Number: 1979-19
WHEREAS, free-roaming feral horses and burros have been increasing to excessive numbers on certain western lands administered by federal agencies since enactment of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 (P.L. 92-195); and
WHEREAS, these increased numbers, in many instances, have created serious competition with indigenous wildlife and domestic livestock for forage, water, and living space; and
WHEREAS, these feral animals have been destructive to their habitat, a fragile environment that responds only slowly to rehabilitation or improvement practices; and
WHEREAS, it is imperative that the populations of feral horses and burros be stabilized; and
WHEREAS, the Public Rangelands Improvement Act (P.L. 95-514) of 1978, amending the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act in part, mandates that excess animals be removed “to preserve and maintain a thriving ecological balance and multiple use relationship”; and
WHEREAS, this Act specifies that excess animals be removed from public lands in the most humane manner possible in this order: 1. destruction of old, sick, and lame; 2. capture for disposition under the “Adopt-a-Horse” program; and, 3. destruction of those populations where land, water, and dependent native life forms are adversely affected by reason of watershed and/or habitat destruction;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 22-25, 1979, in Toronto, Ontario, hereby urges that the Congress appropriate adequate funds and that these federal agencies implement sound and humane feral horse and burro management programs to bring the numbers of these animals into harmony with other uses and the carrying capacities of public ranges.