These numbers are recent (if not the latest) Bureau of Land Management numbers, as well as numbers obtained through independent investigation. Please understand that population levels in particular are fluid and subject to a significant degree of uncertainty (the same caveat applies to numbers provided by the BLM).

• In 1900s, more than 2 million wild horses roamed the West.

• Today, less than 30,000 wild horses likely remain on public lands.

• Over 4 million head of private cattle enjoy subsidized grazing on public lands.

• More than 200,000 wild horses and burros have been removed from public lands since 1971. The BLM plans to remove another 9,800 by fall 2005.

• The 1971 Act mandates that wild horses and burros be managed on 47 million acres of public lands on 303 herd areas.

• Since 1971, wild horses have been zeroed out from 102 herd areas representing over 12.5 million acres.
  
  
• Less than 5,000 wild burros remain on public lands, with a BLM population target set at less than 3,000.

• BLM relies on an annual population increase rate of about 20% to evaluate population levels and justify round-ups, while the National Academy of Sciences estimates that rate to be closer to 10%.
  
  
• 6 states have lost their entire wild horse and burro populations.

• In 70% of the remaining herd areas, BLM’s population targets are set at levels that will not ensure genetic viability.

• The current removal policy is costing over 39 million tax dollars a year.

• According to the USGS, $7.7 million could be saved annually through the use of contraceptive measures alone.

• The removal and processing of a single horse through the adoption pipeline costs about $3,300.

• 22,000 wild horses are currently held in government holding pens. Under the Burns Amendment, 8,500 of these horses are threatened with immediate slaughter.

• BLM’s private livestock grazing program encompasses 214 million acres of public lands and costs over $130 million to manage annually.

• Public land grazing accounts for only 2.5% of our national beef supply and contributes less than 1% of total income and employment throughout the West.

• The current fee to graze private cattle on public lands is $1.79 per animal unit month (AUM), the equivalent of $0.06 per acre per year.

• Market rates to graze cattle on private lands range from $25 to $50 per AUM.

• Private cattle outnumber wild horses and burros at least 100 to 1 on public lands.

In 1971, more letters poured into Congress over the threat to our nation’s wild horses than over any issue in U.S. history, except for the Vietnam War. And so Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, declaring that “wild horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.” The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) were appointed to implement the Act. Most herd areas are under BLM jurisdiction.

Fast-forward thirty years: in 2001, after decades of failed herd management policies, the BLM obtained a 50% increase in annual budget to $29 million for implementation of an aggressive removal campaign; in 2004, the 1971 Act was surreptitiously amended, without so much as a hearing or opportunity for public review, opening the door to the sale of thousands of wild horses to slaughter for human consumption abroad.

The current situation is the result of a long history of failed policies, land allocation issues, and an intricate money trail. The BLM and the USFS, among others, are responsible for managing the nation’s public lands and are foremost the managers of wild horses and burros. Their responsibilities also include issuing public land grazing permits to cattle ranchers. These grazing permits cover limited areas of public land that are available for lease. So, for every wild horse removed from a grazing permit allotment, a fee-paying cow gets to take its place, and a public land rancher gets the benefit of public land forage at bargain rates. This is the number one reason wild horses are removed from public lands.

The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act mandated that wild horses be managed at their then-current population level, officially estimated by the BLM at 17,000 (three years later, BLM’s first census found over 42,000 horses). To the horses' detriment, both sides agreed to allow the government to manage wild horse populations at that “official” 1971 level. Eleven years later, a study by the National Academy of Sciences found BLM’s 1971 estimate to have been “undoubtedly low to an unknown, but perhaps substantial, degree,” given subsequent census results and taking into account the horses' growth rate and the number of horses since removed. But the damage had already been done; management levels had been etched in stone, and processes for removal of "excess" horses were well in place.

The fact is that the 1982 National Academy of Sciences report and two General Accounting Office reports have countered key points in BLM's premise for its current herd reduction campaign. These government-sanctioned documents concluded that: (i) horses reproduce at a much slower rate than BLM asserts, (ii) wild horse forage use remains a small fraction of cattle forage use on public ranges, (iii) “despite congressional direction, BLM did not base its removal of wild horses from federal rangeland on how many horses ranges could support,” and (iv) “BLM was making its removal decisions on the basis of an interest in reaching perceived historic population levels, or the recommendations of advisor groups largely composed of livestock permittees.”

From over 2 million in 1900, America’s wild horse population has dwindled to less than 30,000. By end of summer 2005, there will be more wild horses in captivity than in the wild, with many of the remaining herds on our public lands managed at population levels that do not guarantee their long-term survival. Still, the round-ups continue.

Over the past thirty years, federal law enacted by the people on behalf of their wild horses has been ignored. No strategic plan to keep viable herds of wild horses on public lands was ever developed.

you obviosly believe that horse slaughter for meat is WRONG so do something about it! Americans do not purchase horse meat it would not hurt the agriculture buissness or w.e

may i remind this site IS NOT  for the faint of heart

but for people either uneducated about what these animals go through being taken to or inside slaughter houses or for horse lovers.

**** http://www.justsaywhoa.org/slaughterhouses.asp

Under federal law, horses are required to be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, usually with a device called a captive bolt gun, which shoots a metal rod into the horse's brain. Some horses, however, are improperly stunned and may still be conscious when they are hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut. In addition, conditions in the slaughterhouse are stressful and frightening for horses.

Please contact your Congressional representatives in the House and Senate to urge them to vote for HR 857, which will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption and stop the trade and transport of horseflesh and live horses intended for human consumption.

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The cruelty of horse slaughter is not limited to the act of killing the animals. Horses bound for slaughter are shipped, frequently for long distances, and are not rested, fed, or watered during travel. Economics, not humane considerations, dictate the conditions, including crowding as many horses into trucks as possible.

Often, terrified horses and ponies are crammed together and transported to slaughter in double-deck trucks designed for cattle and pigs. The truck ceilings are so low (since cows and pigs have little neck ) that the horses are not able to hold their heads in a normal, balanced position. Inappropriate floor surfaces lead to slips and falls, and sometimes even trampling. Some horses arrive at the slaughterhouse seriously injured or dead. Although transportation accidents have largely escaped public scrutiny, several tragic ones involving collapsed upper floors and overturned double-deckers have caused human fatalities as well as suffering and death for the horses.

http://www.justsaywhoa.org/abuse.asp <thanks to

Below is an excerpt from "The Texas Massacres - Horse Slaughter In America" By Laura A. Moretti

In a sworn statement before Cook County, State of Illinois, a former employee [name withheld] of Cavel International, a horse slaughtering plant, testified the following: