In 1971, Richard Nixon signed the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burros Act that protects America’s natural wild horses from inhumane slaughter.
Over the last few decades, the Forest Service has been attempting to circumvent that law and in 2004, Congress allowed them to sell horses over the age of ten or those who have been offered for adoption at least three times.
But that’s not enough for the Forest Service, whose main complaint is that the wild animals are creating a negative ecological impact with the mustangs roaming federal lands and say it’s creating a “natural catastrophe.”
So to get their way, in Northern California, the Forest Service has rounded up mustangs and built a pen for their containment – making them no longer free ranging animals and excluded from the 1971 law.
While the Forest Service says it has not yet decided to sell the animals for slaughter, they admit that the cost of maintaining and feeding the animals is not sustainable.
Huh?
That’s right. The government rounded up wild mustangs and caged them and is now complaining that they can’t afford to keep them.
Outside of the United States, horse meat is considered a delicacy and there are slaughter houses in Canada and Mexico that are willing to purchase and butcher the animals.
The government does maintain an adoption service for the animals but claim that there is lower interest in adoptions – despite few efforts to promote the adoption program.
Americans can apply to adopt a wild mustang, and even see pictures and videos of the animals in need of a home HERE.
