United States of America

Report: US Sold 3,700 Wild Mustangs, Some Tracked to Slaughter

Are government agencies secretly sending mustangs to slaughter or responsibly managing herds to protect the land?

15 hours ago·Updated 4 hours ago

Report: US Sold 3,700 Wild Mustangs, Some Tracked to Slaughter

Story

Above: Wild horses are seen along the lower Salt River in Mesa, Arizona, on April 12. Image credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Trump's BLM is quietly funneling federally protected mustangs into the slaughter pipeline by selling them for as little as $25 to unvetted buyers who flip them to slaughterhouses abroad. Sales more than doubled to 3,700 horses in 2025, and livestock records show branded mustangs on trucks bound for Canadian slaughter plants. Congress must pass the SAFE Act before this government-subsidized destruction of America's wild horses goes any further.

Humane World Action Fund on X The New York Times Humane World for Animals

Pro-Trump narrative

The BLM's policy has never been to send wild horses to slaughter — buyers sign contracts prohibiting it, and the agency remains committed to placing animals in good homes. Without active management, wild horse populations can surge nearly 20% annually, causing overgrazing, starvation and land degradation that harms the herds themselves. Responsible roundups and sales are legally mandated tools to maintain ecological balance, not evidence of a government conspiracy against mustangs.

Hindustan Times U.S. Bureau of Land Management