Wild horses in Eastern Oregon have been seen as a problem for more than 100 years. Today the Bureau of Land Management pastures, but does not slaughter, more wild horses than remain in the wild.
By 1901, demand for horsemeat in Europe had tapered off and Oregon’s only slaughterhouse in the Portland suburb of Linnton had closed. But the Boer War in South Africa created a sudden demand for horsemeat, and the slaughterhouse reopened in 1902. That year more than 10,000 wild mustangs were rounded up and sent to Linnton.
The Eastern Oregon mustang was considered a useless, untrainable drain on the land and competed with the more tractable cattle on huge ranges. As a result, anyone could round up the wild horses and brand them as their own.
The market was so good in 1902 that people could get up to $3 per animal at the railhead. The abattoir rendered 60 pounds of meat to pickle and can for the European market, with bi-products of hides, glue and fertilizer.
Wild horse populations in Eastern Oregon, even after thousands have been rounded up, are still considered too high for the environment. Slaughter may become an option again.
Sources: Cockle, Richard. "Wild horse advocates protest roundup of Murderer's Creek herd in eastern Oregon." Oregonlive. Oregonian, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014; "Will Resume Cayuse Pickling." Medford Mail 3 Jan. 1902: 2. Print.
