Unknown 'Highly Contagious' Disease Kills 85 Wild Horses at Federal Facility in Colorado

Yahoo.com - Full Article

Vanessa Etienne
Thu, April 28, 2022, 2:35 PM

An "unknown yet highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease" has killed at least 85 wild horses at a federal corral in Colorado, officials announced Wednesday.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said the outbreak at the Cañon City facility first began on April 23. The facility is home to 2,550 horses. The facility animals impacted by the mysterious disease so far are the horses gathered from the West Douglas, Colorado area in fall 2021, according to a BLM news release.

Steven Hall, a spokesperson for BLM, told Reuters that the deceased horses are undergoing necropsies, and their blood and tissue samples are being analyzed at two university laboratories.

"The main symptoms seem to be respiratory issues and chest congestion," Hall added...

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https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/unknown-highly-contagious-disease-kills-203521196.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall

Wild horse gathers to continue in ‘public interest’

Wildlife.org - Full Article

February 9 2022

The Bureau of Land Management will continue to gather more than 2,000 wild horses from the Pancake Complex in Nevada after a federal court decision.

The federal judge determined that a challenge to the Bureau of Land Management’s gather efforts in Nevada did not present enough evidence to warrant the court issuing a preliminary injunction, which would have required the agency to immediately halt the gathers.

The plaintiffs, Animal Wellness Action, the Cana Foundation and Wild Horse Education, filed their complaint last month, arguing that by conducting the gathers, the BLM was violating the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as their First Amendment rights. The BLM argued that the gathers were necessary to remove excess animals from the range, especially in light of ongoing drought conditions. The agency noted that the gathers must be completed by March 1, so as not to interfere with the animal’s foaling season. It also defended its decision to limit access to the gathers by the plaintiffs and the general public, citing safety concerns...

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https://wildlife.org/wild-horse-gathers-to-continue-in-public-interest/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=getresponse&utm_content=This%20Week%27s%20eWildlifer%20%26%20TWS%20Talks&utm_campaign=

BLM to increase wild horse gathers in coming year

Larisa Bogardus/BLM photo

Wildlife.org - Full Article

By Laura Bies
January 20, 2022

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will increase the numbers of wild horses and burros that it removes from the western United States during Fiscal Year 2022, in response to the ecologically feral animals destroying habitat that’s also affected by climate change and extreme drought.

The agency plans to gather a minimum of 22,000 wild horses and burros from areas across the West, where the herds are larger than ecologically based population targets the BLM has set. Of these gathered animals, they plan to permanently remove at least 19,000 animals and treat at least 2,300 with various methods of fertility control before returning them to the range. If successful, this would be the most animals gathered, removed and treated in any one year.

The BLM estimates that more than 86,000 wild horses and burros currently range across 27 million acres of BLM-managed public lands in the western U.S...

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https://wildlife.org/blm-to-increase-wild-horse-gathers-in-coming-year/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=getresponse&utm_content=This%20Week%27s%20eWildlifer%20%26%20TWS%20Talks&utm_campaign=

The Hallelujah Horse Mustangs

HorseIllustrated.com - Full Article

The Wells Creek Wild Mustang Sanctuary houses the Hallelujah Horse Mustangs - arguably the least adoptable horses from a notorious rehoming case.

Story and photos by Shelley Paulson - May 10, 2021

When you think of a sanctuary for wild Mustang stallions, you probably don’t picture it nestled in the heart of midwestern farmland. But that’s exactly where 20 old Mustangs from the biggest horse rescue mission in U.S. history found a refuge to live out the remainder of their days in peace as part of the Hallelujah stallion herd.

The Backstory

Many of the horses who served in World Wars I and II were rounded up from what is now known as the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge on the northern border of Nevada. It became a breeding ground for these “war horses,” most of whom were shipped to Europe, where they were used to pull artillery or carry soldiers into war.

The Sheldon Mustangs who were left after the wars ended remained on the refuge. They were managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), not the Bureau of Land Management, so they didn’t fall under the protection of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, which prevents sale for slaughter...

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https://www.horseillustrated.com/hallelujah-horse-mustangs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hi_rnl_11Dec2021

Nevada: The BLM Concluded the Owyhee Complex Wild Horse Gather

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/bureau-land-management-concluded-owyhee-complex-wild-horse-gather

November 10 2021

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. – On November 9, 2021, the Humboldt River and Tuscarora Field Office (HRTFO) concluded a wild horse gather. The gather was located in and around the Little Owyhee, Owyhee, Rock Creek and Snowstorm Mountains Herd Management Areas (HMAs) of the Owyhee Complex. The complex is approximately 30 miles northeast of Paradise Valley, Nevada. Approximately 506 wild horses remain in the four HMAs of the Complex. This population estimate does include the 2021 foal crop.

The HRTFO gathered 934 and removed 545 wild horses. 195 studs, 162 mares and 5 foals were released back onto the complex. Mares identified for release were treated with the fertility control vaccine, PZP, to slow the population growth rate of the remaining population within the complex.

The purpose of the gather was to prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses, 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.

By balancing herd size with what the land can support, the HRTFO aims to protect habitat for other wildlife species such as sage grouse, pronghorn antelope and mule deer. Removing excess animals will enable significant progress toward achieving the Standards for Rangeland Health identified by the Sierra Front-Northwestern Great Basin Resource Advisory Council also alleviating private land issues.

The wild horses removed from the range were transferred to the Sutherland Off-Range Corrals located in Sutherland, Utah. All the animals will be readied for the BLM’s wild horse and burro adoption and sale program. Wild horses not adopted or sold will be placed in long-term pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. For information on how to adopt or purchase a wild horse or burro, visit www.blm.gov/whb.

Additional gather information is available on the BLM website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/33902/510

Scientists say Australian plan to cull up to 10,000 wild horses doesn’t go far enough

Nature.com - Full Article

A fast-growing population of feral horses in an alpine national park needs to be substantially reduced in number, researchers argue.

1 November 2021
Bianca Nogrady

Up to 10,000 feral horses might be killed or removed from Australia’s largest alpine national park under a draft plan to control the rapidly growing population of non-native animals. Scientists have welcomed the idea of removing them, but are alarmed that the plan still allows for thousands to remain, threatening endangered species and habitats.

The proposed cull, in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales (NSW), contrasts with a ban on lethal control measures in the United States, where large populations of wild horses known as mustangs also cause problems.

The draft plan, released last month, recommends reducing the park’s population of wild horses, known in Australia as brumbies, from an estimated 14,000 to about 3,000 through a combination of mostly ground-based shooting, as well as rounding up and rehoming...

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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02977-7?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Newfoundland+Ponies+%7C+Homeless+to+Horsewoman+%7C+TROtt+Receives+Donation+%7C+Cool+New+Apps&utm_campaign=HC_Enewsletter2021-Wednesday+November+3

The BLM is in process of rounding up about half of Wyoming's wild horses in Sweetwater County

WyomingPublicMedia.org - Full Article

Wyoming Public Radio | By Kamila Kudelska
Published October 21, 2021 at 11:38 AM MDT

Former President Donald Trump announced a goal to decrease the amount of western wild horses by the end of the fiscal year 2022. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is following this plan by capturing roughly 4,300 wild horses living in southwestern Wyoming.

This reduces the state's wild horse population by about 45 percent. The BLM said these management efforts are needed because the landscape can't sustain the number of horses. But Grace Kuhn with the American Wild Horse Campaign disagrees.

"In actuality, the number of cattle and sheep in [the] federally designated wild horse habitat vastly exceeds the number of wild horses," said Kuhn...

Read more here:
https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/natural-resources-energy/2021-10-21/the-blm-is-in-process-of-rounding-up-about-half-of-the-states-wild-horses-in-sweetwater-county?utm_medium=flipdigest.ad.20211023.home&utm_source=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=campaign