Wild horses and burros could be bought or sold for slaughter under a provision in the $388 billion spending bill that President Bush signed into law on Wednesday.
The new law lets the animals be sold, potentially for use as meat in foreign markets, if they are more than 10 years old or, if younger, after they have been offered unsuccessfully for adoption three times. It also requires any money from sales to go to the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management adoption program for wild horses and burros.
Sen. Conrad Burns, Republican, Montana., who sponsored the amendment to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, said he believed most horses would wind up being adopted, not slaughtered, but his intent was to spur the BLM to get serious about its adoption program.
"These animals live in poor conditions that often lead to their deaths, and without proper management this will continue to happen," Burns said Wednesday.
"And while their sale is a last resort, it is our hope that bringing this problem to light will motivate the federal agencies and horse advocates alike, and offer new opportunities to find these animals proper, caring homes," he said.

Ben oui, pauvres animaux, s'ils vivent en liberté ils sont malheureux... ils peuvent pogner des maladies ou même mourir! C'est bien mieux de les adopter pour qu'ils fassent des tours à des petits morveux ou qu'ils finissent (de toute façon) dans le poëlon! Allez, hop! Dans la casserole le canasson!