American Wild Horse Research Paper

AWHP.org infographic: http://wildhorsepreservation.org/issue
American Wild Horse Preservation Org https://youtu.be/OSE3DlQhz5g
BLM on Today Show: https://youtu.be/VQvNFE95RhY

Today, there are more American wild horses being held captured in facilities than currently in the wild. Since the 19th century, the number of wild horses free in the West have declined by 98%. The practices of removing American horses off public lands is decimating their numbers and raising taxpayer costs by $80,000,000 every fiscal year. Thousands of wild horses every year are being herded by helicopters and vehicles into holding pens. The ones who survive separation from their families, substandard veterinary care or handler abuse are stockpiled until they’re sold

According to the BLM’s most recent (2014) population estimate, there are only 8,394 burros remaining in the entire West.
The crux of the matter is the culpability of Big Cattle, which claims the wild horses and burros are nuisances on public land, though cattle drastically outnumber wild horses and burros. 82.5% (240 million acres) of public land are leased to private companies for grazing - only 17.5% is allotted to be shared with wild horses, and less and less is being “shared” with the wild horses every day.

As if aligning with Big Cattle, government agencies responsible for prioritizing private interests over the protection of public lands and its wildlife (Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Fish and Game) are claiming that wild horses are now more feral than wild and that they are overpopulating public lands, though their numbers have dropped to over ninety percent in the last century. In fact, the population of horses and burros are so

Cothran believes that the minimum size for both wild horse and burro herds is between 150-200 animals. Within a herd this size, about 100 animals will be of breeding age. Of those 100, approximately 50 animals would comprise the genetic effective population size. That is, these 50 animals are those that are actually contributing their genes to the next generation. Dr. Cothran has stated that 50 is the absolute minimum number. A higher number would decrease the chances for inbreeding; the higher the number, the lower the occurrence of inbreeding.
In June 2014, nonprofit organizations and friends of wild horse preservation petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the animals as an endangered species so as to protect them from cattlemen who would prefer the public lands be used for for grazing herds than those “pesty” wild horses (though the cattle population drastically outnumbers wild horses). The petition argued that 40% of America's wild horses’ habitat had been lost since President Nixon passed the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act in 1971 which ironically