Wild Horse and
Burro Program
What's New!
Legislation
A measure to
protect wild horses and burros from being sold for slaughter was introduced on the
second day of the new 110th Congress by House Natural Resources Chairman
Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY). H.R. 249, which
was first introduced in the last session to repeal the 2004 “Burns rider,”
would restore the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act to its
original language.
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What You Can Do
Please write,
email, call or fax your Representative and urge them to
cosponsor this important bill. To find your members click
here.
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
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Background
The Society for Animal Protective
Legislation (a division of the Animal Welfare Institute) is strongly
opposed to
changes made to the
Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act during the 108th
Congress that will require federally protected wild horses 10 years of age
and older or not adopted after three tries to be sold without restriction.
The Burns amendment has only one outcome – slaughter. This runs counter
to the will of the American people and of Congress as plainly expressed in
the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act itself.
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Kathrens/Taurus Productions |
From its inception in 1971, the Bureau of
Land Management’s (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service’s (FS) Wild Horse and
Burro Program has failed to protect horses and burros in their charge.
Instead, the BLM has operated in a manner that promotes the interests of
livestock grazing operations over those of wild horses and burros.
Wild horses and burros have been managed based on political considerations
rather than on sound scientific management policies. As a result,
wild horse and burro populations and their herd areas have dramatically
declined in number and size to the point that many herds are no longer
self-sustaining and genetically viable. At the same time, livestock, which
vastly outnumber horses and burros, remain on the public lands causing
serious environmental degradation. To make matters worse, a recent
economic study indicates the federal livestock grazing program runs at a
loss of a minimum of $128 million each year after subtracting fee
receipts. The full cost is likely to lie in the range of one half to one
billion dollars each year.
The Burns amendment coupled with BLM’s
mismanagement of the wild horse and burro program jeopardizes the future
of these “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”
Action is essential to reverse the trend.
SAPL would like to suggest several steps
to improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program. Except for the
first two items, each of the points are already covered by the Act, but
not implemented by the BLM and FS.
- US Congress should
repeal Amendment 142 (Burns) of the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Bill
which authorized “sale authority” for the BLM and FS.
- US Congress should
swiftly pass the
American Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act, which will ensure no horses are sold to
slaughter in the US or exported for slaughter.
- The BLM and FS
should establish Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) that ensure the
long-term genetic viability of wild horse and burro herds.
- The BLM and the FS
should redraw herd management area and territory boundaries to
re-establish the historic ranges of America’s wild horses and burros
taking into consideration the year long biological needs (seasonal
movements and distribution patterns) of wild horses and burros.
- Fences and gates
used to rotate livestock, but which prohibit wild horses and burros from
roaming freely within their herd areas and territories, should be
removed.
- The BLM and FS
should review its forage allocation process and remove inherent biases
against wild horses and burros.
- The BLM and FS
should conduct a candid programmatic review of the Wild Horse and Burro
Program and other land-management programs and policies to address the
agencies’ inherent bias against wild horses and burros.
- Wild horses and
burros for whom no prospective adoptive homes exist should not be
rounded up and removed from the range. Those currently in BLM
holding facilities who have not been adopted after three attempts or who
are 10 years of age or older should be returned to their original herd
management areas or territories or to other designated areas.
- The BLM and FS
should identify large expanses of public lands and/or combinations of
public and private lands (e.g., checkerboard lands) – suitable for wild
horses and burros and explore entering into contractual arrangements
with ranchers to phase-in a voluntary buy-out of grazing permits
on public lands for the mutual benefit of both ranchers and wild horses
and burros.
- All BLM and FS
actions affecting wild horses and burros should be in compliance with
relevant laws and regulations (Wild Horse and Burro Act, National
Environmental Policy Act, etc.).
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro
Act, as written and intended, is a sound piece of legislation. If
the BLM and the FS were to implement the Act and manage the herds as
originally intended, wild horse populations could sustain themselves with
minimal federal oversight.
Please write the Secretary of Interior opposing the Bureau of Land
Management's overzealous wild horse round-up policy. Again this year, the
BLM plans to round up far more horses than they admit are adoptable.
Urge them to act responsibly and stop rounding up our national treasures.
Federally protected wild horses are being slaughtered everyday because too
many are being removed from their land.
The Honorable Gale A. Norton
Secretary of the Interior
US Department of the Interior
1849 C. Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
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