Horses are dying in the name of ‘humane’ management

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One of the lessons to come out of the pandemic and the latest bird flu outbreak is that confining animals in crowded conditions can spell disaster. And yet that’s exactly how the federal government is treating wild horses.

Last week, news broke that over 100 wild horses have died of a mystery illness – now suspected to be a strain of influenza – at the Cañon City Wild Horse and Burro Facility. The pens, located on prison grounds in south-central Colorado, housed only a couple hundred horses a few years ago. Yet today, following the largest wild horse roundup in the state’s history, more than 2,500 mustangs who once roamed free on the range are held captive there.

The facility, now under voluntary quarantine, is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — the same federal agency that is charged with protecting our nation’s wild horses and burros.

BLM officials have acknowledged that the death toll could continue to climb as more horses succumb to this highly contagious illness that leads to respiratory distress and neurological problems.

Some of the horses who are trapped at this facility were rounded up from the Sand Wash Basin in northwest Colorado during the BLM’s controversial helicopter stampede in September. Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse were among the many vocal opponents of the operation. Polis, for instance, called for an immediate six-month moratorium on wild horse roundups in his state, expressing concern over the “long-term well-being” of the gathered horses. Ultimately, the BLM removed nearly 700 horses.

Although the BLM is charged with protecting these animals from harassment and death under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, in practice, the agency “manages” herds by using low-flying helicopters to chase terrified wild horses into temporary corrals, resulting in injuries and fatalities. Separated from their family bands, many survivors are confined to holding facilities for the rest of their lives.

The federal government spends upwards of $77 million annually on this flawed management strategy.

In January, the BLM announced that it would remove a staggering 19,000 wild horses from our public lands during fiscal year 2022.

The agency claims that such large-scale roundups are necessary to curb wild horse overpopulation, yet it sets an arbitrary number for sustainable wild horse management — a mere 27,000 horses across some 27 million public acres in 10 Western states. By comparison, approximately 60,000 horses are kept in BLM holding facilities.

Unfortunately, wild horses face relentless pressure on their shrinking habitat from ranching interests, oil and gas development, mineral extraction, and other uses of public lands. As a result, they wind up with a target on their backs, forced from the lands they have called home for centuries.

For years, animal welfare advocates have been demanding an end to these brutal roundups; the recent disease outbreak only provides further evidence that the BLM — as Polis predicted — is unable to ensure the well-being of wild horses under its care.

As part of the federal spending package approved in March, Congress — for the first time — directed the BLM to spend a significant portion of its Wild Horse and Burro Program budget on implementing proven and safe fertility control options. Existing immunocontraceptive vaccines can successfully manage herds on the range, as opposed to funneling increasing numbers of animals into holding facilities such as the one in Cañon City.

Whether the BLM will follow through with this mandate remains to be seen, but the situation could not be more urgent.

We owe it to these horses not to incarcerate them for the rest of their lives, or worse, create an untenable situation that amounts to a death sentence.

Joanna Grossman, Ph.D., is the equine program manager and senior advisor for the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C.

Joanna Grossman, Ph.D., is the equine program manager and senior advisor for the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C.

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