Wild horses are shown on the Challis Herd Management Area in this undated BLM photo.

The Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday completed a helicopter roundup on the Challis Herd Management Area in Idaho, during which 226 wild horses were captured. One was killed after suffering a broken leg.

The BLM’s goal: reduce the number of horses on the 168,000-acre Herd Management Area to within an “Appropriate Management Level” of 185 to 253 horses.

The agency estimated that the population of horses before the roundup was about 330 horses, which it described as “critical overpopulation.”

“Due to the persistent drought within the HMA, forage and water resources are expected to be limited this summer, fall, and upcoming winter,” the BLM said.

Of the horses captured, the agency planned to permanently remove about 146 from the range, the BLM said in a pre-roundup press release.

Of those put back onto the range, 54 mares were to be treated with fertility control, then put back onto the range, according to the release.

The agency’s gather report and its post-roundup press release make no mention of fertility control, however, only that 226 horses were removed from the range and transported to the nearby Challis, Idaho, off-range holding corrals.

In a message to RTF on Friday, the BLM said it had not determined what the final numbers would be. The BLM has treated mares with fertility control at Challis before.

Return to Freedom strongly supports the use of fertility control to reduce the size and frequency of roundups, with the goal of replacing capture-and-removal as the agency’s primary management tool.

You can help

To send a letter to Congress in support of safe, proven and humane fertility control that can end wild horse and burro roundups, see Take Action in our bio or go to https://returntofreedom.org/current_actions/