Wherever the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses is involved, or one of its affiliates, wild horse numbers go down. Ever notice that?
Can you imagine a group claiming to protect bald eagles reporting decreases in eagle sightings three years in a row?
Can you imagine giving money to such an organization?
In the story earlier this week by Colorado Politics regarding SB23-275, Tracy “You need to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses” Wilson, field marshal for CAAWH, said her group saw a 61% reduction in births and a 20% reduction in herd size on the Virginia Range between 2020 and 2022.
Back then the herd size was around 3,000, maybe a bit more, but let’s use 3,000.
If there was no darting program and the herd grew at a very modest rate of 10% per year, the population would have increased over 20% during that period.
If the growth rate was 15% per year, the population would have increased over 30%.
Instead, it decreased 20%.
The herd should contain 3,600 to 3,900 animals.
But it only contains 2,400 animals, meaning that the advocates took 1,200 to 1,500 animals off the range between 2020 and 2022, rivaling the largest of roundups and affirming previous statements on these pages that, next to the federal government, nobody’s getting rid of more wild horses than the wild horse advocates.
On the Salt River, plaintiffs in a case filed yesterday claim the Forest Service approved a plan in February to reduce the population over a ten-year period from 400 to 500 wild horses to 100 to 200 via birth control, according to a story posted today by Courthouse News Service.
They believe the current figure is closer to 600 and the goal will take 25 to 35 years to achieve.
Who’s doing the reducing?
The Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, an affiliate of CAAWH.
RELATED: Coalition Sues Forest Service Over Salt River Horses.
Western Horse Watchers Association 