The Solutions -- an Introduction

As we've seen in the Mustang Dilemma, wild horses are victims of their own success. There are several options available, and individuals as well as lawmakers can play a part in determining the best of these. We can do nothing and let disease and possibly death on the highway reduce their numbers. Or we could explore slaughter, adoption, population control, and sanctuary. On each page in this section, we invite you to join in the debate. Visit the moderated discussion board, raise your voice and, later, we will share all of the comments with lawmakers involved in the wild horse debate.

These are the major options for what to do with excess wild horses:

• Feedlots, slaughter and the commercial use of horse meat Since 1980, well over 4 million American horses have been slaughtered in the U.S. and Canada and their meat exported to Europe and Japan for human consumption.	• Adoption The goal is to limit the number of wild horses roaming the federally-managed lands of the west to fewer than 40,000 by encouraging public adoption of these wild horses.
• Population Control/Birth Control Scientists from UC Davis are searching for alternative solutions, tackling the problem from the other end of life's procession.	• Sanctuary In South Dakota, Dayton Hyde is working hard to bring the horse spirit back to the Great Plains.