Out West, the population of wild horses is outcompeting native wildlife and straining local habitats.

For that reason, the Bureau of Land Management returned to Mercedes this year for its annual wild horse and burro adoption effort.

Program manager Pat Williams says the Bureau aims for a target population of 27 thousand horses.

Currently, the population is around 100 thousand.

"We are overpopulated," he said. "We just don't have the outlets for wild horses and burros.”

Western horse populations are controlled with a mix of techniques, from neutering to relocation. But under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, horses on public lands are protected from culling, unlike other species that land managers slaughter selectively to control populations.

"Anytime there's competition for forage or water, they'll drive off any of the other native wildlife,” said Williams.

The Bureau found new homes for 42 out of the 110 horses brought to the adoption event in Mercedes.

The ones that weren't adopted are heading back to a facility in Oklahoma, before the next adoption event in Beeville.