Horses

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.

From 2008 to 2012, the Interior Department sold 1,794 wild horses for $10 apiece through a program intended to find homes for the animals and prevent overgrazing of federal rangeland. Colorado rancher Tom Davis was required by law to promise that he would not sell the horses for slaughter, says the Washington Post.

"There are now twice as many wild horses in the West as federal land managers say the land can sustain," says a New York Times story about the government's problems in managing the herd.

The committees that oversee federal spending agree on a ban on horse slaughter in the United States. House appropriators voted, 28-22, for the ban on as part of their USDA funding bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee added similar language to its USDA bill on a 18-12 vote a week ago. The prohibition was a routine part of the bills since 2006 but was omitted in fiscal 2013.