The provincial government is currently considering taking action to manage so-called wild horse numbers in some parts of the province where the feral animals have flourished past set thresholds enacted last year.
“In areas like the Elbow and Clearwater equine zones, where horse populations have exceeded the management thresholds set in the Feral Horse Management Framework, we’re looking at options like adoption and contraception,” said Alexandru Cioban, an Alberta Forestry and Parks spokesperson in a written statement to the Albertan.
The Framework enacted in 2023 seeks to integrate the free-roaming horses into a landscape-scale approach of managing natural resources, including forage.
It establishes different population thresholds for each of the province’s six equine management zones based on rangeland science, landscape ecology, feral horse population data and adaptive management.
According to the framework,a population cap is enacted when minimum horse numbers in the Elbow zone west of Calgary hits 100 and in the Clearwater zone west of Rocky Mountain House hits 150.
During a Jan. 19, 2024 aerial survey, observers counted 111 horses in the Elbow zone and during a Feb. 14 – 16, 2024 aerial survey of the Clearwater zone counted 156.
“To be clear, there is no cull of Alberta feral horses planned, and minimum counts conducted across the years have shown horse populations more than doubled in the last decade – from just barely over 700 in 2015, to nearly 1,500 today,” Cioban said.
Adoption and contraception reflects the guidelines from the Feral Horse Advisory Committee, which includes input and support from advocacy groups, grazing organizations, wildlife groups, and academics.
At least one member of the advisory committee takes issue with some aspects of the framework.
Since the framework was released, Olds-area’s Help Alberta Wildies Society has disputed the minimum count numbers and has stated that management actions like using contraception will lead to “equine genocide.”
Criticism of the framework has also come from non-framework advisory members.
In late October, Zoocheck launched a letter writing campaign to Alberta's premier and MLAs “to stop the cruel, misguided, wasteful and unnecessary wild horse removals.”
The organization is a charity that promotes and protects the interests and well-being of wild animals.
Under Alberta’s legislation, the free-roaming horses are considered feral not wild.
Zoocheck’s campaign asks people to write their MLAs asking for the feral horses to be recategorized as naturalized wildlife and "given protection from further persecution."
At the same time, Zoocheck released a new peer-reviewed report by Wayne McCrory.
The registered professional biologist in B.C. disputes the percentage of range damage attributed to the horses and says population control measures are unwarranted.
The last time the province enacted management actions was in 2014 when it partnered with the Olds-area based Wild Horses of Alberta Society (WHOAS) after signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pilot initiatives that could be important for a long-term strategy for the management of feral horses.
For the five-year duration of the MOU (2014-2019), two separate projects were established: an adoption project and a contraception project.
In 2015, WHOAS said 48 feral horses were captured with 39 going to WHOAS and the rest going to private buyers.
Once WHOAS rescues a feral horse, the organization is not allowed by government regulations to relocate the horse back onto public lands. WHOAS then begins the gentling process to get them ready for adoption.
Between 2015 and 2017 a total of 87 mares were vaccinated with an initial dose of the contraception Zona-Stat Porcine Zonaof Pellucida (PZP) and 17 received a booster shot, according to the feral horse framework. Five of the 17 received a third dose as well.