Sometimes it’s better to watch a TV program several years after it was broadcast, because you can see what’s changed. Consider this documentary by Oregon Public Broadcasting, originally aired February, 2014.
At the time it was filmed, wild horses and burros inhabited 32 million acres. Today, that figure is 27 million acres.
When the video was produced, there were 179 HMAs across ten western states, now there are 177. Back then, Oregon had 19 HMAs, today it’s 18.
Some things haven’t changed. In 2014, the carrying capacity of the land for WHB (based on upper value of AMLs) was about 26,000 animals. Ditto for today.
Rancher sentiment hasn’t changed. They still think wild horses and burros are destroying western rangelands and consuming forage that belongs to them.
But there is hope. The BLM corral facility in Hines, OR, may soon become Auschwitz of the West, where the Josef Mengeles of the of the wild horse world perform gruesome experiments on mares to find the best method of sterilization.
Stay tuned folks, you won’t want to miss it.
Western Horse Watchers Association 