Kate MacDonald-Special to the Sun

Wild horses and burros living free on public lands have been protected from slaughter by federal law since 1971 - but that was suddenly changed by a rider included in the massive appropriations bill signed into law last month by President George W. Bush.

The rider was introduced by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and mandates the sale, without restrictions, of some categories of wild horses. Horses 10 years or older, and those not adopted after three tries, will be sold at public auction - and many, if not most, will be sold to slaughterhouses. Their meat is destined for the dinner tables of France, Belgium and Japan, where it is considered a delicacy.

The wild horses at risk of immediate slaughter are the 8,400 living in long-term Bureau of Land Management facilities.

"It's a death sentence," said Jill Starr, president of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue. "My feeling is, our country's wild horses are doomed."Lifesavers, which operates in Lancaster, Calif., recently purchased 160 acres in Sand Canyon. When the land is fenced, it will be a sanctuary for wild horses.

Horse advocates across the country are up in arms over the new legislation. They say the rider (an addition to a legislative bill that usually has little relevance to the main issue) was inserted into the 3,300-page spending bill at the 11th hour. They call the method of amending the 1971 legislation protecting the wild herds "sneaky" and "surreptitious."

"From all the information I've seen, it was intentional," Starr said. "(Sen. Burns) knew what he was doing, slipping it in at the last minute. Most of Congress probably never read that part. I'm real sure that was a strategy."

The move to insert the legislation originated with "a conversation among a host of Western congressmen," according to Burns's office.

When asked why the senator felt this legislation did not require or deserve public debate, a spokesman for Burns said, "I don't know the answer to that. It has been an on-going problem that was getting no attention. To get public comment would have taken a long time and required hearings. Senator Burns felt that the issue was important enough to the lifestyle of the West and to the animals themselves."

America's wild horses and burros have been under federal protection since Velma Johnston (known as Wild Horse Annie) spearheaded the movement that led to the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Hers was a grass roots campaign to stop slaughter of America's wild horses and protect them permanently, and included thousands of school children across the United States. The issue inspired more mail to Congress than on any other issue to date with the exception of the Vietnam war, according to the American Horse Defense Fund.

The BLM determines appropriate herd sizes and removes excess animals as a management strategy to maintain sustainability. But it is far from its management goals. According to BLM reports, there are currently about 36,000 wild horses and burros occupying public land in 10 Western states; however, BLM maintains the ranges can support only 26,650 wild horses. The majority of wild horses and burros, numbering almost 19,000, are in Nevada on over 22 million acres of land. By contrast, California has only 4,129 animals, according to the 2004 data from the BLM. About 200 wild horses roam the China Lake Naval Weapons Station near Ridgecrest and 800 - 1,000 burros are scattered throughout the desert. New Mexico and Montana have, respectively, only 115 and 161 mustangs left. Each herd area has a more-or-less actual count of animals, and a target number, called the AML (appropriate management level). California is the only state with wild horses that has almost achieved the target numbers.