Adoption vs. euthanasia American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080725-9999-1m25burro.html

By AWHPC on 07/25/2008 at 10:17 a.m.I would like to clarify our position with respect to adoptions, as my statement was truncated. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is not opposed to the Adopt-A-Horse program. What we oppose is the rounding up of more horses than can be adopted by qualified adopters who understand the challenges that come with training a wild animal. Under the right circumstances and with gentle training, mustangs can make wonderful, well-adjusted riding horses. However, many adoptions fail because BLM, in its eagerness to get rid of the horses, will give them at bargain basement rates to just about anybody. The choice presented by the article, "adoption or euthanasia," is a false choice, the result of a manufactured crisis. Over the past few years, under pressure from special interest groups (especially public land ranchers who want the horses removed so that even more private cattle can enjoy subsidized grazing), BLM has been rounding up our wild horses by the thousands, without a long-term plan for their care. As a result, over 30,000 horses find themselves in government holding pens, at taxpayers' expense. It is disingenuous for BLM officials to pretend that an already saturated adoption market is the solution: a few horses will find good adoptive homes; the others should not pay with their lives for BLM's gross mismanagement of America's herds. Wild horse advocacy groups are actively working with members of Congress to find an acceptable, ethical and fiscally responsible solution to this crisis. V. Parant Director, American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign By AWHPC on 07/25/2008 at 10:20 a.m.(cont'd) To fulfill the intent of the 1971 Act, wild horses should be managed in the wild in the areas that were allocated to them by law. To the extent population control is needed, fertility control methods can be used that are less traumatic or expensive than round-ups. Proper censusing should be conducted before any more round-ups can take place, and removals should come as an absolute last resort, with no more animals being captured than a properly managed adoption program can place in good homes. Ultimately, the less than 30,000 wild horses that remain on our public lands should not be scapegoated for range damage caused by subsidized public land ranching and its 6 million head of cattle, which provide less than 3% of our national beef supply.