Tuesday, October 09, 2018

Federal officials will round up 1,000 wild horses in California Some may end up in slaughterhouses

On Wednesday, officials will begin rounding up 1,000 wild horses from federal land in Northern California and putting them up for sale and adoption. Pregnant and younger horses will likely be adopted, federal officials say, but older horses will be sent to another corral where they could be sold for as little as $1 each to ranchers, horse trainers and other buyers -- including those who might ship them to slaughterhouses. And this has animal advocacy groups concerned. The horses live on Devil's Garden Plateau, a protected territory inside Modoc National Forest near the Oregon border. It's home to the largest herd of wild horses in the country managed by the US Forest Service. Last month, federal officials said they've exceeded their limit for how many horses the area can hold. "Our territory is supposed to have 206 to 402 animals, we have almost 4,000 horses," Modoc National Forest Supervisor Amanda McAdams said in a statement. The plateau is 258,000 acres, but McAdams said there's not nearly enough vegetation and water to support all the horses. Of the 1,000 horses, about 700 are pregnant mares or under the age of 10 and will be sent to a Bureau of Land Management facility for adoption. Horses over the age of 10 will be sent to a temporary holding facility. The older horses will be made available for 30 days to be adopted for $125 apiece. Once the 30 days are up, those horses will be available for sale, with few limitations. Buyers can purchase up to 36 horses for as little as $1 each...MORE

No comments: