Wild horses and burros on public lands in the American West are subject to controversial roundups and holding facilities as part of population management, raising significant welfare questions about both management methods and holding conditions.
Wild horse management represents a genuine welfare challenge embedded in complex land management politics. Roundups cause acute stress — helicopter pursuit over long distances, capture, transport, and holding in unfamiliar confined conditions represent a cascade of welfare harms. Long-term holding facilities, while physically adequate, provide none of the space, social complexity, or behavioral freedom of the range. Immunocontraception offers a welfare-friendly alternative for population management that reduces the need for roundups, but has been implemented at scale in only a fraction of herds. Expanding contraceptive programs and improving adoption infrastructure are the most welfare-positive management directions available.