Removal of wild horses and burros from their lawful homes, by any means, supports these principles:
- Pest control
- Resource enforcement
- Rancher protection
1. Pest Control
Most HMAs are managed primarily for livestock. The HAs are managed almost exclusively for livestock. Horses and burros are a nuisance. The advocates underscore this principle in their attempts to shrink the populations with pesticides.
2. Resource Enforcement
If the management plan assigns 80% of the forage in an HMA to livestock, horses and burros will be removed until the ranchers receive 80% of forage. There is no statutory basis for such proportions, they are bureaucratic diktats.
3. Rancher Protection
Public lands in the western U.S. shall be managed not for the benefit of the American people, but for the benefit of a select few. This is the prime directive, the goal of Tenets 1 and 2. Collect a few million dollars per year in grazing fees for privately owned cattle and sheep while you spend tens of millions of dollars every year stockpiling wild horses and burros displaced thereby. Stick taxpayers with the difference.
Western Horse Watchers Association 