Wild Horses and Predators

Rancher/conservationist William Simpson articulates a brilliant argument for taking wild horses out of places they are not wanted…where they end up being slaughtered, and transporting them up into mountain wilderness areas. He claims that if this is done, the horses end up grazing wildfire fuel, and in so doing reduce the massive wildfires that we have grown used to throughout our country. My impression before talking with Bill was that wild horses were very tough and perhaps not as vulnerable to predators. I was wrong.

Wild horses are part of a natural ecosystem, the North American continent. They get eaten regularly. And in my study, I mean, I've got hundreds of forensic photos of horses, babies all the way up through adults that have been predated upon by lions, bears, wolves and coyotes. So everything eats them. And depending on the state, the smaller predators take out the babies all the way up to yearlings. The lions and large bears take out the adults and they evolve doing that. And so to answer your question, there are no tougher than any other animal. OK, so the bottom line is they need to be out there because they're an important prey animal for these large predators. And when you take them away, you take the meat off their plate. They're going to find something else to eat, you can bet on that.