WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — (Mar. 30, 2017). With multiple efforts to reduce the number of wild horses on the Navajo Nation, officials are considering a hunt.
The Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife asked hunters and sportsmen for their support for a hunt as a potential means to reduce the number of wild horses on the Navajo Nation at the 2017 Navajo Nation Sportsman’s Expo on March 25. NNDFW staff confirmed after the conference that a proposal has not yet been completely drafted, so the department hadn’t yet anticipated details of how the possible hunt would work such as weapons to be used, number of tags to take horses, and hunt unit maps.
Department manager Gloria Tom said the department hoped to address the problem and would propose a solution to Navajo Nation governance once drafted, but also called on the hunters present to add their voices to the conversation around the feral herds and what to do about them.
“Our leaders, they really need to hear from people like you,” Tom said. “People who live out there, people who hunt.”
She said previous attempts to trap, round up, or allow horses to be adopted had not made a large enough impact.
NNDFW officials said the department is drafting a proposal to get support from Navajo Nation leaders.
• Read more at the Navajo Times »
WE SAY
When you visit the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife website (NNDFW) they state that their agenda is to “Conserve, protect, enhance, and restore the Navajo Nations fish, wildlife, and plants through aggressive management programs for the spiritual cultural and material benefit of present and future generations of Navajo Nation.”
Insofar as we can see the NNDFW’s “aggressive management programs” consist of hunting and trapping to kill all types of wildlife such as: bear, muledeer, elk, mountain lions, game birds, water fowl and doves.
Now the NNDFW want to add wild (also referred to as feral) horses to the wildlife they hunt and kill.
We cannot comment on the spiritual benefits (if there are any) of hunting and trapping animals, but we can definitely comment on the material benefits of it — they are no doubt making a killing with all this killing.
So often with this type of culling, wild animals are mismanaged or simply left alone to create an imbalance or surplus which they turn around and resolve by staging hunts thereby making a tidy profit.
We see this in numerous situations around the country with all sorts of animals, and not just with the Navajo Nation. However, we are not aware of any advertised hunting and killing program of Mustangs.
Federal employees of the US government have reportedly sold wild horses to the meat man, a criminal act for which they appear to go unpunished. Must this sort of murder be added to it?
Insofar as the statement “previous attempts to trap, round up, or allow horses to be adopted had not made a large enough impact” goes, we say — try harder.
SOURCE
Navajo Times; by Christopher S. Pineo; March 30, 2017
FEATURED IMAGE
A gaunt horse grazes along State Route 264 near Tse Bonito, N.M. on March 27.
Navajo Times; Adron Gardner.
TAKE ACTION
Some of you have written that you wish to take action. If you wish to contact Navajo Nation regarding the proposed wild horse hunt their contact information is:
Write to Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife, P.O. Box 1480, Window Rock, AZ 86515 or call 1-928-871-6450.
You can also email Council Delegates. Some of them have more than one email address. We recommend you use their navajo-nsn.gov address. Please be polite and succinct.
Individually
Latest update: 2:05 pm EST; 6 Apr 17
Tuesday's Horse 
Please use more articles from John Cox! He is a straight shooter and tells the truth. There are some do gooders who candy coat this and are telling half truths or not at all. When it comes right down to it, this is ALL about the money and the pockets being filled at the expense of our wild equines. We need to write more letters, make more phone calls and start writing letters to the editors and expose the real truth! Home town letters would get this info to more local folks who have no idea we round up our wild horses, put them in holding pens, then put them on big trucks to be sent to Canada or Mexico for slaughter to be sold by the pound even though the meat is poison and tainted! That’s where the letters to your town/county come in.
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This proposed hunting of the Navajo nation reservation’s wild horses is abominable and its justifications are full of lies! It must be stopped!!!!
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Keep up articles like this giving information regarding our wild horses for the American people. They can read; they can decide! But just tell the truth. It is always amazing to me when wild animals are ‘brought in’ by DNR as they decide it would be nice to ‘reintroduce’ these animals. Problem is, the terrain is nothing like it was 100 years ago. They bring in these animals and they become road kill. In our neck of the woods, they brought in cougars which have not been in this area for ages. You can bet the farmers/hunters had a field day when they started showing up in barn yards and house yards. What has happened to common sense?
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Why is “killing” always the answer for controlling a species or population. And why is “killing” always the solution offered by the most out of control and over-populated species in the world? Hmm. There are probably many answers and many layers to the answers, but, I would bet my next paycheck there is $$ somewhere for someone or some special interest(s). We must keep fighting the fight; the moneyed interests will never stop trying.
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Disgusting! Never mind whether it is the While Man or The Indian, just get up and save the heritage of all man kind
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I totally agree with your comment. It’s stupid.
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Indefensible and deplorable! Native Americans never hunted without reverence and respect for any animal they killed. It was the invasive species, the White Man, who decimated the Buffalo simply because there were a lot of them. There should be outrage from all other Native American nations and the rest of our civilized society to stop this hunt and stop the continued round ups of the wild horses and burros everywhere. It is incomprehensible that there are those committed to removing these national icons from the earth and are succeeding!
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The european colonists didn’t decimate Bison “simply because there were a lot of them”. They did it because 1) bison had always been the main source of food, shelter, clothing and way of life for most Indigenous Peoples in what’s now called north america 2) exterminating bison made room for the colonist’s european cattle.
The colonists have also intentionally tried to exterminate other animals such as Wolves, Coyotes, Prairie Dogs, Big Cats, Alligators, etc and in some cases have succeeded in exterminating other animals such as as the Sun Head Conure Parrot and other animals.
All of this intentional Genocide of Indigenous Beings by colonists has been done in the name of colonization of our Once Healthy and Balanced Homelands.
As far as the horses and other animals trying to live in a healthy balance on a relatively small amount of land… I don’t know what the answer is other than decolonization and in the meantime I would hope the most Respectful, compassionate and intelligent solutions are used. Peace.
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This is a crock! Another way to exterminate our wild horses. Google John Cox on FB and read his articles regarding our wild equines. Unless and until the American people become more informed and educated, our wild horses will be extinct. And the BLM and the rest of their cohorts will be laughting their way to the bank.
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We just featured John Cox a few days ago. https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/john-cox-on-blms-wild-horse-numbers-and-survival-of-nations-grasslands/
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Disgusted decision from disgusted people
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