A recent investigative on federally protected mustang horses that have gone wild has raised alarm.
Dave Phillips, reporting for the New York Times, revealed that the is selling protected wild horses for cheap to unverified buyers, and they are then ending up in slaughterhouses.
The report, done with , tracked protected wild horses after they left government custody. It found that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) legal loophole allowed the sale of 3,700 wild horses in 2025: more than double since Donald Trump took over at White House. There are concerns that many of the horses were sold to slaughterhouses, including some abroad.
The BLM prohibits the slaughter of wild horses and therefore allows their sale for cheap. But instead of being sold to homes where they could receive care, the report fears they are being slaughtered.
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Why The Sales Have Raised Slaughtering Concerns
The New York Times report notes around 9,500 wild mustangs are captured by the federal government every year, spending up to $3000 for each. But the government is taking them to the market and selling them to for as cheap as $25, thanks to the legal loophole.
It details that the BLM is not verifying the buyers before making the sales. When a mustang is sold for slaughter, it usually fetches around $750, the report reveals. The purchase of the horses for a little around $25 represents immense potential for profit. It “keeps buyers coming,” the report states.
Are The Horses Really Going To Slaughter Houses?
Following up on concerns that the horses might end up at slaughterhouses, the NYT reporter traced what happened to some of the wild horses sold from federal custody. It tracked a herd of horses sold to an -based buyer for $25 each.
It was revealed that the horses were packed on trailers and were trucked to a livestock trader named Brandon Jones. “A day later, two double-decker cattle trucks pulled up at midnight, loaded the mustangs and quickly drove off into the night,” Dave Phillips writes in the report. “From there the mustangs disappeared.”
It states that the horses sold to Brandon Jones were never publicly auctioned. When Jones was confronted by Philipps, he refused to reveal what happened to them.
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BLM Dismisses Concerns
The Bureau of Land Management did not specifically respond to the cases mentioned in the New York Times report. In a statement to the outlet, the agency highlighted its commitment to “placing animals into good homes.” It said that “protecting their welfare and upholding its statutory responsibilities on behalf of the American public” is of utmost importance.
The report also reveals that more than 73,000 wild horses roam in protected public land, and the BLM collects around 9,500 of those every year. Half of them are sent for adoption, while the rest are maintained by the department. At present, the BLM holds more than 58,000 such horses, which costs the agency $100 million every year.
