For more information, call the Utah office of the
Bureau of Land Management at
977-4300
Nov. 29, 2000
A crisis is shaping up for one of the living symbols of the Old West... the free-roaming herds of wild mustangs.
The government is launching a massive effort to capture tens of thousands of horses, and there aren't nearly enough people volunteering to adopt them.
Environment Specialist John Hollenhorst has the exclusive story.
Wild horse experts plan to round up 21,000 wild mustangs in the next 4 years. And many, perhaps most, will be cooped up at government expense for the rest of their lives, because the adopt-a-horse pipeline is already jammed with horses.
It's the worst situation for wild horses since the 1970's the government says.
VOICE OF GLADE ANDERSON/U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: "IT'S RAPIDLY APPROACHING A CRISIS. WE HAVE A DILEMMA."
46,000 horses are running free, nearly twice the number that arid rangelands can tolerate without sustaining long-term damage to soil and plants.
GLADE ANDERSON/U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: "DO WE WAIT TEN YEARS? I DON'T THINK WE CAN. WE'VE GOT TO GET ON IT RIGHT NOW."
Congress has authorized a 4 year roundup plan to reduce the herds from 47,000 to 26,000.
And government corrals are already nearly full.
GLADE ANDERSON/U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: "SO DOING SIMPLE MATH, WE GOT A PROBLEM."
These horses in Salt Lake were rounded up on an emergency basis this year because of drought conditions.
And many are looking at a life sentence behind bars.
TAMI HOWELL/U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: "I'M SURE THEY'RE NOT REALLY HAPPY WITH IT. BUT THEY SEEM TO BE O.K."
For years, the government has relied on horse-lovers to adopt mustangs, and eventually take ownership. But at the time that program is needed the most, interest is dropping, fewer and fewer adopters are stepping forward.
GLADE ANDERSON/U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: "AND OUR ONLY OTHER ALTERNATIVE UNDER EXISTING LEGISLATION IS TO PUT THOSE ANIMALS INTO LONG-TERM HOLDING."
Right now, government contractors are building two huge holding facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma where possibly as many as ten thousand wild mustangs will spend the rest of their lives.
GLADE ANDERSON/U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: "THEY'RE WILD AN FREE. AND YOU GET 'EM IN THE PEN, SOMETHING CHANGES. THEY LOSE A LITTLE BIT OF SPIRIT. WHICH I THINK THE PEOPLE IN THE PROGRAM DON'T LIKE TO SEE."
The B.L.M. has hired a P.R. firm to launch a national marketing campaign promoting horse adoptions.
And long-term, they think equine birth control is the answer.
If they can get an effective drug approved, they hope to balance the supply of horses, with the demand for adoption. Right now, they say, the balance is out of whack.
