Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
https://www.greeleytribune.com/2022/05/13/wild-horses-die-unvaccinated-blm/
Death toll hits 142 wild horses held captive in Colorado after BLM fails to vaccinate. Feds promise probe — and more roundups.
Feds promise review at Cañon City “temporary” facility but press ahead in effort to reduce mushrooming herds roaming arid public land
...
“A broken system”
For the past two years, BLM teams have been gathering and removing more horses. They’re preparing to capture 22,000 mustangs this summer — including a herd in Colorado near Meeker — and place them into their network of 28 holding facilities, including the one at Cañon City. More than 60,000 mustangs now are held in captivity nationwide, up from 50,935 a decade ago, data show. The overall cost to taxpayers of managing wild horses has increased from $71 million a year in 2013 to $137 million this year.
“Wild horses are safest in the wild. We cannot keep piling wild horses into a broken system,” said Scott Wilson, a Denver-based board member for the American Wild Horse Campaign, who urged an immediate end to round-ups and greater reliance on birth control to keep horses free.
“When we confine wild horses, these kinds of disease outbreaks are set up. We’re confining these horses at their peril,” Wilson said. “We’re supposed to be protecting them. They’re national treasures.”
Animal rights advocates are exploring a lawsuit around the failure to vaccinate and standards of care at holding facilities.
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday weighed in, directing state agricultural and veterinary officials “to re-engage” with the BLM “to review the situation and evaluate what can be done” to avoid future deaths in captivity.
“I am deeply concerned about the tragic death of these iconic animals,” Polis said. “We have long advocated for the health, safety, and wellbeing of Colorado’s wild horses, and will continue to do so as we seek a humane future for our mustangs.”
Even with vaccinations, eleven horses died since March at the BLM holding facility in Wyoming where an outbreak of “strangles” (streptococcus equi) has infected roughly half the 2,750 captive horses. Horses that arrived in 2021 were starting to receive booster shots against strangles, “one of the vaccines that all horses that are processed through the BLM off-range program receive,” agency spokesman Brad Purdy said....
Death toll hits 142 wild horses held captive in Colorado after BLM fails to vaccinate. Feds promise probe — and more roundups.
Feds promise review at Cañon City “temporary” facility but press ahead in effort to reduce mushrooming herds roaming arid public land
...
“A broken system”
For the past two years, BLM teams have been gathering and removing more horses. They’re preparing to capture 22,000 mustangs this summer — including a herd in Colorado near Meeker — and place them into their network of 28 holding facilities, including the one at Cañon City. More than 60,000 mustangs now are held in captivity nationwide, up from 50,935 a decade ago, data show. The overall cost to taxpayers of managing wild horses has increased from $71 million a year in 2013 to $137 million this year.
“Wild horses are safest in the wild. We cannot keep piling wild horses into a broken system,” said Scott Wilson, a Denver-based board member for the American Wild Horse Campaign, who urged an immediate end to round-ups and greater reliance on birth control to keep horses free.
“When we confine wild horses, these kinds of disease outbreaks are set up. We’re confining these horses at their peril,” Wilson said. “We’re supposed to be protecting them. They’re national treasures.”
Animal rights advocates are exploring a lawsuit around the failure to vaccinate and standards of care at holding facilities.
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday weighed in, directing state agricultural and veterinary officials “to re-engage” with the BLM “to review the situation and evaluate what can be done” to avoid future deaths in captivity.
“I am deeply concerned about the tragic death of these iconic animals,” Polis said. “We have long advocated for the health, safety, and wellbeing of Colorado’s wild horses, and will continue to do so as we seek a humane future for our mustangs.”
Even with vaccinations, eleven horses died since March at the BLM holding facility in Wyoming where an outbreak of “strangles” (streptococcus equi) has infected roughly half the 2,750 captive horses. Horses that arrived in 2021 were starting to receive booster shots against strangles, “one of the vaccines that all horses that are processed through the BLM off-range program receive,” agency spokesman Brad Purdy said....
