The current murder count is now up to 30. Then the BLM plans to send the survivors to the holding facility at Axtell, Utah (which is flat like a feedlot with no trees and where there is no shelter) for what is expected to be an extremely harsh winter. The BLM would rather just spend money to completely remove/kill wild horses than to distribute some food and water before the winter snow. One has to wonder if the water being used for all the solar development has caused more man-made “drought” conditions by using water from shared aquifers and dropping the water table, making less water and forage available for wild horses and wildlife. Shame on the BLM! – Debbie
SOURCE: lasvegasnow.com
BLM photo
236 Cold Creek wild horses rounded up, 30 euthanized
By Mauricio Marin | mmarin@8newsnow.com, Tim Zeitlow
Thirty horses have been euthanized since the Bureau of Land Management started rounding up wild horses about two weeks ago.
So far, the BLM has captured 236 horses. Officials believe the animals will die if they’re left to fend for themselves.
The wild horses are from Cold Creek, an area northwest of Las Vegas. Cold Creek is about 6,000 feet above sea level and very dry because it gets little rain. There is not much vegetation for wild horses to eat.
BLM says they’re doing everything they can to protect the horses and some Cold Creek residents are making sure they keep their word.
Over the years, people in the Cold Creek area have looked forward to seeing the wild horses.
BLM crews have rounded up horses they say are malnourished.
“The horses are just getting hungrier and skinnier,” said Carmen Rhoda, a concerned resident.
She agrees drought conditions have left little food for the horses to eat, but she wants to make sure the BLM only takes horses that need help.
“We’re gathering the horses that might look like they may be in need,” said Jason Lutterman, BLM. “We’re not removing all the horses in the area.”
BLM officials say 30 horses out of about 230 that have been rounded up were extremely thin and weak so they had to be euthanized.
Rhoda calls the situation heartbreaking.
“They are suffering from malnutrition that affects their internal organs,” she said. “Their kidney’s, heart and everything so I understand maybe they had to put down 28 of them.”
Rhea Little who also lives in Cold Creek feels the BLM could have taken proactive measures to stabilize the population.
“My feeling is if they would have implemented birth control four years ago, the majority of the horses taken today wouldn’t have been born,” Little said.
Now the BLM is looking into ways to keep this from happening again.
“We’re exploring the options in the future of implanting some kind of program or some way to keep the population in balance with what the land can support,” said Lutterman.
Since the roundup, there’s a lot fewer horses near Cold Creek.
Rhoda applauds the BLM for being more humane and using a bait and trap method so the animals wouldn’t get spooked.
“They’re very gentle with them. I have to commend the BLM that in this instance they’ve done a good job,” she said.
The horse advocates have asked the inspector general at the Department of the Interior to investigate this specific gather because of the number of horses the BLM put down.
The BLM has not confirmed whether the roundup is complete.
Once the horses are healthy enough, the BLM will put them up for adoption.