Just Send Them to Slaughter!
Well followers, I am totally outraged by how narrow minded, uninformed people can get attention in the news media today.
Chuck Klosterman’s "The Ethicist" is supposed to be a thought-provoking column in The New York Times magazine. One of his readers (name omitted but I shall call him Mr. Opinion for want of better names) wrote his opinion of the wild horses as being an invasive species that are not much different from pythons in Florida or the Asian long-horned beetle.
What I gather from Mr. Opinion's view point is the only reasonable alternative with the horses destroying all the grasslands and ruining the water sources, is to send them to slaughter. And that needs to be done before they starve in a harsh winter or die of thirst from the summer drought.
Very logical thinking Mr. Opinion. Let's ponder this: wild horses are able to eat and digest native desert plants that are unsuitable for cattle and furthermore, horses favor steep hilly areas. Unlike a cow that grazes by pulling the grass out by the roots, a horse's teeth are built to clip the grass where it will easily grow back.
Additionally, the horse's digestive system does not fully degrade the vegetation. The pooped out seeds are then able to become replanted and continue growing. For this very reason, in the 1950's the state of Nevada passed the first wild horse protection law to keep horses on the range to help prevent brush fires.
As for destroying water sources, I beg to differ with Mr. Opinion. It is a proven fact that cows are the ones who trample, defecate in and destroy water sources. Horses drink from a water source and then warder off as they graze.
And in conclusion Mr. Opinion, as far as horses being an invasive species, there is a 25,000 year old horse head fossil that was discovered by one of the Tribal members and can be seen on exhibit at the Pyramid Lake Paiute Museum in Nevada.
http://wildhorsepreservation.org/wild-horses-and-ecosystem
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