Two mustangs die in Calico roundup north of Reno

Two horses died and a third leaped over a fence and escaped through barbed wire in the first week of a roundup of wild horses in the Black Rock Desert 100 miles north of Reno. The federal Bureau of Land Management, which plans to gather 2,500 mustangs over the next few weeks in areas near the Calico Mountains, verified Monday that two animals died during the roundup. As of Sunday night, 158 wild horses had been captured in the effort the BLM says is necessary to insure the health of the rangeland and horse herds. One elderly mare was shot after BLM officials determined the animal was in failing health, and a 6-month-old foal who died during the roundup was determined by veterinarians to have a congenital heart defect, said Heather Emmons, BLM spokeswoman. "The foal kept falling down and when they went to check on it again it was dead," she said. "The older mare was in terrible shape and wouldn't have made it through the winter. She had to be put down." Emmons said the mortality rate for wild horse gathers is about one-half of one percent...read more