Yes, but it comes from a domesticated genetic line. Imagine if a Pug or Chihuahua went feral. It wouldn’t exactly be the same as the original wolf-like starting point.
It’s the same with horses. After generations of being bred by humans for specific traits, they’re very different than the original wild population. They’re probably also easier to re-domesticate than wild horses.
They are all feral by definition in the new world (although I’ve never read about your link before!)
Legislative BS that requires public opinion often refers to them as wild (because it plays to romanticizing) or they are sometimes labeled wild just to categorize how they will be treated by land and animal controllers (so they are considered “natural” in some areas). Before like the 70s, they were treated as pests and killed, but people thought they were cool and pretty, so it had to stop.
Arizona had always had a shitty time because the horse populations destroy the environment, but when parks people tried to thin or remove them, people complained because horses are pretty.
What’s the difference between a wild and a feral horse? Isn’t going feral just kinda like going back to being a wild animal?
Yes, but it comes from a domesticated genetic line. Imagine if a Pug or Chihuahua went feral. It wouldn’t exactly be the same as the original wolf-like starting point.
It’s the same with horses. After generations of being bred by humans for specific traits, they’re very different than the original wild population. They’re probably also easier to re-domesticate than wild horses.
But… there were no horses in the Americas until colonization (sort of) – Is there still a difference between feral and wild in the new world?
They are all feral by definition in the new world (although I’ve never read about your link before!)
Legislative BS that requires public opinion often refers to them as wild (because it plays to romanticizing) or they are sometimes labeled wild just to categorize how they will be treated by land and animal controllers (so they are considered “natural” in some areas). Before like the 70s, they were treated as pests and killed, but people thought they were cool and pretty, so it had to stop.
Arizona had always had a shitty time because the horse populations destroy the environment, but when parks people tried to thin or remove them, people complained because horses are pretty.
The idea of vicious packs of feral pugs is fantastic
See that one? That’s the alpha pug