Ms. Sylke Schulte, a writer-reporter for the German horse magazine Feine Hilfen had some interesting questions about America’s wild horses and the issues around them and the advocacy.
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Ms. Schulte reached out to one of America’s leading wild horse experts, Mr. William E. Simpson II at Wild Horse Ranch in Siskiyou County California to find some answers.
Here is that uber in-depth question-answer session between Ms. Schulte and Mr. Simpson:
(Note: Q’s are questions by Ms. Schulte, and A’s are answers by William E. Simpson II)
Q1: Many people in Germany are unaware of the fight over the wild horses in the US. Could you summarize the issue for us?
A1: Wild horses are highly intelligent sentient beings with family structure. All horses in the world today originally evolved in North America 55-million years ago and are in fact a native species on the North American continent.
A family band of native species American wild horses reduces wildfire fuels on the forest floor.
Moreover, the latest science (cultural archeology, paleontology and genetics) suggests that wild horses in North America never went completely extinct 10-15 thousand years ago, as previously believed.
For instance, paleontologists are now finding horse fossils that are 5,000 years old and some possibly even more recent.
These truths are inconvenient and contrary to the now obsolete science and myths that have been promoted by, corporations and others who want more than a fair-share of the use of public lands, including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and United States Forest Service (USFS).
The BLM, USFS and some people in the livestock industry, incorrectly claim wild horses are 'not native' in North America in order to marginalize their importance on public lands so as to allow their virtual elimination from American public lands. The goal of these people, corporations, BLM and USFS is to maximize profitable uses of public lands, caring little for the loss of the ecological balance and well-being of wildlife that is provided by symbiotic native species American wild horses, which are critically important 'keystone herbivores' on the landscape.
The ongoing plight of America's dwindling wild horse population is a function of several factors, including obtuse management policies by the BLM and USFS that are premised upon obsolete science and factual misrepresentations about their evolution and ecology, which arguably will lead to the extinction of native species American wild horses.
It's a tragic fact that wild horses are being subjected to the following draconian and willfully ignorant management methods coupled with a campaign to demonize them through the livestock industry surrogates:
1) Reducing breeding populations so low (less than 200 breeding adults in a herd) as to induce in-breeding and loss of genetic vigor; and,
2) Castration of wild stallions, which results in the loss of genetic diversity (we don't even know which alleles are responsible for the resistance that wild horses have to Chronic Wasting Disease), and this also interferes with evolved evolutionary competition for breeding rights (survival of the fittest); and,
3) Chemical interventions (PZP & GonaCon) which interrupt critical social structures in family bands (matriarch mares lose status and their intuitive knowledge for survival is lost to family bands; some mares become infertile, etc. Darting wild horses with chemical contraceptives, as some of wild horse organizations lobbying legislators want to do, is not ecologically correct and it disintermediates evolutionary processes.
4) Wild horses are being shot to death by people now embolden by what seems to be an 'open season' on wild horses by the BLM and USFS, resulting from what the public sees as a total disregard for the value of these sentient beings by these arguably corrupted government agencies.
5) The BLM even has the audacity to propose using an outdated procedure known as “ovariectomy via colpotomy,” where a metal rod-like tool is blindly inserted through a vaginal incision in order to sever and remove the ovaries of wild mares while they remain conscious!
The government agencies (DOI, BLM, USDA, USFS) which are arguably influenced by the money and politics around public land livestock grazing, are devastating the remaining populations of the relatively few (based on genetic diversity) remaining American wild horses.
The BLM is continuing a campaign of 'willful ignorance' and 'campaign of misinformation' via their ongoing propagation of manifestly false statements, including the promotion and publication of the false statement that; "wild horses have no natural predators..."
This manifestly false and misleading statement appears on Page 1, Executive Summary, paragraph 5 in the so-called management plan presented to Congress; 'Report To Congress - Management Options For A Sustainable Wild Horse And Burro Program'.
Only a corrupted agency would manage any wildlife (wild horses) resource using a lie as the core premise and excuse for radical arbitrary population reductions, as we see with the BLM roundups of wild horses.
It's a well-known scientific and common-knowledge fact that: All north American apex predators (mountain lions, bears, wolves and coyotes) are the co-evolved natural predators of wild horses.
Making matters more complicated and therefore even worse for the future of wild horses in America is the fact that; some of the non-profit activist and advocate organizations arguably make a very good-living off the plight of wild horses. The big paychecks that some non-profit activist-advocates are receiving creates a conflict of interest because, if the wild horse situation in America is solved with a cost-effective plan, these people would likely need to find new jobs. I recently penned a new article about this very problem titled; 'Wild Horse Wars'.
Q2: How did you get interested in this topic?
A2: When I retired from offshore expedition sailing, I wanted to live an off-grid wilderness lifestyle with a low-carbon footprint. So, in 2014 I purchased a ranch that we later named ‘Wild Horse Ranch’ in the area of the Soda Mountain Wilderness on the border of Oregon and California. Wild Horse ranch was not too far from where my family's former working ranch was located in the 1960s-1970s. This amazing ecologically diverse area was my backyard in my formative years; and now what I call home.
Of course, on the family ranch in the 1960’s we used horses to work, manage livestock and in my case, as transportation to my girlfriend’s ranch 5-miles away. It was only a matter of days after moving to the wilderness ranch that I noticed wild horses on and around my land. They acted unusual and in ways that seemed more like deer than horses, which piqued my curiosity, so I began a study of wild horses.
Undertaking the study of wild horses came easy for me. I was a science major at Oregon State University and sciences were second nature. And the more I read about wild horses, the more interested I became, especially when I saw that a lot of newer published science conflicted with statements being made by the Bureau Of Land Management (BLM) and United States Forest Service (USFS).
Armed with a background in ranching, logging and science, I dug-into the subject matter systematically as I concurrently began a very close-range observational study of the local wild horses, which included the use of a high-tech drone and numerous high-resolution day and night cameras. The wild horses virtually accepted me as a symbiont in their habitat, which provided me with a unique study opportunity. And in a sense, I had been accepted into the herd. I recalled the success that Jane Goodall enjoyed when she was accepted into the band of apes that she was studying in Gombe Africa.
Q3: Why do you fight for these horses and how?
A3: Even within the first year of my study (2014-2015), the symbiotic value that wild horses provided to virtually all of the lifeforms in the ecosystem was evident. Everything benefited; from the microbiome in the soils, right up and through all of the flora and fauna, to the eagles that flew overhead. Living among the wild horses in an ecosystem thriving because of their presence was enlightening and motivating. Knowing these things, how could anyone allow them to be misunderstood, demonized and subsequently abused.
I began my advocacy for native species American wild horses with the belief that, getting media involvement was crucial in order to set the record straight. Edward Bulwer-Lytton once said that; "the pen is mightier than the sword". For me, education through modern media would be my sword to fight the injustice being levied upon wild horses by the greed and ignorance of mankind.
Initially, I began by publishing easy to understand articles, avoiding the use of Latin terminology, explaining what I was learning from the wild horses and supporting those articles with photographic and video evidence.
As my articles caught-on and became more popular, even more online journals and webzines asked for my work on a regular basis; HorseTalk in New Zealand was one of the many outlets for my articles. I started receiving invitations to speak on live talk radio and TV shows about my work.
Then I produced a 3-minute micro-documentary of the wild horses on and around my ranch called, of course; 'Wild Horses'.
That micro-documentary attracted the interest of a graduate student at Colorado College graduate film school, who asked to come to my ranch and film a longer documentary derivative of my work, which was produced and titled; 'Fuel, Fire and Wild Horses'. That documentary film was acclaimed in a letter from Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse, even as it was winning awards in the film festival circuit.
As time went on, media opportunities grew organically, and the next thing I knew, I was talking about wild horses on live television at ABC news, NBC news and other live TV and radio talk shows, including NPR's Jefferson Public Radio.
Q4: You also introduced a very interesting study regarding wild fire prevention through wild horses. How did you get interested in this topic? How was the study conducted and can you please summarize your results for us?
A4: In my younger years, when I was working as a logger in the area’s mountain wilderness, we would occasionally fight the relatively small wildfires that erupted back in the 1970's. The wildfires back then were what I call 'normal wildfire' that we expect to see and need on the landscape, and is part of a natural cycle. For instance, fire-evolved conifers require wildfire to reproduce. And seeing the evolution of catastrophic wildfires over the past decade, and contrasting them to the wildfires of 50 years earlier, I knew something had changed on the landscape.
It so happened that early in my studies of wild horses and their mutualisms with deer, I ran across some disturbing information about the severe decline of deer over the past 50-years in California. I read that California's deer population had declined about 2-million animals over the past 50-years.
The 2-million deer now missing from the California landscape had been consuming approximately 7,000 tons of grass and brush per day, or approximately 2.5-million tons per year. And knowing that grass and brush are the super-hot burning fuels that kindle and carry wildfire to heavier fuels, I saw a connection to the decline in deer (cervids) in California and elsewhere in western states. And climate change has an important impact on these now prodigious fuels by drying them sooner in the year, and keeping them drier longer, making these key wildfire fuel prime for any source of ignition.
I dug into the published studies on herbivores and discovered the connection that I had made between wildfire fuels, wildlife grazing and wildfire had already been observed. Suddenly, it all came together in a flash upon reading the literature. One study in particular by Professor William J. Ripple and his team titled: 'Collapse of the world’s largest herbivores', teaches that; when there is a severe decline in the herbivory on any landscape, both the frequency and intensity of wildfire increase; catastrophic wildfire evolves when large herbivores, such as wild horses are depleted.
It was all coming together and by early 2018, my Study, “Impact Of Wild Horses On Wilderness Landscape And Wildfire – Preliminary Findings” was nearly completed.
Then in 2018, the 38,000-acre Klamathon Fire raged just 1.5-miles from my wilderness cabin. As the towering flames moved over the landscape, my late wife and I decided to stay, while everyone else had left or was evacuated as the fast-moving wildfire approached our part of the mountains. We stayed behind because of the wild horses, and I was recruited by CAL-FIRE as a local knowledge asset. We had no idea how free-roaming wild horses would deal with an oncoming fast-moving catastrophic wildfire, and we had some serious concerns from past experiences.
Like a deadly predator laying in-wait – old barbwire snares and kills wildlife
Prior to the Klamathon Fire of 2018, we had already witnessed the loss of many beautiful wild horses and other wildlife that had been mortally wounded by the 100-year-old barbwire fence from cattle ranches that had failed long ago. With the wooden posts rotted away long ago, much of the old legacy barbwire lay hidden like snares in the grass and brush, waiting for any animal rushing by. Over the years, I have discovered dead and dying deer, elk, wild horses, and even hawks that had been caught up in the barbwire.
I was on the fire-line for nine-days (July 7-16) providing information about roads and structures that were not depicted on the maps assigned to fire commanders, as well as directing personnel and supplies who had become lost on the old logging roads that have no signs. I was using a Honda quad to move along the fire-line helping however I could. And as I did, I noticed some important things:
A juniper tree that survived catastrophic wildfire thanks to wild horses that reduced the fuel under the tree and removed ‘fire-ladders’ from the tree via their using the dead limbs as a tool to scratch themselves. Note horse dropping center-right of photo.
- As the wildfire burned into the area that had been grazed by our small local herd of horses, the flame height over the grazed areas was subdued compared to other un-grazed areas; and,
- Trees that wild horses had used for shelter from the weather had survived, even though the wildfire burned under and around them! That was because the wild horses had grazed the grass down under the trees and also had broken-off the lower dead limbs (aka; fire-ladders) from the trees as they used them to scratch themselves; and,
- Airborne embers from the wildfire that were blowing over the fire-line and into the unprotected area didn’t necessarily cause fire to take hold due to the reduction of grasses from grazing.
The valuable insights that came from seeing first-hand, and at close-range how the intensity of a live wildfire was reduced via the symbiotic grazing of wild horses came at a high price; toxins in the smoke from the wildfire triggered a neurodegenerative disease in my wife of 47-years and claimed her life.
From 2014 through 2018, data about the impacts of wild horses in a wilderness landscape was collected on an almost daily basis.
In ecosystems where wild horses live, flora and dependent fauna all benefit from the soil-restoring wild horse droppings that contain critical microbiome, as well as seeds from native species flora.
In areas where soils were damaged due to the extreme heat from the wildfire, wild horse droppings helped to restore the microbiome by inoculating dead soils and reestablishing fungi and bacteria, as well as reseeding native species plants at the same time. This is just one of many examples of the Study’s observations on the symbiosis that wild horses have with the ecosystems where they live.
A herd of wild horses made-up of several families graze an alpine meadow. A young foal is seen taking water from the stream that has served this herd for hundreds of years. (photo below shows the stream and it’s turbidity immediately after the photo above was shot)
Wild horse impacts on riparian areas including streams and large ponds, as well as the flora and fauna were noted and photographed.
Stream used by a herd of wild horses shows no turbidity
For instance, in a key area of the forest exists a large grassy meadow with a flowing cold spring that feeds a natural pond and stream. This area serves a multitude of wildlife. Photos in the Study clearly provide evidence of a herd of wild horses resting in the riparian area and taking water, without any adverse impact. Photos of the stream show no turbidity from the horses use of the water source.
In summary, wild horses are a critically important keystone-species herbivores in wilderness ecosystems.
Q5: I read there are many different "advocates" for America's wild horses with different approaches. What do you think, for example, of those mustang training contests for which mustangs are even transported to Germany? In your opinion, do they really help to raise awareness and help the wild horses?
A5: If we are talking about actually saving native species American wild horses from potential extinction, then, I would answer: Parading a former wild horse that has been separated from its family and mentally broken to conform to a human’s needs and commands is not helping, it only hurt that horse.
One might also answer this question with a question: Does the public display of a trained eagle in a cage help preserve wild eagles in the wilderness?
Generally speaking (there are exceptions), professional wild horse advocacy organizations have done relatively little to change the course of events that now seem to be leading to the potential extinction of the remaining native species American wild horses.
It’s likely that more than $100-million in donations have already been taken in as donations and spent by non-profit wild horse organizations over the past 30-years in what is empirically is a failed attempt to keep a vibrant population of native species American wild horses, truly wild and free of human meddling.
Failed management by the government agencies (BLM & USFS) driven more by profit incentives than by pure science, coupled with endless debates by non-profit organizations squabbling for positioning in the public limelight and the donations that stem from that, are complicating and overshadowing the simple and obvious solution.
Further confounding the situation is that a few of the better financed non-profits are disproportionately influencing the public debate over wild horse management using obtuse arguments that are more often than not, benefitting themselves in some manner more than the wild horses. They accomplish this goal by somehow assuring their continued involvement in wild horse management in one form or another, even though they arguably don’t have the requisite hands-on experience with wild horses in a wilderness setting.
This strategy keeps such non-profit organizations relevant and news worthy, and helps to assure their continued donations and other forms of revenue. This strategy also involves the insistence that wild horses continue to be managed in a manner where they remain commingled with livestock, thus supporting their claim necessitating the unnatural use of chemical contraceptive treatments on wild horses. And the reality of adoptions is that they save less than 1% of the wild horses being rounded-up.
On the other hand: Re-wilding (relocating) wild horses away from livestock production areas, where in many cases they are commingled and in conflict with livestock and livestock (profit) interests, is a final cost-effective and sustainable solution.
There is already a Plan with a legislative outline for a bill that can end the plight of native species American wild horses once and for all. The Plan is affectionately called; ‘Wild Horse Fire Brigade’.
That Plan calls for wild horses to be rewilded into ecologically and economically suited wilderness areas with abundant water and forage resources that are manifestly unsuited for livestock production due to extreme logistics costs and losses of livestock due to apex predators. However, in such wilderness areas, apex predators perform a critical role in the preservation of the genetic vigor of wild horses via the evolutionary process of ‘Natural Selection’.
In balanced naturally-operating ecosystems, that have intact trophic cascades, wild horses do not over-populate as is seen in herd areas where wild horses are commingled with livestock. In such herd areas where livestock have been managed for hundreds of years, apex predators have been virtually eliminated so as to maximize livestock production and profits. As we now know, eliminating the evolved predators (natural selection) of wild horses only assures that genetic weakness will grow within the herd, and populations will be unchecked.
Q6: I read that you are living among some of the wild horses. What is your primary take-away regarding wild horses and horses in general?
A wild stallion with an injury that would have likely killed any domestic horse, healed on his own (no sutures); no veterinarian care.
A6: Wild horses are a native species and are quintessential keystone herbivores on the North American landscape, where they are critically important to the well-being of the flora and fauna of the ecosystems where they live.
Wild horses are highly intelligent sentient beings that have virtually all of the same emotions that humans have. They have brains that are 2/3 the size of a human brain, and 4-times the size of a dog’s brain. They live in family groups (bands) that are usually headed-up by the most experienced mare, with the stallion providing both protection and some leadership. They love and care for each other deeply.
Domestic horse breeds that have been inbred for 4,000 years to achieve traits and characteristics desired by mankind suffer from various genetic conditions that are generally not present in wild horses.
In fact, based upon my own experience with both domestic breeds and wild horses, the wild horses have demonstrated superior resistance to disease and the ability to overcome serious injuries that would normally be a death sentence for almost any domestic horse.
Very few people even realize that wild horses have a resistance to chronic wasting disease (‘CWD’), which is ravaging deer and other cervids in the United States, and has now spread into 27 states.
CWD can infect cattle (BSE or mad cow), sheep (‘scrapies’) and even humans (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) and is fatal in all instances; there is no known treatment.
More information about wild horses and William E. Simpson II can be found at: www.WHFB.us
Sylke Schulte is a Freelance Journalist who resides in Hamburg Germany.
