A new investigation from The New York Times reveals the deadly loophole(s) of a federal system that sells wild horses into private ownership with nominal transparency and no required post-sale monitoring.
The horses were sold through the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Sale Authority Program.
What happened was foreseen long ago as the BLM created a program which resulted in a system which led to overcrowded facilities and pressure to move wild horses and burros out of them as quickly and cheaply as possible.
The news article follows after months of investigation by The New York Times. Throughout that process, wild horse experts assisted the reporter (David Philipps) to collect and analyze data, review records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), trace Sale Authority transactions, and share evidence that helped bring this federal slaughter pipeline to the public.
In 2004, the Sale Authority amendment to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was slipped into the annual federal budget bill in an underhanded move by a former Montana senator. It allowed the BLM to sell certain wild horses and burros “without limitation”, those at least 10 years old or those which have been offered unsuccessfully for adoption three times.
Unlike wild horses and burros for adoption by the BLM, ownership of sales authority horses (and burros) transfers immediately when an animal is sold. From that moment, the horse or burro is no longer protected under federal law. The BLM states it then has no legal authority to routinely monitor or recover the horse or burro.
The immediate transfer of ownership created an obvious and dangerous gap in protection. Horses and burros sold can then legally enter secondary markets, which include auctions and export channels, opening an indirect pathway to slaughter even if the BLM does not knowingly sell them for that purpose.
The sale authority amendment was allegedly created as a means for older and/or unadoptable horses to be removed from government holding and has increasingly been promoted as a way to cut budget costs.