130 Horses Dead in BLM Facility

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Over 100 horses died at the National Wild Horse and Burro Center

According to the Associated Press, federal officials temporarily shut down the National Wild Horse and Burro Center in northern Nevada on Wednesday because 130 horses have died there from health problems that could pose a threat to humans.

The voluntary closure of the center about 20 miles north of Reno is a preventive measure. Salmonella bacteria were found in some of the Mustangs, posing a risk to people and domestic animals, officials for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said.

The center’s 160 acres of corrals serve as a holding facility for up to 1,650 animals the BLM rounds up from public rangeland. During their time at the facility, the horses are vaccinated and marked while awaiting shipment under the agency’s wild horse adoption program.

The problems apparently stem from about 1,000 horses that were gathered this month in northwest Nevada’s Jackson Mountains. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian Al Kane, many of these horses were extremely weak from a lack of food and water due to drought, which made them more susceptible to salmonella.

The agency will review the center in 30 days to determine whether to extend the shutdown.

10 COMMENTS

  1. I think they round up way to many horses. They should let nature take its course and stop the round ups! At least 130 of them are free again!

  2. Unfortunately humans have exterminated the wild horses’ natural predators, so they’ve actually thrived. There are way more horses out there than 30 years ago, and on less land due to development. Coupled with the drought, more animals are going to die. IT’s a sad truth to wild life. It’s too bad the BLM couldn’t save those horses, however-

  3. Oh man! That sounds bad. I don’t really agree with round-ups, but still, this sounds pretty bad. Can’t wait to see what the outcome is.

  4. Is someone kidding……….so let me guess, now as soon as the quarantine is lifted they round up more horses? Thank you US GOVT…..let the horses back in the national forests and parks…..and let mother nature and predators keep the balance of nature……humans cant be trusted not to upset very sensitive balances….oh…are cattle grazing on the mountains the horses came off of? and are we also removing the wolves that keep disease from killing as well as culling herds naturally?..
    Just Curious

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