Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-102
§1334 Private Maintenance; Numerical Approximation; Strays on Private Lands: Removal; Destruction by Agents
Title 16 › CHAPTER 30 — WILD HORSES AND BURROS: PROTECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND CONTROL › § 1334
Summary
Private landowners may tell the nearest federal marshal or the Secretary’s agent if wild horses or burros wander onto their land. The federal official must arrange to have the animals removed. Only the Secretary’s agents may kill these animals. Landowners may keep them on private or leased land if they protect them and did not take or lure them from public land. People who keep them must notify the Secretary’s agent and give a reasonable count.
Full Legal Text
Title 16, §1334
Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
If wild free-roaming horses or burros stray from public lands onto privately owned land, the owners of such land may inform the nearest Federal marshall or agent of the Secretary, who shall arrange to have the animals removed. In no event shall such wild free-roaming horses and burros be destroyed except by the agents of the Secretary. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a private landowner from maintaining wild free-roaming horses or burros on his private lands, or lands leased from the Government, if he does so in a manner that protects them from harassment, and if the animals were not willfully removed or enticed from the public lands. Any individuals who maintain such wild free-roaming horses or burros on their private lands or lands leased from the Government shall notify the appropriate agent of the Secretary and supply him with a reasonable approximation of the number of animals so maintained.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 1334
Title 16, Conservation
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102