Horse Advocates Rally for Pine Nut Meeting on Wild Horse Management

Local wild horse advocates are calling on residents to attend an important meeting hosted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding its resource management plan. This plan will significantly impact how wild horses are managed in Western Nevada, making community involvement crucial.

The meeting is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. on Thursday at the Carson Valley Inn. Sheila Schwadel of the Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates emphasized the importance of public participation, stating that the plan will guide the management of natural, cultural, and recreational resources on public lands for the next 10-20 years, including the native wild horses.

Schwadel highlighted the group's efforts to protect and conserve the wild horse bands in the Fish Springs area, which is outside the Pine Nut herd management area. "We are working with American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) and Return to Freedom on a pilot fertility control program, aiming to keep the Fish Springs horses wild and free on public lands," Schwadel said.

Following a series of meetings in 2013, federal officials initiated a pilot program using a fertility-reducing drug for mares to manage population growth. Despite these efforts, the BLM has announced plans to round up 332 wild horses within and outside the Pine Nut Herd Management Area later this month. Of these, 132 will be released back into the wild, with an estimated 66 mares receiving a 22-month porcine zona pellucida immunocontraceptive vaccine treatment to reduce fertility.

For more information about the Fish Springs horses, visit www.wildhorseadvocates.org, find them on Facebook under Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates, or call Schwadel at 782-6128.

For more details on the gather, visit this link.

Originally posted by Record Courier.