Wild horses and burros on US public lands are managed through controversial roundup and holding programs that raise significant welfare concerns.
Wild horse management in the American West involves profound welfare tradeoffs. Unmanaged populations can exceed rangeland carrying capacity, leading to starvation and habitat degradation. But helicopter roundups cause acute stress, injuries, and death, particularly in young foals, and the holding facilities where captured horses spend years or lifetimes offer limited space and social opportunity. Fertility control programs offer a welfare-superior alternative that reduces population growth without roundup stress, but are applied to only a fraction of herds. Scaling fertility control and improving roundup methods are both achievable welfare priorities.