Congress considers lethal methods to manage rangeland
By April Corbin, Las Vegas Sun
In July, the House Appropriations Committee voted to remove language from the Interior Department’s budget that prohibits the “destruction of healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros” managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the American West.
Groups like the American Wild Horse Campaign that seek to protect the animals have described the change as “a death sentence” for more than 46,000 wild horses and burros cared for by the BLM and an additional 40,000 loose on the range considered in excess of “appropriate management levels.” On the other side, rangeland advocates describe euthanasia as unfortunate but necessary for protecting land they say has been ravaged by overgrazing from animals that lack any natural predators.
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., sits on the House Appropriations Committee and supported lifting the prohibition, which was pushed forth by Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah.
