Feds Plan to Spay Wild Mares, Threatening Wyoming Herds

An urgent petition is circulating to stop a federal plan to surgically spay 30-50 wild mares in the White Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA) of Wyoming. This is part of a "research" program aimed at controlling wild horse numbers. Public-lands ranchers seek more grazing territory, reducing competition for their livestock. This risky experiment is suspected of being a step towards eliminating wild horses from public lands in favor of private business interests.

Public comments are being accepted until January 14, 2016.

The proposed action includes removing an estimated 168 wild horses from the Little Colorado HMA, using the remaining horses as a control group. This proposal is part of the BLM's plan to eliminate wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard to appease the Rock Springs Grazing Association, whose members graze livestock on public lands in numbers that dwarf the wild horse populations there, according to an alert from the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation).

Wild, free-roaming horses are supposed to be protected under the WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT OF 1971 (PUBLIC LAW 92-195) by the Bureau of Land Management. However, the law was weakened when Senator Conrad Burns secretly added an amendment in 2004, leading to controversial wild horse roundups. Captured horses often face stress, injury, or death during chases, and many end up with 'kill buyers' for slaughter, or languish in crowded pens without adequate care.

The BLM plan, if implemented, would disregard genetic diversity and the mental and emotional health of the horses. Given the social nature of horses, disrupting mother/foal bonds or herd hierarchy could destabilize and threaten the future of wild horses, as valuable genetics are lost to make way for privately-owned livestock.

To oppose this sterilization program, visit this link for more information and the petition.

Originally posted by Examiner