Posted on 05/03/2009 1:48:03 PM PDT by jazusamo
You’re right there — unless the Indian businesses could insure that the product is for export only and not for sale in the US.
The French and Belgians especially like horsemeat.
I would love to go see these “wild” horses......
The best is obviously the CHOW!
That's easy to do, just take a trip to Reno. They are quite common in the Virginia Range, east of Reno, and often come into suburban neighborhoods. One of my coworkers has a 10 acre lot, about 10 miles southeast of Reno, and gets horses in his yard almost every day.
Heard another mountain lion, Jaz! One of the plots I have to bird-survey at least ten times this season is at 7,200 feet on the western slope of the Spring Mountains (way upslope from Pahrump). It's gorgeous PJ (pinyon pine & juniper) forest with a few ponderosa pines and white cedars.
The second time I was there (at dawn on one 30-degree morning), I heard a few distant big cat growls coming from a nearby ridge about 300 meters away. The cat no doubt saw me and let me know I wasn't welcome, but I couldn't get any glass on it. Since we're not allowed to wear guns (don't ask -- it's political, as you can imagine), I now carry a medium-sized buckknife in a sheath on my pants belt. It at least gives me a fighting chance... LOL!
Re: "wild" horses. You and 3niner are absolutely right. There's nothing wild about these feral nonnative equines. The same goes with the "wild" burros. On my last ten-day bird tour, I saw many feral burros and a few feral horses (near Cold Creek on the eastern side of the Spring Mountains). You can almost pet the horses, they're that domesticated now. And destructive, especially around oases and springs.
I'll be honest, though. I don't want to see all the feral equines extirpated. My gut feeling is that the habitat can support some populations of feral equines, so long as they're kept in check by culling programs or through regular adoption programs.
But, of course, the Animal-Rights nuts are opposed to that. No surprise, there.
Anyway, belated thanks for all the pings. Great reading!
I agree, and would like to point at that the most cost effective "culling programs" are known as "hunting season". The state issues a limited number of licenses for for specific types of large game animals, and the hunters pay the state for the privilege of thinning the herds. There is no reason that this would not work perfectly well with feral horses.
But you're quite right. Their numbers MUST be controlled. But what hunter wants to return home to his wife with his dead "trophy" horse?
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