New York Times Exposes the Disapperance of America’s Wild Horses
Our wild horses and burros continue to speak.
This time they made the New York Times, in an ugly, but pivotal, expose published on August 20, 2026.
And oh so devastatingly, it’s all true.
And oh so sadly, it has been true for decades.
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, a federal law that “protects, manages, and controls unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands,” signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 15, 1971 after receiving a record number of public letters, has largely been unenforced by American presidents since. And yes, though the numbers of horses subject to nothing short of genocide by the Bureau of Land Management has grown under both Trump administrations, the BLM has long been in the pocket of the cattle lobby, a circumstance no president wants to touch.
Two and half million horses used to roam our Western lands. Now, according to the BLM, there are just over 85,000 remaining in the wild; advocacy organizations report that number is closer to 73,000. The BLM’s goal is to continue reducing populations down to 26,700.
Why? It’s tragically simple: the ranchers who hold entitlements to graze their cattle on our public lands, subsidized by American taxpayers, see the horses and burros as competition for forage and want them to be eliminated. Period. Eighty percent of the American public favor protecting our wild herds. But the BLM has effectively kept their activities out of sight and in progress.
With one giant exception: the dogged documentation, communications and DC-based lobbying of smart and dedicated advocates; the dozens of creatives who have written books, made films, pitched media stories and spoken publicly on the horses’ and burros’ behalf; the hundreds of rescues and sanctuaries who have taken them in and work tirelessly to find safe homes, provide lifetime care and tell their stories (14 wild horses live in our herd); and the thousands of people who have adopted individual Mustangs and burros and given them good lives. Groundswell activism. In aggregate, I believe, hope and pray all of our collective work has finally brought us to a tipping point for these majestic animals.
The government purports their adoption programs as the humane solution, but the realistic truth is that few people have the time, money, land, patience and kindness to gentle these wild creatures and from there build mutually beneficial partnerships. As the New York Time documents, a high percentage of horses “adopted out” end up in abusive hands or at slaughterhouses. Nearly as many horses and burros that remain on the range — 70,000 — are locked up in long term holding pens in Texas and Oklahoma. The American public funds their feed and care bills at $100 million annually, eating up a large percentage of the BLM’s $142 million annual care budget. And the deepest tragedy: these majestic creatures are robbed of their freedom and natural expressions. Families are torn apart — for horses, their herds are more vital to their survival and well-being than ours. Males are castrated and the horses and burros are segregated according to gender, eliminating natural diversities and vibrancies of their species.
The other dirty, not-so-little, equally as ugly, secret in which the BLM engages is the killing of thousands of natural predators — wolves, coyotes and big cats — native to our Western lands to protect the ranchers’ sacred cows.
What do we advocate? The solutions are surprisingly simple. Leave the horses and burros on the range. End human interference. Stop killing natural predators. Remove fences. Restore freedom to roam. Allow cattle, horses and burros to co-graze our public lands. If given enough room, the way these animals graze are complementary to the natural regeneration of soils and grasses. It’s called Reserve Design, defined by Wikipedia as “the process of planning and creating a nature reserve in a way that effectively accomplishes the goal of the reserve. To be successful, planners must consider many factors — habitat preference, migration, climate change, and public support.”
It’s easy to fire shots, lob blame, to faceless parties across a region, or nation. Do you think we could gather together in a room — people representing human and animal perspectives — to collaborate in a solution that is a win-win for all, where the animals are considered to have as much right to our lands as we do?
And then could we transform the currency of our public lands from cattle to ecotourism? Follow the lead of Latin nations — Costa Rica, Ecuador and others — who have regrown tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest after they were also decimated by ranching and who now host thousands of visitors from around the world each year to explore and enjoy myriad flora and fauna, generating millions of dollars in tourism revenue? We can’t put a price on the experiential, educational and climate benefits of such a shift.
It may take a sea change, but I think we are getting close. How can you contribute to this change? Here’s what the American Wild Horse Campaign advocates:
#1: Demand an investigation
Call your representative and senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be directed.
Tell them: “I am a constituent calling to demand an investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s Sale Authority program. Congress must ensure that no federally protected wild horse or burro is sold into the slaughter pipeline.”
#2: Help pass the SAFE Act
The Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act (S. 775/H.R. 1661) would permanently ban horse slaughter in the United States and stop the export of American horses—wild and domestic—to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.
Their one-click tool makes it easy to send a message directly to your senators and representative urging them to co-sponsor and pass the SAFE Act.
#3: Support rescued horses and sanctuaries
Many organizations are housing and placing horses and burros off the range. But tens of thousands more animals are still at risk and rescue organizations need help bringing them to safety. Your tax-deductible gift to Flag Ranch and other similar organizations will help us rescue and care for more horses and burros in need.
I agree with AWHC’s summary: the New York Times’ investigation exposed what is happening. What happens next depends on all of us.
For the animals,
Kimberly