Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2009-02-12 00:00:00

Restore Our American Mustangs Act - Amends the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to revise provisions concerning the management of such animals. (Sec. 5) Requires the Secretary of the Interior (for Bureau of Land Management [BLM] administered lands) or the Secretary of Agriculture (for Forest Service administered lands) to: (1) ensure that, to the extent practicable, acreage available for wild and free-roaming horses and burros is at least equal to the acreage where they were found in 1971; (2) update the inventory of such horses and burros annually and make it publicly available on the BLM website every two years; (3) take specified actions to manage such horses and burros and to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on lands where such horses and burros are found; (4) identify new rangelands, arrange for supervised protection on private lands, and establish sanctuaries or exclusive use areas for such horses and burros; (5) report to the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the effects of new ranges, sanctuaries, and exclusive use areas on rangeland health, riparian zones, water quality, soil compaction, seed bed disturbance, native wildlife, and endangered or threatened species; (6) research, develop, and implement enhanced fertility control for mares, stallions, or both, such as surgical or immunocontraception sterilization or other safe, humane, and effective methods of fertility control; (7) exhaust all practicable options of maintaining a thriving natural ecological balance on the range before removing horses and burros; (8) take specified actions to promote the adoption program; (9) temporarily remove horses or burros from the range if their immediate health or safety is threatened; and (10) remove horses and burros determined to be a threat to the health and well-being of native plant or wildlife species. Revokes provisions that allow the Secretaries to destroy: (1) old, sick, or lame animals; (2) excess horses and burros for which an adoption demand does not exist. Requires adopters of such horses and burros to affirm that adopted animals and their remains will not be sold or transferred for consideration for processing into commercial products. Prohibits containing such horses and burros in corrals or short-term holding facilities for more than six months while awaiting disposition. Prohibits the destruction of such horses or burros unless the Secretaries: (1) determine that the horses or burros are terminally ill or fatally injured; and (2) ensure that the terminally ill or fatally injured horse or burro will be destroyed in the most humane manner. Removes the limitation on the number of titles to horse and burros that may be transferred to qualified individuals. Requires the Secretaries to: (1) provide a public notice 30 days prior to the planned removal of such horses and burros in specified circumstances; (2) track in a centralized database system the number of horses and burros injured or killed during a gathering or holding; (3) determine what information on such horses and burros could be provided to the public; and (4) ensure that such information is easily accessible on BLM's website. (Sec. 6) Requires owners of private land to return such horses or burros that have wandered onto their land to public lands. (Sec. 7) Authorizes the Secretaries to enter into cooperative agreements with private entities for the management of such horses and burros. (Sec. 8) Expands the membership of the advisory board on the management and protection of such horses and burros. (Sec. 9) Applies criminal penalties to any person who transports a live or deceased horse or burro for processing into commercial products. (Sec. 10) Lifts a restriction on the authority of the Secretary to relocate such horses and burros to public lands where they did not exist at the passage of such Act. (Sec. 11) Sets forth new reporting requirements on the management of such horses and burros.