AWHC says federal pipeline puts America’s wild horses at risk

A new investigation published by The New York Times reveals how federally protected wild horses and burros were placed at risk after being sold through the Bureau of Land Management’s Sale Authority Program.

What happened was not simply the work of a few bad actors. It was the foreseeable result of a federal system under pressure to move wild horses and burros out of overcrowded holding facilities as quickly and cheaply as possible.

The article follows months of investigation by The New York Times. Throughout that process, AWHC worked with reporter David Philipps by collecting and analyzing data, reviewing records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, tracing Sale Authority transactions, and sharing evidence that helped bring this federal pipeline into public view.

Click here to read the New York Times investigation.

What is sale authority?
Sale Authority was created through a 2004 amendment to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. It requires the BLM to sell certain wild horses and burros “without limitation” if they are at least 10 years old or have been offered unsuccessfully for adoption three times.

Unlike adoption, ownership transfers immediately when an animal is sold. From that moment, the horse or burro is no longer protected under federal law, and the BLM says it has no legal authority to routinely monitor or recover the animal.

That immediate transfer of ownership creates a dangerous gap in protection. Sold animals can legally enter secondary markets, including auctions and export channels, creating an indirect pathway to slaughter even if the BLM does not knowingly sell them for that purpose.

Sale Authority was created as a narrow tool for older, unadoptable horses. It is now increasingly being promoted as a way to move animals out of federal holding and reduce government costs.

The people who refused to look away
We are deeply grateful to the rescuers, sanctuaries, investigators, AWHC volunteers, and advocates who tracked freeze marks, followed horses through online sales and auctions, opened their facilities, provided critical records and carried an extraordinary financial and emotional burden to save these animals.

Their work and voices made the consequences of this program impossible to ignore.

This outcome belongs to the people who found these horses, documented what was happening, and refused to look away. AWHC’s responsibility is to turn that evidence into national accountability, legal action, and lasting policy reform.

New safeguards are a start, not a solution
In July, the BLM revised its Sale Authority Program and Bill of Sale.

The agency raised the standard minimum price to $125, strengthened purchaser certifications, and expressly prohibited purchasers from knowingly, recklessly or negligently transferring animals to kill pens, commercial processors, or intermediaries supplying horses for slaughter.

The BLM also established a centralized eligibility system intended to prevent people who violate the program’s terms from purchasing additional animals through other offices or states. Suspected violations may be referred to federal law enforcement, and documented violators may be permanently barred from participating in the program.

These changes are meaningful, but they are not accountability and they do not repair the underlying system that created this crisis.

The BLM still acknowledges that it does not routinely track animals after sale. Because federal jurisdiction ends as soon as ownership transfers, the agency may not know that a horse or burro has entered the slaughter pipeline unless someone else finds the animal and reports it.

Stronger paperwork cannot substitute for meaningful due diligence, traceability, enforcement, and continued protection.

This is a systemic failure
First, the government paid people through the Adoption Incentive Program to take wild horses and burros, some of whom entered the slaughter pipeline after title transferred. AWHC investigated that program, helped expose its consequences, and successfully challenged it in federal court. The BLM discontinued the incentive program in March 2025.

Now, as the government faces overcrowded holding facilities and more than $100 million in annual holding costs, Sale Authority has become another rapid way to move animals out of federal custody while 14,000 more wild horses are being rounded up this season.

This cannot become a recurring cycle in which one dangerous outlet is closed only for another to expand.

The answer is not a better conveyor belt out of holding. It is fewer removals, humane on-range management, enforceable protections, and genuine accountability throughout every placement.

What AWHC is demanding
AWHC is calling for:
• An immediate, independent audit of recent individual and group Sale Authority transactions.
• Meaningful purchaser screening before sale, not merely self-certification.
• A traceability and compliance system that follows horses and burros after sale.
• Public reporting on sale volume, animal ages, facilities, purchaser types, and group sales.
• Enforcement against false statements and violations, including referrals to federal law enforcement.
• A suspension of high-volume group sales until effective safeguards and auditing are operational.
• Congressional reform of the Burns Amendment and passage of the SAFE Act.
• A shift from costly roundups and holding toward fertility control and humane, on-range management.

AWHC is evaluating all legal avenues.