BLM to Offer Ranchers $500 per head to Take In Wild Horses

My "hay-guy" down the road has just quit the dairy-cow business and has 1,000 acres of grassland and he says, at $500 per head, he will take as many wild horses as the land will allow. He wants to know how to get on the Governmnets "waiting list."

---------------------and Landrieu is OK with this plan? Ha. What do you expect? She is a politician "first and foremost," and wild horse advocate, second.

Landrieu Comments on Sec. Salazar’s Proposed Changes to Wild Horse Program

WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today commented on Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s plans to improve the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sec. Salazar announced that the BLM will purchase public land and enter into partnerships with private land owners to provide permanent homes for wild horses currently in holding facilities.

“Secretary Salazar’s announcement today and accompanying letter to Leader Reid is an innovative framework that will provide the guidance necessary for Congress to craft a long-term, sustainable solution,” said Sen. Landrieu. “We are working diligently on that issue now as horse enthusiasts around the country are increasingly alarmed over the poor conditions and inadequate care provided by BLM. The recent GAO report was a clarion call for reform, and I applaud the Secretary for his leadership on this issue and look forward to working with him to pass legislation as soon as possible.”

Currently, the wild horse and burro population in the United States is about 69,000, and there are 32,000 horses in short-term and long-term BLM holding facilities. Sen. Landrieu has advocated for a long-term plan to move these horses to open ranges and stop the often inhumane practice of wild horse round ups.

According to Sec. Salazar’s announcement, to accommodate the thousands of wild horses in America, the BLM will look to purchase public land primarily in the Midwest and East, which provide ample grasslands for foraging. The BLM may also provide $500 per horse to those individuals who place these unadopted horses on private land.

In order to make the BLM’s wild horse program more self-sustaining, Sec. Salazar will also establish aggressive fertility control measures. The BLM currently rounds up about 7,000 wild horses per year. By adopting proper reproduction control mechanisms, the BLM hopes to reduce that number by half.

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