Horse population-control plans spark protests
Published: Tuesday | December 29, 2009
This file photo shows a herd of wild horses grazing near Carson River in Carson City, Nevada. The federal capture of about 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in northern Nevada is beginning amid protests the roundups are unnecessary...
LAS VEGAS (AP):
The federal capture of about 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in northern Nevada was scheduled to begin yesterday amid protests that the roundups are unnecessary and inhumane.
Federal officials said the roundup is needed because the 850 square miles of land is overpopulated. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said the agency had planned to begin gathering horses yesterday and taking them to Reno, where they would be fed and given immunisations.
Long-term plans call for the mustangs to be placed for adoption or sent to holding facilities in the Midwest. Horse defenders say the use of helicopters to drive horses to corrals is inhumane and risks their injury and death.
Opponents also contend winter roundups expose horses to the risk of respiratory illness.
About 30 protesters gathered Sunday at the entrance to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area west of Las Vegas, waving down motorists and holding placards.
Planned demonstrations
California-based In Defence of Animals planned to demonstrate Wednesday outside the San Francisco office of Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who protesters hope will sympathise with their calls for a moratorium on wild horse roundups.
Another protest was being planned for Wednesday in Chicago. The roundup was to include horses from five federally managed areas in the Calico Mountains complex.
A September count showed more than 3,040 wild horses were living in the area, about three times the land's capacity, federal officials said.
Without the roundup, the horse population in the area would grow by 20 per cent to 27 per cent annually, passing 6,000 mustangs within four years, according to BLM. At that point, wildlife and livestock would not have enough water or forage.
The roundup is part of the Bureau of Land Management's overall strategy to remove thousands of mustangs from public lands across the West to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. The bureau estimates about half of the nearly 37,000 wild mustangs live in Nevada, with others concentrated in Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
