Calling for Reform and Transparency in the Adoption Incentive Program

Team AWHC was at the Bureau of Land Management's 2025 Advisory Board. Amelia Perrin, Sr. Communications Manager, spoke to the Board about the consequences of the Adoption Incentive Program and called on it to recommend abandoning the cash incentives in favor of veterinary vouchers.

Hi my name is Amelia and I’m with American Wild Horse Conservation.  I am here to talk about the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, which is sending truckloads of  wild horses and burros into the slaughter pipeline. Despite evidence of fraud, and abuse, the BLM continues to fail to reform this program 

AWHC’s work has documented over 2,000 wild horses and burros in self-described kill pens since the start of the AIP. Even worse than that, we’ve identified groups of related individuals defrauding this system and commercially exploiting wild horses and burros. One such group adopted 82 animals, receiving $82,000 before the horses and burros ended up in kill pens.

I’m sure you’ve heard countless times that there is no evidence of wild horses and burros entering the slaughter pipeline. And the fact is, the BLM is right. It has no evidence of this, not because the evidence isn’t there, but the agency refuses to acknowledge it.

We’ve provided investigative reports, backed by the agency’s own records obtained through FOIA to the BLM, to Congress and to the New York Times. Our findings were affirmed by the Times’ front page report, and sparked calls for change in both the House and the Senate. If this evidence was enough for these entities to see the need for change, why isn’t it for the BLM? 

In 2022, I participated in a BLM-commissioned collaborative working group. The consensus was clear: get cash out of the equation and offer veterinary vouchers instead. Yet three years later, those recommendations remain unreleased to the public.

According to its presentation to the board yesterday, the BLM offered nearly 30,000 wild horses and burros for adoption or sale. Only 4,900 were titled. It’s simple math, the AIP isn’t even incentivizing enough adoptions to address the holding crisis the agency has created thanks to its reliance on roundups and holding over fertility control.

Given this,  I am asking this board to recommend the BLM substantially reform the AIP by providing non cash incentives to adopters. In addition, I ask this board to recommend the BLM release the findings of its collaborative working group to the public.

Thank you for your consideration