Letter: Why BLM has warehoused up to 270,000 wild horses and burros

Bill protects wild horses,
burros on our rangelands

The Bureau of Land Management has removed approximately 270,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands without a long-term plan in place to ensure humane treatment, and with no viable solutions presented to Congress.

Thankfully the Humane Society of the United States has worked with stakeholders and other groups to formulate a landmark proposal that calls for the humane care of wild horses and burros, which was introduced in Congress.

This proposal includes the increased use of effective fertility methods to control wild horse and burro populations, in addition to allowing horses and burros gathered in densely populated areas to be relocated to humane pastures. It also will promote the adoption of currently warehoused wild horses and burros into good homes. This will improve their lives, reduce the total cost of the program and redirect funds to long-term strategies for the care and sustainability of horse and burro populations.

Congress should fund this non-lethal pathway forward that envisions an end to a broken 50-year cycle. We have a duty to protect the wild horses and burros that live on our western rangelands.

Alexandra Johnson
Berkeley

 

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