BLM removes more than 1,000 wild horses from Nevada range area

Pickups rolled over the sagebrush-filled landscape leading to the public observation site on one September day of the Diamond Complex Wild Horse Gather. For the next five to eight hours on Sept. 10, helicopters coaxed wild horses from their homes in the Diamond Mountain Range into the custody of the Bureau of Land Management. The day’s events were repeated throughout the duration of the multi-day gather in an area north of Eureka in the Diamond Mountain Range. By the time the effort ended Sept. 29, the BLM gathered 1,196 wild horses and removed 1,139 horses, the agency said in a news release. Forty-three horses were released back onto the range, where some 300 wild horses still remain. The gather’s purpose, according to the agency, is “to prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses and to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, consistent with the provisions of Section 1333(b) of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.”...MORE

House Approves $11M for BLM Wild Horse Fertility Control

On the afternoon of July 24, bill HR 7608 passed the U.S. House of Representatives with an amendment designating $11 million of the Bureau of Land Management’s budget for the Wild Horse and Burro Program to be used to implement the porcine zona pellucida (PZP) immunocontraception fertility suppression vaccine. “This is significant in part because the BLM would be required to direct that funding for PZP fertility control,” said Joanna Grossman, equine program manager for the Animal Welfare Institute. “In past years, there has been vague language directing the BLM to pursue humane or politically viable and effective options.” The PZP vaccine suppresses fertility and acts as a contraception in animals such as horses and elephants. It’s one way the BLM manages population control of wild horses and burros on public lands. In past years, said Grossman, the BLM has used about 1% and up to 4% of the program’s budget on fertility control of wild herds. This bill, at the current appropriations of a little more than $102 million for the program’s budget, would change that number to more than 10%. The BLM has used the PZP vaccine for a couple of decades, said Jason Lutterman, public affairs specialist with the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. He added that there is evidence of PZP being effective in slowing the growth rate but not eliminating population growth altogether, when looking at small herds that have been tracked and recorded in Colorado. The PZP vaccine, depending on the formulation, is effective for one or two years. Wild horses still often need to be gathered, said Lutterman, for the vaccine to be administered. Those horses are then tracked to identify which ones need boosters. Other vaccines, such as GonaCon and oocyte growth factor (OGF) with expected longer effectiveness, are either beginning to be used or are in stages of research, he said...MORE

As wild horse populations skyrocket in West, advocates blast plan to remove 12K animals

The Bureau of Land Management recently released an updated report regarding a program aimed to relocate wild horses and burros populations, which officials say are continuing to grow at an alarming rate. However, a national wild horse advocacy group is blasting a federal plan to round up additional horses this year. Officials from the federal agency wrote in the May 8 report there were 95,000 wild horses as of the beginning of March, which far exceeds the 27,000 wild horses and burros it believes the land can sustainably hold. That number continues to rise. In fact, the bureau projects there will be 2.8 million horses on the land by 2040 at the current population growth rate. "They can grow pretty rapidly — 15-20% a year, which means a herd can double in size every four to five years, triple every six years … and it can overwhelm the resources that are available to them out on the mostly in the high desert," said Jason Lutterman, spokesperson for the agency’s Wild Horses and Burro Program. This year, the bureau expects to remove a little more than 11,000 horses and burros from public land in western states, including Utah. The process has already begun, and thousands of more animals are expected to be captured this summer. The horses are gathered and brought to pastures in the West and Midwest, Lutterman said. He explained that once the animals arrive to those pastures, they are up for adoption or will spend the remainder of their lives there. There are about another 50,000 animals in those facilities, he said. The report states that the BLM anticipates upwards of 220,000 animals in the next decade...MORE

BLM Begins New Fertility Control Trial as Overpopulation of Wild Horses and Burros on Public Lands Reaches New Heights

The Bureau of Land Management has started testing a promising new fertility control vaccine that could help address the growing overpopulation of wild horses on public rangelands. Researchers believe the Oocyte Growth Factor (OGF) vaccine, administered to a captured wild mare through a single dose, may safely prevent pregnancy for up to three years or longer. Following an environmental analysis and final decision record issued last March, testing of the vaccine began May 12 and is taking place in Carson City, Nevada as part of a joint research project between the BLM and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s National Wildlife Research Center. As part of the project, 16 previously gathered wild mares were treated with the fertility control vaccine and will be placed in a pen with a stallion once the vaccine takes effect. Researchers will monitor the mares’ response to the vaccine and compare the results to a control group. The BLM-supported project follows a previous study that safely and effectively tested a multi-dose version of the OGF vaccine in domestic horses. The BLM seeks an effective one-dose version. Though the research is still in its very early phase, if proven viable, the OGF vaccine could help bolster existing methods used by the BLM to manage wild horse populations. The most common fertility control vaccines for wild horses in use today are short-lasting and require near-annual retreatment to remain effective. A single-dose vaccine that can last multiple years, such as the OGF vaccine if proven viable, would provide a number of benefits for BLM, including requiring fewer instances of gathering animals for retreatment or permanent removal...MORE

BLM says costs of curbing wild horse overpopulation to sustainable levels ‘could be staggering’

The costs of reigning in the wild horse and burro populations across the country's public rangelands "could be staggering," federal land managers said in a recent report. The report, provided by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to U.S. Congress last week, estimates a $900 million price tag to stabilize on-range wild horse and burro populations in the first five years of an implemented plan, with sustainability taking up to 20 years to achieve. "The harm inflicted on public lands from excess wild horses and burros compounds yearly as on-range population growth rates and off-range holding costs outstrip the BLM's ability to manage herds according to the intent of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act of 1971, as amended," the analysis said. An estimated 88,000 wild horses and burros roam public rangelands as of March 1, 2019, according to the most recently available population estimate. The BLM's analysis added that a sustainable population for rangelands is 27,000...MORE

Court rules in favor of BLM wild horse gather

The BLM claimed a recent victory in the ongoing battle between public lands grazing and wild horses. Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District Court of Columbia ruled in favor of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) proposal to conduct a large horse gather on Feb. 13. BLM proposed a plan in 2018 to gather more than 1,700 feral horses from the Caliente Herd Area in southeast Nevada. Ryan Zinke, in his official capacity as then-secretary of the Department of the Interior, and Brian Steed, in his role as acting director of BLM, were immediately faced with a lawsuit for the proposal. Horse advocacy groups American Wild Horse Campaign and the Cloud Foundation, along with environmental group Western Watersheds Project and a private citizen, were the plaintiffs of the suit. The groups argued BLM’s decision violated the agency’s obligation under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WHBA) of 1971 to “‘protect and manage’ these ‘wild and free-roaming’ horses as ‘living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West’ and to ensure that ‘all management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level.’” Judge Howell ruled that was not the case in her 45-page opinion. “BLM’s 2018 gather decision was issued after the agency took a sufficiently ‘hard look’ at the environmental impacts of that action, considered reasonable alternatives, and disclosed relevant environmental information to the public to enable participation in the process,” Howell wrote...MORE

Bureau of Land Management will pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse or burro

The Bureau of Land Management will pay you $1,000 if you can give a good home to a wild horse or burro. The BLM is holding a wild horse and burro event in Giddings Texas through Saturday. The event features 75 wild horses and burros up for adoption and the $1,000 incentive applies to every horse there. The BLM rounds up excess animals from public lands in order to maintain healthy herds and protect rangeland resources. Since 1973 the BLM has placed over 235,000 animals in approved homes across the United States. The BLM considered a home qualified if it has 400 square feet or more of corral space per animal, with access to food, water, and shelter. A six-foot corral fence is required for adult horses; five feet for yearlings; and 4.5 feet for burros. To take an animal home they must be loaded in a covered, stock-type trailer with swing gates and sturdy walls and floors. Link

Avocates blast $21 million increase in wild horse budget

Two national horse protection organizations today blasted Congress’ decision to increase the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program budget by $21 million budget to accelerate the roundup and removal of federally-protected wild horses and burros from public lands. In doing so, appropriators ignored requests by Congressman Raul Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and 11 of his House colleagues, to restrict funding to humane population management with scientifically-recommended fertility control instead of roundups. The funding is part of the final omnibus FY 2020 spending package unveiled by Congressional appropriators today and set to be voted on later this week. “The $21 million deal cut in the swamp today by the Humane Society, ASPCA, and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, is the greatest threat our iconic American wild horses have faced in half a century,” said Marty Irby, a lifelong horseman and executive director at Animal Wellness Action. “It’s a draconian experiment that will ensure mass roundups and incarcerations, surgical sterilizations amidst the hot desert sun, and has paved the road back to horse slaughter on the American taxpayer’s dime.” “Congress just unleashed a catastrophic assault on America’s cherished wild horses and burros, turning back the clock 50 years to a time when these iconic animals were almost extinct and Congress acted unanimously to protect them,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, the nation’s largest wild horse protection organization. “The BLM will now use tens of millions of tax dollars to round up 20,000 horses a year to achieve population levels that the National Academy of Sciences ‘not supported by scientific information’, and ‘not transparent to stakeholders.’”...MORE

The battle over wild horses

ELKO COUNTY, Nev. — Wild horses may be symbols of the wide-open American West, but J.J. Goicoechea watched them warily. Under a bright desert sky, about 20 mustangs munched on the crested wheatgrass meant for the Angus cattle he grazes here on public land. “You’ve got to look up to them. They’re tough,” the fourth-generation rancher said, leaning against his dusty red truck. “But if we turn a blind eye, in five years there will be 100 horses here, and it won’t look as good.” Goicoechea has long been on one side of the battle over wild horses and burros, an issue so contentious that Congress, animal advocates, conservationists, ranchers and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have long been in a stalemate. Everyone agrees the situation is untenable: The government says three times more equines roam public land than the fragile terrain can handle. To address this, the BLM, which is charged with managing most of the animals, periodically rounds up horses and now has nearly 50,000 in holding. The agency says caring for the warehoused animals devours most of its wild horse budget, leaving little for other approaches. Horse advocates call the roundups cruel, contend that millions of cattle do vastly more damage to public lands than thousands of horses, and insist mustangs must never be killed. Ranchers and some environmentalists view the horses as feral pests that damage ecosystems, compete for resources with cattle and wildlife and should be culled or sold. But against this conflict, at a time of deep political polarization, something almost unrecognizable is floating around Capitol Hill: a compromise. Over three years, major ranching and hunting organizations, represented by Goicoechea and others, quietly negotiated with animal welfare groups, including the Humane Society of the United States. These strange bedfellows recently unveiled a wild horse proposal that they say meets both sides’ goals: It keeps mustangs alive, and it gets a lot more off the land. There are just a couple catches: It would cost $50 million a year, swelling the BLM’s horse budget by two-thirds. And most wild horse advocacy groups hate it...MO

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Mojave Desert's donkeys are being shot dead, officials offering $18,000 to find who's responsible

Someone is shooting the Mojave Desert's wild burros dead, officials say. Now, they're offering $18,000 to whoever helps nab the suspects. Over the last three months, Bureau of Land Management officials have found the bodies of 42 donkeys covered in gunshot wounds near the California-Nevada border. They were killed illegally in the Clark Mountain Herd Area. "We will pursue every lead until we've arrested and prosecuted those responsible for these cruel, savage deaths, and we welcome the public's help to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice," BLM deputy director for policy and programs William Perry Pendley said. Under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act , burros are protected as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West." As such, they can't be killed, harassed, captured or branded in 10 Western states controlled by the Department of the Interior or the US Forest Service. Details about the crimes are slim, but BLM officials told the Los Angeles Times a few of the burros were killed while drinking water from nearby springs. Many of them were juveniles...MORE

High Wild Horse Numbers Have Ranchers Concerned

For decades, ranchers and wild horse advocates have traded barbs. Yet now that Nevada’s wild horse population has reached an all-time high, most agree that some herds have too many horses. The eastern side of the state in particular has thousands more horses than the Bureau of Land Management says the area can sustain, and many ranchers say the horses are overgrazing, which is costing them big. Driving through Butte Valley, south of Ely, third-generation Nevada rancher Gracian Uhalde points out areas that have been repeatedly overgrazed on public lands he leases. Uhalde hasn’t turned out livestock in this area in over two years, but vast stretches look like a dirt field sprinkled with one-inch tufts of green sage. “The thing that upsets me the most, these white sage communities, our families tried to protect,” says Uhalde.

"...if that was a rancher, we'd be in prison"

“I've been very careful about how we raise them, and now they’re in danger.” Uhalde is 62, gracious, and sports a bushy white handlebar moustache. He started lambing with his grandfather at just 13 years old. To measure grazing impacts on the land, the Bureau of Land Management set up cages that protect about 4 square feet of earth from horses, wildlife and livestock. The plant growth inside the cage shows what plant communities would look like without any grazing. Uhalde points to the healthy white sage and green forbs in one such cage and then compares it to the land outside the cage, which has been grazed “down to the dirt, damn near.” The BLM estimates there are 1,500 horses in this area— that’s 1,000 more than are supposed to be here.  The damage is so significant Uhalde says he won’t turn out his sheep again this year. “I mean there's no point in going out there if there's nothing to eat; you're only hurting yourself,” says Uhalde. “The horses are there 24-seven, 365 [days a year]. And if that was a rancher, we'd be in prison.”...MORE

Lethal measures off table for controlling wild horse herds

The Trump administration will not pursue lethal measures such as euthanasia or selling horses for slaughter to deal with what officials say is an ecological and fiscal crisis caused by too many wild horses on rangelands in the U.S. West, an official said Thursday. U.S. Bureau of Land Management Acting Director Casey Hammond told the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board that those options are not on the table. "It's not an option that's being discussed," Hammond said. "I don't think it's anything the president would be supportive of, so it's not part of the calculation that we're making." The agency is preparing a report requested by Congress on potential solutions for the wild horse problem. Federal officials say the nearly 90,000 wild horses in 10 Western states are more than three times appropriate levels. Officials estimate that up to 18,000 foals are born each year. Another 50,000 wild horses are being held in corrals at a cost of $50 million annually, which is more than half of the Bureau of Land Management's budget for its Wild Horse and Bureau Program. The six-member panel agreed that killing wild horses to control the population wasn't something they were interested in doing, but also cited the ecological destruction to rangelands and the potential for wild horses held in corrals to exceed 100,000 if current policies continue. "Our window for being able to act and not have to go there (euthanasia) by force at some point, regardless of what our interests are, are closing," said board member Celeste Carlisle...MORE

The eco-resort that's taking on the government to save America's wild mustangs

Velvet is one of the lucky ones. Along with 600 other horses, her home is Mustang Monument in north-eastern Nevada, a luxury eco-resort on a ranch which, at 900 square miles, is around the size of the Lake District National Park. It is owned by ardent animal lover and philanthropist Madeleine Pickens, who seeks to preserve equine heritage through her foundation Saving America’s Mustangs. She hotly disputes the government figures, believing they are greatly exaggerated to justify mass killings. Pickens has had a rough ride. Mustang Monument opened in 2014 in the heart of cattle-ranch country where livestock roams on public ranges, sharing them with wild mustangs: the debate around the conservation of mustangs is entrenched and bitter. Campaigners believe the relationship between influential ranchers, their lobbyists and the government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is too cosy and the survival of wild mustangs is at stake.  Pickens has had a rough ride. Mustang Monument opened in 2014 in the heart of cattle-ranch country where livestock roams on public ranges, sharing them with wild mustangs: the debate around the conservation of mustangs is entrenched and bitter. Campaigners believe the relationship between influential ranchers, their lobbyists and the government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is too cosy and the survival of wild mustangs is at stake.

“You see, these were wild – they’re mustangs,” said Pickens, “and yet they are the sweetest horses you could ever get.” Savvy and sassy, she is regularly interviewed on TV and radio as a campaigner for the mustangs’ cause. Born in Iraq, educated in England and France and now a US citizen, she looks younger than her 60-something years and does cowgirl chic with effortless style. Her ranch, too, brims with Wild West vibe. The 10 cottages and a new exclusive-use homestead are styled in rustic luxury with exposed wood walls, sumptuous beds, and terraces looking out to the prairies where horses graze. Spacious, funky tepees with leather and wood furnishings and what look like merry-go-rounds of mustangs painted on the canvas will be available again from 2020. A chic dining room has recently been built and the saloon, once an old tractor shed, is furnished with bar stools made from saddles. Elegant candlelit dinners are served on the terrace under the stars, and we went to bed to a distant soundtrack of howling coyotes and a hooting owl.

Eventually, around 200 mustangs surrounded the wagon where the hay had been scattered. We moved closer, quietly watching them feed. Suddenly, something spooked a wild one. He bolted. Whinnying like crazy, others bolted, too, and a thundering drumroll of hooves in their hundreds stampeded, into clouds of dust and a blur of beauty and power. Our horses started neighing, too, scraping the ground and shifting around, sensing the tension but thankfully staying put. Gradually, the horses and the dust settled. Now completely encircled by mustangs, we stood in spine-tingling silence, feeling their innate spirit and energy, moved by their sense of freedom. These horses are the very soul of this land, the essence of its dramatic beauty and wildness. Not quite believing I was right in among them on my own mustang, I’d never felt more alive. Quietly, I stroked Velvet’s neck and thanked her for staying so calm and gracious, and for letting me share this moment.

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  ...a thundering drumroll of hooves

... a blur of beauty and power

These horses are the very soul of this land, the essence of its dramatic beauty and wildness.  

Please don't puke on my computer!

The government will pay you $1,000 to adopt a mustang

The government is taking a unique approach to control the record-breaking population of wild horses: paying you $1,000 to adopt one. Approximately 50,000 mustangs are currently in holding pens awaiting adoption, but the number of people taking one home has hit an all-time low in recent years. That's part of the reason why the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is now offering the financial incentive. "We're estimating there's 88,000 wild horses in America right now," Gus Warr, who works at the Bureau of Land Management in Utah, told CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste. Warr added that the land can only sustain about 27,000. Galloping at up to 40 mph in the mountains and plains of Utah, the mustangs are a symbol of freedom. But "freedom has its consequences if they're not managed," Warr said. Those consequences can include overgrazed land and starving horses. That's why BLM rounds up thousands of wild horses each year. Warr says BLM spends $50 million of its $80 million budget on off-range holding costs for the mustangs they gather, and that holding a horse costs almost $2,000 a year. So BLM did some simple math: Rather than pay $2,000 to care for a mustang for one year, they'll pay $1,000 to someone willing to adopt and care for a mustang over its lifetime...MORE

A Record Population 'Boom' Of Wild Horses Raises Hackles Among Ranchers, Advocates

The Bureau of Land Management is planning to remove more than half of the wild horses living near the Onaqui mountains this summer. The upcoming roundup is part of a broader effort to get a handle on the explosive growth of the animals across the American West in recent years. “I’ll be devastated,” Hammer said, watching the mustangs. “It’ll be so difficult to find the horses and it will just eliminate this area as an ecotourism destination.” For advocates like Hammer, wild horses are a living symbol of the American West. The Onaqui herd, for example, descended from animals that escaped the wagon trains and cavalry regiments that plodded across the western desert more than 150 years ago. But as wild horse populations hit record numbers in the Mountain West, another American icon — the rancher — is left grappling with the population boom. “They do not have any natural predators,” said Mark Wintch, president of the Utah Cattlemen’s Association. “They have no other way to be regulated except by us. To continue to let numbers climb and destroy the natural resource that is there is absolutely foolish.” Wintch contends that the exponential growth of wild horses is a threat to ranchers’ livelihoods. Cattle and sheep often share public lands with the animals, competing for critical food sources like grass. “Ranchers have paid for that grass,” Wintch said. “We use it. We have a right to it.”...MORE

New pen in California may allow sale of wild horses for slaughter

The U.S. Forest Service has built a new corral for wild horses in Northern California, which could allow it to bypass federal restrictions and sell the animals for slaughter. The agency acknowledged in court filings in a potentially precedent-setting legal battle that it built the pen for mustangs gathered in the fall on national forest land along the California-Nevada border because of restrictions on such sales at other federal holding facilities. The agency denies claims by horse advocates it has made up its mind to sell the more than 250 horses for slaughter. But it also says it may have no choice because of the high cost of housing the animals and continued ecological impacts it claims overpopulated herds are having on federal rangeland. “While slaughtering wild horses does not present a pleasant picture, the reality of this dire situation is not pleasant,” Justice Department lawyers representing the agency wrote in its most recent filing last month. “The Forest Service is taking a step to reduce what is universally recognized as a natural catastrophe.” A sharp reduction in demand in recent years for a federal program that offers the horses for adoption to the public has left little room in existing corrals. Horse advocates argue the mustangs are federally protected and that taxpayers subsidize the livestock grazing on U.S. land. A hearing is scheduled Jan. 31 in federal court in San Francisco on a motion filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and American Wild Horse Campaign seeking an injunction to block the sale of the horses captured in the Modoc National Forest in October and November for possible slaughter. The new pen is in the forest, about 170 miles (273 kilometers) northwest of Reno. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen announced late last year she would postpone any sales for slaughter until at least Feb. 18...MORE

Judge blocks controversial plan to sterilize wild horses in Oregon

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a controversial plan by the Interior Department that would surgically sterilize wild horses in Oregon after animal rights groups filed a lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman issued a preliminary injunction on Friday that stops the Bureau of Land Management from moving forward with its plan to surgically remove the ovaries of wild mares in the Warm Springs Management Area of Hines, Oregon, according to court records. The judge's decision means the agency cannot proceed with the experiment until a final decision is made in the case. Not date has been set for the for that yet. The Animal Welfare Institute, American Wild Horse Campaign, The Could Foundation and others animal-rights groups had sued in September, claiming the government project was in violation of the First Amendment for not letting groups observe and document the experiment as well while also being in violation of a number of laws including the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act...MORE

Get a wild horse and $1k. It’s the latest offer to reduce the number of penned animals that some think should be slaughtered

Federal land managers are so desperate to reduce the staggering number of wild horses held in permanent captivity they will pay $1,000 for every horse you adopt, as long as you promise to provide a good home. At the same time, the Bureau of Land Management is considering a controversial option that calls for the “unrestricted sale” of up to 110,000 horses and burros and euthanizing another 24,000 over the next decade, even though Congress frowns upon killing healthy equines or selling them for slaughter. These were some of the ideas aired this week by the BLM’s wild horse advisory board, which convenes annually to craft recommendations for addressing the proliferation of wild horses on the West’s public lands, including in Utah. Acting BLM Director Brian Steed told the panel, gathered at a Salt Lake City hotel, that the time for deciding on solutions is long past and congressional action will likely be needed to either provide more money to warehouse horses or authorize lethal measures...MORE

Federal officials will round up 1,000 wild horses in California Some may end up in slaughterhouses

On Wednesday, officials will begin rounding up 1,000 wild horses from federal land in Northern California and putting them up for sale and adoption. Pregnant and younger horses will likely be adopted, federal officials say, but older horses will be sent to another corral where they could be sold for as little as $1 each to ranchers, horse trainers and other buyers -- including those who might ship them to slaughterhouses. And this has animal advocacy groups concerned. The horses live on Devil's Garden Plateau, a protected territory inside Modoc National Forest near the Oregon border. It's home to the largest herd of wild horses in the country managed by the US Forest Service. Last month, federal officials said they've exceeded their limit for how many horses the area can hold. "Our territory is supposed to have 206 to 402 animals, we have almost 4,000 horses," Modoc National Forest Supervisor Amanda McAdams said in a statement. The plateau is 258,000 acres, but McAdams said there's not nearly enough vegetation and water to support all the horses. Of the 1,000 horses, about 700 are pregnant mares or under the age of 10 and will be sent to a Bureau of Land Management facility for adoption. Horses over the age of 10 will be sent to a temporary holding facility. The older horses will be made available for 30 days to be adopted for $125 apiece. Once the 30 days are up, those horses will be available for sale, with few limitations. Buyers can purchase up to 36 horses for as little as $1 each...MORE

BLM to gather wild horses from private lands

The Bureau of Land Management will begin an effort to gather and remove up to 100 wild horses from private lands adjacent to and within the Range Creek Herd Management Area. This gathering event is in response to numerous letters received from private landowners and the Utah Department of Natural Resources requesting the BLM to remove the horses from private lands. The Range Creek HMA consists of approximately 55,000 acres of federal, state and private lands located 10 miles northeast of Price. The BLM manages the area for up to 125 wild horses, but the current population exceeds 375, a number that may impact the area’s ecological balance. “The BLM is charged, by law, with the enhancement and maintenance of healthy rangelands in order to provide a sustainable landscape for all species residing on the range,” said Chris Conrad, BLM Price field office manager. “Excess wild horses from the Range Creek HMA are affecting rangeland resources on private lands.”...MORE

Wouldn't the same principle apply to wolves?