---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 1335"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "1335"
heading: "Recovery rights"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/1335"
units:
  - "Chapter 30 — Wild Horses and Burros: Protection, Management, and Control"
---

# §1335. Recovery rights


A [person](/usc/16/450rr–1.md?p=b) claiming ownership of a horse or burro on the [public lands](/usc/16/1332.md?p=e) shall be entitled to recover it only if recovery is permissible under the branding and estray laws of the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) in which the animal is found.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 92–195, § 5, Dec. 15, 1971, 85 Stat. 650.)