HOLDING FACILITIES
Once mustangs are rounded up, they are trucked to holding facilities. There the colts are gelded and the horses are put up for adoption. The first fee for a mustang is $125, but afterward it is just a flat $25 fee per horse. In 2004 Senator Conrad Burns slipped an amendment into the 2005 Omnibus Appropriation Bill. The bill took away some of the wild mustangs' protection. According to the amendment, mustangs and burros over 10 years of age or animals not adopted in three attempts can be sold with 'no restriction'. This means the BLM is allowed to send horses and burros to slaughterhouses.
Many horses that are not adopted end up in long-term holding facilities, or pens. There are currently more than 36,000 mustangs in holding facilities.The average lifespan of a horse in a holding facility is between 10-15 years. Mustangs without injury in the wild can live to be 15-20 years old. The horses in holding pens live in very poor conditions and herds are seperated from one another, which causes them a high amount of stress. Stallions often fight when they are kept in close quarters. Foals may be seperated from their mothers or trampled.The BLM will euthanize horses with physical defects that have thrived for years in the wild. For example, in 2007 eight club-footed horses between the ages of two and ten where euthanized by the BLM.
Many horses that are not adopted end up in long-term holding facilities, or pens. There are currently more than 36,000 mustangs in holding facilities.The average lifespan of a horse in a holding facility is between 10-15 years. Mustangs without injury in the wild can live to be 15-20 years old. The horses in holding pens live in very poor conditions and herds are seperated from one another, which causes them a high amount of stress. Stallions often fight when they are kept in close quarters. Foals may be seperated from their mothers or trampled.The BLM will euthanize horses with physical defects that have thrived for years in the wild. For example, in 2007 eight club-footed horses between the ages of two and ten where euthanized by the BLM.