Wild horses photographed at the Palomino Valley Holding Corrals in 2016 followng a roundup at the Owyhee Herd Management Area. RTF file photo by Steve Paige.
One of more than 1,400 wild horses captured during the recent Owyhee helicopter roundup that will be offered for adoption by the Bureau of Land Management. All photos by Steve Paige. 2016
The Bureau of Land Management is set to begin as soon as today another emergency bait-and-trap roundup, this one of 800 wild horses at the Nevada Wild Horse Range in Nye County, Nevada.
“There is not enough water to support the number of horses in the area,” according to BLM. It described the range in a press release as “overpopulated … Animal conditions are declining due to range degradation and lack of sustainable water resources.”
The 1.3-million Nevada Wild Horse Range has an estimated population of 1,355 wild horses. Its agency-set “appropriate management level” is 300-500 wild horses, or as low as one horse for every 4,333 acres.
Because of restricted access to the Nevada Test and Training Range, part of the U.S. Air Force Warefare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, there has been no livestock grazing on the wild horse range since 1956, according to BLM.
The wild horses captured and removed by contractor Warner Livestock will be transported to Palomino Valley Holding Corrals near Reno, Nevada, or Ridgecrest Holding Corrals located in Ridgecrest, California, then made available for adoption.
For BLM’s tentative roundup calendar, click here.
Take Action
- Wild horses captured at the Nevada Wild Horse Range are at increased risk of going to slaughter because of a new BLM sales policy that allows a buyer to purchase up to 25 wild horses or burros, no questions asked, with no waiting period. Previously, buyers could purchase no more than four animals every six months without receiving special permission. Please click here to send a message to Congress calling on lawmakers to demand that BLM revoke the new policy.