Record / E-2026-0021
FY2026 budget request omits ban on destroying healthy wild horses as BLM sales double
The administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request, released May 30, 2025, omitted the longstanding appropriations provisions that bar the Bureau of Land Management from destroying healthy wild horses and burros or selling them for processing into commercial products. Congress declined the change and retained both provisions in Public Law 119-74, signed January 23, 2026. BLM data show sales of wild horses and burros rose from 1,509 in fiscal year 2024 to 3,718 in fiscal year 2025, while removals fell from 16,140 to 7,853. On August 20, 2026, the New York Times reported, citing livestock inspection records, that several hundred horses sold through the BLM sale program later moved toward slaughter plants in Canada.
Context
This entry is marked verified_modified because the popular claim that mustangs are being gathered for slaughter is not supported: no source connects roundups to slaughter, removals fell by half from fiscal year 2024 to 2025, and no law authorizing slaughter passed. Roundups long predate this administration, the sale program dates to the 2004 Burns amendment, and sold horses reaching kill buyers was documented before 2025. The budget request framed the change as cost containment for a holding system costing about 100 million dollars per year. The New York Times finding that sold horses moved toward slaughter plants is single-source, rests on inspection records and auction appearances rather than published ownership documents, and is cited here through its coverage by Newsweek and Snopes because the article itself could not be archived at intake. The retention of the provisions in Public Law 119-74 rests on CRS and independent secondary accounts; the statute proviso text has not yet been quoted directly.
Response on the record
The Bureau of Land Management states on its program data page that it has been and remains the policy of the BLM to not sell or send any wild horses or burros to slaughterhouses or to kill buyers, and told Newsweek that violations are reviewed and referred to law enforcement when appropriate.
Sources
The document identifier is the citation. The URL is a resolution mechanism, and the archived copy is what the citation resolves to when the live link dies.
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BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Data
BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Data, FY2024 and FY2025 tables
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CRS IF11060, Wild Horse and Burro Management: Overview of Costs
CRS In Focus IF11060, updated January 15, 2026
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Public Law 119-74, Division C, Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026
Public Law 119-74, H.R. 6938, enacted January 23, 2026
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Federal Wild Horse Sales Surge Under Trump Amid Slaughter Concerns, Newsweek
Newsweek, Steve Mollman, August 20, 2026
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Is Trump admin allowing sale of protected wild horses to slaughterhouses, Snopes
Snopes, August 21, 2026