If we had a national scapegoat, the leading candidate would be wild horses.

Whenever we debate land use in the West, it’s always the horses that come under fire.

Two recent opinion pieces in the Elko Daily literally take aim at wild horses. The authors suggest killing off what they see as “excess” numbers of the animal. What doesn’t get mentioned is livestock and the fair use of our public lands.

To read the opinion page, it’s easy to believe we’re being overrun by mustangs. But how can that be? Ranchers in Nevada have access to two-thirds of rangelands without sharing with wild horses. There’s room on the remaining third for both cattle and horses.

But the notion of wild horse overpopulation persists.

This is because, when people speak of “too many horses,” they rely on the government’s system of “Appropriate Management Levels.” Yet, this system is crumbling.

The National Academy of Sciences several years ago pointed out that AMLs are arbitrary and not based on science. The courts are starting to agree. Within the last year, appellate courts in two states ruled that AMLs don’t justify wild horse roundups. As a result, the myth of horse overpopulation is starting to crumble, too.

We should also remember why we have wild horses on the range. Most of the public wants them there. Nearly 50 years ago, public outcry over the poor treatment of wild horses led Congress to act unanimously in order to protect and preserve them. Today, three out of four Americans support protecting wild horses on public lands, while only 29 percent want to ensure public lands are available for livestock grazing. Additionally, 80 percent of Americans, including 83 percent of Westerners, oppose horse slaughter.

Originally posted by Elko Daily News