At the beginning of June, it was announced that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was going to begin an “emergency wild horse gather” in Northern Nevada. While gathering during the foaling season was not optimal, the federal agency said that drought conditions had made this gather necessary.
According to the Associated Press, officials had been hauling water to troughs in the region for a month and, at the point of the decision to gather, there was no more suitable forage. Both the health of the land and of the horses was deteriorating.
As they always do, this gather has prompted sharp criticism. Country music legend Willie Nelson is again stepping in to denounce the actions of the BLM. He was recently featured in an interview on HLNtv.com, a product of the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
As a side note, interviewer Jane Velez-Mitchell is incorrect in the video when she states that a horse processing ban was added to the farm bill. An amendment was added to the House Ag Appropriations Bill on Tuesday that to reinstate a five-year ban on processing horses for food. For more details, please read “Horse Processing Ban Added to Ag Appropriations.”
© Northern Ag Network 2012
Haylie Shipp
