The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, a nonprofit that works with Congress, governors and state legislatures to promote hunting, angling, recreational shooting and trapping, said in a news release yesterday that it signed a letter to Tracy Stone-Manning, along with other hunting and wildlife groups, supporting the BLM’s plan to gather 22,000 wild horses and burros from western rangelands this year.
The letter describes the animals as nonnative, feral livestock that lack natural predators and can have significant detrimental impacts on native ecosystems and wildlife habitat.
Other signatories include the National Rifle Association, Public Lands Foundation and The Wildlife Society.
Privately owned cattle and sheep, the predominant nonnative species on America’s public lands, were not mentioned and apparently have no impact on rangeland health.