WILD HORSES (Sign Petition) — Beef and dairy might be staples in most American’s diets, but did you know how ruinous beef and cattle production is for the well-being of the planet? These industries are heavily responsible for emitting large amounts of methane and nitrous oxide and for destroying rainforests and grasslands in order to create more space for grazing, all of which propels climate change. For us, and the planet as a whole, these hazards are slowly accumulating. But for other species whom the livestock industry considers either competition and/or pests, the dangers are both life threatening and extremely imminent.
Here in the United States, a whopping 155 million acres of public lands is reserved for the Bureau of Land Management’s grazing program. When combined with private lands allocated for the same purpose, we find that 41.4 percent of all land in the Continental United States is used for grazing cattle, compared to just 9.1 percent for urban and rural residential. Seems a tad out of balance, wouldn’t you say? And yet, for the nation’s cattle ranchers, this simply isn’t enough. They’re constantly digging into their deep pockets to sway the government to provide more space for grazing. Even worse, they’re also doing everything they can to forcibly eliminate the wildlife that naturally resides in these areas.
Wild horses and burros have been among their main targets for years, and if these ranchers get their way, these species will soon become extinct. According to a petition on Care2, the livestock industry is currently lobbying for the removal of 50,000 of the 67,000 wild horses and burros that remain on public lands. Moreover, they’re pushing for the slaughter of another 46,000 wild horses that have already been captured and are now being held captive in government holding facilities. Such actions would not only jeopardize the survival of these species, which are already outnumbered 50-to-1 by cattle but would also cause further detriment to our public lands. Read more at One Green Planet » Sign Petition »
SOURCE
American Wild Horse Campaign via One Green Planet. Article written by Kim Smith.
FEATURED IMAGE
Wild horses Utah. AWHPC image. Photographer not cited.
NOTE ABOUT PETITION
The Horse Fund is opposed to the use of PZP on horses.
Tuesday's Horse 
Stop rounding up horses. Leave them alone on their land.
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Stop the unnecessary decimation of wild horses and burros to satisfy greedy cattle and sheep ranchers!
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Corporate America continues to rape and pillage the country unabated. This is just another example of their destructiveness. What’s it going to take to address this monstrous imbalance? Perhaps another stock market crash.
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Why are private ranchers allowed to decide with THE FEDERAL GOVT. that PUBLIC LANDS are being converted to livestock grazing? They may or may NOT pay a SMALL FEE , but on the deaths of THOUSANDS of our WILD HORSES they make more Profit.
STOP USING PUBLIC LANDS FOR PRIVATE PROFITS!! Stop killing wild horses!!
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Look who some of these so calked welfare ranchers are: https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/wild-horses-federal-grazing-and-americas-billionaire-welfare-ranchers/
The BLM are shameless and cruel and often lethal and so are the ranchers and billionaires who take part. It’s criminal and the new Dept of Interior Zinke is in favor of slaughtering our Mustangs.
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This is so wrong :-(
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This is terrible. These horses and burros belong to the United States citizens. Not property of the BLM or any other government agency. Please start making sure these beautiful iconic animals are protected by the people put in power to do so. Please keep these beautiful iconic animals as we the American people would hope you would. Safe and free to roam the western lands that were written into law as theirs. Not cattle ranchers or oil companies. Please make sure to protect the rest and please free what you have in holding pens? Thank you
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41% of land to support the livestock industry? Thats just wrong. And support it we do. Considering that we the taxpayers make up the difference between the very small rent they pay & the actual cost of the grazing program. And then there are all those subsidies – AND the fact that these allotments (that belong to US) are used as collateral for these ranchers loans from banks. These “ranchers” – many of them corporations believe that these allotments are their RIGHTS – they are not! They are privileges. Where else is there an industry that has all of these perks provided to them AND allows them to have a say about our public lands – rounding up wild horses & burros – killing off predator species – lobbying in order to stop endangered species from being listed – possibly more. If the general public was actually aware of this and cared enough – something just might be done about it!
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