Wild horse populations in North America and Australia are managed through controversial roundup and removal programs with significant welfare costs that continue to attract scrutiny.
Wild horse roundups involve helicopter pursuit, often over long distances, causing extreme physiological stress. Horses may fall, be injured in capture corrals, and family groups are permanently separated. Holding facilities provide feed and water but deny the natural ranging, social complexity, and movement that define wild horse welfare. Horses held for years in feedlot conditions show behavioral deterioration. Immunocontraception programs using PZP vaccine offer population control without these welfare costs, though they require sustained field application.