Protesters target Alison Redford over wild horse capture

A group of animal rightsprotesters tried to catch up with the premier while she attended a celebration to mark the Year of the Horse in Calgary's Chinatown last night.

• Alberta wild horse cull not needed, says national group

Activist Mona Jorgensen said it was an ironic visit given that the provincial government issuedpermits to capture 196 wild horses this year in Alberta.

Licensees can keep the horses for personal useor sell them for slaughter.

Were hoping that we can grab Premier Redfords attention and make her understand that she should put a stop to this and listen to some alternative solutions, saidJorgensen.

We'd like to save the horses. We understand the committee that was put together has some conflicting information as far as the count.

The province estimatesthere are 980 wild horses near Sundrebased on an aerial survey done before the June floods and this year's harsh winter. That number is up from 853 the year before.

But Jorgensen said private aerial surveys of the wild horse population don't match up with the province's numbers.

And she believes contraceptivescould be used to control the population.

Jorgensen said the culled horses would most likely end up in slaughterhouses.

Provincial biologists have said in the past theydon't consider the feral animalstrue wildlifebecause theyare descendants of domestic horses used in logging and mining operations in the early 1900s.

But not everyone agrees.

"We should be looking deeper into these animals before we simply state that they're 'barnyard escapees,' which they clearly are not," CanadianWild HorseFoundation co-founder AdrianCalvert said in a past interview.

"These are animals that have been out there for hundreds of years. They are wildlife. They are native wildlife and they need to be protected as such."

The province says theherds need to be managedbecause theyare competing with native animals and livestock.