Due to their lack of natural predator and near twenty percent reproduction rate, the American mustang population is growing faster than the environment can handle. According to an article published by National Geographic, there are only supposed to be approximately 27,000 wild horses living on public land to maintain “natural” and “ecological” balance, but there are currently 75,000 wild horses that freely roam on this land, which makes it less sustainable 1. With so many animals on the land, the resources that they need to survive are running dry. For example, (while they are classified as omnivores), a horse’s diet consists of primarily grasses and other small plants. But, due to the sizable population, these plants are being either eaten or trampled leaving other horses to die as a result of starvation or dehydration.

So, how did this happen? During the 1920’s it became increasingly common for horses to be slaughtered not only as a mode of sport or consumption, but also out of fear that their population would grow greater than that of commercial livestock. Unfortunately, this practice went on for several years until the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 was set in place. From the year 1900 to 1971, the wild horse and burro population dropped from approximately two million to only 17,000 2. As a result of this drastic drop in numbers, the act requires the government to protect and manage the mustang population. However, once this act was put in place, the mustang population was quick to grow, and continues to multiply, bearing new challenges. While some horse activists disprove of interaction between wild horses and humans, we can help control their population by promoting mustang training programs and allowing sterilization.

By allowing a controlled population of mustangs to be sterilized, their population would significantly downsize. While many argue that this option is inhumane, David Boyd from the Bureau of Land Management states that there really is no easy solution when it comes to controlling the mustang population population 3. While sterilizing wild horses may not be the easiest thing to do physically or emotionally, it should be done to prevent the population from growing even more. The horses are dying anyways due to lack of resources so by preventing some of them from being born, could improve their overall well-being.

In addition to sterilization, by promoting mustang training programs, humans can help the mustang population by getting them out of holding facilities and into better homes. In and effort to control their population, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has rounded up approximately 45,000 mustangs, in addition to the 75,000 still in the wild, and placed them into government sanctioned holding facilities. In these facilities, the horses live on private fields and are provided with food and water before they are put up for adoption. While these facilities are an effective way of moving the horses off of public land, many horses spend years in these facilities before being adopted out, if they are adopted. However, due to lack of training, mustangs are not the most popular type of horse to adopt. Luckily, The Bureau of Land Management is looking to increase the adoption rates by offering financial incentives.

Typically bidding on a mustang starts around $125 but now, “qualified adopters” can purchase a mustang for $25 and receive an additional $500 within 60 days of adopting the horse, and another $500 within 60 days of that horse receiving a title 4. Now, this may sound like the government is losing money by paying adopters, but this process could actually help to save money. Currently 50 million taxpayer dollars are put towards running mustang holding facilities. So, by getting mustangs adopted out, the ongoing costs the government pays to maintain animal livelihood, would diminish. In addition, there are a number of training programs such as mustang makeovers, inmate training programs and long term holding programs that provide adoption opportunities. Unfortunately, many horse enthusiasts are unaware of financial incentives like these so by promoting their existence, mustangs can be moved out of holding facilities so that more horses can be moved off the public land, making it a better living environment.