Critics Argue Deadly Wild Horse Roundup Could Have Been Prevented

COLD CREEK, Nev. — A roundup of wild horses north of Las Vegas has ended, for now. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) confirms it gathered 230Mustangsover the past three weeks in and around Cold Creek.

The government says it took the emergency action to save the horses from the ravages of drought. However, critics of theBLMargue that the Cold Creek operation illustrates everything wrong with the wild horse program, claiming it has all but wiped out the last viable horse herd in southern Nevada.

In the decades that he's been fighting on behalf of the mustang herds, Reynoldson has seen this same story play out repeatedly.

Across the West, millions of acres designated by law as habitat forMustangshave been zeroed out, completely stripped of wild horses. But it's not entirely empty, he says.

Reynoldson and other mustang advocates are heartbroken over the roundup at Cold Creek but hardly surprised.

In the 20-plus years the I-Team has chronicled the Cold Creek herd, it's captured some amazing images, many worthy of scenes from a Hollywood movie.

The Cold Creek herd is one of the West's most iconic, in part because they've always been so accessible. They are beloved by visitors and nearly all of the residents, many of whom moved to the town to be near theMustangs.

TheBLMasks for public comment whenever it contemplates a roundup. Opposition is usually close to unanimous, but it never impacts theBLM's decision.

In recent years, theBLMhas come to rely on what it deems emergency gathers. Those areroundupscarried out with little advance notice and no public comment at all.

Each timeBLMstaffers say they had no choice but to move in to rescue horses that were in bad shape due to drought conditions.

Reynoldson and others allege the emergency was manufactured.

If you ask aBLMofficial what their overall wild horse strategy is, the answer is remarkably similar every time: the horses have to be managed. But the reality, critics say, is that management means only one thing toBLM:roundups.

In the mid-90s,BLMcaptured the lastMustangsin Red Rock Canyon, a supposedly temporary measure to allow wild grasses to replenish.

Twenty years later, the horses have never been returned.

Afterroundups, they get shipped off to holding pens where most spend the rest of their lives. In many previousroundups,BLMreleases pictures of a few emaciated horses to the public, even though 90 percent of those captured might be in good health.

In Cold Creek, a roundup to help emaciated horses ended with 15 percent of them being killed on the spot, for their own good, the agency said.

IfBLMwanted to manage the herd at Cold Creek, it could have been proactive, Reynoldson says, by working with local residents, culling the older sicker horses, instituting birth control, and actual management.

Originally Posted By Las Vegas Now