is it illegal to catch a wild horse
The act provides specific protections to ``all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands of the United States,'' and makes it a crime for anyone to harass or kill these animals on federal land. It requires the departments of the Interior and Agriculture to protect the animals. Beginning with its enactment, it required studies of the habits and habitats of free-ranging horses and burros, permitting public land to be set aside for their use. In addition, the act required that these horses and burros be protected as ``living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West'', The BLM was tasked with identification of the areas where free-roaming horses and burros were found, no there was no specific amount of acreage set aside, and the Act required management plans to ``maintain a thriving natural ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock, and vegetation and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation.'' Although wild horse ranges were principally for the protection of the horses, the land was required to be maintained for multiple use. The BLM was also permitted to close public land to livestock grazing to protect wild horse and burro habitat.
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971