Roughly 1,000 Wild Horses Have Been Rounded Up By The Government - Of Which 300 Are At Risk Of Being Sold for 1 Dollar To Be Slaughtered

Oct 15, 2018 by apost team

Take a moment to imagine a herd of wild mustangs. Can you see them pounding across the ground, manes and tails streaming behind them? They are the very picture of freedom.

Now picture those same wild animals, terror in their eyes, shrill whinnies splitting the air, crammed into a trailer bound for the slaughterhouse.

This could be the fate of 300 beautiful wild horses this month if the USDA Forest Service has its way.

For many people, the American Mustang serves as a symbol of freedom. Seeing a herd of wild horses running across the plains is a heart-warming sight. Just the fact that these beautiful wild animals still roam the West is rewarding in itself.

But when that freedom is threatened, a lot of horse lovers get upset. To make it even worse, in this instance the horses’ very lives are at stake.

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Even though wild mustangs running free on the open plains is a beautiful sight to behold, many farmers and ranchers end up fighting for valuable natural resources in order to take care of their domestic stock animals.

Wild horses eat a great deal of vegetation in order to survive; often the horses end up competing with cattle. For this reason, and in order to preserve the wild horses, the management of wild horses was determined to be under the purview of the Federal Bureau of Land Management.

When the Bureau, abbreviated BLM, determines that there are too many wild horses in one particular area, a decision can be made to round up some of the animals and then auction them off to the public.

This can occur when the horses are competing too heavily with domestic animals, or when the horses themselves are unable to survive because there is not enough vegetation to sustain them.

The Devil’s Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory, consisting of a staggering 250,000 acres, contains wild horse herds totaling 3900 horses. According to government officials, that’s "too many horses" for this northern California area.

“This plan designates an appropriate management level of 206-402 adult wild horses,” is the statement on the USDA Forest Service website. You do the math: according to the Forest Service, the ideal management level requires an unbelievable 622-1000 acres per horse.

Since the number of horses within the territory is almost 10 times the amount prescribed, the BLM decided to remove 1000 horses in a round up. The round up was slated to begin on October 9 and run through the entire month.

In a typical round up, helicopters are used to locate bands of horses. These helicopters then begin to drive the horses toward large corrals. People on horseback also assist in the round up. Once the horses have been corralled, healthy horses that are at least 10 years of age will be culled out to be used in the auction.

The auction will be held at BLM’s Litchfield Corrals. Horses gauged to be at least 10 years old will be available for adoption. For some soon-to-be mustang owners, this is an exciting event.

The horses from this area of the country are known for their unusually colorful coats. But for wild horse advocates, this event is a nightmare.

Here’s why: the Forest Service is using a loophole in the law that will allow the sale of 300 of the wild horses without restriction. This makes it a very good possibility that slaughterhouses will be buying truckloads of Mustangs for as low as $1 per horse.

Once they are loaded into a crowded truck, the wild horses will be transported all the way to Canada. Upon arrival at their final destination--the slaughterhouse--these symbols of freedom and independence will be killed and then processed into horse meat that will be sold overseas.

Wild horse advocates are up in arms over this latest development. For decades wild horse supporters have fought for legal protection for the Mustangs. Congress finally banned the sale of mustangs and wild burros for commercial slaughter; however, the federal agencies have found a way around the law.

It appears that the very agency that is supposed to ‘manage’ wild horses—presumably in order to protect these national treasures—is actually working hard to destroy them.

And we will suffer the loss right along with them.

What did you think about this article? Did these practices anger you as much as it did us? Let us know in the comments - and don't forget to spread awareness by sharing this with your friends and family!