The Bureau of Land Management spends over $100 million annually to care for wild horses and burros in corrals and off-range pastures. The strategy of rounding up and removing animals from federal rangelands has been successful in reducing the number of free-roaming horses and burros, but the cost is unsustainable and poses challenges for the agency to find savings. The current approach, which includes roundups and removals, has led to the lowest number of wild horses and burros on federal land in nearly a decade.

Despite the success in reducing the number of animals in the wild, the cost of caring for the remaining 68,143 horses and burros held by BLM is a significant financial burden. The agency is struggling to find solutions to manage the excess population, with options like increasing fertility control measures or euthanizing unadoptable animals facing complications and opposition. The Adoption Incentive Program, which offered $1,000 for each adopted animal, is currently on hold after a federal court ruled it violated federal law.

BLM’s strategy of capturing and removing excess animals has led to a decline in wild horse populations, but the cost of caring for these animals remains high. The bureau is facing challenges in managing the population and finding sustainable solutions, with the need for increased funding and policy changes to address the issue. The ongoing cycle of roundups and long-term holding is costly, and advocates are calling for a shift to humane large-scale fertility control and responsible adoptions to reduce the financial burden on the agency.