Is there really an overpopulation of wild horses on public lands?
No. We have far fewer wild horses and burros now than when the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act passed in 1971. There were 60,000 wild horses and burros counted during the 1974 ground census. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) target goal is approximately 23,000. This number is far below the recommended minimum number of 30,150 to sustain healthy populations (Dr. E. Gus Cothran, University of Kentucky). The BLM has eliminated wild horses and burros from 102 Herd Areas (home ranges) of the 303 areas that Congress had designated for sustaining wild horses and burros. Wild horse populations have been cut in half while livestock numbers have not been significantly reduced in more than twenty years. Q: Are wild horses the cause of over-grazing of the public rangelands? A: No. According to the General Accounting Office (now called the Government Accountability Office), “BLM frequently used the lack of detailed carrying capacity and range monitoring data to explain why it has not ta
