How Colorado's Mustang Program Offers Hope for America's Wild Horses

Colorado's majesticmustangsare a fine match for the state's breathtaking landscapes. They also provide a shining example of how wild horse management programs can work when government and people come together to protect these national treasures.

An antidote to the steady stream of bad news coming out of the national wild horse and burro program, the work of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado is leading the way with community partnerships forhumane managementprograms that are keeping wild horses wild and free.

BLMColorado currently is using less traumatic bait trapping as a priority over helicopter roundups in most Colorado herd management areas and has minimized removals of wild horses from their homes on the range thanks to successfulPZPfertility control programs. (ThePZPvaccine, given to mares, prevents pregnancy while maintaining the horses’ natural behaviors.)

Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range

AtLittle Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range,BLMGrand Junction Field Office managers have greatly reduced removals by implementing a humane bait trapping and nativePZPfertility-control program in conjunction with community advocacy groupFriends of the Mustangs.

Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area

In theSpring Creek Basin herd management area,BLMTres Rios Field Office managers have committed to conducting bait-trapping operations when needed instead of helicopter roundups. This goal was achieved thanks to a successful fertility-control and management program – also using nativePZP– in conjunction with theDisappointment Wild Bunch Partners, which includes theNational Mustang Association, Colorado Chapter,Four Corners Back Country HorsemenandMesa Verde Back Country Horsemen. The last removal of wild horses from this HMA took place over five years ago, and no removals are on the horizon for Spring Creek Basin mustangs.

Sand Wash Basin HMA

InSand Wash Basin HMA, an activePZPfertility-control program implemented byBLMLittle Snake Field Office managers in conjunction with theSand Wash Advocate Team (SWAT)is humanely reducing population growth rates in this popular herd while maintaining the horses’ natural free-roaming behaviors that are protected under federal law.

On August 4, theBLMColorado will hold a public hearing on the use of motorized vehicles in the management of the state’s wild horses. This public hearing provides an excellent opportunity to acknowledge theBLMin Colorado for setting an example for the rest of the nation and demonstrating clearly thathumane managementof our wild horse and burro herds can and does work!

Please sign AWHC’s petition to THANKBLMColorado for its leadership in protectingmustangs. Your signatures will be hand delivered, along with a thank you card, at the meeting by Colorado wild horse advocates.

This is a chance to give credit where credit is due and support theBLMwhen it takes important steps in the right direction!Hopefully, the ongoing success of the humane management programs in Colorado will encourage otherBLMdistricts across the West to implement similar programs.

Originally posted by One Green Planet