Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Legislat...

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Legislat...: A proposed joint resolution regarding wild horses and burros has been introduced, reading:

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. HJ0003

Wild horses and burros-best management practices.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Winter, Banks, Davis, Neiman and Sommers and Senator(s) Driskill and Laursen, D

A JOINT RESOLUTION

for

A JOINT RESOLUTION requesting the United States Congress to enact legislation and make other necessary policy changes to allow federal land management agencies and agency partners to implement best management practices for wild horses and burros by allowing for equine slaughter and processing for shipment to accommodating markets inside or outside the United States.

WHEREAS, the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (the Act), as amended, protects wild horses and burros from harassment or death and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; and

WHEREAS, under the Act, wild horses and burros are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) in their respective jurisdictions and within the areas where these animals were found roaming in 1971; and

WHEREAS, the BLM manages public lands for multiple use and a sustained yield, as mandated by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA); and

WHEREAS, when considering the Act and the FLPMA together, the BLM is required to protect wild horses and burros in balance with other public resources and uses, including other wildlife and fish, recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed and natural scenic, scientific and historical values; and

WHEREAS, responsible management of wild horse and burro populations is critical to protect scarce and fragile resources in the arid West and ensure healthy wildlife and livestock; and

WHEREAS, without responsible management, the resources in the arid West cannot be managed for multiple use because wild horses unduly infringe upon other uses by damaging riverbeds and overgrazing on limited forage, while using and often damaging the infrastructure of other public land users; and

WHEREAS, with virtually no natural predators, wild horse and burro populations can double every four (4) to five (5) years if left unchecked; and

WHEREAS, due to their protected status, if a wild horse or burro strays onto privately owned lands, the private landowners have no recourse for the infringement of their private property rights other than to inform their local BLM or USFS field office to seek removal of the animal; and

WHEREAS, under the Act, the BLM and USFS must inventory wild horse and burro populations periodically to determine appropriate management levels (AMLs) to maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and preserve the multiple-use relationship on public lands; and

WHEREAS, under the Act, the BLM and USFS are authorized to remove wild horses and burros to achieve AMLs upon the respective agency's determination that an overpopulation exists; and

WHEREAS, upon that determination, the Act requires the agency first to order old, sick, or lame animals to be destroyed in the most humane manner possible, second to cause excess wild horses and burros to be humanely captured for private adoption and third, to cause excess animals to be destroyed in the most humane and cost-efficient manner possible; and

WHEREAS, the BLM and USFS are increasingly unable to adequately manage wild horse and burro populations due to exponential increases in the number of wild horses and burros on the range, difficulties in adopting or selling wild horses and burros, lack of effective fertility control measures, lawsuits prohibiting or stalling gathers and removals, insufficient availability of holding facilities and increasing management costs; and

WHEREAS, of the one hundred seventy-seven (177) herd management areas across ten (10) western states under the jurisdiction of the BLM, comprising almost twenty-seven million (27,000,000) acres, only approximately twenty percent (20%) fall within their attendant AML; and

WHEREAS, the BLM recognizes the need for decisive action to reverse the harm to western landscapes and the wild horses and burros occupying them, as demonstrated by the agency's "2020 Report to Congress: An Analysis of Achieving a Sustainable Wild Horse and Burro Program;" and

WHEREAS, off-range holding of gathered animals accomplishes neither free-ranging of the animals nor population control and amounts to great expense, as demonstrated by the BLM fiscal year 2021 off-range holding expenditures of seventy-seven million seven hundred thousand dollars ($77,700,000.00); and

WHEREAS, under the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, United States Department of Agriculture inspection is mandatory to sell meat in interstate or foreign commerce; and

WHEREAS, the United States Congress has effectively banned horse slaughter in the United States for human consumption since 2007 by denying funding for the inspection of equine slaughter facilities throughout the food production process. Federal appropriations laws since 1988 have contained similar prohibitions; and

WHEREAS, the fiscal year 2022 Department of Interior appropriations law prohibited the use of funds for destruction of healthy animals or for sales of animals that result in processing into commercial products; and

WHEREAS, the Act, combined with the effect of the United States Congress' effective ban on equine slaughter facilities, has created an unsustainable issue where wild horse and burro populations continue to expand exponentially; and

WHEREAS, the United States has benefitted from the ability of neighboring countries to provide equine slaughter services.  The capacity of those neighboring countries to provide these services is limited, however, and has been degraded by the closure of facilities as well as the challenges associated with transporting animals long distances.  Effective and humane management of wild horses and burros can be best accomplished by facilitating the United States' own capacity to transport and process wild horses and burros; and

WHEREAS, the wild horse and burro population's continued exponential growth and the federal agencies' continued inability to adequately manage these populations to attain AMLs presents an urgent concern for management policy and practice; and

WHEREAS, a pragmatic shift in United States' wild horse and burro management policy is prudent and necessary to help address this crisis and achieve protection of wild horses and burros in manageable numbers; and

WHEREAS, policy tools must be implemented to authorize equine domestic slaughter, to allow horse and burro meat inspection and sale and to facilitate the humane transport of wild horses and burros both domestically and to other countries or sovereigns for slaughter.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING:

Section 1.  That the Legislature of the State of Wyoming requests the United States Congress to enact legislation and make other necessary policy changes to allow federal land management agencies and agency partners to implement best management practices for wild horses and burros by allowing for equine slaughter and processing for shipment to accommodating markets within or outside the United States.

Section 2.  That the Legislature of the State of Wyoming requests the United States Congress to enact legislation and make other necessary policy changes to allow federal land management agencies and agency partners to work with states and Indian tribes with respect to the management, gathering and disposition of wild horses and burros.

Section 3.  That the Legislature of the State of Wyoming requests the United States Congress to enact legislation and make other necessary policy changes to remove impediments to the disposition of gathered wild horses and burros, including equine slaughter and processing.

Section 4.  That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, to the Secretary of the Interior and to the Wyoming Congressional Delegation.