I am disheartened by the news that someone shot the four wild horses in the middle of the village, but then someone (perhaps that same person?) went and shot two more out on a rural road.
I think most people in the community have profoundly mixed feelings about the horses, which technically are feral, not wild, ok, but which have an increasing presence in the mountains around us. My version of what has happened goes something like this: They have for many generations been allowed and encouraged on the Apache reservation, where they've flourished; now they are expanding in territory, being somewhat too successful out there; and, in coming toward Cloudcroft, they don't always even know that hanging around the village will cause problems.
The problems people point out are somewhat like those that elk and deer pose: cars hit them, with great damage and sometimes fatality; in town, they are not exactly friendly, so that people who walk up to them might get hurt or trampled. We are especially concerned because some of the best grass is in the city park and the schoolyard, and that of course is where they are hanging around.
Now I think some private landowners have ways of getting rid of them if they really don't like having them around. Making noise is one that comes to mind; it's not necessary to shoot them, is it? But the problem for the village is that nobody did anything. They were there for about a week before whoever it was came by and shot them.
Then, I guess he/she thought that if he got away with it, he could keep doing it.
I would like the village and the area to take a stand and say, please stop shooting the horses. Maybe if we have too many, we can invite people to come and domesticate them. Or maybe we can just shoo them off into an area of the forest where there's plenty of room. But shooting them, and then leaving them for someone else to pick up, seems heartless and cruel.
I think we need a community plan to deal with them. I say this vaguely, knowing I'm not the mayor, and won't be in charge, and can't even drive a fire truck. Nevertheless, someone should do something, don't you think? There are plenty of possible positive outcomes for this, that don't involve needless killing of innocent wild animals.
