KERRVILLE, Texas – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is hosting a wild horse and burro adoption event in Kerrville in November.
According to the federal agency, 120 wild horses and burros will be available for adoption during the event, which will take place Nov. 5-6 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, located at 3785 TX-27.
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The event will start at 10 a.m., with adoptions taking place from noon to 6 p.m. Adoptions will also take place from 8 a.m. to noon on Nov. 6.
BLM officials are offering up to $1,000 to citizens who adopt a while horse or burro in an effort to find good homes for the animals. The incentive will be offered for every animal available for adoption in Kerrville as part of the Adoption Incentive Program.
To help ensure that the animals are going to good homes, BLM officials will conduct inspections of all the wild horses and burros adopted at the event within six months of the adoption date.
The animals are adult and yearling horses and burros that once roamed free on public lands in the West.
Gus Warr of the BLM has previously said that the government spends approximately $2,000 a year to hold and care for a wild horse. He estimated that the BLM spends $50 million of its $80 million dollar budget on off-range holding costs for the mustangs they gather.
Excess animals are periodically removed from the range in order to maintain healthy herds and to protect other rangeland resources.
Adoption applications will be approved on-site. In order to qualify, adopters must be at least 18 years old with no prior history of animal abuse.
Qualified homes must have a minimum of 400 square feet of corral space per animal, with access to food, water and shelter.
A six-foot corral fence is required for adult horses, five feet for yearlings and four-and-a-half feet for burros, BLM officials said.
All animals must be loaded in covered, stock-type trailers with swing gates and sturdy walls and floors.
To date, the BLM has placed more than 280,000 wild animals in approved homes across the U.S. since 1971.