PAULS VALLEY, Okla., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A special wild horse adoption event in Pauls Valley, Okla., should boost adoptions of mustangs and burros, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman said.
The economy is keeping people away from the regular mustang adoption days, BLM spokesman Paul McGuire told The Oklahoman. High hay and fuel prices make it expensive to feed and transport a horse.
"We have more horses coming off the range and the adoption program is not keeping pace," McGuire said. "That translates into a burden for taxpayers."
During the last scheduled adoption day, none of the people who came planned to take a horse home, so all of the mustangs brought into the adoption pens at the BLM adoption center in Pauls Valley were returned to the fields. The BLM scheduled and publicized the special adoption to keep that from happening again.
Adopting mustangs and burros preserves their breeds and keeps the wild population under control so there are not more animals than the land can support.
Adoption costs about $125.
