Budget crunch may endanger wild horses

RENO, Nev. — Euthanizing wild horses and ending roundups are two drastic policy changes being considered to deal with a growing number of wild horses on the range and in holding facilities, a federal official said.

There is an overpopulation of wild horses on public lands, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management can no longer afford to care for the number of mustangs that have been rounded up, said BLM Deputy Director Henri Bisson. The number of horses adopted by the public has dropped off, leaving the BLM with more animals than it can care for, he said.

The combination has the agency facing some tough decisions.

One option would be to stop all roundups — something the agency said would lead to "ecological disaster."

"The other option is to use some combination of the (adoption program) and euthanasia, which would be really difficult to do," Bisson told The Associated Press

"Our goal is supposed to be about healthy horses on healthy ranges. But we are at the point we need to have a conversation with people about pragmatically what can we do given the financial constraints of our program to meet the goals we have," Bisson said.

In an address to the BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, which recommends policy, Bisson said there are an estimated 33,000 wild horses on the range in 10 Western states. About half of those are in Nevada.

BLM has set a target "appropriate management level" of horses at 27,000.

More than 30,000 horses are in holding facilities, where most are made available for adoption. But those deemed too old or otherwise unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities to live out their lives — some for 15 to 20 years.

Bonnie Matton, president of the Wild Horse Preservation League, said she wasn't surprised by the agency's predicament.

"In all fairness, BLM has done a lot of things wrong," said Matton, who believes more should be done to market wild horses as a tourist lure, with some of the money raised going to support the animals.

"We are at the point where we need to do something serious," she said. "They really do have a can of worms."

Last week the BLM said it was seeking bids from people around the country to provide pasture and care for 500 to 2,500 horses taken from the range that are considered unadoptable.

The horse management program had been successful until recently, according to the agency. But in the face of an economic downturn that means higher costs for fuel as well as feed, adoption rates have dropped off significantly over the past year with no improvement in sight, Bisson said.