Advocates Criticize Federal Bill Allowing State Management of Wild Horses

Legislationis Recipe for Slaughter of American Icons, National Coalition Says

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) has strongly reacted to news that Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Chris Stewart have introduced a bill to allow states and tribes to take over the management of the nation’s federally-protected wild horses and burros from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The national coalition called the bill,Wild Horse Oversight Act of 2015, a recipe for mass slaughter and eradication of these iconic animals who are protected under federal law as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” that “enrich the lives of the American people.”

“This is a dangerous bill that does not reflect the values of the majority of Americans and should be dead on arrival in the U.S.Congress,” saidSuzanne Roy, AWHC director. “This should be called the ‘Wild Horse Slaughter Act’ because that’s the intent behind the bill and that will be the outcome. Allowing states and tribes to seize control of management of federally-protected wild horses and burros would lead to more brutal treatment – including hunting and/or slaughter – of these national icons. This is exactly the sort of treatmentCongresssought to prevent when itunanimouslypassed the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971.”

According to AWHC, the pressure to round up wild horses comes from ranchers who view mustangs as competition for cheap, taxpayer-subsidized grazing onpublic lands. Their narrow commercial interests do not reflect the public will, AWHC noted, highlighting polls that show the vast majority of Americansoppose horse slaughterand support protecting wild horses onpublic lands, whilejust 29 percent want public lands used for livestock grazing.

AWHC also took aim at claims that wild horses are overpopulating the West, noting that these animals are present on just 17 percent ofBLMland available forlivestockgrazing, and are vastly outnumbered by cattle and sheep.

“We don’t have a wild horse overpopulation problem in this country, we have too many privately-owned cattle and sheep overrunning and destroying ourpublic lands,” Roy concluded, disputing Senator Hatch’s claim that wild horses were harming native wildlife. She noted that, whilemustangsare a native reintroduced North American wildlife species, domestic cattle and sheep are not.

TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation(formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) is a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving American wild horses and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

Pertinent Statistics

Livestockon 63% ofBLMland; wild horses and burros on 11%

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers 245 million acres ofpublic lands, of which 155 million acres (63%) are used for livestock grazing. Only 27 million acres ofBLMlands (11 percent) are made available as wild horse and burro habitat. This represents a nearly 40 percent reduction in the habitat originally designated for wild horses and burros by Congress in 1971.

BLMResource Allocation: 97-3 in favor of privatelivestock

As of October 29, 2014 (the most recent data available) theBLMreports allocation of 12.4 million Animal Unit Months* (AUMs) to ranchers who hold permits to graze cattle and sheep onBLM-managed lands. By contrast, theBLMallocates fewer than 320,000 AUMs of forage to wild horses and burros. (One AUM is equivalent to the amount of forage necessary to feed one cow/calf pair, one horse, two burros or five sheep for a month.)

Utah

TheBLMcurrently authorizes 1.2 million AUMs, or the annual equivalent of 100,113 cow/calf pairs on 22 million acres ofBLMland in Utah. By contrast, theBLMUtah only permits 1,956 wild horses and burros who are restricted to 2.1 million acres ofBLMland in the state.

Nevada

TheBLMcurrently authorizes 2.1 million AUMS or the annual equivalent of 172,909 cow/calf pairs on 45 million acres ofBLMland in Nevada. By contrast, theBLMNevada only permits 12,811 wild horses and burros and they are restricted to 14 million acres ofBLMland in the state.

Wyoming

TheBLMcurrently authorizes 1.9 million AUMS, the annual equivalent of 159,490 cow/calf pairs on 18 million acres ofBLMland in Wyoming. By contrast, theBLMpermits just 3,725 wild horses to live on 3.6 million acres ofBLMland in the state.

Sources:BLM 2014 Public Lands StatisticsandBLM 2015 Herd Management Area/ Herd Area statistics.