Neigh, you say?

Federal agencies do not have a recent estimate of the total U.S. horse population, the Government Accountability Office says. No idea how many horses, burros, donkeys and the like prowl the nation.

Available data suggest that the domesticated population may range from 5 million to 9 million, but there are limitations to these estimates, the GAO says.

Data also suggest that the number of wild horses on public lands and in holding facilities has more than doubled in the past 16 years, to more than 110,000 in 2016, and that more than 90,000 feral horses reside on certain tribal lands.

Managing the horse population in the United States could include relocation to new homes, euthanasia or slaughter, or steps to prevent breeding, the report says.

But there are some differences in the options available for managing domesticated, wild, and feral horses. Specifically:

• The capacity to find new homes through rescue organizations and adoption is uncertain due to limited available information, according to stakeholders.

• Domesticated and feral horses may be exported to Mexico and Canada for commercial slaughter. The Bureau of Land Management has placed conditions on sales and adoptions of wild horses to prevent their slaughter.

Federal agencies and stakeholders have programs to control population growth. These efforts are not currently affordable or practical to implement on a large scale for reducing annual population growth and maintaining most wild horse populations at sustainable levels, according to BLM officials.

Stakeholders identified various types of impacts that free-roaming horse populations have on the environment, particularly in western states. These impacts may include harming native vegetation, altering the landscape, and dispersing seeds. Federal agencies support research to better understand these impacts.

The U.S. horse population consists of domesticated horses in private care — such as race horses, show horses, and horses residing on farms — and free-roaming horses, including wild horses and burros on certain U.S. public lands and feral horses on tribal or other lands.

The term 'horses’ refers to all equines, including burros, mules, and asses.

The GAO says it did the study because federal and state agencies and nongovernmental stakeholders have raised concerns about the availability of options for managing horse populations, such as challenges in finding homes for adoption and limited capacity at rescue sites; the cost of caring for wild horses; and the effectiveness of efforts to limit population growth and environmental impacts of free-roaming horses.

Stakeholders have also raised concerns about the welfare of horses sold for export to either Mexico or Canada, which permit commercial slaughter of horses for human consumption.

In the United States, such slaughter has been effectively prohibited by language Congress included in annual appropriations acts for fiscal years 2006 to 2011 and beginning again in fiscal year 2014. Specifically, the annual appropriations acts have prohibited the use of federal funds to inspect horses that are to be slaughtered for human consumption.

Originally posted by Central Valley Business Times

Central Valley Business Times