Hoof beats pounding across the sand: this is the sound of ponies living freely on Assateague Island, which lies on the Maryland and Virginia border. Maryland leaves its Assateague ponies in peace and preserves them, but Virginia manages its Chincoteague ponies disparately. However free and wild the ponies may seem, they are property of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department (VFD). The selling of these ponies began in 1925; the VFD fully acquired the herd in 1947 (Holden). One of the most tragic aspects of the auction is that the most trafficable ponies are less than a year old; buyers prefer to sunder the foals from their mothers at the clang of the auctioneer's gavel rather than waiting for the foals to reach the proper age for healthy separation. The older a pony is, the lower their price. These untamed ponies, sold into domestication and transported away from the only home they know, now live surrounded by humans and must become domesticated. The treatment and auctioning of the wild Chincoteague ponies is cruel and unnatural because the ponies are not accustomed to human contact and forced to perform actions against their will.
Before 1924, these ponies lived in peace and harmony, coexisting with the natural world i n the wilderness. However, when the Chincoteague Township burned down twice within five years, the townspeople decided that they needed to restructure their fire department (Holden). Suddenly, the idea of selling off untamed ponies to fund the maintenance of the VFD became a reality. In the first year alone, the VFD sold fifteen foals, raising over a thousand dollars and an average of seventy-five dollars per pony (Robson). The uniqueness of these ponies contributes to the 1.4 million tourists that visit this ar...
... middle of paper ...
...&sid=074bfa9a-3acb-43e4-a473-ee13d97b92bf%40sessionmgr114&hid=123&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGN1c3R1aWQmY3VzdGlkPXM5ODc2MTMzJnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=mat&AN=9608203386>.
"Saltwater cowboys." Christian Science Monitor Aug. 1997: 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. .
United States. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2010. Web. .
"Visit the National Park and See the Wild Ponies." Assateague Island. Assateague Island National Seashore, 2000. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. .
The current situation today, is that horses and donkeys have exceeded the amount to keep an ecological balance; from 26,600 wildlife to 38,300 wildlife. The horse program enacted by the bill passed in 1971, costs the government approximately $49 million a year. It takes the majority of the budget to manage the already captured horses; taking into account the life of the horses, it has been concluded that the total cost would be closer to $1 billion (Dean Bolstad, Roundup of Wild Horses…). A Federal law, allows the Bureau of Land Management to kill “excess horses to maintain what it calls ‘a thriving natural ecological balance’” (Ginger Kathrens). However, due to retaliation of animal right groups, the BLM has not taken any measures to eliminate
Estimates are that at the turn of the twentieth century over two million wild horses roamed free in the western United States. However, having no protection from their primary predator, man, by the 1970’s there numbers had dwindled to less than thirty thousand. In 1971, after a massive public uproar, Congress by a unanimous vote enacted the “Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act” (Act) that characterizes wild horses and burros as national treasures and provides for their protection.
The first horses were forced to hang in slings under the deck of ships all the way across the sea to the New World. The explorers brought only the toughest and best horses to the New World. They were bringing so many horses that soon the Spanish Government restricted how many horses could be brought to the New World. There were already enough horses in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santa Domings to start breeding farms. Soon after the farms were established, they started on the main land, and that is where the mustangs got their start.
1. Alden, Peter, Rich Cech, and Gil Nelson. 1998. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida. New York: Knopf.
U.S. Department of the interior, National Park Service. (2013). Endangered Species. Retrieved from website: http://www.nature.nps.gov/biology/endangeredspecies/index.cfm
Within the state of Florida there are dozens of individualized, non-profit organizations making an effort to help the local wildlife. The local land and marine wildlife includes birds, geckos, frogs, snakes, panthers, manatees, sea turtles, fishes, sharks, corals, lizards and many, many more. Florida State is located on the Southeastern tip of the United States providing a unique opportunity for conservation of salt-water animals. While there are animal conservation efforts taking place all over the world, this essay will focus on two animal species that humans are specifically trying to save in Florida State. The two main animal species of focus are manatees and sea turtles.
States. National Park Service. (2014, May, 12). Nature & Science. National Parks Service. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/index.htm
Cavendish, M. (2011). North American Wildlife. (p. 109). New York: Marshall Cavendish Reference. DOI: www.marshallcavendish.us
Before 1860 it was virtually impossible to get a letter or other form of correspondence from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento California in less than 20 days. 20 days seemed entirely too long for the west coast merchants and bankers to wait for documents from the east. So three men, William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell created the Pony Express. The Pony Express ensured fast and safe delivery of the mail.
They had four hundred fast horses and about eighty riders, but there were about four hundred other employees. The other employees worked as station keepers,stock tenders, and route superintendents. A station keeper is a person who people who worked around the home stations. They mainly used four types of horses such as, pintos, mustangs, thoroughbreds, and morgan horses. The Pony Express was dangerous, encounters with rowdy indians and outlaws were common and not a surprise ."A party of fifteen Indians jumped me. . ." said Buffalo Bill Cody. Buffalo Bill Cody was one of the most famous Pony Express, because he put on his famous Wild West Shows.
The underlying issue of wild horses is the overpopulation of a particular species, which is contributing a serious ecological disaster, overgrazing. The degradation of the land has a domino effect, which will lead to more issues. It is important to maintain a balance between the need of the species, and what is healthy or the environment. The issue created controversy, is central to the passing of laws, and creates an opportunity for the government and the community to work together. There are many way to solve the issue of the wild horses and the issue that are created due to their existence. Issues such as a reduction in the number of the horses removed from the range. Increased use of birth control, a partnership with the Humane Society,
"Wildlife Assistance/Nuisance Wildlife." Wildlife Assistance/Nuisance Wildlife. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
“Saving Wild Places - Latin American and the Caribbean - Yasuni National Park, Ecuador” Wildlife Conservation Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
The study area consisted of Latah and Benewoh in Idaho, USA. The research used a total of 105 sites to collect data; ranking the areas from lowest to highest elevation. The methods implemented in this research consisted of wetland sampling, mail survey and habitat modelling. The combined results allowed for better insight for the conservation of these species. The first section of the experiment consist...
The United States passed landmark environmental protection laws in the 1970s with a goal to restore waterways and protect natural areas. To protect species from going extinct the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. The Act is meant to “provide for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend” (NOAA).Since its passage, the Act has led to the resurgence of iconic species like the bald eagle and Florida manatee. Across the nation more land is being protected, with President Obama declaring three new national monuments in 2015. And it is not just the federal government that is being proactive, but also states. Located in Southern Illinois, the Cache River State Natural Area protects almost 15,000 acres of vital wetlands. There have also been clean ups of heavily polluted rivers to make them safe not just for humans but also the plants and animals that call those regions home. And down in the Amazon, multiple nations and Non-Governmental Organizations are cooperating to protect the area and combat deforestation. Peru recently declared a 3.3 million acre area as protected and countries are far away as Norway donate money to the conservation effort. With these and other efforts the hope is to slow and reverse the effects of habitat loss