Horse Sanctuary Rescues 73 Mares from Nevada

Return to Freedom has achieved a significant milestone by rescuing 73 Calico Mountain mares from Nevada. This marks the largest single rescue in the sanctuary's 13-year history. The organization aims to reunite these mares with 20 wild Calico stallions previously rescued, allowing them to live naturally in a spacious habitat.

The horses were initially delivered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to temporary quarters in Fallon, Nevada, before being moved to Return to Freedom's site near Lompoc on December 15, according to Jill Anderson of Return to Freedom.

The goal is to recreate family bands for the horses, enabling them to live as naturally as possible at a preserve in northwestern Nevada.

The mares are classified as “sale authority” horses, meaning they are older and could have been sold for as little as $10 each or sent to government holding facilities in the Midwest, where they would not have had the opportunity to live as wild mustangs in family groups, according to Return to Freedom.

“We’re pleased to offer these elder mares, who along with the stallions carry the wisdom of their herds, a better life and a chance to live in the family social groups that are integral to the life of a wild horse,” said Neda DeMayo, founder and CEO of Return to Freedom. “Return to Freedom seeks to give something back to these wild horses who lost everything in the BLM roundup nearly one year ago.”

The horses were captured between December 28, 2009, and February 4, 2010, during one of the BLM’s largest and most controversial helicopter roundups in years.

The majority of captured mustangs have been transported to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest, where maintenance will cost taxpayers an estimated $800,000 per year over the 20- to 30-year lifespan of the horses, DeMayo said.

In addition to creating a preserve on private lands adjacent to and within the Calico Mountains Complex, Return to Freedom is partnering with Soldier Meadows Ranch to propose a pilot program for on-the-range management of the wild horses in the three BLM Herd Management Areas.

“We are proposing a new direction for the management of wild horses that keeps them on the range and saves millions of tax dollars. This historic partnership with a local rancher expands options for the preservation of natural habitat, wildlife, and wild horse herds,” said DeMayo.

“We are hopeful that the BLM will accept our proposal to create a pilot program to maintain healthy herds on healthy ranges in the historically unique and beautiful Calico Mountains Complex in Nevada.”

Return to Freedom Sanctuary, incorporated in 1997, is dedicated to preserving the freedom, diversity, and habitat of America’s wild horses through sanctuary, education, and conservation.

The sanctuary has rescued and relocated about 1,000 horses over the past decade and manages intact bands representing various strains of America’s wild horse herds at its 310-acre sanctuary near Lompoc.

Originally posted by Santa Ynez Valley News