The more I read and hear about the wild horse “crisis” and the stealth legislation passed last month, the more incensed I become.  In addition to the possibility of our wild horse herds being reduced to dinner fare for our French “friends”, this whole situation is typical of the special interest lobbies and their disregard for the American voter and taxpayer.

 

It turns out that Senator Burns of Montana is not the only villain of the piece.  He was joined in his sellout of the public by Senator Dorgan or North Dakota – another friend of the cattle ranchers and by our new Senate Minority Leader, Senator Reid of Nevada.  Reid, by the way, has taken over Little Tommy Daschle’s leadership position in the Senate.  It would seem that he is off to a less than stellar start!

 

The Wild Horse Protection Act of 1971 was the result of the largest public letter writing campaign in the country’s history (other than the volume of letters generated by the Viet Nam War).  Tens of millions of Americans specifically expressed their support for legislation that would protect our herds of wild horses and the bill passed unanimously.  Burns, Dorgan and Minority Leader Reid turned all that around by slipping several paragraphs into a huge federal spending bill at the eleventh hour.  

 

220 years ago Thomas Jefferson wrote that it was unreasonable to assume that a roomful of lawyers could agree on anything much less be trusted as a group.  He was talking about Congress.  It was true then and it seems to be even truer now.  While the BLM Wild Horse project was less than perfect, it was working better than most government programs.  With the support (and in many cases the guidance) of non-governmental groups such as the Less Resistance Training group and other mustang advocacy groups, improvements are being made.

 

Many of these non-governmental groups met over the New Years weekend in Carson, NV.  In spite of the holiday and in spite of the horrendous weather all but shutting down our part of the world, the conference was extremely well attended.  All of the many wild horse advocacy groups have their own agendas and the only commonality is their interest in the wild horses and burros.  All of that diversity was set aside as the groups came together to fight for our heritage of the Western Wild Horse and Burro.

 

The umbrella coalition, representing thousands of wild horse advocates and enthusiasts across the country, has elicited a group of attorneys to concentrate on the new Burns legislation and has developed a multi-prong response.  The American people will begin hearing more about this legislation and more of the real truth about the wild horses and burros of our western rangelands.  Grass roots letter and post card campaigns are springing up to make Congress aware of our heritage and their responsibility for that heritage.

 

The North American wild horses and burros have evolved over thousands of years.  Natural selection has produced a group of animals that are strong, healthy and hearty.  The natural balance of the ecosystems they share with other grazers and with predators has ensured that only the very best have survived over the generations.  Scientists will tell you however, that natural selection cannot deal with lobbying special interests, stealth legislation and political hacks with access to the public watering trough!  We as citizens must act to protect the wild horses from the government protection racket!