I would love to be a fierce advocate for protecting wild horses at all costs, and in the case of the Alberta government’s recent plan to cull a portion of Alberta’s wild herds, I find myself comfortably on the side of protecting the horses.
What I’ve been ruminating on is the idea that each feral herd was handed quite a different deck of cards when it came to what type or territory they landed in. Canada, I have to say, is a tough hand, with its ferocious winters and abundance of large predators. From what I’ve heard, these environmental factors keep the herd numbers manageable.
I’m part of a social media group that monitors some of the herds, and it was a sad day when a trail cam picked up on a small herd being pursued by a bear. When the trail cam showed the horses on their way back, they had lost a member of their family.
Humans are the reason these horses are here, and genetically we have altered them through centuries of breeding. We have meddled in every aspect of their being, and now we find ourselves faced with the task and ethics of stewarding these non-native feral animals with not-so-distant ties to war, colonization, and agriculture.
What haunts me is the memory of an interview with an American rancher I watched, who was furious with outside advocacy groups halting the culling of the BLM mustangs in his area. He claimed he was the one who had to watch an emaciated foal try to nurse on the corpse of its mother who had died of starvation.
Do we let nature ravage the animals we displaced and genetically altered to suit our needs? Or do we have to make those hard decisions to mitigate suffering? Do we feed the herds through harsh winters?
I find the idea of keeping wild horses for the sake of western heritage to be a moot point. Not that it doesn't have significance, it just doesn't have significance for me. I don’t think sentimentality should be a reason we keep feral horses on the land if the evidence suggests they are destroying the ecosystem, and suffering in the environment. But I see evidence to suggest that in many ways, they are becoming a balanced part of the ecosystem in Alberta.
Humans have been obsessed with horses since we laid eyes on them. We must admit to ourselves that part of the reason we don't want to see them culled is because they’re magical to look at and we love riding them. Look at how we treat rats. Imagine if all the horses turned into enormous genetically modified rats that ate like cows? The headlines would be very different.
As much as I would love to wrap myself in the romantic comfort of a ‘save the wild horses’ slogan, I do think there is nuance for each and every herd, and I find myself gravitating to the ideas of the people who live by these herds and observe them - and the scientists who dedicate their lives to studying these animals and ecosystems.
I will always be unnerved by government bodies calling for culls, after learning about the B.C. bounties put out on wolves for the sake of saving the dwindling numbers of caribou, when, according to my university biology professor, it was the highways disrupting the migratory routes that was the issue. But the wolves were the ones who had to go instead of the highways.
I rarely find myself neatly in the black or the white of arguments, and rather in the grey.
The argument of the wild horse cull is such a good theoretical exercise for me, as I so badly want every horse to be either well cared for or blissfully wild and free. My heart is primed to leap at any opportunity to elevate the lives of horses, and I must force myself to consider any argument that doesn't align with benefiting the horse.
It’s not fun, but I do it anyways, as it’s the bittersweet reality of being an engaged human.
I wish I could give you an argument that would fill you with that sparkling fervor that makes people brave enough to chain themselves to trees, but all I have is an invitation to join me in the grey muck. To try and be as open minded as possible, but above all to try and draw conclusions that are rooted in kindness, deep contemplation, and a love for all life forms.
