Navajo Nation Seeks To Balance Resources With Feral Horse Roundups

Ongoing drought and decades of overgrazing have devastated grasslands on the Navajo Reservation. With a wild, feral horse population in the tens of thousands, the tribe has made the difficult decision to round up as many of the animals as possible. Most of those horses will end up at a slaughterhouse in Mexico. This is a problem all across the western United States. But on the reservation it’s estimated there are somewhere between 60,000 and 75,000 feral horses. Officials say that’s four times what the land can support. So the Navajo Nation has decided to round up as many as possible and sell them. "Stray horses are dominating windmills, wells, natural springs, coming to corrals, breaking into hay barns causing damage," said Kim Johnson, who runs the reservation grazing management program. "There's also animals out there that are injured and nobody's there to take care of them. They are just dying a slow death." Johnson said earlier this summer President Barack Obama issued an emergency drought declaration that earmarked $1.3 million to deal with the feral horse problem. About 60 communities — more than half the reservation — have requested roundups. The unbranded animals are immediately sent to auction. "The unbranded ones are sold to buyers that are bonded by the Navajo Nation," Johnson said. "And I believe the destination is Mexico, to a slaughter processing plant." With the horse market at an all time low, the Navajo Nation is getting somewhere between $10 and $20 per head. That's a quarter of what it costs to bring them off the range. Recently, the tribe has officially come out in support of a horse slaughter processing plant that is trying to open closer to home in New Mexico. A lawsuit has temporarily stopped the plant from opening...more