"Despite federal protections, wild horses across the West are ending up in slaughterhouses under a new Bureau of Land Management adoption program, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
The lawsuit, filed by the nonprofit Friends of Animals, alleges that a 2019 adoption program for wild horses is circumventing federal law that forbids the wholesale slaughter of wild horses, and that the Bureau of Land Management did not follow proper procedures when establishing the new program, which offers individuals $1,000 to adopt a wild horse but then does little to stop the new owners from selling the horses to slaughterhouses.
“It’s like sticking their head in the sand, ‘Oh we sold it to a buyer who said they would take care of them, and that’s it,’” said Michael Harris, director of the Wildlife Law Program at Friends of Animals. “…That is not what is happening; the horses are being taken down, resold and sold to the slaughterhouses.”"
Shelly Bradbury reports for the Denver Post June 16, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"Wild Horses Adopted Under a Federal Program Are Going to Slaughter" (New York Times)
"Challenge to Wild Horse Removals Filed Too Late, D.C. Circuit Says" (Bloomberg Environment)
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