Alberta Horse Allies Monitor Wild Horse Cull, Some Sleep in Cars Overnight

Providing a watchful eye from capture to the Innisfail Auction Market is the goal of a group of Albertans during this year’s wild horse cull. Alberta’s Environmental and Sustainable Resource Development department (ESRD) held the 2015 capturing season last month. The focus this year, according to their FAQ page, was on “young males, considered the most appropriate for adoption.”

The ESRD stated on its page that it hires independent wranglers to lure ponies into baited corrals, where a group of horse allies keeps a watchful eye on the process.

Tucked away in the brush, a handful of passionate activists with the group “Help Alberta Wildies” camped out in cars to observe and document as 33 wild horses were captured in the Ghost River area west of Calgary.

“We were able to discover four of the capture sites this year,” said Shannon Mann, a backyard activist who works with Help Alberta Wildies. “As soon as we found them, we went out to monitor.”

Mann camped out in the frigid weather during the last cull and said the temperature was a nice change, but what she and others saw while on their stake-outs was troubling.

Counting horses, inspecting structures used to corral them, and even watching as wranglers rope horses into submission, Mann said they don’t interfere with the process but feel their presence and watchful eye keep the ESRD accountable.

Only 14 horses went to auction; the rest were snapped up by the Wild Horses of Alberta Society for adoption.

Mann said, according to her numbers, there were discrepancies in how many horses were captured and sold. Although the auction reported horses went to loving homes, when she attended the sale, she saw ponies left out, adding that although the market might have said so, it was not a “Walt Disney ending.”

Originally Posted Metro News