BLM Lays Groundwork to Eliminate Wyoming Wild Horses

February 2, 2017

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced plans to capture wild mares in Wyoming this month. The purpose is to affix radio collars around their necks to study their movement in the Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA).

This research was initially intended for the Red Desert Complex but was relocated to the Adobe Town HMA for political reasons. The BLM aims to demonstrate that wild horses in this area traverse between public land blocks and checkerboard lands in the HMA. The ultimate goal is to lay the groundwork for eliminating all wild horses from this HMA, which is home to one of Wyoming's most significant and popular wild horse herds.

Further complicating the issue is the underlying bias of the University of Wyoming researchers conducting the study. They have reached conclusions about wild horses' "disproportionate use" of riparian resources and "displacement of ungulates" from water holes before the research has even begun!

Read American Wild Horse Conservation's (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) comments on this research proposal here.