New Contracts Hurt BLM Sales

More than 400 wild horses are looking for new homes after buyers baulked at the new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracts that imposed criminal penalties for selling animals to slaughter, according to an article in the Las Vegas

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More than 400 wild horses are looking for new homes after buyers baulked at the new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracts that imposed criminal penalties for selling animals to slaughter, according to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.


Last year, in an effort to reduce the number of animals in holding, Congress directed the BLM to sell wild horses “without any limitations.” This meant that horses over the age of 10 or who were unsuccessfully adopted the last three times could be sold for as little as a penny each. Anyone wanting to purchase a horse through the sales was evaluated on the ability to provide long-term housing for the horses. However, earlier this year the BLM discovered several purchasers had misrepresented their intentions. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that one Oklahoma man posing as a minister resold horses to slaughter houses less than a week after they were purchased through the program. When BLM officials discovered horses were being sold to slaughter, they suspended sales for one month to amend the problem.
 
A new sales contract stated that any person who knowingly sells horses to slaughter houses or transfers ownership to an someone who sells horses to slaughter can face a maximum fine of $250,000 or five years in prison. Tom Gorey, Interior Department BLM
spokesman, said that the statement was meant to deter anyone who might misrepresent themselves as someone offering a long-term home. “If the penalties lessened the number of horses sold then, there was probably a good reason for it,” Gorey said.


“We contacted the processing plants as well, and they put out the word that they didn’t want BLM horses in their plants,” said Gorey. “Additionally, inspectors report to us if they see any BLM horses at the plants, and so far they haven’t seen any since.”


There are about 32,000 wild horses and burros roaming on public lands in 10 Western states. “Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes on the range can double about every five years,” according to a BLM statement. That 32,000 is about 4,000 more than the public rangelands can support

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Written by:

Chad Mendell is the former Managing Editor for TheHorse.com .

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