The Adoption Incentive Program: A Critical Overview

The Adoption Incentive Program

About the AIP

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) was implemented in March 2019 in an attempt to increase the number of wild horses and burros adopted or sold into private care. The goal of the program was to clear the holding pens and make room for the mass roundups and removals outlined in the previous administration’s Report and the infamous Path Forward.

However, the program backfired and has resulted in alarming numbers of BLM horses and burros subjected to cruel conditions and sold at kill pens where they are purchased for slaughter.

The AIP offers a financial incentive to individuals to adopt an unhandled, untrained wild horse or burro. The incentive consists of $1,000, split into two payments: $500 paid within 60 days of the adoption date and another $500 within 60 days of the title date.

In March of 2020, the first batch of adopters started to receive the titles and second installment payments for their adopted animals. By August 2020, within the 60-90 day payment window for the second incentive payment, rescue groups began to see an increase in unhandled BLM branded horses ending up at auctions known to sell horses to kill buyers.