House Leader Opposes Proposal to Euthanize Wild Horses - 8 News NOW

House Leader Opposes Proposal to Euthanize Wild Horses

Updated:

A House leader has come out against a federal proposal to euthanize wild horses and asked a federal agency to delay a decision on the animals' fate.

Congressman Nick Rahall is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

The West Virginia Democrat says the country has a responsibility to preserve the "icons of the American West" for future generations.

He urged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to refrain from action until after the scheduled September release of a General Accountability Office report on the agency's management of wild horses.

The BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board in September is scheduled to consider alternatives to deal with horses' surplus numbers, including the euthanasia proposal.

BLM spokeswoman Celia Boddington says the agency had hoped to reach a decision by Sept. 30, but now has no exact time table for one.

Agency officials have said they're faced with tough choices because wild horses have overpopulated public lands in the West and they no longer can afford to care for the number of animals that have been rounded up.
   
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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