Project 2025 and Republicans have their politics set on eliminating an icon of the American West.
William Perry Pendley was acting director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) when President Donald Trump held office from 2016 to 2020. In three paragraphs of Project 2025’s nearly 1,000 pages, Pendley states that wild horses are overrunning rangelands in the West. He said Congress should let the BLM “dispose humanely” of some of the horses.
Thoroughbred Daily News brought attention to the plight of America’s wild horses in the April headline “Under Project 2025, Will the Nation’s Wild Horses be Safe?” Polls reveal that public support for the horses remains strong. Lawmakers in Congress recently formed a new caucus: Wild Horse Caucus to promote “humane policies” in caring for and managing the wild horses.
While Project 2025 does not provide details, the intent is for the federal government to eradicate a large portion of the nation’s population of wild horses.
The presence of the estimated 73,000 wild horses on public land has created debate in state and national politics for several decades, especially since the popularity of Hollywood’s western movies in the 1930s until the 1960s.
The BLM spent $153 million in 2024 on caring for and managing the horses, but is prohibited from euthanizing them.
Advocates for the wild horses allege that overpopulation is exaggerated. Four advocates met with Department of Government Efficiency staff at the Interior Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
“You would hope that, somewhere, someone in DOGE would see this archaic, inhumane way that we round up horses and say, ‘This is truly ridiculous,’” advocate Chris Kman said. She lobbied to prevent 200 horses from being removed from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in 2024.
DOGE aide Matt Luby did not confirm or deny that the Project 2025 proposal is under consideration in regards to the wild horses.
Horse Plus Humane Society lobbyist Britta Hesla told the Journal that Luby’s questions for advocates “felt like he had his mind made up.’”
Hesla and other advocates assured the Journal they will continue to fight for the horses.
“If they go through with this, it’s going to be war,” Hesla said.
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Rebecca Barnabi
