A herd of 68 federally protected US wild mustangs rounded up from western public lands was quietly sold to an Ohio livestock dealer for just $25 (£18.50) each before disappearing from public view, fuelling fears among animal welfare advocates that they may have entered the foreign horse-slaughter pipeline, according to government records and a recent investigation.
The transaction followed years of federal confinement in an Idaho holding facility, where handlers had been searching for what the Bureau of Land Management called 'loving homes.'
