In 1971, the U.S. Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act to protect mustangs that were being killed for their meat in enormous numbers. The act declared that wild horses and burros are "living symbols of the American West" and the Bureau of Land Management was charged with the protection, management, and control of mustangs. Since then, they have rounded up over 250,000 horses. The ones that survive live sad and bleak lives in small, dusty pens with no shade from the sun in summer and no shelter from icy temperatures in freezing winters.
There used to be two million wild horses across America and now there are less than 50,000 roaming free in the wild, the same number that are currently in BLM holding pens. Livestock on public lands outnumber wild horses. In some herd management areas, by up to FIFTY to ONE, yet they keep rounding up more horses to give the forage to cows and sheep being raised for their meat. The cattle ranchers are powerful and rich and lobby the government to keep taking wild horses off public lands so they can have all the grazing for their livestock. Now there are mining interests who want land for the minerals
The roundups themselves are brutal for the horses. They are chased for miles by helicopters into small catch pens where horses often break their necks fighting to escape or desperately trying to get back to the families they are separated from. Horse advocates have had to fight every roundup, for humane conditions at gathers and even to observe them at all. Also, there is a need for detailed records of family bands; so when they are captured people can also have the option of reuniting family members and bands.
There used to be two million wild horses across America and now there are less than 50,000 roaming free in the wild, the same number that are currently in BLM holding pens. Livestock on public lands outnumber wild horses. In some herd management areas, by up to FIFTY to ONE, yet they keep rounding up more horses to give the forage to cows and sheep being raised for their meat. The cattle ranchers are powerful and rich and lobby the government to keep taking wild horses off public lands so they can have all the grazing for their livestock. Now there are mining interests who want land for the minerals
The roundups themselves are brutal for the horses. They are chased for miles by helicopters into small catch pens where horses often break their necks fighting to escape or desperately trying to get back to the families they are separated from. Horse advocates have had to fight every roundup, for humane conditions at gathers and even to observe them at all. Also, there is a need for detailed records of family bands; so when they are captured people can also have the option of reuniting family members and bands.