Wild horses still roam free in Alberta’s foothills. Small herds of hardy survivors, their coats still shaggy against the winter elements – they are a picturesque reminder of Canada’s Wild West past.
These horses seem like a natural fit out west, but not everyone thinks they belong. And some may be taking extreme steps to show their disdain.
In January, 2011, the RCMP charged three men and a youth in the shooting of a horse near Sundre, AB. It’s the first time RCMP have laid charges for the shooting of a wild horse but it’s not their only case.
Over the past four years, the RCMP have opened files on 13 horses shot and left to rot in Alberta’s West country. Sgt. Percy Leipnitz told 16:9 The Bigger Picture Alberta’s vast expanses make it particularly difficult to investigate this type of shooting.
“It’s vast,” Sgt. Leipnitz said, “Even to have witnesses out there at the time would be very rare.”
No witnesses, no known motive and 13 horses dead. The president of the Wild Horses Society of Alberta, Bob Henderson, told 16:9 there are many more.
“People have been getting away with it for quite a long time,” he said. He told 16:9 that, to his knowledge, 32 wild horses have been shot and killed in Alberta the last decade.
The Alberta Government completed its annual horse count in March and the numbers are growing. Estimates now place about 1000 horses roaming wild in Alberta. But the province has another name for the horses – not wild, not domestic but “˜feral.’
Officially speaking, these horses aren’t wild because they’re not native to the prairies. As Alberta Sustainable Resources Development representative, Darcy Whiteside explained, that means you can get a permit to capture them.
“There are specific ways that the animals can be captured,” Whiteside told 16:9. “They’re not allowed to be snared. They’re not allowed to be killed of course.”
Each year, an average of 40 horses are captured with permits. Captured horses can be tamed, or sent to the slaughter house, but not hunted.
“We only hunt native species of the province,” Whiteside told 16:9. “We don’t provide hunting opportunities for animals that aren’t native to Alberta.”
Beautiful as they are, as an “invasive” species, some argue the horses may be competing with Alberta’s indigenous wildlife. A small herd of horses is capable of eating acres of land right down to the dirt. And TJ Schwanky, an avid outdoorsman and hunter, told 16:9 the horses need to be culled or other living things will suffer.
“They’re animals that went stray… they don’t belong in the wild, competing with our wildlife,” Schwanky said. “Our animals are getting pushed off the prime range.
Still, no matter what side of the fence you’re on, nobody wants to see horses shot and left to die in the foothills. As the trial approaches for those accused of killing a horse in just that way, emotions are running high over whether the punishment will send the right message. Will a guilty verdict bring a heavy fine? Jail time? Or a slap on the wrist?
No matter what happens in the courtroom, the wrangling between those who want the horses culled and the ones who want them to roam free shows no sign of ending.
But to Bob Henderson, there’s no question horses belong on Alberta’s landscape, wild and free.
“I truly believe,” he told 16:9, “That we have to leave them alone and manage them like we do other wildlife.”
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