Wild Horse Panel Urges Strong Measures for Management
The Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Committee is advocating for decisive actions to improve the management of wild horses and burros on public lands. The committee plans to present its case to Congress, urging the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to implement strong measures, including the controversial destruction of healthy animals, to better manage the range.
The committee also recommended phasing out the long-term housing of wild horses and burros, suggesting that the savings be redirected to enhance rangeland management. Additionally, the committee rejected a proposal to cease the use of helicopters for rounding up wild horses.
Last year, the agency recommended that the BLM be granted the authority to destroy or sell excess horses. However, committee members expressed frustration that this recommendation seemed to have been ignored.
"Voting in favor of the recommendation in 2016 was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do," said committee member Ben Masters, a filmmaker from Bozeman, Montana. Despite this, the BLM did not respond to the proposal, leaving Masters feeling "very blown away by that."
The committee has decided to hold its next regular meeting in Washington, D.C., allowing members to speak directly to Congress before some members' terms expire in the spring.
Committee members discussed strategies to encourage the adoption of wild horses and burros removed from the range. Ginger Kathrens, a Colorado resident with the Cloud Foundation, urged the BLM to portray these animals positively, emphasizing that "the word ‘feral’ should never be used" to describe them.
The board also recommended that once herds reach appropriate population levels, they should be managed using contraceptives delivered by darts, adoption, or permanent sterilization.
The Cloud Foundation opposes euthanasia for the horses, and the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) presented a petition with 300,000 signatures opposing the committee’s 2016 recommendation.
Originally posted by Daily Sentinel