US legislation approved: implementation of dangerous plan for wild horse management to begin
While the bill does include language sought by the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) to prohibit the Forest Service from selling wild horses and burros from slaughter, the legislation provides $6 million to begin implementation of a dangerous mass roundup and removal plan promoted by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Public Lands Council and other agribusiness lobbying groups along with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the ASPCA.
Presented as a broad stakeholder compromise, the plan is actually opposed by the vast majority of stakeholders in the wild horse protection community.
“We strongly oppose the cattlemen’s plan for America’s wild horses and burros, which will ultimately achieve the industry’s long-held goal of eradicating wild free-roaming horse and burro populations from the American West,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the AWHC.