The U.S. Government Wants To Kill 45,000 Wild Horses

On Sept. 9, the Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Advisory Board recommended killing 45,000 wild horses in federal facilities across the U.S., angering many horse and animal rights activists and organizations. The federal government has been moving wild horses out of their natural habitats to government-run facilities during the last 20 years to make more room for cattle to graze. However, providing for the horses has become too expensive of a burden for it to manage, reports Inhabitant. In 2015 alone, caring for the horses cost the government approximately $49 million.

“Current management practices of round-up, removal and warehousing … cause compensatory reproduction — an increase in populations as a result of decreased competition for forage,” Ginger Kathrens, director of the pro-wild horse Cloud Foundation, said during a House Subcommittee on Federal Lands meeting in June. Kathrens suggested the root cause of the overpopulation problem is the very act of rounding up the horses and relocating them.

The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups have condemned the BLM recommendation, calling it an inhumane and unreasonable solution to the overpopulation problem. “The decision of the BLM advisory board to recommend the destruction of the 45,000 wild horses currently in holding facilities is a complete abdication of responsibility for their care,” Holly Hazard, senior vice president of Programs and Innovations at The HSUS said in a Sept. 9 statement on its website.

“The agency would not be in this situation but for their long-term mis-management. Alternatives to this proposal have been ignored for over 20 years.” Many organizations and activists favor replacing the proposed mass slaughter with a PZP vaccine to control fertility and reduce wild horse population growth as they reproduce, according to Change.org. “As Americans, we will not stand for the mass killing of our iconic and cherished wild horses and burros,” reads a letter on a Change.org petition to save the horses, which has more than 71,600 supporters, as of Sept. 14.

“You must prohibit the BLM from imposing this lethal and publicly unacceptable solution, which is being presented as an ’emergency’ measure.” Sources: Inhabitat, The Humane Society of the United States, Change.org / Photo Credit: Karin Biela/Pixabay