SB 655

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AN ACT

RELATING TO ANIMALS; REQUIRING TESTS OF CONFORMATION, HISTORY

AND DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID, WHEN WILD HORSES ARE CAPTURED;

REQUIRING SPANISH COLONIAL HORSES TO BE RELOCATED TO HORSE

PRESERVES; ALLOWING EUTHANASIA; ALLOWING FOR ADOPTION;

PROVIDING FOR THE CONTROL OF WILD HORSE POPULATIONS BY MEANS

OF BIRTH CONTROL.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. WILD HORSES--CONFORMATION, HISTORY AND

DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID TESTING--SPANISH COLONIAL HORSES--BIRTH

CONTROL.--

A. As used in this section:

(1) "public land" does not include federal

land controlled by the bureau of land management, the forest

service or state trust land controlled by the state land

office;

(2) "range" means the amount of land

necessary to sustain a herd of wild horses, which does not

exceed its known territorial limits;

(3) "Spanish colonial horse" means a wild

horse that is descended from horses of the Spanish colonial

period; and

(4) "wild horse" means an unclaimed horse on

public land that is not an estray.

SB 655

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B. A wild horse that is captured on public land

shall have its conformation, history and deoxyribonucleic

acid tested to determine if it is a Spanish colonial horse.

If it is a Spanish colonial horse, the wild horse shall be

relocated to a state or private wild horse preserve created

and maintained for the purpose of protecting Spanish colonial

horses. If it is not a Spanish colonial horse, it shall be

returned to the public land, relocated to a public or private

wild horse preserve or put up for adoption by the agency on

whose land the wild horse was captured.

C. If the mammal division of the museum of

southwestern biology at the university of New Mexico

determines that a wild horse herd exceeds the number of horses

that is necessary for preserving the genetic stock of the herd

and for preserving and maintaining the range, it may cause

control of the wild horse population through the use of birth

control and may cause excess horses to be:

(1) humanely captured and relocated to other

public land or to a public or private wild horse preserve;

(2) adopted by a qualified person for

private maintenance; or

(3) euthanized; provided that this option

applies only to wild horses that are determined by a

veterinarian to be crippled or otherwise unhealthy.