They shoot horses, too: How the Trump administration enabled the slaughter of thousands of wild horses - in violation of the law
They are protected by law and considered one of the symbols of wild nature in the USA, but thousands of wild horses have been sold in the last year to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. The demand for horse meat outside the USA and the attempt to reduce the spreading population have led unscrupulous traders to bypass guidelines and embark on a mass liquidation operation.
For 68 wild horses that lived in the Idaho plains, the journey that began one morning last March came to an end within just 24 hours: they were bought for 25 dollars per horse, transferred to Brandon Jones's pens in Ohio, and already the next morning were loaded onto a cattle truck on their way to slaughter.
A New York Times investigation revealed that this is just one herd of horses among many that have disappeared from the plains of the United States in the last year. From documents of the Bureau of Land Management in the United States, which is responsible for the protection of wild horses, it appears that thousands of additional horses were sold under the auspices of the Bureau, and their fate is identical to the fate of the 68 horses from Idaho.
Since the second entry of President Donald Trump into the White House, sales of wild horses in the United States, which were once considered a rare event and occurred a few times a year, have skyrocketed. In 2025 alone, Brandon Jones, that same trader from Ohio, purchased 500 horses from the Bureau of Land Management. In total, 3,700 horses were sold last year. When Jones was asked where or to whom he sold the horses, he refused to tell — and vehemently denied that they were sent to slaughter.
Selling horses and turning a blind eye: The administration's savings method
While the slaughter of wild horses in the United States is against the law, the Bureau of Land Management created a loophole in the law that allows buyers to purchase the wild horses cheaply — and from there to do with them as they please, when usually, the meaning is that these horses are sent to slaughter and the meat is sold outside the borders of the USA. Thus, for example, according to data revealed by the New York Times, many horses sold by the American administration found their way quickly to the Canadian side of the border — to giant slaughterhouses.
About 73 thousand wild horses reside in federal public lands in the plains of the western United States, where, by law, they are protected from hunting. Over the years, the American administration used to capture on average about 9,500 horses each year, and put them up for adoption. Only about half of them find a loving home, and the rest are transferred to feeding pens and pastures, which the Bureau calls a "holding system". Today, close to 60 thousand horses are held in these pens, at a cost of 100 million dollars — the vast majority of the Bureau's budget for horse care, which amounts to 142 million dollars in total, a thing that explains the Bureau's efforts to find additional solutions for the horses.
This is not the first time that the law under the Trump administration has led to a spike in sales of wild horses to slaughterhouses. In his first term, he led a program that offered people 1,000 dollars to adopt a wild horse, and led to similar results. "Project 2025", which is led by a conservative organization in the United States with many ties to President Trump and his administration, suggested that Congress "enact laws that will allow the Bureau of Land Management to get rid of the horses in a humane manner".
Last resort? The administration's attempts to reduce the horse population
Over the years, the Bureau has raised a variety of ideas for reducing the wild horse population, which also included the possibility of selling to slaughterhouses directly — and even killing them in gas chambers. The American Congress forbade the Bureau from carrying out these ideas. In the past, the Bureau used fertility control drugs, which are given to horses using a dart gun. But following the meager budget left to the Bureau for animal care, the use of the drug was stopped.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management in the United States can spend more than 3,000 dollars to capture a mustang horse and transfer it to the market, but they are sold at the low price of only 25 dollars. The price of a horse at a slaughterhouse, on the other hand, can reach the sum of up to 750 dollars, and the profit potential attracts buyers and encourages the business to develop. Thus, in fact, the body that is supposed to protect these wild animals subsidizes their destruction in practice. According to the Bureau's estimates, this sales method saved the administration 56 million dollars just in 2025.
How does it work?
How does the loophole in the law work that allows what wild animal protection organizations call a heavy punishment for horses? The Bureau presents documents that prove that the horse is not adoptable. Afterwards, the Bureau can put the horse up for sale. The purchaser cannot kill the horse by law, and is required to sign a document that obligates him not to slaughter the horse, or to sell it knowingly to someone who is interested in doing so — which leads to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
This sales pattern repeats itself not only in Ohio, in the pens of Brandon Jones. Organizations for wild horses have documented more than 250 mustangs that were purchased by the Bureau and sold to a third party during the last 12 months, and according to estimates, many others were never located. "It used to be rare to see a wild horse at an auction — and if there was a mustang there, it was old," said Claire Staples, director of a wildlife sanctuary in Oregon. "Today we are a huge number, most of them less than five years old."
The Bureau of Land Management in the United States did not answer the New York Times's question on the subject of sales and slaughter of the horses. Their only response was that it "remains committed to housing animals in good homes, protecting their welfare and fulfilling its responsibility on behalf of the American public."
