04/25/06 Wild Horse Assistance

04/25/06 Wild Horse Assistance

Wild horse long term care program. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The Bureau of Land management has been taking care of the nations lands for years and that includes thousands of wild horses and burros on public lands. Many of these animals are adopted out each year to qualified people who may now apply for some financial assistance. The Bureau of Land Management, Take Pride in America partnership, and Ford Motor Company has announced that more than $200,000 raised for the "Save the Mustangs" fund is ready for distribution to eligible wild horse and equine rescue groups to help place thousands of mustangs into private, long-term care. Jeff Rawson is the chief of BLM`s Wild Horse and Burro program. RAWSON: What the Save the Mustangs Fund will do is after purchasing the animals; they can submit their request into the Save the Mustangs Fund for the assistance of a hundred dollars per animal that they purchase from us. This is being offered to horse rescue groups. The majority of these groups, what they`re doing is taking the animals and will then look for other people to take them, adopt them and provide good homes for them. Letters have been sent to more than 300 rescue organizations urging them to buy saleable wild horses and to apply for financial assistance to help them with the long-term care of the animals. BLM Director Kathleen Clarke hopes more partners will step up as Ford has. CLARKE: We just are excited to have these partnerships develop, we`re grateful for Ford Motor Company and stepping up to the plate and helping raise the money to support these animals and we need good partners. We want to provide good long term care for these horses, allow these animals to live out their lives in dignity with the assurance that they`ll be cared for. Most horses removed from the range go through an adoption program. Those that do not meet adoption requirements or are passed over are then offered up for sale with buyers meeting requirements that guarantee that the horse will be properly cared for. Justin Hall of Take Pride in America says their involvement in the programs makes sense because their charter is to protect America`s icons. HALL: One or our charters from the Take Pride in America program is to protect the historical and cultural icons of America. BLM, when the partnered with Ford on this, brought Take Pride in America in to help with the process of finding a correct means to get donations into the hands of individuals that would provide care for these horses. The BLM has determined that the public rangelands under its jurisdiction can support a free-roaming population of 28,000 wild horses and burros. More than 8,000 horses are available for sale. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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