Sponsors (19)
The bill shifts wild horse and burro management away from aircraft toward more humane, transparent, and potentially cost-saving approaches for animal welfare and oversight, but it risks higher short-term ground-management costs, slower population reductions, and added burdens for land managers and agencies.
Taxpayers, rural communities, and wild horses/burros will see fewer helicopter and fixed-wing roundups, reducing animal injuries/deaths and likely lowering costly aircraft contract spending over time.
Taxpayers and the public will gain greater transparency because gathers using aircraft must record operations and footage must be included in agency roundup reports.
Rural communities and wild horses/burros could benefit from a shift toward fertility-control and other non-aircraft management approaches that are more humane and reduce chase-related stress and injury.
Taxpayers, local governments, and land managers may face higher on-the-ground management costs, new training, and equipment needs if aerial roundup methods are curtailed.
Private ranchers, rural communities, and ecosystems could experience prolonged grazing competition and range impacts because fertility treatments and non-aircraft methods may take longer to reduce herd sizes.
Ranchers and land managers may have increased operational difficulty and logistical burdens managing overpopulated herds without aerial gather methods.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Introduced July 10, 2025 by Alice Costandina Titus · Last progress July 10, 2025
Prohibits long‑term use of helicopters and fixed‑wing aircraft for capturing wild free‑roaming horses and burros on public lands by directing the Department of the Interior to phase out aircraft use or contracts over a two‑year period after enactment. Requires any remaining aircraft use for gathers to record operations on camera and to make that footage part of the agency report, and directs the Government Accountability Office to report within one year on humane alternatives, job impacts, and aircraft effects on herds. Also includes congressional findings documenting costs and low prior use of fertility‑control programs and asserts that eliminating helicopters would improve animal welfare and reduce taxpayer costs; the bill does not appropriate funds or create new authorization of spending.