Dear editor:
I am writing as a concerned Alberta citizen regarding the management of wild horses in Alberta.
Current population estimate of wild horses in Alberta is 880, in which they roam in over 1,000,000 hectares. Current population of wild horses on Sable Island is approximately 500. They roam 3,400 hectares.
ESRD’s (Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development) claim on their website is that, “Alberta’s feral horse population eats the same grasses as other species do, and they tend to graze heavily in the... spring. To prevent overgrazing, we need to keep their population manageable.”
Now if anyone has physically been to the areas, we all know that Albertan’s popular ATV & dirt bike recreation activities, cattle ranching, the logging and the oil & gas industry have more of a negative impact on the habitat of all the animals in this area than horses do. Using horses as a scapegoat for wrecking the grasslands is ridiculous.
I have tried phoning in to ESRD and calls are going unanswered.
And since WHOAS (Wild Horses of Alberta Society) helped introduce a contraceptive program, why did ESRD go ahead with a cull anyway? Culling and making a population infertile could lead to the eventual removal of said population.
However, this is completely inappropriate management of Alberta’s natural resources. This is not stewardship of the land in which we live.
And it has a far greater impact beyond the wild horses. There are other wildlife and nature that are in just as grave danger. The Red-Rock Prairie Creek energy lease could very well be the downfall of the mountain caribou, whose numbers were 127 in 2012.
It comes down to an economy making money at the expense of the land in which we live.
Kate Mathison, former Cochrane resident
