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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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7

Feds to Sterilize Wild Mustangs

Thousands of wild horses to be shifted east to reduce strain on federal land

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(Newser) – Tens of thousands of wild horses are to be sterilized and shifted from range land in the West to preserves in the Midwest and East under plans announced yesterday. The move will help manage the unsustainable numbers of horses and burros roaming free in Western states without having to resort to euthanasia, said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. A portion of the estimated 32,000 wild horses on federal lands will be sterilized and then released in an effort to cut the birth rate to 3,500 foals a year.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall praised the strategy. "We have been fighting this battle for a long time now and will continue to do so until the Bureau of Land Management fulfills its duty under the law to protect America's free-roaming wild horses and burros," he said.

Wild horses cluster together after a Bureau of Land Management roundup at the Caliante Complex gather near Panaca, Nev.
Wild horses cluster together after a Bureau of Land Management roundup at the Caliante Complex gather near Panaca, Nev.   (AP Photo/Bureau of Land Management, Ben Noyes)
Wild horses scour the ground for strands of hay during an adoption event put on by the Bureau of Land Management in Albuquerque, NM.
Wild horses scour the ground for strands of hay during an adoption event put on by the Bureau of Land Management in Albuquerque, NM.   (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
Wild horses relax on the Pryor Mountain National Wild Horse Range in south-central Montana.
Wild horses relax on the Pryor Mountain National Wild Horse Range in south-central Montana.   (AP Photo/Bureau of Land Management, Ann Boucher)
A couple of mares walk with their foals at the wild horse training facility at the East Conon Correctional Complex in Canon City, Colo.,
A couple of mares walk with their foals at the wild horse training facility at the East Conon Correctional Complex in Canon City, Colo.,   (AP Photo/Alysia Patterson)
Wild horses roam around the Bureau of Land Management National Wild Horse & Burro Adoption Center in Palomino Valley, Nev.
Wild horses roam around the Bureau of Land Management National Wild Horse & Burro Adoption Center in Palomino Valley, Nev.   (AP Photo/The Gazette-Journal, Candice Towell)
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The problem has been growing and simmering over time, and it's time for us to do something about it that protects the horses, the public lands and the taxpayers. - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

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7 comments
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schmidtkoff
Oct 8, 09 6:33 AM CDT
it's about time. don't know why it took them so long to come up with a plan. the helicopter round-ups terrorized these animals and was inhumane. then to pack them into death trucks so they could be slaughtered in mexico was just horrible. Reply
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+9
Janniel
Oct 8, 09 8:55 AM CDT
A heartfelt thanks to the people who are implementing this program. Reply
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+5
Yourself
Oct 8, 09 10:28 AM CDT
they're "WILD" animals for a reason! leave them be as such! this is a shame, i can easily see them in 10-15-20 years from now saying "yeah, you remember that sterilization program we had? well it worked sooo well that now we have no wild horses left" Just leave the wild be wild already! Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
chicken
Oct 8, 09 3:58 PM CDT
Feral pigs are "wild" too, but destroy native ecosystems. Same can be said for feral horses. As riffan said below me, the horses are introduced.
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IN RESPONSE:
schmidtkoff
Oct 8, 09 4:19 PM CDT
feral pigs unfortunately don't have the same romanticism that the feral horse does. it is a part of the wild american west, a symbol of freedom and wildness. the importance that this animal has in our collective conscience screams preservation. not decimation. feral or not, the horse, a most magnificent creature should be protected. if sterilization saves them then kudos to BLM. i cannot condone and will not condone herding wild horses by helicopters, or aging horse shot dead, or shuffled off to slaughterhouses in mexico or canada..
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