Feral horses on public lands create complex management challenges with significant animal welfare dimensions.
Wild horses occupy a contested space between wildlife and feral domestic animals. Roundups using helicopters cause acute stress, injuries, and occasional deaths. Long-term holding facilities deny horses the space and social freedom of open rangeland. Fertility control vaccines — like PZP — offer a more humane alternative to culling and roundups but require sustained field application. Finding humane, sustainable population management approaches remains an urgent welfare challenge.