February 20, 2023 |
In the legislature, a House Joint Resolution that urged for the slaughter and processing of wild horses as part of a best management policy died in the Senate Agriculture Committee Thursday night, but not for a lack of support among those who voted no. HJR3 died in a tie 2-2 vote. The possible tiebreaker, Chairman Cheri Steinmetz, was absent because of an illness.
Representative John Winter of House District 48 began his testimony with the intent of the bill.
Pictured above: File photo of wild horses. Photo courtesy of BLM.
Public testimony from state agencies and ag groups, including Wyoming Game and Fish, the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, and the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA), all was in support of the resolution.
Jim Magagna, Vice President of the WSGA, said HJR3 should be backed up with science. For instance, Magagna said a 2020 BLM roundup in Sweetwater County reduced the number of feral horses to 2,145 animals, but thermal imaging last spring showed the population had rebounded quickly to more than 4,400 horses. Roundups are an ineffective tool as used now.
Magagna said the wild horse situation on Wyoming’s landscape is “out of hand” because of mismanagement by federal agencies.
Both senators on the ag committee who voted no said they support the intent of the resolution but felt it was weak medicine. One of them was Senator Larry Hicks of Baggs. Describing himself as a 30-year veteran of the fight with the feds over wild horses, Hicks asked for an opportunity to explain his no vote.
After HJR3 failed, Senator Hicks said the issue should be put on the list of interim topics so the lawmakers can develop an effective approach to solving the wild horse problem.
