SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah and U.S. government officials say swollen populations of federally-protected mustangs roaming 10 Western states are starved and damaging rangelands, leaving some officials to recommend killing or selling the animals to reduce herds.

Members of the state’s congressional delegation and a U.S. Interior Department official speaking at a wild horse summit in Salt Lake City on Wednesday all described an unsustainable population of wild horses that’s nearly three times the size federal officials think the rangeland can support.

Mustang-protection advocates who weren’t allowed into the invitation-only summit protested outside a downtown hotel where it took place.

They contend that there’s room for wild horses and burros on the range and the summit is kowtowing to livestock interests and promoting the slaughter of an icon of the American West.