Estimates are that at the turn of the twentieth century over two million wild horses roamed free in the western United States. However, having no protection from their primary predator, man, by the 1970’s there numbers had dwindled to less than thirty thousand. In 1971, after a massive public uproar, Congress by a unanimous vote enacted the “Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act” (Act) that characterizes wild horses and burros as national treasures and provides for their protection. “Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.” The U.S. Department of Interior’s, Bureau of Land Management, (BLM) was appointed to carry out the Act and given the task of managing the herds of wild horses and burros. Consequently, BLM’s management of wild horse herds has been highly criticized by animal rights activists, horse advocates, news media, as well as members of Congress. There have been numerous lawsuits filed against BLM regarding their management practices and their appalling wild horse round-ups. However, unimpeded BLM continues with the controversial issue of wild horse round-ups, resulting in the death and injury of many wild horses and burros. The vast majority of these round... ... middle of paper ... ... and burros remain in their lawful natural habitat. Wild horses do not belong in BLM’s horse prisons. The horses have a close knit unit in the wild, as they are protected by a stallion and lead to water holes by a lead mare. These units are destroyed when they are rounded-up and place in BLM's holding corrals. They belong where they were born to be, in the wild. The time is ripe for the American public to stand up and demand an end to the heartless treatment of one of its last remaining icons before it is too late. Works Cited Title 16 USC § 1331-1340. THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT, December 15, 1971 Alternate Citation: Public Law 92-195; 85 Stat. 649 (GPO) United States Government Accountability Office,“Bureau of Land Management: Effective Long-Term Options Needed to Manage Unadoptable Wild Horses, (GAO-08-989) October 9, 2008
And subsequently, new policies and laws are created to give people equal access to wildlife. The question regard conservation is very much alive today. And United State needs conservation of wildlife. And the Federal department responsible for conservation, department of the interior are under attack with President Trump new budget plan. So it’s important to keep pushing for better laws and policies to protect
On March 10, 1892 the Billings Gazette reported, “The opening of spring may be more red than green for the horse thieves and cattle thieves of Johnson County” (Brash, 143). The writer of the article could little have known how truthful their premonition would prove to be. The late 1800’s were turbulent times in the West. Large tracts of publicly held range ground would be at the center of Wyoming’s very own civil war. Gil Bollinger, author and western researcher, reports that by the 1870’s and 1880’s fencing of land to enclose both crops and water sources was common (Bollinger, 81). This practice, however, was still illegal according to the federal government. In 1877, the United States Government sued Swan Land and Cattle Company, in an effort to set an example that all fences on open range must come down (Bollinger, 81). The fencing of lands was a major problem, as agricultural producers needed open access to the limited resources, especially water. Johnson County, in northern Wyoming, was an agricultural nucleus for cattle and sheep producers who knew the lush grass and good water supply would greatly benefit their operations. Since fencing was illegal, these resources were available to everyone. Cattle operators, large and small alike, ran their livestock loose and participated in large roundups once a year where all the cattle were branded. Slick calves, called mavericks, were often unrightfully claimed. Lack of fencing made any free ranging livestock available to whoever was devious enough to take them (Smith, 25).
The underlying issue of wild horses is the overpopulation of a particular species, which is contributing a serious ecological disaster, overgrazing. The degradation of the land has a domino effect, which will lead to more issues. It is important to maintain a balance between the need of the species, and what is healthy or the environment. The issue created controversy, is central to the passing of laws, and creates an opportunity for the government and the community to work together. There are many way to solve the issue of the wild horses and the issue that are created due to their existence. Issues such as a reduction in the number of the horses removed from the range. Increased use of birth control, a partnership with the Humane Society,
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
Mr. Middleton, a journalist, compiled an article describing, in his opinion, the flaws of the Endangered Species Act. He then attempts to back his opinion with studied analyses, researched facts, and testimonies. To summarize Middleton’s (2011) perspective, “Rather than provide incentives for conservation and environmental stewardship, the Endangered Species Act punishes those whose property contains land that might be used as habitat by endangered and threatened species” (p. 79). This quote is broad and generalized yet draws in readers and forces Middleton to spend the rest of the article backing this statement with more logic based facts.
The current situation today, is that horses and donkeys have exceeded the amount to keep an ecological balance; from 26,600 wildlife to 38,300 wildlife. The horse program enacted by the bill passed in 1971, costs the government approximately $49 million a year. It takes the majority of the budget to manage the already captured horses; taking into account the life of the horses, it has been concluded that the total cost would be closer to $1 billion (Dean Bolstad, Roundup of Wild Horses…). A Federal law, allows the Bureau of Land Management to kill “excess horses to maintain what it calls ‘a thriving natural ecological balance’” (Ginger Kathrens). However, due to retaliation of animal right groups, the BLM has not taken any measures to eliminate
In conclusion, captive hunting ranches exist and seem to thrive especially in the state of Texas. From primitive times, people have hunted as a means of survival although this is no longer the situation. Instead, hunters as participants in captive hunting ranches hunt for the thrill and do not necessarily respect life of the hunted animal. These hunters seem to care more about the trophy prize in the form of the mounted animal head rather than about respecting the life of the animal and honoring its features. The concept of "fair chase" in these canned hunts simply does not exist. To many hunters and the public at large, canned hunts occurring on private land is an artificially expensive manner of achieving something in name only. It cheapens the concept and challenge of hunting and respecting life for all it is worth. As man has dominion over other creatures, it is sad that the battle is lost. The right for survival and achievement should be inherently good. There are a whole host of other problems which have been mentioned. Care must be taken to ensure captive hunting occurs for the right reasons. Man can be no better than the hunted unless he thinks...
4.)"Rodeo Facts: The Case Against Rodeos." Winning the Case Against Cruelty. Animal Legal Defense Fund, 1979. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
On the other hand, just as there are laws there are many weak laws that have been enforced to protect animals from cruelty. As a matter of fact not only are the laws weak, but they are also rarely enforced. The reason being is because police officers and public presecutors frequently view animal cru...
There is a very important distinction when dealing with animal welfare and animal rights. After learning to tell the difference between the two, it is easier to distinguish the organization that wants to help animals and the people who wish to end the use of animals. Even though there are different groups that support different agendas for the sport, both should have the same goal. Animal rights are organizations that seek to end the ownership and use of animals. The largest of those groups are The Humane Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. There is a ‘Pro-Rodeo’ organization under the guise ‘Friends of Rodeo.’ They claim to be the only organization solely devoted to protecting and promoting the sport of rodeo, all of rodeo regardless of association affiliation. “What rodeo proponents fail to acknowledge is that rodeos harm animals that are forced to perform in a competition that is essentially a display of human domination over other species” (The Rodeo 1).
Should animals have to go through pain and suffering? Should they have to go without food and/or water? The answer is no. Animal abuse happens everyday and it happens because people are barbarous or because they don’t know how to take the best care of an animal that they have. Whatever the reason it’s still not right and will never be okay. This paper will cover a brief history of animal abuse, the statistics, the signs of animal abuse, and what can be done to stop animal abuse. Animal abuse needs to end for the animals that can’t speak for themselves.
Animals are also haunted in what is known as poaching or game because of their valuable body parts, such as tusks or just as a trophy. Exotic animals, such as rhinos, elephants, lions and tigers are mainly hunted and killed for the aim of providing hunters with an animal trophy. These exotic animals are subjected into “canned hunts” where hunters pay to kill them. These animals could be from the native land, or raised somewhere else and purchased from people who traffic unwanted animals from African animal parks, circuses and zoos. Canned hunts are considered lucrative businesses in the United States, with about 1,000 game preserves having 5,000 “exotic ranchers” in the North America region (CBS News, 2015). The country’s biggest private land owner, Ted Turner, permits hunters to make payments of thousands of dollars in order to kill deer, turkey, African antelopes, and bison on his land of about 2 million acres (Poole, 2007). Animals confined in ranches permitting canned hunting are usually used to human beings and are not able to escape from the confined place they are in. With no federal laws to regulate the practices of hunting animals, animals will continue to endure suffering and pain. Let us examine how animals endure suffering and
Overtime the population will continue to grow hogue and higher every year. Although some people care about the horses more than others, the question will always be open to what the BLM should do to the horses. While there will always be controversy over the topic, the best thing to do is just keep an eure on the horse and allow the adoption of them but mostly let nature take its course and decide on what should happen to all the horses.
The first noticeable step towards conserving the natural resources and wildlife in the United States started with the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act was started by Senator John Lacey in 1900 to stop the drastic drop in the number of animals and decrease in natural resources in the United States. Lacey’s act made it illegal to kill animals for sport and sell them elsewhere to escape from the law also known as market hunters. Thankfully an end was put to them. The Lacey Act is the oldest wildlife protection law in the United States and the prominence does not stop there. Multiple amendments have been made to the Lacey Act over the years to help preserve plants and wildlife. Since then, numerous species have been saved and the conservation of our natural
Executive Summary Every 60 seconds, an animal is abused. Dogs, cats, horses, and many other types of animals are being neglected and tortured everyday, yet resulting in few and minor consequences for the perpetrators. Animal abuse is prevalent in the United States and has been an ongoing issue since the 1970's, and prior to. Society as a whole has chosen to avoid the facts and arguments about animal cruelty, because to some it is seen as acceptable and typical. It becomes much more frowned upon when people actually see the results of the cruelty, especially in the media.