Let Our Wild Horses ROAM Free Guest Editorial By Wayne Pacelle President Humane Society of the United States In the nearly 40 years since the Congress passed the Wild-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has presided over the steady erosion of the protections provided in that landmark law. In fact, due to its aggressive roundup policies and practices, between 1971 and 2007, the agency has taken more than 250,000 wild horses and burros off the range with little sound scientific justification or long-term planning. Astonishingly, according to the General Accounting Office?s (GAO) 2008 report, today the BLM actually manages almost as many horses and burros in government holding facilities ? approximately 30,000 ? as the agency manages on the range ? approximately 33,000. The captive-horse management program now consumes a whopping 75 percent of the agency?s 2009 budget. These numbers reveal a program turned upside down by an agency that has had neither the resiliency nor the creativity to explore new answers to an admittedly difficult set of problems. H.R. 1018 will not only restore long-standing protections to wild horses and burros, it will also provide the BLM with the legislative support necessary to revolutionize the current wild horse and burro management program from one that is often inefficient, costly, and cruel to one which is technologically advanced, cost-beneficial, and humane. For example, H.R. 1018 directs the BLM to identify new, appropriate rangelands and establish sanctuaries for wild horses and burros. Additional rangelands would reduce the number of animals removed from the range every year and enable the agency to return animals currently in holding facilities to the wild. Read the rest by subscribing to NWW! © 2009 joyce communications