"The Last Wild Horse In America Died Today - Feature Friday"

Howdy Folks,

We looked up and they were no more … Just as this year the Black Rhino in Africa was poached to wild extinction, our own Federal Government will, with reckless abandon and determination, do the same for America's wild horses.

Proud horses, families and bands yanked apart and driven mercilessly by helicopter and other violent means, to greatly overcrowded corrals where they stand, broken hearted and bewildered, awaiting their uncertain future ... Often that future is years in those filthy, overcrowded corrals while their health and spirits deteriorate. Their future dims. 

Accustomed to wide open spaces to run and live free, suddenly they have a mere few square feet in those concentration camps, with little or no protection from driving snow, or blistering heat, and too often a gross shortage of water to drink. Out of reach are their familiar sheltering valleys and watering holes. Hooves that are used to traveling tens of miles a day grow long with neglect … confused foals try to understand. Confined band leaders search for their families. Fights occur regularly because separation is not possible. Crowded as they are, sickness is a constant.

Once the wild horse was one of our proudest and most magnificent symbols of the great American Spirit. Even the United States Congress declared it to be true in 1971 when they recognized them as, "Living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, which continue to contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people." Today that same Congress considers them, "Feral nuisances" that need to be gathered and removed, often sent to slaughter.

Shallow, transparent excuses like, "overgrazing, and land management," are the most sited excuses for this race to annihilation. In many cases cattle and sheep roaming those BLM managed grasslands outnumber the horses 100 to 1 ... Causes one to wonder who's actually doing the over grazing.

Many wonderful and concerned folks have been working hard and politely to defend and protect our wild horses. I've written about some of those fine people. Thousands more have contributed donations to help those folks defend the noble wild horses. In response those government employees and departments, "charged with managing millions upon millions of acres grazing rights and other management practices," continues to run hell-bent toward the extinction of our wild horses, in a most disgusting, brutal and underhanded way.

BLM helicopter running terrified horses through barbed wire fence

On any given day there are over 30,000 wild horses in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) long term holding pens, and another 11,000 in temporary holding pens. These 40,000 wild horses, burros and Mustangs outnumber those running free today; the BLM estimates the number of still wild horses at about 20,000. A number so low it virtually guarantees extinction. Many of the herds now clinging to freedom are too small to continue viable genetic bases. The BLM does not own the wild horses, they are charged with managing the grasslands. The American people own the wild horses.

From Laura Leigh founder Wild Horse Education - "Very little of what happens to our wild horses and burros on public land actually has to do with wild horses and burros. Livestock interests and extractive industry drive our public land policy. In the 12% of public land occupied by our last American herds it is no different. If we are not careful the industrialization of public land will not only change the physical landscape, but will extinguish our American spirit in the form of the wild horse." 

I weep in fretful fear of the day headlines scream, "The Last Wild Horse In America Died Today."

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry 

Photos courtesy of Laura Leigh and Wild Horse Education -