By Canadian Press

Advocacy group pushes for protections for wild horses

Dec 28, 2019 | 10:26 AM

An advocacy group wants Alberta to give protection to the nearly 17-hundred wild horses that roam the Rocky Mountain foothills.

The horses, which have been around since the early 1800s, descended from released domestic stock used for ranching, logging and mining operations.

Bob Henderson, president of the Wild Horses of Alberta Society, has been working for decades to save the animals.

He wants the Alberta government to give them protected status.

Henderson says he’s worried the province may go ahead with another cull, in which a few horses are adopted out and the rest are sent to slaughter.

He says a five-year pilot project in which some of the horses were injected with a contraceptive has ended and more support is needed going forward.

The province says the population has been increasing and needs to be kept in check as the horses can damage the landscape, plant species and habitats of other animals.