FROM THE 1970s

Idaho Horse Roundup Since Massacre
1979, Washington Post
Idaho, Oct. 1 - Idaho's first wild horse roundup since the bloody Howe massacre - when horses' throats were slit and their legs cut off with chain saws — begins today in the mountains north of here. In the 1973 roundup near Howe, hog rings were jammed through horses' noses and animals that did not die jumping off cliffs were sold for pet food. The massacre touched off furious protests from horse lovers that have prevented further roundups until now.

Battle Over U.S. Lands in the West Centers on Wild Horses in Nevada
1978, New York Times
Reno, Nev., Feb. 25 - The hundreds of wild horses penned here by the Federal Bureau of Land Management are becoming a focal point in the battle over how the nation should use its vast land holdings in the West.

30 Wild Horses From West Gain Homes at Memphis Naval Base
1977, Associated Press
Millington, Tenn., Nov. 19 - Thirty wild horses that were unwelcome on the Western range have won a new lease on life at a naval base 2,200 miles away.

U.S. Wild-Horse Roundup Barred by a Federal Court
1976, New York Times
Washington, D.C., Sept. 1 - A Federal District judge declared illegal today a Government plan to round up 260 wild horses near Challis, Idaho, and he chastised the Interior Department for failing to provide for veterinarians at the site.

Court Stays Ruling on Wild Horse Law
1975, New York Times
Albuquerque, N.M., March 15 - An order staying the decision of a three-judge panel that the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 is unconstitutional has been filed in Federal court here on a motion by United States Attorney Victor Ortega.

The Fight to Save Wild Horses
1971, Time Magazine
Rocky's sorry plight typifies the state of the only remnants of herds that as recently as 1900 numbered in the millions. Between 1900 and 1950, more than a million wild horses were eliminated. From 1934 to 1963, the Bureau of Land Management condoned and even paid for the killing of mustangs. On numerous occasions the U.S. Forest Service held "close-outs" in which it gave ranchers 60 days to round up their own strays on forest service land — and then proceeded to shoot any remaining wild horses. New and tougher laws are now before Congress. Ecologists and conservationists are joining forces with those who want to preserve wild horses for humane and aesthetic reasons. While ecological studies are incomplete, they seem to confirm that wild horses do not compete with livestock, because they usually roam mountainous regions inaccessible to cattle, and do not compete with other wildlife, because they are grass eaters while most wild herbivores eat brush. Scientists also say that studies show the birth rate of mustangs is low and that their number is kept low by natural enemies like mountain lions, wolves and disease.

President Signs Bill to Protect Wild Horses on Federal Lands
1971, New York Times
Dec. 17 - President Nixon, taking note of "countless" letters from young Americans urging protection of wild horses and burros, signed into law today a bill making it a Federal crime to kill or harass the animals on Federal lands.

Help Is Pressed for Wild Horses; Congress Conferees Agree on Protection for Herds
1971, New York Times
Washington, D.C., Nov. 11 - House and Senate conferees agreed today on what Senator Henry M. Jackson, Democrat of Washington, called "a good compromise" to protect the free-roaming wild horses of the West from harassment by man.