Due to recently enacted legislation, the Bureau of Land Management is now authorized to sell wild horses that live on federal lands. If there are no takers, some of the horses will be sold to slaghterhouses. This new policy has many horse-lovers upset, according to this report in the Washington Post.

From the Post's coverage, it does not seem many environmental groups have engaged the issue. This shouldn't surprise. While many romanticize the wild horses that roam the western plains, these steeds are not indigenous to western lands. All of the horses in question are descended from foreign stock. In other words they are "exotics" or, if you prefer, "alien" or "invasive species." So there is no reason why mainstream environmental groups would oppose their removal from federal lands. To do so would contradict their stated preference for restoring and maintaining the "natural" condition of undeveloped lands.