SALAZAR UNVEILS NEW WILD HORSE PROPOSAL
News Date October 20, 2009
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unveiled a new proposal to deal with the explosive population growth of wild horse and burros on public lands in the West. Earlier this year the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Restore Our American Mustangs Act (H.R. 1018), that would dramatically expand the land available to wild horses at the expense of domesticated livestock and would restrict population controls available to wildlife managers. NASDA opposed that legislation because of the impacts it could have on rangeland health, animal health, and access to forage for livestock.
Salazar’s new proposal would create new sanctuaries, either directly or through cooperative agreements, to house the horses. Under the proposal, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would look to locate many of these new sanctuaries in Midwest and the East and would actively manage population through fertility controls and sex ratio management. (Contact: Nathan Bowen)