Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Abstract: In recent years, the Bureau of Land Managements (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Management
program costs have increased dramatically due to a rise in the number of animals removed from public lands
coupled with significantly decreased adoption rates. To assist with development and implementation of effective,
cost-containing management programs, a robust economic model to project the costs and optimize outcomes of
various management scenarios was created. For example, preliminary demonstration model runs show that by
gradually replacing removal-only programs with contraception-and-removal programs on one hypothetical
Herd Management Area (HMA), the BLM could save about US$8 million over 12 years while maintaining an area
target population of 874 horses. Because the BLM estimates that more than 38,000 wild horses roam on 179
HMAs in the United States, the use of this economic model could result in a cost-savings of tens of millions of
dollars if applied broadly across all HMAs.
Key words: Bureau of Land Management, economic model, Equus caballus, fertility control, porcine zona
pellucida, wild horses.
BRIEF COMMUNICATION
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act of 1971 (Public Law 92195)13, as amended,
directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
to manage wild horse herds by setting appropriate management levels (AMLs). AMLs are
estimates of the optimum number of wild horses
which results in a thriving natural ecologic
balance and avoids deterioration of the range
for each Herd Management Area (HMA). As of
February 2012, the BLM estimates that approximately 37,300 wild horses and burros (31,500
horses and 5,800 burros) exist on 179 HMAs that
comprise 31.6 million acres of public lands, of
which 26.9 million are under BLM management.10
Herds can grow at an average rate of 20%
annually.2,3,4 When herd populations exceed established AMLs, the BLM conducts roundups to
remove excess animals from HMAs, and roundups
occur every 35 yr to ensure BLM complies with
the requirements of the amended act. Removed
animals are transported to long-term government
holding pastures in the Midwest where they are
From American Economics Group, Inc., 6512 Lakeview
Drive, Falls Church, Virginia 22041, USA (de Seve); and
from The Humane Society of the United States, 700
Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879, USA
(Boyles Grifn). Correspondence should be directed to Ms.
Boyles Grifn (sboyles@humanesociety.org).
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S35
S36
Figure 1. Example economic model output for a hypothetical Herd Management Area (HMA) with a target
management population of 874 animals. The model simulates the difference in population growth rates over a 12yr period when no management is conducted on the HMA versus (a) removal-only and (b) contraception-andremovals at years 3, 7, and 11.
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Table I. Example of economic model output results of 12-yr contraception-and-removals versus removalsonly scenarios.
Removals only
Change (%)
798
910
874
4.1
$2,435,523
$5,560,426
$7,995,949
$5,852,135
1,790
982
874
12.4
$2,634,579
$10,694,712
$13,329,290
$9,314,090
55.4
7.3
7.6
48.0
40.0
37.2
LITERATURE CITED
1. Bartholow, J. M. 2008. Economic benefit of
fertility control in wild horse populations. J. Wildl.
Manage. 71: 28112819.
2. Eberhardt, L. L., A. K. Majorowicz, and J. A.
Wilcox. 1982. Apparent rates of increase for two feral
horse herds. J. Wildl. Manage. 46: 367374.
3. Garrott, R. A., T. C. Eagle, and E. D. Plotka. 1991.
Age-specific reproduction in feral horses. Can. J. Zool.
69: 738743.