Here we go again re: feral horses

[Unregistered user]

What's next, protect "wild hogs"? The feral horses are mostly inbred mutts though it has been reported that some fans of the herds add unwanted horses to their numbers to up the gene pool, whatever.
What I do not understand is why the hell is an act of parliament being sought to protect these ugly beasts of questionable heritage yet we are allowed to hunt deer, moose, elk, bears etc? Why is an invasive species more valuable than the true natural wildlife of Alberta? If these mangey hosses get protection it is only a matter of time before everything else is protected by the same template.
A truer heritage animal would be the bison. Driven almost to the point of extinction and nobody cares. Could it be that the fans of the feral horse watched too many cowboy and indian shows when they were growing up?

[sheepguide]

Originally Posted by Unregistered user

What's next, protect "wild hogs"? The feral horses are mostly inbred mutts though it has been reported that some fans of the herds add unwanted horses to their numbers to up the gene pool, whatever.
What I do not understand is why the hell is an act of parliament being sought to protect these ugly beasts of questionable heritage yet we are allowed to hunt deer, moose, elk, bears etc? Why is an invasive species more valuable than the true natural wildlife of Alberta? If these mangey hosses get protection it is only a matter of time before everything else is protected by the same template.
A truer heritage animal would be the bison. Driven almost to the point of extinction and nobody cares. Could it be that the fans of the feral horse watched too many cowboy and indian shows when they were growing up?

I can't wait to hear your take when parks eradicates the elk populations and gets their way with the buffalo reintroduction.

[Big Daddy Badger]

[QUOTE=Unregistered user;1984835]What's next, protect "wild hogs"? QUOTE]\

Probably.

The lip srervice paid to getting rid of hogs has been pretty obvious.
If they wanted them gone they could have allowed us to use some red light sets and night shooting for vermin control.

Nope.

We already have guided hunts for them so the government is probably already considering the worth of printing tags.

Everything has a dollar value in this province sometimes.

[sheepguide]

That is true Pesky!! The almighty dollar always seem to prevail no matter what it affects or hurts and it sticks out big time in our wildlife management!

[Ryry4]

[u_cant_rope_the_wind]

Originally Posted by Unregistered user

What's next, protect "wild hogs"? The feral horses are mostly inbred mutts though it has been reported that some fans of the herds add unwanted horses to their numbers to up the gene pool, whatever.
What I do not understand is why the hell is an act of parliament being sought to protect these ugly beasts of questionable heritage yet we are allowed to hunt deer, moose, elk, bears etc? Why is an invasive species more valuable than the true natural wildlife of Alberta? If these mangey hosses get protection it is only a matter of time before everything else is protected by the same template.
A truer heritage animal would be the bison. Driven almost to the point of extinction and nobody cares. Could it be that the fans of the feral horse watched too many cowboy and indian shows when they were growing up?

not to many cowboy and Indian shows, but way to many black beauty and fllicka , and way to many light headed dreamers out there, that think they are horse whisperers.
but on the serious side I believe cattle ranchers and domestic sheep ranchers have done way more damage to the streams and water ways ,and disease like white muscle into the bighorn sheep. all rented cattle range should be fenced along both sides of any water way or water shed be it big or small, why don't people complain about our fish streams being decimated by cattle, instead of worrying about a couple hundred head of wild nags?????

[silverdoctor]

Curious, I don't know much about horses in the wild so bear with me...

Wild is wild, feral is defined as domestic returned to the wild. How does one differentiate between the two? Is there a way to tell? Are there any wild horses left in Alberta?

[Classic_Cool]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Curious, I don't know much about horses in the wild so bear with me...

Wild is wild, feral is defined as domestic returned to the wild. How does one differentiate between the two? Is there a way to tell? Are there any wild horses left in Alberta?

A horse is a horse ofcourse ofcourse.

Couldn't resist.

Personally I think we've already screwed the environment to the point where it is what it is. Besides the horses:

1) Those beavers in Argentina. My favorite story

2) Moose in Newfoundland.

3) Those giant bug things that are sitting on every surface in parts of BC.

4) Raccoons in Newfoundland. Yes they are starting to show up.

5) Those Chinese whatchamacallit fish in the reservoirs of Ontario.

Basically we're a bunch of screw ups. I say cull the horses now and then, but otherwise leave them be.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Curious, I don't know much about horses in the wild so bear with me...

Wild is wild, feral is defined as domestic returned to the wild. How does one differentiate between the two? Is there a way to tell? Are there any wild horses left in Alberta?

There never have been any wild horses in Alberta since well before the ice age. Anything that exists now is feral, descendants from domestic in stock