Wild horses and burros on US public lands present a complex welfare and management challenge, caught between overgrazing concerns, limited resources, and controversy over control methods.
Wild horse and burro welfare involves trade-offs between the welfare costs of population control (helicopter gathers, confinement) and the welfare costs of no management (starvation, overgrazing, and inter-herd conflict in overpopulated ranges). Helicopter gathers cause acute stress and occasional fatalities, particularly among foals and older animals unable to sustain the chase. Long-term confinement of gathered horses in holding facilities causes chronic stress and prevents natural behaviour expression. Fertility control using PZP offers the most humane path to population management — preventing birth is less welfare-costly than capture and removal — but requires ongoing management at landscape scale. The political and cultural dimensions of wild horse management in the US are highly charged, and welfare considerations must navigate these tensions.