Wild horses and burros that are eligible for slaughter had a victory on May 19 when the appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior 2006 budget (H.R. 2361) passed the House of Representatives.

Among hundreds of lines of text outlining the 2006 budget for the department, including funding for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Wild Horse and Burro program, was Section 437 stating: “None of the funds made available in this act may be used for the sale or slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros.”

In essence, this means that for any horses on which the BLM spends money–for capture, feeding, or care–the BLM is responsible for them not going to slaughter or they risk losing all their funding.

At the end of the legislative day at 7:35 p.m., the amendment was passed with 246 yeas and 159 nays.

If the appropriations bill passes the Senate and is signed by the President, wild horses and burros that might end up in the slaughterhouse will be protected from that fate only during 2006. Rahall also is the lead sponsor of H.R. 297, legislation that would offer permanent protection to wild horses and burros and repeal the December 2004 legislation that currently allows wild horses and burros over the age of 10, or that have not been adopted successfully within three tries, to be sold at public auction. H.R. 297 has not yet passed the House. At least 41 wild horses have been slaughtered since the 2004 amendment passed