New law on caring for wild horses met with kicks, snorts

Wednesday, January 26, 2005
By GARY GERHARDT / Associated Press

DENVER - Horse lovers are gearing up to stampede the new Congress with petitions to protect wild horses from being sold for slaughter.

For three decades, the Bureau of Land Management required people adopting wild horses to prove over the course of a year that they could adequately care for the animal before the agency would grant legal ownership.

A month-old law allows the bureau to sell horses that are 10 or older, or that have been unsuccessfully offered for adoption three times, without the waiting period. However, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced legislation in Congress on Tuesday that would restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros.

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