My plan offers a fresh start for America’s wild horses and burros currently being warehoused by the federal government, one that will ensure their long-term well being while allowing Americans and visitors from around the globe the opportunity to revel in their beauty. In contrast, the Bureau of Land Management, the agency with primary jurisdiction over the animals’ management, is fixated on continuing with its outdated management model, one which rewards private ranchers with lucrative contracts to graze rounded-up mustangs and burros on private grasslands. Not only enormously expensive to American taxpayers, the model is rich in irony; our wild horses and burros are being removed from their natural range to make way for privately-owned livestock to graze those very same public lands.
Aside from being fundamentally illogical (why pay cattlemen to care for our wild horses on private lands so that more of their livestock can graze our public lands?) but there are some real questions about how the model impacts the welfare of individual mustangs and burros. Many advocates have raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the system; thousands upon thousands of wild horses – federally owned animals – are now on private ranches throughout the Mid-West. What happens to those animals once they are removed from the public domain? Are they really being cared for their remaining years or, as some suspect, are they being conveniently sold off to slaughter unbeknownst to the public?
Furthermore, what happens to the horses on these ranches if the contract holders decide not to renew their agreements? What will happen to the horses then? It is far too feasible that ranchers who currently hold these lucrative long-term contracts could use the money to improve their private property, install water lines, fencing, etc., only to say, at the end of the contract, that they are giving the horses up.
In contrast, my plan offers both transparency and stability. Not only will my wild horse preserve be open to the public, but public visitation will be overtly encouraged. Citizens around the world are fascinated by America’s mustangs and their connection to the Wild West, to our frontier days. Ours is a uniquely American experience and our mustangs embody that. People from around the world are fascinated with these majestic animals.
Because I intend to purchases the preserve and turn it over to the newly-formed 501c3 organization, there will never be the fear that the horses will be kicked off the land so that it may be used for other purposes (and I invite other landowners to consider converting ownership of their land in a similar manner and for the same purpose, too). So, the land will be owned by a non-profit organization formed with the sole purpose of providing for wild horses and burros in a manner that is similar to their natural environment, and with a stipend from the government we will ensure their safety forever. This is quite different to the other 501c3 sanctuaries where the land on which they operate is leased – making it possible that the land will be snatched back at the lease’s expiration. Because our land will be owned by the new non-profit organization that will never happen. What we are offering is a permanent fix.
We have the opportunity here to make history in Nevada, to create a living museum that will showcase a species unique to America. People from around the world will come to visit and enjoy our wild horses and the unique American history that they represent. We will showcase how public/private projects can not only save public funds but can do so in a way that is good for the horses in question and the land on which they roam. In fact, my model includes range improvemtns that will include the growing of additional forage and development of water sources. It also offers an opportunity for the BLM to disengage from its old-fashioned thinking.
The BLM is a trance, fixated on removing more and more mustangs from their natural range and sticking them in additional long-term holding facilities where you pay for the horses to graze behind closed gates. This is more of the same-old, same-old and it simply doesn’t make sense. It is absurd that American taxpayers have to foot the bill for an agency that continues to promote the same old dysfunctional ideas. So long as the government continues to remove wild horses and burros from the range it has a responsibility to care fro them in an ethical and humane manner. These animals, sentient beings in their own right, belong to the people and shall be cared for properly. As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. But the system clearly is broke and it’s time for a new path forward. My plan offers that path, it offers a real remedy. It’s time to steer by the stars, not by the lights of passing ships.
