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The
material presented here, basically, is a compilation of various recommended actions for solving the wild horse problem that have been presented on many other web sites and/or in communications from wild horse preservation advocates in their various communications, primarily Emails, that we do not put much stock in. In a few such cases, as noted below, we actually DO recommend that the action should be taken, but with qualifying comments as to why we believe the action falls short of affecting the actual long term goal of permanently preserving wild horses.
The considered editorial opinion is that these propsals range from being merely cosmetic or "Band-Aid" remedies .. to those that are just plain too improbable to be expected to work effectively .. and even to some that actually are counter productive!
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1. PZP and other infertility drugs to attempt to preserve wild horses by managing wild horse population sizes:
PZP drug darting of wild horses (and all kinds of other species of wildlife, is being touted by many officials of the government, organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and even many wild horse advocates as apparently the greatest idea since butter on toast. Don't believe a word of it! And, please remember that naturally self-selected breeding by wild horses, themselves, is the only means of insuring that the naturally fittest survive in the ongoing chain of ecological events - a process which completely is destroyed by human manipulation of breeding and thus destroys the very essence of what wild horses are and the importance of preserving them.
Points of fact are that PZP still is very much experimental in terms of its actual infertility effects and undesireable, physically damaging and possibly carcinogenic side effects while routinely leaving sizeable, highly visible ascessess on the skin surfaces of the horses. where darted. Many horses have been observed to react with "extreme distress" at the time they are shot with the darts. And, to this editor's knowledge, PZP darting has never resulted in stopping a planned BLM removal of wild horses, despite implied promises to the contrary. At best, there have been only very slight postponements of such physically damaging and unacceptably traumatic helicopter roundups.
Most proponents of PZP darting of wild horses advertise that it helps insure the long term health and well being of these horses. But, in reality, it is tantamount to being an extension of our human population's devastating misuse and over reliance on drugs, both legal and illegal, to innocent wildlife victims as well. As with human drug addiction, the use of PZP and any other drugs that are like it result in long term breakdown and destruction of healthy, natural life.
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(May 7, 2008 Update) -- And guess what? The latest field report from Montana (from filmmaker Ginger Kathrens who has been observing the Pryor Herd horses while filming for a third CLOUD special in the PBS Nature series (planned for broadcast probably in or around April, 2009), is that PZP BASICALLY HAS BECOME INEFFECTIVE ON THESE HORSES, while possibly continuing all of its potentially damaging side effects - that while the drug did appear to have a contraceptive effect on Pryor Herd horses at first (a few years ago), while sometimes apparently resulting in dangerously out of season, late year foals - it doesn't seem to be working at all, anymore, with even the more recently PZP'ed mares having foals all over the place. |
| Sadly, the present situation in the Pryors seems to be a possible indication that there eventually could be an actual overpopulation of this particular herd, most likely mainly due to the short sighted, governmental mismanagement of public lands, resulting in the destruction of natural wild horse predators, very notably including mountain lions. |
Perhaps, some of the certified scientist who so much have been touting PZP control of wildlife, especially those who work for the government and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), would best maintain their credibility by putting some of their text books and intolerantly pompous attitudes on the back of a shelf, somewhere, and paying some more attention to the BASICS of what's going on "in the field" and some of the basic, circular concepts of the natural world, as indicated by some less scientifically certified sources as filmmaker Steven Spielberg's movie, JURRASIC PARK, where a main theme is that "somehow, NATURE ALWAYS FINDS A WAY". |
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2. Making phone calls and sending Emails and letters to Congress, and/or to other legislators, government officials, and/or the news media: This is one of those proposals where we urge a continuation of the effort, since it costs very little and someday may actually produce some meaningful results. But, in the present political climate of the Bush administration, our observation has been that these communications of "the will of the people" appear to be almost completely ignored. (This observation takes into account the somewhat unexpected margin by which, earlier this year (2005), members of the U.S. House of Representatives passed two appropriations bill amendments, one related to wild horse preservation and the other to the proposed banning of horse slaughter anywhere in the U.S.)
Overall, in regard to the three resolutions and two funding amendments introduced in Congress this year, our projection is that when the present session of Congress effectively ends, at the end of November, none of them will have been voted and signed into law.
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(MUCH
MORE TO COME, in the near future,
about such things as the many horrible failures
in connection with the wild horse adoptions program,
the futility of trying to work cooperatively with any
government administrative agencies and the ecological
destruction that would accompany public co-op type
leasing or purchasing of public lands for wild horse
dedicated habitats -- -- --
as construction of this page continues.
Please
come back .. or Email inquiries (that include
your phone number(s) and best times for calling)
to: john.brian@mac.com )
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