The population of wild horses in the United States is continuously under threat from those who want to use land for special interests such as private livestock grazing. In light of this, the Bureau of Land Management and other government agencies are constantly under pressure to remove wild horses from the wild. When this happens, the horses are kept in captivity and often are separated from their family.
Activist, musician and lover of horses, Willie Nelson has pled for allowing wild horses to be allowed to remain in their natural environment. He has a 700-acre ranch outside of Austin in Texas where 70 wild horses live.
He had said in 2019:
"My horses are probably the luckiest horses in the world. They get hand-fed twice a day, and they were just ready to go to slaughter is probably the last thing they remembered, so they're happy horses."
Nelson, who works closely with wild horse conservation organisation Return to Freedom, wrote an open letter requesting legislative action to make sure wild horses are safe from government roundup programs.
He says in his letter:
"Wild horses, like other wild animals, were meant to be wild and free. Historic family bands are broken as the horses are separated forever. Some are adopted or sold, and many thousands more end up living in crowded corrals or leased pastures, exposed to the elements. Some end up slaughtered for human consumption overseas."
He concludes the letter by asking everyone to help "break the cycle of wild horse roundup and removal". He suggests that members of Congress should be urged to give an end to roundups and put in place a safe and human fertility control, while ensuring that all horses are protected from slaughter.
He writes:
"Our elected officials must know this is a priority for the American people."
A post shared by Return To Freedom (@returntofreedom)
[Based on reporting by: My Modern Met]
COMMENTS