BLM delays decision to kill wild horses
By SANDRA CHEREB
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 10:50 AM PST
RENO — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management put off a decision Monday to kill large numbers of wild horses to control herds and spiraling costs.
Instead, the agency will reduce roundups and try to shuffle money to maintain its wild horse and burro program through the current fiscal year, a BLM official said.
‘‘We could react quickly based on what the law says,’’ BLM Deputy Director Henri Bisson said during a meeting of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board.
But he said maintaining the program for another year will give horse advocates, the BLM, Congress, ranchers and wildlife advocates time to explore possible solutions and let ‘‘cooler heads prevail.’’
‘‘Let’s focus on doing something positive before we have to look at last resort tools,’’ Bisson said.
‘‘We’re not making any decisions today. We’re not making any decisions next week,’’ said Bisson, who is retiring.
About 33,000 wild horses roam the open range in 10 Western states, half of those in Nevada. The horses and burros are managed by the BLM and protected under a 1971 law enacted by Congress.
The agency, which set a target ‘‘appropriate management level’’ of 27,000 horses in the wild to protect the herd, the range and other foraging animals, rounds up excess horses and offers them for adoption. Those too old or considered unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities.
In all, the agency is caring for about the same number of horses in holding pens as there are on the range.
The nine-member advisory board was considering more than a dozen recommendations to help spur adoptions that have slowed in recent years and to curb population growth as a way to reduce long-term holding costs.
