The internet rumor that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would kill 44,000 wild horses and burros isn’t exactly true — at least not yet. As the site Snopes.com reported, the BLM still has to vote on the suggestion by its advisory committee that the animals be euthanized, and opposition to the idea from outside groups has been vigorous.
“As of March 1, 2016, the current estimated on-range wild horse and burro population is 67,027, a 15 percent increase over the 2015 estimate of 58,150, according to the BLM,” says the Christian Science Monitor.
Ranchers have long blamed the horses for taking forage away from their cattle. With no real predators and a population that doubles every four years, horses and burros can quickly grow to numbers that the land can’t sustain.
Most of the wild horses that are killed periodically by the BLM are processed into pet food or sent abroad to places like Europe and Japan where horse meat is eaten. The agency has also considered plans to sterilize wild populations, but after Friends of Animals filed suit, the BLM cancelled plans to conduct sterilization research on 225 wild mares in Oregon.