46 Wild Horses Captured from Piceance Herd
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has initiated a roundup of wild horses in the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area. The operation aims to remove up to 100 horses that have wandered outside the designated area. The BLM expects the roundup to last less than a week, starting with the capture of 46 horses.
BLM spokesman David Boyd confirmed that no horses were injured during the operation. However, one horse with a severe, pre-existing leg injury and infection was euthanized following the recommendation of the on-scene veterinarian.
The BLM is primarily using a helicopter to drive horses into traps from private lands in the Cathedral Creek area south of Rangely. Boyd mentioned that the operation might shift to other areas after assessing the presence of more horses in Cathedral Creek.
“It’s rugged country that can make it hard to find horses,” Boyd said.
The Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area is located east of Colorado Highway 139, south of Colorado Highway 64, and west of Colorado Highway 13.
A private landowner requested the BLM to move wild horses that were damaging resources and causing harm to domestic animals on the landowner’s ranch.
The BLM plans to transport the removed horses to its Canon City holding facility, where they will be available for adoption or sale.
The roundup has not attracted significant interest from activists or protesters. Boyd noted that there was no last-minute legal challenge, and no activists or protesters were present on the scene. The activity is difficult for the public to observe as it occurs on private land and is only minimally visible from BLM land.
Wild horse advocates have expressed concerns about the potential fate of thousands of animals the BLM plans to round up from Colorado and other states this year. They fear that horses could be killed if Congress agrees to the BLM’s request to lift the current prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros or selling them for slaughter.
In July, the House Appropriations Committee approved a provision allowing the destruction of healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros, while continuing to prohibit their sale for processing into commercial products. Earlier this month, the House Rules Committee prevented the introduction of an amendment to protect wild horses in 2018 appropriations language, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) said in a news release.
The BLM is facing challenges with the growing numbers of wild horses in the West and the inability to adopt out all the animals it removes from public lands. Taxpayers currently spend about $50 million annually for the care of nearly 50,000 horses and burros in holding facilities.
Originally posted by The Daily Sentinel