The wild burros of Arizona

Even if no horses and burros were slaughtered, and current levels maintained, there would still be too many for the ranchers. The 33,000 horses and burros apparently, are taking up too much space and are infringing upon forage land of the 4.1 million head of cattle. A statement by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association released about the time of the Congressional appropriations measure declared, “Excessive numbers of feral horses and burros continue to cause increasing deterioration of range conditions”.

Why the cattlemen want more land is a matter of economics as reflected by the AUM. An AUM (animal unit month) according to the BLM is the amount of forage “required to feed an average-size cow and calf per month, or one horse, or five sheep”. Currently, an AUM is about 800 pounds of air-dried foliage. The BLM, in its 2005 budget justification report, seemingly bowing to rancher concerns, states that removing the horses and burros will “eliminate the need to reduce permitted livestock grazing during a drought”. The BLM charges ranchers US$1.79 AUM to graze one cow and calf upon public land; the cost to lease private land is US$20-$50 AUM. Half of the fees collected by the BLM and Forest Service from the ranchers holding about 23,600 permits are eventually returned to them for range improvements.

Even with income from the ranchers, the program had a loss of about US$124 million in 2002, according to an independent study conducted by the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson. However, the cost could be US$500 million to US$1 billion to subsidise ranchers because “it was difficult to get a clear idea of just how much money the government is pumping into the federal grazing program [for cattle] to keep it going,” according to Karyn Moskowitz, principal author of the report.

Co-author Chuck Romaniello, a BLM economist, raised the problem that “numerous programs both in and outside the two agencies (the BLM and Forest Service) also bear costs … we could find no system that adequately accounts for all of these costs”. Even raising the grazing fee for cattle to come close to the cost of private leased land “will not cover the real costs”, according to George Wuerthner, one of the researchers. “If we did a full accounting of the ecological costs - soil erosion, extirpation of predators, water pollution, endangered species, spread of weeds, dewatering of rivers for irrigated pasture,” said Wuerthner, “the price we pay annually ... would be in the billions of dollars.” The report has spurred the Government Accounting Office into an investigation of below-cost grazing on public lands.

In contrast, the BLM spends only about US$39 million for the wild horse and burro program. This includes costs of helicopters to round-up the animals and then to ship them to holding facilities where, under the new law, they are likely to be sold for slaughter. About 24,000 wild horses are now in one of 11 holding facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma, at least 8,300 meeting minimal criteria imposed by the repeal of the 1971 law.

The cost to keep the horses and burros in the sanctuaries and not running free on land that cattlemen want may be as much as one-third of the budget, an expense not necessary if the horses and burros were allowed to run in herds.

The sale of horses to slaughter houses is financially attractive.

Depending upon market value, a 1,000 pound mustang can bring US$700-$900 at a slaughter house. Horse meat is a gourmet meat in Western Europe, Japan, and several other countries. About 65,000 domestic horses, unprotected by any laws, were butchered last year. Because wild horses eat natural grasses, and have not been subjected to mankind’s artificial foods, chemicals, and drugs, the meat is considered especially delicious.

The first sale of wild horses under the new federal law was in February to a company in Wyoming, which bought 200 horses for US$10,000 or US$50 a horse. Wild Horses Wyoming says it plans to put the horses into a sanctuary, and not sell them. Some ranchers, just wanting the animals off public lands to allow for more cattle, say they will buy the horses and burros, and then create tourist attractions in Mexico. However, there is no guarantee that the animals will be protected or that they won’t then be sold for slaughter in Mexico or transported across the border to Texas, home of two of the nation’s three foreign-owned slaughterhouses.

There is a possibility that the 1971 law protecting the animals may be restored. A bill by Rep. Nick J. Rahall and Ed Whitfield, with 15 co-sponsors, is in a subcommittee of the House Resources Committee. The lobbying pressure against the bill is expected to be intense. However, more than 60 national organisations are now on record calling for the repeal of the recently-passed legislation.

When it rains in Oatman, Arizona, the burros and the tourists both head for cover beneath the stores’ wooden porches, both groups chatting with each other, both groups eating munchies.

On a plaque in Oatman is a reality: “[I]f it were not for these burros, in all probability, neither you nor the plaque would be standing here today.” Beneath the wooden awnings of stores, the burros of Oatman remind us that all of us, human and animal, need each other.