Controversial Wild Horse Plan Headed to Senate Floor

RENO, Nev. (AP) —Congressis closer to approving a contentious wild horse initiative backed by national animal welfare groups and thelivestockindustry but condemned by leaders of the largest and oldest coalition of mustang advocates in the West.

TheSenateAppropriations Committee approved $35 million last week for the program supported by an unprecedented alliance including the Humane Society of the United States, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and American Farm Bureau Federation.

They say it would eliminate the threat of slaughter for thousands of free-roaming horses and shrink the size of herds primarily through expanded fertility controls on the range.

Critics say it drops long-held opposition to the capture of mustangs across 10 western states and could allow for sterilization of mares — a hot-button issue with horse protection advocates historically.

TheSenatecommittee included a $35 million increase for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse and burro program as part of the $35.8 billion Interior Department appropriation bill it approved on Thursday. It’s not clear when the fullSenatewill consider the measure.

Then-ActingBLMDirector Casey Hammond said in Idaho in July the Trump administration won’t pursue lethal measures such as euthanasia or selling horses for slaughter.

Backers of the bill approved by theSenatepanel said it provides added assurances the horses will be treated humanely. They had sought a $50 million increase in theBLM’s $80 million annual horse budget, arguing any boost in spending on contraception and other population controls ultimately will save money as herds shrink.

The new alliance unveiled in April was immediately attacked by the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), Friends of Animals, and others who have fought legal battles for more than a decade to block mustangroundups.

If implemented, “we’ll see massive round-ups, swelling captive wild horse population and jubilation from cattlemen’s associations that secured political cover from the Humane Society ... for their long-time aspiration to secure a government-funded wild horse depopulation program,” Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, said after the vote.

BLMestimated 88,000 wild horses and burros are roaming public rangelands, more than three times what the agency says the land can support. Another 50,000 that have been removed from the range in recent years were in holding facilities at an annual cost of about $50 million.

Horse advocates have argued the animals must be permitted to roam the range in federally protected management areas established under the Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. They sayBLM’s population quotas are often outdated and lack scientific data to supportroundupsto cull herd sizes.

“The extinction-level number is what causedCongressto unanimously pass the Wild Horse and Burro Act,” she said.

The new proposal advocatesroundupsin densely populated areas that cannot sustain large numbers of animals. It also would move horses currently in short-term holding pens to larger “cost-effective, humane” pastures.

Originally posted by AP News