usdfregion4 : Message: Fwd: [KansasCityDressageSociety] Digest Number 500

In a message dated 1/6/2005 7:04:16 PM Central Standard Time, KansasCityDressageSociety@yahoogroups.com writes:

If
there are any out there that are valuable in any way...I say go get 'em...

Why? As I see it, their value is in the fact that they ARE wild and they are fully capable of living without any intervention from man. The value you are referring to is value imposed from a human agenda - what about the horse's purpose/agenda in life? Does a horse have no "value" if he's not in a stall or a show arena?? I think this is one area where you and I differ - and you're certainly entitled to your opinion - but I personally believe in the sanctity and validity of ALL life - wild, domestic or otherwise (though not really sure what otherwise is <g>).

...but why

should ranchers who have spent generations building a way of life be asked to
close up shop and move to the city in order to keep these mustangs out there.

There is no reason for them to close up shop and move to the city! The number of cattle grazing public lands is great compared to the number of wild horses - i.e. 4.1 million vs. 37,000 - but that number of cattle is still only 2.5% of the total cattle population of the country. IOW, there are many more cattle ranchers managing to make a living raising the other 97.5% of the cattle in the country without government subsidies. The ranchers in question have had a free ride for many years - but they've gradually taken more and more, and now it's time to take a serious look at the situation. Their practice is being called "welfare ranching" by those against it. How would you feel if a small percentage of the horse breeders in the country were being given subsidies by the government to support their breeding programs while you had to make do on your own?

The BLM has spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money keeping some of
these horses cooped up in fenc ed areas in order to "preserve them"??? This is a
BIG WASTE OF MONEY.

I totally agree - it IS a big waste of money! And the direct and indirect subsidies the government has given to the cattle ranchers is even a bigger waste of money! So you have one big waste of money CAUSING the other big waste of money. If the ranchers grazed their cattle on private land the government wouldn't have to spend a dime on wild horses - they could survive just fine on the protected lands they ought to be entitled to. That's sort of the whole point.

Following are some figures from Alice Simpson - a veterinarian in California who has provided me with much of my information:
<< The BLM is spending $6.8 million a year feeding horses kept in holding pens.� The federal government is spending $100 million a year in direct subsidies to cattle ranchers - these subsidies include grazing fees that are 10% of those on private lands and have not been raised in many years.� With indirect subsidies, the cost is much more.��If the government charged fair market rates for grazing rights, it could probably earn $500 million a year from the cattle ranchers.� >>

As you can see, the cost of feeding horses in holding pens is a fraction of the subsidies going to the ranchers. Plus that kind of life is downright cruel to the horses. The whole thing is a mess, and it's the wildlife - horses, wolves, mountain lions, migratory birds, etc. - that are caught in the crossfire. And I don't think anyone with any power will do anything without sufficient public outcry.
Ann

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