Calls to Terminate $1,000 Federal Adoption Program for Wild Horses

Horse-canada.com - Full Article

New York Times exposes the link between the BLM Adoption Incentive Program and the slaughter of federally-protected wild horses and burros.

By: Horse Canada staff | May 18, 2021

The American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) and its coalition partners have sent a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Debra Haaland calling for the immediate termination of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) following a New York Times report which exposed the Trump administration initiative that has led to truckloads of horses being sold for slaughter.

The program pays individuals $1,000 apiece to adopt a wild horse or burro; according to the report, adopters are pocketing the $1,000 payment, then selling the horses to slaughter auctions. Although the adopters sign a contract agreeing not to sell horses or burros for slaughter, the agency is not attempting to enforce those contracts. Groups of related individuals are adopting four horses or burros each (the BLM’s per-adopter limit), then dumping them at kill pens, collecting $30,000 or more in incentive payments and sale fees. The investigation also found disturbing abuse and severe neglect of wild horses and burros by AIP adopters who were unwilling or unqualified to provide proper care...

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https://horse-canada.com/horse-news/calls-to-terminate-1000-federal-adoption-program-for-wild-horses/

Oregon: Forest Service to reduce wild horse population in Ochocos

OPB.org - Full Article

By Bradley W. Parks (OPB)
Bend, Ore. May 7, 2021 2:25 p.m.

The agency plans to shrink the Big Summit wild horse herd by capturing horses and putting them up for adoption. Horse advocates worry this puts the herd at risk of collapse.

The U.S. Forest Service will reduce the wild horse population on a 27,000-acre range east of Prineville to a level horse advocates say could lead to the herd’s elimination.

The most recent count of wild horses on the Big Summit Wild Horse Territory of the Ochoco National Forest puts the population around 130, but the Forest Service estimates it closer to 150. (Counts for the past two years have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The management plan approved Friday will cut the herd down to 47-57 horses total over the next five years.

“We want to make sure that we manage this herd for its genetic viability,” said Kassidy Kern, public affairs officer for the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland. “We want to make sure it’s a healthy herd...”

Read more here:
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/05/07/wild-horse-herd-ochoco-big-summit/?fbclid=IwAR1uSy4L6Db5gSlTALO4iQikEp_xKGxJQCn_sVMxHZXiRqIyGsteJQIMvN4