Over Population of Horses

Overview

Introduction

Horses have been roaming the land before the United States has become a country. As the United States grew as a country, villages became cities and cities became mega-cities. The result of this crowding behavior, leads to the put of all the animals, trees and soil on the side. the more we grow, the less space we leave to animals.

In 1970 there was an act that was made to protect wild horses, and allow them to roam on the free public lands of the U.S.

The U.S. has given the power to the Beauro of Land Management , to manage the areas in which the horses roam, and to take care of the horses. The United States is about making money, as much as one can. With this said, the government subsidizes livestock production in an extremely large amount. Since livestock give the country lots of tax money, they show a preference for livestock against horses. Today, horses are restricted in small areas, some are killed, adopted, or eaten. . one shall not think that livestock is more important, but rather one should find a way to let life live, without deciding which one to kill or restrict. This research is about the way the U.S. is managing horses and what are the actual facts that are reported.

The Issue

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/issue

History

The article describes the timeline of horses in the U.S since 1971 that an Act passed, that included the protection of wild horses on American Land. Yet today the BLM is using a non-scientific way, with roundups, vaccines and overall a cruel approach to get rid of most horses, to leave more space for livestock.

This article's strength is that it had visual rhetorics, with videos, and it explains in detail the most important factors that are affecting horse growth or decline. Moreover, its weakness is that, again, they are an organization for horses and therefore might have some bias and used wording to affect people to care.

One of the most important things I learnt from this article, is that the U.S. has very cruel cooperation leading it, focusing on money, and hiding truth from the people. This article showed that the way we are dealing with horses is mean and cruel, prioritizing private owners of livestock ( will grant lots of money) instead of letting nature be.

This article is essential to my research because it adds new perspectives.It answers the question: what is the history of horses in the U.S.? In a related research, I studied that the BLM is giving vaccines to horses to make them incapable of having offspring, yet this article reveals that they do more than that. The BLM also allows the use of roundup to move horses, maybe slaughtering, and are transferring horses from the West.

Livestock vs. Wild horses

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/media/livestock-vs-wild-horses

The article Livestock vs. Wild horses provide data regarding the amount of land horses roam on in comparison to livestocks. The article’s rhetoric is again clear with bullet points, there are no distractions, it is a straightforward text. The aimed audience are adults willing to read about statistics . Indeed as imagined livestock have gained land in a short time that overridden the available land than horses. The information provided is in the American Wild Horses Campagne comes from the BLM website ( they connected a link to each data piece).

The American Wild Horses Campagne, are an organization that supports the life of horses and are acting to protect them. This article is informative, clean and has clear bullet points. Its strength is that it is written very short, and concise, providing data in a very comprehensive way. Its weakness is that it does not provide any information on what the author’s opinion is. This organization is a well known organization in the US, and one can observe their validity because they provide reference to all their significant arguments.

My question was “ how many acres does the BLM manage, how much land is there for horses compared to livestock”. The article explains that the BLM manages 245 million acres and relatively speaking, and with the majority given to livestock. This article revealed to me the huge amount of land there is, and the way it is divided unevenly between horses and livestock.

This source provides the perfect details for one to know how the BLM manages its land between horses and livestock. This article articulates its message in a simple way, with large titles and simple writing on the data of land used by horses. This source connects to how the use of U.S.' public land is taken by mostly cows over horses, and therefore will research more into how this affects the approach towards horses spaces and health.

Land for Livestock vs. Horses

Herd Management BLM

Vaccines

https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/maintaining-range-and-herd-health

The article ¨Herd Management" talks about the way the BLM has been dealing with the horses from a perspective of food, shelter, and overall health.This article style is scientific, the ideal audience are adults, it does not contain many visuals, nor sounds, the words are written simply. The Bureau of Land Management uses different types of science such as sound to keep updated with the state of the vegetations, fire, soil, wildlife , etc. The BLM has developed many unsuccessful vaccines and medications for making the horses sterile. Yet now they are using a porcine zona pellucida (PZP) vaccine, which is a medication given to a horse so he/she will be sterile in between one to two years.

This source is from the BLM directly, making it a valid source. The strength of this article is that it is from the government, and is providing a detailed approach of how they deal with the overpopulation of horses. A weakness of this article is that it does not expand its writing, it is short and seems like there is something more behind it. This article is not biased, since it is the scientific history of the horses from an medicinal and technological point of view.

This source has taught me that BLM is trying to minimize horse population in the US. Based on this, further research has to be done on the ethics of this approach and if there are other solutions. This article taught me that indeed the United States aims to have less and less horses, by injecting in them vaccines somehow.

This article is relevant to my research topic, connecting how BLM is dealing with the matter of overpopulation. This article will relate to how else one can approach the oversize population of horses.

Trump Administration Again Seeks to Slaughter Tens of Thousands of American Wild Horses

Slaughtering

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/media/trump-administration-again-seeks-slaughter-tens-thousands-american-wild-horses

This article “Trump Administration Again Seeks to Slaughter Tens of Thousands of American Wild Horses '', written by American Wild Horse Champagne describes the topic of the choice of slaughtering horses against using land for profit. The article ideal readers are academic people, or people willing to read since that the article is written in a plain way, no images, letters are small and concrete.The article explained that “The Trump Administration continues to defy the will of the American people by proposing the slaughter of our iconic wild horses and burros,” which tells us that the interest of the president of the United States is profit rather than saving the horses. It is said that 86% of all Americans and Trump’s supporters are in favor of letting the horses roam free. Fortunately the congress did not allow Trump to eliminate the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 .

This source comes from American Wild Horse Campaign, which is a well known organization that protects horses. The strength of this source is that it is valid, because this organization is well known, and they provide facts and confirmation on how certain people are aiming to get rid of wild horses. A weakness of this source is that it does not tell the present actions that are taken to fight this. The reader is left behind with the questions, so what is next?

My question was : “Are horses being still slaughtered even though nobody talks about it?” This source has taught me that some people are willing to kill those horses for profit. In Judaism, you can not take a life to save another one. The author of the article writes, “The Trump Administration continues to defy the will of the American people by proposing the slaughter of our iconic wild horses and burros,” So i believe that even though killing animals may help the economy, it is still a sin to kill those horses.

This source is from a standpoint of horse lovers, yet its rhetoric seems objective and concise. It includes all necessary details to have a better understanding of the history of horses in the U.S and inspired me to look further on solutions for the overpopulation of horses opposing slaughterhouses. This article shows that some people will like to approach this issue from a truly cruel point of view, and I will explore into more ethical solutions.

Virginia Ranch Fertility Control

Humane Approach

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/virginia-range-fertility-control

The American Wild Horse Campaign is one of the largest organizations that ensure an ethical approach with overpopulation of horses. They have a groundbreaking fertility control program that uses human ways to vaccine horses with much less money than the BLM does and love. The PZP vaccine has a high success rate and does not show any effect on the mustang’s health.

The article’s strengths are that the article is written clearly, and they allow different people to get involved if they want. Another strength is that this article carries truth in his words because they are doing it just for the sake to help, while the BLM needs to protect its name, and it has already shown in previous annotations that the BLM lies! A weakness of this article is that it's short, and as a reader I expected to have more information.

This article teaches that each one of us can help, such that, that the American Wild Horse Campaign trains people to give vaccines to horses if they wish to volunteer.

Another important point of this article is that sadly, even a humane organization for horses are taking action to reduce the fertility of horses, which means that indeed the U.S. will not be able to let wild horses reproduce like they used to.

This source is similar to the article “Herd Management” by the BLM. The difference between the two is that the BLM writes in a scientific way and it contains very little information. While this article provides data from the fields, it carries a story and it is much more engaging and descriptive. This article connects to the rest of the articles because now one can observe the different approaches different organizations take to deal with the wild horses in the U.S.

Key Predators

Predators

https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/natural-predators

The article Natural predators illustrate the importance of key species that helps maintain a balanced population. This article provides another solution to the overpopulation of wild horses; it reinforces bringing back predators, such as mountain lions can help maintain their population. In fact, in the past key predators used to initiate migration of biason (prevent overgrazing of the soil ), and overall help keep the ecosystem balanced. This article also mentions that the Wildlife Services kill millions of native animals to protect livestocks.

A weakness of this article is that it lacks information such as advice for the reader or an area in which they let the audience know the different ways they can help besides donating money. A strength of this article is its content, clarity, and revolutionary idea of stopping key predators; that maybe, was inspired by Yellowstone, who actually did benefit from the reintroduction of key predators.

The question this article answers is, what are possible solutions for this issue? This article provided a surprising solution which is lined with what society is aiming to become. Our society is now understanding that the best way to grow food, manage water waste, and land, is by going back to how nature used to work. This article illustrated an example that has already been successful in Yellowstone.

This source can go hand by hand with the other source of vaccination. The reintroduction of key predators and vaccination can be a successful way in which we can reduce the oversize population of horses. Moreover this article is different from the rest, because it provides a solution, such as being less intrusive with nature rather than always in control ; one can see that letting nature do its job is a successful approach to grow crops, reviving the soil and also maybe for reducing the incredible high rate of horse reproduction.

A Revised Statement of Your Research

Reflection

This research taught how to look at a subject from different points of views. Each point of view approaches the issue in different ways and will use different types of rhetoric to write to the public about that matter. I learnt that government organizations write in a very concise way while non profit or normal organizations are writing more extensively. I learnt so much about the oversize population of wild horses in the States. I learnt that indeed, there is a limitation in letting horses reproduce because the resources available are scarce. There are different solutions and each carry a side effect that might be greater than the other. I learnt that big corporations are manipulating information to let livestock take all public land because it provides more money to the state. I learnt that also the BLM lies regarding the way they deal with the wild horses. The solution of reintroduction of key species is the most harmless of all. I learnt that there are so many organizations that are trying to stop the BLM of doing horrible things and are helping wild horses because of their genuine love for horses and honoring animals.

I would like to focus more on how these organizations are helping the horses. How did they start ?and what fuels their business?