Under Trump, protected wild horses are going to slaughter

While the BLM can’t kill wild horses, it can use a series of bureaucratic maneuvers and financial transactions to transform them on paper into domestic livestock, stripping their legal protections.

August 25, 2026 11:59 AM ET The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has quietly increased sales of federally protected wild horses, some of which end up in a complex pipeline that leads straight to a foreign slaughterhouse, according to a New York Times investigation published Aug. 20. Under President Donald Trump’s a

Wild horse roundups are underway across the West as advocates warn thousands of animals risk long-term captivity and slaughter.