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Saturday, September 21. 2019

Wild Horses


The "wild horses" of the American West are not native critters. They are the offspring of escapes and abandoned domestic horses, same as with the burros. To be blunt, those who want to "save" them are sentimentalists and not environmentalists.


I see no reason to protect them. You can argue that the same goes for cattle, but the plains historically had their own cattle: Bison by the millions.


The battle over wild horses - Ranchers and animal advocates finally made peace. But critics call it a betrayal.

Posted by Bird Dog at 16:09 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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I concur with the Bird Dog's assessment of the wild horse population.

No one owns the wild horses and they overpopulate and overgraze their habitat.

As for the cattle, it is an entirely different situation. Cattle are privately owned, and their owners' manage the range to conserve and improve it.
#1 feeblemind on 2019-09-21 16:48 (Reply)
I don't believe that cattle ranchers are preserving the habitat.
If anything, they're getting a free ride; just like Nestle gets free spring water in California. As time goes by, cattle ranching should be done much more regionally. It's time to get back to smaller communities; with farms. And as far as that goes, I think that in the future, Americans will eat less meat anyway. Vegetarian meat products are getting better every year; in thirty years they will probably be as good as steak.

And I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I think we should eat those horses. I used to live in Japan, and had horse meat all the time. It's really delicious! Burros are good, too.
The Chinese call them "Golden Dragon Meat". I might even open a new restaraunt, I'll call it "High Ho Silver. Souffle!"
#1.1 Ron B Liebermann on 2019-09-21 21:19 (Reply)
This has been an ongoing issue in Nevada (my home state) for decades. When advocates on both sides are angry, it's likely a reasonable compromise has been reached.
#2 Mark on 2019-09-21 16:52 (Reply)
Humans aren't native to the Americas, either, and we have had a vastly greater impact on the American environment.

People who hyperventilate about invasive species are practicing true Nazi science.
#3 ROBERT SYKES (Link) on 2019-09-22 08:38 (Reply)
So you are cool with Burmese Pythons in the Everglades?
#3.1 Bird Dog on 2019-09-22 09:40 (Reply)
The irony is that horses evolved in the Americas. They only died out about 10 thousand years ago. Many native plants co-evolved with them. In fact there were apparently more than one species, including one much like today's surviving wild horse species. However I dont think there were members of the donkey side of the family here.
#4 shadowbass on 2019-09-22 10:25 (Reply)
Horses are native. Humans wiped them out. Recently in fact, only 10,000 years ago. They are a vital part of the American ecosystem that has been missing.
#5 TWS on 2019-09-23 20:14 (Reply)

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