A contractor’s helicopter pursues wild horses during a 2016 roundup at the Devils Garden Wild Horse Territory. RTF file photo by Steve Paige.
The U.S. Forest Service has again pushed back the date on which it intends to begin selling the older horses captured at the Devils Garden Wild Horse Territory without restrictions against slaughter, this time to Feb. 18.
As of Dec. 10, 190 wild horses ages 10-older captured during a recent month-long helicopter roundup at Devils Garden remained in danger of being sold for slaughter. Federal district court cases seeking to stop the sale of the older horses are ongoing — including one filed by RTF and other local, regional and national advocates.
Altogether, 932 wild horses were captured during the roundup. Approximately 260 – those ages 10-older — have been put up for adoption or sale with a restriction against slaughter at the Forest Service’s Double Devil Corrals at Modoc National Forest near Alturas, Calif. About 70 horses have found homes.
The balance of the captured horses – those ages 9-under and mares with foals — were sent to the Bureau of Land Management’s Litchfield corrals near Susanville, Calif. The weather has slowed efforts to prepare them to be offered for adoption. Adoptions are now likely to begin in mid to late December, at the earliest, according to BLM.
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