the horses by the thousands. animal rights groups call it cruel. john zarrella is in miami this morning with more. and john, everybody loves to see those horses running wild. i you know, we ve read about this controversy over the last several years. you ve got to wonder what s the solution here? yeah, you know, jim, kiran, the american horses of the west are simply as you put it a majestic sight. but the activists are saying that they are systematically being eliminated. the federal government says it is simply trying to control the population. america s wild mustangs are at the center of a fight that stretches now from the courtrooms to the wild west. there is no secretariat, no sea biscuit, no black beauty. here they have no names, none needed. in their eyes, you see who they are. rugged, powerful, independent. they are the wild mustangs of
the american west. out here, you hear it all the time. a cowboy will say, you know, the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man. woven generations ago into the fabric of this land, they ve become the focus of lawsuits. even protests as far away as new york. help save america s wild horses. reporter: the horses are at the center of a tug-of-war between the u.s. government chasing them down with helicopters and animal rights groups who want it stopped. the round-ups at the wild horses and boroughs of the united states is a true holocaust of the world. we can t let one impact everyone else by taking all the feed, do all the damage to the habitat. reporter: the bureau of land management blm is charged with caring for and managing nearly 40,000 horses and burrows
this is our land. we want the horses on here, most of us. reporter: armed with cameras and recorders, the activists document what they see as brutal round-ups. here, a helicopters chases one single borrow, eventually knocking it over. it staggers off. here you re looking at steam rising from the backs of chased down, exhausted horses. the blm says less than 1% of the animals die in these round-ups. activists say that s 1% too many. now, the federal government, the bureau of land management insists it has nothing to hide at these round-ups. and we ll take you to one of those round-ups tomorrow. and you may be amazed at how far away they kept us from what was going on. the one shot of that animal being chased down, we could only show a little portion of that.
roaming on 26 million acres of the west. while this federal land, your land, was set aside for the horses they don t have free reign. the land is considered multi-use. wildlife, life stock, recreationists, mining interests, whatever. reporter: the blm insists it must reduce herd sizes because the land can t support the numbers. this ain t kentucky bluegrass. reporter: so it holds round-ups. this year, the goal, remove 12,000 horses. that s right. 12,000. and take them to holding pens. this is our land. we want the horses on here, most of us. reporter: armed with cameras and recorders, the activists document what they see as brutal round-ups. here, a helicopters chases one single borrow, eventually knocking it over. it staggers off. here you re looking at steam rising from the backs of chased down, exhausted horses. the blm says less than 1% of the