1. Wild Horses and Burros: Assessing Welfare During Helicopter Capture Kathryn Holcomb, PhD and Carolyn Stull, PhD Veterinary Medicine Cooperative Extension University of California, Davis
Our project: Develop Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP)
for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program
What horses and burros?
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
Established wild horses and burros as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the west”
To be managed on public lands by BLM “in a manner that is designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance”
Called “wild” in legislation but are really “feral”
What are the CAWP components?
1. Standards
Facility design
Handling
Capture techniques
Transportation
Horse & burro care
Euthanasia /death
2. Assessment Tool
Based on Standards
3. Training Program
Basics of animal welfare
Behavior and handling
Standards and requirements
4. Database
Why the CAWP?
Activist pressure
Accountability
Transparency
Basis for improvement
Why remove from range?
40,600 = number roaming free*
(33,780 horses, 6,820 burros)
26,600 = for ecological balance
14,000 = excess
Population can double every 4 years.
Overpopulation leads to range degradation, starvation, and impacts other wildlife species
*An additional 49,000 horses and burros are housed off the range in short term corrals or long term pastures. Does not include those on private, state, or tribal lands.
Wild horses and burros under BLM management are located in 10 western states in designated Herd Management Areas
Where are they?
Then what?
Develop CAWP for
Short term corrals
Long term pastures
On the range
Transportation
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Holcomb
Carolyn Stull
December 2013