The Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro program is at a crossroads. Too few wild horses and burros are placed into private homes each year. At the same time, herds on public lands continue to increase rapidly.
There were 81,951 animals on 26.9 million acres of public rangelands and 44,730 animals in corrals or pastures as of mid-2018 . . . . . . perspective, the BLM says ideally 27,000 of these animals can live in balance with livestock and wildlife on public lands.
Source: JAVMA, August 29, 2018. Link.
The cost to taxpayers has climbed in concert with the population increase. Just the off-range costs, which pay for the animals in corrals and pastures, have gone from about $30 million in 2010 to $48.6 million in 2017, or 58 percent of the program’s budget.
INSIGHTS: Note Alan Shepard’s comments regarding social media.
“When you’re spending $49 million a year just to feed and do veterinary work on animals taken off the lands for management purposes, it impacts a lot of what we can do,” Shepherd said.