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

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.