Birds vs. wild horses
What do you do when wild horses degrade habitat that's shrinking and necessary for Greater Sage-Grouse and migratory birds? That's the challenge faced by Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Nevada.
Photo courtesy of Gail Collins/USFWS
Contrary to popular belief, wild horses are not in danger of extinction: Herds increase at the rate of about 20 percent a year. Roughly 33,700 wild horses occupy 31.9 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management. BLM also cares for another 35,000 wild horses in short-term corrals and long-term pastures at a cost of tens of millions of dollars per year.See how the refuge staff propose to solve the problem.
Photo courtesy of Gail Collins/USFWS
Labels: conservation
posted by Amy at 8:54 AM
4 Comments:
should this discussion not refer to "feral horses" as opposed to "wild horses"?
That's a good question to pose to the refuge staff.
All feral horses should be removed from all public lands. It galls me to no end that money I pay in taxes is used to support invasive exotic species.
There was a similar problem at Monomoy National Wildlife refuge in the late '90s -- only it was gulls that were seen as degrading the habitats of terns and plover. The solution? Kill the gulls. I guess that only went down because gulls are commonly perceived as a nuisance ... wild horses have a different rep.
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