Wild horses?

Question

Why doesn't the BLM geld the stallions to cut back on the herd to stop taking them off the plans? It just makes me sick to think of all the horses locked up, and living in poor condition cause they can't give them away. What do you think and have you heard anything on gelding the ferral horses? I know plenty of vet for shelters that spay and neuter for free and I'm sure there would be a vet or two out there that would help.

Answer 1

This is a really complicated situation, more goes into it than the magazines tell you.  But I'll just stick to the question at hand.

For gelding to even be an option, we'd have to round up ALL the horses, separate them, put them through the gelding operation, and turn them back out.  And we'd have to do it every year for awhile to make sure we caught all the males.  That's not feasible.  Besides, it only take ONE stallion to inseminate a large number of mares.  There is no room for error.  And I don't know if you've ever been on a horse gather but the logistics of catching 100% of the horses is pretty much impossible.  Also, it would take more than a vet or two to geld that many horses, and I don't know that many vets that would travel that far and donate that much of their time.

As for giving the mares shots, they've tried this in some places, but the problem is that the shots don't always take, and they only last for 2 years, so again, you have to round up all the animals every couple of years.  That wouldn't save any money at all, in fact it would probably cost MORE than just keeping them in holding facilities.  So that option isn't really feasible either.

There are a lot of good people that work in the BLM's wild horse program, and they don't WANT to euthanize a bunch of horses, but it has come to being the only logistically and monetarily feasible option, unfortunately.  Mustangs just aren't very marketable horses because people are very s****. about breeding for certain bloodlines and that their horse has to be purebred.  Really this issue isn't much different that dogs/cats in shelters.  There are just too many to care for and they must be euthanized.  People accept this yet they get so upset when the same ideology is applied to horses...

And for people that say "leave the pretty horses alone, let them be free" or "don't mess with nature," educate yourself.  Look around, it's too late to just let things be.  We messed with nature a long time ago, killing off all the predators of the wild horses and developing the land that was available for them to live on.  They now just roam on designate areas, they just CAN'T roam wherever they want.  That's not how our country is set up.  Their populations increase by 20% every year, which is huge.  We just can't leave them alone or they will turn their range into dust and then starve to death.  And starving is a way worse death than being euthanized.

HEY QUEEN:  No one is trying to end the wild horse population, just manage it.

Answer 2

I don't agree...Nothing is more beautiful than a wild horse. To think they're doing that to eventually end the wild population is outrageous!!! But my babies definitely are not locked up and kept in poor conditions.

Answer 3

Have you considered that they wouldn't even have to do it for free??  The cost of caring for them for 2-3 weeks would cover castration.  They could be released and adoptive programs could focus on mares.

It isn't as easy as all that, though.  Introducing the gelding to the wild herd would change the dynamic.  How would the stallions treat the castrated males?  

You also have to consider this...if the lands can support a set number of horses, and you keep introducing geldings, eventually there will be no mares to breed, as the geldings take up resources and do not procreate.

What will happen to the mares, then?

Answer 4

I would rather be locked up than lose my nuts.

Answer 5

You are incorrect in your assumptions.

First it is a well known biological fact that in animals (especially animals which are polygamous herd animals like horses) that male sterilization will do little for overall population.  It is the mares that would have to be sterilized not the stallions.

Once a stallion is gelded he would quickly lose the drive that allowed him to keep ownership of his herd.  Such a horse is challenged daily and would simply lose his position.  This is not like a tame stud that once gelded takes 6 months to 2 years to 'calm' down fully.  The drive to mate would still be there for that length of time or even longer, but would not be enough to hold a herd.

Even if the male were merely vasectomized leaving his testicles in place, plenty of mares get bred by younger males that slip in.  The stallion gets the majority of matings but since the mares would keep coming back in heat the likelihood of getting bred by a subordinate stallion would go up.

The overall effect would be small.

On the other hand if you start sterilizing female you develop a different problem.  Since the genetics are already bottle necked on the stallion side from there being one herd stallion who gets the majority of breedings, sterilizing the mares would cause a loss of genetic diversity.

One possibility that just occurred to me.  There is a shot that can be given to keep a mare from coming into heat for a complete season (spring to fall - one shot).  Why not give the shot from a tranq. gun?  Not sure if it would work because I do not know how the shot is administered or if enough mares could be tranqed to make a difference.  But worth a little thought to see if it is possible.

Well they have the shot already in use for mares.  It works to keep a mare from coming into estrus for about one year.  The problem is whether or not it is feasible to do this to the wild herd to reduce population size.  

I do fear one repercussion.  I fear that if it done successfully there will be a push to try it on deer and other game animals with the result of a push from animal rights groups to stop hunting.  The fear there is that when hinting is stopped then a LOT of landowners that enjoy hunting (many of which have land just so they can hunt) will decide that leaving land set aside for wildlife is useless and many will do away with it.

BTW stallions tend to kill geldings unless the geldings are MUCH bigger and stronger than they are.

Addition

Unfortunately they will still have to euthanize the current horses that are penned because there is no place for them.

Answer 6

You shouldn't mess with mother nature.  These are wild animals not pets.  If you play with the dynamics of the herd it is not going to go well.