The Bureau of Land Management plans to remove 2,500 wild horses and burros from overpopulated areas of Nevada this weekend, including a population just outside of Las Vegas.
In four Tuesday news releases, the agency said the gathers scheduled for Sunday were intended “to prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses and burros and to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands.”
Last month, citing drought conditions and competition for resources in the herd, the BLM conducted an emergency roundup outside of Ely that reduced the horse population by 300.
Rather than using helicopters, officials plan to use corral panels filled with food and water to lure horses in. Opponents of the BLM’s wild horse program have long decried helicopter gathers, instead promoting targeted sterilization via vaccinations to control populations.
Nevada has the largest amount of wild horses and burros of any state in the nation, but long periods of drought elevated by consistently higher temperatures often spell trouble for the animals.
Velma Johnston, a Reno woman who went by “Wild Horse Annie,” is often cited as the driving force behind a 1970s law from Congress that mandated wild horse management and protection.
Where will the gathers happen?
About 60 miles west of Las Vegas is the so-called Spring Mountain Complex, where the BLM aims to gather and remove 425 wild horses and 425 wild burros. The agency said that aside from controlling herd population, this particular roundup is necessary to public safety on the highway and to protect other wildlife such as mule deer, sage grouse and hawks.
Near Caliente, about 100 miles northeast of Las Vegas, officials plan to round up 350 wild horses. Despite being home to more than 1,500 wild horses, nearby areas are unable to support any amount, the BLM said.
Other roundups are expected to occur outside of Ely and Elko.
After receiving veterinary treatment, the animal will be made available through the BLM’s wild horse and burro program, through which members of the public can adopt them for as low as $25 each.
Each of the groups of horses has different destinations.
The horses from the Spring Mountains will go to the Palomino Valley Off-Range Corrals in Reno; the horses from Caliente and a portion from outside Elko will go to the Indian Lake Off-Range Corrals in Fallon; while the Ely horses and the remainder of the Elko horses will go to the Sutherland Off-Range Corrals, located in Sutherland, Utah.
Wild horse advocates have said the adoption program lacks guardrails. They claim adopters aren’t properly backgrounded and that the program often leads horses to slaughterhouses. Some have documented, too, that the conditions in wild horse facilities are poor, leading to illness or death.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
