BarnabyWoods t1_jdfn4jh wrote
Reply to comment by CaliBigWill in TIL the US federal government captures and sells excess wild horses to the public by MoistCoyote
Actually, they're feral domesticated animals, which now occupy this weird gray area where they're called "wild", but they're not managed like other large wild animals such as deer and elk. Despite the fact that "wild" horse herds increase in population by 20% per year, there's no hunting season on them, and it's illegal for anyone but BLM to round them up. In most of their range, there are no natural predators to keep their numbers in check.
So they chew up habitat that other native wildlife depend on. So in essence they're national pets, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year to maintain.
CaliBigWill t1_jdfq2ht wrote
So actually or not - Not Livestock.
The only way these horses cost Taxpayers any money is when the BLM gets involved. They're the ones spending the money to do these roundups, maintain holding facilities, and the large costs of the adoption program (which takes up nearly a third of the annual BLM wild horse budget of $11.6 million),
Wild horses used to range in the millions. They're down to about 50,000. Is that not thinned enough?
BLM arguments in favor of these gathers are kind of weak ranging from maintaining health to protecting them from overgrazing.
So they waste millions, not spend.
BarnabyWoods t1_jdfw3o2 wrote
>Wild horses used to range in the millions.
You just made that up. Before the Wild Horses and Burros Act was passed in 1971, wild horse numbers were kept in check by ranchers and state wildlife officials.
As for BLM's roundups, they're required to do that by federal law. They're required to define herd management areas and set appropriate numbers for each area, and then round them up when those numbers are exceeded. This is not discretionary. You don't like the law? Complain to Congress, not BLM.
CaliBigWill t1_jdfxyy3 wrote
I'm not the one who made the numbers nor the only one posting it..
As for the rest of your paragraph. Thank you for your contribution.
snow_michael t1_jdjdnrx wrote
The US has never had wild horses, and feral numbers at their peak were around a million at most
CaliBigWill t1_jdjhvh1 wrote
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/04/27/native-horses-indigenous-history
Sir Francis Drake observed and noted in his ships log that there were a plethora of wild horses living among the indigenous peoples in Northern California and Southwestern Oregon
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