Recently Scott Beckstead, Program Director at The Wild Beauty Foundation, animal rights attorney and wild horse expert, debated Nevada’s State Senator Ira Hansen (R) about America’s wild horse management issues.
As is often the case with those who are on the “other” side of the wild horse advocacy, Hansen argued without any actual facts, stating that wild horses are the cause of the destruction of public lands, that their population is “out of control,” and that the millions of dollars that are spent to round up and- inadvertently or not- kill wild horses is necessary.
Scott Beckstead very clearly was able to state how few wild horses are actually on the range, and that it is the cattle- not wild horses- that are causing the extreme drought and destruction of the native lands.
We’re actually not sure why Hansen thought he was able to debate this topic as it was quite clear that he was uneducated about the facts, nor did he seem to understand the overall issue. Instead, he took the side and money of the cattle ranchers and oil companies in order to push a false narrative that pushes the blame of overgrazing on a few wild horses rather than on thousands of cattle, and an increasing drought on wild horses drinking a few times a day, rather than thousands of gallons of water being diverted for cattle or fracking.
This debate is worth your time. Whether you’re a long-time advocate, new to the wild horse management issue or just want to know as an American citizen how your tax dollars are spent on the horses’ heinous abuse and neglect, we think you’ll find it very informative and perhaps share it with your friends. Click below to start viewing this 1 hour and 44 minute debate.
Action Items
Current action items that you can take that may help wild horses:
The National Park Service is proposing to remove over 3/4 of the wild horses in the Teddy Roosevelt National Park- this would create a situation in which the herds would no longer be genetically viable, and, of course, would end up causing the unnecessary deaths of these wild horses. Additionally, this is a complete waste of taxpayer money and there is no plan for what will happen to these horses- are they separated from their families, only to live out their lives in an unsheltered holding pen? Click here to comment and ask the NPS to stop any plans of a roundup.
Send your legislators a message asking them to support wild horses, and to stop the roundups.
Follow Scott Beckstead on Instagram and/or Facebook.
Wild Beauty Documentary
Hanaeleh was invited to participate in the viewing of the Wild Beauty documentary in May 2023. Please click here for more information about the premier, and how to watch the movie. Wild horses need our help, they need our voices because they don’t have one.