"While the Bureau of Land Management is adopting more wild horses and burros than ever, BLM acting chief William Perry Pendley says it will take many years and billions of dollars to reduce growing herds on federal rangelands to sustainable levels.
'Right now we estimate it will take about $5 billion and 15 years to gather enough animals to get the population down to what our range scientists are telling us is reasonable and sensible,' Pendley said today [Wednesday] during a conference call with reporters.
The 'reasonable and sensible' number of animals considered sustainable on the 27 million acres of federal herd management areas is 26,690. There are currently an estimated 88,000 wild horses and burros on the rangelands in 10 Western states — more than three times the appropriate management level."
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