Federal agents soon might expand methods to manage wild horses and burros on public lands, including unrestricted sales that could lead to slaughter for meat and sterilizing on the range, according to a rule proposed by the Department of Interior.
An explosion in the number of wild horses over the past decade, combined with drought conditions in the West and depleted rangeland, have left the free-ranging animals in danger of a population collapse with horses starving to death or depleting water supplies, the Bureau of Land Management says.
The bureau has said it needs new tools, other than emergency roundups, to cull the wild horse population, which have been under its care since Congress adopted the Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971.
But animal activists worry that changes for animals rounded up on the range may lead to euthanasia of healthy ones or the sale of old and unadoptable ones for slaughter.
The Trump administration's online unified agenda -- a list of plans under development by the federal government over the next six months -- says the bureau will "add regulatory tools" to the wild horse and burro program.
These will include "BLM's authority to sell excess wild horses and burros." The agenda also says new rules will expand the bureau's options for animal fertility control.
William Pendley Perry, the bureau's new chief, has called the damage caused by wild horses an "existential threat" to the rangeland. Perry had been criticized by animal supporters for defending mining and ranching interests in his private law practice and advocating for the selling of public lands before being picked by President Donald Trump to run the bureau.
In defending any future decisions, a bureau spokesman said the agency must juggle the needs of multiple users of public lands.
"We manage for land health," said Jason Lutterman, the agency's public affairs specialist in Nevada. "We are responsible for horses, livestock, recreation and other [commercial] uses. The BLM is trying to do all things at once: protect the animals, protect the land, respond to the public and operate within the laws Congress has established for us."
This article has been adapted from its original source.
