Estimates indicate that at the beginning of the twentieth century over two million wild horses roamed free in the western United States. However, having no protection from their main predator, humans, by the 1970s their numbers had fallen to less than thirty thousand. In 1971, after massive public uproar, Congress unanimously enacted the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, characterizing wild horses and burros as national treasures and providing for their protection. “Congress finds and declares that wild horses and burros at large are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; who contribute to the diversity of life within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are rapidly disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that free-roaming wild horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to do so they are to be considered, in the area in which they are currently located, as an integral part of the natural system of public lands”. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been tasked with carrying out the Act Project and is tasked with managing the herds of wild horses and burros. As a result, BLM's management of wild horse herds has been strongly criticized by animal rights activists, horse advocates, the news media, and members of Congress. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against BLM regarding their management practices and their appalling wild roundups. However, the BLM continues unhindered with the controversial issue of wild horse roundups, which have resulted in the death and injury of many wild horses and burros. The vast majority of these round... middle of paper... and donkeys remain in their rightful natural habitat. Wild horses do not belong in BLM horse prisons. Horses have a close-knit unit in the wild, as they are protected by a stallion and guided to waterholes by a lead mare. These units are destroyed when they are rounded up and placed in BLM holding pens. They belong to the place they were born for, to the wild nature. The time is ripe for the American public to stand up and demand an end to the callous treatment of one of the last remaining icons before it is too late. Works Cited Title 16 USC § 1331-1340. THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT, December 15, 1971 Alternate Citation: Public Law 92-195; 85 Statistics. 649 (GPO) U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Bureau of Land Management: Effective Long-Term Options Needed to Manage Unadoptable Wild Horses,” (GAO-08-989) October 9, 2008