Please, Mr. Redford, give us the alternative to slaughtering horses.<\/p>\n
Please, Governors current and past, don\u2019t just tell us it\u2019s bad, tell us what to do instead.\u00a0 Show us a plan.\u00a0 Show us a budget.\u00a0 Show us the water to grow the feed for thousands of stray horses, in this drought, when cattle are dying of starvation on ranches.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s livestock and there\u2019s wildlife.\u00a0 Stray, wild and abandoned horses are somewhere in between \u2013 not useful to humans, not cared for by humans, competing for scarce food and water. \u00a0We may love them but we\u2019re letting nature take its brutal course.<\/p>\n
I am not a fan of killing horses.\u00a0 I am as sentimental as anyone.\u00a0 I think of the horses who have personally nuzzled me.\u00a0 I think of Trigger, Roy Rogers\u2019 golden palomino, rearing up elegantly in front of the cameras; and of horses who had the misfortune to be ridden into battle, left unscathed when the rider fell. \u00a0A recent article by my colleague Sherry Robinson reminded us that historically, the horse got hit as often as the man, and horses were eaten when circumstances dictated.<\/p>\n
We 21st<\/sup> century humans can\u2019t get our act together on how to be ethical in treating animals.\u00a0 What crazy inconsistent thoughts are we thinking?<\/p>\n A rancher was almost criminally prosecuted for animal cruelty because his cattle were starving.\u00a0 The state almost adopted these cattle and would have been forced to feed and water them at taxpayer expense, so they could be slaughtered instead of starving.<\/p>\n A few so-called sportsmen had a prairie dog hunting contest. \u00a0Prairie dogs\u2019 effect on the environment is debated.\u00a0 Some people think they just make holes in the ground that cause cows to break legs; others believe they and their underground tunnels are good or even necessary for the ecosystem and the soil, and their complex community relationships are admirable.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t decide whether to feed the bears who have had a tough summer and have been wandering into our backyards (except in Raton, where reportedly they are welcome in the trash dumpsters and don\u2019t hurt anybody).\u00a0 Feeding them up in the mountains would protect them by keeping them away from civilization, so their population would be healthier next year and we\u2019d have licenses to shoot a few more of them.<\/p>\n We adore our dogs and treat them like members of the family, except for those abandoned by the roadside, tossed into a dumpster or living wild on the Navajo reservation (thousands of them, reportedly).<\/p>\n New Mexico is spending $1 million in federal money to kill feral pigs (including shooting from airplanes; nothing sportsmanlike about that) even though they are highly intelligent social animals. \u00a0State Land Commissioner Ray Powell was quoted as saying, “They’re much brighter than I am.” \u00a0We hear nothing from the animal rights community, perhaps because the pigs are ugly.\u00a0 They are also multi-billion-dollar destructive, destroying crops, tearing up wildlife habitat, eating small wildlife and spreading disease to both cattle and wildlife. \u00a0According to \u201cNew Mexico Wildlife\u201d (published by the Game and Fish Department), some of these pigs were brought in privately from Texas because they were somebody\u2019s idea of good animals to hunt. \u00a0Then they multiplied, like four-legged kudzu or the Asian carp destroying fisheries as they eat their way up the Mississippi.<\/p>\n And don\u2019t get me started on wolves.<\/p>\n Perhaps the feral dogs will kill and eat the abandoned horses, who will be too weak from hunger and thirst to run away, and maybe the feral pigs will give the dogs a fight and thus reduce the wild dog population.\u00a0 That\u2019s nature for you.<\/p>\n Not a pretty picture.\u00a0 Instead of just opposing what\u2019s proposed, please come up with something better, Mr. Redford.<\/p>\n Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Please, Mr. Redford, give us the alternative to slaughtering horses. Please, Governors current and past, don\u2019t just tell us it\u2019s bad, tell us what to do instead.\u00a0 Show us a plan.\u00a0 Show us a budget.\u00a0 Show us the water to … Continue reading