barryrules
11-19-2008, 08:58 AM
Wild horses get reprieve
By Lyndsey Layton, The Washington Post
Updated: 11/19/2008 01:23:43 AM MST
About 33,000 horses live on federal land, such as these two in the Sand Wash area west of Craig. Another 30,000 are at federal holding sites. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post )The unwanted horses seemed destined for death. The wheels had been set in motion to put down about 2,000 healthy mustangs, those in a federally maintained herd of wild horses and burros that no one wanted to adopt.
The federal Bureau of Land Management knew that euthanasia was a legal alternative, but officials were proceeding slowly, afraid of an intense public outcry. The wild horses had become too expensive to maintain, and cattlemen argued that turning them loose would be a drain on the already scarce grazing lands of the West.
Then Monday, at a public hearing in Reno, Nev., to discuss the issue, a solution arrived on a white horse, so to speak.
Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, made known her intentions to adopt not just the doomed wild horses but most or all of the 30,000 horses and burros kept in federal holding pens.
Lifelong animal lovers, the Pickenses just a few years ago led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States.
Madeleine Pickens is working with the BLM staff to adopt the horses, said Henri Bisson, the bureau's deputy director, while the agency persuades Congress to shift $20 million in funding to feed and protect the horses now in captivity for another year.
The news that Pickens and others intend to adopt the wild horses and burros was celebrated by animal welfare groups, several of which were preparing legal challenges to prevent the government from putting the horses to death.
"Of course, I'm thrilled, obviously, that these horses are getting a reprieve," said Shelley Sawhook, president of the American Horse Defense Fund. "At the same time, we need to address the basic issue of how these animals got in this position in the first place."
Bisson said policymakers have to resolve the conflict between a law that permits euthanasia and a nation that is opposed to it.
Long an American icon and inspiration for song and story, the wild horse has special protection under a 1971 law. The federal statute calls wild horses "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" that should be "protected from capture, branding, harassment or death."
But the same law also requires the government to achieve "appropriate management levels" of roaming horses so they don't overwhelm federal lands — and that's the part that has been vexing for BLM officials.
About 33,000 horses still roam wild on federal lands in 10 Western states. About half of those are in Nevada. The federal agency believes the range can accommodate only about 27,000 horses, and each year, government-hired cowboys round up 7,000 to 13,000 horses and take them to holding pens in several states.
Right now, there are just over 30,000 horses in holding facilities awaiting adoption.
Wild horses compete with cattle and wildlife for food and water.
Horse advocates say federal officials have made faulty assumptions about the number of horses that can be accommodated on federal land, tilting those findings in favor of cattle interests.
"We're livestock people. We know animals live and die. And we take that as a very normal part of life," said Jeff Eisenberg, director of federal lands for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, an industry lobbying group. "We fully realize animal rights people hate that aspect of the livestock industry. We don't particularly seek the euthanization. What we seek is the management of the population."
Madeleine Pickens said Tuesday that she wants to create a permanent retirement ranch for the horses and burros that could be open to the public.
A key to her ambitious plan, she said, is federal tax credits to help attract financial donors. Pickens said she met last week with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to discuss the proposal.
Reid's spokesman, Jon Summers, said Reid was intrigued by the proposal but did not commit to it.
Pickens is negotiating to win control of more than a million acres of grasslands in the West where she could create a horse ranch. She intends to acquire part of that land through private sale and part through a lease with the federal government. She is considering several pieces of land, ranging in cost from $10 million to $50 million.
Pickens wants to adopt all the wild horses and burros now in federal pens, sterilize them and let them loose on her "retirement ranch." As the government rounds up additional horses each year, she said she could absorb them as well because they would replace horses on the ranch that die from natural causes.
"I see it as an eco-vacation spot," Pickens said. "Could you imagine taking your kids there, staying on the range in log cabins or tepees? I love the idea of sharing it with the American people."
By Lyndsey Layton, The Washington Post
Updated: 11/19/2008 01:23:43 AM MST
About 33,000 horses live on federal land, such as these two in the Sand Wash area west of Craig. Another 30,000 are at federal holding sites. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post )The unwanted horses seemed destined for death. The wheels had been set in motion to put down about 2,000 healthy mustangs, those in a federally maintained herd of wild horses and burros that no one wanted to adopt.
The federal Bureau of Land Management knew that euthanasia was a legal alternative, but officials were proceeding slowly, afraid of an intense public outcry. The wild horses had become too expensive to maintain, and cattlemen argued that turning them loose would be a drain on the already scarce grazing lands of the West.
Then Monday, at a public hearing in Reno, Nev., to discuss the issue, a solution arrived on a white horse, so to speak.
Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, made known her intentions to adopt not just the doomed wild horses but most or all of the 30,000 horses and burros kept in federal holding pens.
Lifelong animal lovers, the Pickenses just a few years ago led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States.
Madeleine Pickens is working with the BLM staff to adopt the horses, said Henri Bisson, the bureau's deputy director, while the agency persuades Congress to shift $20 million in funding to feed and protect the horses now in captivity for another year.
The news that Pickens and others intend to adopt the wild horses and burros was celebrated by animal welfare groups, several of which were preparing legal challenges to prevent the government from putting the horses to death.
"Of course, I'm thrilled, obviously, that these horses are getting a reprieve," said Shelley Sawhook, president of the American Horse Defense Fund. "At the same time, we need to address the basic issue of how these animals got in this position in the first place."
Bisson said policymakers have to resolve the conflict between a law that permits euthanasia and a nation that is opposed to it.
Long an American icon and inspiration for song and story, the wild horse has special protection under a 1971 law. The federal statute calls wild horses "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" that should be "protected from capture, branding, harassment or death."
But the same law also requires the government to achieve "appropriate management levels" of roaming horses so they don't overwhelm federal lands — and that's the part that has been vexing for BLM officials.
About 33,000 horses still roam wild on federal lands in 10 Western states. About half of those are in Nevada. The federal agency believes the range can accommodate only about 27,000 horses, and each year, government-hired cowboys round up 7,000 to 13,000 horses and take them to holding pens in several states.
Right now, there are just over 30,000 horses in holding facilities awaiting adoption.
Wild horses compete with cattle and wildlife for food and water.
Horse advocates say federal officials have made faulty assumptions about the number of horses that can be accommodated on federal land, tilting those findings in favor of cattle interests.
"We're livestock people. We know animals live and die. And we take that as a very normal part of life," said Jeff Eisenberg, director of federal lands for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, an industry lobbying group. "We fully realize animal rights people hate that aspect of the livestock industry. We don't particularly seek the euthanization. What we seek is the management of the population."
Madeleine Pickens said Tuesday that she wants to create a permanent retirement ranch for the horses and burros that could be open to the public.
A key to her ambitious plan, she said, is federal tax credits to help attract financial donors. Pickens said she met last week with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to discuss the proposal.
Reid's spokesman, Jon Summers, said Reid was intrigued by the proposal but did not commit to it.
Pickens is negotiating to win control of more than a million acres of grasslands in the West where she could create a horse ranch. She intends to acquire part of that land through private sale and part through a lease with the federal government. She is considering several pieces of land, ranging in cost from $10 million to $50 million.
Pickens wants to adopt all the wild horses and burros now in federal pens, sterilize them and let them loose on her "retirement ranch." As the government rounds up additional horses each year, she said she could absorb them as well because they would replace horses on the ranch that die from natural causes.
"I see it as an eco-vacation spot," Pickens said. "Could you imagine taking your kids there, staying on the range in log cabins or tepees? I love the idea of sharing it with the American people."