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For those who are unaware the U.S. Bureau of Land Management manages (shocker) the wild horse population in the American west. These animals are protected by Federal law. The program includes regular capture of about nine to ten thousand wild horses yearly to keep herd size stable at approximately thirty five thousand or so across all the individual herds. These animals are then sold (adopted by) private owners to be trained. The program does draw a lot of criticism from Wild Horse Advocacy groups because it's considered mismanaged, especially with large numbers of horses remaining unsold as the US economy took a nose dive. Even if you're buying your new horse at $125 (the minimum bid for BLM mustangs) care costs are still expensive. Enter livestock hauler Tom Davis who's purchased approx 1,700 BLM horses and can't seem to account for any of them. The guy also openly admits to violate state and federal law in his interview with the Denver Post.

http://www.denverpost.com/investigations/ci_21663663/fate-wild-horses-hands-blm-colorado-buyer

I think it's clear that any one who says stuff like this:

"Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," he said. "What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?"

Probably shouldn't be allowed to participate in a federal buying program for horses.

Maybe I'm just a tree hugging dirt worshiper who likes horses too much but I find this man abhorrent and the actions of the BLM in turning a blind eye to his criminal behavior down right disgusting.


On an unrelated note, this is Sugar, she's a yearling filly and part of the BLM program in Wyoming. This isn't an attempt to tug on any one's heartstrings, it's solely to make myself feel better.

Wow Im suprised the media gives a flying crap about animals. Usually these offenders are given a slap on the wrist. Animals arent treated with any respect by todays legal system while they are more functional, useful, sociable, and all around more worthwhile living beings than the crackheads, deadbeat parents, and various criminals allowed to ruin society. I have no faith in the human race. Now if youll excuse me, Im going to go annoy the cat.

Ew... People actually eat horse? I've never had it, but I'm assuming there's a lot of white meat on there... Might be good, but I don't want to find out.

I had no idea there were even wild horses. Color me a city boy I'm glad there are programs to keep the populations in check, but something about this just doesn't seem right.

Why cant they sell horses as meat? This seems like really poor animal management. They capture the hoses and now they have hold of so many that they can't care for them. This just makes me facepalm.

So what are they supposed to do with the surplus horses? Eating them is as valid a use as anything else.

We do the same thing with dogs and cats, sans the making meat out of them part.

I agree, it's sad.

 Samus_aran115 wrote:
Ew... People actually eat horse? I've never had it, but I'm assuming there's a lot of white meat on there... Might be good, but I don't want to find out.

I had no idea there were even wild horses. Color me a city boy I'm glad there are programs to keep the populations in check, but something about this just doesn't seem right.

There are tons of wild horse populations around the United States.

The Outer Banks has a pretty big population of them.

Really shouldn't surprise you. Kinda saw this coming when they refunded the USDA inspectors. I don't think the BLM horses should be sold directly to slaughter but if someone buys them...
I also laughed out loud at Samus, white meat....horse meat is almost creepily red and dark. It's also quite good.

Let people eat horse meat and allow slaughter and this would be fixed. Pretty simple.

Not entirely sure what else you would do with them.

I mean if the purpose is to control the wild population and no one steps up to buy them for recreational purposes...

Also if you just keep them penned up (several thousand horses) you have to bill the taxpayer for their feed and the "mucking out."

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Samus_aran115 wrote:
Ew... People actually eat horse? I've never had it, but I'm assuming there's a lot of white meat on there... Might be good, but I don't want to find out.

I had no idea there were even wild horses. Color me a city boy I'm glad there are programs to keep the populations in check, but something about this just doesn't seem right.

There are tons of wild horse populations around the United States.

The Outer Banks has a pretty big population of them.

Hmm. I know about Chincoteague Island. I'll have to slow down a bit in the car if I'm ever out there. That would really be something to see.

Wait... What the heck was I thinking. White Meat is a fowl thing...

 d-usa wrote:
Let people eat horse meat and allow slaughter and this would be fixed. Pretty simple.

Actually that's something I'd like to see research on, I don't know about the rest of the US but out here suggesting you eat a horse is similar to suggesting you'd eat a pet dog in a lot of places. Be interesting to see what percentage of the population would willingly consume horse meat.

There seems something really...wrong about eating horse to me. At least with pigs and cows we don't have much use for them, but the humble, ill treated horse has historically been one of the most useful animals to humans ever.

Eating them seems disrespectful.

That's why it was banned in the first place, which caused the bottom to fall out of the market on horses. Most horse meat is (was) exported, if memory serves, to countries like Mexico and France.

 Ma55ter_fett wrote:
Not entirely sure what else you would do with them.

I mean if the purpose is to control the wild population and no one steps up to buy them for recreational purposes...

Also if you just keep them penned up (several thousand horses) you have to bill the taxpayer for their feed and the "mucking out."

My thoughts exactly.

I've eaten it, especially tasty in sausage.

 d-usa wrote:
I've eaten it, especially tasty in sausage.

I'll have to try it some time then.

 Cheesecat wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
I've eaten it, especially tasty in sausage.

I'll have to try it some time then.

it's better than dog, IMO its about like goat but less gamey.

It does feel odd to me, but it probably is the more practical route to go in circumstances like this. I feel a bit proud and happy that we've still got wild horses out there. It's definitely part of the grandeur and beauty of the open natural spaces and national parkland. But one sad reality that goes with wild animal populations like this is the occasional need for culling for some species. I hate it happening to wolves, too.

It's better than letting the herds get sick or starve from over population. What's the alternative, shoot them and leave them to rot?

 Mannahnin wrote:
I hate it happening to wolves, too.

You shouldn't. The re-introduction of wolves in Montana has been an ecological catastrophe.

I was talking about the emotional reaction, Auston. Empathizing with KM's feeling about horses being slaughtered. In both cases it's probably the better option, but we're not happy about it.

ahh, that makes more sense I suppose.

 AustonT wrote:

 Mannahnin wrote:
I hate it happening to wolves, too.

You shouldn't. The re-introduction of wolves in Montana has been an ecological catastrophe.

I remember there were some ranchers in Idaho who wete friends of my father that were losing livestock to coyotes and were forbidden to shoot them. Some enviormentalists got together with BLM and said a more viable solution was to sterilize the critters. One of the ranchers present at the meeting said that the problem clearly was not understood since the coyotes were killing the livestock, not trying to breed with it.

Relapse wrote:

 AustonT wrote:

 Mannahnin wrote:
I hate it happening to wolves, too.

You shouldn't. The re-introduction of wolves in Montana has been an ecological catastrophe.

I remember there were some ranchers in Idaho who wete friends of my father that were losing livestock to coyotes and were forbidden to shoot them. Some enviormentalists got together with BLM and said a more viable solution was to sterilize the critters. One of the ranchers present at the meeting said that the problem clearly was not understood since the coyotes were killing the livestock, not trying to breed with it.

Are you sure it was coyotes and not wolves because in most states its open season on coyotes all the time, as a non-endangered predator. While livestock is an issue as an outdoorsman I'm much more concerned with the wolves getting into the calving grounds of the elk, and now the elk wont even go into the tree line in a lot of places. It's a serious issue.

 Mannahnin wrote:
It does feel odd to me, but it probably is the more practical route to go in circumstances like this. I feel a bit proud and happy that we've still got wild horses out there. It's definitely part of the grandeur and beauty of the open natural spaces and national parkland. But one sad reality that goes with wild animal populations like this is the occasional need for culling for some species. I hate it happening to wolves, too.

We have some wild bison herds that are managed by the state, and they also have to be culled each year as well. Some people buy them for herds, but people feel a lot less guilty about eating bison burgers.

Bison burgers and steaks are tasty; you can get them even up here in the NE.

 d-usa wrote:

 Mannahnin wrote:
It does feel odd to me, but it probably is the more practical route to go in circumstances like this. I feel a bit proud and happy that we've still got wild horses out there. It's definitely part of the grandeur and beauty of the open natural spaces and national parkland. But one sad reality that goes with wild animal populations like this is the occasional need for culling for some species. I hate it happening to wolves, too.

We have some wild bison herds that are managed by the state, and they also have to be culled each year as well. Some people buy them for herds, but people feel a lot less guilty about eating bison burgers.

Because bison are both mean spirited and tasty

I think horses can be mean too, especially wild ones.

 AustonT wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 AustonT wrote:

 Mannahnin wrote:
I hate it happening to wolves, too.

You shouldn't. The re-introduction of wolves in Montana has been an ecological catastrophe.

I remember there were some ranchers in Idaho who wete friends of my father that were losing livestock to coyotes and were forbidden to shoot them. Some enviormentalists got together with BLM and said a more viable solution was to sterilize the critters. One of the ranchers present at the meeting said that the problem clearly was not understood since the coyotes were killing the livestock, not trying to breed with it.

Are you sure it was coyotes and not wolves because in most states its open season on coyotes all the time, as a non-endangered predator. While livestock is an issue as an outdoorsman I'm much more concerned with the wolves getting into the calving grounds of the elk, and now the elk wont even go into the tree line in a lot of places. It's a serious issue.

I thought it was a tad strange, being worried about coyotes, so it was probably wolves that had crept in.