Wild horse, burrow advocates concerned with ‘black hole’ facility BLM will send animals
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Over 300 horses and burros are the subject of a round up this week, though animal advocates are concerned about where they’ll end up going, how they’ll get there and how long they’ll remain in captivity.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts these gather operations up and down the state multiple times a year, saying overpopulation threatens the lands they graze in. Near Red Rock Canyon, the agency said horse and burro populations are roughly quadruple the amount that’s appropriate to manage.
Though BLM said the roundup in this area would begin “on or near April 24,” a representative told 8 News Now that no animals were gathered on Wednesday. They add that the 160,000 acres they will focus in on has not seen a round up since 2019.
These operations have turned contentious as animal advocates capture videos of what they call animal abuse by BLM contractors corralling horses. They also point to concerns about the transfer to their new home, which is already crowded as it is.
Diana Davis is a Pahrump animal advocate – part of the larger local advocacy group called Friends of the Wild (Horses and Burros) – that believes several of the new babies currently being born this time of year will not survive the over 130-mile transit to their new home.
“Their leg bone will literally come through the bottom of their hoof and that cannot be corrected. That leads that baby having to be destroyed,” Davis said during a virtual interview Wednesday afternoon. “Obviously, they’re not trailer trained.”
A BLM report from January shows Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals – a federal holding facility over 130 miles west of the Vegas Valley in Ridgecrest, California – has a capacity of 1,000 animals but was caring for 68 more than that. This is where BLM says those animals captured during this operation will be sent.
Laura Leigh, president of the nonprofit Wild Horse Education successfully took BLM to court about improper management and planning of these gather operations and added that it becomes nearly impossible to track these animals once they enter facilities like this. Ridgecrest is just one example.
Across the nation, BLM data reveals 61,870 horses in 18 holding facilities are awaiting adoption or sale as of January. The BLM then estimated in March that 58,952 horses are left in the wild. That’s nearly 3,000 more wild horses in captivity than in the wild.
“They’ll be separated from their families. They’ll never be a family band again,” Leigh said during a phone interview Tuesday, referencing these federal holding facilities. “You don’t know their fate, and once they hit those facilities, it’s like a black hole.”
In a press release, BLM said its priority “is to conduct safe, efficient, and successful wild horse and burro gather operations while ensuring humane care and treatment of all animals gathered.”
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