YAHOO!NEWS
By SCOTT SONNER

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. government plans to capture more wild horses on federal lands this year than ever before, drawing sharp criticism from mustang advocates who hoped the Biden administration would curtail widespread gathers of thousands of horses annually across the American West.

Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning, known as an ally of conservationists on several public land fronts when she was appointed in the fall, says the agency plans to permanently remove at least 19,000 horses and burros this year.

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By Michael Kohn, The Bulletin

A herd of more than 120 horses roaming free in the Ochoco National Forest will be cut in half as part of a management plan to control their numbers.

The 2021 Ochoco Wild Horse Management Plan will establish a management level of 47 to 57 horses that can reside in the national forest, according to a news release on Friday from the U.S. Forest Service.

The Big Summit herd is the only one in Oregon and Washington to be managed solely by the U.S. Forest Service. Most of the other wild horse herds in the Pacific Northwest are managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The number of horses permitted in the herd takes into account forage availability in winter and the management of a lack of genetic variability in the horse herd. The decision also includes an emergency action plan that provides protocols for how the Forest Service will intervene on behalf of sick, injured or starving horses.

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(May 15, 2021) The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) was implemented in 2019 to increase the number of wild horses and burros adopted or sold as a mechanism for accommodating the previous administration’s plan to accelerate roundup and removal of wild horses and burros from public lands, as outlined in the BLM’s 2020 Report to Congress. An alarming number of BLM horses and burros have been subjected to cruel conditions and sold at kill pens where they are purchased for slaughter. The evidence accumulated by the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) and affirmed in today's New York Times expose’ demands immediate suspension of, and formal investigation into, the Adoption Incentive Program.

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WASHINGTON, DC (May 15, 2021)  — Today, the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC), and its coalition partners are calling for the immediate suspension of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) following an investigation, confirmed by the New York Times, documenting that the government is laundering wild horses to slaughter through the AIP, evading long-standing Congressional slaughter ban. 

The Times story, prompted by research conducted by the American Wild Horse Campaign with assistance from Evanescent Mustang Rescue, Skydog Sanctuary, and Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, investigated the influx of wild horses and burros in kill pens (livestock auctions that ship the federally-protected animals to slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico).  

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May 15, 2021
The New York Times

By Dave Philipps

In a lifetime of working with horses, Gary Kidd, 73, had never adopted an untrained wild mustang before. But when the federal government started paying people $1,000 a horse to adopt them, he signed up for as many as he could get. So did his wife, two grown daughters and a son-in-law.

Mr. Kidd, who owns a small farm near Hope, Ark., said in a recent telephone interview that he was using the mustangs, which are protected under federal law, to breed colts and that they were happily eating green grass in his pasture.

In fact, by the time he spoke on the phone, the animals were long gone. Records show that Mr. Kidd had sold them almost as soon as he legally could. He and his family received at least $20,000, and the mustangs ended up at a dusty Texas livestock auction frequented by slaughterhouse brokers known as kill buyers.

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By Bradley W. Parks (OPB)

Bend, Ore. May 7, 2021 5:25 p.m.

The agency plans to shrink the Big Summit wild horse herd by capturing horses and putting them up for adoption. Horse advocates worry this puts the herd at risk of collapse.

The U.S. Forest Service will reduce the wild horse population on a 27,000-acre range east of Prineville to a level horse advocates say could lead to the herd’s elimination.

The most recent count of wild horses on the Big Summit Wild Horse Territory of the Ochoco National Forest puts the population around 130, but the Forest Service estimates it closer to 150. (Counts for the past two years have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The management plan approved Friday will cut the herd down to 47-57 horses total over the next five years.

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