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According to federal authorities, pregnant and younger horses will likely be adopted, but older horses will be sent to another pen where they could be sold for only $ 1 to breeders, horse trainers and other buyers , including those who could send them. slaughterhouses.
And that has animal rights groups involved.
The horses live on the Devil's Garden Plateau, a protected territory in the Modoc National Forest near the border with Oregon. It is home to the largest herd of wild horses in the country managed by the US Forest Service.
Last month, federal officials said they had exceeded their limit on the number of horses that the region could hold.
"Our territory is supposed to have between 206 and 402 animals, we have nearly 4,000 horses," said Amanda McAdams, Modoc National Forest Supervisor. The plateau is 258,000 acres, but McAdams said there was not enough vegetation and water to support all the horses.
The horses feed on limited foliage and have drunk most of the water, leaving little to other wild animals.
The government says that housing horses for the long term is too expensive, with adoption or sale remaining the most feasible option.
What will happen to the horses?
Of the 1,000 horses, about 700 are pregnant or less than 10 years old and will be sent to a Land of Land Management office for adoption. Horses over 10 years old will be sent to a temporary detention center.
Older horses will be available for 30 days for adoption at $ 125 each.
Once the 30 days have passed, these horses will be available for sale, with some limitations. Buyers can buy up to 36 horses for only $ 1 each.
"Horses can also be sold to sanctuaries, become ranch horses, packing horses, or to buyers likely to send them to the slaughterhouse," said the agency.
That's why the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is calling for where these horses might end up.
"It's a sad irony that the first wild horses protected by the federal government for decades to be purposely sold by the government for slaughter will come from California – a state where the cruel practice of slaughtering horses has been banned since the 1990s, "said Suzanne Roy executive director of the AWHC.
Why could they be shipped out of the country?
The last horse slaughterhouses in the United States closed in 2007 and the consumption of horse meat is very badly seen in the United States. But it's less taboo in China and some European countries.
The AWHC accused the Forest Service of having "exploited a legal loophole" that could allow unsuspecting people to sell horses to middlemen who would then ship loaded trucks to Canada and Mexico for sale. slaughtered.
The AWHC urged the Forest Service to gradually reduce wild horse herds so that "the human placement of horses can be assured".
But government officials say such small groups will not be enough to reduce herds to sustainable levels.
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