An Iberian mare reducing wildfire fuels on the Oregon-California border near the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. She is also re-seeding the native plants and grasses she is consuming in her droppings (dung), which completes the life cycles of the native flora that is critical to the co-evolved native fauna, including small and large mammals, insects, and pollinators. Photo: William E. Simpson II
There’s really no such thing as a ‘feral wild horse’; it’s an oxymoron. So why do some people and agencies keep using that tag?
Recent news that 6,500 Wind River wild horses were rounded up is distressing to say the least. It’s a move designed to make room for the more profitable use of public and tribal lands for livestock production.
A preponderance of the latest scientific data strongly suggests that wild horses are not an ‘invasive species’.
On the other hand, it is settled history and science that cattle, sheep, and goats are an invasive species in North America, and are devastating* when introduced into American wilderness ecosystems.
*Land Held Hostage: A History of Livestock and Politics; Thomas L. Fleischner, Ph.D.
Citation by: Professor Thomas L. Fleischner, Ph.D.: “The most severe vegetation changes of the last 5400 years occurred during the past 200 years. The nature and timing of these changes suggest that they were primarily caused by 19th century open land sheep and cattle ranching.” View here.
The term ‘feral’ as used by some people in regard to wild horses is just a name tag assigned to wild horses that have wondered off the protected Herd Management Areas (‘HMAs’) run by the Bureau of Land Management or Wild Horse Territories run by the United States Forest Service.
The term ‘feral horse(s)’ is nothing more than a construct that is used for legal jurisdictional purposes and has no relevance as to evolutionary biology or genetics of any horse, let alone a wild horse with genetic markers traced back 500,000 years and more, as with some of our local Iberian horses.
The ongoing mismanagement of native species American wild horses is about greedy people who have no vision other than for money, not what’s right, not what should be, not what the Creator would want, not what’s good for ecosystems, and certainly not what’s good for the American taxpayer.
The ongoing widespread decimation of wild horses, a native herbivore, and even elk in some areas is only about eliminating low value herbivores and replacing them on the landscape with animals that make more money for a small group of profiteers, which now includes some Tribal Nations.
This exchanging of native herbivores for invasive species herbivores (cattle & sheep) is about money and not preserving or protecting wilderness ecosystems. In fact, introducing invasive species ruminant herbivores (cattle & sheep) into North American wilderness ecosystems is the worst thing anyone could do.
It’s become clear that greed will be the undoing of humankind on this planet, unless more intelligent, logical people prevail.
As we now clearly see, even some indigenous tribes are rounding up wild horses (a.k.a.: Spirit Horses) and selling them off with many (most) ending up in slaughterhouses. So much for indigenous wisdom? So much for preserving cultural and spiritual heritage?
It seems that these tribal nations have forgotten their past and what the Creator and Nature intended for the lands…
Not that long ago, 50-60 million buffalo, millions of elk and deer, and 20 million wild horses ranged over North America. Then European settlers came and decimated the buffalo and now some indigenous peoples have joined the government’s effort to decimate the Spirit Horses. In a way, it just seems to be a continuation of government’s agenda to erase all traces of the culture of the indigenous peoples here in American and around the world, just to steal resources. Is nothing sacred anymore?
Then we have the scientifically ignorant (or willfully ignorant) advocates and gold plated big dollar nonprofit orgs who are shooting wild horses with high powered (deadly) rifles using heavy syringes filled with chemicals that sterilize them, ending their life cycles — a highly unnatural and idiotic process to make money.
That right, it’s now profitable for even some wild horses advocates like American Wild Horse Campaign and others to join ranks with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Forest Service (USFS), and state Fish and Game agencies and get millions in Federal grant dollars to chemically sterilize native species American wild horses to help accomplish the monetary agenda of exterminating wild horses from the American landscape to make more landscape into cheap livestock grazing (welfare ranching) available!
The Brazilians wrecked much of the Amazon rainforest for money. They’ve burned off hundreds of thousands of acres of rainforest to create cheap livestock grazing. It has been said, ‘no rainforest — no rain.’ And now there are reports that the water temperature in the Amazon River has reached nearly 100 degrees!
Now American government agencies are showing their banana republic logic as well, by arguably allowing wildfires to burn extensive areas of forest as ‘managed burns’, thereby creating large deforested areas that fill in with grass and brush, thus trading life giving forests for livestock grazing areas.
Wild Horse Fire Brigade has a proven, nature based solution that gives wild horses a valuable place in the wilderness, where each wild horse deployed into a wilderness wildfire fuels management role provides value in the amount of approximately $72,000.00 to Americans. That is at least forty times (40x) the value of a fatted steer at market.
Will YOU help our all-volunteer nonprofit organization, Wild Horse Fire Brigade, to accomplish its re-wilding and relocation goals to save genetically relevant populations of American wild horses before it’s too late?
It’s easy to donate to our work via PayPal: Click Here.
Wild Horse Fire Brigade is results oriented and driven! We don’t rescue 2 horses and then ask donors for $25,000 like American Wild Horse Campaign recently did, even as they are sitting on $3 Million in their fat bank account!
We have already saved one entire heritage herd of approximately 150 wild horses by gaining the ownership and management rights to the herd that were once considered ‘feral’ horses. And now they are protected under California law.
There is strong fossil and cultural archaeological evidence that our local herd, here on the Oregon California border on and around the present day Cascade Siskiyou National Monument (‘CSNM’), are the descendants of wild horses documented by Sir Francis Drake in 1580 during his exploration of the area, as cited in the doctoral thesis of Dr. Yvette ‘Running Horse’ Collin.
We also have and have studied the historic photo album and personal diary of the famous local cowboy George F. Wright (born in Henley Hornbrook, CA 1897), who was a Deputy Sheriff for Jackson County Oregon and a BLM range rider, whose personal diary and photo album (dated 1911-1957) contains mentions of ‘wild horses’ and the ‘wild ones’ in the area of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument on both sides of the Oregon-California border.
Interestingly, the local Bureau of Land Management depended heavily upon George F. Wright for information about the natural history and cultural archeology of the area that is today the CSNM.
We recently sued the BLM and won, stopping the roundup of the remaining Pokegama Herd of American wild horses. (See Siskiyou News article here.)
We are a tiny all volunteer 501 c 3 nonprofit public benefit organization. And we need your help! We cannot do our work unless we are properly funded. People need to clearly understand that fact.
We are the ONLY organization that is doing this important work, while some others pretend and fake it… and pay themselves nice fat salaries and live in the lap of luxury using donations.
In addition to saving the herds mentioned above, our team of volunteers have worked cooperatively to successfully rewild 61 Mustangs into the heritage native herd that we own and manage.
And we are conducting the scientific research with free roaming wild horses in a balanced wilderness ecosystem that is desperately needed to show the important value and benefits that wild horses provide to wilderness ecosystems. We cannot do these things without proper funding.
It’s up to you… Will you help our genuine program?
We are currently under-funded for the effective programs we have envisioned. We are making progress with every dollar we get!
PLEASE make a tax-deductible donation: CLICK HERE.
Or please send a check make payable to:
‘Wild Horse Fire Brigade’
404 So. Main St.
Yreka, CA 96097
Thank You!
Visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org for more information.
