Dont the wild horses threaten other animals like moose and deer by eating their food?
Research has shown that there is little competition between horses and ungulates like moose and deer. Horses are grazers while moose and deer are browsers. Moose and deer eat the leaves of the willow and other bushes in the wet meadows and riparian areas of the Preserve. Horses graze on the sedges and grasses of the predominantly dry meadows. There is probably some overlap between the grazing of the horses and the eating of grasses in the meadows by bears in the spring and summer. Our observations and research, however, reveal healthy bear populations. Bears also eat berries, roots of plants like silverweed (potentila), ants and grubs, and spawning salmon. The wild horses also provide prey biomass (food) for the predators. In this way they take pressure off moose and deer and probably enable them to survive in greater numbers.
