Weather stops Wyoming wild horse roundup

Tuesday, February 6, 2007 4:01 PM CST

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Bad weather forced federal officials to end a wild horse roundup in southwest Wyoming this week.

About 920 horses were caught in the Bureau of Land Management roundup, short of its goal of 1,400.

The agency permanently removed 846 of the horses gathered in the operation from the range, officials said. Another 41 mares were treated with a fertility control vaccine and returned to the range.

BLM spokeswoman Cindy Wertz said the gathering operations aimed to reduce two overpopulated wild horse herds that roam eastern Sweetwater County within the adjacent Salt Wells and Adobe Town herd management units.

Wyoming’s wild horse population in recent years has reached as high as 7,000 animals. That’s more than double the BLM’s target management level of 3,263 wild horses statewide. Most of the state’s wild horse populations are concentrated in southwest Wyoming.

Alan Shepherd, BLM state wild horse and burro program leader, said severe cold, heavy snow cover and limited access due to drifting snow made gathering the wild horses difficult.

He said several key factors led to the decision to suspend the roundup, including terrain, weather, snow depths, horse concentrations and physical conditions of the horses.

“First and foremost, we (did) not want to endanger the wild horses or anyone involved in the gather operations,” Shepherd said.

All the wild horses that were captured came from the Salt Wells herd management unit, he said. No wild horses were taken from the adjacent Adobe Town herd management unit due to snow cover, he said.

Shepherd said the removal of 846 horses from the Salt Wells Creek unit allowed the agency to make “significant progress” toward attaining herd management objectives. The unit has an appropriate management level of 300 horses, with an adult management range of 251 to 365.

Wertz said many of the wild horses gathered in the roundup are being held in the agency’s Rock Springs holding facility, where they will await adoption as part of the BLM’s adopt-a-horse program.

Information from: Star-Tribune, http://www.casperstartribune.net

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