Contributor ~~ Robby McHenry

Wild Horses have been liviing in the foothills of  CANADA'S  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS  for more than two centuries, but today, their continued survival is threatened.  The wild horse is the most persecuted animal in the province of Alberta.  Seriously,  sick people shoot them for sport and leave their corpses to rot along roadsides in the forestry reserve and, the provincial government sanctions their capture and slaughter.

I am one of a group of people trying to save Alberta's remaining wild horses.  The Wild Horses of Alberta Socieity (W.H.O.A.S.) is committed to protecting and preserving Alberta's wild horses.

My involvement in this fight has led to the opportunity to acquire two wild horses.  One is a four-year old wild mare that I call MUSTANG SALLY.  She was captured in the  CLEARWATER  FORESTRY  RESERVE  west of Sundre, Alberta.  Sally was fortunate to avoid a trip to the slaughterhouse.  Someone bought her from the person who captured her and donated her to a horse rescue society.  I adopted her from there, in February 2007.

My other mustang is a six-year old gelding named HAWK that I bought privately in October 2007.  He came with papers from the  U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE,  which stated that he was "gathered and removed" from the SHELDON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REGUGE IN DENIO, NEVEDA  in October 2004.  Both of my horses have wonderful personalities and neither has ever attempted to hurt me.  They are a challenge to train, but also very rewarding to work with.

My two mustangs are representative of the difference in the way wild horses are treated in the United States and Canada.  In the U.S., federal legislation protects wild horses and burros on public lands.  Various government departments are responsible for managing the population of these animals by gathering and culling.  The culled animals are made available to the public through an adoption program.  The legislation stipulates that the culled horses can not be sold for slaughter by either the government or the adopter.  There are some well-documented cases of the abuse of this system by both bureaucrats and adopters (read "America's Last Wild Horses" by Hope Ryden), but it is still superior to the way wild horses are "managed" in Alberta.

Alberta's wild horses are imperiled because they have almost no legal protection.  They are excluded from the existing wildlife legislation and the STRAY ANIMAL ACT  is clearly inappropriate.  The Department of Sustainable Resources of the Alberta government sells permits to individuals, which allows them to capture wild horses with no restrictions on what is done with these horses.  Most end up being sold for meat.  The permits have conditions relating to how the horses may be captured and stipulating the ratio of males to females that may be removed, but there is no effort by the government to enforce it's own rules.  There is evidence that horses are still being roped, snared, and baited into corrals with salt.  Snared and trapped horses may spend many days without food or water before their captor (s)  come back to remove them.

What is needed in Alberta is specific provincial legislation, which will protect wild horses on public lands and ensure that Alberta will always have wild horses.  The legislation should also provide for a system of enforcement and means of managing the population of wild horses through a selective culling and adoption program.  There is no justification for sending these horses to slaughter.

It is not necessary to be a horse person, a rural person, an Albertan, or even a Canadian in order to help preserve Alberta's Wild Horses.  Anyone who's heart is warmed by the thought of horses running wild and free in the foothilss of the Rocky Mountains is welcome to join the Wild Horses of Alberta Society.  www.northernhorse.com/wildhorses