Mustangs in Their Rightful Place
by Barry Kent McKay*

editorial note:Commentary is in response to Interior Department plan to move thousands of mustangs now roaming the West to preserves in the Midwest and East to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them.

Not only is there “nothing wrong” with mustangs on rangeland, in fact much of the region’s native flora co-evolved in the presence of major herbivores.

Most of the species of large herbivore died out in the Pleistocene (a period of mass extinction of larger fauna, for which no universally agreed-upon reason exists. That would include earlier forms of horses and, even elephants.

Some speculate that arrival of the first humans in North America and, the development/use of primitive hunting weapons were the causative factor, while others think that idea is utter nonsense).

Bison, deer and pronghorns survived and prospered with vast numbers of bison present until the arrival of the last and final wave of Europeans (and other non-western peoples, of course).

Arguably, with the loss of both the Pleistocene’s large herbivores some eleven
thousand or so years ago, plus the more recent loss of the bison, some “balance” or semblance of more primal conditions is restored by the presence of wild mustangs.

In truth, the primal prairie is gone forever and cannot be restored, but that does not negate the value of large herbivores in maintaining a semblance of what was once here.

Agriculture, including the imposition of livestock, could be called far more “artificial” than the presence of wild mustangs, and far more damaging to what little remains of the native ecosystem and the native fauna and flora it supports if “conservation” or “biodiversity” is the objective.
At any rate, current agriculture in the western U.S. is not sustainable…it uses up water faster than it can be replenished.

There are huge schemes in the planning stage to divert water from further north, from Canada, or from the Great Lakes, and a future generation of Canadian politicians may well capitulate, but even so, and especially in view of global climate change, it is unlikely that such schemes will resolve anything for very long, and may well exacerbate a decline in the ability of the plains to sustain current (or almost any major) levels of agriculture.

The presence of horses has nothing to do with any of this.

There is a massive aquifer beneath the prairies of ancient, stored water, and it is being drained. Snow melt charges the system, but cannot keep up with demand. Where this all is leading to is not good, but it dwarfs by comparison any concerns that would be produced by the presence of wild mustangs.

However, it is easier to scapegoat them, to fuss about them, to plot their removal, than to deal with the real issues in a real way, starting with the necessary challenge to the most destructive form of agriculture…livestock production.

*Barry Kent McKay, Born Free USA, Canadian Office, is founding director of Animal Alliance of Canada, and a founding director of Zoocheck-Canada