Free and wild

The Government of Alberta, Sustainable Resource Development, department has launched what we believe a full scale assault on the wild horses of Alberta. This year there are more individuals with permits and more capture pens set up than there have been for several years. SRD has issued this many permits and encouraged these individuals to take a large number of the wild horses out of their natural environment. WHOAS believes that contrary to what the officials say that they are bowing to pressure from self vested groups who want all the horses removed from our Alberta foothills.

Last year the SRD started this campaign and authorized the removal of a large number of horses throughout the province. We know that the large majority of those captured ended up being sent to a horse slaughter plant. Again this year the number of horses that are being captured is high. Silently the government of Alberta has changed the horse capture regulations to a point that they reflect the determination of the SRD to rid the province of what they believe are nuisance animals. Where it used to be 3 studs to one mare, this does not even exist anymore. Where they used to claim that they regulated how many animals “at the most 20-30 horses” this number seems to have been thrown out the window. Also we’ve noted that once the capture season was over, these individuals did not remove their capture pens as was the rule before. This allows our wild horses to become accustomed to these threats and therefore more susceptible to being caputured.

Baited pen

Captured horses

Death permit

This season continues until March 1st and many of the mares are now heavy with foal. Imagine the stress!!!! These alleged cowboys have no other interest other than the money they get from the slaughter houses. And with slaughter prices for horses being so low, it appears to WHOAS that some are just doing this for their own egos.

The winters of 2010 and 2011 were extremely hard on the wild horses. A large number of foals died and many of the mares aborted in order to survive. Therefore the number of horses due to nature was naturally down. According to our observations, and those of others that spend their time in the west country, the number of horses truly did not increase due to this and the heavy capture last year. In fact WHOAS believes that the numbers are down and will continue to go that way if the SRD continues their attack against your Alberta wild horses. It is well known that they are listening to logging companies that claim the wild horses are doing damage to the environment and their new seedlings. This is despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary. In large tracks of our public land the logging companies have decimated the natural environment of practically all wild animals and birds that used to call this home. Who’s hurting what out there? We believe they should leave the horses alone. Now these logging companies are going down into Kananaskis country to ruin it too (the Castle and West Bragg Creek) with the blessings of the SRD.

The SRD chooses to manipulate issues to benefit their ideas with disregard to the well being of the natural ecosystem’s of Alberta. I point out that in the Sheep River, Bighorn Sheep Reserve it is amazing to see one sign that says that the government biologists say that the bighorn sheep are causing damage to their grazing area since the sheep feel safe in this area and do not move. Yet a short distance down the road on the same rangeland is a sign by the government stating that they use hundreds of head of cattle to reduce the biomass of the sheep range allegedly to enhance available forage for wildlife. Is this not a contradiction?

With the upcoming election, now is the time to make our government, who is supposed to work for us, pay attention to what Albertans value as part of our natural heritage and stop destroying our land and the wonderful animals, including the wild horses, that live there. We urge you to get as many people as possible to write (e-mail) directly to the Premier and the Minister of Sustainable Resources. We need to stop this capture season now and not later!!!! Please help. Ask your friends to join the fight to save your wild horses. They belong to all of us.

Premier Allison Redford
Send to her Twitter account: Alison Redford @alisonredford

Legislature Office
307 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 427-2251
Fax: (780) 427-1349

Minister Frank Oberle
Legislature Office
420 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 415-4815
Fax: (780) 415-4818
E-mail: peace.river@assembly.ab.ca

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Beauty in the snow

2011 was both a hard year for the horses and yet became a good year for the wild horses of Alberta. January, 2011, saw deep snow and extremely cold temperatures that negatively impacted the well being of the horses. The deep snow resulted in the horses having difficulty foraging for their food and the extreme cold caused them to use up their body reserves to survive early on. It was due to these conditions that a lot of the 2011 foals failed to survive and a large number of wild horse mares aborted their pregnancies. As a result the number of yearlings and foals was down significantly throughout the year.

Yet despite all this, there were some wonderful surprises. The first foal we saw was born on January 23, 2011, in very cold temperatures and in a snowstorm.

Yepa

This was the earliest foal we have ever observed being born in the wild horse herds. We named the foal Yepa which means “snowstorm” and despite the hardships that winter does bring, Yepa survived and is doing exceedingly well as he reaches his first birthday. One of the miraculous things that enabled this foal to live despite the weather and the large number of wolf packs in the area was the herd stallion’s behaviour toward the young one. “Raven” dawdled over Yepa allowing the young one to stay very close to him for protection. This is completely unusual behaviour for the herd stallions as they usually stand off to the side of their herd, remaining aloof but ever vigilant to protect the whole herd.

Spring????

It’s April and winter is still hanging on with so much heavy wet snow in the wild horse meadows. This is the normal foaling time for so many of the mares but this kind of weather is nature’s harsh way of ensuring that only the strongest survive.

Finally spring

As you can see by this mare, she has used up almost all of her body reserves to produce a very healthy foal. As the temperatures warmed and the grasses began to grow, the living for the wild horses in 2011 started to become easier. This was exhibited when about a month and half later we saw this mare and both were very healthy with shiny coats.

With rains that came, the grasses started to grow and became very tall and lush everywhere we went in our travels. This enabled not only the horses, but all the other wildlife to flourish.

Babes of Spring

This herd here was one of the few that several of the mares were able to bring to term healthy foals. As the season turned into summer, the herds moved up into their summer meadows. They do this to manage, in nature’s way, their forage.  Always on the move so that they do not destroy their habitat and to allow the regeneration of their food sources. Again, 2011 was an unusual year in the fact that the insect pest numbers did not appear as they would normally. Maybe this is nature’s way of compensating for other hardships. But the horses do move into their usual summer routines by doing what we call “treeing up” to escape the heat and any bugs that may be about.

Ah, relief!

With excellent food sources and the warmth of summer, the wild horses came into the fall in excellent condition. Meadows and the forest remained lush as the grasses as well as the trees turned into the golden colours of fall.

Colours of Fall

Then in late October we were surprised by another new birth of a wild horse foal. This turned out to be the latest we’ve ever seen a foal born in the wild.

Little Wonder

With meteorologist’s predicting the coldest and snowiest winter in over 20 years, we feared for the welfare of all the wild horses but especially this Little Wonder. However, despite the dire predictions, fall was tenacious in hanging on enabling the horses and other wildlife to build on their fat reserves. Then came the first blast of winter; a major snowstorm dumped 15 – 24 inches of snow throughout wild horse country and the temperatures plummeted. Then as if that was enough, there has been very little snow and the temperatures have warmed up to above normal for the rest of 2011.

Fit and healthy

As we enter the new year our wild horses are in excellent shape and are ready to face whatever nature may throw at them in 2012.

During the year, WHOAS also used several equine events to spread the word about the beautiful natural resource we have in the wild horses. At the Spruce Meadows Master’s and at the Spruce Meadows Christmas Fairs, our display and informational booths were extremely well received by hundreds of visitors who stopped by. We handed out over 1,000 WHOAS brochures as well as selling a large number of our fundraising calendars. For those who haven’t got a copy, we still have a few available.

Xmas fair at Spruce Meadows

WHOAS is well under way to receiving charitable status which will allow us to more effectively reach our goals of ensuring the wild horses are given protection in Alberta. To date our efforts to have the government of Alberta recognize the wild horses as a beautiful natural resource continue to fall on deaf ears. It is with your support that eventually we hope to change these narrow-minded attitudes.

On behalf of the wild horses and the board of directors of WHOAS, we wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year. Thank you for your support.

Bob

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