‘Horses are my world’: Advocates decry Alberta plan to control wild horse population

Wild horses are shown in this undated handout photo in a field in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta. Alberta's plan to propose adoption and contraception measures to control its feral horse population has stirred controversy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Ken Shulko (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Margit Lanoue)

Maverick, Radar and White Spirit mostly gallop in the confines of the Rocky Mountain foothills, but they are known among equine enthusiasts around the world.

“They are loved,” said Joanne King, a retired teacher who lives near Sundre, Alta., where the rolling hillsides northwest of Calgary contain the highest concentration of Alberta’s 1,500 wild horses.

“Those horses are my world.”

She said she goes out to photograph the horses multiple times a week and talks to them from a distance.

“The more I got to know the individual stallions and their bands, the more close I got. Every time I go out there, there’s always someone else pulled over, watching them, photographing them, too.”

Thousands of people around the world follow the animals' exploits in a social media group King runs. She also takes visiting friends and family to see them.

But now, she says, Maverick, Radar and White Spirit are among the wild horses at risk, with the Alberta government announcing plans to control their population.

Wildlife advocates say the proposed measures aren’t backed by science, have an arbitrary population threshold and are designed to appease the cattle industry. The province, meanwhile, says it’s necessary to limit the risk to the landscape and to other grazing animals.

Forestry Minister Todd Loewen said that if a count beginning later this month finds the wild horse population has exceeded management thresholds, 30 would be selected for adoption and up to 90 would be given contraception.

He said the government has been discussing the measures since last year after a helicopter and ground survey found the population was up.

“The numbers in two equine management zones exceeded the thresholds, so action should be taking place,” he said.

He said he understands people are divided over the measures, which would only be taken after a second count.

“Some people believe the feral horses shouldn’t exist on the landscape at all because they’re not native species to Alberta and there’s some people that feel that there should be feral horses across the whole province,” he said.

He said the government wants to “ensure that these horses thrive and coexist in their ecosystems in the landscape.”

A government document called the Feral Horse Management Framework describes how horses went extinct in North America after the most recent ice age but were later reintroduced by European settlers.

“Horses served vital roles in labour in the fields, providing transportation and improving the quality of life for settlers in Alberta,” the framework said.

When demand for horsepower went down in the 1900s, some were released on unfenced rangelands along the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies by First Nations, ranchers, loggers, miners and hunters.

About 2,100 horses have been removed since the 1960s in response to natural resource concerns, the framework said. In 2013, the province established a committee to find ways to better manage populations.

There are now six zones managed by the government across the slopes where wild horses roam. Most are in the Sundre area, where there were 969 animals by the 2023 count. The threshold is 1,000.

Darrell Glover, who founded the Help Alberta Wildies Society in response to previous horse culls, said the measures amount to “equine genocide” and the government hasn’t proven they’re necessary.

“We have been pressuring the government to provide the proof, the science that the wild horses are responsible for damaging the landscape,” said Glover, also a member of Alberta’s Feral Horse Advisory Committee.

“They cannot provide it because it does not exist.”

Asked about the research backing the threshold, Loewen said it was after consultations with several stakeholders, including Glover’s group.

“Everybody had the opportunity for input and that input was put together and the Feral Horse Management Framework is what came out of it,” he said.

“I’m not sure how to respond to someone who was at the table and had the opportunity to advocate for feral horses.”

Glover said the province did not heed the concerns he brought up, and accused it of trying to appease the cattle industry, which he said causes the most damage to grazing land.

“Certain ranchers possess a grazing lease agreement with the government. So if there wasn’t any wild horses out there, these grazing allotments and grazing leases could be increased,” he said.

“It’s all about money.”

He said the horses have natural predators like bears and cougars and injecting several with contraception would further decrease their population. Glover added that adopted horses have been sold at auction and later sent to slaughter following previous culls.

Glover, a pilot, said when the government begins its survey this year, the Help Alberta Wildies Society will be conducting one, too.

Back near Sundre, King said there’s enough grass for cattle and wild horses alike.

“The people who live here are attached to these horses,” she said. “They love these horses and we’re going to fight for them.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2025.