Cross-posted from the Calgary Herald
Written by STEPHANE MASSINON
A record number of wild horses were captured in Alberta this year — a sevenfold increase from the average — and many are slaughtered for their meat, said the president of the Wild Horses of Alberta Society.
Alberta allows for the humane capture of wild horses, and in the last five years an average of 30 horses have been captured per year.
This year, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development says 216 horses were captured between December 2011 and February 2012 of a possible 237 permits issued for the season. They are usually caught west of Sundre.
Bob Henderson, president of the Wild Horses of Alberta Society, said over 90 per cent of the horses that are captured are sent for slaughter.
“These horses are part of our natural heritage,” said Henderson.
His organization doesn’t oppose capturing wild horses if it’s done for adoption and the group managed to get nine of the wild horses this year for that purpose.
Read more >>
Photograph by Henrik Nilsson (not filed with original story). See more wildlife images by Nilsson here >>
Learn more about Alberta’s wild horses and how you can help at Wild Horses of Alberta Society >>
Tuesday's Horse 
stop hurting our horses ..they are beautiful animals ..they are our american history…please safe them
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How great to see WHOAS (Wild Horses of Alberta Society) featured here. They do amazing work for our Mustangs. Kimball Foord of the Canadian Longride for the Mustang has a great initiative going too, and Cac Betts of Canadian Mustang. I won’t even get started on how ASR (Alberta Sustainable Resources) mandates “capture” of what they consider “stray” horses…grrr.
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