Back before I retired from the Air Force, and when I was patrolling the Air Force Academy as a cop, we had a deer problem. The Academy is a gorgeous place, spread over nearly 19,000 acres, or just under 30 square miles. Once, when I had the honor of escorting a visiting dignitary, she remarked, upon learning that I then lived on the base, that it was like living in a national park. The Academy is again open to tourists and I recommend you drop by to see that extraordinary place. You’ll see very cool aircraft on display and if you time it right, you can watch about 4,000 of the best young people in America march to lunch.

And you will likely see lots of deer wandering around.

It isn’t much of a surprise to learn that the deer population on the Academy is (or at least was, back when I was a cop there) quite large. I always claimed that the world’s smartest deer lived there, as they know there is watered green grass and no hunting. But as a result, there were lots of times deer got hit by cars, which is bad for the cars and is just terrible for the deer. And so it was proposed that a very limited and highly regimented deer hunt be allowed to thin the herd and reduce damages and injuries to both people and deer.

As you can imagine, there was quite a range of opinion on whether there should be a deer hunt or not. Some argued yes, and others argued that such a hunt was morally wrong. Smart and good-hearted people can disagree, but there were some folks that were, well, a tad extreme in their views. One suggestion I remember was that the Academy string a series of bright lights through the woods, in hopes of attracting the deer away from roadways and back into the woods. That suggestion was not followed.

I thought of that situation recently when I read an entry in one of my favorite Colorado Politics sections, the Out West Roundup. The lead entry told the tale of a recent Biden administration announcement that it was going to significantly increase the number of wild horses and burros rounded up across the western U.S., including Colorado. They are calling it an emergency step, given the ongoing draught and climate change issues that grip our region. And not surprisingly, activists who assert they are working on behalf of the horses argue that a larger roundup (or, I suspect, any roundup at all) is a bad idea, done only to support the cattle industry that competes with the horses for foodstuffs that are becoming increasingly hard to find.

As with so many of my columns, I honestly don’t know who is right and who is wrong here (Ed: what a surprise). I’ve always liked horses, having had one as a kid during summers on my grandparents’ Iowa farm. Heck, one of my kids is a professional horse trainer. But I can’t help but wonder if some folks have a rather romanticized idea of what life is like for oversized herds of these wild horses, especially in times of severe challenges brought on by climate change. 

The Bureau of Land Management is in charge of such efforts, and the agency notes that, left unchecked by management or predators, wild horse herds can double in size in only four to five years. Horse advocates counter that the animals are terrified by helicopters as they are captured and are forced to live in enclosures, albeit with food and water. Some advocates claim the horses are slaughtered for meat, while the BLM website states that the animals are put up for public adoption, and those not adopted “are cared for on open pastures for the rest of their lives.” Since 1971, the BLM has removed roughly 4,400 horses and burros from Colorado lands.

So, who is right and who is wrong? I dunno.

There seems to be agreement that here in Colorado and in other western states, there simply isn’t enough rangeland with adequate food and water for all the wild horses and for all the cattle. Now, I certainly have problems with the way the BLM has traditionally supported the cattle industry, both in terms of the use of public lands for nearly free grazing and for other issues. But it seems undeniably true that in these difficult times, an overpopulation of horses out here is not good for the land or for the horses. While many may picture noble steeds atop hills at sunset, with their manes blowing in the wind, the reality for many is much harsher, with starvation an ongoing threat and water becoming scarcer. 

Had humans not been a primary driver in messing up the ecosystem in which the horses once flourished, it might be best for humans to stay out of trying to mitigate the situation. But given the human-caused challenges the horses face, I admit I lean toward a human and humane response. No doubt the roundups are quite stressful for these wild critters, but such efforts may be the least bad way to deal with yet another consequence of drought and the impacts of climate change. And while that is true, it is also a darn shame.