Why Exactly Does The Us Need To Slaughter 9000 Wild Horses?

[pica_nuttalli]

my bad; it was just an example of a potential benefit of shrinking the wild horse population. i (unfortunately) selected the bison as a random example of a native species that human interference deliberately eliminated from the Great Plains. if it weren't for the removal of large native grazers and their predators from the food chain, the horse problem would have never been able to reach these proportions.

objecting to the slaughter of horses based simply on the fact that they are pretty ponies ignores the fact that these horses are an invasive species obviously dominating the native food chain. i agree with essentially all of your arguements RW and i'm terribly sorry that i busted out the buffalo reference without thinking it through.

i wonder why they bother with the expense of removing the horses from the wild without making efforts (i.e. gelding) to prevent a potential rise in the birthrate. any speculations?

 

[RandomWiktor]

Presently, the main issue is wild horses grazing on land shared by ranchers. They compete for grazing, and potentially spread disease. I think the money being used to slaughter them could be much better used to vaccinate cattle and keep them properly fenced, but that doesn't really create money for anyone. On the other hand, rounding up the horses and auctioning them does. I think that gelding the stallions would be an expense with no return; slaughtering the horses may cost money, but there is also a financial return when they are auctioned, as either privately owned animals or for slaughter.

Sorry if that bison comment sounded like I was freaking out at you; a couple of people mentioned it, and I was genuinely wondering if I missed it in the article somewhere.