BLM needs to use 'copters to round up horses

The Bureau of Land Management's plan to gather nearly 2,000 wild horses in southwest Wyoming this fall using helicopters is still the best course of action, despite criticism from some animal advocates. There's no doubt that this major roundup is needed. BLM officials said two herd management areas located in southeastern Sweetwater County, south of Wamsutter and Interstate 80, are substantially over the appropriate management levels for survival. An agency survey conducted in July 2009 indicated there are about 1,950 horses living within the two herd units. But the appropriate number of wild horses for the Adobe Town area is between 610 to 800, while the range for the Salt Wells Creek area is from 251 to 365. The environmental assessment for the planned roundup, released last Thursday, noted the estimated wild horse population in the complex at 2,438, or more than 1,500 above the low management range for the two herd units. By rounding up an estimated 1,950 wild horses between Oct. 1 and Nov. 8 and treating and releasing another 100 mares with fertility-control vaccines, the BLM said it should successfully remove a total of 1,580 excess horses from the two areas that will then be put up for adoption. All of the animals gathered will be examined and, if needed, treated by a veterinarian. With no natural predators and an annual reproduction rate of between 15 and 20 percent, the excess wild horses need to be periodically removed from public rangelands to meet scientifically established population objectives...more