Congress Finally Saves Taxpayer Money on Horse Protection

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Late Friday the U.S. House of Representatives passed an incredibly important bill: H.R. 1018, which protects wild horses and burros from commercial sale and slaughter. Unlike most other programs Congress is approving these days, this one actually saves money for taxpayers by, according to the Humane Society of the United States, "diminishing the need for costly roundups and large-scale housing of captive wild horses. The bill, if adopted by the Senate and signed by the President, is expected to save millions of tax dollars each year, directing [the Bureau of Land Management]to use fertility control more widely and allowing the agency to let horses to occupy more of the public lands they once inhabited."

Wayne Pacelle, who heads the Humane Society, says until now the Bureau of Land Management has been rounding up wild horses and keeping them in federal holding pens. It's hugely expensive and incredibly cruel to the helpless equines. Let's hope the U.S. Senate follows suit.

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