U.S. Government Wants To Kill 45,000 Wild Mustangs Held In Captivity
Nearly 45,000 wild mustangs are to be killed by the federal government unless the horses can be sold or adopted. Amounting to “the biggest horse slaughter in history,” the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seriously considering a plan to euthanize the animals put forth by the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board.
The BLM has not yet approved the plan but does not see any other alternative. According to the agency, killing the wild mustangs is the only way to make more room at the already overcrowded government-run facilities where the horses are being held. If the BLM decides to move forward on the wild horse euthanasia plan, the agency would save nearly $50 million per year in costs related to caring for the animals.
Ben Masters, a member of the Board that recommended the plan, explained the reason behind the decision to kill 45,000 wild horses.
“Right now we are witnessing an ecological disaster on tens of millions of acres of our beloved Western Landscapes. It is affecting reptiles, mammals, birds, invertebrates, migrating species, amphibians, threatened and endangered species, plant communities, soil health, and even water availability.”
The plan to kill the 45,000 wild horses has created a substantial outcry from both the public and animal rights advocate groups. Many are urging people to contact federal agencies and demand a stop to the plan.
“We must act now to protect 45,000 horses from euthanasia. Please let the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management know that the American public will not stand for the mass euthanasia of our nation’s iconic wild horses and burros,” the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) stated.
#OnTheBlog: Feds must dismiss unhinged advice on wild horses. https://t.co/zlV2CyvT0H pic.twitter.com/YZW5eXAR8J
— The Humane Society of the United States (@HumaneSociety) September 13, 2016
Holly Hazard, the senior vice president of programs and innovations at the HSUS, blames the BLM’s past poor decisions for the wild mustang problem.
“The decision of the BLM advisory board to recommend the destruction of the 45,000 wild horses currently in holding facilities is a complete abdication of responsibility for their care. The agency would not be in this situation but for their long-term mismanagement.”
The BLM is defending its position on the horse slaughter by insisting there is not enough land to support healthy herds of wild mustangs. Since wild horses are federally protected and have no natural predators, the population will double every four years.
To add more weight to their argument, the BLM says most commonly accepted birth control methods to prevent breeding are futile and impractical. Contraception techniques like Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) are only “effective in a small number of areas where the animals are approachable, identifiable and can be readily treated every year.”
While the plan calls for the killing of 45,000 wild mustangs, the federal agency intends to find homes for the animals if possible. The BLM hopes news of the controversial plan will encourage more people to step up and adopt the horses before they are euthanized.
Some of the wild mustangs will be auctioned off as well. However, this does not necessarily prevent the horses from being killed. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a rancher in Colorado bought nearly 2,000 horses from the BLM and subsequently sold them to several slaughterhouses in Mexico.
Taxpayers in the US could be about to fund the biggest horse slaughter in history to clear space for mega-farms.https://t.co/PO20DqQ0B6
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 14, 2016
Since 1971, the number of wild horses has significantly declined. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, there are currently just over 67,000 wild mustangs in the BLM’s care roaming on public rangelands.
“The grim plan would be the biggest horse slaughter in history and wipe out more than half of all wild horses remaining in the U.S.,” said animal rights organization In Defense of Animals (IDA). “With wild horse populations critically low, the planned slaughter amounts to a genocide.”
If the BLM wants to move forward with the plan to kill 45,000 wild mustangs, it will need the approval of Congress. According to IDA, the horse killings will take place at holding facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
