Under fire, BLM revises strategy for wild horses

After getting an earful from the public, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is softening its policy on wild horses — going so far as to join forces with the Humane Society of the United States. On Thursday, BLM Director Bob Abbey announced that he was stepping up reforms to his agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Program while turning to other agencies and organizations for help. The BLMhas struggled in recent years to handle the explosive growth of wild horse herds on public lands. In the meantime, Abbey said he was moving ahead with certain changes, including: • Reducing the proposed number of horses permanently removed from the range annually by almost a quarter, to 7,600. • Increasing horse adoptions from 3,000 this year to 4,000. • Quadrupling the number of mares receiving fertility treatments to 2,000 annually...more