GVHR suggests BLM change horse adoption policy
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — While many wish that horse kill pens were a thing of the past, there are steps the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is taking to improve the chances that wild horses don’t end up in auctions untrained, which can lead them down the slaughter pipeline.
“Horses end up in kill pens when they are unwanted,” says Shelle Devergie, director of Grand Valley Horse Rescue as she describes what it was like to go to a kill pen where some horses end up after being sold at auction. “It was the most horrific place I’ve ever been in my life.”
Alan Bittner, deputy state director of BLM explains that in theory, BLM’s adoption policies prevent abuse of wild horses and burros. “An individual adopts a horse from the BLM. They have to enter into a private care and maintenance agreement with us and that agreement has certain standards to it. They have to comply with the care of that animal for the next year. Then we do compliance checks with them and if they have done everything correctly during that year, then they can apply for title to that animal. If they receive title to that animal, then it’s a privately owned animal and no longer a federal animal.”
Devergie’s main qualm is that more needs to be done in the compliance check stages to ensure that the wild horses are trained enough to undergo basic maintenance. Otherwise, disenchanted owners could end up too easily selling their untrained horses for auction within sight of kill pen buyers.
Every BLM horse, she says, comes with a metal tag. It is important to get the horses trained enough to be able to remove the tags. “I was contacted by another rescue in Louisiana asking me to take 24 mustangs that were in the kill pen that had their tags still on.”
What if these compliance checks included training the horses and tag removal? Devergie has questions for the BLM. “Once the horse is adopted, before they hand over the title, did they meet the basic requirements for that title? Did the horse get their halter off? Did you get the tag off? Can their feet be done? Can a veterinarian touch this horse and medicate it if necessary?”
She then expands on what a better policy would look like. “And if any of those are no, then it’s not like you can’t apply for your title later, it means there’s a little more work to do.”
Bittner explains that the BLM gives horse adopters $500 at the beginning of the adoption process, and the remaining $500 at the end of the year once they meet the compliance policies. This money, Devergie says, should be used to train the horses so that they never end up in the position of jeopardy on the auction block again. “We’re not there yet, but we can be.”
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