House approves measure banning sale of wild horses

WASHINGTON -- The House on Thursday passed a bill that would prevent the government from selling off wild horses and burros captured on public land in Nevada and nine other states.

The bill, which passed 277-137, revokes the Bureau of Land Management's authority to sell wild horses under its protection. It requires the agency to rely solely on adoption to find homes for horses.

Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller, both R-Nev., and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted for the bill.

Efforts to reverse the policy began shortly after it was discovered in May 2005 that 41 horses the BLM had sold were resold to processing plants and slaughtered for their meat, which was destined for human consumption overseas.

Such situations could happen again if the BLM is allowed to continue to sell horses, said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the bill's sponsor.

"The very notion that wild American horses would be slaughtered as a food source for foreign gourmets has struck a chord with the American people," said Rahall, chairman of the House Resources Committee.

"The proper care and preservation of wild horses which roam public lands in the West fall within our stewardship," he said. "And we are failing to live up to our responsibility."

In 1971, Congress mandated that wild horses on public land could not be sold for processing into commercial products.

But in December 2004, then-Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., slipped a provision into a massive appropriations bill directing the BLM to sell horses that are at least 10 years old and that have been passed up for adoption three times.

"In effect, these animals were earmarked for death," Rahall said.

Opponents said the bill would deprive the BLM of a tool to control the size of wild herds in 10 Western states. The wild horses compete for forage and water with cattle and other domestic livestock.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said that the BLM has strengthened its sales contracts to make it a felony to resell a horse for slaughter, and that since then there have been no reports of animal deaths.

The BLM manages about 29,000 wild horses and burros on Western ranges at an annual cost of about $23 million, said Lili Thomas, a BLM national wild horse and burro specialist.

Thomas estimated that the BLM has sold more than 2,200 horses since being granted sale authority in 2004 and has sold about 300 horses since October. She said she expects the BLM to find homes for 5,400 horses this year through adoptions.

Thomas said horse owners sometimes prefer to buy animals from the BLM to gain full ownership immediately. Those who adopt horses must wait a year to receive ownership title, she said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cost not more than $500,000 a year to care for the horses that would be prevented from being sold under the legislation.

The House has passed similar bills twice before, but each time they were killed in the Senate.

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, said the vote was "just the latest indicator of the overwhelming public and political opposition to horse slaughter."

Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday passed by a 15-7 vote a bill that would halt all commercial slaughter of horses for human consumption.