Photo of wild horses at McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area in Wyoming by Meg Frederick.

A federal judge has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management failed to comply with federal law when it created its Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) and did not provide adequate safeguards to prevent wild horses and burros from being sold to slaughter.

Monday’s ruling by Judge William J. Martínez of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado will at least temporarily halt the controversial program, which pays adopters $1,000.

Bravo to the legal team at Eubanks & Associates and to the plaintiffs on this win, photographer Carol Walker, AWHC and Skydog Sanctuary.

This is a win we all celebrate together. Advocates all over the nation have opposed AIP.

We and others collected documentation proving that many adopters held wild horses or burros for the year required to receive ownership, pocketed the cash, then sold the animals at auctions frequented by kill buyers.

The BLM launched the incentive program in 2019 to spur adoptions and reduce the costs of caring for captured wild horses in off-range holding corrals. Congress has repeatedly barred the BLM from selling horses to slaughter.

AIP immediately raised legitimate concerns that the program would make it easy for wild horses to be dumped into the slaughter pipeline.

Advocates called for halting AIP until the completion of an independent investigation and improved protections for adopted animals were put in place. If AIP was to continue, we argued, the BLM should replace cash payouts with vouchers for needs like vet care and training.

In 2022, we joined other organizations in moderator-led stakeholder meetings with BLM to consider non-cash incentives and more — but no changes were made.

The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board also made recommendations including vouchers. Again, BLM made no changes.

AIP helped the agency increase the average annual number of adoptions to 5,883 from 2019-24 compared to 2,777 per year during the six years prior.

We believe that paying people to adopt devalues wild horses and burros. Instead, we should work together to elevate their status in order to ensure a better future for America’s wild herds.