Who's Overgrazing Federal Land--Wild Horses or Cattle?

Critics assail rider to sell wild horses
"...The Bureau of Land Management is the government agency responsible for the wild horses and burros, and in the wake of the Burns legislation, has not only been criticized by horse advocates but also by their own employees - BLM specialists and volunteers.

'How many wonderful mustangs are going to decorate someone's bloody table? The article (in the Jan. 19 Sun) brought it all home,' a tearful BLM volunteer (who wanted to remain anonymous) said last week in a telephone interview. 'All the things I've known and not been able to talk about.'

One criticism has to do with the BLM's target numbers for the herds. Jill Starr, of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue in Lancaster, Calif., said that the herd statistics are not created from an actual head count...'Most herds have not been counted for years,' she said.

...'3.1 million cows eat a whole lot more grass than 30,000 horses. But the rich ranchers want more. I can't see why the horses are the problem.' The cattle on public lands outnumber the horses by 150 to 1, said Starr. 'And that number doesn't even tell the whole story, because a cow and calf are counted as one animal, but a horse and colt count as two.'

...'We really need letters to Congress,' said Karen Knippel, Dennis' wife and a BLM volunteer. 'Stacks and stacks of people protesting the (Burns) bill.'"