End the Slaughter of America's Horses
The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act (known as the Wild Horse Act) passed in 1971 as a result of an enormous outcry of citizens through letters and phone calls to legislators. Before this bill was enacted, horses and burros were shot and slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands for use as pet food or for human consumption overseas. The recent Burns amendment has turned the clock back and set the stage for mass slaughter once again.
The Current Crisis for Wild Horses and Burros
The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act (known as the Wild Horse Act) passed in 1971 as a result of an enormous outcry of citizens through letters and phone calls to legislators. Before this bill was enacted, horses and burros were shot and slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands for use as pet food or for human consumption overseas. The recent Burns amendment has turned the clock back and set the stage for mass slaughter once again.
The BLM currently gives priority to livestock on public lands where ranchers graze millions of cows and sheep, and permits oil and gas leases to displace existing herds. To placate those other interests, the BLM continues to take horses and burros from their home ranges and place them into an already overflowing adoption system. It is well past time for Congress to follow the mandate of the 1971 Wild Horse Act, which declared wild horses "to be considered in the areas where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands."
Population estimates of wild horses and burros are currently half what these animals were in 1974 when they were nearly exterminated.
