Thousands of mustangs that now roam the West would be moved to preserves in the Midwest and East under a new Interior Department plan to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday (Oct. 7) the plan would not require killing any wild horses. Interior Department officials had warned in recent months that slaughtering some of the 69,000 wild horses and burros under federal control might be necessary to combat rising costs of maintaining them