Islandic Horses walk around grazing and trampling over snow. A new study found that herds of horses, bison and reindeer could be used to fight off the melting of the permafrost in the Arctic. Susanne Stöckli / Pixabay
Arctic winters are meant to be frigid, but because of rising temperatures and climate change, they aren't cold enough. The permafrost, the thick subsurface layer of frozen soil that stores one of the world's largest natural reserves of carbon, is thawing. As it does, it releases potent greenhouse gases that accelerate climate change. European scientists have now found that resettling massive herds of large herbivores could combat this effect and save up to 80 percent of all permafrost soils around the globe until 2100.
<p>The study, published in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60938-y#citeas" target="_blank">Nature journal <em>Scientific Reports</em></a> on Tuesday, focuses on wholistic "ecosystem management practices" that "[integrate] fauna dynamics into complex Earth System models." Lead scientist and permafrost expert Christian Beer from Universität Hamburg's Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) found that introducing and managing reindeer, horses, bison and other herbivores into Arctic ecosystems can save the permafrost soils and stall climate change.</p><p>Beer drew inspiration from the late Pleistocene era, when large herds of herbivores roamed most of Northern Eurasia maintaining a grassland ecosystem in the Arctic called the <a href="https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2015/land-use-agriculture-forestry-livestock/c/proposal/1320191" target="_blank">mammoth steppe ecosystem</a>, notes <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60938-y#citeas" target="_blank">the study</a>.</p>
<p>The productive ecosystem actually pulled large quantities of carbon from the earth's atmosphere into the soil where it froze, reports <a href="https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2015/land-use-agriculture-forestry-livestock/c/proposal/1320191" target="_blank">Climate CoLab</a>. Over tens of thousands of years, the carbon-infused soils built up into our modern permafrost.</p><p>This ecosystem existed up until the end of the last ice age when wooly mammoths and other big mammals died off and the mammoth steppe vanished. Today, as the permafrost thaws, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/permafrost-methane-climate-change-2550769172.html" target="_self">ancient methane and carbon dioxide are released</a>.</p><p>Beer's study explores what would happen if a similar ecosystem could be recreated in the modern era to prevent loss of the permafrost. Luckily, he doesn't need to find wooly mammoths.</p>
<p>Russian scientists Sergey and Nikita Zimov resettled herds of bison, wisents, reindeer and horses at <a href="https://pleistocenepark.ru/" target="_blank">Pleistocene Park</a> in Siberia 20 years ago to study how restoring the mammoth steppe ecosystem will positively affect global climate, reports <a href="https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2015/land-use-agriculture-forestry-livestock/c/proposal/1320191" target="_blank">Climate CoLab</a>.</p><p>At Pleistocene Park, the winter air (minus 40 degrees Celsius) is far colder than the permafrost (minus 10 degrees Celsius), <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60938-y#citeas" target="_blank">the study</a> notes. "Thick snowfall insulates the ground from the much colder air, keeping it 'warm.'"</p><p>As the animals graze, their hooves scatter and compress the snow cover, dramatically reducing the insulating effect and allowing for more "freezing Siberian air [to reach] more deeply into the ground's permafrost," <a href="https://www.pri.org/file/zimovs-horses-trampling-snowjpg" target="_blank">explains Pleistocene Park</a>. This slows the thawing of the permafrost even in a warmer climate, reports <a href="https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2015/land-use-agriculture-forestry-livestock/c/proposal/1320191" target="_blank">Climate CoLab</a>.</p>
<p>Beer, the Zimovs and their research partners compared the effect of grazing herds on snow depth and soil temperatures at Pleistocene Park and other Arctic locations in Europe. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60938-y#citeas" target="_blank">The study</a> reports that herds in the Park cut snow cover height in half and reindeer in Sweden lowered snow cover by 73 percent. Comparing soil temperatures inside and outside of the fenced Pleistocene Park during winter revealed a mean annual difference of −1.9 degrees Celsius where animals had grazed.</p><p>The study explains the huge potential upside of this experiment. "Since most populations of large herbivores like reindeer and muskoxen are directly managed by humans, either by hunting or management," <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60938-y#citeas" target="_blank">it reports</a>, "the herbivore community can also be manipulated even more by reintroducing lost components of the Arctic herbivore assembly."</p><p>Beer said, "This type of natural manipulation in ecosystems that are especially relevant for the climate system has barely been researched to date – but holds tremendous potential," reported a <a href="https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/about-cen/news/11-news-2020/2020-03-17-permafrost-pferde-beer.html" target="_blank">Universität Hamburg article</a>.</p>
<p>"If emissions continue to rise unchecked ... we can expect to see a 3.8-degree Celsius increase in permafrost temperatures, which would cause half of all permafrost to thaw," <a href="https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/about-cen/news/11-news-2020/2020-03-17-permafrost-pferde-beer.html" target="_blank">the article</a> reported. Adding animals lowers that warming by 44 percent, to 2.1 degrees Celsius, which is enough to preserve 80 percent of the world's permafrost.</p><p>Beer's team also explored what would happen if some, but fewer, grazers were resettled. He admitted, "It may be utopian to imaging resettling wild animal herds in all the permafrost regions of the Northern Hemisphere," reported <a href="https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/about-cen/news/11-news-2020/2020-03-17-permafrost-pferde-beer.html" target="_blank">Universität Hamburg</a>.</p><p>Critically, Beer's results show that fewer animals would still produce a cooling effect. "What we've shown here is a promising method for slowing the loss of our permanently frozen soils, and with it, the decomposition and release of the enormous carbon stockpiles they contain," the earth system expert told <a href="https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/about-cen/news/11-news-2020/2020-03-17-permafrost-pferde-beer.html" target="_blank">Universität Hamburg</a>.</p>
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Wild Exmoor ponies graze on a meadow in the Czech Republic. rapier / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Nanticha Ocharoenchai
In the Czech Republic, horses have become the knights in shining armor. A study published in the Journal for Nature Conservation suggests that returning feral horses to grasslands in Podyjí National Park could help boost the numbers of several threatened butterfly species.
<p>In 2017, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> organizations laid out their plan to introduce Exmoor ponies (<em>Equus ferus caballus</em>) to the dry, temperate grasslands of Podyjí along the Czech border with Austria. They aimed to "rewild" the region and restore natural ecosystems by allowing the land and its native species to develop free from human influence.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4NzU0Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTc3MTQxM30.HO9KnZk3lpI3K_9Hz7jEBn4HyF1v8IoQ_ewn69659jg/img.jpg?width=980" id="1f3b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="23ed9ae89e1048634aed33aef898db67" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>At the same time, a team of researchers led by Martin Konvička, a researcher at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, began monitoring butterfly species in the reintroduction sites to predict how they would respond to this "refaunation," as scientists call the reintroduction of animals. Their results showed that the horses' grazing would likely improve conditions for many of the butterfly species that live in the area.</p><p>It turns out that horses encourage habitats that many butterflies flock to. By trampling and feeding on tall shrubs, young twigs and fruits, horses keep the grasslands short, which some butterfly species prefer. They also don't disturb the land as much as mowing or more intensive livestock grazing would.</p><p>Konvička and his team studied the population size, movements and larvae of five species of checkerspot butterflies, including four that are listed as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered</a> or critically endangered nationally. For more than two months, the researchers scoured the park's fields to find as many butterflies as possible. They marked them with unique codes using felt-tip pens and took note of their species, sex and wing wear on a scale of "fresh" to "heavily worn." Then they released them, only to repeat the procedure the next day.</p><p>To study checkerspots, Konvička said, "you need a group of dedicated people at the spot, ready to work every day with no days off for most of the summer, when most humans prefer to be at a beach."</p><p>The researchers' analysis allowed them to predict how the butterflies might respond to the reintroduction. The results showed that each species tends to specialize in different habitats. Some prefer short grass and woodland edges, and others like exposed rocks and ditches.</p><p>"The ongoing insect/pollinator crisis is at least partly due to homogenization of land use in agriculture, forestry, et cetera," Konvička said in an email. In other words, these human impacts are making landscapes more uniform with less variety, reducing the chances that they'll provide the right habitat for multiple species of butterflies.</p><p>That means "everything which brings back a semblance to pre-industrial/prehistoric conditions will help," Konvička added.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4NzYxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTgwODg1MX0.LtslPZP5qQr1qr1gOSJkjFMw2RH-j92CY2-SZ2CsSSw/img.jpg?width=980" id="e75cc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="85bb66c7d9665aac053d7f878f670fec" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>One of the organizations involved in this project, the nature <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> NGO European Wildlife, decided to replicate their refaunation efforts after the success of reintroducing Exmoor ponies to a former military base in Milovice, also in the Czech Republic. That project demonstrated how butterflies benefited from the presence of Exmoor ponies, a breed native to the British Isles. They're also one of the oldest and most primitive horse breeds in Europe and handle cold weather well.</p><p>Dalibor Dostal, director of European Wildlife, said part of the challenge was "to give people confidence in natural processes."</p><p>Four of the studied butterfly species prefer habitats that horses help create and maintain. But the study also shows that the rarest of the five species, the Assmann's fritillary (<em>Melitaea britomartis</em>), will likely be threatened by the reintroduction due to the decrease of tall vegetation that it prefers.</p><p>The study site, which is also a former military base, was once home to other species like the hermit butterfly (<em>Chazara briseis</em>). The concrete military structures and ecological changes left behind from World War II drove out some species, but they created ideal living conditions for the Assmann's fritillary. The reintroduction of the horses will likely transform the landscape again.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4NzYzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODk3ODgyMn0.zZ3q6Ho1usOmMynw4-r0pXzQ6pLPIgp96ODCUxjzyFo/img.jpg?width=980" id="1e593" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8cb18a1ae1e8eee0623f04adae91c9e0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Konvička said that studies like this one could help predict those impacts before they occur.</p><p>"Detailed knowledge of [the ecology] of focal insects may point to rewilding-associated risks," he said.</p><p>He recommended the regulation of horse population sizes, as well as incrementally enlarging the project sites to avoid the risk of overgrazing, which could clip down the vegetation to a uniform length that's not ideal for many butterflies.</p><p>"I think the introduction of feral horses in such dry grasslands is an excellent idea," said Roel van Klink, a researcher at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research at the University of Leipzig, who was not involved in the study.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4NzY0Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NTUwNzU1MH0.ccLKgqvVpzVAh6QJ6aApqWp--vWDyB6p863tVNrFG0c/img.jpg?width=980" id="28c7d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="448796c0cebb049b7c8b55ea6841946f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>"At this moment many such grasslands face abandonment, because appropriate management with livestock is very expensive," van Klink said in an email. "We know that if no management would take place at all, such grasslands would turn into … cold, dark forests with not much undergrowth. This would certainly lead to the extinction of all five butterfly species from the site."</p><p>Konvička said he believes many projects neglect the role of missing "ecological engineers" — sometimes called "ecosystem" engineers — that is, species that serve significant functions through the alteration, maintenance or destruction of habitats. As with the Exmoor ponies in this case, they may not be the original inhabitants, but the aim of rewilding is to get the ecosystem functioning again.</p><p>"At the scale of national parks, restoring all the missing ecosystem components is the only way in the long term," he said.</p>
<p><em>Nanticha Ocharoenchai is a communications graduate and environmental writer from Thailand, where she initiated the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/climatestrikethailand/" target="_blank">climate strike movement</a>.</em><br/></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/feral-horses-gallop-to-the-rescue-of-butterflies-in-distress/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Related Articles Around the Web
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More than 70,000 wild horses roam Navajo Nation. Don Graham / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Drought is being blamed for the deaths of 111 wild horses on Navajo Nation land in northern Arizona, according to tribal officials.
The horses were found dead in a muddy stock pond near Grey Mountain over the past week. The Associated Press reported that animals usually drink from the stock pond but dry conditions left it with little water.
<p>
<span></span>Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye <a href="https://twitter.com/Russell_Begaye/status/991479446463959040" target="_blank">tweeted</a> Tuesday that "due to drought conditions, the horses became stuck in the mud and were too weak from thirst to climb out."
</p><p>
<span></span>"This is the beginning," Begaye warned. "The Navajo Nation has over 70,000 feral horses."
</p><p>
In March, Begaye signed a drought declaration issued by tribal emergency management officials.
</p><p>
<span></span>The Associated Press published grim photos of the dead horses with dried mud caked on their bodies. Tribal officials are trying to determine how best to deal with the carcasses.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="e9115" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="IO1ZRS1576662779"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="991856131608862721" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Officials are trying to determine how best to deal with the carcasses that could attract scavenging birds, dogs and… https://t.co/RTrvY6PdLu</div> — azcentral (@azcentral)<a href="https://twitter.com/azcentral/statuses/991856131608862721">1525311904.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
The Navajo reservation is the largest and most populous in the country, spanning northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah and northwestern New Mexico.
</p><p>
The Arizona region has been grappling with severe drought and limited precipitation, which has caused a shortage of water and feed for livestock and wildlife,
<a href="https://fronterasdesk.org/content/11016/navajo-president-cancels-wild-horse-hunt" target="_blank">Fronteras</a> reported.
</p><p>
Gloria Tom, director of the Navajo Department of Fish and Wildlife, told Fronteras that the Navajo ecosystem cannot support the heavy populations of wild horses.
</p><p>
"The impact is tremendous. We have horses competing for food and water. There's potential for disease outbreaks," Tom said.
</p><p>
Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez were in Tuba City Wednesday working on solutions for the drought conditions that led to the horses' deaths, according to a Facebook
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/NavajoNationOPVPRussellBegayeandJonathanNez/posts/1007511826067648" target="_blank">post</a> from their office.
</p><p>
The office said that they are working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Rangers and the Navajo EPA to assess the situation and mitigate any environmental effects.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="550c3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5UAKNS1576662779"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="784180231267553281" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NASA: Megadrought Lasting Decades Is 99% Certain in American Southwest https://t.co/MHyjT0yCbD @GravityDriven1 @climatechange</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/784180231267553281">1475798111.0</a></blockquote></div>
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The pony's diet of hardy vegetation such as gorse, shrubs and coarse grasses that out-compete more fragile plants make them great moor and grassland conservation aids. Fred F / Flickr
By Brooke Maree Williams
Bordered by Devon and Somerset counties and dropping away steeply to the Bristol Channel, the hilly, open moorland of Exmoor in southwest England is a place of freezing wet winters with driving winds. Vegetation here is tough and of little nutritional value. Only the hardiest of creatures endure in this harsh environment. The Exmoor pony is one of them, though it's currently listed as "endangered" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
<p style="">Unique among the mountain and moorland breeds, Exmoor ponies are distinctly recognizable by their uniform bay, brown or dun color and lighter, oatmeal-colored markings around their nose and eyes. The hair on their coats is set in such a way that water simply runs off their backs, away from their eyes and other vulnerable body parts. Their coats in winter are composed of two different layers—fine, springy hairs grow against the skin providing an insulation layer, while the top layer is coarse, greasy and water-repellant. Snow falling on their bodies simply sits until it is shaken off, rather than melt and cause precious body heat to be lost.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzQxNjc5MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTU0NzEzN30.aCJg_0pdT0u6E7aVuaaN-SM8ym_nJ9HmAKmaywmC-C0/img.jpg?width=980" id="a08da" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76bd86f2372a5b66374e43e578f0023c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">During winter, the Exmoor pony's winter coat is composed of two different layers, which allows it to retain body heat during the English moor's freezing wet winters.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Thomas Haeusler</small></p><p>It is believed that these ponies derive from the original prehistoric horse that made the trek from Alaska to Britain some 130,000 years ago. There is mention of the ponies of Exmoor as early on as in the <a href="http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/" target="_blank">Domesday Book</a>—a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in AD 1086. Along with the Przewalski's horse of Mongolia, these primitive ponies provide an insight into what the original horses must have looked like many thousands of years ago.</p><p>"Their characteristics all represent adaptations to surviving harsh elements, living on poor food supply and avoiding predators; none even hint at people selectively breeding them for an unnatural purpose," said Sue Baker, author of <em><a href="http://www.halsgrove.com/proddetail.php?prod=9780861834433" target="_blank">Exmoor Ponies: Survival of the Fittest</a></em>. </p><p>"Their history suggests that they are minimally altered from the indigenous British wild pony and were the raw material for the development of many, if not all, the other British native pony breeds. Their genes are therefore the reservoir of all that is required for a free-living pony. Not only has the primitive appearance survived in the Exmoor but also natural behaviors in terms of herd life, food selection and survival instincts. Given enough of the right habitat, they have no need of us."</p><p>These tough little animals were initially known as "horsebeasts" due to their robustness and strength. Initially, they roamed free in Exmoor, which for many centuries was a designated royal hunting forest where the king or queen of England and their cohort could hunt red deer. The isolation of the moor helped maintain the breed's genetic integrity. The number of ponies on the moor varied over the years, rising to about 1,000 at times according to records, and they were managed by a warden, along with the cattle and sheep that were grazed on the moor. After Exmoor was sold to private owners in 1818, many of these ponies were sold to individuals and were used on farms for ploughing, pulling carts and for transportation. Some of these ponies also became the foundations for new breeding programs. However, the majority of the herds still roamed free on the moor in designated areas.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.exmoorponysociety.org.uk/" target="_blank">Exmoor Pony Society</a> was established in 1921 to watch over the preservation of the breed and ensure that they remained an important part of their natural habitat. Popularity of the Exmoor as children's ponies peaked in the 1930's, largely due to the success of the books written by Golden Gorse and the future of the breed appeared to be quite solid.<br/></p><p>Before the World War II began in 1939, the wild ponies on the moor numbered around 500. But the War brought tragedy for the breed. While some ponies served their country in mounted home guard units, many more became casualties of war. Gates to the moors and private paddocks were left open, ponies were used as target practice and stolen by hungry nearby city-dwellers. By the time the War ended in 1945 there were just 50 Exmoor ponies left on the moor. The breed was at great risk of extinction and if it were not for the dedication and work of a number of conservation groups and individuals it may not have recovered.</p><p>It was a joint effort bringing the breed back from the brink. With so few ponies left, it was imperative that genetic diversity was maintained as much as possible and that the resilience of the breed was kept intact.</p><p>Mary Etherington from the Royal Dick Veterinary College was a keen supporter of the breed and helped raise national awareness of the importance of the preservation of the breed, including getting London Zoo to exhibit two ponies in 1948 to help bring attention to the dire situation these animals were in. The Exmoor Pony Society put in place strict quality control and inspection protocols to preserve the integrity of the breed while bringing the numbers back up.</p><p>Today, about 150 Exmoor ponies roam free on the moor and many more are being reared on farms in other parts of the United Kingdom. There are around 500 breeding mares and 100 licensed stallions throughout England, and about 3,000 Exmoor ponies worldwide. But though their numbers are on the rise they are still recognized as a rare breed by the <a href="https://www.rbst.org.uk/" target="_blank">Rare Breeds Survival Trust</a> and the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/farm-animal-genetic-resources-committee-fangr" target="_blank">Farm Animal Genetic Resource Committee</a>. </p><p>They are regularly rounded up for health checkups, which include procedures such as worming and hoof trimming. Young ponies are often captured and sold at auctions to private owners or stud farms. Recently the ponies have been doing well at the prestigious Horse of the Year Show in Britain.</p><p>In recent years, there has been a growing understanding of the ponies' conservation value as well. The characteristics that make them so well adapted to the harsh conditions of the moor has proven to be instrumental in maintaining the integrity of that landscape. Their strong jaws, for instance, enable them to survive on poor quality vegetation such as gorse, shrubs and coarse grasses, while leaving the more delicate flora alone.</p><p>"For conservation purposes they have a number of things in their favor," said Susanna Baker who works with the Yorkshire Exmoor Pony Trust, a charity that grazes these ponies in various locations around Yorkshire. "They are independent, self-sufficient and adapted to British conditions." Baker has a working knowledge of these ponies and sees them as a valuable asset to environmental conservation. </p><p>"They thrive on poor forage and do a sterling job eating vigorous vegetation that out-competes more fragile plants," she said. Baker also explains that while other mountain and moorland breeds may be suitable depending on the local conditions, the Exmoor have not been bred to suit a human purpose or human perception of beauty and are closer to a wild pony than other breeds.</p><p>Today, wild Exmoor pony herds are managed throughout Britain. A herd was even exported to the Czech Republic in 2014 in an effort to re-introduce wild ponies over there. That program was such a success that in 2015 a second consignment of ponies was sent there. The aim of this particular project is to revitalize land in the Czech Republic that has been over-farmed and restore it to its former beauty and productiveness.</p><p>In most parts of the world true wild-type horses and ponies are non-existent, being either wiped out through hunting or their native characteristics bred out via human selection. The ponies are not only a benefit to the environment but their presence attracts visitors and creates awareness around environmental conservation. When asked about the future of the breed, Sue responds: "Exmoors inspire great devotion and so the breed will probably be secure in terms of overall numbers."</p><p>The grazing Exmoor pony herds in other parts of the United Kingdom give the breed extra insurance, for if a natural disaster or disease were to wipe out the main populations on Exmoor, the breed's genetics would not be lost. These tough little ponies, though still classed as rare and endangered, are definitely on the way up and will hopefully be around for many years to come.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/back_from_the_brink_the_exmoor_pony/" target="_blank">Earth Island Journal</a>.</em></p>
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Desatoya Wild Horse Gather in Nevada. Wikimedia Commons
The Trump administration's $1 billion budget request for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) seeks $66.7 million for the Wild Horse and Burro Management program and a continued push to eliminate annual appropriations bill riders that prohibit the sale or killing of the federally protected animals.
Congress has yet to act on the administration's 2018 budget request, which also requested lifting the appropriations riders.
<p>
"The 2019 budget continues to propose the elimination of appropriations language restricting BLM's use of all of the management options authorized in the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act," the Interior Department's plan states, in reference to the 1971 law that calls for the "protection, management and control" of the animals on public land.
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"This change will provide BLM with the full suite of tools to manage the unsustainable growth of wild horse and burro herds."
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<a href="https://www.aspca.org/news/senate-votes-house-votes-horse-slaughter-wild-horses-what-does-it-all-mean" target="_blank">For more than a decade</a>, Congress has used appropriations bill riders to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/07/17/congress-could-authorize-horse-meat-dinner/485390001/" target="_blank">prohibit</a> the BLM from spending taxpayer money on "the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of [BLM] or its contractors or for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products."
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The BLM uses helicopters to round up thousands of wild horses and burros from public lands each year. About 45,000 captured animals are held in government corrals and pastures, costing taxpayers $50 million annually. Another 67,000 wild horses and burros roam around on federal land.
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The bureau asserted last year that a high number of "excess wild horses and burros causes habitat damage that forces animals to leave public lands and travel onto private property or even highways in search of food and water" and requested that Congress remove some restrictions on the sale and disposition of "excess" animals.
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<span></span>The <a href="https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/" target="_blank">American Wild Horse Campaign</a> (AWHC) condemned the president's latest budget proposal. The horse advocacy group worries that the animals in holding and those considered "excess" on the range would be killed en masse if Congress were to grant the BLM's budget request.
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<span></span>"The Trump administration continues to defy the will of the American people by proposing the slaughter of America's iconic wild horses and burros," said Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign.
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</p><div id="17dd9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="PWBCXA1576683851"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="963427978595241984" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Interior Dept. again asks congress to lift long-standing #wildhorse slaughter ban in FY 2019 Appropriations. https://t.co/O1Ig6Amuvz</div> — AWHC (@AWHC)<a href="https://twitter.com/FreeWildHorses/statuses/963427978595241984">1518534104.0</a></blockquote></div>
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A poll cited by the AWHC showed that 80 percent of Americans—including 86 percent of Trump voters and 77 percent of Clinton voters—oppose the slaughter and mass killing of wild horses and burros.
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"The administration's decision to prioritize slaughter over humane management alternatives recommended by the National Academy of Sciences is irresponsible, reckless and politically unacceptable," Roy said.
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A 2013 National Academy of Sciences review of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Management program found that a birth control vaccine was among the most safe, effective and economical ways to humanely reduce horse reproductive rates on the range.
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But according to the AWHC, the BLM "has refused to use this method in more than a token manner, opting instead for costly and cruel helicopter roundups."
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</p><div id="56ff6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4UFFG11576683851"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="838887018667061252" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Wild Horses Under Siege on Public Lands https://t.co/5NSBGDDwBd @greenpeaceusa @Sierra_Magazine</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/838887018667061252">1488841225.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Animal rights group Friends of Animals has filed a lawsuit over a planned wild horse roundup in Nevada.
The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Reno, the Associated Press reported. It claims that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws by approving the removal of nearly 10,000 mustangs over 10 years in a 4,900-square-mile expanse of federal rangeland near the Nevada-Utah border.
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Michael Harris, director of the group's Wildlife Law Program in Colorado, said the roundups could occur without public notice or comment and without site-specific analysis of each individual gather.
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<span></span>The "roundup decision is unprecedented in size and scope," the suit states, and would allow BLM to "continually roundup, remove, drug and castrate wild horses for 10 years after the initial roundup."
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Friends of Animals President Priscilla Feral told the AP that castration puts male horses at risk of hemorrhaging and infection, and those that survive the process "will be robbed of their natural behaviors, putting them at a disadvantage on the range in terms of survival."
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"This is the definition of animal cruelty," Feral added. "These are wild animals, not domesticated dogs and cats."
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</p><div id="df951" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7YB6A91578505624"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="932016852326408194" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Slaughter of 90,000 Wild Horses Could Proceed Despite 80% Objection From American Public https://t.co/OXR9irDWrB @foe_us @Sierra_Magazine</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/932016852326408194">1511045108.0</a></blockquote></div>
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BLM District Manager Jill Silvey authorized the gathers in December.
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"Native vegetative communities in parts of the complexes have already crossed critical ecological thresholds that could prevent or significantly slow their recovery," she said at the time. "This resource degradation and potential for irreversible ecological damage will continue without immediate action to remove excess wild horses and to bring the wild horse population back to (appropriate management levels.)"
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But the group contends that the roundups are based on outdated population targets adopted in management plans that have not been updated for more than a decade.
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</p><div id="56ff6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="XO4U2T1578505624"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="838887018667061252" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Wild Horses Under Siege on Public Lands https://t.co/5NSBGDDwBd @greenpeaceusa @Sierra_Magazine</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/838887018667061252">1488841225.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Brutal Outlook for Healthy Wild Horses and Burros: BLM Calls for Shooting 90,000
20 October 2017
Animals
A Bureau of Land Management contractor's helicopter forces a wild horse into a trap during the recent roundup at the Salt Wells Creek. Steve Paige
On Thursday, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recklessly voted to approve recommendations that call on the Bureau of Land Management to shoot tens of thousands of healthy wild horses and burros.
At its meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado, the advisory board recommended that BLM achieve its on-range population goal of 26,715 wild horses and burros while also phasing out the use of long-term holding facilities—both within three years.
<p>If Congress allowed BLM to follow through on the independent board's recommendations, that would mean the government shooting at least 90,000 healthy animals. The advisory board has no power to control policy. </p><p style="">The board also called for allowing international adoptions and sales, which have not been allowed before. During its deliberations, the board repeatedly referenced a proposal made by a private party to have American taxpayers pay to ship upwards of 20,000 wild horses to Russia—where they would serve as prey animals for big cats. </p><p style="">"Killing tens of thousands of wild horses and burros would be a betrayal of millions of taxpayers who want wild horses protected as intended in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and who have invested tens of millions of dollars in their care," said Neda DeMayo, president of <a href="http://returntofreedom.org" target="_blank">Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation</a>. </p><p style="">"BLM has been tasked by Congress with the responsibility of protecting wild horses. The agency has failed over and over, wasting time on think tanks, challenge concepts and meetings that go nowhere instead of directing resources toward actually managing land, water and habitat on the range and building a robust volunteer effort to help with critical projects benefiting wild horses and other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a>." </p><p style="">BLM has been close to its Appropriate Management Level before, but the agency balked at using fertility control despite ample evidence that it was safe and effective. The number of wild horses on the range stood within 1,071 animals of BLM's own population goal in 2007, yet even then the agency chose not to aggressively implement fertility control. </p><p style="">In fact, BLM has never spent as much as four percent of its Wild Horse & Burro Program budget on this safe, proven and humane solution for wild horse population control; instead, it spends upwards of 65 percent of its annual budget capturing, removing and warehousing animals. </p><p style="">Return to Freedom's American Wild Horse Sanctuary was among the first of many projects to use fertility control with great success. It has used the vaccine PZP for 19 years with an efficacy rate of 91 to 98 percent. </p><p>Meanwhile, wild horses continue to be dramatically outnumbered on federal land by privately owned livestock, which graze there at a fraction of the cost that ranchers would pay on private property. </p><p style="">"A balance must be struck between ranching and mining interests and wild horses and other wildlife as part of a fair interpretation of BLM's multiple-use mandate on the range," said DeMayo. "There needs to be a fairer distribution of resources—not more biased reports and recommendations aimed at capturing, removing or killing wild horses. </p><p style="">"BLM and the U.S. Department of the Interior must stop catering to those who profit from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a> and manage them for all Americans. It is time to stop treating America's wild horses and burros like an unwanted invasive species and start becoming real stewards by using the safe, proven and humane tools available, in keeping with the spirit of the Act and the will of the public." </p><p style="">Polls have repeatedly shown that about 80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter and a similar percentage want to see wild horses protected. </p><p style="">A March 1 BLM estimate—made before this year's foal crop—placed the on-range population of wild horses and burros at 72,674. As of August, the agency reported that 44,640 captured wild horses and burros were living in off-range facilities, including 32,146 on leased pastures referred to as long-term holding. </p><p>On Thursday, wild horse advocate Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation was the lone dissenting vote on recommendations that BLM achieve "Appropriate Management Level" of 26,715 in three years, close long-term holding in three years, and allow international sales and adoptions. She joined the others on the board in voting to recommend that BLM increase its funding of reversible fertility control to $3 million by fiscal year 2019, up from about $100,000 in 2017. </p><p style="">Kathrens noted that BLM's arbitrarily set Appropriate Management Level is only about 1,000 wild horses and burros more than the estimated population at the time of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was signed. The law—which Congress passed unanimously—stated that wild horses and burros were "fast disappearing from the American scene." </p><p style="">The advisory board's recommendation would have BLM spend money saved on long-term holding on on-range management and increasing adoptions. Those adoptions would likely spare only a fraction of wild horses on the range or in holding from death. In 2017, BLM has adopted out only about 4,200 wild horses—its best total in years. </p><p style="">In September 2016, the advisory board voted to recommend destroying captive wild horses and removing all restrictions to their sale, which would allow buyers to purchase them on the cheap and transport them to Canada or Mexico for slaughter. Again, Kathrens was the lone "no" vote. </p><p>In July, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that removed language that would bar BLM from killing healthy wild horses. The Senate Appropriations Committee could vote on its version of the Interior bill as soon as next week. </p><p style="">"It will take time, commitment and diligence—and a real plan—but we have <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a> that clearly shows the path to a sustainable future for wild horses and burros," DeMayo said. "It's not going to happen overnight, but it must be done and it must start now. The American people need to rally and urge Congress to force BLM to humanely manage these iconic, federally protected animals on the range." </p>
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