I-Team Investigation Reveals Wild Horses Sold for Slaughter
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Wild horses, symbols of the American West, face a grim reality as an investigation reveals they are being sold for slaughter. This report delves into the practices surrounding their capture and sale, sparking calls for reform.
The investigation highlights several critical issues:
- Government methods for capturing wild horses and burros
- The fate of these animals post-capture
- Their sale and potential slaughter for meat
“You have these iconic American symbols of freedom that are being brutally butchered and shipped off for foreign horse meat markets overseas,” lamented Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign).
Roy's organization, in collaboration with The New York Times, conducted an in-depth investigation revealing the sale of wild horses for slaughter. “We’re calling it ‘slaughtergate.’ It happens about every decade,” Roy shared. “The BLM gets exposed to sending wild horses, federally protected wild horses and burros to slaughter. And the reason this keeps happening is because the BLM keeps rounding up wild horses.”
By law, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is authorized to capture wild horses and burros to maintain the health and productivity of public lands. However, wild horse advocates argue that cattle ranchers' interests in the land for livestock play a significant role in these actions.
Recent years have seen a record number of roundups, often resulting in injuries and deaths. Surviving animals are kept in federal holding pens. A federal program offers $1,000 to individuals adopting a horse, but some exploit this by selling the animals, leading to their slaughter for human consumption.
“Well, it was just horrific, and it just breaks your heart when you see people under false pretenses say, ‘we’re gonna adopt a pony,'” Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus told the I-Team. She is a longtime advocate for wild horses.
According to the BLM, as of March 2020, there were nearly 47,000 wild horses and more than 4,500 burros in the state, accounting for more than half of all wild horses in the country.
Titus and Roy support using birth control, administered via darts, as a more humane and cost-effective alternative to roundups. However, the BLM has shown resistance to this method.
“We’ve never come up with somebody in the BLM who really cares about this, and I think now, Secretary Haaland will be the person who can be a good partner for us,” Titus said. The I-Team’s request for an interview with the new Secretary of Interior, who oversees the BLM, was declined.
The American Wild Horse Conservation is now calling for an investigation into the adoption program, demanding accountability for employees, criminal prosecution for those selling animals for slaughter, and legislative intervention.
Titus notes growing legislative interest but acknowledges challenges: “Sometimes, it’s hard to get through the agriculture committee, though, because it’s so dominated by ranching interests.”
She receives numerous letters from across the country supporting wild horses, even from those who have never seen one.
Originally posted by 8 News Now Las Vegas