to care for the numbers of mustangs that have been rounded up. The number of horses adopted by the public has dropped off, leaving the BLM with more animals than it can care for, he said.

Caring for so many animals is crippling the agency's budget, Bisson said.

Last year about $22 million of the entire horse program's $39 million budget was spent on holding horses in agency pens. Next year the costs are projected to grow to $26 million with an overall budget that is being trimmed to $37 million, Bisson said.

Continuing current practices would require a budget of $58 million next year, escalating to $77 million in 2012, BLM estimated.


 Do you think it's right to kill these animals? 

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Member Comments Total Comments: 22
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thewizard read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 7:21 AM

As someone who is very much involved in horse rescue, I hate to see this happening.

However, culling the herds to keep down their numbers, because no one wants to adopt them, is a lot better than letting them eat all of the food that they have available and watching them slowly starve to death.

In fact, I think it might be a better idea to get some effort going to get more money to the places where they're kept.

A lot of people love horses

oldvamp read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 7:46 AM

If we can spend billions on the illegals, why not give them each one horse and point them in the direction of the border. Problem solved!

DeborahLakeHelen read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 8:38 AM

Okay, tell the whole story, now! MOST of these horses WILL BE ADOPTED! Those that ARE euthanized, will be ones that are severely injured or sick. (lame, eye injuries-happens all the time in the wild-, myriad of other injuries horses get that don't have regular veterinary care- such as Eastern or Western Equine-Encephalitis (difficult to treat-usually fatal) Many cattle ranchers still use Mustangs, because they're so "quick on their feet" meaning they're very fast and agile, an attribute helpful in rounding up and penning cows, sheep, goats and other "herd" animals. Others will be adopted by private individuals, who will keep them for pleasure horses, to love and spoil, like I do MINE!

DeborahLakeHelen read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 8:41 AM

P.S. What Wizard said is 100% true also! (Kinda like the point I've been trying to make about deer, bear and 'gator hunting- only horses don't kill people like bears & gators do!)

AlwaysFelysha read my blog
Jul 1, 2008 | 8:54 AM

It's not right, they should live. They will be abopted! LET THEM LIVE PLEASE. -Felysha

BornToBeWild read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 8:56 AM

THEY HAD BETTER NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT KILLING ANY OF THESE BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS!!! NATIVE AMERICANS UNITE!!!

rottweiler7575 read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 9:45 AM

OldVamp I like the way you think. I hate to see any animal put to sleep(other than people), but it is better than starving to death.. It does make them Stronger if they weed out the sick & weak, as we all know the food supply is very limited in most of the areas our fine government has set aside for them. Again we can spend BILLIONS on ILLEGALS and not a penny on these Beautiful animals

RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 9:48 AM

BTBW ...you know as well as I do that the only way to save them is for all of us to adopt them . Sorry to all you tree-huggers but horses are NOT native animals they are in fact imported domestic animals and as such must be cared for...it is sad but it is the same as our problem with cat/dog over population ...you have to do what you have to do. Will all of you be so fast to cry about the next culling of pigs at the land fill ? Same thing , when the population gets to large all the animals suffer...I would love to let them all live but I do not want to see them starve to death !

RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 9:50 AM

Deb/Wiz so do it ! Donate some money but don't let the government set new taxes to expand the program ...how many hundreds (thousands ?) of acres do you think we should set aside for them ? And how many millions should we spend ?

BornToBeWild read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 10:38 AM

Horses lived in North America in prehistoric times, but died out at the end of the last ice age around 10-12,000 years ago, possibly due to climate change or the impact of newly-arrived human hunters. Horses returned to the Americas by the Conquistadors, beginning when Columbus imported horses from Spain to the West Indies on his second voyage in 1493. They returned to the mainland with the arrival of Cortés in 1519.

The first Mustangs descended from Iberian horses brought to Mexico and Florida. Most of these horses were of Andalusian, Arabian and Barb ancestry. Some of these horses escaped or were stolen by Native Americans, and rapidly spread throughout western North America.

Native Americans quickly adopted the horse as a primary means of transportation. Interestingly, in light of the horse's prehistoric existence in the Americas, many Indian myths and stories about the arrival of horses claimed that "the grass remembered" them. Horses replaced the dog as a travois puller and greatly improved success in battles, trade, and hunts, particularly buffalo hunts. And so it should be again!

BornToBeWild read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 10:51 AM

Historically, many of the Indian tribes bred their horses carefully to improve them for their purposes. Among the most capable horse-breeding people of North America were the Comanche, the Shoshoni, and the Nez Perce. The latter in particular became master horse breeders, and developed one of the first truly American breeds: the Appaloosa. Most other tribes did not practice extensive amounts of selective breeding, though they sought out desirable horses through capture, trade and theft, and quickly traded away or otherwise eliminated those with undesirable traits.

Controversy surrounds the presence of feral Mustang herds. Supporters ague that Mustangs are part of the natural heritage of the American West, whose history predates modern land use practices, and thus the animals have an inherent right of inhabitation. However, other people remain vehemently opposed to their presence, arguing that the animals degrade rangeland and compete with livestock and wild species for forage.

Researchers note that most current Mustang herds live in arid areas which cattle cannot fully utilize due to the lack of water sources. Horses are better adapted by evolutionary biology to such climates; they may range nine times as far from water sources as cattle, traveling as much as 50 miles a day. This allows them to utilize areas not grazed by cattle. In addition, horses are "hindgut fermenters," meaning that they digest nutrients by means of the cecum rather than by a multi-chambered stomach. In practical effect, horses can obtain adequate nutrition from poorer forage than can cattle, sur

BornToBeWild read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 10:51 AM

surviving in areas where cattle will starve.

BornToBeWild read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 10:56 AM

Most horses that are captured are offered for adoption to individuals or groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care after payment of an adoption fee that ranges from $25 to $125. In order to prevent the later sale of mustangs as horse meat, adopted mustangs are still protected under the Act, and cannot be sold in the first year except when certain very specific criteria are met.

Due to the fact that there is a much larger pool of captured horses than of prospective adoptive owners, in January 2005, a controversial amendment was attached to an appropriation bill before the United States Congress by former Senator Conrad Burns, dubbed the "Burns rider." This modified the adoption program to allow the sale (with the result usually being slaughter) of captured horses that are "more than 10 years of age", or that were "offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least 3 times." In the 110th Congress, legislation was introduced to have the rider repealed and the original language restored. The matter passed the House and as of mid-2008 still awaits action in the Senate.

Georgies-Girl read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 5:47 PM

For anyone who is REALLY interested in saving these beautiful horses, here is a link where they are more involved then the government is in doing just that.

http://www.nmhp.org/

These people are buying and catching the horses they can and transporting them to a site in New Mexico. I found this site some time ago. Anyone can donate to it, or they can go there and spend time DOING!

Georgies-Girl read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 5:52 PM

I copied the goals of the New Mexico Horse Project, and I am posting them here:

New Mexican Wild Horse Project

Purpose, Goals & Mission
Our Mission:


The New Mexican Wild Horse Project brings together key individuals that love wild horses for the purpose of promoting healthy herds, enhancing & protecting their habitat and encouraging community involvement.
To Protect and Preserve.

Goals:

1. To locate and DNA test, all free-range horses in New Mexico and surrounding regions that appear to be similar to those that have been tested and proven to be New Mexicans.

2. To research and archive the history of the horse in the United States of America and Canada.

3.To establish preserves where these animals that are proven to be New Mexicans may live and prosper as free animals without interference from human intervention.

4. To share this information, as requested, with individuals or groups that share the same goals as those of the
New Mexican Wild Horse Project.

5. To reestablish this breed of horse and its descendants in the United States and throughout the world.



The project is concerned only with the preservation and protection of the breed.

These horses will never be sold.


I think this says it all!

DeborahLakeHelen read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 7:44 PM

Hey, RNC, before you jump my train, I said that some of them will have to be euthanized due to injuries and sickness, others will be adopted. It's ALL part of the "Management" program! Don't forget I'm big on "Proper Management," hunting included. With these horses, the story is being blown out of proportion, just like every year with the Chincoteague Ponies in Virginia/Maryland. MOST of them are saved, the ones that ARE put down, are put down for their own good.

RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 2, 2008 | 8:56 AM

Sorry I know you are level headed Deb ..you know who I am yelling at and why. People who want to “save the world” but never get up off their butt and expect some one els to do all the work, it just drives me nuts that so many people will say how sad it is but not be willing t do anything...making a difference of “change” as THEY say starts at home !
All I can think of is the “great victory” environmentalist had in New York state over hunters , and the horror of my one day drive across that state recently ...I lost count in the first 2 hours when I had seen over 80 dead dear on the high way it was like a slasher film every car had blood on it . So I asked at a truck stop (while I was washing my windshield) what was going on and I was told that they have not allowed hunting in the past 10 years so now the dear are over running everything including eating 1/3 of the total agricultural crop of the whole state every year ...great job New York !

RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 2, 2008 | 8:58 AM

Breed GG ? LOL well at least you did not say “natural habitat” that would have gotten me going all over again!

DeborahLakeHelen read my blog view my photos
Jul 3, 2008 | 9:34 AM

RNC, same danged thing down here with the bears and gators! I guess a few more people have to be eaten by gators, and a few more bears slaughtered on the highways, before they have a "real" hunting season. (the Sept-Oct hunting season for gators, with its 275.00 price tag for a license is ludicrous- it should be year-round and 25.00!) Of course, no bear huntin'- yet.

RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 3, 2008 | 12:00 PM

O don't even get me started on the gators ! We can't get permits to hunt them so all summer long highway 50 is a mine field of dead gators ! It is sickening ...and if you even stop and pick one of them up to move it off the road you can get a $5000 fine for touching it . And when one comes in my yard (or the wal mart parking lot LOL) I am legally allowed to shoot it dead BUT if I catch it and call a trapper to relocate it or just take it to the river myself I can face jail time for “interfering with its life” ...eco-freaks are clueless!

RNC08 read my blog view my photos
Jul 3, 2008 | 12:00 PM

Don't see a lot of bears over here but I am sad to how many die each year on I-4 ...

silverfox06 read my blog view my photos
Jul 3, 2008 | 12:03 PM

WHY DOESN'T THE GOVERNMENT CUT OFF ALL THE FREE PROGRAMS TO THE ILLEGAL ALIENS IN THIS COUNTRY THAT COST US A NICE $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR, AND SPEND IT ON THE HORSES.I'D RATHER SEE MY TAX DOLLAR SPENT THAT WAY INSTEAD ON THE ILLEGAL'S

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