It’s a classic example of wild horse mismanagement, with benefits accruing to the public-lands ranchers.
First, you assign four times more forage to livestock than the horses.
Next, you get rid of 80% of the horses.
Then, you return a few dozen, a token gesture, with mares inhibited by contraceptives.
The advocates, realizing that the best way to protect wild horses is to not have them, double down on their fertility control program.
If everything goes according to plan, there will be no more roundups—because there will be no new horses—and the ranchers will be the primary consumer of resources in the HMA for many years to come.
