BLM upset by slaughter of wild horses

RENO, Nev. – Six wild horses rounded up on federal land in the West and sold to a private owner have been slaughtered – four months after Congress did away with protection for wild mustangs, a government official said Thursday.

“This is something we regret and are very disappointed” about, said Celia Boddington, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Washington, D.C.

“We make every possible effort when the horses are sold to make sure the animals are placed in good homes for long-term care.”

In December, Congress replaced a 34-year-old ban on slaughtering any mustang with a law that allows the sale of older and unwanted horses.

But the Bureau of Land Management says it is trying to prevent sales of horses for their meat.

The animals up for sale are captured during periodic government roundups aimed at reducing the wild population.

About 37,000 wild horses and burros roam the Western range, about 9,000 more than the BLM has said the natural forage can sustain.

BLM has sold and delivered nearly 1,000 horses since the new law passed. Some 950 more have been sold and are awaiting delivery.

“This is the first time we’re aware” any have been sold for slaughter, Boddington said.

Wild horse advocates had feared the new law would mean animals would end up as horse meat for human consumption overseas, or as dog food.

“The BLM says they prescreen the buyers, but obviously that isn’t working,” said Nancy Perry, the Humane Society’s vice president for government affairs.

The BLM is investigating this month’s sale of six wild horses to an Oklahoma man and their subsequent slaughter at a commercial packing plant in Illinois, Boddington said.