Wild horses in the West were spared from an early demise in the spending bill passed by the House Thursday, rejecting a Trump budget request that called for the slaughter of tens of thousands of wild horses and burros.
“Congress has sent an important message that it will not have the blood of sentient beings on its hands. This is a victory for animal advocates and the majority of Americans who want solutions, not slaughter,” said Marilyn Kroplick, the president of Defense of Animals, which helped lead a lobbying effort to make sure the provision wasn’t included.
“For the love of America’s heritage, for the respect of wild horses and burros, we are thrilled that Congress has rejected this sick horse slaughter plan,” Kroplick said.
The fiscal 2018 spending request authorized that tens of thousands of captive wild horses and burros be euthanized, as well as up to 50,000 free-roaming horses on public lands, to try to reduce the population.
More than 72,000 horses occupied Bureau of Land Management lands as of March, almost 300 percent more than the 26,715 the agency says it can control in an environmentally sustainable manner. The crush of horses has dwindled the stock of essential plants and has damaged streams and banks, harming the food and water sources for horses and other animals that share the land, the agency says.
But Defense of Animals says Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget request re-ups the proposal, requiring a continued lobbying push.
“The battle is won, but the fight is far from over,” Kroplick said. “We will never back down or stop fighting for wild horses to remain on public lands.”
Ahead of the spending bill being passed by the House, a special Interior Department advisory panel on the wild horses and burros, canceled its two-day meeting next week. The Bureau of Land Management said the March 27-28 meeting was canceled after one of the panel’s members threatened to sue the agency for not properly notifying the public 30 days before the meeting. The meeting was to be held in Salt Lake City.
The BLM said it gave 15 days’ notice, which is the correct amount of time for urgent matters. For nonurgent matters, the required 30 days is required under the law. “In this case, the terms of three board members are expiring on March 31, and without them, the board would not have the quorum necessary in order to provide recommendations to the secretary of the Interior,” the agency said.
A new meeting will be scheduled once new members are seated.
