As he was drifting to sleep his thoughts were of horses and of the open country and of horses. Horses still wild on the mesa who'd never seen a man afoot and who knew nothing of him or his life yet in whose souls he would come to reside forever. Cormac McCarthy, "All the Pretty Horses."
Wherever man has left his footprint in the long ascent from barbarism to civilization we will find the hoof print of the horse beside it. ----- John Moore.
I hope this round up episode and the others I post, help people rise above preconceived ideas, apathy and indifference toward the wild horse and burro. Let's all work to continue to find sustainable, joyful outcomes for these magnificent, noble creatures. We as American's share a collective burden of responsibility for them. Throughout history they were progressively driven and released into the most desolate range lands out west. Rounding up wild horses and burros by the thousands without having a good plan for them seems like wreckless management and a lack of conscientious stewardship. Over thirty thousand and counting are now warehoused in what was initially intended to be short term holding but thousands of horses are spending their lives in these facilities. The BLM does have a few "pasture" type sanctuaries around the country, but these have been over-full for several years. Some Government employees involved in management of these amazing animals, are kind people and do care about their plight, but...... it's antiquated politics, old guard biases, and dollars that have the most say in what becomes of the wild horse and burro. Upon their back our nation was built and we most assuredly owe them a debt.
Jerome Fox, the BLM wild horse range specialist in Nevada comments in this episode that one of the problems is the horses don't stay home. Without enough food and water in one area why would they? What would you do if you were trying to survive on a diminished range land filled with broken treaties, overly saturated livestock grazing and continual land use permits for natural resources depleting your home range ? Would you stay on "your" side of the fence, cry and starve to death or would you find a way to food and water?
The wild horses culture is nomadic by nature and of course they'll seek out food and water, without regard for signs they can't read and fences they don't understand. Their ability to survive even the dinosaur is in part due to their nature to roam. They don't eat grasses down to the roots, because they'll come back later to find fresh growth. They won't bother riparian sites if they have enough water to drink and splash in elsewhere. Implementation of supplemental measures to help the horse survive in the wild, would cost far less and be a lot more "American" than turning them into total welfare recipients, after we've taken away all their chance of surviving on their own.
I don't think all the wild horses can stay on the range, because some of the land is increasingly depleted for a gazillion reasons. (we'll explore more as these episodes develop.) Bait and trap methods to gather the horses from the range are a much gentler process, but cost more, so that rules it out for the BLM. They'd rather pay millions of dollars to bad tempered helicopter pilots to get the job done fast and furiously, then move on to the next round up and other paper work agendas. They say it's not in the horse's best interest to stay on depleted range land and hunger or thirst to death, or be shot by neighboring ranchers who want to welfare graze on our public lands. No one wants wildlife to starve - and we're resourceful enough to prevent it from happening on a massive scale, if we want to. Conveniently the land, under the horse's feet has been leased, permitted or sold to every group and corporation imaginable. Alliances are made for political positioning to get an agenda met, not for the overall benefit of protecting the whole of nature - and it's inhabitants. It's all about private agenda and personal greed.
Instead of first developing a long range, sustainable solution for the horses who are legally in their charge, the BLM rounds them up by the thousands and puts them on the dole. Because of caring, responsible people, some horses are adopted and find a new lifestyle they pleasantly adapt to. Adoption's are down in this economy and even in good financial times, adoptions can't save all these horses.
Many people throughout these episodes speak about what we can learn from the mustang: to open our hearts, let go of fear, forgive, and to take time to appreciate the rise of the sun each morning. I think we can also learn from the purity of their minds and the nature of their free spirit. " They don't stay home," they have the courage to roam, they are always looking for greener pastures, a fresh water supply and more fields to run in. Can we as humans learn from the horse; to be more courageous and nomadic in how we see the world and find solutions? Can we be independent minded like our nations founding fathers and create a new "range" of possibilities to solve the planet's problems? The dire situation for the wild horse and burro provides us that opportunity. They need us to be the voice of reason, sensibility and freedom. There's actually good stuff on both sides of the fence. The horse has always known that.
Visit www.wildhorsepreservation.org to learn about many of the issues and controversy surrounding accelerated wild horse round ups and Dept. of Interior's plans for them. Please, never rule out adopting a mustang, burro or providing large acreage's of land for them. Financially support rescue organizations and get Involved. Be part of the solution in anyway you can. " God sees the little sparrow fall and meets his tender call. If God so loved the little bird, I know he loves us all." The Bible.
Adopt or help those who do if you can.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment