Maryann Mott, National Geographic News 14 Nov 08;
Thousands of wild mustangs kept in U.S. government holding pens may have to be killed as costs escalate for their upkeep, according to a new federal report released this week.
The report, issued by the Government Accountability Office—the watchdog agency for the U.S. Congress—examined long-term options for successfully managing unadoptable horses.
About 30,000 animals removed from western rangelands are currently being cared for by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)'s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
This year, with adoptions dwindling and hay prices rising, holding costs are expected to exceed U.S. $27 million, or about 74 percent of the program's budget.
This level of funding is not enough to control wild populations while keeping older, unadopted animals alive, BLM officials said.
The report comes at a critical time: A decision regarding the fate of thousands of mustangs is expected on Monday when BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meets in Reno, Nevada.
Slaughterhouse Fear
About 33,000 mustangs, often called wild horses, roam the dusty open plains of ten western states, with about half of the population in Nevada.
With few predators, wild horse herds nearly double every five years. To make room for livestock and farming operations on public lands, government-hired cowboys round up about 10,000 mustangs annually.
Horses are then put into holding facilities to be adopted or sold, or to live out the remainder of their lives. Some animals can live for 15 years in pens.
The 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act calls wild horses "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."
The legislation ensures that "wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death."
Though the law does allow for euthanasia to achieve "appropriate management levels," public and congressional reaction to the large-scale slaughter of thousands of healthy horses has led the BLM to avoid using these options—despite its recent budget troubles, the GAO report said.
To quell such concerns, Congress gave BLM an alternative to euthanasia in 2004 by allowing the agency to sell horses "without limitation,"—for example at auctions or livestock sales—if the animals have been unsuccessfully offered for adoption three times or are at least ten years of age.
The agency, however, continued to impose sale limitations on buyers, in part, because it feared horses sold for low prices might be resold to slaughterhouses, the report said.
The report also cited job loss as a reason.
"Various BLM officials at different levels of responsibility also told us that the agency has not complied with these provisions," the report said.
Doing so would cause draw negative reaction from the public and Congress and cause an "immediate threat" to the careers of BLM officials involved, it added.
Alternatives
Other alternatives to selling horses exist, the report pointed out.
One would be providing private individuals or organizations with financial incentives, such as tax breaks, to care for unwanted wild horses. (Learn how you can support wild animals through adoptions in Green Guide.)
Another possibility is releasing mustangs on public and private lands outside of areas where they were originally caught, although this would require a legislative change to the horse and burro act.
BLM spokesperson Tom Gorey agreed with the report's findings.
"The GAO report correctly depicts the difficult situation that the BLM finds itself in with regard to maintaining unadopted or unsold animals in holding facilities," he said.
Set Them Free
Horse advocates from around the country are expected to attend the public meeting in Reno in hopes of persuading the agency not to euthanize the horses.
Karen Sussman is president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros.
The nonprofit cares for three wild horse herds in South Dakota, both for conservation and the study of herd dynamics.
Sussman said the BLM caused its own problem by rounding up too many horses in recent years.
Now, to reduce the agency's skyrocketing costs, she suggests sterile horses should be put back on public land to live out the remainder of their lives.
"It would cost nothing to the federal government, and it would resolve the problem."
