Take action with IDA against the Government’s Adopt N’ Kill Wild Horse Program

In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) instituted the Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), which pays individuals $1000 per animal to “adopt” wild horses who the Bureau had previously cruelly captured from our public lands using our tax dollars. Unfortunately, it has now been proven that some people take the $1000, then sell the horses to “kill buyers” for slaughter. Everyone makes a tidy profit from this blood money, and we must put a stop to it!

Animal welfare advocates warned the BLM of the many pitfalls of the AIP when it was first proposed. For example, wild horses would be snatched up and sold for slaughter as soon as their “adopters” received the $1000 incentive and title to resell for additional money. Also, even well-meaning people are incentivized to adopt without the skills necessary for handling wild horses, creating neglect, trauma, and abuse situations. The BLM scoffed at these notions and said the wild horses would be going to “good homes.”

Then, at 2020’s virtual BLM Wild Horse and Burro National Advisory Board meeting, Clare Staples of Skydog Sanctuary testified during the public comment period that she rescued several horses from a kill pen dumped there by people who had obtained them through the AIP. But, again, BLM enablers scoffed and said they would need indisputable proof.

Now, Staples and other investigators have provided that paper trail of truth which the BLM deliberately tried to hide. One cattle rancher unapologetically admitted to a New York Times reporter, “It’s economics. I can make about $800 putting a calf on my land for a year. With the horses, I made $1000, then turned around and sold them for $500.”

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Thank you everyone.

About the BLM

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado and with oversight over 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2), it governs one eighth of the country’s landmass.

Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

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