Have you always dreamed of adopting a wild horse? If so, now's your chance. The U.S. government is offering $1,000 to anyone willing to adopt an untrained horse or burro.
The goal of the program is to provide homes to the untrained animals and combat overpopulation on American rangelands. The Adoption Incentive Program was launched by the Bureau of Land Management, a department within the U.S. Department of the Interior.
According to the Bureau of Land Management website, the program seeks to "reduce BLM's recurring costs to care for unadopted and untrained wild horses and burros while helping to enable the BLM to confront a growing over-population of wild horses and burros on fragile public rangelands."
According to a statement from the federal program, the BLM currently cares for about 50,000 unadopted and unsold animals each year.
Adopters will receive $500 within 60 days of adoption of an untrained wild horse or burro and another $500 within 60 days of obtaining a title for the animal.
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More than 4,600 wild horses and burros found good homes last year! To help find even more homes this year, we?re now offering up to $1,000 to adopt your own untrained wild horse or burro. Learn more: https://t.co/qoEY2xyl0i pic.twitter.com/ozWOfsjWbp
— BLM WHB Program (@BLMWHB) March 12, 2019
The adoption program incentive is available for all eligible untrained animals, including those at BLM facilities. A $25 fee will be charged at the time of adoption.
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was signed into law in 1971. The act protects "unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands in the United States."
This article was originally published in March of 2019.
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