Law allows slaughter of West's wild horses
Tribes say most of herd in Arizona is safe with them

Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 13, 2005 12:00 AM

The stallion's mane flares as he rears up, front hoofs flying, to
establish his dominance over another wild mustang. Nearby, mares with new foals
graze on grasses fresh from spring rains.

These wild mustangs, a quintessential symbol of the American West,
roam an Indian reservation just minutes from downtown Phoenix.

While these horses fall under the jurisdiction of tribal
governments, an estimated 37,000 wild horses and burros across the West roam
lands managed by the federal government. advertisement




Those horses are threatened by controversial new legislation that
allows the government to round them up and sell them, perhaps for slaughter.

The law, recently passed by Congress, allows the Bureau of Land
Management to sell the animals if they are 10 years old or older, or have been
unsuccessfully offered for adoption three or more times.

It reverses a 34-year ban on auctions, and critics say it will lead
to selling America's wild horses to slaughterhouses that ship horsemeat to
Europe, where it is considered a delicacy.

As debate rages over the new law, officials in Arizona say it will
have little effect here, where nearly all the wild horses are on reservations.

"We're the smallest horse state in the nation," said Dorothea
Boothe, public affairs specialist for the Arizona BLM office.

The bureau manages only about 210 wild horses in two herds in the
Cerbat Mountains, northwest of Kingman. The horses range between the Cibola
National Wildlife Refuge and the Army's Yuma Proving Ground.

Tribes can auction wild horses if they choose, and were never
restricted under the ban, which applies only to federal land.

But most tribal officials say they honor the horses as part of their
heritage and are working to manage their herds well.

On the Salt River Reservation, just across Pima Road from
Scottsdale, Tudor Montague is charged with managing a herd of 275 to 300
mustangs.

The horses roam over about 15,000 acres of open range between
Arizona 87 and Loop 101.

During the winter rains, when natural watering holes spring up, the
horses stay far away from the roads. In the summer, they come closer looking for
food and water.

This year the horses are filling themselves with knee-high grasses.
But when fodder is scarce, the tribe supplements their diet with hay. And the
West Coast Turf operation on the reservation throws its grass clippings out into
the desert for the horses.

The tribe considers the horses culturally significant and wants to
use its resources to protect them, said Montague, a member of the Pima tribe.

A larger herd of nearly 2,000 horses roams the Gila River
Reservation, which has more than 370,000 acres south of the Valley.

Visitors to the tribe's Wild Horse Pass casino and resort are
thrilled to see them, said Chuck Pablo, a Pima ranch hand at the Koli Equestrian
Center.

"We did a head count a few months back and in two of the seven
districts there were more than 600 wild horses," Pablo said.

Pablo said the horses are mustangs, small wild horses that have
roamed the West since their introduction by explorers. They are all colors:
white, black, gray, paint.

"They are in good shape right now because of all the grass," he
said. "They're really living it up out there."

When the grasses dry up, the horses live off desert sage, sometimes
traveling 30 to 40 miles a day for food and water at watering holes scattered
across the reservation.

America's wild horses, which numbered more than 2 million at their
greatest, are descendants of those brought to the New World by the Spanish in
the 1600s.

They have been idolized, written about, painted and sculpted.

American author J. Frank Dobie named them "wind drinkers," and
called them "the most beautiful, the most spirited and the most inspiring
creature ever to print foot on the grasses of America."

They carried settlers west, delivered the mail, and took men to war.

The first sale of wild horses under the new legislation was
completed in March, with the BLM selling 200 mares to Wild Horses Wyoming, a
company committed to protecting wild horses.

Also that month, more than 500 wild horses were sold to two Indian
tribes in the Dakotas.

"It's rare to gather horses in Arizona," Boothe said. "The numbers
are so low it hasn't really been required."

The bureau did round up about a dozen horses from the Cibola
management area last summer, the first time in years, she said.

They were offered for adoption in October, January and February, and
were all adopted, she said.

The bureau also manages about 2,500 wild burros in 10 herds across
the state.

The burros, which reproduce at about 20 percent per year, are
overpopulating their areas, and 250 to 300 will be rounded up each year, she
said.

Almost all are adopted at $125 a head.

"Many go back to Eastern states," she said. "The farmers back east
want them for predator control for coyotes and mountain lions."

Donkeys are inexpensive sentinels for sheep and goat herds. They
forage with the herd and scare off dogs, coyotes and even mountain lions with
their loud braying.

The BLM estimates there are 37,000 wild horses and burros roaming on
public lands that officials say can support 28,000. They say the herd sizes can
double every five years. This year, they plan to remove more than 9,000 animals.

The BLM manages more than 260 million acres in the West, land that
is used for cattle as well as wild horses.

Herd size is an issue for tribes also.

Pablo said Gila River occasionally rounds up horses to decrease the
size of its herd.

"We had a big roundup about seven years ago," he said. Some of those
horses were auctioned, others relocated.

Some that were adopted were monitored for a year.

He has adopted several himself, and uses them to work his cattle
herd.

"They work really well," he said.

Montague said the Salt River land can support about 80 horses.

He is managing the herd in several ways: rounding up adoptable
horses, neutering and releasing older stallions and diversifying bloodlines by
introducing new stallions.

In September the tribe conducted a roundup.

"It's a low-stress roundup," Tudor said. "We put out the pens,
scatter some hay and when they walk in to eat it, we shut the gate."

When horses are captured, they are inoculated for West Nile virus,
equine encephalitis, tetanus and other diseases.

The horses were offered for adoption to tribal members and
employees, and many were adopted in December.

Older stallions are neutered and released back to the herd to help
stabilize populations.

To diversify bloodlines, the tribe has imported two wild stallions
from the Hopi herd and released them about six months ago. Montague has seen
them with their own bands of mares.

At a recent tribal rodeo, Montague had 10 horses available for
adoption. He set up green metal fencing to corral the horses, which ranged from
seven months to a year old.

One was an orphan they had had for four months. Some had sleek
spring coats; others were just beginning to lose their furry winter growth.

As people leaned on one side of the corral, the horses would circle
to the other, occasionally kicking at each other.

Montague said the horses are intelligent and easily gentled.

Once trained to accept saddles, bits and riders, they are worth up
to $800.

A bay with a blaze on its face and white socks caught the eye of
Penny and Roy Swearengin, of Cave Creek.

Roy is in charge of building maintenance for the tribe's schools;
Penny is an accountant.

Before moving to Arizona, they managed a dude ranch near Calistoga,
Calif., and were ready to own a horse again.

They paid $125 for their piece of Western history.



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