Victory for wild horses as federal court overturns BLM’s “corrupt” cash-for-adoption program — Species Unite

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) controversial cash incentive adoption program has faced a legal defeat in court in what is being described by advocates as a “landmark victory” for wild horse protection.

Launched in 2019, the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) pays individuals $1,000 to adopt wild horses and burros in an effort to help remove the animals from public lands. 

But just a few years later in 2022, an extensive report documented how the scheme had become a “pipeline to slaughter” for many of these federally-protected animals. 

Released by advocacy group the American Wild Horse Campaign, the investigation found that the AIP is “routinely” being defrauded by adopters who, after pocketing the taxpayer-funded cash incentives, then quickly sent their adopted wild horses and burros to livestock auctions. Livestock auctions are commonly-known as ‘kill pens’.

The findings were mirrored in a widely publicized exposé in The New York Times, which included an example case study of a farmer whose family received at least $20,000 for adopting mustangs via the AIP program, but sold them “almost as soon as he legally could.” The animals were sold to a Texas livestock auction, known to attract so-called ‘kill buyers’.

Now after years of controversy, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado has overturned the BLM’s adoption program.