If destructive thinking continues like the sort by the Elko Commissioner, the only wild horses in Nevada will be the ones on the back of this Quarter.
This type of thinking makes me shake my head in wonderment.
How does it hurt the U.S. economy for range destroying cattle to push range restoring wild horses off public lands? Thousands of federally protected wild horses and burros have lost their homes, family bands and freedom to benefit thousands of head of cattle that are an insignificant part of the beef industry. Now all one woman wants to do is establish a sanctuary for them to redress this error.
The Associated Press reports:
ELKO, Nev. (AP) — An Elko County commissioner says a proposed eco-sanctuary for hundreds of wild horses in northeast Nevada will damage the range and could put some ranchers out of business.
Demar Dahl says backers of the project “have a big hurdle to cross” to prove the concentration of as many as 900 horses won’t cause harm to public rangeland in violation of U.S. environmental regulations.
He told the Elko Daily Free Press it makes no sense to him to take viable cattle ranches important to the economy and turn them into taxpayer-supported horse reserves.
Madeleine Pickens and her non-profit group Saving America’s Mustangs want to establish the eco-sanctuary across nearly 100 square miles east of Elko and south of U.S. Interstate 80 — from the Ruby Valley to near the Utah line.
Boo, hiss!
ELKO commissioner is NUTS. HIS HAND IS IN SOMEBODY’S POCKET.
No surprises here, all have to have their hands in someone pocket, It has been proven that the horses are no threat to the eco system, they infact are eco friendly, this is all about PURE GREED and the murders of the very animal who built America The Horse !!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll bet this guy is in bed with the BLM and the cattlemen somewhere along the line. I’s people like this that has been throwing the bottlenecks into the sanctuary. With this length of time the sancuary should have been up and running last year. I thought when I first heard about this it may be the only chance the Mustangs will have to stay on the range even if it’s a semi-wild state at least their alive and free. There is no end to the crooks.
Pure Insanity! I totally agree with Arlene…..IT IS ALL ABOUT GREED!! The Beef Industry & cattlemen have so much power with our government…It is very scary!!
Another reason to stop eating beef!!!
This is the attitude that results from ‘entitlement’. The land for the proposed sanctuary will be, for the most part, private property. And what’s this guy snivelin’ about? Public land. His primary concern isn’t that other ranchers will be unable to utilize their own private property to sustain their livestock, but that the sanctuary will infringe on their ‘ownership’ – their private treaties for food and water for sale at a ridiculously small pittance on grazing allotments on Public land.
I have to stress this: There are many ranchers in Nevada who AREN’T on the Public Lands dole. These are smaller ranchers who run their herds on their own lands, grow or purchase, out of pocket, the forage their livestock consumes, construct water sources for their livestock at their own expense, and when it comes time to market their animals, lose potential profits because they accept few or no subsidies and have to compete directly with the well-endowed Public Lands Ranchers. These are true ranchers – who know their stock and actually put in the necessary work to raise their stock – as opposed to those who set hundreds unattended out on Public land to graze, then snivel to the government when Nature takes it’s course (loss to natural causes or predation).
Hard work: Something it seems the Elko County Commissioner & others would really like to try and avoid.
Don’t mistake Public Lands Ranchers as the only representatives of the cattle industry. Wild equine supporters know all too well the kind of power Public Lands Ranchers wield. Imagine trying to be a small, self sustaining rancher up against that kind of competition.
Agree. Most don’t mind the wild horses at all. This is from 2005, but very little has changed. Excellent and eye opening article: http://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2005/03/25/rolex-ranchers-and-the-living-legends/
every comment about the greed of cattlemen, the greed of the blm, is right on the money, pun intended! the plan of madeleine’s is a great start to re homing these icons, emptying the holding pens, saving money, saving horses lives and promote tourism in that area. are these guys bought?
The anti wild horse & burro and pro cattle ranching stand is so entrenched in Nevada culture and politics it is almost impossible to fight. It goes back generations now. Mrs Pickens with all her millions has spent years and not budged them in their thinking or intent. I thought she might have a shot as many of the so-called public lands / welfare cattle ranchers are actually multi millionaires themselves or heads of huge corporate conglomerates. It’s all about money, water, cattle, money, control, politics, tradition, money … and not about rightly maintaining public lands or any of the wildlife dependent on it.