Final Decision on Fort Polk Wild Horses Announced

The U.S. Army has made a significant decision regarding the wild horses residing on land within a National Forest taken over by Fort Polk for training purposes.These horses will be captured in groups of 10 to 30 and offered to animal rescue groups. If not taken by these groups, they will be offered to the public, and if still unclaimed, they will be sent to stockyards for sale.

Official Statement and Decision

The Joint Readiness Training Center commanding general has issued a final decision on the Environmental Assessment (EA) concerning the disposition of trespass horses at Fort Polk. Using the National EnvironmentalPolicyAct process, Fort Polk developed and analyzed various alternatives, including those suggested in public comments, to address the safety concerns posed by the trespass horses.

Fort Polk officials estimate that approximately 700 to 750 trespass horses occupy U.S. Army training lands on Fort Polk and the Peason Ridge Military Training Area, creating potential safety hazards and disrupting training.

Course of Action 7

Under COA 7, the Army will catch and corral groups of horses, about 10-30 at a time, and offer them toanimal welfaregroups such as the Humane Society for inclusion in their adoption program. Ifanimal welfaregroups do not take the horses, the Army will offer them to any citizen willing to take them. If that fails, the horses will be transported to alivestockauction for sale.

The timeframe for eliminating each group of 10-30 horses will be about 30 days. Concurrently, Fort Polk will actively search for a landowner to take the horses en masse and will also attempt to find another government agency to remove and accept responsibility for the horses.

"For this program to work, we need your help. We look forward to working with interested parties to help these horses find permanent homes while making Fort Polk a safer place for our Soldiers to train," said Brito.

Getting Involved

The next step in the process is to begin developing lists ofanimal welfaregroups and citizens interested in taking the horses. Interested parties can find the full details of the process on page 31 of the environmental assessment atFort Polk's official website.

Animal welfaregroups and local citizens can sign up to be added to one of the two lists Fort Polk is developing by sending an email tousarmy.polk.imcom.mbx.pao-public-response@mail.mil.Animal welfaregroups should send appropriate documentation so that Fort Polk officials can verify their status as 501(c)(3) groups. Everyone signing up for the program should include good contact information, including email address and telephone numbers, and the quantity of horses they are interested in taking.

Originally posted by KATC