Wild horse and burro populations in the American West are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, with ongoing debate about management methods and their welfare implications for these federally protected animals.
Wild horse and burro management involves complex welfare tensions. Overpopulation can cause resource depletion leading to starvation, water deprivation, and environmental damage that ultimately harms the horses themselves. Roundups prevent this but cause acute welfare costs through helicopter pursuit stress, capture injuries, and long-term holding in artificial environments. Holding facilities present ongoing chronic welfare challenges for animals accustomed to free-ranging life. Fertility control using immunocontraception offers the most welfare-positive management approach by reducing population growth without capture, but requires repeated access to marked individuals and is challenging to scale. A welfare-centered management policy would prioritize fertility control investment, maximize adoption incentives, and minimize holding time.