Kathrens: Americans Oppose Horse Slaughter - Humane Alternatives Exist

Secretary of the InteriorRyan Zinkehas inherited a number of thorny problems. One of the thorniest is the management of our nation’s wild horses.

Many ranchers who graze cattle on public land view wild horses as competition and supportroundupsthat inhumanely remove horses from the range. The American public wants the herds preserved and treated more fairly. Navigating any middle ground between these two sides is difficult.

One thing that would help is a thoughtful, research-based approach to federal land management. The amount of acreage available to wild horses over the past few decades has dwindled based on land-use allocations made by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. However, two district courts recently ruled that theBLM’s allocations are completely arbitrary and not based onscience. We must do the research to determine, truly, how many cattle, horses, and other species can share the range.

This is a long-term project. In the short term, we must find an alternative to wild horseroundupsand removals, which are cruel to horses and costly to taxpayers.

Fortunately, a solution already exists, in Zinke’s home state of Montana.

PZP contraceptive vaccine, which is manufactured by the nonprofitScienceand Conservation Center in Billings, allows for safe, effective, inexpensive, and humane management of wild horses on the range. It’s used by theBLMin several herd management areas and has reduced and even ended roundups. We need to use it more.

By theBLM’s own admission, the current roundup and removal system is unsustainable. Research published by the National Academy of Sciences shows that roundups don’t work. Removing mustangs from the range merely prompts those that remain to breed more. The NAS, in its 2013 report “UsingScienceto Improve theBLMWild Horse and Burro Program,” advises increased use of PZP.

A dose ofPZPcosts around $27, compared with $49,000 that U.S. taxpayers spend on every mustang removed from the range and placed inBLMshort-term holding corrals for its natural lifespan. Currently, there are more than 18,000 horses in short-term holding and 25,000 in long-term pastures.

Volunteers from our organization, The Cloud Foundation, have worked with theBLMand theScienceand Conservation Center to vaccinate mares with PZP. The last removal in the Pryors was in 2015. Eighteen wild horses were adopted. They may be some of the last to be removed, as mortality and reproduction are now virtually equal thanks to PZP. We’ve found a way to manage the herd successfully and humanely at little cost to taxpayers.

Nearly 40 groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, have called onBLMto increase appropriate use of fertility control, yet President Donald Trump’s budget would allow wild horses to be euthanized and shipped to foreign kill plants. Yet, the American public does not support this approach.

Last year, theBLMWild Horse and Burro Advisory group, of which I am a member, suggested euthanizing all the wild horses currently in holding. I objected to this idea. When the board voiced its proposal, the public backlash made headlines around the world, and theBLMquickly distanced itself from the idea. Polls show that the great majority of Americans oppose horse slaughter and want to see wild horses preserved.

Why go down a path that’s cruel to horses and unpopular with the public? We can save money and spare horses by using a solution found in Zinke’s own backyard.

Originally posted by Star Tribune