Wild horse herd cull under fierce debate in Alberta

Whether they've ever sat on horse or not, Albertans are supposed to embrace the province's cowboy culture.

So the thought some wild horses that roam Alberta's grasslands could end up as pet food or gracing gourmet plates or, if they're lucky, broken to the saddle isn't sitting well with some Albertans.

They're demanding the Alberta government halt this year's planned roundup of wild horses. The horse cull is at odds with the province's western heritage, opponents say.

"Why are we killing our horses? We live in Alberta. We pride ourselves on horse culture," Anita Virginello, one of about 50 people who turned out for a protest Thursday in Calgary, told The Canadian Press. "We're home to the Calgary Stampede, numerous rodeos and ranches."

Virginello said the government was being hypocritical in promoting Alberta's cowboy culture while the province is "the horse-slaughter capital of Canada."

Licenses to capture feral horses are issued by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.

The ministry's FAQs say last year's count by helicopter put the feral horse population at 980 animals, though the number may be higher. That's up from 778 the previous year, according to CP.

[ Related: Alberta wild horse cull not needed, says national group ]

Ministry spokeswoman Carrie Sancartier told CP the effort is "a capture," not a "cull."

"The feral horses eat the grass, but [so do] wildlife such as deer and elk, and this grass is quite sensitive to overgrazing, so we have put in place a capture season to remove a small portion of the feral horses," she said.

The ministry plans to issue licences to capture up to 200 wild horses this season, which ends March 1. Captured horses become the property of the licence-holder to do with as they wish. Some may end up as saddle horses but many are likely destined for slaughter.

According to a group petitioning for federal legislation to stop horse-slaughter operations in Canada, there are four meat processing plants federally licensed to slaughter horses. Humane Society International says "due to their sensitive nature and flight response, there is no humane way to slaughter horses for food."

Feral horses in the Sundre area of south-central Alberta, where the cull is happening are descendants of animals used in logging, mining and other jobs in the 1900s, along with illegally released horses, the ministry says.

But the Wild Horses Society of Alberta argues the government's claim that feral horses are an invasive species that compete with other wildlife is off base.

The society cites a post on Alberta Historic Places that explains the arrival of horses that moved north into what would become Alberta in the 1720s "was a bit of an overdue homecoming."

"It had been roughly 10,000 years since the province’s expansive grasslands shuddered under hard equestrian hooves. Fossils indicate that North America is the original home of the horse where it first appeared millions of years ago," the article said.

[ Related: Alberta’s wild horses captured in record numbers ]

The environment ministry's Nikki Booth told the Calgary Sun the cull's opponents are understandably emotional but misinformed about the program's details. The captures will be conducted humanely and the rules now require the licence-holders to keep the animals for six months to cut down the number shipped off for slaughter, she said.

Booth also told CBC News an advisory panel made up of veterinarians and representatives of the horse industry helps decide whether a cull is necessary.

"They actually reviewed the numbers and they were the ones that recommended to us that a horse capture needed to be held this year," said Booth. "So we do hear from a variety of stakeholders on the matter."

But environment critic Joe Anglin of the opposition Wildrose party said there isn't enough information to support the cull.

"We don't have answers to any questions and now they're going to move forward and cull the herd," Anglin said, according to CP.

"If there's about 1,000 horses ... what's the appropriate size of the herd for the habitat and what we have? How do you make a decision if you don't know if the habitat and the range can sustain the existing size?"