Idaho’s wild horse population is going to get a bit smaller this week. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the process of rounding up 365 wild horses and removing 244 “excess wild horses” from the Challis Herd Management Area (HMA). Why? To “reduce overpopulation of wild horses within the HMA,” East Idaho News reports.
The agency will use the helicopter method to round up the wild horses and will release the mares after treating them with fertility control. The plan is to have only 185 wild horses within the HMA once the roundup is complete. If unmanaged, wild horse populations can grow exponentially, straining habitat shared with sage grouse, antelope, mule deer and elk. In and around the targeted HMA, the current wild horse population is estimated at 429 animals. According to the East Idaho News, the 168,700-acre HMA has an Appropriate Management Level of 185 to 253 wild horses, which makes the current number way over objective.
BLM maintains safe and humane capture of the animals and welcomes the public “to view the gather operations” as long as it doesn’t interfere with the roundup or cause the animals stress. All horses gathered for removal will be transported to the Bureau Wild Horse Off-Range Corral facility where a veterinarian will check each animal before it is transferred to the wild horse and burro Adoption and Sale Program. Wild horses that receive fertility control vaccines will be held temporarily in the Challis Off-Range Corral Facility. Then, they will be returned to the HMA.
If you are interested in reports or additional information, click HERE.
13 Comments
Tim Murphy
11/9/2019, 10:59:47 AM
There should also be some kind of population control for the human animal here in the U.S. Just dont let the government be in charge.
Elyse Carter
11/9/2019, 3:10:44 AM
Keala, You are exactly correct!!! Anyone can go to “American Wild Horse Campaign” on the web. The The BLM needs to totally disemboweled. My gut says cattlemen are paying off BLM Execs, using helicopters (injuring many animals) to round them up and selling them for slaughter!!!! Those horses belong toAmerican Citizens and are an important of our heritage! BLM employees must be prosecuted!!!!
Marc Richards
11/8/2019, 7:54:43 PM
Kelea, Everybody is certainly entitled to an opinion but with all due respect, take a trip to SE OR or NW NV and spend a day or two covering some ground using the boots on your feet. In some areas, you will be hard pressed to find a single inch of ground that doesn't have a horse track or large piles of horse dung on it. You will also find that you are looking at large herds of really tall cows that look oddly similar to feral horses...