LAS VEGAS - On August 8, 2020, the Bureau of Land Management Southern Nevada District Office concluded the 2020 Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area (HMA) Emergency Wild Horse Gather. The BLM gathered and removed 126 wild horses from areas within the HMA located in Nye County, Nev. The action was necessary due to lack of water and declining health of the wild horses. Gather operations were conducted using the water and bait trap method.
The purpose of the gather was critical to prevent further deteriorating body condition of the wild horses in the area due to extremely limited water sources, undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses, and to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, consistent with the provisions of Section 1333(b) of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
The BLM transported wild horses removed from the range to the Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals, located in Ridgecrest, Calif., to be readied for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Adoption and Sale Program. Wild horses not adopted or sold will be placed in long-term pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their “wild" status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
Additional gather information is available on the BLM website at https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/gathers-and-removals/nevada/2020-nevada-wild-horse.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
