Oops... Or here. Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker Bob Parks, LLC 1517 Hunt Club Blvd Gallatin TN 37066 615-972-4239 615-826-4040 Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message: > From: Woody Bass <[email protected]> > Date: August 27, 2013, 6:36:41 AM CDT > To: WXIA <[email protected]> > Subject: [gatornews] Pastured ‘wild’ horses to cost U.S. $1 billion by 2030, > researchers warn in report » News » University of Florida > Reply-To: [email protected] > > http://news.ufl.edu/2013/08/26/wild-horses/ > > Pastured ‘wild’ horses to cost U.S. $1 billion by 2030, researchers warn in > report > > GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Captive “wild” horses will cost U.S. taxpayers $1 billion > by 2030 if federal management approaches don’t change, according to a new > report by a pair of researchers who were part of a national committee that > studied the issue. > > A possible solution, they say: contraceptive vaccines. > > The report by researchers Madan Oli of the University of Florida’s Institute > of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and Robert Garrott of Montana State > University, was published late last week in the journal Science. Oli is a > professor in the wildlife ecology and conservation department, and Garrott is > a professor in the MSU ecology department. > > In 1971, Congress instructed federal agencies to protect and manage wild > horses, monitor the population and remove horses when numbers exceed > established population goals. > > As Garrott and Oli wrote, thousands of those horses are now kept, not as the > untamed creatures many associate with the Wild West, but as domesticated > livestock, living out the decades in pastures, for which the pasture owners > are compensated. > > The problem, the pair confirmed, is that the cost of maintaining the captive > horses is increasingly unsustainable. From 2013 through 2030, caring for the > horses will cost taxpayers $1.1 billion, Oli said, and $67 million annually > after that. > > The federal Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, now reports 33,000 > free-roaming horses in the western U.S., but even more – roughly 45,000 – are > in short- or long-term holding facilities. > > When wild horse numbers grow too large, they are rounded up and taken to > short-term holding facilities, where the bureau puts many up for sale or > adoption. If they are too ill for either, they are euthanized, but federal > officials are barred from euthanizing healthy horses. Healthy horses not sold > or adopted are moved to long-term holding facilities, where they typically > remain for the rest of their lives. > > The National Research Council committee Garrott and Oli served on concluded > that if horse populations are left unmanaged, the number of horses on public > lands will triple about every six years until eventually, food and water > supplies are thin. > > The wild horse population has been growing at an annual rate of between 15 > and 20 percent, Oli said. > > “If current management approaches continue, there will be very little money > left in the BLM wild horse and burro budget to do anything else but care for > horses in captivity,” Oli said. “Rounding them up is pretty expensive, and at > some point, nearly all of the budget would be consumed by horses in > captivity. It will just be totally unsustainable to continue business as > usual.” > > The researchers estimated that the 15 to 20 percent annual population > increase in western horse herds could be halved if contraceptive vaccines > were more widely used. Contraception for horses is labor intensive because it > must be hand-injected. More research into new delivery methods could help, > Oli said. > > While the debate over wild horses has gone on for years, it is clear > something must be done, the researchers said. After dying out during the last > ice age, horses were returned to North America by Spanish explorers in the > mid-1500s, later mixing with modern domestic horses that found their way to > the range. Prolific breeders, their numbers multiply quickly in the absence > of natural predators. > > The paper concludes with a sobering look at Australia, where government > agencies have proposed shooting 10,000 of the 400,000-strong wild horse > population from helicopters to reduce the number of animals suffering under > severe drought conditions. > > “We need to think about what’s ethical, what we want to do. The worst-case > scenario is that we do nothing,” Garrott said. “Simply not doing anything > will result in a much, much harder decision in the future.” > > Credits > > Writer > Mickie Anderson, [email protected], 352-273-3566 > Contact > Madan Oli, [email protected], 352-846-0561 > Comments are currently closed. > > > > Woody (via iPhone) > -- > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "GatorNews" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. 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