First Principles

This morning in the Reno Gazette-Journal there was a front page story about a roundup the feral horses that roam the BLM land around Nevada.  Some people call them wild, which I suppose the are in the same sense that the mangy cats who roam back alleys looking for sewer rats “roam wild and free.”

The argument is an old one – smart people understand the horses are a nuisance at best and a menace at worst.  Hippies, on the other hand, think they look pretty – which justifies forcing other people to pay for environmental damage, property destruction, and ranchland degradation.

But in this article, I learned something I didn’t know that really chaps my hide.  Once the horses are rounded up, taxpayers pay $50,000 to house and care for them.  Not $50,000 a year or a month.  $50,000 a day.

That’s $18.25 million per year.

That’s more than an anual starting salary for a new teacher.  That’s one new cop a day.  That’s hundreds of full ride scholarships at UNR.  It could help pay for mental health care for people who would otherwise be on the streets committing crimes.  It could pay for more Deputy District Attorneys, more Public Defenders, or more judges.

But instead we’re using it to house feral animals who could be culled, or even butchered and sold at a profit, as they used to be.  I’m sure all the government employees facing layoffs are just fine with that choice.

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A few months ago I actually had some of them in my front yard.  I didn’t want to let my dog out, because I was afraid they’d kick at my fence (it’s not the sturdiest one ever built).  Fortunately, all they ate was some of my grass that was getting too long anyway, and they didn’t lift their tails until they got further down the street.  The hoof prints they left in the lawn weren’t nearly as permanent as they looked in the morning frost.

But I did think of how it could have been much, much worse.

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If the hippies are right – and the horses are truly wild animals, then they should be treated like any other wild animal.  Either let them starve to death to cull their numbers naturally, or have BLM agents shoot the excess.  Better yet, sell wild horse tags, and let people pay for the privilege of doing what tax payers would otherwise have to foot the bill for.

And if not – if they are wayward pets – then by all means, folks!  Buy up a bunch of land on your own and corral the horses yourselves.  If you’ve got $50,000 to blow through a day, please be my guest.

Otherwise, I’d rather spend the money on some more teachers.