Agency's Use Of Aircraft Called 'Inhumane' By Wild Horse Advocacy Group

Each year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gathers thousands of wild horses and burros to protect rangeland health. These excess animals are transported to BLM holding facilities where the younger animals are prepared for adoption through the agency's adoption program; older ones are cared for in long-term pasture settings in the Midwest.

The BLM makes use of helicopters to assist in the roundup of the wild horses and burros, a practice that has been called "inhumane" by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC). On January 31, the BLM announced that it had awarded two $6 million contracts to helicopter companies to assist in this years' roundup.

In a news release, the AWHPC said that the BLM was proceeding with the roundup despite a report issued by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) commissioned by the BLM that indicated that there are now more wild horses and burros in holding facilities than exist in the open range. The group said the NAS suggested alternative methods for controlling the size of the herds that would reduce the need for the helicopter roundups.

"While the agency allocates millions more for helicopters, it is scaling back on proven fertility control vaccines that have been recommended by the NAS and are widely accepted by the public," Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC). "The BLM is acting as though it has no solutions to manage wild horses on the range when, in reality, humane and cost-effective methods are available as the NAS has confirmed. At the same time the agency is planning to proceeding with extreme surgical sterilization methods that threaten the health of individual wild horses and the viability of remaining free-roaming herds."

According to the BLM, wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to control herd sizes.

FMI: www.blm.gov, http://wildhorsepreservation.org/