PRIVATE CARE PLACEMENT

Private Care PlacementPrivate Care Placement

BLM is motivated to place WHB with private citizens and organizations that will responsibly care for their welfare. Lifetime long-term holding costs for wild horses removed from the range can be in the tens of thousands of dollars per animal. Research that helps the BLM identify new and innovative ways to place off-range animals into private care can help connect animals with responsible owners can potentially lead to long-term cost savings. The BLM contracted for external research on improving placement (Great Lakes Marketing Research 2016). A retrospective analysis of animals placed by the BLM identified that size and color are attributes that make BLM wild horses more or less likely to be placed into private care (Bender and Stowe 2020).

BLM contact: Amy Ruhs, HQ262 Private Care Placement Coordinator

Key Papers

Bender, K., and C.J. Stowe. 2019. Home off the range: the role of wild horse internet adoptions in informing sustainable western United State rangeland management. Sustainability 12:279.

Great Lakes Marketing Research. 2016. Wild Horse and Burro Program GLM 15112 Demand and Private Placement Research. Final Report to the BLM.