OIG Report Finds BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Out of Compliance

In a report the Office of Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, the OIG found the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse and burro program does not maximize efficiencies and is not compliant with federal regulation. Public Lands Council Executive Director Ethan Lane says the BLM needs to address this issue

Lane: "Just like the report states, once the BLM has these horses in their off-range facilities they need to take the steps right now to get that program in to shape so that it is functioning properly and it's managing these horses as an efficient way as possible. With these 10s of thousands of horses under their control, there is simply no room for error and there is no room for poorly executed programs. But before we get to those off-range holding facilities or we need curb the situation on the range today. That means gathering horses down to AML, sterilizing the population so that the numbers don't continue to increase at 20 percent a year and selling those excess horses in order to get this population back to a point where it is sustainable for the long term. It is the only way that we are going to have a population that is healthy and thriving on its own and is also healthy for the rangelands. That is what the BLM is suppose to be focusing on here is achieving a thriving ecological balance. They are failing to do that in the broadest sense of the term at this point and that is where the focus needs to be in restoring that balance."