Wild horse removal, birth control slated

The Bureau of Land Management "plans to remove more than 6,000 horses from federal land and administer birth control to roughly 2,000 more in an effort to protect rangelands and reduce future herd growth," Phil Taylor of Environment & Energy News reports.

The 16 roundups in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming "will emphasize the use of birth control to reduce the need for future removals, which saddle the agency with the long-term costs of caring for the horses in corrals," Taylor writes. "Techniques will include injecting mares with the fertility vaccine PZP before the spring birthing season, increasing the male-to-female ratios of some herds and gelding some studs to prevent them from impregnating mares."

BLM estimates that bout 33,000 horses and 5,500 burros are on rangelands in 10 states that can support about 26,600 animals. "The plan drew fire from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, a coalition of 40 groups that is calling for a halt to roundups and for BLM to allow more horses on the range," Taylor reports. (Subscription required)