Herald-Leader Staff Report
Anti-horse slaughter activist Madeleine Pickens was named "Horsewoman of the Year" by the Humane Society of the United States at the annual Sound Horse Conference in Louisville on Friday.
Pickens, who also raced Thoroughbreds with her late husband, Allen Paulson, was given the honor for her efforts to establish a sanctuary for wild horses.
Pickens, who is married to oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens, last month bought a 14,000-acre ranch in Nevada to take in thousands of wild horses that have been removed from public lands by the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is reviewing the proposal for the Mustang Monument preserve.
Madeleine Pickens "is one of those rare individuals who puts her passion, time and money where her heart is," Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society president and CEO, said in announcing the honor Link
If Pickens is truly planning on putting thousands of horses on her newly acquired ranch then she and Wayne Pacelle both have a few things to learn about range management. Doing that would put a quick end to her ranch and it’s ability to be grazed. This ranch could probably support a few hundred horses but certainly not “thousands”. These are generally the types of things that people who are unfamiliar with livestock overlook. It will be interesting to see how many she does put out there and if she’s really willing to buy never-ending supplies of hay to feed that many. Hopefully the ignorance of Pickens and the HSUS won't result in the destruction of this rangeland.
1 comment:
One of the reasons this place sold is because the high number of existing horses left little room for cattle or wildlife. I know the ranch and guy well.
Areas surrounding the limited dependable water sources have already been abused.
Elk, hunters, and heavy snow are going to leave the perimtiter fence in tatters as they do now. There will be animals migrating in and out of this sanctuary, including viable studs.
The past owner, his dad and his grandfather before him had paid grazing fees on this land since the taylor grazing act was put in place. Now we us taxpayers are expected to write Madeleine Pickens a half a million dollar check every year?
This will of course in no way prevent horses outside of the sanctuary from continuing to breed, nor stem the number of horses stacking up in feedlots nor solve any problem in any way.
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