1,300 Wild Horses and Burros Targeted for Removal This Summer

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced plans to remove 1,300 wild horses and burros from the range across the Western United States this summer. This decision is driven by budget constraints and the lack of space in holding pens. The move has sparked criticism from conservation groups, who argue that the plan is unsustainable and inhumane.

BLM's Summer Removal Plans

RENO — U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials say they plan to remove only 1,300 wild horses and burros from the range across the West this summer because of budget constraints and overflowing holding pens.

Overall, they intend to remove about 4,800 of the animals from the range during the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, compared with 8,255 in the last fiscal year. The vast majority of targeted animals will be wild horses.

Nine of theBLM’s 16 summerroundupswill be in Nevada, home to roughly half of the estimated 37,000 free-roaming wild horses and burros in the West. The agency plans to remove 855 wild horses and burros in Nevada, 140 in Oregon, 105 in Arizona, 65 in New Mexico, 50 in Colorado, and 25 in Idaho.

Response from Conservation Groups

TheBLMmade the announcement Friday, about a month after 30 U.S. representatives urged new U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to make reforming the government’swild horse managementprogram and its spiraling budget a priority.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) coalition criticized theBLM’s plans, saying the captured animals will be added to government-funded holding facilities that are at capacity with 50,000 wild horses and burros.

BLM's Justification and Future Plans

BLMspokesman Tom Gorey said most of the upcoming “gathers” have been scheduled in response to emergency conditions spurred by drought, and by public safety issues related to animals that roam near highways and residential and agricultural areas.

He said the schedule is subject to change because of continuing drought conditions that are resulting in limited water and forage for wildlife,livestock, and wild horses and burros.

“BLMmanagers are monitoring animal and range conditions, reducinglivestockgrazing, enacting fire restrictions and providing supplemental water in some locations for wild horses,” Gorey said in a statement.

Sixroundupsin Nevada will use helicopters to guide the animals to pens, while the rest of the operations will use bait and water to trap them in corrals.

TheBLMhas no plans to administer fertility control vaccines to horses this summer except for some mares in Colorado, Gorey said. Instead, the agency intends to use fertility-control treatments duringroundupsbefore breeding season, between November and February, when the vaccines are most effective.

Scientific Review and Recommendations

An independent scientific review of horseroundups, released in May, recommended that the government invest in widespreadfertility controlof the horses and let nature cull any excess herds instead of spending millions to house them in overflowing holding pens.

The 14-member panel assembled by the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council and Management concludedBLM’s removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.

By stepping in prematurely when food and water supplies remain adequate,BLMis producing artificial conditions that ultimately serve to perpetuate population growth, the committee found.

Originally Posted By The Associated Press