Posted on 07/18/2009 10:09:47 AM PDT by jessduntno
The outlook may still be grim for thousands of wild horses and burros, despite a rescue measure passed Friday by the House. It would give the wild animals millions more acres to roam, and spare them from the possibility of slaughter.
But there's no similar bill in the Senate and that doesn't bode well for final passage.
There are an estimated 36,000 wild horses and burros in ten Western states. Federal officials believe that's about 9,400 more than can exist in balance with other rangeland resources. More than 31,000 others are being cared for in corrals and pastures.
The Interior Department announced last year it might have to kill thousands of healthy wild horses and burros to deal with the growing population, a move that WV Congressman Nick Rahall strongly opposed.
During House debate, Republicans dismissed the rescue measure as welfare for horses, at a time when people are in need. One GOP lawmaker says the effort to save the horses is based on "emotion and not science."
(Excerpt) Read more at whsv.com ...
Producer Jake says: I guess I need a slap in the face because clearly I'm going crazy, or at least that's what I assumed when I read this earlier today. Guess where 700 Million of your dollars are heading...if you guessed to WILD HORSES (as I'm sure you did) you would be correct. The House Democrats are pushing the “Restore Our American Mustangs Act” (H.R.1018), which would create a new $700 million welfare program for wild horses. Is this really what you thought the stimulus was for? I bet everyone who comments on this could think of at least one area where the "Stimulus" money is better suited other than promoting horse contraceptives.
Beckley Office 301 Prince St., Beckley, WV 25801 (304) 252-5000
Bluefield Office 601 Federal St., Room 1005 Bluefield, WV 24701 (304) 325-6222
Huntington Office 845 Fifth Ave. Huntington, WV 25701 (304) 522-6425
Logan Office 220 Dingess St. Logan, WV 25601 (304) 752-4934
Washington Office 2307 Rayburn HOB Washington,DC 20515 (202) 225-3452
http://www.rahall.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=9§iontree=9
don’;t they round these horses up and the sell them?
I live in FL and heard that Ocala was maybe a place where they are taken and you can buy them ?
Do you know anything about this
Someone needs to explain this one to me. Thomas lists this as H.R. 1018, which makes it a House Resolution. How can a House Resolution have a cost of $700 million? Wouldn’t it have to be a H.B. (House Bill)?
I don’t think the BLM has the authority to sell these horses. So they end up in these “holding facilities.” The whole situation is a mess, and just another example of our government “at work.”
I think this is called POSTURING.
You pass the resolution, which means you want to do something.
Oh Well.
Seriously, these horses are just a silly government cost. As for selling them most are suitable only for glue and dog food.
There are plenty of decent horses being dumped right now. People can’t afford to feed them.
The big con job on America. Our Congress is stealing this money for themselves and their political supporters; pure and simple.
1. The goverment determines that wild horses are "over-grazing" the land.
2. The government rounds-up the wild horses and places them in pens.
3. The government leases the "over-grazed" land (for pennies) to ranchers so they can graze their cattle.
4. The horses pile up until the government determines it is wasting money by caring for them.
Remember, the government closed our domestic horse-slaughtering facilities (I think I recall), so the horses need to be shipped to Mexico in order to be made into glue or dog food, and then shipped back here.
No, rudeboy, they do sell them, there are just more of them than there is demand. The babies and younger horses are easier to place than the older ones that will be harder to train, and have a much more limited pool potential buyers.
Basically, not just anyone is well prepared to adopt a fully adult wild horse. They need safe transport in a stock type trailer, and they need to be able to be unloaded into a small pen that is tall, strong, and safe. No wire fences, no beginners.
In this economy there are lots of horses that are easier to handle, healthier, and better bred, for not very much money. So they sit in pens.
I’m of ‘nuanced’ sentiment on the mustang issue.
The problem will then take care of itself.
Actually, now that I think about it, I know someone who has a American Mustang (now fully-trained). I’ll have to ask her how she got him.
How about making this a win-win proposition for the public/taxpayer?
Sell the extra horses & ponies to the zoo’s. Lions and tigers have to eat something.
interesting and thank you to you both.
I’ve been looking into getting a horse and came across something about these round ups.
course if anyone knows any more info especially about buying horse, TN walker especially I am all ears so to speak
does sound like a mess
thank you
That works too. The French like horse meat. I bet the ChiComs would eat it too.
could you let me know please on any info you pick up
Sounds like they need nearly a billion dollars for better PR then. These self feeding government ‘situations’ always look bad with honest perspective. How long have they been rounding up horses? and where are they at? (or have gone)
ok, later
Mustangs are not generally what a first time horse buyer should get. They take a skill to handle.
I would worry about the outcome of conservatives in the USA if I were you and quit worrying about a bunch of horses. Put your energy where it counts: In countering Bozo and the boys, else you may find your self out grazing with the horses in order to survive.
I’ll try to find a level-headed analysis of this situation and get back to you. Problem is . . . well, let’s just say that Dennis Kucinich is a co-sponsor of H.R. 1018. Need I say more?
I’m as big a fan of Marguerite Henry as anyone, but wouldn’t it be kinder too slaughter them than let them starve?
Either turn them into pet food or sell them to countries that like to eat horses!
The damn things are overrunning their grazing areas and are protected so the public can’t slaughter them.
What I am gathering is that the government keeps the population large. So the government needs to continually intervene. Prevents isolated pockets of independence, and steals hundreds of millions ($700 million this year) every year from taxpayers to propagate this. I’m east coast here and guessing from limited info right now.
I would worry about the outcome of conservatives in the USA if I were you and quit worrying about a bunch of horses
I got plenty of liberal assholes telling me what to worry about, but thanks for your concern. And since this is MY money these wads are throwing around, I’ll call them on it...you know, 700 million dollars here and there...pretty soon it will add up...
“The D-rats want to spend 700 million to save their party mascot ( the wild jackass) details at 11..”
In the middle of the “worst econmy since the Great Depression” we will spend $700 MILLION dollars on this?
Why don’t we turn it over to people like this;
http://www.whmentors.org/index.html
and just handle the overflow in the most humane way possible?
I think the Democrats were voting for a memorial to themselves. They thought the $700 million was for whores and asses.
“I think the Democrats were voting for a memorial to themselves. They thought the $700 million was for whores and asses.”
Hahahahaha...good one...I wonder why there isn’t a storm over this? This is a HUGE amount of money and the horses, even rendered, are worth money...and they are obviously not in danger of extinction!
There aren't enough people that want to adopt them and there are too many.
These animals are usually not worth messing with. The adoption fee is $125.00 but you also have to have the proper facilities. Almost anyone is better off buying a domesticated horse. I have been in horses for over 40 years and have yet to see a mustang that was as good as the lower end of the domesticated breeds.
There are exceptions, but I would urge anyone thinking about getting a horse to not let emotion steer you wrong. Get a nice, broke older horse if you are inexperienced. Don’t get a young horse and for sure, don’t get a mustang.
Check out your local breeders, vets, farriors etc. Find someone to help you get the right animal. Most horse people are good about steering new folks in the right direction.
I worked the Nevada Test Site back in the 80’s and those horses don’t need any damn money. They have plenty of room to roam around.
BLM manages them and captures them when it is determined there are too many on the rangeland. They corral them and feed them at taxpayer expense and try to get people to adopt them at auctions they run in many states but the demand is not there for the numbers they have, especially with the current economy. Also, many of the horses are not horses that people want.
There use to be two or three slaughterhouses in the states that slaughterd horses for human consumption, the meat was shipped to Europe. The horse lovers were outraged and got our government to pass a law that shut them down so now the numbers have become a real problem.
Here's several articles I've filed on the subject, there's many maore if you want to look them up and research it.
Too many horses: Northwest tribes consider slaughter facility for wild horses
Don’t they just send them south to Mexico to be slaughtered now?
They can be very aggressive and I have retreated more than once when a stallion, protecting his group of dames, approached in a menacing manor.
Yes, they have done that but it’s expensive and the animal rights activists and enviros have gotten some Reps in Washington to propose a bill that would make it illegal to transport horses or burros across a state or federal border for the purpose of slaughtering for human consumption.
thank you for that
Been riding a TN walker lately and have found them to be really a nice ride and something I wouldn’t mind getting.
A neighbor has two quarter horses and thinks they’re the best all round horse?
if you have time what is your opinion please?>
A great deal of info on the subject and very kind of you to spend the time giving it.
I’ll be going through it today.
thank you
You’re most welcome.
The situation with the wild horses began in the 70’s. Locals would round up the horses, keep the ones they thought would make good horses, ranchers would do the same and those that they didn’t want they sent to the sale barn for extra income. Bleeding heart people found out that some of the horses sold ended up at slaughter houses and started a campaign for the government to save the wild horses.
The government began rounding up wild horses, adopting out the ones people wanted and placing the excess- thousands of them at this point- in feedlots and taxpayers pay for their upkeep.
A couple of points people need to understand- the horses cannot be left where they are in the wild- the range will only support so many and some of the land they range on is privately owned ranches and the rancher needs the grass for his own livestock. A few are left on the range, determined by where they are and how many the range can support. Also many of the wild horses are inbred and have defects that make them not usable/not adoptable. Some have injures that also keep them from being adopted and some are just- well ugly enough that no one wants them. There are not enough people who want to adopt them to take care of those that are adoptable.
This is an example of a program that was demanded by bleeding hearts without thinking it through. Something has to be done with the numbers of horses that don’t get adopted for one reason or another. The solution to this point has been for the taxpayers to care for them until they die of old age.
This is an ongoing boondoggle from the 1970s that still has no good solution. The way things were done before the bleeding hearts got the government involved was working out well for everyone and cost the taxpayers nothing.
Reduce the numbers and the “scientists” lose their pet projects. Liberal growth pattern.
My personal opinion is that their numbers be curtailed drastically and the range land leased for raising cattle. Wild horses are not good for anything other than eating grass and viewing by enviros that go ooh and ah.
Slaughterhouses should be reopened and the meat be allowed to be shipped to Europe. Those slaughterhouses were not only for wild horses but for all horses. It wouldn’t be a large industry but it would be a money making business for several of them and it would be a way to get rid of excess horses.
“This is an example of a program that was demanded by bleeding hearts without thinking it through.”
Sounds familiar...how is the healthcare bill doing?
The aberrant horse population needs to be lowered. The laws I read disallowed live horses to be shipped across the border. Corral and starve them? The sickest and most inhumane of all options thus far.
At some point the ancients began controlled breeding to get larger horses. Finally, they developed horses that could carry a rider, saddle and a small load. No longer were warriors limited to horseteams and chariots.
For all practical purposes these are DOMESTICTED LIVESTOCK, and they should be dealt with the same way we handle cattle, sheep, goats, chickens and turkeys.
If the "wild horse" fans can come up with some authentic but "small" wild horses, I suppose they could be turned loose and we could pretend they were really "wild" animals, but any horse big enough for a man to ride is not a "wild horse" and hasn't been for the last 3,500 years.
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