Southern Nevada's wild horses (pic heavy)

Yes, the white faced one actually walked up to me and let me pet him.  And another from another herd further South did the same thing with a friend of mine.

Actually they have been out there a long time. But they are protected and people often feed them even though they are not supposed to so they are use to people and do not feel threatened by them unless being chased by BLM helicopters.

Great photos.... We go to see wild horses in North Dakota,several years ago,no way of getting close to them...LOL
Its a rare site either way.....Thanks for sharing..

Very Cool! Still WILD in America. Thanks for sharing that with us.

An invasive species is protected from removal?

ETA

Google is my friend.

This is a bizarre situation in which the BLM is tasked with "protecting and managing" the feral populations of this invasive non-native species.

Lacking predators (wolves in their native range) they could easily overpopulate and destroy valuable habitat. So removing them, actually helps them stay healthy. If one desires the population stay healthy then adding a predator (by helicopter management) to the ecosystem is a good idea.

Jax was with me but I left her in the car with my friend's dog, also named Jax, because my Jax was barking at them and wanted to go herd them.

They are not considered invasive since they were here before humans. So we are the invasive species.

The reason it is illegal is because they wold horses are Federally protected. You are not allowed to harass or harm the horses in any way.  The BLM roundups are harassing and have resulted in the deaths of some of the horses that were injured or driven to exhaustion.   And apparently some of the horses ended up in meat markets.

The BLM claims there is not enough food or water for the horses, which is "horse shit"!  Watering holes have been fenced off to make sure the horses cannot access the water and there is plenty of food out there.  How can there be plenty of food for open range cattle grazing but not the horses?  And there is the real reasoning for the horse round ups. The BLM is catering to the cattle ranchers who want to see the horses killed or removed so they have more land, food and water for their cattle.

And again, these horses were around long before man and the habitat was never destroyed.  Nature has its own checks and balances. It is when man comes along and tries to control things that everything gets screwed up.  Watch the video on what happened when they reintroduced the wolves as an example.

I did some homework on the species in north america. It seems they have spread here from Asia a number of times and each time went extinct. Then with Columbus bringing caballos they have repopulated again.

I'll stipulate they are as close to native as it comes.

It's a stupid law that protects them. They should be hunted as other hoofstock are in North America. Game hunting won't harm the species, will bring money into the state in which they inhabit, and will feed many hungry people, in an environmentally friendly manner.

Hunting saved the Scimitar horned oryx from extinction, protection now has doomed it to disappear.

Better to eat tasty wild horse than feed lot cattle, in my estimation anyways.

I presume Jax knows those Mustangs will kick her into California. Two dogs named Jax lol ?
I saw a horse kick a dog once. Looked like a nothing blow. Dog was severely injured.
The dog was to the side of the horse. Side kick is nasty.

Amazing how healthy the foals are.

Beautiful country.