The New York Times reports a legal loophole is allowing federal authorities to sell protected wild mustangs cheaply, stripping longstanding protections and clearing a path for the animals to be resold for slaughter or export. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees wild horses and rangeland across 10 Western states, conducts roundup operations when it determines herds exceed what the land can support; a Colorado gathering in the Piceance-East Douglas area slated about 1,000 horses for capture. Most horses removed in roundups go into long-term BLM holding facilities; the agency currently houses about 60,000 horses at a federal cost of roughly $100 million a year. Observers including horse advocate Robyn Smith say roundups break family groups and lead to separations that distress advocates, while Rio Blanco County Commissioner Callie Scritchfield argues holding is more humane than starving on the range. Animal welfare groups and advocates warn the loophole and cheap sales increase the risk that mustangs will be purchased by kill buyers, sent to slaughterhouses, or exported abroad. The reporting has amplified calls for greater oversight of BLM sales and for congressional or administrative action to close the loophole and restore statutory protections.
