Alberta’s wild horses- controversial round-up

Another chapter in the ongoing controversy over feral horses in Alberta is about to begin.

The provincial government has hired wranglers who will begin to round-up about 60 of the animals in an area south of the Red Deer River and east of the boundary of Banff National Park

The government’s position is that the horses are not native to Alberta but are descendants of domestic animals used in logging and mining operations in the early 1900s.

The government estimates there are about 880 of the wild horses in the Rocky Mountain foothills northwest of Calgary, and are damaging the grasslands and competing for food with livestock and other wildlife such as elk.

It also says the horses have no natural predators, although a few are sometimes killed by wolves or cougars.

Last year an effort was made to capture 200 horses, but ended up with only 15.

Alberta Environment spokesman Duncan MacDonnell said Wednesday.

The captured horses will first be offered to the Wild Horses of Alberta Society for adoption, then the horses would go to public auction and, if anybody wants one, they can buy one.”

There are concerns that some of the auctioned horses will end up at a slaughterhouse.

Critics have said that the horses are not “barnyard escapees”, but truly wild animals that have long since become part of the environment and ecosystem and should be protected like other wild animals.

The Wild Horses of Alberta Society recently built a shelter near Sundre to house captured feral horses. They have also developed a contraceptive programme for mares in an attempt to lower the herd size.

MacDonnell said the government’s plan is to carefully manage the size of the herd, which has grown in recent years.

“The capture season is being done to reduce the feral horse population, not to eliminate them altogether”

 With files from Canadian Press