BLM to Build Largest U.S. Wild Horse Facility in Nevada

Advocates raise humane and environmental concerns over industrial-scale feedlot.

RENO (September 3, 2021) — Today, the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, theAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(AWHC) expressed outrage at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal to build a large-scale industrial agricultural facility in Nevada that will house thousands of federally-protected wild horses and burros removed from westernpublic lands.

On September 2nd, theBLMWinnemucca Districtannounced a 15-day public comment periodon a contract with cattle company JSLivestockfor the housing of up to 4,000 mustangs and burros on 100 acres of private land outside of Paradise, Nevada. AWHC notes that this would be thelargest off-range facilityfor wild horses and burros to date.

The facility will be required to obtain state permits to designate it as a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) — crowded, intensive feedlots that raiseanimal welfareand environmental degradation concerns. In terms ofanimal welfare, one of the greatest concerns is the close confinement and crowding of the animals. According to AWHC,highly-contagious bacterial infectionshave been known to run rampant in smaller wild horse and burros holding facilities and often leads to the death of the animals.

Currently, theBLMspends nearly70% of its annual operating budgeton roundups to remove wild horses and burros from their congressionally-designated habitat onpublic landsand house them in these facilities for the remainder of their lives. Meanwhile, the agency spends less than 1% on stabilizing populations onpublic landsthrough the use of proven fertility control.

“TheBLMis doubling down on the most inhumane, expensive and environmentally destructive approach of rounding up these wild animals and at best, confining them for life in holding pens and at worst, sending them into the slaughter pipeline,” said Grace Kuhn, Communications Director for AWHC. “This is just another giant taxpayer subsidy for thelivestockindustry, which is profiting hundreds of millions of dollars every year on the backs of the iconic animals.”

Kuhn said that the lucrative government contract to warehouse 4,000 wild horses in the proposed feedlot could be worth $7.3 million annually to JSLivestock, the company that would operate the facility.

In 2020, theBLMput out solicitations for off-range facilities that will house up to 10,000 wild horses and burros in anticipation of implementingits plan to acceleratethe roundup and removal of horses frompublic landsto the tune of $1 billion over the next few years.

About AWHC

TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(AWHC) is the nation's leading wild horse protection organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for the protection and preservation of America's wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horsefertility controlprogram in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.

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