U.S. Responds to Outrage Over Plan to Kill 45,000 Wild Horses

After thousands of people spoke up about agovernment advisory board's recommendation to kill the 45,000 wild horses and burroscurrently in federal holding facilities, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finallyresponded.

On Wednesday, the agency said it hasno current plans to kill the animalsand that it has not yet formally replied to the advisory board's proposal. It will do so at its next meeting, which is set to take place in the next few months.

TheBLMwill "continue its currentpolicyof caring for unadopted or unsold wild horses and burros" and will "not sell or send any animals to slaughter," Tom Gorey, a spokesman for the bureau, saidin an email to Reuters.

TheHumane Society of the United States(HSUS) is counting the announcement as a win for the animals — but is celebrating with caution.

"We're very happy to hear that the agency is not currently considering euthanasia or slaughter for these horses and burros, but until there is a written, formal response to the board, we just want people to hold the agency accountable," Gillian Lyons,wild horse and burro programmanager for the HSUS, told The Dodo.

TheBLMhas adopted outmore than 230,000 wild horses and burros since 1971, and theBLMsays that "[m]any of those animals have become excellent pleasure, show, or work horses." But some —at least 1,700that we know of —end up in the slaughter pipeline, a recent investigativereportdiscovered. The BLM sold horses to a Colorado rancher who in turn sent those horses to Mexico to be killed.

The feds have made a mess by rounding up wild horses in the first place.

"If there is any 'emergency,' it is one of theBLM's own making," the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) saidin a statement. "TheBLMhas failed to adequately reduce or eliminate private livestock grazing despite record drought conditions, and stubbornly refused to implement large-scale humane birth control programs for wild horse and burro population control, as recommended in 2013."

A2013 report by the National Research Council foundthat "the management strategy of removing free-ranging horses and burros from the range leaves the animals that remain on the range unaffected by density-dependent population processes." The population growth is therefore "not regulated by self-limiting pressures, such as lack of water or forage," the report said. "[T]his allows horse, and possibly burro, populations to grow at an annual rate of 15-20 percent."

Now there are two good options for how to manage the horses the agency has rounded up over the years, according to Lyons. "Knowing what they know, and what they've known for a while, our view is that they made this commitment, they have to care for the horses they've put in holding facilities," Lyons said. "It's costly, but it's their responsibility."

Lyons also said that there are areas where the horses have disappeared that could be feasible areas for the horses in holding facilities to be released. "The humaneadvocacygroups stand ready with this alternative," Lyons said. "The crux of the issue is we just don't want the horses removed from the range anymore."

But this fiscal year, theBLMkept with the old method, and still rounded up and removed wild horses and burros even though the study shows that this actually makes the wild population grow. In total, theBLMreports that so far this year, itremoved 2,452 horses and burros from the wild, as opposed to just 715 who were treated with birth control and set free.

So, while this week's announcement is good news, until there's a promise to ensure the safety of the horses and burros and a viable plan for their future.

"TheBLMhas come to the right decision in rejecting a recommendation for the mass killing of up to 45,000 captured wild horses and burros," the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) said. "However, the public will be watching carefully and will not be fooled."

Lyons, likewise, urges everyone to keep their eyes on theBLM. "There's a worry that if we all get quiet right now, they could change their mind," Lyons said.

The Dodo will continue to follow this story as theBLMresponds to the board's recommendation.

Originally posted by The Dodo