No Home On The Range: The Plight of America's Wild Horses

America's wild horses face significant challenges, with an estimated 100,000 roaming the Western United States. However, only about half of these majestic animals live freely on the range. The rest are held in corrals and pastures managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which has overseen wild horse management since 1971. This situation presents a growing problem, as the BLM struggles with budget constraints and overcrowded facilities.

In 2015, the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program allocated nearly two-thirds of its $72 million budget to housing horses removed from the wild. By August 2016, these facilities were nearly 80% full. The BLM estimates that the range can sustainably support 26,715 horses, yet Nevada alone exceeds this number by nearly 20% with almost 32,000 horses.

Last September, the Wild Horse and Burro Program's advisory board suggested euthanizing or selling to slaughter over 40,000 captive horses. This recommendation sparked national controversy, prompting the BLM to assure the public that it would not euthanize healthy animals.

Since then, the BLM has acquired more off-range pastures to reduce the number of horses in high-cost corrals. An example is a South Dakota pasture acquisition where a Powerball winner agreed to pasture 917 horses on private land for $2 per horse, per day.

The BLM also facilitates wild horse adoption and sales, capping annual removals at 3,500 horses, matching the number leaving through adoption, sales, and natural mortality. In 2015, the BLM rounded up 3,093 horses, with 2,331 sold or adopted.

Roundups remain controversial, with advocates like Terri Farley criticizing the BLM's transparency and treatment of horses. The BLM categorizes horse deaths as "acute" or "chronic," but advocates argue this downplays the true number of deaths.

The BLM is exploring "better tools" for population control, such as spaying, neutering, and longer-lasting fertility control vaccines. Porcine zona pellucida (PZP) is one such vaccine, though its effectiveness and cost are debated.

Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates, a non-profit, began using PZP in 2012 with BLM approval. However, their efforts stalled due to legal threats from another advocacy group, Friends of Animals.

As the BLM works on a new environmental assessment, the future of wild horse management may also be influenced by the new Secretary of the Interior. In 2009, Ryan Zinke supported legislation facilitating horse slaughterhouses, raising concerns about potential policy changes.

Originally posted by News Review