CALGARY- The province is counting the number of feral horses in Alberta, now that a controversial capture program has ended.
Workers spent three days flying around the area west of Sundre earlier this month, tallying up how many of the animals remain. Counts in the area west of Calgary will happen in the coming days.
While no official numbers have been released, officials with Environment & Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) say it appears the population has dropped.
“We’ve counted less horses, but I’m not going to say the population is down,” says Lisa Schrader from ESRD. “I’m just saying we might have missed horses.”
However, wild horse advocates who rode through the area say the number of horses in the Sundre zone is down by 187. They hope that means there won’t be another cull.
“It’s clear that we don’t have enough science and to understand the full impact of what the horses are doing out there,” says Darrell Glover from Help Alberta Wildies. “I don’t believe the impact is as indicated.”
Official numbers should be released in a few weeks. A decision on whether a horse cull should take place next year will be made after the province’s advisory committee makes its recommendation in the fall.
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