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By Emmuttmax
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01 July 2008 |
A knee-jerk reaction to a depressing news story.
The Economics of Killing
I read today that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is considering murdering wild horses in the western states that live on federal lands. The reason the government gives for its contemplated action is there are too many wild horses and it doesn’t have the funds to care for them.
According to estimates, there are about 33,000 wild horses in the 10 Western states; nearly half of them live in Nevada. An additional 30,000 have been rounded up and are currently in holding pens awaiting adoption. Many, if not most, don’t get adopted. The 30,000 didn’t asked to be herded into pens, but the land-management officials say its necessary because the horses compete with sheep and cattle--owned by private ranchers—for grazing on open ranges. Ranchers don’t like that. Ranchers have money, horses don’t.
The cost to “manage” the wild horses (also known as mustangs) in the pens is projected to rise to $29 million next year, and the overall budget is going to drop from $39 million to $37,000. Of course, the government could set the horses free and allow nature to take its course on public land. But, government has showed little interest in nature. It could also quit subsidizing private cattlemen and sheep ranchers with public money by allowing them to use public land for profit. Ironically, the livestock ranchers make their money by killing the cattle and sheep that compete for public grazing lands with wild horses.
I wonder if someone has done a study on ranchers and government bureaucrats competing for public money? Perhaps we need to “manage” them.
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Written by TwistedTales (548 comments posted) 1st July 2008 | These things make me wanna walk up to the people in these stupid, ridiculous Govt. departments and skin them. We had similar issue regarding stray dogs in India. 'Kill them or leave them out side of the city' was the solution the State Govt. had come up with. We sure need to 'Manage' these people first.
Thanks for putting this up. At least we can write about such things.
Regards,
TT |
Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3713 comments posted) 1st July 2008 | A powerful bit of writing and all the more effective for the clever bit of re-framing at the end. A bit of sharp humour often has far more effect than emotional ranting which, though cathartic, doesn't get the message across half as well.
Well said,
jane | Killing
Written by fellpony (1821 comments posted) 2nd July 2008 | | I am baised here, but if the Government dislikes spending the money to manage the horses, they could just not do it, nor subsidize the ranchers. That would leave so much more money for legitimate killing, like military action overseas. |
Written by Phil (7169 comments posted) 2nd July 2008 | With my 'red' head on I'd say that money always seems to win the day. It appears to have a morality code all of its own.
Liked the ending.
Come the revolution....
Phil |
Written by mia_ms_kim (1057 comments posted) 2nd July 2008 | I wonder what it would be like if we, humans, are not on top of the foodchain, but another species who considered themselves superior to us, decided to "manage" us. Eg. Human animals are overpoplating the earth and consuming natural resources at a rate that is alarming, and are destroying the environment, playing havocs with the balance of earth's ecosystem, and are generally unhelpful to the planet.
Hmmm... You've given us food for thought, Mike.
Mia  |
Written by pulltheletter (16 comments posted) 17th July 2008 | Thanks for posting. It's sad I think.  |
Written by Fledermaus (3615 comments posted) 5th August 2008 | I know several similar and more gruesome stories about the way some Dutch authorities solved bureaucratic problems with animals. I won't retell them here, for some of them are really too disgusting. Scary thing about all that is though, that these are the sort of people supposed to carry out the law...
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