LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A rewrite of 2015 guidelines on wild horse roundups would get rid of the usage of helicopters and discover expanded roles for cowboys to do the work. The change would save taxpayer cash, Democratic Nevada Rep. Dina Titus argues.
The laws would additionally research the expanded use of contraception medication on horses and burros to scale back herds.
Titus and two colleagues within the U.S. Home of Representatives reintroduced the Wild Horse and Burro Safety Act of 2025 on Thursday. Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) joined Titus within the bipartisan proposal.
“Nevada is home to more wild horses than any other state in our country. Tragically, these animals are subjected to taxpayer-funded helicopter roundups and removals that are all too often costly, ineffective, and inhumane,” Titus stated. She has been a vocal critic of utilizing helicopters.
(Picture from video, courtesty Wild Horse Schooling)
“My legislation would eliminate the use of helicopters in BLM wild horse gathers and require a report to explore the benefits of alternative methods for humanely gathering horses and the workforce opportunities for traditional cowboys. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan proposal that would protect these icons of the American West which remain a source of pride for Nevada residents,” she stated.
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Help got here instantly from American Wild Horse Conservation, an advocacy group that hailed the laws’s phase-out of helicopter roundups over the following two years — together with a requirement to put in cameras on helicopters now. The Animal Welfare Institute has additionally expressed its help.
A helicopter pushes wild horses throughout a roundup on July 16, 2021, close to U.S. Military Dugway Proving Floor, Utah. Federal land managers are growing the variety of horses faraway from the vary this 12 months throughout an historic drought. They are saying it’s a necessity to guard the parched land and the animals themselves, however wild-horse advocates accuse them of utilizing the circumstances as an excuse to maneuver out extra of the enduring animals to protect cattle grazing. (AP Photograph/Rick Bowmer)
“The Bureau of Land Management is charged with humanely managing our nation’s federally protected wild horses, yet every year we see horrific fatalities during helicopter roundups — from wild mustangs running for their lives on broken legs to foals dying from exhaustion,” Joanna Grossman, Ph.D., equine program director for the Animal Welfare Institute, stated.
“Taxpayer dollars should not be funding this abject cruelty. We are grateful to Reps. Titus, Cohen, and Ciscomani for their leadership on this critical bill that would end the use of helicopter roundups and prioritize a more sustainable, humane path forward,” Grossman stated.
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8 Information Now protection of accidents to horses through the roundups through the years has proven the toll on animals, younger and outdated.
For the BLM, “humane” is measured by following the principles, and a 1% loss of life price is to be anticipated. But it surely’s that 1% and the circumstances of what occurs when horses die that has fueled lawsuits and a seamless battle over the use helicopters. BLM separates studies on horses which might be “humanely euthanized” as a consequence of circumstances that put the animal in danand horses that
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“BLM agrees that the death of even one wild horse during a gather is heartbreaking … . However, due to the risks associated with gathering wild animals, deaths cannot always be avoided,” in line with an announcement contained in a response to a 2023 lawsuit
A picture taken from video supplied by the American Wild Horse Conservation of a roundup in northern Nevada on July 26, 2024.
(Credit score: AWHC)
The BLM is at the moment directed to “humanely capture” wild free-roaming horses and burros and set them up for adoption. To help within the roundup of untamed horses and burros, the BLM contracts immediately with non-public enterprises, together with helicopter firms, to pursue the animals over lengthy distances, creating conditions that may be scary and even lethal to the animals, in line with a information launch saying the laws.
“These roundup practices also come at a steep cost to taxpayers. In the past five years (2020-2024), at least $36.7 million has been spent on roundups, including over $6 million paid to helicopter roundup contractors in fiscal year 2022 alone. Scientific research has shown that more humane and cost-effective alternatives, like fertility control, are equally effective in controlling equine populations. The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, however, currently spends less than four percent of its budget on these methods. Rep. Titus’s Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2025 would more effectively advance the BLM’s directive to humanely capture horses while providing significant savings for taxpayers,” the information launch stated.
Titus is co-chair of the Congressional Wild Horse Caucus, an group of lawmakers that shaped in Could.
“We commend Representative Dina Titus for her leadership in introducing the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2025. This bill is a critical step toward ending the cruel and unnecessary use of helicopters in wild horse roundups and bringing long-overdue transparency to the Bureau of Land Management’s operations through immediate implementation of onboard cameras,” Suzanne Roy, govt director of American Wild Horse Conservation, stated. “The American public overwhelmingly supports humane, accountable management of our iconic wild herds, and this legislation delivers just that.”
AWHC stated greater than 100,000 folks have signed a “halt the helicopters” petition, and 64,000 have known as for the usage of cameras on helicopters utilized in roundups.
