Jean Anderson, a 59-year-old janitor from Dairyville in Tehama County, says wild horses are smart and beautiful animals, symbols of the freedom and strength it took to build the United States.

But to the federal government, they're a costly and growing nuisance.

The Bureau of Land Management says there are simply too many of them, filling holding pens and roaming freely on public lands in 10 Western states, including California. They have a proposal to reduce their numbers: Kill a few thousand of them.

Anderson, who owns five adopted mustangs, is horrified at the thought.

"Horses are supposed to be protected. If people don't pay attention, before they know it, there are not going to be any wild horses, and I think that'll be a great loss," she said.

Anderson and many of the nation's horse lovers, including singers Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson, are out to kill the euthanasia plan. But federal officials and other supporters of the plan say it must be considered because a birth-control program has not worked and adoptions are declining, mainly due to rising fuel and feed costs.

"The bottom line is we've run out of things to do with these animals," said Tom Talbot, a veterinarian and president-elect of the Sacramento-based California Cattlemen's Association. He nevertheless called it a difficult issue, adding: "Nobody's excited about that possibility."

While the agency has not decided on a method of euthanasia, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said the top three possibilities would be shooting them, giving them a lethal dose of barbiturates or killing them with a bolt to the head, a method commonly used in slaughtering.

"There are pros and cons to each method, but we're not at that point," Gorey said.

The government estimates that there are 33,000 horses and burros running wild in the West, including 3,000 in California. Nearly half of them are in Nevada. Another 30,000 are in holding pens.

Either by adopting, selling or killing them, the BLM would like to reduce the size of its herd to 27,300. The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, a creation of the BLM, will take up the issue on Sept. 22. The BLM will make a final decision later, but no date has been set.

Some members of Congress want to put the plan on hold.

"The potential for wholesale killing of thousands of healthy wild horses marks a complete turnaround in management policy," said Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Congress passed a law in 1971 protecting wild horses that run free on public lands, declaring them "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."

The BLM, which has been charged with that mission, has placed more than 235,000 wild horses through adoption in the last 37 years. It has the legal authority to sell aging horses "without limitation," meaning they could go to slaughterhouses, but the agency so far has chosen to sell them only to owners who promise to provide them with good care.

Gorey said the agency spent $22 million last year putting horses in holding pens. That's nearly two-thirds of the program's entire budget. Gorey said the agency is not seeking more money from Congress but wants the public to understand that continuing its current policy will be impossible without a bigger budget.

Opponents of the plan say the BLM has mismanaged its budget and is now trying to lower its costs by taking aim at wild horses.

"To set the record straight, euthanasia is mercy killing – that's certainly not what's being proposed here by any stretch of the imagination," said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute. "It's killing pure and simple, to balance the books for an agency whose reckless management has caused immeasurable harm to a national treasure."

Rahall said he wants the agency not to proceed with its plan until the Government Accountability Office completes an investigation into the finances of the wild horse program. Its report is expected in September. Rahall said the agency's inability to manage its budget "is a long-standing concern and must not be used as a death sentence" for wild horses and burros.

Call Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Washington Bureau, (202) 383-0009.