Wild horses facing slaughter after US government proposes new regulations

A wild mustang charging across an open plain is a symbol of the untamed majesty of nature. But the predators chasing these horses are anything but natural.

Controversy has broken out over the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) practice of using helicopters to herd horses off public lands and sometimes permanently put them into holding facilities in an effort to control their population.

"Sometimes these horses get stampeded for miles and miles," said Simone Netherlands, an animal rights activist and a spokesperson for the American Wild Horse Campaign.


Now the government is considering culling these animals for the first time in nearly 50 years, putting the lives of thousands of wild horses at stake.

Most of the U.S.'s estimated 75,000 wild horses live on public lands, usually vast expanses that the government controls in the American West.

Jim Schnepel, who knows Utah's Onaqui Range and its horses well, works with a non-profit desperately trying to find a humane and effective way to control the wild horse population.

"Anybody who loves horses can tell you there's this natural connection you can develop with them," Schnepel said. "Certainly with specific members, you know, there's no doubt that a few of them recognize me and I reckon I definitely recognize them."

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