Wild Horse Refuge: The Other Pickens' Plan
Sure, T. Boone Pickens gets a lot attention these days for his plan to ween America off of foreign oil, build ginormous wind farms, and all that jazz -- but this week it's Mrs. Pickens' turn to make headlines. Not to be outdone, Madeleine Pickens has come up with an eco-friendly plan of her own. On Tuesday, she announced that she will purchase one million acres to serve as a giant sanctuary for America's famous wild horse population.According to federal Bureau of Land Management, the wild horse population in the western states is hovering at about 33,000, approximately 6,000 more than the bureau's target number. The rapidly expanding population had caused the bureau to consider euthanizing thousands of the mustangs to prevent overgrazing of the range and protect native species.
When Pickens heard this, she sprung into action, and the bureau readily agreed. I'm pretty sure nobody at the bureau was too psyched about having to euthanize thousands of animals that are symbolic of the American West, or the firestorm of bad press that would follow.
Horses currently residing in the bureau's holding facilities will be sterilized, and then send to live on Madeline's refuge, once she's acquired the property. According to Pickens "we will never turn an animal down... this is our national heritage, and it needs to be preserved." Awesome.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-24-2008 @ 10:13AM
bayhorse said...
Is 1 million acres really enough? With 30,000 horses in holding facilities that is 33 acres per horse, but not all rangeland can support even that many animals. A wild horse band may walk 10 miles in a day, their territories are going to overlap greatly if the average is only 33 acres/horse there could be more fighting than is normal. There is also a potential problem with disease spread if the entire population is in one area. Multiple unconnected smaller reserves might be a better idea, since genetic diversity is not an issue, and would give tourism opportunities in more than one spot. Don't get me wrong, I was so happy when I heard Mrs. Pickens was going to do this that I was tearing up, but I hope everyone involved thinks it through otherwise the horses will just suffer more.
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11-25-2008 @ 9:50AM
Fiona said...
It's "wean," not "ween."
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11-30-2008 @ 10:11PM
TB said...
Thank you, Madelaine Pickens! What an awesome gift to the Mustangs. As well as to those of us who love them.
A non-profit therapeutic riding program in Littleton, CO., utilized a Mustang named "Dancer" for its hippotherapy program. It was trained by inmates through the Wild Horse Inmate Program at the Colorado Correctional at Canon City, Colorado.
There are so many of us across the U.S. who would love to adopt a Mustang but can not (urbanization, economics, legalities). Why, there are probably enough people that your extra acres would not be required at this time!
(Then the BLM's numbers would be too low!) Unfortunately, economic choices do have to be made and like many households this one will have to keep loving Mustangs from afar.
My fear is that not only Mustangs but horses in general will one day be obscure from the landscapes of the middle class families. Please consider working with politicians to give tax incentives/credits for owners of mustangs and other non-business related horses.
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1-10-2009 @ 11:00PM
Konrad Kempfe said...
anything is better than nothing
I applaud Mrs. Pickens and urge her to go ahead and do it
Konrad
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