As of today there has been no decision as to whether to hold a wild horse capture season. Licenses to horse trappers could be available anytime now by order of our Environment Minister, Diana McQueen. WHOAS has a foreboding feeling that this will happen.
We need your help now. Write a letter to Minister McQueen and to Premier Allison Redford, telling them that despite a couple of meetings with other stakeholders, there is still no scientific evidence that our free-roaming wild horses are negatively impacting the ecosystem of our eastern slopes.
Through your letter writing and email efforts to the government officials, you can help make a change. There was no capture season last year. Let them know you and your family and friends insist there is not another one this winter.
Do your part to save our wild horses now and for future generations. The future of our wild horses is at stake. Here are the contact addresses:
Premier Allison Redford
Legislature Office
307 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6
Diana McQueen
Minister of Environment & Sustainable Resource Development
Legislature Office
204 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6
Here is a sample letter you can use. Print or copy it, sign and mail it. (It’s also in a .pdf format).
Dear Ms. McQueen,
As an Albertan and Canadian, I am distraught to learn that you could issue horse capture permits with the intent of removing several hundred head of our wild, free-roaming horses this coming winter. I find this appalling.
These beautiful animals have lived in small family herds for generations. They have been an integral part of Alberta’s heritage, its history and culture. I believe they deserve to live and be part of the whole ecosystem as it exists today in our Alberta foothills.
I understand that your department undertook a count of the horses last March and that 853 were reported in the vast area of the foothills from Kananaskis up to Hinton. I have also heard that the ESRD could issue up to 300 permits for the 2013-2014 season which would eradicate up to 30% of the wild horse population. Despite stakeholder meetings this fall, there seems to be no interest on your part to undertake any scientific research to determine how these wild horses fit into the whole ecosystem or determine what numbers could be sustained in this vast area. Why has this not been done?
I urge you to stop any further capture season. As the Premier has said in the past, “Albertans deserve to know that the species that call this province home today will still be here for future generations.”
Sincerely,
——–
Another way to help out.
Visit one of our members and strong supporters of our Alberta wild horses:
Free Spirit Sanctuary (https://www.facebook.com/FreeSpiritSanctuary) where you can order postage paid postcards to send to Minister McQueen. You can email requests to freespiritsanctuary@gmail.com. There are 2 designed specifically for youth to sign and one for the general public. Help spread the news to family and friends that our Alberta wild horses need our help.
Bob