12-14-2010 Elko Daily Free Press
Catch & Release Callaghan horse roundup under way
ELKO — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's wild horse gather in Lander County is "doing really, really well," according to Schirete Zick, public affairs officer for the Battle Mountain BLM District.
"We are capturing, treating and releasing," she said Monday.
The Callaghan Complex Wild Horse Gather got under way last week with plans to round up roughly 866 horses and treat the mares against pregnancy to keep the herd population down.
The BLM plans to remove 221 horses from the range, however, and transport them to a holding facility, according to the BLM.
"They are adoptable ones," said Zick, who has been at the gathering site each day.
She said no horses had been hurt, and there had been no deaths so far in the gathering, but there was "a new baby born in the corral."
Zick said the horses look to be in good shape. The contractor is Sun J.
The BLM update on the gather states there have been four deaths not related to the roundup, however. The horses were euthanized due to pre-existing conditions.
According to the BLM's latest report, which was updated Friday, 106 horses had been gathered from last Tuesday to Friday, and 40 wild horses were shipped Friday to the Palomino Valley Center in Fallon. Also, 37 stud horses were released back onto the Rocky Hills Herd Management Area.
The Bald Mountain HMA portion of the gather and fertility control effort was due to start Saturday, according to the Friday report.
The Callaghan Complex includes the Callaghan, Bald Mountain and Rocky Hills HMAs roughly 55 miles south of Battle Mountain and 45 miles northwest of Eureka and the New Pass/Ravenswood HMA several miles northwest of Austin.
Zick said the BLM used fertility control on the wild horses in this management complex in 2008, and the current gathering indicates the earlier fertility control appears to be successful.
The BLM's fact sheet on the gathering states roughly 323 mares will be treated with fertility control vaccine during the Callaghan Complex Gather.
In a related matter Monday, federal inspectors recommended the BLM step up its research into population control methods for wild horses to help curb the spiraling costs of rounding them up, according to The Associated Press.
A report the Interior Department's inspector general issued mostly defends the BLM roundups often criticized by horse protection advocates.
Inspectors said they found no evidence of inhumane treatment of animals and concluded the roundups are necessary to cull the overpopulated herds that take a toll on the health of the range.
The inspector general said the agency's budget for gathering and housing the mustangs nearly doubled the last six years to $66 million this year. But it said if left unchecked, the number of wild horses will grow from the current 38,000, to 238,000 by 2020.