\n<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM) controversial cash incentive adoption program has faced a legal defeat in court in what is being described by advocates as a \u201clandmark victory\u201d for wild horse protection.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2019, the BLM\u2019s Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) pays individuals $1,000 to adopt wild horses and burros in an effort to help remove the animals from public lands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But just a few years later in 2022, an extensive report documented how the scheme had become a \u201cpipeline to slaughter\u201d for many of these federally-protected animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Released by advocacy group the American Wild Horse Campaign, the investigation<\/span><\/a> found that the AIP is \u201croutinely\u201d being defrauded by adopters who, after pocketing the taxpayer-funded cash incentives, then quickly sent their adopted wild horses and burros to livestock auctions. Livestock auctions are commonly-known as \u2018kill pens\u2019.<\/p>\n The findings were mirrored in a widely publicized expos\u00e9 in The New York Times<\/span><\/a>, which included an example case study of a farmer whose family received at least $20,000 for adopting mustangs via the AIP program, but sold them \u201calmost as soon as he legally could.\u201d The animals were sold to a Texas livestock auction, known to attract so-called \u2018kill buyers\u2019.<\/p>\n Now after years of controversy, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado has overturned<\/span><\/a> the BLM\u2019s adoption program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n