GR: Wild horses compete with deer, antelope, and other wildlife. They also compete with cattle, the principal occupant of the western ranges. It is sometimes difficult to manage the invasive species that we’ve introduced over the past 600 years. It is especially difficult when we eliminate potential predators. As things stand, it is impossible to say whether wild horses might merge with native animals/ecosystems if we removed the cattle and allowed wolves and lions to return. I for one would really like to try it.
GarryRogers Nature Conservation
Wild Plants & Animals Advocate
Thank you for this blog. The western livestock industry is the greatest threat to native flora and fauna survival, along with climate change, which this destructive industry helped exacerbate. No native wildlife or wild places will have much chance unless we actively work to rid the public lands of the livestock industry. Let them graze on their private lands. If they cannot make it, tough.
http://www.foranimals.org
Rosemary, it has to come. We could start by cutting off the subsidies we give ranchers (and farmers). Producing human food is destroying our world. As you suggest, we should let the producers fend for themselves. Food prices might rise, but this would encourage a beneficial shift to non-meat foods.