Feral horse populations in North America and Australia present complex wildlife management challenges balancing ecological impact, cultural values, and animal welfare.
Feral horse welfare involves both individual animal interests and population-level dynamics. Individual horses in roundup operations experience acute capture stress, family separation, and transition to captivity. At the population level, overpopulation leads to starvation, range degradation, and competition with native wildlife. Welfare-positive management requires investment in fertility control programs to reduce removal rates, improved roundup protocols to minimise injury and stress, and transparency about the welfare outcomes of horses in holding facilities. The cultural attachment many people feel toward wild horses adds political complexity to pragmatic welfare-based management.