Let Freedom Run Guest Editorial By Madeline Pickens President National Wild Horse Foundation The wild horse is our living legacy, our symbol of our great history, and their lives are at risk. More than 30,000 of them stand squeezed in holding pens as their fate is determined by our federal government. These horses have been gathered from millions of acres of federal managed rangelands and now stand head to tail in corrals, separated from their family bands. From the government?s side, the situation is not any better. The cost for feeding captive animals is exceeding the BLM?s budget. Euthanasia has been proposed as a solution. I have founded the National Wild Horse Foundation (NWHF, a non-profit 501c3) in response to this crisis and proposed to the federal government the establishment of a sanctuary for all of the wild horses being held in captivity. We need the support of Congress. More than two million mustangs roamed the West at the end of the 19th century, but now only 18,000 to 20,000 remain. Recognizing their dwindling numbers, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which protected them from inhumane roundups on public lands in Western states and prevented their sale for slaughter. But in 2004, an amendment was passed that removed all protection for wild horses over the age of 10, and mandated that ?unadoptable horses? be sold without limitation, including for slaughter. Between 1971 and 2006, up to 200,000 wild horses and burros were removed by government agencies such as the BLM, and the horses lost 19 million of the acres allocated to them under the 1971 act. There are currently more wild horses in holding facilities than there are on the range. We now need the support of Congress to pass a bill that will allow wild horses to inhabit federal land which they may have not inhabited before 1971, thus allowing the BLM to place the horses in the NWHF sanctuary. I am also asking the BLM for a stipend, just as they pay other ranchers to care for wild horses, of $500 per head/year. This stipend keeps the federal government accountable as part of the solution to the problem created by removing the wild horses from their homeland and ensures that the Foundation will remain solvent. With my plan, everyone benefits as part of the solution: - The horses have a sanctuary where they will run free. With rangeland health management standards and population control, we will man age the herd, our land and our wildlife responsibly. Read the rest by subscribing to NWW! © 2009 joyce communications