The Arizona Republic
Few images evoke the romantic spirit of the West like a herd of wild horses galloping under a cloudless sky.
But this romance is a heartbreaker.
More wild horses are being held in captivity at taxpayer expense than can be found in the wild.
This was not the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. It assigned the Bureau of Land Management the job of managing the animals on public lands.
Ever since, disagreements about how many chewing mouths the range could support have been intense. Public-land ranchers resent the competition for forage these wild animals represent.
Statement by Adam Trenk, Rose Law Group equine attorney: “The herds of mustangs that roam the West are a reminder of our heritage that needs to be preserved, but at what cost to the taxpayer? Contact the BLM at wildhorse@blm.gov with your thoughts on how to make the management of mustang herds more effective and less costly.”
If you’d like to discuss equine law, contact Adam Trenk, atrenk@roselawgroup.com
