Wild horse protections slashed in 2026 budget proposal, opening door to mass slaughter
The proposal cuts Bureau of Land Management funding by 25% and removes bans on killing federally protected animals, putting 64,000 wild horses and burros at risk.
Tens of thousands of federally protected wild horses and burros currently being held in government facilities, are at risk of being directly killed or sold for slaughter, under The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal.
The request would cut funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program by 25%, from $143 million to $106 million, while eliminating long-standing safeguards that prohibit the outright killing or sale for slaughter of wild horses and burros.
“The president’s budget will greatly endanger wild horses and burros,” Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada, said in a statement. “I am deeply concerned by how these cuts will impact the care of these beloved creatures. Even more worrying is the omission of the long-standing provision against horse slaughter.”
The proposal is directly from Project 2025, an ultra-conservative manifesto document produced by allies of Trump, which calls on Congress to grant BLM authority to “humanely dispose” of federally-protected wild horses and burros.
American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC), the nation’s leading wild horse advocacy organization, condemned the proposal as an attack on animal welfare and America's public lands.
“This budget would be a bullet to the head of America’s wild horses if passed by Congress. Slaughter is a barbaric solution to a fundamentally broken federal program.”
Advocates stress that the proposal would roll back decades of protections and expose around 64,000 wild horses and burros to inhumane slaughter, while failing to address the underlying challenges of rangeland management.
“Creating a void on the range by killing these beacons of our country’s wild west heritage will only lead to a resurgence of the populations,” said Sara Amundson, the president of Humane World Action Fund.
Equine advocates argue that proven, humane alternatives already exist, such as fertility control, restoring lost habitat, and supporting adoption programs. They’re urging Congress to invest in these solutions rather than using lethal and outdated practices.
“Congress must strengthen investments in humane, effective solutions that already exist,” Amundson added, “including fertility control, expanded adoption programs, and responsible placement of horses. This approach has earned broad and growing support from a diverse coalition of wild horse and burro advocates, the ranching community, conservationists, and land managers.”
According to AWHC, a 2017 poll it commissioned found overwhelming bipartisan support for protecting wild horses and burros from slaughter, including 83% of Trump voters and 77% of Hillary Clinton voters.
“After decades of costly and ineffective roundups, the BLM now stockpiles more wild horses in government pens than remain free on the range,” said Roy. “Americans deserve a better federal plan that genuinely tackles off-range holding issues without resorting to slaughter.”
On May 8, Representative Titus announced the formation of the Congressional Wild Horse Caucus, aimed at advancing federal policies that ensure more humane treatment of wild horses and burros.
Shortly after, Titus led a bipartisan effort, supported by 82 other members of Congress, calling for humane wild horse management in the Fiscal Year 2026 House Appropriations bill.
In a letter submitted to a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, the coalition called for language requiring the BLM to allocate at least 10 percent of its $140 million Wild Horse and Burro Program budget toward humane fertility control efforts in at least five additional herd management areas. Currently, less than 4% is spent on these methods.
Right now, more than 73,000 wild horses and burros roam public lands, with an additional 64,756 in government holding facilities where they are at risk of deadly disease outbreaks, according to Humane World.
The BLM claims the purpose of the roundups is to ‘prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands’, according to their website.
But wild horse advocates argue that the real reason is to protect ranchers who graze cattle and sheep on public lands for a hugely reduced rate and don’t want any wildlife that can pose competition or harm their financial interests.
To round up wild horses and burros, the agency contracts private companies, including helicopter operators, to chase animals over long distances, often causing distress and injury. These roundups have cost taxpayers over $57 million since 2006.
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