Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Congress passes less-restrictive wild horse bill

Measure sparks concern among animal activists who say it opens door to killing

WASHINGTON -- Aging wild horses and those that cannot be auctioned off as pets could be sold for slaughter under a bill that Congress passed over the weekend.

The legislation immediately sparked concern among wild horse advocates who said it could lead to the killing of thousands of healthy horses as the government drives to reduce herds on public lands.

Wild horses older than 10 or those that have unsuccessfully been put up for adoption three times may be sold "without limitations," at local sale yards or livestock facilities, according to the bill.

"If someone under this program can now buy 300 horses and ship them to a slaughter house people will start making money," said Howard Crystal, attorney for the Fund for Animals. "I would expect under this law we're going to have far higher numbers of horses going to slaughter."

The bill strips from federal law a clause that no wild free-roaming horse or burro can be sold or transferred for processing into commercial products.

The provision was tucked into a 3,000-page year-end spending bill that lawmakers largely completed on Saturday.

Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Bureau of Land Management, placed the measure into the bill after consulting with Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., Burns spokeswoman Jennifer O'Shea said.

"We've got to get the number of animals down to appropriate management levels and keep them there, but do it in a way that doesn't bankrupt us," Burns said in a statement. "This language is a step in the right direction. It gives BLM another tool to help get this under control."

Lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with the BLM's handling of the wild horse program, whose costs have skyrocketed as more and more horses have been taken off the range and placed into government-run holding fa- cilities.

Giving the BLM the authority to sell those horses could solve the agency's long-standing budget problems while allowing the agency to continue gathering thousands of wild horses from the public lands, a Senate aide said.

For each horse that is placed in a long-term holding facility, the BLM spends about $465 annually, or about $6.8 million a year.

The agency estimates there are about 36,000 horses in the wild, roughly 7,000 more than the government contends the land can sustain.

BLM spokeswoman Celia Boddington declined to comment on the congressional action.

"We've not yet reviewed the language," she said.

Unlike the adoption program, in which buyers are limited to four horses and must sign an affidavit promising not sell the horse to slaughter, the new sales would not have such restrictions, Senate aides said.

BLM officials long have contended that adopters don't want to buy older horses, forcing the government to place them at the long-term holding facilities at taxpayer expense.

In fiscal 2004, the BLM adopted out 6,650 horses out of the 9,900 horses it gathered from the range. The rest were sent to long-term sanctuaries in the Midwest.

Crystal said the new law would empower the BLM to round up herds of horses for adoption, knowing that many could later be sold for profit.

"You could have an adoption of year-old horses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with no advertising, and then sell to people at a yard sale," Crystal said.

Chris Heyed, a policy analyst with the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, called Congress' latest move "a systematic attack on wild horses."

"There is no other real other intent of dumping them into the market and slaughter is the only outlet," Heyed said.

In addition, the bill makes clear that it is no longer a crime to sell an aging or horse for slaughter, Crystal said.