The Horses Were Always There
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Wild Horses and Burros. In 1971, Congress ordered the BLM to manage wild
horses and burros to ensure their iconic presence never disappeared from the
western landscape. For decades, Congress watched as these herds overwhelmed
the land’s ability to sustain them, crowded out indigenous plant and other animal
species, threatened the survival of species listed under the Endangered Species
Act, invaded private and permitted public land, disturbed private property rights,
and turned the sod into concrete. BLM experts said in 2019 that some affected land
will never recover from this unmitigated damage.
There are 95,000 wild horses and burros roaming nearly 32 million acres in the
West—triple what scientists and land management experts say the range can support. These animals face starvation and death from lack of forage and water. The
population has more than doubled in just the past 10 years and continues to grow
at a rate of 10 to 15 percent annually. This number includes the more than 47,000
animals the BLM has already gathered from public lands, at a cost to the American
taxpayer of nearly $50 million annually to care for them in off-range corrals.
This is not a new issue—it is not just a western issue—it is an American issue.
What is happening to these once-proud beasts of burden is neither compassionate
nor humane, and what these animals are doing to federal lands and fragile ecosystems is unacceptable. In 2019, the American Association of Equine Practitioners
and the American Veterinary Medication Association—two of the largest organizations of professional veterinarians in the world—issued a joint policy calling for
further reducing overpopulation to protect the health and well-being of wild horses
and burros on public lands. The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board,
a panel of nine experts and professionals convened to advise the BLM, endorsed
the joint policy. Furthermore, animal welfare organizations such as the American
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the
United States recognize that the prosperity of wild horses and burros on public
lands is threatened if herds continue to grow unabated.
The BLM’s multi-pronged approach in its 2020 Report to Congress46 included
expanded adoptions and sales of horses gathered from overpopulated herds;
increased gathers and increased capacity for off-range holding facilities and pastures; more effective use of fertility control efforts; and improved research, in
concert with the academic and veterinary communities, to identify more effective contraceptive techniques and strategies. All of that will not be enough to solve
the problem, however. Congress must enact laws permitting the BLM to dispose
humanely of these animals.
u/Airy-Otter — 1 month ago
