State and Federal Managers Discuss Fate of Wild Horses Amid Controversy

Wild Horse Management Debated in Closed-Door MeetingWild Horse Management Debated in Closed-Door Meeting

SALT LAKE CITY -- Wild horses evoke both romance and division in the American West. This dynamic was evident as the Bureau of Land Management, the State of Utah, and various private and non-profit groups convened in a closed-door meeting in downtown Salt Lake City to discuss the animals' fate.

The deputy chief of staff to Utah Governor Gary Herbert expressed both the romance and the sense of cold reality.

"We love them and they're an iconic part of our landscape," Mower said, adding, "There's just simply not enough feed for the horses and not enough water."

A collection of wild horse advocates gathered on the sidewalk outside the Marriott Hotel, where the Wild Horse and Burro Summit was taking place.

"I serve on the BLM's national wild horse advisory board as their humane advisor and yet I was not invited," said Ginger Kathrens, a filmmaker and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation.

Alongside Kathrens were representatives from the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, and several Utah volunteers like Shauna Muztafago.

"I felt compelled to be here today to be a voice to those who have no voice," said Muztafago, who took the day off from her job at a mortgage company to protest the event she couldn't attend.

The Director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Michael Styler, emphasized humane treatment for the horses.

"They're running out of feed. They're running out of water. How could you be so heartless as to let horses starve or die of thirst by mismanagement?" Styler asked.

The state and the Bureau of Land Management claim sustainable population levels for wild horses are around 27,000 animals, while the current population is closer to 73,000.

Advocates excluded from the meeting argue these numbers reflect a governmental preference for profitable livestock over wild horses. They reference a 2013 study by the National Academy of Science, which found no basis for the 27,000 horse population target, and cite their own work with horses.

"We actually manage wild horses on the range, we document them, we have stats and data on each and every wild horse," said Simone Netherlands, Executive Director of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.

Netherlands mentioned that her volunteers regularly dart the horses on their range in Arizona with a chemical called PZP-22, which slows reproduction rates to maintain herd populations.

Such solutions were likely discussed at the Wild Horse and Burro Summit, though details remain unknown as the news media was also excluded from the discussions, only allowed at a brief press conference in a separate room.

Originally posted by Fox 13

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