Last month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) completed a wild horse roundup in Nevada. Using helicopters, BLM officials gathered 113 horses from the Reveille Herd Management Area (RHMA), relocating 74 and re-releasing 39 of the horses back to the RHMA after treating the 22 mares with fertility control vaccine PZP-22, the Pahrump Valley Times reports.
The purpose of the roundup was to “reduce the impact to rangeland health and wildlife habitat by removing excess horses,” according to a BLM release. Mares were injected with PZP-22 to “slow population growth rates” since the vaccine prevents pregnancy for one to two years. Both actions are to keep populations under control per the court-mandated Appropriate Management Level (AML), which is 138 horses. Following this recent roundup, the current wild horse population is between 100 and 125 animals. Another gather will be scheduled once the AML is met, according to the Pahrump Valley Times.
Horses that were relocated to the BLM’s Indian Lakes Off-Range Wild Horse and Burro Corrals will be “readied” for future adoption. Horses not adopted or sold will be moved to long-term holding pastures and cared for under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
12 Comments
Danny Johns
3/10/2020, 2:13:33 AM
Donnia no one is arguing humans aren’t the most destructive species on earth. That’s pretty much a given. But this is reality and now we need workable solutions called wildlife management to make best of a bad situation. Let the professionals do their job, sit back, kick off your chalkos and have a tall glass of PZP-22 on me.
michael gulla
3/8/2020, 2:01:23 AM
So it's acceptable to cull a herd of neighborhood whitetails or the Yellowstone bison herd for proper management but not the feral horses? I get it they're cool animals to see roaming the landscape. That is untill you witness their overpopulation and massive destruction for yourself. Have any of the horse lovers throwing stones ever been out in any of the NV units to see things for yourself or are you just arm chair quarterbacking?
Spencer Peterson
3/8/2020, 1:04:44 AM
Tom C do you have any argument based in science or fact or are all of your arguments based on emotion? You are correct that over grazing by domestic stock does occur sometimes, there are laws against that. How does someone’s belief that a non native species should be kept at sustainable levels translate to them needing to have their beagle taken away? Is it humane to stand by while a non native species degrades habitat and eat themselves out of house and home?