Story by Roni Raczkowski, Best Friends Network Volunteer
It is every child’s dream. Little girls ask Santa for ponies and little boys play “cowboys and Indians” by chasing each other on imaginary horses. As adults, we’ve come to recognize the American wild mustang as a representation of strength and courage, symbolic of our country’s great beginning. We even have a true muscle car that bears its name. But today, this noble creature is suffering in silence and living in fear.
One woman has risen to the task of saving the American wild mustang. Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire oilman T.Boone Pickens, has made it her mission to restore freedom to thousands of captive horses and help end the unnecessary suffering and slaughtering of this courageous animal.
Madeleine Pickens’ Proposal
Pickens became interested in the plight of wild horses when working with others to end the slaughter of American horses. The more she learned of their management by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the more despondent and frustrated she became. It did not seem sensible to manage a program to the point where there are more horses in holding than there are on the range, and where the proportion of animals in captivity to those in the wild will only increase as the years go on. It doesn’t make sense for the horses, and it doesn’t make sense for American taxpayers who are footing the bill.
Mrs. Pickens has put forward a very serious proposal to the BLM to establish a 501(c)(3) eco-sanctuary for all horses currently in holding facilities. She has been actively seeking appropriate land with sufficient forage, water sources, and more. The animals will be free-roaming and able to form natural bands. While the primary objective of the project is to care for these wonderful creatures, they will also be stewards of the land.
The business plan proposed by Pickens and the National Wild Horse Foundation have been set forth to save the government approximately $1 billion over a decade while “providing a humanitarian home” for the 32,000 horses in captivity. The expected holding costs for the BLM in 2009 are $33 million, and in 2014 are estimated to be $85 million.
Pickens’ plan to form a single large wild horse and burro sanctuary would save taxpayers as much as $700 million, which would otherwise be used on holding pens and pastures until 2020. This business plan will help unravel the problem that the BLM has created in gathering horses off the range land at taxpayers’ expense.
The Problem
The BLM estimates that there are currently more than 33,000 wild horses and burros roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states. This figure is approximately 5,700 higher than the appropriate “manageable” level of 27,300. Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency removes thousands of animals from the range each year to control herd sizes.
Off the range, there are nearly 32,000 other wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term (corral) and long-term (pasture) holding facilities. All wild horses and burros in holding, like those roaming the public rangelands, are protected by the BLM under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
And the wild horse and burro program costs are increasing significantly, as holding and caring for these equines exceeded $27 million—or three-fourths of the 2008 enacted funding level of $36.2 million.
The History
North America was the original home of the equine species, where they evolved and thrived for over 57 million years. About 8,000-10,000 years ago they are believed to have become extinct on this continent, but had emigrated to Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa. For many pre-historic groups of people, horses were a prey species. However, somewhere along the line, various human cultures discovered that the horse had talents and usefulness far beyond “food,” and soon the horse became one of the most valuable of all species.
The Spanish explorers brought horses “back” to North America in the 1500s, and by the 1800s, over two million wild horses roamed the American west, having adapted to the harsh and rugged environment. Unlike their domesticated cousins, the wild horse has a shorter cannon bone, a thicker hoof wall and can survive in the most inhospitable areas.
Throughout the 1900s wild horses were rounded up and harvested by the hundreds of thousands. Tired of the cruelty and concerned about the possibility of wild horse extinction, Velma Johnson, aka “Wild Horse Annie” led a campaign of public awareness, and in 1971 persuaded Congress to pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Under the provisions of this law, wild horses and burros may not be captured for slaughter. Instead, the BLM is charged with protecting and managing the wild herds.
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act required the protection, management and control of wild equines. Local livestock operators now had to claim and permit their private horses and burros grazing on public lands or lose ownership of them. After a specified time period following passage of the Act, any remaining unbranded and unclaimed herds inhabiting BLM or Forest Service lands were declared “wild free-roaming horses and burros” and became the property of the federal government.
Now wild horses are once again threatened. Each year the BLM rounds up some 9,000-10,000 wild horses from public lands in the west. Failed land management policies and competing interests for the open spaces of our western public lands have resulted in the aggressive removal of wild horses from the open range. Today, fewer than 25,000 wild horses remain in the wild, while over 30,000 languish in government holding facilities.
BLM’s Response to Pickens’ Plan
In the BLM’s response to Pickens’ Wild Horse Sanctuary proposal, they concede her plan would save the taxpayers millions of dollars, but they raise several legalisms that would prevent them from accepting her proposal without Congressional authorization.
First, Mrs. Pickens’ plan to care for these animals at $500 per horse, per year is similar to the long-term holding contracts that the BLM currently has with private landowners in the Midwest, where about 22,000 unadopted or unsold animals are cared for at an annual cost of about $475 per horse. The animals graze on private pastures in Oklahoma, Kansas and South Dakota, where forage and water are abundant. In contrast to these annual contracts, Mrs. Pickens has asked the BLM to commit to lifetime payments. Because Congress appropriates the agency’s funding on an annual basis, the BLM is not authorized to make such an unlimited commitment.
Second, Mrs. Pickens’ plan proposes to take the animals from private pastures and facilities and instead graze them on private and public lands on a large ranch in Nevada. However, current Federal law prohibits the BLM from using allotments associated with that ranch for grazing wild horses. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act restricts animals to the areas where they were found roaming when the Act was passed in 1971. Unfortunately, none of the BLM grazing allotments that Mrs. Pickens proposes for her sanctuary were areas where wild horses roamed in 1971, which means Congress would have to amend the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to address this aspect of Mrs. Pickens’ proposal.
As an alternative, the BLM has offered to advertise for a long term holding contract on private land and welcomes a bid from Mrs. Pickens’ foundation. Open bidding on such a contract would ensure that taxpayers get the maximum benefit from their investment.
Help Save the Mustangs!
Sounding determined and confident, Pickens explains how her dream can become a reality. “The American public must be made aware of the plight of the wild mustang. Our campaign is a grassroots effort to raise awareness and generate support of current legislative acts that will protect this noble species.”
► Pickens suggests contacting Acting Director of BLM, Mike Pool, at mike_pool@blm.gov or (202)208-3801, and emailing Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar via her website at MadeleinePickens.com. There are several templates for letters and emails requesting the end of the slaughter and confinement of America’s wild horses and burros. “The more support we can show for my plan, the better success I will have in implementing it,” states Pickens.
► Also, contact your federal legislators and urge them to vote in favor of H.R. 1018 and H.R. 503. To find out who represents you, visit the United States House of Representatives and U.S. Senate websites.
Photos courtesy of Madeleine Pickens and Roni Raczkowski
