Expanding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program’s incentives and off-corral facilities nationwide are some recommendations a free-market environmental group proposed in a report.
The Property and Environment Research Center’s (PERC) “From Range to Ranch” report commends the BLM’s adoption program, highlighting its successes. Since the inception of the program’s $1,000 adoption incentive, adoptions have doubled to almost 15,000, resulting in a significant saving of $66 million in holding costs for taxpayers, the report said. A total of 6,220 wild horses and burros were adopted in 2023.
PERC recommends increasing the incentive payment through responsible ways, such as increasing the number of payments and additional incentives for retaining animals. They suggest raising the incentive to $3,000, with $1,000 yearly payments. They also suggest the BLM establish a “frequent adopter” program, where individuals who regularly adopt wild horses or burros and demonstrate responsible care could earn bonuses for the animals they have retained.
While the BLM holds auctions nationwide and offers online adoptions, the report also suggests the agency could enhance its efforts by connecting more potential adopters in the East with wild horses and burros from the West. The report noted that half of the top 10 states by horse population are in the East, which accounts for more than one-third of the agency’s total placements. PERC recommends that in order to overcome logistic problems, BLM should seek private partnerships through a creatively marketed “Pony Express” initiative to attract funding and raise awareness among eastern horse owners, while also providing flexible resources for short-term holding facilities as needed.
Current population, costs
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 authorized BLM to manage wild equine populations by setting sustainable goals and removing excess animals.
According to the report, BLM oversees 177 herds on 27 million acres across 10 western states, establishing target population thresholds for each herd. However, wild horse populations have reached unsustainable levels, threatening rangeland ecosystems and risking starvation or thirst for the animals. Of the 177 herds, 152 are overpopulated, with an estimated 83,000 wild horses on public lands in 2023, three times the sustainable threshold of 27,000 horses.
In March 2024, BLM estimated a reduced population of approximately 73,000 horses, still significantly above the sustainable level. The BLM also cares for removed animals, housing 62,000 wild horses in off-range pastures and facilities at a cost of $108.5 million in 2023. Including both on- and off-range horses, the total wild horse population has reached nearly 145,000 head.
The report indicates that 69% of the program’s budget is spent on off-range holding facilities, which restricts BLM’s capacity to allocate resources to other initiatives like fertility control. The report said each horse and burro adopted saves the agency an estimated $22,500-29,000 in holding costs over its lifetime.
If adoption rates increase, thereby reducing holding costs, the agency could free up more of its budget for other purposes, including monitoring and enforcing the provisions of the incentive program, the report said.
Critics
The report acknowledges that increasing the incentive amount is not without its critics, as horse advocacy groups are against removing wild horses and burros from public lands entirely.
Groups such as American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) have advocated for the use of fertility control instead of removing horses and, in a statement criticizing the PERC report, pointed to an exposé of the adoption program in a New York Times article. The article showed that horses adopted through the incentive program were allegedly found at auctions attended by slaughterhouse brokers.
AWHC said it found over 2,100 BLM-branded animals in kill pens despite the BLM placing 15,000 wild horses and burros. They argue PERC’s recommendation to increase cash incentives would lead to more corruption and put more federally protected animals at risk of slaughter.
AWHC advocates for a responsible adoption program that prioritizes humane outcomes by offering more trained animals and replacing cash incentives with non-cash vet vouchers to offset the initial care costs.
“Cash is the problem,” said Suzanne Roy, AWHC executive director. “The only responsible solution to support adoptions and reduce system abuse is to remove the cash incentive and replace it with vet vouchers.”
The PERC report concluded that to resolve the wild horse and burro crisis, the agency must place animals in private care faster than they repopulate on public lands. The adoption incentive program is a promising tool to help mitigate the crisis and ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of the program. Still, BLM will need to use all available options to restore overpopulated ecosystems, alleviate the taxpayer burden, and preserve protections for the animals, the report concludes. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
