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ROAMING WILD AND FREE
--for how much longer?
by Marjorie Burfitt & Jody Marriott
There is fossil evidence that wild horses and burros evolved on the North American continent millions of years ago. About 10,000 years ago, like other ancient animals, they disappeared--possible
victims of human consumption. Fortunately, at the end of the 15th century, when Columbus made his second voyage to the New World, horses were reintroduced. By the 1500’s, mustangs
and burros were once more roaming wild in the Western United States. The herds continued to increase and, by the 1800’s, wild horse numbers peaked at two million.
Despite laws on the books meant to protect wild horses and burros, their numbers are dwindling again, but the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB)
is fighting back. Cool Green World visited the organization and met with its president, Karen Sussman. She is a dynamic woman whose knowledge, determination, and dedication is achieving
heartening results for the wild herds and have gained her national recognition at government hearings on their problems.
In her interview with us, Karen Sussman encapsulated the history of the mustangs and burros over the last century. The initial herd depletion was the result of a gradual encroachment
by cattle and sheep farmers who had used the invention of barbed wire in 1874 to illegally fence “tens of millions of public acres...it is estimated that there are approximately 600,000
miles of livestock fences on public lands today.”
Karen told us that the mustangs had become a valuable asset for Native Americans, but that, in the 1920’s, the government killed a reported 40,000 horses on the Crow reservations
in Montana--an elderly Crow Storyteller, alive at that time, puts the number at nearer 100,000. The purpose of the killing was to increase even more the grazing for the cattle barons.
Another government decision was to “breed up” the Spanish mustangs, so draft horses and Cavalry remounts were introduced into the wild herds. Since the 1900’s, the wild horses had
been caught and slaughtered for food and the aim of the mixed breeding was to achieve “a stronger, bigger horse that
Would produce more money at the meat market.” Sussman said that in the 1930’s and 40’s canning of horseflesh resulted in losses in tremendous numbers.
Recognition of the growing desperate plight of the mustangs and burros inspired “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston to persuade the government to pass a federal law in 1959, which “prohibited
the use of motorized vehicles in the capture of wild horses and prohibited the pollution of water holes for the purposes of trapping horses.” In the 1960’s, ISPMB was formed by Helen
and John Reilly of Nevada and Mrs. Johnston was its first elected president. In 1971, she was instrumental in the passage of a second law, the “Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act,”
which stated that the wild horses and burros “shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death.[and] be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral
part of the system of the public lands.”
As Karen Sussman explained: “What’s really important is that the law passed without one dissenting vote in both the House and Senate, which means that people are totally and truly
committed to wild horses and burros.” Unfortunately, although the supporters of the legislation had envisaged the wild equids would be protected everywhere, in fact “public lands”
constituted only Forest Service land and lands supervised by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). “They did not realize that it would not protect them on Park Service land or on military
bases, federal lands. The National Park Service’s policy is to really remove wild horses and wild burros, which they’ve done all over the United States.”
Wild horses are found in many western states with the majority, approximately 25,000, located in Nevada. Wild burro populations have also returned to the states where the original
fossilized bones were found: Arizona, California, and Nevada. Because these herds are no longer culled by natural predators, which have been curbed by hunters and farmers, the BLM
rounds up “excess” mustangs and burros. In 1976, the BLM started the federal Adopt-A-Horse/Burro program. Karen Sussman described ISPMB’s role in this project: “Our organization works
very closely with the Bureau in helping them set up standards and we watch very carefully how they monitor their program.” As they have found that several of the adoptions have ended
in disaster, with the adopted mustang or burro being sold for slaughter or mistreated, ISPMB would like the BLM to organize a mandatory educational program before people adopt these
wild equines, so they fully understand their responsibilities when they have an animal like this.
Meanwhile, until an education policy is adopted, ISPMB runs a rescue program. Karen Sussman describes this as a “mop-up operation for what else fails with the Bureau of Land Management.”
ISPMB has been operating this experimental program for the past five years, ironing out any small problems as they arise. They hope that, in the next two to three years, it will become
another national program for their organization, so that they can rescue horses all over the United States.
Sussman described another facet of the 1971 Free-Roaming Act. “Wild herds were given designated areas they could roam. All the land they were roaming on in 1971 was marked by a map.”
Although bighorn sheep and game animals like antelope can be transported all over the United States, it was stipulated that “this is where wild horses and burros can roam; they cannot
go anywhere else.” Human encroachment and the perception that the wild equids are competing with livestock for grazing have diminished these areas.
In 1980, there were 303 wild horse and burro herd areas, but today there are fewer than 180 left. She feels that the way the media often portrays wild horses contributes to the problem.
“For sensationalism, they show maybe two stallions fighting, or they show horses running and they appear to be somewhat aggressive, when that’s really not the case with wild horses.
They’re very docile; they’re very loving. They spend most of their day grooming and they spend a good portion of their day just surviving by eating.”
Wild equids lead a simple life with a definite pecking order. The band consists of a lead stallion; an older and wiser mare, who is the “leader;” and six to sixteen other mares with
their young. Younger horses are very low in the hierarchy and have tremendous respect for the older ones. In the natural course of events, the old and the weak would have gradually
been killed off by predator animals. In the absence of natural predators, however, the BLM in their gathering of “excess” take the younger and what they consider to be more “adoptable”
horses and burros. These animals, probably offspring of lead mares, should really stay in the wild to continue the healthy genetic evolution of the herd.
One factor that may help the survival of the mustangs is the increasing interest among some members of the scientific community in studying the genetics of these horses, but what
will really make the difference is public awareness of the problems faced by wild mustangs and burros and public pressure to see that the remaining herds are not wiped out.
Karen Sussman concluded our interview with a plea for support: “Now, it is really important for the American public to stand up, because the only way we can save them is through public
input.” Americans need to say: “Yes, we want wild horses and burros where they are. We want them to continue to survive.”
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