Photo by Meg Frederick
Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., David Schweikert, R-Ariz., Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., and Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., have announced the formation of Congressional Wild Horse Caucus to encourage federal policies for more humane treatment of wild horses and burros.
“I am hopeful that the Wild Horse Caucus will raise awareness in Congress that there are better ways to manage wild horses and burros,” Titus said in a press release. “Protecting these animals from harm should be an issue we can all agree upon.”
Return to Freedom is encouraged that lawmakers from both parties are seeking to advance thoughtful discussion about wild herds on our public lands.
The federal Bureau of Land Management estimates that there are about 73,500 wild horses and burros on rangelands that it oversees. The U.S. Forest Service manages a smaller number.
The agencies remain fixated on a failed, decades-old effort to reach population targets that they themselves have set through capture and removal.
As a consequence, the number of federally protected wild horses and burros living in off-range government holding facilities has swelled to 65,000.
We can and must do better.
RTF has long advocated for the use of proven, safe and humane fertility control as a way to slow population growth without stopping it and keep wild horses and burros on the range where they belong.
Diverse groups of rangeland stakeholders — some of which hold vastly different views from wild horse advocates — as well as the public and a growing number of lawmakers now support fertility control use.
We strongly urge Congress to demand that the BLM implement this proven tool in order to more humanely and sustainably manage wild herds on the range.