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The wild horses are under the protection of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, is the government agency responsible for ensuring they are protected. A formula is used to determine how many horses can be supported by the land where they live. Often it seems the number they have formulated is far lower than necessary. That finding is reported by the Academy of Science.
But why would the BLM want to remove the number of horses exceeding their 'optimal' number? The prevailing belief is because the BLM benefits from reduced numbers of horses on these public lands because they lease the same land to cattle ranchers and sheep herders who do not want the horses grazing on the lands they are paying to use, because, they assert the horses are stripping the land of its grazing reserves. This argument, that the wild horses are stripping the land of its grazing potential is not substantiated by scientific facts according to the Academy of Science and numerous wildlife biologists. Furthermore, one of the benefits of protecting the wild horses on these public lands is actually related to the nature of their grazing. The explanation is that the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act recognized the benefits of these animals (wild horses) to vegetation. Horses do not eat the entire blade of grass from the root. Due to their nature of having upper and lower incisors, they clip the grass as they graze. The organic material survives as it passes through the horse’s digestive track (post-gastric system) so their waste actually reseeds and fertilizes the land! Cattle, on the other hand, do not have these upper teeth, and so pull the grass up by the roots with their tongues. Their waste has less organic matter preserved due to their pre-gastric digestive system so they do not have the same benefits to the soil with reseeding and fertilizing!
The numbers of privately owned cattle grazing on these western public lands is approximately 2-3 MILLION. The numbers of wild horses and burros (wildlife just like elk, moose, bears, etc...) is between approximately 27-78,000. The number of wild horses is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of privately owned cattle.
While I understand the need to control the numbers of wild horses that can be supported by the land, it saddens me that the number of horses determined is not grounded in science and free from the influence of a lucrative partnership between the BLM and the ranchers (ranchers who have no interest in obeying Federal law.) It also saddens me that proven safe and effective methods are not always used, even though they are available and used effectively by many horse management areas. Instead, cruel roundups are often the go to method for controlling the wild horse population. What happens to the wild horses once they are rounded up? You may think they are kept in a nice grassy pasture with access to a clean barn. You may think they are being rescued from a horrible existence. But this is not necessarily so. Even if there is a happy ending for the horse, it is wrong (in my opinion) to use BARBARIC methods that can create injury, death, separation of family members and trauma in rounding them up. Yes, many horses do get purchased by kind people. Yes, many (not sure numbers) are trained and turn out to be extremely athletic performance horses or pleasure horses. But the trauma the horses have to go through during the barbaric style of round up (helicopter) is a great price paid for without choice by the animal. I am disturbed by the wild horses who aren't so lucky: the older ones, the hard to handle ones, the injured or sick ones. They didn't ask to be captured. They legally had a right to be on their range. They are protected by Federal Law. They only know their wild life. According to the American Wild Horse Campaign, "Wild horses and burros who survive roundups are stockpiled in government holding facilities. Those who can’t be adopted or auctioned off are sentenced to a lifetime of being warehoused in long-term holding facilities. At the worst, wild horses end up in the slaughter pipeline." They further state, "Approximately 80 million taxpayer dollars fund this mismanaged program, annually."
In some cases, the BLM works cooperatively with the thousands upon thousands of advocates and volunteers. Every herd management area is different and in some cases the horses do need to be removed. But I propose they be removed safely. Not with helicopters and only in situations where darting birth control wouldn't be feasible. These are wild animals and we need to be the least intrusive possible.