Wild Horses Will Not Be Listed As Endangered Species

Horses are one of the most fascinating species of animals, emanating a distinct air of out-of-this world attitude. Their eyes are filled with meaningful but mysterious depths and their glowing short hair is one of the most sophisticated wildlife coatings. They live in large communities and prefer plain landscapes, where the grass is greener.

The grass is greener on their side of life but that doesn’t make it easier on them. Although horse populations have dramatically decreased in numbers, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has just rejected an initiative to list the North American wild horse as threatened species.

Tens of thousands of mustangs are presently threatened with extinction on lands across 10 California Western States and Montana territories.

The horses can be defined as an exclusive and highly distinct wildlife segment that has developed as a native species over thousands of years. They are very different from domesticated horses, living examples of strength and grace.

The US Service that is responsible with the protection of endangered species has received a petition last year from two advocacy groups who were looking into having the horses listed as endangered under the act. The horses require special protection from authorities that must involve in efforts to protect and help preservation of the fascinating Mustangs.

The agency gave the study three months of analysis to conclude afterwards that the animals don’t need special care and protection from state authorities. Seemingly, the group of petitioners have failed to reveal substantial details in support of the assertion that mustangs were sufficiently different from other species of horses.

Advocacy groups stated that the mustang habitat has shrunk 40% since Richard Nixon signed the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act into law in 1971. The US service replied that the wild horse is a native species that went extinct on the continent no less than 13.000 years ago, before the Spanish conquistadors reintroduced it to North America in 1500.

Wild horses will not be listed as endangered species although we don’t know for how long their uniqueness will be preserved. In Mexico, for instance, the animals are believed to have been threatened in the wild since the 80’s.

Image Source: theequinest.com

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Horse advocates are in a bind on this one. They have, for years, argued that mustangs are “native” to North America on the basis that they are genetically indistinguishable from the horses that lived here 10,000 years ago, prior to the extinction of Ice Age megafauna from this continent. To establish native status, today’s mustangs (which are only recently descended from European horses, which are themselves descended from the original North American horse) must be the same as those now-extinct horses–and they apparently are. But the problem then becomes that if they are the same as those horses which disappeared from this continent long ago, and from which all European horses are similarly descended, then they are equally (if not more) similar to the millions of European horses standing in paddocks all across the nation, and therefore not endangered at all by merit of their huge numbers.

To warrant protection under the ESA, advocates would have to successfully argue that mustangs are like those horses that lived here long ago and subsequently become extinct, but not like those horses from which they are even more immediately descended–a biologic impossibility. It is no wonder that the lawyer for Friends for Animals is “confused.” The USFWS made the right call on this one.