BOISE - It's an emotional issue for many. Horse owners abandoning their animals into the wild but state and federal agencies say it's happening more than they can handle.

"It's hard not to develop close relationships with these animals," said Ann McGregor, a local horse breeder and owner of Lucky Run Arena.

Raising horses isn't just a business for McGregor, it's a passion.

"We breed them, train them, show them, and then sell them and that's the hardest part. It's kind of a heart breaker because they are like your children," said McGregor.

That's why it's hard for her to understand how people can abandon their horses, but she's seen it first hand.

"It was obvious that the horses had been let in, the fence had been cut," she said.

Several months ago McGregor says someone broke into her pasture and left two horses, both in pretty bad shape.
The Bureau of Land Management says situations like that are happening more and more.

"This is just not the thing to do," said M.J. Byrne, a spokeswoman for the BLM.

In an attempt to reign-in the problem, the BLM says its rounded up about 50 horses in Idaho, all abandoned in the wild. And the agency says a rough economy and sky-rocketing hay prices are only helping the problem spin out of control.

"People are having a hard time making ends meet and we certainly understand that," she said.

The BLM says it costs thousands of dollars to gather domestic horses in the wild and tracking down the owners is difficult. The state brand inspector says only about 20 percent of horse owners actually brand their animals.

"To abandon these domestic horses out on public lands is literally confining them to starvation," said Byrne.

Starvation because the BLM says these domestic animals don't know how to survive in the wild. If a horse owner is caught, they could face up to $100,000 dollars in fines and a year in jail.

The agency encourages owners to contact several local horse rescue groups first.

Some horse owners also believe when the U.S. banned horse slaughtering and processing about a year ago it really took another option away for owners.