HAWS and Alberta's government clash again over Sundre-area wild horse counts as the province reports record numbers.
Author: Amir Said | Date: June 7, 2026 | Website: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-wild-horse-feral-population-management-9.7225068
This CBC piece centers on the ongoing dispute between the Alberta government and HAWS over feral horse population numbers. The province's latest feral horse survey, released in April, found at least 2,072 wild horses across Alberta's equine management zones — the highest number ever counted — with population levels in the Sundre, Ghost River, Elbow and Clearwater zones deemed not ecologically sustainable.
HAWS founder Darrell Glover disputes this. Glover, who has flown for half a century, tracks the horses year-round using a drone and roughly 80 trail cameras, and says HAWS's own Sundre-zone count came in just over the province's 1,000-horse threshold — about 150 more than the previous year's count. He argues the province's growth figures don't reflect reality, pointing out that mares produce only one foal a year and most foals are killed by predators within days of birth. The article frames this as a recurring standoff over whose survey methodology to trust, with real implications for whether the province moves ahead with culls, adoption removals, or contraception.