A Symbol of the American West All is still in the steep canyon draw as the man descends the thin game trail. He stops, observing a ragged piece of rope tied around a tree’s trunk. Stooping he fingers the tracks in the dry ground. The man unexpectedly stands and utters words that hint at anger and frustration- his beautiful stallion is gone! The Spanish explorer will have to walk back to camp... Humming a tune, the miner’s practiced fingers sift through the stream’s gravel and sand. He suddenly grasps several large slivers of shining ore and gives a whoop and a holler. Rising quickly from the bank he scrambles back to a lone donkey. He stops and the corners of his mouth turn down into a frown. Jill, his old donkey, has wandered off… “Pa! Princess is gone!” Running toward the barn corral the boy’s anxious face beckons to his father. …show more content…
Thinking this was a problem, she led a grassroots campaign requesting that the wild horses and burros of the United States be protected, controlled, and managed. As a result, she not only gained the nickname “Wild Horse Annie”, but the “Wild Horse Annie Act” was created, proclaiming that wild horses and burros could no longer be hunted using motorized vehicles (“Program History”). Twelve years later, the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 came to life. It gave a definition of wild horses and burros, stating that they are “all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on the public lands of the United States”. Additionally, this document included that all lame, old, or sick animals are to be humanely disposed of, and that in case of overpopulation,“appropriate management levels should be achieved by the removal or destruction of excess animals, or other options (such as sterilization, or natural controls on population levels)”(BLM). Since 1971, the BLM has been in charge of upholding this