Hundreds Of ‘Stray’ Horses Rile Up Ranchers In Southwest Wyoming

CowboyStateDaily.com - Full Article

Hundreds of stray horses are causing problems In southwestern Wyoming, and nobody’s sure what to do about them.

Mark Heinz
June 23, 2023

Hundreds of horses that nobody claims are running loose in southwest Wyoming, and their fate seems uncertain.

Nobody even seems to know how many there are, but estimates for this rogue herd run as high as 800.

Rancher Vance Broadbent said it’s frustrating, because he’s had some of those horses on grazing allotments he leases from the Bureau of Land Management. But the horses apparently don’t count as mustangs, or wild horses, so the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) isn’t claiming responsibility for them.

“We’re still having conversations with the BLM, as far as what can or can’t be done,” Broadbent – who ranches in Sweetwater and Uinta counties – told Cowboy State Daily...

Read more here:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/06/23/hundreds-of-stray-horses-rile-up-ranchers-in-southwest-wyoming/

Contrary To What BLM Reports, Horse Advocates Say Winterkill Hit Wyoming Mustangs Hard

CowboyStateDaily.com - Full Article

The BLM’s estimates of a thriving Wyoming’s mustang population are off, some wild horse advocates say, and that winterkill hit mustangs hard in some areas.

Mark Heinz
June 16, 2023

Wyoming’s mustangs suffered mass die-offs this winter, and there are probably about only half as many left as the Bureau of Land Management estimates, wild horse advocates tell Cowboy State Daily.

A BLM spokesman said the agency is double-checking its mustang population estimates.

Death On The Range

“I spent the first half of May documenting death and counting live horses,” Angelique Rea of Thermopolis, who has monitored and photographed mustangs for years, told Cowboy State Daily.

Chad and Lynn Hanson of Casper, founders of the Wyoming Mustang Institute, said they made a grim discovery when they checked on mustang herds this spring.

“We found the dead horses in Stewart Creek along (U.S. Highway) 287 south of Bairoil, and along Mineral X and Crooks Gap Road,” Chad Hanson told Cowboy State Daily...

Read more here:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/06/16/contrary-to-what-blm-reports-horse-advocates-say-winterkill-hit-wyoming-mustangs-hard/

Wyoming: Winterkill Wiped Out Deer & Antelope Herds, But Wild Horse Population Is Exploding

CowboyStateDaily.com - Full Article

There are more than twice as many mustangs in Wyoming as there should be, according to the Bureau of Land Management, and the past harsh winter that decimated some antelope and deer herds didn’t do much to reduce their numbers.

Mark Heinz
June 14, 2023

Wyoming’s mustangs seem to have pulled though this past harsh winter well — maybe too well. There are more than twice as many on the range as the state is supposed to have, says a Bureau of Land Management official.

“We are not seeing the same level of mortality (among mustangs) that other ungulates are seeing,” according to preliminary estimates of the winter death toll, said Kris Kirby, the associate state director of the BLM’s Wyoming headquarters.

In parts of Wyoming, winterkill decimated mule deer and antelope herds.

Meanwhile, there are an estimated 8,181 mustangs roaming across roughly 5 million acres in 16 herd management areas that the BLM oversees in Wyoming, she said. The agency’s target population is 3,725 horses...

Read more here:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/06/14/winterkill-decimated-wyoming-antelope-and-deer-herds-but-wild-mustangs-are-flourishing-too-much/

BLM seeks public comment on proposed wild horse gathers in Owyhee County, Idaho

LocalNews8.com - Full Article

By News Team
Published May 15, 2023

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – To help healthy wild horse herds continue to thrive on healthy rangelands, the Bureau of Land Management Owyhee Field Office is seeking public comment on the Owyhee Field Office Herd Management Area Management Plan Environmental Assessment for the Black Mountain, Hardtrigger and Sands Basin Herd Management Areas.

The preliminary 10-year environmental assessment addresses potential environmental consequences associated with excess wild horses as well as fertility control applications to help slow future population growth. The environmental assessment is available for comment May 15 to June 13, 2023.

“We are deeply committed to maintaining healthy wild horse herds on Idaho’s public rangelands in the Owyhee Field Office,” BLM Owyhee Field Manager (acting) Ammon Wilhelm said. “As wild horse populations can double in size every four years, the alternatives identified in the draft environmental assessment provide a wide range of options to maintain the appropriate number of wild horses on healthy public rangelands. These options also took into consideration the comments we received from scoping last year...”

Read more here:
https://localnews8.com/news/idaho/2023/05/15/blm-seeks-public-comment-on-proposed-wild-horse-gathers-in-owyhee-county/

Dennis Sun: The Wild Horses Battle Goes On And On

CowboyStateDaily.com - Full Article

Columnist Dennis Sun writes, "Even with aggressive roundups, there are still approximately 50,000 horses above the maximum appropriate management level."

Dennis Sun
May 21, 2023

The issue of wild horses just goes on and on. Literally from the day the Wild and Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 was passed placing management under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), finger pointing, discussions and lawsuits have been the normal.

At the time, BLM didn’t want to be managers of horses and burros – they are a land management agency – but Congress didn’t know who else to hand the problem over to. So, the BLM established herd management areas (HMA) and began allowing a specified amount of horses in each HMA.

Once they reached this number objective, the horses were rounded up and placed in feedlots or holding pens. However, this got so expensive, the BLM started leasing deeded land to place horses on.

Wild horse numbers need controlled because they have a comparatively large impact on the range.

Over the years, across all of the HMAs, horse numbers have exploded, and the BLM doesn’t know what to do with them...

Read more here:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/05/21/dennis-sun-the-wild-horses-battle-goes-on-and-on/

Legislator Says Horse Slaughter ‘Worked Well’ Before, Could Be Answer To Wyoming’s Wild Horse Problem

CowboyStateDaily.com - Full Article

Published on February 6, 2023
By Mark Heinz, Outdoors Reporter
Mark@CowboyStateDaily.com

Reopening American horse slaughter plants would be a vital step toward managing Wyoming’s mustang herds, says a Wyoming state lawmaker.

“The next thing that’s really hampering this whole effort (toward mustang management) is the fact that these horses cannot be slaughtered for meat,” said Rep. John Winter, R-Thermopolis. “We used to have a slaughter plant in North Platte, Nebraska, and it worked very well.”

Winter made the remarks during House floor discussion of a bill he sponsored, House Joint Resolution 3. It calls upon Congress to revise management of wild horses and burros, and reopen horse slaughterhouses in the United States.

It passed the House on Monday with nobody speaking against it...

Read more here:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/02/06/legislator-says-horse-slaughter-worked-well-before-could-be-answer-to-wyomings-wild-horse-problem/

Even the giant new Wild Horse Refuge can’t catch up to the mustang surplus

Beth Clifton photo

Animals24-7.org - Full Article

February 9, 2023
By Merritt Clifton

Sanctuaries & anti-slaughter legislation address the wrong end of the problem

DENVER, Colorado––Wild horse advocates rejoiced on February 8, 2023 when the $29-million-a-year Wild Animal Sanctuary announced the purchase of 22,450 acres near Craig in northwest Colorado, to become The Wild Horse Refuge.

“Spanning 29 square miles, a landmass larger than Manhattan, the refuge will serve to rescue and protect hundreds of wild horses,” enthused Alexander Kirk for 9News in Denver.

“The Wild Animal Sanctuary said the refuge is being created in response to wild horse round-ups conducted in 2021 and 2022 by the Bureau of Land Management at Colorado’s Sand Wash Basin and Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Areas,” Kirk continued...

Read mre here:
https://www.animals24-7.org/2023/02/09/even-the-giant-new-wild-horse-refuge-cant-catch-up-to-the-mustang-surplus/