MSGID: 1:317/3 6455d7f5   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Single approach on wild horses    
      
     Date:   
         May 5, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Wyoming   
     Summary:   
         Because contrasting societal views have created an approach that   
         simultaneously manages horses on the range as wildlife, livestock   
         and pets, current U.S. government programs are incapable of   
         succeeding, according to researchers.   
      
      
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   The U.S. federal government's management of wild horses is doomed to   
   fail without fundamental changes in policy and the law, according to a   
   new paper led by researchers at the University of Wyoming and Oklahoma   
   State University.   
      
   Because contrasting societal views have created an approach that   
   simultaneously manages horses on the range as wildlife, livestock and   
   pets, current government programs are incapable of succeeding, the   
   researchers argue in the article that appears in the journal BioScience.   
      
   "For the federal government to sustain healthy populations, ecosystem   
   health and fiscal responsibility, lawmakers must properly define how   
   feral equids should be labeled," the scientists wrote. "Each label (wild,   
   livestock, pet) has validity, and management plans can be implemented to   
   optimize equid populations with other land uses. Furthermore, providing a   
   clear definition of feral equids will determine the legal tools that can   
   be applied for their management."  The lead author of the paper is Jacob   
   Hennig, a former UW Ph.D. student who is now a postdoctoral researcher   
   at Oklahoma State. Hennig's advisers at UW - - Professor Jeff Beck and   
   Associate Professor Derek Scasta, both in the Department of Ecosystem   
   Science and Management -- are co-authors of the paper.   
      
   So are Oklahoma State Professor Sam Fuhlendorf and Assistant Professor   
   Courtney Duchardt, who is a former UW Ph.D. student; Colorado State   
   University research scientist Saeideh Esmaeili, also a former UW   
   Ph.D. student; and Tolani Francisco, of Native Healing LLC in New Mexico.   
      
   The researchers note that, while the fossil record shows there were horses   
   in North America previously, they went extinct about 10,000 years ago.   
      
   "The equids currently inhabiting North America did not coevolve   
   there; they are descendants of livestock that underwent millennia of   
   domestication and artificial selection," the paper says. "Most large   
   predators that would help limit their population growth went extinct at   
   the end of the Pleistocene (epoch), and the Anthropocene (current epoch)   
   has led to further predator reductions."  Because wild horses have no   
   natural predators, cannot be legally hunted under federal law and are   
   no longer slaughtered as livestock in the United States, their numbers   
   on the range have more than doubled in the last decade, the researchers   
   say. They also note that horses removed from the range by the Bureau   
   of Land Management (BLM) and held in government facilities and private   
   lands have grown in number by 33 percent during that time, with the BLM   
   spending over $550 million since 2013 supporting the captive animals.   
      
   "The BLM has increased the number of individuals removed from the wild   
   in each of the past four years, leading to decreases in the on-range   
   population," the paper acknowledges. "However, the total on-range   
   population is still approximately 50,000 individuals above the maximum   
   (appropriate management level), and the recent moderate decrease in   
   on-range individuals is directly correlated with an increase in the   
   off-range population and subsequent expenditures."  Removing wild horses   
   from Western rangelands and placing them in long-term holding is not   
   a solution, the researchers say. Doing so "simply exports the issue   
   elsewhere -- including the imperiled tallgrass prairie ecosystem --   
   with unknown ecological effects," they wrote, noting that there are now   
   about 23,500 wild horses on private lands in Oklahoma, five times more   
   than the number on open range in Wyoming.   
      
   Additionally, the paper contends that wild horses have a comparatively   
   large impact on the range, as they consume more forage and water than   
   ruminants such as cattle, per capita.   
      
   The scientists credit the BLM for basing recent management on science,   
   including better population estimates of wild horses and deploying   
   measures to keep them from reproducing. But there are too many animals   
   on the range for this approach to work.   
      
   "Although the BLM has admirably increased fertility control research   
   and application, if they are unable to also remove tens of thousands of   
   equids, this process is doomed to be a Sisyphean task," the researchers   
   wrote.   
      
   The federal Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971   
   essentially calls for wild horses to freely roam like wild animals, but   
   they are treated differently from wild animals because the act prohibits   
   hunting. At the same time, the BLM's practice of gathering and removing   
   wild horses from the range "more closely resemble livestock operations   
   than wildlife management, whereas adoption programs, sales restrictions   
   and the abolition of slaughter have resulted in feral equids effectively   
   serving as society's pets," the paper says.   
      
   Choosing one of the labels -- wild, livestock or pets -- offers the best   
   hope for the federal government to succeed in wild horse management,   
   the scientists wrote.   
      
   "As a wild species that lacks sufficient predation to keep most   
   populations in check, a hunting or culling program, like those for other   
   wild ungulates, could slow their population growth," the paper says. "As   
   livestock, gathers and removals that lead to sale or slaughter would   
   limit growth and give the animals the monetary value they currently   
   lack. As pets, simultaneously conducting large-scale removals and   
   administering fertility control, including permanent sterilization (and   
   potentially euthanasia), could reduce population sizes and slow growth."   
   The researchers' conclusion?  "The current state of feral horse and burro   
   management in the United States is unsustainable and will continue to   
   be a painful resource sink without fundamental changes to the law. We   
   recommend that the U.S. federal government should officially declare   
   the status of feral equids as either wild, livestock or pets and should   
   provide the BLM and (U.S. Forest Service) the legal latitude and funding   
   to develop and implement respective management options."   
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Wyoming. Note: Content   
   may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Jacob D Hennig, Courtney J Duchardt, Saeideh Esmaeili, Samuel D   
         Fuhlendorf, Jeffrey L Beck, Tolani I Francisco, J Derek   
         Scasta. A crossroads in the rearview mirror: the state of United   
         States feral equid management in 2023. BioScience, 2023; DOI:   
         10.1093/biosci/biad033   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230505141610.htm   
      
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