Wild horses aren't free

Since the early 1970s, mustangs -- wild horses -- have been protected under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, spearheaded by Velma Johnston, a.k.a. Wild Horse Annie. In 1950, she saw blood spilling out of a truck on a Nevada highway, followed it, and then witnessed injured and dying mustangs being offloaded at a slaughterhouse. She led a battle to stop the cruel roundups, resulting in the passage of federal protection signed into law by President Nixon in 1971.

Under that law, horses are to be "considered in areas where presently found as an integral part of the system of public lands." Their management falls to agencies inside the Department of the Interior, primarily the Bureau of Land Management, which culls the herds based on the land's grazing capacity and what's required to sustain the wild horse population. But the government also balances the needs of horses against other uses of the range -- and that means corporate cattle ranching. Today, instead of being protected, mustangs are in danger of being "managed" out of existence.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 2 million mustangs in the wilderness; according to the government, there are about 23,000 on public lands in the Western states now, and more than half are in Nevada. Wild horse advocates, however, say the number is much lower. Because the animals have been "zeroed out" from at least 100 of their 300 official herd areas (contrary to the 1971 law's provisions), they may be on the brink of no return.

Many cattle ranchers have long regarded wild horses as "pests" that steal food from their herds. The livestock lobby has tried to dismantle the wild horse and burro law through four U.S. administrations, and it has the political clout to push policy toward a mustang-free America.

In 1990, the Government Accounting Office looked at the situation: "Wild horses are vastly outnumbered on range lands by livestock. ... Wild horse removals have taken place in some areas not being damaged by widespread overgrazing." Since then, cattle have continued to flourish on the range. Today, at least 3 million cattle graze on the same public lands where mustangs make their living.