Imagine being hauled to some remote wilderness location, given no survival training and no way to return to civilization, then being left on your own.

Most humans wouldn’t survive long under those conditions. But a few, it seems, have no problem abandoning their horses to essentially the same fate.

Such actions are incredibly cruel. Domestic horses, raised on hay, grain and lush pasture, don’t have the skills to survive on the rough forage and rugged conditions of the backcountry. And, while horses are incredibly social animals, domestic ones turned loose in wild-horse areas are likely to be shunned or severely injured by wild horses.

They may also bring diseases that devastate the wild animals.

Marty Felix, a volunteer who has long worked with the Bureau of Land Management in protecting the Little Book Cliffs wild horse herd near Grand Junction, discovered an appaloosa gelding that was set free in the wild horse area last month. She reported seeing the man who abandoned the horse, but couldn’t identify him.

The domestic horse was eventually caught and taken off the wild-horse range.

But this wasn’t the first incident of someone abandoning horses in the Little Book Cliffs, BLM officials said. A horse and a mule were dumped in the area last year.

The practice of abandoning domestic horses in wild-horse ranges is reportedly becoming more prevalent throughout the West as feed costs rise and the resale prices for many horses have dropped. Like so much that happens in our society today, it is more evidence of people refusing to take responsibility for their own issues.

Here’s hoping the person who dumped the appaloosa in the Book Cliffs is identified and prosecuted.