When a Headline Tells Only Part of the Story, the Horses Pay the Price

As the founder and president of an equine rescue, I want to be absolutely clear: I am opposed to any system that allows America’s wild horses and burros to end up in the slaughter pipeline. These animals deserve protection, accountability, and responsible management. Anyone who exploits them for profit should face consequences.

That is precisely why a recent headline caught my attention:

“Under Trump, Protected Wild Horses Are Going to Slaughter.”

The problem described in the article is real and deserves attention. But the framing suggests that this crisis began with, or belongs uniquely to, the current administration.

It did not.

The federal government’s failure to consistently protect wild horses from slaughter stretches back more than 40 years and crosses multiple presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic.

Here is the history that headline leaves out.

Under President Ronald Reagan: Between 1984 and 1988, the Bureau of Land Management placed approximately 20,000 wild horses with large-scale adopters through a program that waived adoption fees. Federal auditors later reported that the program resulted in the inhumane treatment and eventual slaughter of thousands of horses. (Government Accountability Office, 1991)

Under President George W. Bush: Congress passed the 2004 Burns Amendment, creating the modern sale authority that allows the BLM to sell horses older than 10 or those unsuccessfully offered for adoption at least 3 times. The government briefly suspended the sales program in 2005 after learning that some horses had been slaughtered, then restarted it with additional restrictions. (Government Accountability Office, 2008)

Under President Barack Obama: A federal inspector general investigated livestock trader Tom Davis, who purchased approximately 1,700 BLM horses between 2008 and 2012. Most of those purchases occurred during the Obama administration. Davis admitted to investigators that most of the horses ultimately went to slaughter, despite representing that they were going to good homes. (Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General)

Under President Donald Trump’s first Administration: the BLM introduced its Adoption Incentive Program in 2019, offering adopters $1,000 to take in eligible wild horses and burros. Critics later raised concerns that some participants collected the payments and subsequently sent horses into auctions connected to the slaughter pipeline. (Bureau of Land Management, 2020)

Under President Joe Biden: animal welfare organizations formally warned Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in May 2021 about alleged abuses in the same adoption program and requested its suspension. The program nevertheless continued. In 2024, the BLM published an article celebrating its fifth anniversary and reporting that more than 17,000 horses and burros had been adopted through it. That number represents total adoptions, not the number of animals sent to slaughter. Animal welfare organizations’ 2021 letter (Bureau of Land Management, 2024)

Under President Donald Trump’s current Administration:A federal court order ended the Adoption Incentive Program in March 2025. However, concerns remain about the separate sale-authority program and whether buyers are exploiting weak oversight after ownership transfers. The current administration deserves scrutiny and accountability for whatever is happening on its watch. Bureau of Land Management: Adoption Incentive Program, (Bureau of Land Management: Sales Program)

The point is simple: A headline can be technically accurate while still creating a misleading impression.

Yes, horses may be entering the slaughter pipeline under Trump. They also entered it under previous administrations. The mechanisms have changed over time, but the underlying failures have persisted.

A more complete headline might read:

“𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀, 𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.”

That framing does not excuse the current administration. It provides the context necessary to understand the actual problem.

When coverage reduces a longstanding animal welfare crisis to a single president, the conversation becomes partisan. People focus on defending or attacking a politician instead of asking why federal safeguards repeatedly fail and what must change to protect these horses.

As someone who works in equine rescue, I care far less about which party occupies the White House than whether the animals entrusted to our government are safe.

We should demand stronger buyer screening, meaningful enforcement, transparent tracking, consequences for repeat offenders, and lasting protections that do not disappear when political leadership changes.

And we should expect reporting that tells the whole story.

The horses do not care whether the person responsible has an R or a D after their name. They need us to care enough to hold everyone accountable.