MEMORANDUM
To: AHC Organizations
From: American Horse Council
Re: Wild Horse and Burros Bill Introduced
Date: February 23, 2009
On February 12, 2009, Representative Rahall (WV-D) introduced a bill to amend the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to improve the management and long-term health of wild free-roaming horses and burros (H.R. 1018).
In the 108th Congress a provision of the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Bill lifted the prohibition on the sale of wild horses and burros for commercial purposes and authorizing the Secretary of Interior to sell excess animals at public sales “without limitation” on their use.
This bill would restore the federal prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros. It would also bar the Secretary of Interior from euthanizing any wild free-roaming horses or burros unless an animal is terminally ill. Representative Rahall introduced similar legislation in the last Congress.
Additionally, this bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to maintain an inventory of wild horses and burros on public lands, to protect and manage the population in an ecologically balanced manner and to designate and maintain specific ranges on public lands as sanctuaries for their protection and preservation. This would include identifying new, “rangelands for wild free-roaming horses and burros, including use of land acquisitions, exchanges, conservation easements, and voluntary grazing buyouts, and negotiate with private landowners to allow for the federally supervised protection of wild horses and burros on private lands.”
This bill has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands. Representative Rahall is Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee.
If you have any questions regarding this bill please call the AHC.
1616 H Street NW 7th Floor . Washington DC 20006 . 202-296-4031 . Fax 202-296-1970
Email: AHC@horsecouncil.org . Web Address: www.horsecouncil.org